‘And they’re wrong because …?’
‘The Redeemers won’t take six days, they’ll take one day and two nights.’
‘Are they going to run all the way?’
‘They’ll come on horseback.’
‘I seem to remember you saying in one of your less than informative reports that the Redeemers had no cavalry to speak of and would take years to develop one.’
‘They’re not cavalry – just mounted infantry. It takes six weeks to learn to ride a horse, if that’s all you’re going to do.’
‘And if the Gaul cavalry catches them?’
‘Then they’ll get off and deal with them the way they dealt with the Materazzi at Silbury Hill. And they’ll be in a great deal better shape than the Redeemers were there. Half of them were fighting with paper shoved up their squeakers to stop them from crapping on their feet.’
‘Spare me the details.’
‘More battles are lost because of the squits than because of bad generals.’
‘What then?’
‘Speed – at first. They’ll take Gaul in six weeks.’
‘Optimistic, wouldn’t you say?’
‘No, I wouldn’t. If I say it can be done, then it can be done. The defence against the Redeemers is based on how quickly they moved in the past – how quickly all armies moved in the past. Everyone fights the war they’re used to.’
‘So the Redeemers will roll over Gaul, then Palestine, then Albion and Yugoslavia and all the rest until they’re at the gates of Zurich.’
‘It won’t be that easy.’
‘You surprise me.’
‘Always.’
Again the high-pitched, wheezing laugh. ‘What a conceited young man you are.’
‘I’m not conceited. I’m just honest about being so much better than other people.’
Kitty was silent for a moment. Another waft of the hot damp smell.
‘Well then,’ said Kitty. ‘Allowance must be made for your boastfulness, being a person so much above others. Go on.’
Cale turned back to the map and pointed to the river that cut Gaul in half on its way to the sea.
‘All the Redeemers need to do is make it quickly to the Mississippi. Then they’ll have a defensive line they can hold or retreat to if things go wrong, and for as long as they like.’
‘And from the Mississippi onwards …?’
‘War the usual way, probably – slow and nasty. But the Redeemers are good at that.’
‘And where are the Laconics in all of this?’
‘Paid to stay out of it if Bosco does what I said.’
‘And what if he doesn’t do what you said? Or the Laconics think once the Redeemers have taken the Swiss they’ll come for them next?’
‘Once they’ve taken the Swiss that’s exactly what Bosco will do.’
‘So why should they go along just because it’s convenient for your plan that they do so?’
‘Because that’s what they want to believe. This way they get money and a guarantee.’
‘Worthless.’
‘But they don’t know that. It doesn’t make sense to attack them after all. There’s no great strategic use for Laconia and there’s bugger all there. The cost of taking it doesn’t bear thinking about – even for the Redeemers.’
‘But Bosco will try.’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. He just asked me to make it possible. Something to do with God, I imagine.’
‘So you don’t know everything.’
‘I know everything I know about.’
Cale needed to be honest with Kitty for the reason that his life and Vague Henri’s and Kleist’s depended on him being convincing. Nothing convinces like the truth. But Bosco’s plan to create a final solution to the problem of evil would have seemed impossible even to someone as vile as Kitty the Hare. Such a thing was outside the kingdom of even his appalling imagination because it had no purpose – there was no money or power to be had from such a vision.
‘What about the purpose of the Redeemer camp at Moza your friends so foolishly chose to attack?’
This was tricky. They must have told Kitty something useful or they’d be dead. But then maybe he hadn’t intended to kill but just to scare them. If Cale told Kitty something that conflicted with what they’d told him he’d know they’d been lying. And then there were other possibilities to the left, and the right, and to the left again, always intelligent guesses to be made and got completely wrong. Gambling that Vague Henri would have decided to tell something close to the truth, Cale committed himself.
‘The Redeemers will attack from the north through Arnhemland but they’ll want to squeeze from opposite ends and the only way to attack the Swiss from the south is up through the Mittelland, then through the Schallenberg Pass to Spanish Leeds.’
‘How many?’
‘Forty thousand, give or take. I’m not saying he won’t just stay where he is and seal the Swiss in and wait for the attack from the north to work its way down. But if he can draw the Swiss into an attack in the Mittelland it might be worth it. And if they don’t come out to fight he can seal off the Schallenberg then wait them out there.’
‘Why?’
‘Five thousand men in front of the Schallenberg could hold the Swiss in for ever. That’s nearly thirty-five thousand less than staying where he is.’
‘Why not go through and take the city?’
‘Because five thousand men can hold it from the other end just as well. But then it’s just a question of how long it takes the Redeemers to make it down from the north. See – everything depends on them getting across Arnhemland in a day and two nights. After that it’s just a matter of time.’
‘And have you told anyone else about this?’
‘Who I tell and what I tell them is my business.’
‘You’re very insolent for someone who’s come looking for charity.’
‘No, I haven’t told anyone.’
‘Why?’
‘What I know is all I’ve got. Besides, my reputation isn’t what it used to be. Who’s going to believe a sickly boy who used to be good at throwing his weight around?’
‘What about your Materazzi patrons?’
‘Everybody and his mother want them to drop dead, if at all possible.’
‘And yet Conn Materazzi is much slobbered over by the King.’
‘Conn won’t stomach me at any price.’
‘So I’ve heard. Is it true?’
‘Sorry, I don’t understand.’
‘That you’re the father of the little boy?’
‘She sold me to the Redeemers.’
‘Not really an answer. But it doesn’t matter.’
‘What about my friends?’
‘You’ll have to do better.’
‘I can.’
‘Then do.’
‘Not with them here.’
‘Your reputation may have declined but I know you to be a person of violent talents who is not always wise in your use of them.’
‘I’m not the person I used to be.’
‘So you say.’
‘Cadbury told you what happened at the Priory – I couldn’t lift even a finger to save myself. Look at me.’
For some time Cale sat as Kitty considered his white skin and the black circles and the stoop of his shoulders and the weight loss.
‘I could get these gentlemen to chastise it out of you.’
‘You’re going to need more than what I tell you. You’re going to need proof. And I haven’t brought that with me. Let them go.’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘You’ll still have me. Nobody knows who the two boys are. Killing them won’t send much of a message. But my death would send a signal. Not right?’
‘You’re offering to sacrifice yourself for your friends? I’d thought better of you.’
‘I intend to walk out of here. I’m just pointing out that you can afford to let them go if you’ve got me.’
Kitty considered but not for long.