He replaces it in the box and sits down at the table desk. His eyes go to the narrow window and the gray day outside. He had wondered if he were the only one thinking about the failure of the chaos-towers. He was not, it is more than clear; yet for all the concerns, only Inylt appears to consider what might be workable alternatives.
Lorn fingers his chin. Or is Inylt simply more direct? Information can be power. Yet information of that sort becomes useless if it does not lead to a solution, and those who hoard such information for personal gain may rule or command the forces of a failing land. He shakes his head. That is not quite accurate, either.
Again…again…he has much to learn, and he fears he has less time in which to learn it than it once seemed.
XCIV
Sitting at his table desk, the afternoon sun pouring through the narrow window, Lorn holds the rough list of possible options for dealing with the Jeranyi. Somehow, matters seem less clear when viewed from Mirror Lancer Court than they had from his outpost at Inividra. There, he had only had to worry about keeping casualties low, killing the Jeranyi raiders, and seizing blades and other weapons to reduce the Jeranyi ability to attack Cyador.
He takes a deep breath and looks down at what he has written.
Under the first option, the Mirror Lancers can take the port city of Jera and establish an outpost there. That will require at least ten companies, plus a heavily-walled compound and regular shipments of supplies and provisions. It will probably require periodic raids or sweeps of the surrounding countryside, and the policing of any and all traders and goods shipped into the city. In effect, it would also transfer many of the casualties from the Mirror Lancers in and around the Grass Hills to those in Jera, and it will cost more golds than the other options. Over time it is possible that Jera could become part of Cyador, and that might lower costs and the numbers of lancers required, but not for many years. Still, the first option will probably have the lowest total number of casualties for the Mirror Lancers.
Under the second option, the Mirror Lancers can request that a magus use a chaos-glass to keep track of the ships going in and out of Jera, and conduct periodic raids…or attempt to board or sink vessels which bring weapons.
Lorn shakes his head. Although the golds required are probably less, that option is unworkable, not without a warship permanently stationed in Biehl and tasked only to patrol that section of the Northern Ocean. With the number of fireships dwindling rapidly, stationing one in the north all the time is highly unlikely. Lorn also doubts that any of the Magi’i would relish or handle the task in the detail necessary, but that is something best not put to ink.
The third option would be to continue what the Mirror Lancers have been doing-at least before the current year, and Lorn’s raid. Even with more innovative patrolling, with multiple-company patrols and more lancers, over time casualties will increase, especially after the firelances fail.
Lorn glances at the stack of reports filling most of the top shelf of the bookcase set against the inner wall. He has read them all and gathered the numbers. In the previous year, from turn of spring to turn of spring, the Mirror Lancers in the compounds and outposts along the Grass Hills had lost nearly fortyscore lancers and twoscore undercaptains and captains. Those figures did not include the casualties who had recovered to fight again. Ten years earlier the numbers had been half that. The figures will go down for the current year, even with his own loss of two officers and more than a company of lancers, but they will not stay down for long unless something changes.
What about more raids into Jeranyi territory? As a fourth option?
Lorn fingers his chin. It is one thing to conduct a single campaign to stop the flow of blades and to deliver a message. It is another to keep raiding another land, for if he recommends that, how is he any different from them? Another consideration is that Mirror Lancer casualties will rise on such raids if they come more often because the Mirror Lancers will lose the advantage of surprise and the Jeranyi will expect such campaigns and will be far more prepared.
He shakes his head. The strategic plan requested by the Majer-Commander is looking more and more difficult…and he has yet to consider the operational, logistical, and tactical considerations of any of the options.
He massages his forehead, then looks blankly toward the half-open window.
XCV
Lorn’s rapier seems to flicker, weaving a wall between him and Tyrsal, as the shorter redhead dances away from the young majer.
“Enough!” Tyrsal jumps back, not lowering his blade for several moments.
Lorn lowers his practice rapier immediately, glancing toward the pair of older majers who continue to practice at the far side of the hall.
Tyrsal also lowers his practice blade and wipes his forehead with the back of the sleeve of his padded practice tunic. “There’s no point to this. Even with you blindfolded and left-handed, I’d still get skewered. You can sense where you are better than most first-level adepts.”
“Me? No.” Lorn shakes his head.
“I’m not blind, my friend,” says the second-level adept wearily. “You had your eyes closed on that last round. You were relying on your chaos-senses, not your eyes.”
“I can’t hide that from you, I see.” Lorn grins.
“Most wouldn’t notice-except maybe Rustyl or the three top Magi’i. They wouldn’t expect it from a senior lancer.”
“I’m not that senior.”
Tyrsal sighs, loudly. “Lorn, I can count. There are perhaps a score-and-a-quarter outposts across Cyador that require majers. There are less than a half score that require commanders outside of Cyad.”
“How do you know that?”
“All I had to do was list all the places where lancers go, and see roughly how big they are.” Tyrsal shrugs. “Then I asked a few questions and listened. I might be off by a bit, but that’s not my point. From what I can tell, there are less than threescore Mirror Lancer officers who are majers and commanders. There could be less than that. That makes you a senior officer, like a first-level adept in the Magi’i.”
“So why don’t I feel so senior?” asks Lorn with a laugh. “I’m like the wood panels on the wall. Everyone knows they’re there, but no one pays much attention.”
“That’s because,” Tyrsal says, half-dramatically, “you’ve been able to act before, without having to persuade everyone. If you figured out how to fight the Accursed Forest better, everyone was happy…”
Lorn can recall a few officers who were not, but he continues to listen.
“…and when you found out how to stop the Jeranyi raids, you only had to kill Dett, who deserved it years before, anyway, to get the Majer-Commander to listen. But you were doing what you were ordered to do-if in a different way. Now…you assist someone who makes the decisions, and no one asks for your advice, and no one gives you any real actions to take.” The redheaded magus laughs. “So you ask me to spar and take it out on me.”
“I’m sorry.”
Tyrsal shifts his weight as he walks toward the rack that holds the practice weapons. “I’m going to have bruises on my bruises. That’s what I get for sparring with a professional.” He grins. “You’d do better against other lancers.”
Lorn shakes his head. “You’re better than most of them.”
After racking his practice blade, Tyrsal looks long at Lorn. “You’re honestly telling the truth. You are.” He shakes his head. “No wonder so many fear you.”
In turn, Lorn racks his blade and pauses. “You’re good with truth-reading, aren’t you?”
The redheaded magus nods, then grins almost boyishly. “Why?”
Lorn shakes his head, mimicking Tyrsal’s abrupt gesture. “No wonder they keep you away from the senior Magi’i.” He grins in return.