He tasted the stew. “Damn you, Edain, you actually made me hungry as hell with that description and now I have to eat this.”
Rudi chewed and swallowed. It was. . fuel, slightly enlivened by the chilies some camp cook had dropped in to disguise the fact that the contributing sheep had probably died of old age. He’d eaten much worse, and the tortillas were even palatable when fresh; he rolled one, dipped it in the stew to spoon some up, and took a bite before he spoke:
“Matti fights from duty and necessity. Virginia actually likes it. The fighting, I should be saying, not the killing as such, though to be frank she also minds that less than you or I.”
“Yeah,” Fred acknowledged. “And she’s got a powerful hate on for the Cutters, and just between me and thee, Rudi, sometimes she doesn’t grasp the difference between leading a country and owning a ranch, not deep down. At least this way she’s got a chance to get to know Mom and my sisters better. And Mom will do anything she has to with a grandchild to protect, even keep Virginia in line.”
“And if Asgerd’s not blessed by the Mother-of-All yet, it’s not for want of trying on our part,” Edain said cheerfully. “And there’ll be time enough.”
Like Fred he’d met his wife on the Quest. Asgerd Karlsdottir had been born in what was once northern Maine, and was now the Kingdom of Norrheim. Edain had come away from their time there with a new wife. Fred had found a faith, one that spoke to his soul as his family’s nominal Methodism never had.
Rudi used the half-eaten tortilla to gesture. “Look you, we just took. . what, a tenth of Boise’s remaining strength this last hour? And without an arrow or swordstroke, and it was the fraction of it blocking our way at that. Took it from their line of battle and added it to ours.”
“Yeah,” Fred nodded, soberly. “I’ve got as many men as the junta has now, infantry at least, and mine want to fight. Or at least to get the job done so they can go back to their farms without worrying about the Cutters threatening their families.”
Rudi nodded, but it wasn’t completely a gesture of agreement. “I want to pick up the pieces without killing any more of your people. Corwin is the real enemy.”
“Damn right. It’s not their fault Martin screwed them over and got them on the CUT’s side.”
“True, but morals aside. . two things a king can never have enough of: one is money, and the other is good troops. And good soldiers will get you gold more often than gold will get you good soldiers, as my foster-father Sir Nigel is fond of saying. I want those men fighting for us.”
“But we have to hammer past Boise as fast as we can,” Fred said; he’d been trained in Boise’s staff schools, where playing devil’s advocate was a standard technique. “Before the passes are snowed in again and while there’s still grazing. Otherwise the League of Des Moines and the Canuks will get to Corwin before we do. And you. . we. . Montival. . don’t want that.”
“No, though the Lakota will be with them, and they’re part of Montival now, keeping our spoon in that stewpot across the Rockies. Also our allies may not get to Corwin this year, being naturally less eager than we; if they tie down the bulk of the Prophet’s men on the high plains, I’ll be satisfied. But when Corwin falls, the war is over bar the mopping up.”
“When being the operative word,” Fred observed dryly.
“Exactly. Fighting into next year means fields unplanted or unharvested, and there’s been too much of that already.”
“So. . ‘if it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly,’” Fred quoted.
Rudi nodded, barring his teeth in what was not quite a smile. That was from Macbeth, and that tale of ambition and treachery and death seasoned with ill-wreaking magic was all too apposite.
“The city of Boise itself. . that may be tricky. Your father built strong walls and gates.”
“Not if they’re opened from the inside.”
“That would be. . difficult.”
Fred hesitated, obviously reluctant. “There’s. . a way. Dad told me about it. I’m pretty certain that he told Martin, too. . but I don’t know who Martin told.”
“Ah, so?” Rudi said softly. “Now that is most interesting. If. . those Powers. . thought to ask him, he would have told. Told anything. But they have a weakness; they don’t like the world of matter. They might not have.”
“And anyway, the fortifications. . it’s the men that count, in the end. But the number of officers coming over to us is slowing down. Even though the writing’s on the wall.”
Rudi nodded grimly. “The Cutters can compel men’s minds, if given even the slightest opening. Notice how bitter Roberts was against the CUT? Somethin’ they did frightened him badly, and he’s a bold bad man. We need to bring as many waverers to our side as we can while they still own their own souls. That’ll be easiest if they’re facing you in particular rather than Montival in general, not least because they know the common soldiers will hesitate to fight their own. That may well have turned the Horse Heaven Hills fight in our favor.”
Fred mopped his bowl with a tortilla and chewed on it thoughtfully. When his mouth was clear:
“There are a lot of Cutter horse-archers still loose; if I run into them. . there’s nothing like some plate-armored lancers riding barded destriers on your flanks to give you peace of mind. Say what you like about the Associates, they can fight. I won’t be sorry to have the Grand Constable leading them either, she may not be the most charming person on earth-”
“An acquired taste, yet worth the effort.”
“-but she knows her trade and then some.”
“Very true indeed, and I’ll be glad when she’s back. But the propaganda the enemy is putting out paints me as lusting to divide Idaho into fiefs for my supporters and build castles on it, the way my black spalpeen of a dead father-in-law did with the lands he took in his day. . which admittedly was a great whacking amount of territory, which now sprouts noblemen and castles like toadstools after rain.”
“Yeah, if I ride in trailing a menie of armored Associate lancers with pennants streaming and gold spurs gleaming it’ll make that look sorta convincing,” Fred acknowledged. “Dad never slugged it out with Portland, but for a long time everyone expected that to happen, and there were some pretty bloody skirmishes before we split the Palouse with them. What’s your plan?”
“I’ll use them at need, but I’d like to keep the chivalry of the PPA in reserve as far as I can, until we’re east of Boise into lands where there’s no memory of the wars against the Association. Or of the days when Norman Arminger was the. . what was the phrase. . the big bad.”
Fred frowned. “I see your point. And they can be an arrogant bunch, and come across as even more arrogant than they are, to people who aren’t used to their, ah, ways. But from a strictly military point of view-”
“War is the means, Fred. Victory is the end, and that’s always about politics. We need to separate the remaining Boise troops in the field against us from the Cutters; the Grand Constable and the barons can trample them underhoof in finest feudal style with my hearty cheers. So I want air reconnaissance as far as Boise itself. For that we need good launching sites, say in those mountains southeast of here for a start-”
“The Seven Devils. Hmmm. There were old airstrips up there before the Change. . probably a lot of thermals and updrafts. . I suppose you want me to turn my field engineers loose on the approach roads? ’Cause I don’t have any glider squadrons to spare, to put it mildly. It’s harder for the Air Force to defect, oddly enough. As units, at least.”