“My friend” -James freighted the word with heavy irony- “it might make all the difference in the world.”
“It might,” the other officer said. “On the other hand, it might not mean anything at all. More often than not, it won’t.”
James was tempted, mightily tempted, to argue that with him. The only reason he desisted was the pointlessness of it. “What do you expect me to do, then?” he asked. “Take half my army to Marthasville, send the carpets back, and wait for the other half to catch up?”
“Sir, the only other choice you have is leaving all your army here in Julia,” the local officer told him. “If you want to do that, I don’t see how I can stop you, but I don’t suppose you’ll make Count Thraxton very happy.”
That, unfortunately, held altogether too much truth. James heaved a long, heartfelt sigh. “I don’t think I’ll make him happy letting him know I’m going to be late, either. But, as you say, I haven’t got much choice.” He raised his voice: “Brigadier Bell!”
“Sir!” The division commander hurried up to him.
“Brigadier, you are in charge of that part of the force which is compelled to remain behind in Julia until we free up carpets to bring it on to Marthasville,” James of Broadpath told him. “Bring on the rest of the men as fast as ever you can. We’ll wait in Marthasville-or, possibly, we won’t. If Thraxton orders us forward, we’ll go on as fast as we can. Scryers will keep you informed.”
Bell saluted. “I understand, sir.”
“Good.” Earl James nodded approval. “And, because this delay is in no way our fault, the men need not suffer for it. Feel free to let them forage on the countryside hereabouts while they’re waiting for the carpets to return.”
At last, he succeeded in piercing the local captain’s sangfroid. “What?” the fellow yelped. “You can’t do that! They can’t do that!”
“Oh, yes, we can.” Brigadier Bell sounded as if he was looking forward to it. His good hand dropped to the hilt of his sword. “Just try and stop us.”
The captain didn’t try to stop him. The captain couldn’t try to stop him, not when even the force Bell had left far outnumbered the tiny garrison in Julia. Earl James of Broadpath was something less than astonished when several more glideway carpets from the Peachtree line slid silently into the local port. There still weren’t enough for him to take his whole army on to Marthasville at once, but the fraction left behind shrank from half to about a quarter.
At James’ command, a scryer sent word to Count Thraxton that he would be delayed. A few minutes later, the fellow came back with Thraxton’s answer: “His Grace, sir, is more than a little unhappy.”
“You may tell him I’m more than a little unhappy myself,” James said. “If he’s such a mighty mage, he’s welcome to conjure the army and me from Julia here all the way to Fa Layette.” He held up a warning hand before the scryer could hurry away. “You don’t need to tell him that.”
“All right, sir,” the scryer said. This time, James let him go.
Earl James soon discovered why the men who’d created the Peachtree Glideway had come in with the low bid: they’d done as little as they possibly could to make it worth traveling on. Their spells left a good deal to be desired. The whole glideway was sluggish; in the poorly maintained parts, the carpets barely moved at all. Watching the Peachtree Province farms and estates crawl past, James wondered if he would get stranded halfway to Marthasville. That captain’s head will roll if I do, he thought.
One of the directing mage’s assistants strode from one officers’ carpet to the next and spoke reassuringly: “We’re having just a little trouble with the sorcery on this stretch of the glideway, but it’s nothing to worry about. Pretty soon we’ll be going along sweet as you please.”
“We’d bloody well better be,” James said. The placating smile on the face of the directing mage’s assistant never wavered. Maybe that meant he believed what he was saying. James of Broadpath hoped so. The other alternative was that he was lying and had no shame whatever.
Before long, the carpets did begin to move more briskly along the glideway. That didn’t mean they ever got going as fast as those on the journey from the Army of Southern Parthenia’s encampment up to Julia had gone. James drummed his fingers on his knee, as if wishing could make the carpets speed up. Magecraft, unfortunately, didn’t work like that.
Brisk movement or not, the glideway carpets didn’t get into Marthasville till after nightfall. James scowled at the officer waiting on the pier to greet him. “All right, what are you going to tell me’s gone wrong?” he growled.
“Why, nothing, sir,” the fellow answered. “I’m here to guide you to the carpets to take your army south, that’s all.”
“That’s what the chap in Julia said.” James raised a bristling eyebrow. “Then he found me half the carpets I needed.”
“On my honor, your Excellency, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that here,” the officer said. The captain back in Julia had promised no such thing. James suspected he hadn’t because he had no honor.
This fellow kept his word, too. All the glideway carpets James’ army needed-and more besides-waited on the southbound glideway path. James called for a scryer. “Be so good as to let Count Thraxton know we’ve arrived in Marthasville with something close to three quarters of our force,” he said. “The rest is about a day and a half behind, back in Julia. Ask him whether he wants me to go down to Fa Layette straightaway, or whether he would sooner have me wait till everyone’s with me.”
“Yes, sir,” the scryer said, and hurried away to do what needed doing with his crystal. A couple of minutes later, he returned. “Count Thraxton’s compliments, your Excellency, and he says you may use your own judgment. I am also to inform you that he’s trying to bring General Guildenstern to battle between Rising Rock and Fa Layette.”
“He’s doing what?” Earl James demanded. “Did you hear that right? He’s trying to bring the southrons to battle now, before I can get there with my reinforcements?” Has he-?” He broke off. Has he lost his mind? was what he’d started to say. He couldn’t very well ask that of a scryer, no matter how loudly and vehemently he was thinking it.
The scryer nodded vigorously. “Sir, the sorcerous link was very clear. I have told you exactly what Count Thraxton’s scryer told me.”
“All right,” James said. It wasn’t all right, but he couldn’t do anything about it. He plucked at his bushy beard. “In that case, we’d better press ahead with the men we have here and let Brigadier Bell bring up the rest as fast as he can. Tell Count Thraxton’s man we shall hurry on toward him, and tell Brigadier Bell to wring as much speed from the Peachtree Glideway as he can. I don’t care if he has to start shooting people to do it-we’re going to need him.”
“Yes, sir.” Off the scryer went again. James of Broadpath sighed. He’d heard Thraxton was difficult, but he’d never dreamt the eastern general could make himself so difficult so fast.
IV
“Smite them!” Count Thraxton told the messenger. “You tell Leonidas the Priest he is to smite them!
He is not to delay, he is not to dawdle, he is to smite the foe in front of him with all the strength he commands. If he will only smite them, victory shall assuredly be ours. Tell him that. Tell him that in exactly those words.”
“Yes, your Excellency.” The messenger’s lips moved silently as he went over Thraxton’s order. Like most in his service, he had a well-trained memory. After a moment, he nodded to himself and hurried away.
“He is not to delay even an instant,” Count Thraxton called after him. The messenger nodded to show he’d heard and slammed the door on the way out.
Thraxton’s lips moved silently, as the messenger’s had. He wasn’t committing anything to memory. On the contrary: he was cursing Leonidas the Priest. A terrible thing, to curse a hierophant of the Lion God, he thought. Very likely a useless thing as welclass="underline" the god is bound to protect his votary. But what a pity if he is. And what must I do to make Leonidas move?