The lighter patches of the cardinal’s skin drained of color. “They are supposed to be allies!” he gasped. “Why does he sell us out to the enemy?”
Blacktooth, under threat and afraid, decided not to mention the Pope’s letter directly. Hadala already possessed a copy.
The monk resumed: “He says he will not arrest you and Cardinal Nauwhat if you surrender to the Texark troops. He orders the rest of us to surrender the weapons to him and get out of his country.”
Hadala sputtered, and went in search of Nauwhat. Soon he came back with an order.
“Go see him again. Invite him here to parley. We will stay out in the open where his men can see us. If he comes alone, he may come armed. Do you think an oath by me that he will not be harmed or taken captive would help?”
Blacktooth thought about it for a moment. “No. He might find it insulting.”
“Do the best you can without it, then.”
The sharf was not reluctant. He borrowed a second pistol from a warrior, tied the leash of a heavily built war dog to his belt, grasped the monk by his uniform collar, and began walking toward Hadala’s encampment with a gun to Nimmy’s head.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I’m no good as a hostage, Sharf Bråm. They won’t care if you kill me.”
As they stopped before Hadala, Gleaver, and Hadala’s Grasshopper guide, Eltür released Blacktooth, untied the dog’s leash, and barked a single word at the animal, who began to growl and stare at the cardinal.
“If I’m shot, the dog kills you.”
Hadala spat venom at Demon Light for trafficking with the enemy, and Blacktooth translated it.
The sharf ignored it. Bråm waved an arm toward the east and spoke in short sentences; between them Blacktooth translated:
“This eastward lane here will be kept open. It goes from your camp to the hills yonder and to sunrise. When an armed man steps into the lane, we shoot him. An unarmed man gets one warning shot. But you and the other Red Hat may pass, going east. Take with you any disarmed officers you wish. Red Beard ordered me to arrest and hold you. I am Sharf of the Grasshopper Horde. I give orders here. Empty Sky is my Pope. The Wild Horse Woman is my sister. Høngan Ösle is my Lord.” Demon Light gestured broadly at the sky, at the earth, and again toward the northwest prairie where his Lord would be encamped. After a pause, he went on grandly. “I, the sharf of this country, offer you Grasshopper hospitality. You will be required to gather dry turds for the kitchen fires. And the women will make you shovel horseshit. They will tease you a lot, but you will not be hurt. When Red Beard sends for you, you must go to him. If you don’t accept our hospitality, you just march east. Without arms and without men. The Hannegan’s men will take you in. He may be glad to get you.”
“Are you including Major Gleaver?” Hadala asked sourly.
Eltür grew impatient, and began talking in longer sentences. He knew nothing of Gleaver. He had already been told he could take unarmed officers. Bråm made scattered remarks about the cardinal’s stupidity. Blacktooth waited for him to pause and then summarized.
“Let Major Gleaver cooperate in his own disarmament, he says. The sharf will leave him in command to hold the men together on the trek back home. He says the rabble will get out of his tall-grass country quicker if we are under command. But if Gleaver wants to surrender to Texark, Sharf Bråm will let him pass.”
“He knows we outnumber his men nearly four to one. What makes him think…”
“He can stop us? Shall I ask?”
“Ask him if two of his men are equal to seven of ours.”
The sharf chuckled as soon as Nimmy translated, then shared a few private jokes with his interpreter. Hadala became angry.
“What does he say? Stop having your own private conversation.”
“He says seven-against-two would be fair, if you leave your wagons undefended. Your seven men with seven guns might chase his two men with two guns for several days, inconclusively, but you would lose the wagons. If we defend the wagons, we’ll just be pinned down and starved out. And if you don’t make up your minds soon, Texark will come out and get the wagons.”
“Are those his words, or yours, Brother St. George? Be careful you don’t go too far.” After this admonition, Hadala began speaking slowly enough for Nimmy to translate simultaneously.
“Look, we are as worried as you are that the wagons will be intercepted by the patrol as we try to take them in. So why don’t you help us? Your people have been well supplied with arms, and you don’t need my wagons. The occupied territory ahead is just a narrow strip along the western frontier of the Watchitah Nation. It’s hardly more than a double roadway. The outer road is patrolled by Texark troops; they look outward toward your country. The inner road is patrolled by the Valley Customs Service; they look inward at the Watchitah Nation, my people. I myself am on the Customs Service Board, for the Church. Their patrol will help us, once we’re past the Texark troopers and the patrol sees who I am. If you could just help us hold back the Texark riders until we get the wagons through, we’ll all cut and run afterward.”
“You are another Christian war sharf? Another military genius in a red hat? There are so many of you.” Blacktooth found himself unable to avoid echoing Bråm’s sarcastic tone, although he could see that the cardinal was beginning to seethe. “But what will stop the Texark cavalry from riding right straight into the heart of the Valley of the Gleps to take the wagons away from you?”
“Why, we hoped to cross over by night, unknown to them. But you ruined that by warning them. And the treaty between…”
Hadala’s explanation was cut off by a Grasshopper war cry. Someone shouted that a large dust cloud and a probable party of horsemen was seen in the east.
“They’ve decided to come and get you themselves, glep priest,” said Bråm with a savage smile. “Now, we are going to get out of the way. Aren’t you lucky? You can fight them instead of us.”
All Nomads took immediately to horseback, and Blacktooth watched them ride away toward the northwest. He was tempted to mount up and ride after them, but Ulad had threatened to shoot him in the back for desertion if he again broke ranks.
Hadala looked at him for a moment. “Do you have an opinion, Brother Corporal St. George?” he demanded sternly.
“Those riders will be here in a few minutes. That is my opinion, Your Eminence.” Blacktooth turned and broke into a trot toward the wagons. Sorely Nauwhat and the major had been standing there watching the meeting between Bråm and Cardinal Hadala until the shouting started, but Nauwhat had faded from view.
“Cardinal Hadala’s done with you, Private St. George!” Gleaver snapped at him. “Report to Sergeant Ulad. Get your arms buckled on, and get in the saddle.”
Still wearing corporal’s chevrons, Nimmy took note of his reduction in rank without openly acknowledging it. Earlier in the day, the major had been yelling at him about a court-martial and the gallows, so the demotion was a welcome commutation of sentence. When Ulad looked at him, however, he could still see a readiness to kill.
Having observed the Grasshopper withdrawal, the Texark commander halted his advance just beyond rifle range. The troopers dismounted. Some of them began digging.
Demon Light drew up his warriors in a half circle just out of range to the west of the Valanan brigade’s position. Blacktooth had no doubt that they would fight to prevent the guns and ammunition from falling into the hands of the imperial forces, but they would not begin to fight until Hadala and his men were defeated by those forces. The Valanan light horse, untested troops and their spook commanders, were sandwiched between two superior war bands.
It was almost nightfall on Tuesday the 2nd of August. The moon rose an hour after sundown. During that hour, Sorely Nauwhat vanished, never to be seen again west of Texark frontiers.