"What about it?"
"Close up, sire, you can see they repaired the wall with brick, not stone. It was too tall for me to reach, but appears as if there was some damage to the wall many winters ago. There are lots of weather cracks in the plaster and they may have allowed water to get behind and weaken the joints of the stone in back."
"Good going, Colonel. Tell Colonel Catos it is my command to bring the batteries into position, using that patch as his target. Tell him to move his guns as close to the walls as possible. I think a half-march away would be just about right. That will keep his gunners out of effective crossbow range. At the first sign of return fire, have his men take out any guns the Greffans fire out of the towers or on the battlements. We don't want to encourage return fire. We'll put snipers on both flanks to ensure their cross-bowmen stay out of the fray."
"I don't think they have any guns small enough to move, Your Majesty. Most of them are the older style hooped-guns that shoot stones or iron balls."
"Don't count on it. They have plenty of time to move anything they want to. It's our job to keep their guns as quiet as possible so our gunners can concentrate on taking out that wall."
Kalvan turned to Verkan as Colonel Nathros wheeled his horse. "Verkan, why in Dralm's name would they use brick to repair their walls?"
Verkan laughed and rubbing his thumb and fingers together in a motion that appeared to have crossed all cultural lines. "Theovacar's father and grandfather were noted for their tight purses. Besides, the walls are too strong for the barbarians' primitive catapults and stone slingers. These walls have never known the kiss of fireseed. They will pay for their foolishness now."
Kalvan grinned. "Even if their folly only saves us a few days, it will grant us that much more of a time advantage on our return to Thagnor. As a wise man once said, 'Ordinary people think merely of spending time. Great people think of using it.'"
III
Great King Lysandros stood atop the inner keep of Vert-Baltor, the highest point in Baltor Town, surveying his latest conquest. Bodies of slain Baltori soldiers lay scattered across the tower top, some hanging between the crenellations of the tower walls with their helmets askew. Plumes of black and gray smoke rose from burning buildings and temples to join the dark clouds hovering above the town. The air was filled with the smells of burnt fireseed, singed flesh and burning wood. Here and there he could see tiny pockets of horsemen in their red and yellow Harphaxi colors searching out the last resisters.
Baltor Town had been sacked and the survivors had been chased out of town by the Zarthani Knights. They had left on foot, by mule, on horseback and by carriage, for those few who could afford such luxuries. The Baltori refugees had been joined by fifty thousand or more Nythrosi civilians run out of Nythros City when the Grand Host of Styphon left. It was a human wave rising up to wash over Thagnor City, which was already filled to the bursting point with hundreds of thousands of Hostigi and the surviving Thagnori.
Let Kalvan feed his neighbors and the siege of Thagnor City will be that much shorter. He laughed out loud.
"What is it, Your Majesty?" Captain-General Demnos asked.
"I was just thinking of the consternation in Thagnor when some eighty thousand to a hundred thousand outlanders suddenly appear at their gates."
"The Usurper Kalvan prides himself on his kindness and fairness to friends and those in need. Even his enemies, when he can afford such. It is a good strategy, although it may also provide him with a few thousand more recruits for his Army."
"Gun fodder, for the most part," Lysandros said with a smile. "We ripped through the Baltori army like a knife blade through a sow's belly!"
"True, sire. But we did outnumber their army ten to one and fought with better arms, as well as fireseed weapons, rather than crossbows."
"Truth, Demnos, and we destroyed the Army of Baltor totally. They no longer exist as a disciplined force. Their dead lay strewn in piles by the hundreds behind their town walls. Kalvan is welcome to their deserters and wounded; if he can make soldiers of that defeated rabble, then he truly is the son of Galzar, not Dralm!"
Demnos hastily circled his scorched and dented breastplate. "It is not wise to jest at the gods' expense, Your Majesty."
"Faagh on all the gods. They are all creations of the greedy priests who wish to tax us so they may live without toil or work. Styphon's House being the worst of the lot!"
"Your Majesty, the very stones have ears even here in this gods-forsaken land of ice and misery."
"You're right, old friend. You are the only man I can trust in this entire Host. But I am weary of the jabber of old women and cowards who hide behind priestly robes. Someday, and may the gods hear my words, I will take an army and burn that foul nest in Balph right down to the foundation stones!"
Demnos forehead wrinkled. "Please Your Majesty, watch your tongue before we are overheard. Even our own men will betray us for Styphon's gold."
Lysandros, still high on bloodlust, took possession of his thoughts. "Speaking of treasure, we must have taken a hundred thousand ounces of gold and five times that amount of silver! And Baltor was poor pickings compared to Nythros. By Yirtta's dugs, these Middle Kingdom treasuries hold more gold than that held by all five Great Kings! I wonder how much gold the Morthron Treasury might yield?"
"I fear that is only for the Morthroni and their gods to know," Demnos answered. "They are the allies of Grefftscharr and as such untouchable."
"For now," Lysandros replied, with a grim smile. "The Morthroni have already been more trouble than they're worth. Prince Eythart squawked to the Sky-Palaces of the Gods when he learned of our plans to push the refugees through his Princedom. I almost wish he would have refused us passage. Maybe we will sack Morthron Town after we demolish Thagnor City. Our alliance will Grefftscharr will be of no further benefit once the Usurper is dead. It would be a short siege, I believe, and most profitable."
Demnos laughed. "Yes, and let Theovacar cry into his beard!"
"He will not forget the Grand Host, by Galzar! I wonder if the legends about the Treasury of Grefftscharr are true?"
"We do not have the supplies and support to besiege Greffa City," Demnos said, "although it is a tempting morsel."
"If Thagnor falls quickly, we may have time to make a slight diversion into Grefftscharr. "With all the gold in Greffa City in my coffers, all my troubles would be over. Regardless, we will take enough gold from Thagnor to fill several wagons."
Demnos nodded. "Is it fair that most of this gold will find its way to the Great Treasury of Balph?"
"Not by my leave. I swear by Galzar we will not leave this miserable land without half of all the gold we have collected."
"But, Your Majesty, Styphon's House will never release it to you."
"Even though it was won by Our leadership? Are We not strong enough to take what is Ours? But enough of these questions, we need to celebrate this victory! Small as it is. Do you know of any taverns that haven't been burned to the floor boards?"
Demnos nodded. "I put men to guard over one such for our use, sire. It has a picture of a one-eyed bull and a bunch of scribbles in their foreign tongue."
They wound their way down the tower passageway and through the old castle until they were back in the streets of the city, where they picked up a squad of silvered guardsmen. The stench of death and smoke was overwhelming and Lysandros was glad that the wine shop was only a block away. Drunken soldiers careened through the narrow streets, some carrying booty, others dragging young girls. Most of the older women had been released or killed by their rapists.