“You know we’ll win, eventually,” said Square. “Because if we lose, Umbo will come back to this very meeting and give us the information that will let us make better decisions.”
“Only if he has the brains to stay here during the fight,” said Loaf, “so he doesn’t have to travel back here, possibly pursued by enemies, after a devastating defeat.”
Umbo merely shook his head.
“Umbo is right,” said Param. “He can’t stay here in the tent, far from any of the battle sites. How will he even know the outcome of the battle, or what went wrong, if he spends the whole battle here? If there’s anyone who can easily evade pursuit and return here to give warning, it’s Umbo.”
Umbo said nothing. Merely continued looking at the map.
“And just as importantly,” said Param, “Umbo is King-in-the-Tent. The soldiers need to see him with them. They love him and respect him, as a man, in ways they can’t respect me, a woman.”
Umbo glanced at her for a moment, then back down at the map. She could not read anything into his glance.
Silence around the table.
“It seems to me,” Param finally said, “that every possible battleground has drawbacks and advantages. Every possible battleground has ways of turning into disaster or triumph. Is that true?”
Olivenko was quick—too quick?—to agree. But after only a few moments, Loaf, Ramex, Ram, Rigg, and Square concurred.
She almost said, Then we could cast clay and choose our battleground by chance alone. But she stopped herself, because another possibility came to mind.
“It seems to me,” she said again, “that all our plans are essentially defensive in nature. Appear here, and fortify as we await their attack. Or appear there. Or there. Or in Aressa Sessamo. Or… is our army so bad that we can’t use it to attack them where they are?”
“Our troops are well trained,” said Loaf, “but training isn’t battle.”
“We don’t know what they’ll do, when men start to bleed,” said Rigg. “Our army isn’t composed of men who love battle. Only of men who hated Hagia’s and Haddamander’s rule, or who wanted to move their families out of danger. Not soldiers by choice or temperament.”
“But we do have a force of extraordinary fighters,” said Square.
“Are there enough of you to make a difference?” asked Ramex.
“You’re the one with the magnificent electronic brain,” said Square. “Work it out and advise us.”
“It is not possible to predict the outcome of battles with certainty,” said Ramex.
“So let’s have the first battle and see how things work out,” said Square. “And let’s have Rigg or Umbo take all my Vadeshfolders back to meet ourselves, so we can double our strength. And then quadruple it.”
“No more copying people,” said Rigg. “It’s a terrible thing and you shouldn’t put anyone else through it.”
“We won’t do it anymore after we win,” said Square. “You do what you must to win the war.”
“And what if all your facemasks come through alive?” asked Rigg. “Which ones are married to their wives? Which are now single men, who remember having wives and children, but have them no longer?”
“Let’s see how our first time through turns out,” said Loaf, “before we go copying anybody.”
“I think Queen Param’s proposal is a—”
“It wasn’t a proposal,” said Param quickly. “It was merely a question about the defensive versus the offensive.”
“I think Queen Param’s question is one whose answer we’ve taken for granted,” said Olivenko. “We should use our untrained troops on the defensive. But this may be a gross mistake. On the defensive, it is vital that the troops stand firm, give ground slowly, retreat in good order when necessary. Loaf and his sergeants have trained them wonderfully well, but when comrades fall beside you, war becomes a different thing—according to all the histories. And it’s easier to get ignorant green troops to charge than to stand against a charge.”
“There’s no doubt that we could achieve tactical surprise,” said Square.
“We can’t bring the whole army through at once,” said Rigg. “Not unless we have them all in one compact body, so they can all hold hands.”
“Bring everybody through in as many groups as you need,” said Square. “Just bring them all to the same moment.”
“That means Umbo would have to do it all,” said Rigg. “I can do that moving into the past, but only he has precision moving into the future.”
Everyone looked at Umbo.
“I assume you meant to say King Umbo,” said Param gently.
“He doesn’t have to call me that,” said Umbo softly.
“He must do it above all others,” said Param, “because he is as much heir to the Tent of Light as I am, and there are those who would prefer his claim. He must speak of King Umbo by his title and with all authority, so no one has any doubt that Rigg supports his claim and mine.”
Umbo shook his head. “Let’s not get off the topic again.”
“Olivenko,” said Loaf, “are you advocating that we make a new plan, to appear in the midst of their camp and slaughter them in their sleep?”
“Not in their sleep!” cried Param.
“Queen Param,” said Olivenko. “The goal is a victory so decisive the enemy can’t recover from it. If we can kill one man in five before he even gets his weapon, the battle is nearly won.”
“Except,” said Loaf, “if we appear throughout their camp, then what happens to the organization of our army?”
“A mess,” said Square. “Nobody knows which way to face. It becomes a melee, till the enemy forms a line somewhere.”
“Haddamander entrenches and walls up wherever he camps,” said Olivenko. “Attacking from the outside would be brutal.”
“And attacking from the inside would reduce us to chaos immediately,” said Loaf.
“And we’re back to every plan having risks and benefits.”
“Can’t we make a plan to organize and avoid chaos?” asked Param.
“Every soldier would have to know the whole plan,” said Loaf. “Never a good idea.”
“Why isn’t it a good idea?” said Umbo quietly.
Loaf shook his head. “The less the footsoldiers know of the plans of the commanders, the better.”
“Isn’t that so they can’t betray our plans to the enemy?” asked Rigg. “But if we appear all at once, in the midst of their camp, with every soldier knowing exactly what’s expected of him and where to form up as soon as his assignment is complete—there’s no time for any of our soldiers to be taken and spill our plans.”
Loaf nodded. “I can see that. I’ve had it ingrained in me that footsoldiers can never know more than their immediate assignment, but…”
“That’s all we’ll tell them anyway,” said Square. “How to cause maximum terror and destruction for about five minutes, then form back into a coherent unit before going off in pursuit of fleeing enemies.”
“You were actually paying attention when I lectured to you,” said Loaf approvingly.
“Now and then,” said Square, “when you’re saying something sensible.”
It was time, Param realized. “Now I will not ask a question. Now I’m making a decision. Let’s take a few days, a week, whatever you think we need, to train the men to engage in a surprise attack, then form back into units for the pursuit and destruction of the enemy.”
“And how to divide out small units to guard the prisoners. The ones who surrender.” Rigg looked around, as if daring anyone to contradict him. “Many of them will throw down their weapons and our goal is not slaughter, it’s destruction of the army. Capture is better than slaughter.”
“Unless it takes too many of our men to guard them.”