“Unless Umbo is killed,” said Rigg.
“Well, he can’t be,” said Olivenko. “He has to stay in a protected location.”
“If I’m in a protected location, how will I know how the battle went?” said Umbo.
“Not a protected location,” said Param. “He and I will be in the midst of everything, but slicing time so that we’re invisible. If we lose, I slice us forward even faster till it’s all done, and then we go to the place where he can warn himself what’s about to go wrong.”
“And then you continue to live in that future where you lost,” said Ram Odin.
“No,” said Loaf. “Maybe a version of her will, but she will definitely be with us when we get Umbo’s warning, and so the real Queen Param Sessamin will always come through in fine shape. Look, I must have been beaten up, arrested, probably killed dozens of times, judging from Umbo’s warnings. But here I am. If there are versions of me living out a very terrible life to the bitter end, I don’t know about it because those versions of reality don’t exist anymore.”
Param laughed cynically. “Is the same thing true of the end of life on Garden? If Noxon succeeds in figuring out why the Destroyers come from Earth, and stops them, does that mean that only one version of the future has a happy ending, but there are still dozens of versions in which everybody dies?”
“I don’t know,” said Loaf, “and I don’t care. Because I’ll be living in the one where Noxon saved the world. Just as I’ll be living in the version of history in which the Rebel King Umbo and the rightful Queen Param Sessamin prevailed over the pretender King Haddamander and the Mad Killer Queen Hagia Sessaminiak.”
“Sessaminiak,” said Param. It was the title of a Sessamid ruler who was rightfully deposed because of crimes or madness. It had happened only a few times, and in each case the Sessaminiak former King- or Queen-in-the-Tent was killed in a gruesome, lingering way.
“We don’t have to treat your mother the way the other Sessaminiaks were treated,” said Olivenko.
“Yes we do,” said Loaf. “Or the people will think she deserved leniency, in which case, why was she deposed? Or they might think that somehow her life was saved and you’ll be facing pretenders for the rest of your lives, and your children after you. There’s a reason for ruthlessness in the business of government and war. But don’t worry, Param. You won’t have to do it yourself.”
“I will stand and watch whatever is done,” said Param. “Or I’m not worthy to be Queen-in-the-Tent.”
“This whole royalty business is the crappiest job I can imagine,” said Umbo.
“The job of captured Rebel King is much worse,” said Loaf. “And the job of Param’s husband might be pretty good.”
To Rigg’s surprise, Param reached out and took Umbo’s hand. Apparently something like real affection had grown between them while he was gone. That was good. But it was also sad. Because so much could still go wrong, and one of them might easily die. The more they loved each other, the harder it would be to bear.
Or maybe not. Maybe it would make everything better, for one to lose the other knowing there was a strong bond of love between them. Rigg had never loved anyone that way. Except his love for Father. It had nearly destroyed him to lose Father. Even though it turned out to be a lie, it was real enough for at least a year, before Vadeshex met them beyond the Wall and told them that Father was only a machine called Ramex.
It’s better to lose someone you love, thought Rigg, than to have no one to lose.
“I think,” said Loaf, “that it’s about time we heard the other plan.”
“What?” asked Umbo.
“Olivenko said he came with two plans. He told this one first because in the future you saw, it seems to be the plan we chose. But there’s another plan.”
“It’s simple enough,” said Olivenko. “We still build the enclave. We still gather soldiers from the time when Haddamander’s oppression does the recruiting for us. We still bring their families with them. We go ten years into the past and build up supplies and an arsenal and we train the soldiers into a superb fighting force. But we give not a breath of a hint of where we are or who we are or what we’re doing. People disappear, but nobody knows where they’ve gone, and there’s not a single raid. Then one day an army appears out of nowhere, and Haddamander is completely unprepared and he’s destroyed in a single shocking battle.”
“Yes!” cried Param. “I choose that one!”
“No you don’t,” said Loaf, “and Olivenko knows why.”
Everyone turned to Olivenko, who shrugged. “I said that we train the soldiers into a superb fighting force. But of course that’s not possible. You can train them to be athletically robust, but if that battle against Haddamander’s soldiers is the first time our men see combat, chances are very good that they’ll break and run at the first sign of blood.”
“But the training,” said Param.
“Training doesn’t prepare you for the man standing in front of you trying to kill you,” said Loaf. “It doesn’t prepare you for the arrows hailing down on you and there’s nowhere to hide but you have to stand your ground or the battle is lost before it begins.”
“So we go back and try again,” said Param.
“That only works if your army is already hardened and experienced. If the only problem was a failure of tactics or strategy, and by changing that, using the same soldiers, you can change the outcome. But if the problem is the soldiers themselves, then the warnings don’t work. They won’t remember the battle they lost. It will still be the first time they face an enemy.”
“But will the raids really prepare them?” asked Rigg.
“Yes,” said Loaf. “I’ve led men in battle. They don’t have to have fought a huge army. They just have to have fought somebody. They have to know what it means to stand their ground, to fight loyally beside their comrades. To depend on each other. And to win.”
“So there will be killing in the raids,” said Rigg.
“There’ll be fighting,” said Loaf. “That’s all we need. Yes, a few will die—with luck, only the enemy. But we’ll train our men not to charge in and slaughter the enemy. We’ll train them to disarm captives and control them. We’ll train them for as bloodless a victory as possible. Out of those defeated, demoralized soldiers, we might find many recruits for our own cause. But yes, if they face soldiers who stand and fight, then our men will have to kill them until the rest of them stop fighting. Or nobody’s standing.” Loaf looked around at the others, as if the fierceness of his gaze would convince them.
Olivenko was nodding. “Loaf has fought in war. I never have. But I’ve read about battles till I nearly went blind, and it’s the simple truth. Training is essential, but it’s not enough. You have to blood your soldiers. Maybe not all of them, but enough to hold the fabric together on the battlefield. Things don’t always go your way, even if you achieve surprise. There has to be a cadre that will stand their ground, someone that the others can rally around. That brave cadre is never composed of green troops. It’s always composed of tough veterans.”
“So the raids are to gather supplies and weapons and demoralize the enemy,” said Param. “But they’re also to turn some of our soldiers into those tough veterans.”
“Then there’s no choice at all,” said Umbo.
“There’s a choice,” said Olivenko. “If we take the second path—a green army that appears out of nowhere—I think we have a good chance of winning. Better than even odds. But Haddamander’s soldiers have experience—even if it’s only terrorizing villagers or beating down pathetic village revolts. They’ll know the sight of blood. And they’ll know the terrible things they’ve done, so they’ll believe that their enemy will have no mercy on them if they lose. There’s a chance they’ll have the cadre of veterans that the rest of the army rallies around. I give them one chance in three of winning.”