“All right,” Tarma said, leaning over the sand-table. She indicated the tokens that represented the enemy forces, tokens she had just put in place. “There’re the opposing forces. What have you got, Daren?”
He studied his tokens, cupped in the palm of his hand, and placed them carefully in the sand. “Five companies of foot, one of horse, one of specialists. In country like that, the horse is useless.” He placed a token with a painted horse’s head on it behind the “lines.” “I need another company of foot and two of specialists if I’m going to hold you off. Mountain fighters, irregulars, if I can get them.”
“Which means you hire. Kero, what have you got for him to hire?” Tarma leaned over the table, resting her weight on her hands, and watched Kerowyn through narrowed eyes.
She represented the Mercenary Guild and the free-swords. “According to the list you gave me, he can get what he wants, but he’s going to have to make some choices.” She studied the roster, and wondered what he was going to pick—and what his resources would bear. She didn’t know what he had to draw on; Tarma did, but while she was playing the enemy, she would pretend she didn’t know.
He studied his handful of papers again. “So, what are my options?” he asked her.
“First, there’s a full bonded Company of foot, they’re at-hire, and their base is within three days’ march of your position; you’ll have to send a messenger across the Border, though, so I hope your relations are good with King Warrl over there.” She grinned at the kyree, who was playing all the neutrals in this little game.
:I’ll think about it,: Warrl replied genially. :Depends on what nice present he sends me.:
Kero grinned; she knew Daren couldn’t hear the kyree, which made Warrl’s comments all the more amusing. Daren consulted his list again. “I can afford to send him a bribe of some fine beef-stud stock under pretense of a trade mission. That’s in my private holdings and won’t make me raise taxes.”
Warrl laid his ears back and looked hurt :Bribes? How crude. I don’t know ... well, I suppose I must, crude or not.: He stood on his hindlegs, put his forepaws on the edge of the table, and nudged the little flag that signified “clear passage.”
“Thanks, your majesty.” Daren studied his sheaf of papers with a frown on his face. “All right, I can pay for the foot Company with surplus in the treasury. So what about these irregular fighters?”
“That’s where you get the choice,” she told him. “You can either hire two more bonded Companies, you can hire one bonded Company and one free-lance, or you hire the free-lance Company and set up recruiting posts and hire enough free-lancers to put another temporary Company together. The bonded Company will work with the free-lance Company, but not with a put-together force. There’s more than enough of the individual freelancers in your area. Free-lancers would be cheaper, about half the cost of Companies the same size.” She looked up at him. “That’s the first time I recall Tarma giving us that option. She’s always had bonded Companies in the game, no free-lancers.”
“Quite true,” Tarma replied, nodding. “You’ve gotten used to those options. Time to spice up the game with a little more reality. By the time you need them, Daren, bonded Companies will usually have been hired by someone else.”
Daren pursed his lips. “Hmm. The treasury is getting mighty lean ... Tarma, what’s the difference between free-lancers and a bonded Company?”
“Free-lancers are just that: individual hire-swords. Some of them may have bought into a Company, some may be totally on their own. They’re cheaper because they haven’t posted bond with the Mercenary Guild.” She stood up, and Kero noticed her flinching a little.
Her joints must be hurting again. I keep forgetting how old she is. We’re going to have to start working out against each other more, now that the weather’s turned cold. Save our teacher for the things only she can teach us.
:Thank you,: Warrl said softly into her mind.
“Kero, did you say some of those free-lancers were a Company, or am I dealing entirely with individuals?” Daren asked. “I don’t want to hire individuals; it would take too much time to get them coordinated and I’d have to detail one of my own officers to command them. According to these notes, I don’t have that kind of time, and I don’t think I have an officer to spare. And besides, I know I remember you saying that the bonded Company won’t work with something just thrown together.”
Kero looked at the list again. “One Company, the rest on their own.”
Daren winced. “Well, I’ll be hiring one bonded Company, anyway. Now, what’s the difference between a free-lance Company and a bonded Company?”
Tarma licked her lips. “It’s easier to tell you what freelancers aren’t. A bonded Company has posted a pretty hefty bond with the Mercenary Guild, on top of the individual dues each hire-sword’s paid into the Guild. What that means is that they have to follow the Guild Mercenary Code. If they violate that code, the Guild pays the injured party damages, then takes it out of the bond. Then they take it out of the offending party’s hide, and they are not gentle, let me tell you! And if you violate your contract, the Guild will fine you, and you won’t be able to hire bonded fighters for at least a year. Maybe more, depending on the severity of the offense.”
“What’s this ‘Code,’ anyway?” Kero asked. “You’ve never mentioned that before. You’ve talked about the Guild code of conduct for individuals, but not a Company code.”
“It’s pretty simple. Whatever is in the terms of the contract is followed by both parties, to the letter. Bonded Companies do not pillage in the countryside of their employer, and pillage only in enemy territory with permission of the employer. That takes care of cutting your own throat in a civil war.” Tarma looked at both of them. “Can you figure out why?”
Kero was marginally quicker. “Easy; if you keep everybody on your side from looting, the locals are going to come over to you, and that’s going to make big problems for the opposition if they aren’t doing the same.”
“Good. And really, what’s the point of wrecking your own tax base? All right; if a bonded Company or one of its members surrenders, they are permitted to leave the battlefield unmolested and report to a neutral point. They’ll get ransomed by the Guild; that’s why the individual members pay their dues every year. You know about the individual Code, so I won’t go into that.” Tarma leaned against the sand-table. “They won’t switch sides in mid-contract, they won’t follow a mutiny against their employer, they won’t fight a suicide-cause, but they’ll do their damnedest to get their employer out of a bad situation in one piece. Because of the twin Codes, bonded Companies are more reliable and trustworthy than unbonded. That’s why they’re expensive.”
Daren examined the table again. “I’ve got a bad situation here. I think maybe I’d better take out a loan, or go find a buyer for some Crown properties and go the distance for two bonded Companies.”
“What would you do if I set up the situation like this?” Tarma moved two of her counters away and placed them farther along the Border.
Daren studied the table again. “Hire one bonded and one free-lance, and see if I couldn’t negotiate with my neutral neighbor to take a stand. Those two Companies are threatening his territory, too.”