"In harsh times Devedians have to make themselves particularly valuable. It's obvious how this war will end. A Chaldarean triumph is coming. We will work to make that happen more quickly and easily in order to lessen the cost to our people."

Drocker nodded. "Good answer." He started to say something else. A coughing spell took hold.

Drocker could not end it. "Hecht!" he managed to gasp, the remnants of his face ferociously red. "Deal with these people. Look sharp. Don't let them skin you. They'll be singing the same song in the courts of Calzir. And be ready to march." He hacked all the while, and continued to cough after he left.

Gledius Stewpo emerged from the shadows. He was pale. He gasped for breath. He wanted to say something but Ghort was still there, not yet finished trying to be too small for a Special Office sorcerer to notice. Stewpo asked, "Did anyone see any blood? He didn't spit in here, did he?"

"No," Else replied. "Why?"

"There's an ugly new disease that starts with coughing up blood. It came west along the Silk Road."

"Sounded like pneumonia to me," Ghort said.

"You were awful quiet," Else observed.

"I didn't have anything to say."

"That would be a first. You. Dwarf. Drocker got me wondering. Why should I believe that you won't lead me into a trap?"

t.i.tus Consent stepped in. "You heard. There's only one possible outcome for this war. The Emperor and Patriarch will win. Our plan has always been to save our people as much pain as we can. That means establishing ourselves as reliable members of the winning team." He made sounds that electrified the Calziran Deves.

They produced maps. Not just one or two but maps by the score. Large-scale maps, small-scale maps, maps reeking intimate detail. Maps that told Else almost everything he wanted to know about the terrain the city regiment had to cross and what it would find as it approached al-Khazen.

"You happy, Pipe?" Ghort asked, surfacing a couple hours later.

"I'm ecstatic. It's my wedding night. Dwarf, this is pure gold. Sorry the paranoia got hold of me, there. Pinkus, we need to get the whole staff onto these. t.i.tus. I understand you have a marching plan for the road south."

"There's a logistical skeleton in place, Colonel. Our circ.u.mstances make it hard to do detailed planning."

"That's fine. A skeleton is all we need."

Ghort said, "A skeleton is more than we usually have. Pipe, this kid is f.u.c.king awesome. Just f.u.c.king awesome."

"You're embarra.s.sing him. And tomorrow he'll ask for more money."

Stewpo interjected, "You plan to stay up all night fiddling with this? Those of us who aren't well known need to get out of sight. Especially these two. There's no reason to believe there aren't other Calziran spies around."

"Pinkus, make these guys disappear. And think up a way to explain them if anybody asks."

"I'll keep track of who asks, too."

"Good thinking. I'll be here making love to these maps." What he wanted desperately, though, was to see if Polo had a bed ready.

t.i.tus Consent stayed when Ghort spirited the other Deves away. "I'm staff. n.o.body will wonder about me."

"You're awfully confident and competent for someone so young."

"I'm a special case. They've trained me and brought me along since I was five."

"To be some kind of messiah?"

"Nothing so pretentious. Just somebody who can take charge if Devedian fortunes flop into a cesspool. Which they do with distressing frequency."

"I should make suspicious noises. But I'm too tired." Else wanted no one guessing how abidingly suspicious he was already.

Consent observed, "I'm sure Stewpo explained the fallacy underlying that concept."

"He did?"

"He didn't tell you that Devedians are so ambitious, jealous, petty, and backbiting that the only Deve conspiracy with any hope of success can't involve more than two people?"

"That would mean that three of the five of you who were just in here will put the screws to the rest."

"It's more a parable sort of thing."

"It doesn't matter. I do believe your tribe will help me."

"You have doubts."

"Not doubts, exactly. I know what you're doing. And why. I can't condemn you for it. But now I wonder where you fit with the Emperor added to the mix. He's never shown much animosity toward your people. And he's a devoted enemy of Sublime. Who hasn't lost his hope of seeing your race exterminated."

"That level of policy is beyond a pup like me. My job is to do what I can to make sure the regiment operates successfully."

Pinkus Ghort returned. "All taken care of, Pipe. What do you think? Scheme? Or surrender to the soldier's favorite wh.o.r.e and get some sleep?"

"The wh.o.r.e can wait I won't pa.s.s out for another hour. Why don't we separate the possible from the impossible and eliminate the wishful thinking of the fools who believe in their G.o.d-given right to tell us what to do. Maybe we can amaze the world."

"You need to calm your a.s.s down. t.i.tus. Tell him. Three sorcerers at al-Khazen, Pipe. One of them a bigger bugf.u.c.ker than the a.s.sholes who kicked the snot out of you in Brothe."

"Captain Ghort puts it crudely, but he's right. Three Sorcerers. Worth consideration, Colonel."

"You're right. We have to take them into account They'll be waiting for us. Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with that sort of thing. Do you, Pinkus?"

"Zip. I make a point of avoiding that kind of s.h.i.t. Which ain't so hard 'cause it seems like it's mainly a Praman kind of problem."

Else noted a subtle shift in Consent's stance. t.i.tus knew about Sonsa, then. What else had Stewpo pa.s.sed along? Too many people knew too much about Else Tage. "The Special Office is a Praman problem?"

Ghort snorted, "Oh, h.e.l.l yes! I bet you can't find a bigger carbuncle on h.e.l.lalawhosis's a.s.s."

"Maybe. But that isn't really the point We need to figure out what to do about the ones at al-Khazen."

"Not really."

"What?"

"I just realized, we don't need to worry about s.h.i.t, Pipe. On account of, Grade Drocker is gonna tell us what to do."

t.i.tus Consent said, "A solid point Colonel. We won't be in charge."

"Wrong. I'll..."

Ghort said, "Pipe, stop for a while. Get your a.s.s to sleep. Let's worry about s.h.i.t after they tell us how much of it they want us to eat."

THE CITY REGIMENT ENTERED CALZIR ON A DAY CONSIDERED holy by all four religions claiming the Holy Lands as home. A coincidence. The calendars coincided only once each fifty-six years.

Hard little knots of ice whipped around, stinging cheeks. It was winter. Winter in a land with an old reputation for winter cruelty. The land presented a cold and barren face. Otherwise, Calzir's defenses were fantasies. They were the imaginings of adolescents. Despite examples brutally made earlier, every lesser n.o.ble or warlord encountered proved willing to swear allegiance to almost any name put before them. Many expressed a willingness to convert if they could retain their livings.

Ghort observed, "They'll change back if things turn to s.h.i.t down south."

There was little south left. The coast lay just eighty miles beyond Pateni Persus.

Else nodded. "You notice that there aren't many people around?"

"Yep. And I don't think they're all hiding in the hills. They ran off to al-Khazen. They think the sorcerers can protect them."

"Maybe they will."

Else dealt with local chieftains by accepting oaths, taking hostages, and extracting supplies. He took his time. Grade Drocker did not hurry him. Drocker wanted more information about the enemy, too.

Else also hoped to find out what other columns were doing. The Emperor was supposed to get very busy throughout eastern Calzir.

Else asked, "That black crow still with us?" He meant Drocker. A Brotherhood force of four hundred was on the same road, behind the city regiment, but the commander of all Patriarchal crusaders insisted on traveling with the Brothen force.

"I keep hoping. But every time I drop back to check the rear, there he is. With his little flock. You got to give the f.u.c.ker credit for determination."

Else did. He was glad that there were not many crusaders like the Special Office sorcerer.

"You think he's prescient?"

"He's who? Keep the words small enough for a country boy to handle, Pipe."

"Can he read the future?"

"Like an astrologer, or something?"

"Exactly like that."

"I don't know. Why?"

"I was wondering if that might not be why he's sticking close. Maybe he sees us stumbling into something and wants to be here when it happens."

"s.h.i.t You're getting scary, Pipe. How about you stop thinking so much about all the bad s.h.i.t that can happen. Think about us finding a h.o.a.rd of Praman gold we can steal and use to buy us a villa stocked with a troop of eager wh.o.r.es."

"I have a woman."

"You can suck the fricking joy out of any dream, can't you?"

"You may be right. I become overly narrow, practical, and literal sometimes."

"Sometimes. You do tend to be." Sarcastically.

"Bad upbringing."

"Your whole family the same way?"

"Pretty much." There had been no frivolity in the Vibrant Spring School.

Seen through a western eye, all al-Prama took everything too seriously.

THE VEDETTES OUT FRONT MISSED THE CALZIRAN HORs.e.m.e.n hidden in a brushy valley to the left of the line of march. The scouts were overconfident and lazy, not to mention disinclined to range afar in the cold. The vanguard behind paid the price.

The van consisted of young hors.e.m.e.n from the Five Families. They were in constant compet.i.tion. They did not want to embarra.s.s their families in front of their rivals. They did not run. The attackers, no professionals themselves, broke off when help came up from farther back.

Grade Drocker arrived as Else walked over the b.l.o.o.d.y snow. The sorcerer announced, "They were Calziran hors.e.m.e.n. Inexperienced. But trained and led by Dreangerean Sha-lug."

Else agreed. But not out loud. Piper Hecht would not know that "s.h.i.t," Ghort said. Do we know what they had for breakfast?"

Yes, Else thought. Most likely. But he just tried to look eager to learn from a man who had fought Pramans before.

Drocker's health remained fragile. He could not shake that cough, though the blood Gledius Stewpo feared had yet to show in his spittle.

Drocker was not inclined to teach. Nevertheless, he did explain, "The attack was cla.s.sic Sha-lug. From ambush. On an exposed flank. All out, with saddle bow and javelin. But true Sha-lug would not have fled so soon."

"A useful lesson," Else said. "Pinkus, see to the dead and wounded. I need to have a few words with whoever was in charge of the scouts."

"That would be Stefango Benedocto."

Drocker tagged along behind Else. Stefango Benedocto turned out to be the son of a cousin of Honario Benedocto. He believed the tie would avert his commander's wrath. It did. There were practical limits that Else had to accept.

Grade Drocker killed the man. Without a word. In front of a hundred witnesses, some of them Benedocto. By sorcery, using a spell that made Benedocto's brain leak out through his eyes and ears. Drocker men announced, "The Special Office doesn't care who your uncle is."

"Another valuable lesson, Pipe," Pinkus Ghort said when he heard about the incident. "That should do wonders for morale." This once he was not being sarcastic.

Soon afterward Else learned that Drocker was no longer with the regiment.

Ghort said, "He just hung around until somebody gave him an excuse to make his point."

"That would be my guess."

"It worked. Even the most useless of these a.s.sholes are beginning to realize that this business is as serious as a hot poker up the s.h.i.t chute."

"It won't last."

"Now you got to be the pollyanna and always look on the bright side?"

"You're not going to be happy with me no matter what, are you?"

"Ain't that my job?"