Thus they stood around the table, around the map, contemplating various potential battlegrounds. South of General Haddamander’s main army was a place where the ground would favor Param’s army—but, as both Loaf and Olivenko pointed out, victory would leave them no better off than before, since Haddamander would still be between their army and the capital. But if they simply took possession of the capital, it would be an easy matter for Haddamander to besiege them, leaving her to feed hundreds of thousands of citizens as well as her army.
“We could do it,” said Rigg. “The way we feed our army now—by making purchases in the past.”
“We’re already buying up surpluses from five hundred years ago,” said Ramex. “Not that there aren’t plenty of other good years to buy from. But every purchase of grain improves the past economy, which changes history.”
They didn’t want to do that. Couldn’t afford to find themselves facing a much more popular or powerful enemy than Haddamander as the general of Hagia’s army. What if they changed history so the Sessamoto Empire was much better governed? So there had never been a People’s Revolution? So that Haddamander was, not the scion of a persecuted noble family, but the pampered, celebrated son of a great house? Might he not have been married to Hagia in the first place, instead of Rigg’s and Param’s own father? Just how much could they meddle in the past without causing vast, confusing changes?
Yet they had to feed their army—and, if their army suddenly appeared in the streets of Aressa Sessamo, all the citizens of the city as well.
What they needed was a quick, decisive, irresistible victory. Param had expected Rigg to argue against something so violent, but he surprised her. “I know you think I’m a pacifist of some sort,” said Rigg, “but that isn’t so. What will save the most lives is to have a quick, brutal, thorough victory, so the war ends with the one battle.”
“True,” said Loaf. “No matter which side wins, a decisive battle would definitely shorten the war.”
“I’d like us to win,” said Olivenko.
“You know we’ll win, eventually,” said Square. “Because if we lose, Umbo will come back to this very meeting and give us the information that will let us make better decisions.”
“Only if he has the brains to stay here during the fight,” said Loaf, “so he doesn’t have to travel back here, possibly pursued by enemies, after a devastating defeat.”
Umbo merely shook his head.
“Umbo is right,” said Param. “He can’t stay here in the tent, far from any of the battle sites. How will he even know the outcome of the battle, or what went wrong, if he spends the whole battle here? If there’s anyone who can easily evade pursuit and return here to give warning, it’s Umbo.”
Umbo said nothing. Merely continued looking at the map.
“And just as importantly,” said Param, “Umbo is King-in-the-Tent. The soldiers need to see him with them. They love him and respect him, as a man, in ways they can’t respect me, a woman.”
Umbo glanced at her for a moment, then back down at the map. She could not read anything into his glance.
Silence around the table.
“It seems to me,” Param finally said, “that every possible battleground has drawbacks and advantages. Every possible battleground has ways of turning into disaster or triumph. Is that true?”
Olivenko was quick—too quick?—to agree. But after only a few moments, Loaf, Ramex, Ram, Rigg, and Square concurred.
She almost said, Then we could cast clay and choose our battleground by chance alone. But she stopped herself, because another possibility came to mind.
“It seems to me,” she said again, “that all our plans are essentially defensive in nature. Appear here, and fortify as we await their attack. Or appear there. Or there. Or in Aressa Sessamo. Or . . . is our army so bad that we can’t use it to attack them where they are?”
“Our troops are well trained,” said Loaf, “but training isn’t battle.”
“We don’t know what they’ll do, when men start to bleed,” said Rigg. “Our army isn’t composed of men who love battle. Only of men who hated Hagia’s and Haddamander’s rule, or who wanted to move their families out of danger. Not soldiers by choice or temperament.”
“But we do have a force of extraordinary fighters,” said Square.
“Are there enough of you to make a difference?” asked Ramex.
“You’re the one with the magnificent electronic brain,” said Square. “Work it out and advise us.”
“It is not possible to predict the outcome of battles with certainty,” said Ramex.
“So let’s have the first battle and see how things work out,” said Square. “And let’s have Rigg or Umbo take all my Vadeshfolders back to meet ourselves, so we can double our strength. And then quadruple it.”
“No more copying people,” said Rigg. “It’s a terrible thing and you shouldn’t put anyone else through it.”
“We won’t do it anymore after we win,” said Square. “You do what you must to win the war.”
“And what if all your facemasks come through alive?” asked Rigg. “Which ones are married to their wives? Which are now single men, who remember having wives and children, but have them no longer?”
“Let’s see how our first time through turns out,” said Loaf, “before we go copying anybody.”
“I think Queen Param’s proposal is a—”
“It wasn’t a proposal,” said Param quickly. “It was merely a question about the defensive versus the offensive.”
“I think Queen Param’s question is one whose answer we’ve taken for granted,” said Olivenko. “We should use our untrained troops on the defensive. But this may be a gross mistake. On the defensive, it is vital that the troops stand firm, give ground slowly, retreat in good order when necessary. Loaf and his sergeants have trained them wonderfully well, but when comrades fall beside you, war becomes a different thing—according to all the histories. And it’s easier to get ignorant green troops to charge than to stand against a charge.”
“There’s no doubt that we could achieve tactical surprise,” said Square.
“We can’t bring the whole army through at once,” said Rigg. “Not unless we have them all in one compact body, so they can all hold hands.”
“Bring everybody through in as many groups as you need,” said Square. “Just bring them all to the same moment.”
“That means Umbo would have to do it all,” said Rigg. “I can do that moving into the past, but only he has precision moving into the future.”
Everyone looked at Umbo.
“I assume you meant to say King Umbo,” said Param gently.
“He doesn’t have to call me that,” said Umbo softly.
“He must do it above all others,” said Param, “because he is as much heir to the Tent of Light as I am, and there are those who would prefer his claim. He must speak of King Umbo by his title and with all authority, so no one has any doubt that Rigg supports his claim and mine.”
Umbo shook his head. “Let’s not get off the topic again.”
“Olivenko,” said Loaf, “are you advocating that we make a new plan, to appear in the midst of their camp and slaughter them in their sleep?”
“Not in their sleep!” cried Param.
“Queen Param,” said Olivenko. “The goal is a victory so decisive the enemy can’t recover from it. If we can kill one man in five before he even gets his weapon, the battle is nearly won.”
“Except,” said Loaf, “if we appear throughout their camp, then what happens to the organization of our army?”
“A mess,” said Square. “Nobody knows which way to face. It becomes a melee, till the enemy forms a line somewhere.”
“Haddamander entrenches and walls up wherever he camps,” said Olivenko. “Attacking from the outside would be brutal.”