"Oh, you're so forceful!" Goblin made the illusion go away. He made the one surrounding the boy fade, too. Tobo seemed surprised that he could be overruled so easily, but the little wizard softened the blow to his ego by immediately engaging him in a technical critique of what he had accomplished.
I was impressed by what I had seen. But Tobo as the future of the Company? That made me real uncomfortable, despite its questionable reassurance that the Company did have a future.
62
I stirred the fat officer with a toe. "Come on. Hop up here. We need to talk. Spiff, let the rest of these people sit up as soon as their weapons are cleared away. I'll probably let them go home in a little while. Goblin, you want to go face the music with Sahra? Get that out of the way so it isn't just waiting for a bad time to blow up on us?"
The fat officer got his feet under him. He looked very, very unhappy, which I could understand. This was not his best day. I took hold of his arm. "Let's you and me take a walk."
"You're a woman."
"Don't let it go to your head. Do you have a name? How about a rank or title?"
He offered a regional name about a paragraph long, filled with the unmanageable clicks that mess up a language otherwise already unfit for the normal human tongue. As proof of my assertion, I offer my inability to manage it at much more than a pidgin level despite having spent years in the area.
I picked out what sounded like it identified his personal place in the genealogy of a nation. "I can call you Suvrin, then?" He winced. I got it after a moment. Suvrin was a diminutive. No doubt he had not been called that by anyone but his mother for twenty years.
Oh, well. I had a sword. He did not.
"Suvrin, you've probably heard rumors to the effect that we're not nice people. I want to put your mind at ease. Everything you've ever heard is true. But this time we're not here to loot and pillage and rape the livestock the way we did last time. We're really just passing through, we hope with minimal dislocation for everybody, both us and you. What I need from you, assuming you'd rather cooperate than lie in a grave being walked on by some replacement who will, is a bit of official assistance aimed at hurrying us on our way. Have I been going too fast for you?"
"No. I speak your language well."
"That's not what I—never mind. Here's what's happening. We're going to go up on the glittering plain—"
"Why?" Pure fear filled his voice. He and his ancestors had lived in terror of the plain since the coming of the Shadowmasters.
I offered a bit of nonsense. "For the same reason the chicken crossed the road. To get to the other side."
Suvrin found that concept so novel he could think of no response.
I continued, "It'll take us a while to get ready. We have to assemble provisions and equipment. We have to scout some things. And not all of our people have arrived yet. I'd just as soon not fight a war at the same time. So I want you to tell me how to avoid that."
Suvrin offered an inarticulate grumble.
"What's that?"
"I never wanted to be in the army. My father's doing. He wanted me away from the family, someplace where I couldn't embarrass him, but he also wanted me doing something he felt to be in keeping with the family dignity. He thought if I was a soldier, there'd be nothing I could mess up. We had no enemies who could embarrass me."
"Stuff happens. Your father should know that. He's lived long enough to have a grown-up son."
"You don't know my father."
"You might be surprised. I've met plenty just like him. Probably some that were way worse. There's nothing new in this world, Suvrin. And that includes all kinds of people. How many more soldiers are there around here? How many all told on this side of the mountains? Do any of them have any special loyalty to Taglios? Will they abandon Taglios if the pass is closed?" The Territories south of the Dandha Presh were vast but weak. Longshadow had exploited them mercilessly for more than a generation, then the Shadowmaster and Kiaulune wars had devastated them.
"Uh... " He wriggled but not hard. Just enough to satisfy his self-image.
We spent the remainder of the day together. Suvrin made the transitions from grudging prisoner to nervous accomplice to helpful ally. He was easily led, overresponding to modest praise and expressions of gratitude. My guess was that he had not had many nice things said to him during his young life. And he was scared to death that I would demolish him the instant he did fail to cooperate.
We sent the rest of the soldiers home as soon as our men stripped the New Town armory. Most of the weapons stored there looked like they had been picked up off old battlefields and treated with contempt ever since by the armorer whose work I had so much admired earlier.
I found the man and drafted him. He was a prima donna, a master with an artist's attitude. I figured One-Eye could tame him.
Suvrin accompanied me when I went across to the farm Sahra had acquired. Poor leader though he was, Suvrin really was in charge of all the armed forces in the Kiaulune region. Which said very little for the quality of his men or for the wisdom and commitment of his superiors. But I decided to keep him handy. He was useful as a symbol, if nothing else.
When I went across I insisted that everyone else make the move, too. I wanted everyone not out on picket duty or patrol in one place so we could respond quickly, in strength, to any threat.
I told Suvrin, "I've neutralized the whole province except for that little fort below the Shadowgate. Right?" That stronghold had sealed its gate. The men inside would not respond to the messenger I sent.
Suvrin nodded. He was having second thoughts, too late.
"Will they leave if you tell them to go?"
"No. They're foreigners. Left by the Great General to keep the road to the Shadowgate closed."
"How many?"
"Fourteen."
"Good soldiers?"
Embarrassed, "Much better than mine." Which might only mean that they could march in step.
"Tell me about their fort. How are they set for water and provisions?"
The fat man hemmed and hawed.
"Suvrin, Suvrin. You have to think about this."
"Uh... "
"You can't get in any deeper than you already are. You can only do your best to get back out. Too many people have seen you cooperating already. I'm sorry, buddy. You're stuck." I fought sliding into the character of Vajra the Naga, seductive as it was. It was so blessedly useful.
Suvrin made a sound suspiciously like a whimper.
"Courage, Cousin Suvrin. We live with it every day. All you can do is put on a death's-head grin and tug on their beards and yank out their tail feathers. Here we go. This looks like the place." A poorly built structure had loomed out of the darkness. Light leaked out through the roof and walls both. I wondered why they bothered. Maybe it was still under construction. I could make out the vague shapes of tents beyond it.
Something stirred on the rooftree as I pulled the door hanging aside so Suvrin could enter. The white crow. A soft chuckle came from the bird. "Sister, sister. Taglios begins to waken." The thing took wing. I watched it fade in the light of a rising fragment of moon. That had been pretty clear.
I shrugged and went inside. I could worry about the white crow next week, once I finally got a chance to go to bed. "Are any of you guys aware that we're at war? That under similar circumstances every army since the dawn of time has put out sentries to watch for people sneaking up?"