The Warlord Chapter 10

WARLORD Chapter 10

Turn Six ended that afternoon.

I'd sent back to Goldenrod for stretchers, wagons and harnesses, so that we could transport the more seriously wounded. Normally, on Earth, putting wounded in wagons would have been nothing short of cruel. The sudden shocks as wooden wheels bumped, rattled and shook would have been just like torture. But in the Decapolis, over grass as flat as a pool table, it shouldn't be so bad.

The auxiliaries acted as stretcher bearers, orderlies and teamsters. The more lightly wounded were put on horseback, or escorted by their comrades.

I waited for Armene, Faldor and Sudha to return. Faldor was first; I promoted him to Colonel on the spot. Armene came back angry.

- "The Turn ended too soon!" she complained.

Sudha was among the last to return. She was filthy, covered in sweat and blood, and she looked utterly exhausted. I didn't have the words; I helped her down from her horse, and simply hugged her.

- "You did it." I said. "The victory is yours."

- "But we lost

so

many."

- "You got over three thousand of them out, Sudha. Without you, very few would have made it."

She was sore all over, but resisted my suggestion that she go back to Goldenrod in a wagon.

- "I'll ride with my troopers." she said.

Back at the city, they all knew the price we'd paid. Everyone pitched in, though, to help the wounded - even those who had been wounded in the Shorrs' assault on Goldenrod. Peony wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. She only stopped long enough to make sure that I wasn't one of the injured.

- "I'm fine." I said. "Tired, but fine."

- "You'd better be." she said. "You have a busy day ahead of you tomorrow."

- "Oh?"

- "We're getting married. I don't want to wait any longer. And the only reason we're not getting married tonight is because you're too tired to stand up straight."

She was right about that. I was trying to surreptitiously lean against a wall.

"Bed. Now." she ordered.

***

I woke up in my apartment. My shitty little alarm was complaining shrilly. I kept it far enough away that I couldn't turn it off without getting out of bed.

I was disappointed, really; I wished that I could have woken up next to Peony. But as I showered and shaved, I realized that I needed the time to plan, and to do some research. Were there any historical military campaigns that resembled the situation we were in now?

I got my coffee, and turned on my PC. I created a text document, and typed in our advantages and disadvantages. We had roughly the same number of troops as the Hadyks and Balabans combined. We had the auxiliaries, as well. We could use the Portals. We didn't have to defend our cities, though we didn't want the enemy to be able to build new troops in them. Meanwhile, if we could capture their production centres, we could turn their peons into people. And I had trusted commanders, whose abilities (and limitations) I knew reasonably well.

But they had more officers, being able to draw from two families. I decided then and there to keep the Morcars imprisoned, for now. If I let them go, they would simply swell the ranks of our enemies. Wantrao and Travot were wounded, and probably unavailable for the next Turn. Jashi and Vanea might be alright.

The biggest problem for us, though, was strategic. Our enemies didn't have to do anything to win, except continue to build every Turn. And it was probable that they would do exactly that - and no more. They knew very well, from past experience, that they simply could not allow us to take their cities. If they kept a garrison of 10,000 troops in each one, and built only infantry, then the cost of taking them would be prohibitive.

I started searching for historic parallels. Was there a case of war against an opponent who would only get stronger over time? The American Civil War? No, the South didn't really have a chance to win that one from the very beginning, unless the North lost the will to fight. The economic, industrial and population disparity was too great.

Uh oh. The Second Punic War sounded disturbingly familiar. Hannibal won the victories, including the spectacular Battle of Cannae, but he didn't dare attack the city of Rome. The Roman reservoir of manpower seemed endless, and Fabius Maximus Cunctator (the Delayer) was avoiding battle, yet preventing Italian cities from changing sides and joining the Carthaginians. That was a bad example for us.

I did finally check my email. My work was piling up. One file was fairly urgent, so I buckled down and finished it. The rest? It could wait. My mind was on the war - and on Peony.

Was the Decapolis real? I wasn't sure that it mattered anymore. Peony was real. Despite the stresses of the war, I was easily happier than I'd ever been - and the largest part of that was due to her. But those thoughts overlapped with my strategic planning. If I somehow won the war, or at least ended it, would I continue to wake up in a castle chamber? Or would my adventure there be over? The prospect of life without Peony seemed terribly bleak.

I went back to work. Who knew what Turn Seven would bring? Maybe the next time I woke up in my apartment, the military situation might be even more pressing. I couldn't afford to ignore my 'real life' entirely, or to fall too far behind. Better to get ahead while I could. Besides, if I tired myself out, and then went to bed, I would wake up in Goldenrod all the sooner.

It didn't work, of course. I did a half-assed job on a few files, ate a marginally healthy meal, and looked up some more possible historical precedents. The Byzantine Empire was interesting; they'd never had enough manpower, and after Manzikert (1071), it was even worse. Yet they survived another three hundred plus years, largely by continuing to operate the Bureau of Barbarians, whose information-gathering activities allowed the Byzantines to keep their enemies divided, and at war with each other. Was there a way that I could split the Balabans and the Hadyks?

I read up on medieval siege craft. Mining was a possibility. Maybe. If we were going to build siege engines, I would need carpenters, wrights, rope makers, and engineers... I might as well wish for helicopters. Many sieges seemed to have ended through negotiations. Maybe Peony was right.

At a certain point, I mistakenly thought that I was tired enough to go to bed. I lay in the dark, thinking about Virdyan, and then Malusha. That got me too emotional to sleep. I got up. made myself a coffee (which never interfered with my ability to sleep), and watched a video on Hannibal.

***

I woke up in Goldenrod, with Peony spooned against me.

- "Mmm..." was her reaction.

I kissed her ear, and nestled closer.

"Symenon Shorr came in last night." she said. "With most of his remaining kin."

- "Just like that?" I said. "Straight to business?"

- "You have to deal with this before the wedding."

- "The highlight of the day. The year. Actually, it'll be the highlight of my entire life."

Peony turned around, so that she could kiss me. "You say the most wonderful things. But you still have to get up."

Symenon Shorr was dark-haired, dark-eyed, and dark-skinned. He was remarkably handsome, quite slender, and short. He had three family members and four Half-Shorrs with him. I let him introduce them.

- "You're the Shorr strategist. I'm told that you're very good."

- "Not good enough, obviously." he said, with a gracious smile. I liked him from the first. It would have been so easy for him, and for his companions, to give in to despair after the disasters that had struck them in the course of the past few days. I know people who shut down completely when faced with a little adversity. Symenon looked like someone who was still looking for a way to turn things around.

- "Tell me what happened. Please." I asked him.

- "Well, we weren't expecting the stones. Or the little spike things."

- "Caltrops."

- "Ah. I should have known that they had a name. But it was the stones that did us in. That and the sheer number of troops you had on the walls. How did you keep so many here, and yet have enough to take Eglantine? There were six thousand troops in that garrison."

- "That's... a bit of a secret. I'm sorry."

- "You stripped your other garrisons." he guessed. "Even so, you shouldn't have had enough to do both. So if the Balabans and the Hadyk had marched against you, instead of us, they could have taken Flax and Hyacinth. And possibly Jacaranda."

- "I imagine."

- "Ah, well... We betrayed the Morcars. I suppose it's only fitting that we were betrayed in turn. I

would

recommend that you don't trust either of them."

- "That's not likely. What happened after your second assault on the walls here?"

- "Ah. Well, the troops from Eglantine turned, and then there were the three announcements. The Gods have a dreadful sense of timing, don't they? I knew that Bryony and Caladium were in danger. We regrouped and retreated."

- "Too late?"

- "Far too late. Half of the army turned red in the middle of the night. But rather than seek to extricate themselves, they turned on us. It was all very confusing. Still, we had to try to get to Lady Shorr. I think we lost nine or ten thousand troops before we got within sight of Caladium. And it was too late again."

- "The city fell too quickly?"

Symenon looked me in the eye. "We didn't have enough officers. Sixty thousand troops, and three garrisons? I made a mistake, and took too many of the family fighters with me. We thought that we would need them to attack the walls of Goldenrod. What we really needed was defenders in Eglantine, Bryony and Caladium." He shook his head slowly. "Twenty thousand troops, split between the three cities, but not enough Shorrs and Half-Shorrs to lead the fight."

I felt a little sorry for him. Not

that

much, but... you know. Professional sympathy.

"And then we lost five of our kin, and six of our Half-kin, attacking your city. May I ask, Lord Graham... how is that possible?"

- "Possible?"

- "One person may be killed in an accident. Two is certainly possible, if unlikely. But five? How could your peons kill family members? Is this something you ordered? Or is this somehow connected to your boon from the Gods?"

I was tempted to tell him the truth. But I didn't know what to do with these Shorr refugees yet (or my Morcar prisoners, for that matter). And the fact that we no longer had peons was highly significant. If it could stay a secret just a little longer...

Even if it couldn't, there was nothing to gain by telling him. That may sound cold, or even Machiavellian, but remember what the Shorrs had done to the Morcars. And what the Morcars had attempted to do to us. Or what the Hadyks had planned to do to me. No, honesty and openness were for my family - and for them alone.

I met with Virdyan, and we agreed to postpone his adoption ceremony. That meant, unfortunately, that I had to saddle him with four guards. I didn't really believe that he would try to seize our Touchstone for the Hadyks, but it would have been negligent to give him free run of the castle until he was a Graham.

Boloda approved. "You're learning." she said. "It's never too late."

The Balabans requested a short meeting. They emphasized the 'short'.

- "Should I?" I asked Luth.

- "Why not?"

- "It costs you nothing to listen." said Boloda. "Just be careful not to say too much."

Three people came through the Portal. Two were heavy infantry soldiers. Bodyguards, no doubt, prepared to block us and allow the lady to escape if we tried anything underhanded. Clearly, there wasn't all that much trust.

Lady Balaban was tall, and much younger than I was expecting. She had long red hair the colour of Cabernet Franc, and magnificently arched eyebrows. She appeared to be in her early thirties. My concentration took a bit of a hit, because I hadn't been expecting someone so young, or so attractive.

Her eyes were grey, her nose and lips were perfect, and the front of her ruby-coloured gown showed a bit of cleavage. There was no doubt in my mind that this was a formidable woman. She didn't look old enough to have a daughter of marriageable age. Maybe the arrangement with Moran Hadyk was meant to be a very long engagement.

- "Welcome to Goldenrod, Lady Balaban." I said.

- "Thank you, Lord Graham. My name is Petra."

- "I'm Daniel. I'm afraid I don't know much about your family."

- "Nor I yours. I was unaware that you were so tall."

- "Likewise."

There was a moment of silence between us, because I didn't know what else to say. Lady Petra seemed to have no trouble simply standing there and examining me, as if she was a teacher and I was some sort of class presentation.

- "I wished to know if you will accept an exchange of prisoners. We will hand over Lady Shorr and four of her family members, in return for you releasing the Morcars to us, so that they may rejoin Lady Morcar and the rest of the family."

Melanie Morcar and her kin were our prisoners, after trying to kill me and take our Touchstone. Letting them go would simply provide the Balabans with more officers. Mindful of what Symenon Shorr had told me, I decided to decline.

- "I would have to consult my family." I said. "But my answer for now is no. I took them under my protection when the Shorrs turned on them, but they attempted to kill me and take a Touchstone. I will release them so that the family can be re-united... but only when we have peace."

Lady Petra took an extra few moments to consider what I'd said.

- "I understand. But if you will allow it, we would like to hand over Lady Shorr without an exchange, so that the family are together. You are still fairly new to the Decapolis; your advisors can tell you that we do not have a tradition of keeping prisoners."

- "I know that."

- "I would ask one more thing, Lord Graham. Would you be willing to meet again tomorrow? I believe that I will have more to say to you."

I wanted to look at Luth and Boloda, to see what they thought. Then I realized that I could simply cancel the meeting if they were dead-set against it. It might also look weak if I turned to them for advice at this point.

- "Very well."

- "Until tomorrow, then. It was very interesting to meet you, Lord Graham."

- "Likewise, Lady Petra."

When they went back through the Portal, I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

- "How was that?" I asked.

- "Fairly good." said Luth. "They only want the Morcars to add more officers to their army. But did you mean to accept Lady Shorr as a guest?"

Oops. I hadn't nixed that offer.

- "Why do you think they're giving her to us for nothing?" I said.

- "So that she can cause trouble." said Boloda.

***

Chalky came in that afternoon. I promoted him again, and gave him another unit of light cavalry to train as hybrid scouts. Our enemies were getting better at screening their movements; we might have to begin using our cavalry to pierce their screens, or to disguise our intentions.

I gave Faldor another assignment: digging. We had plenty of picks and shovels, from when we'd dug moats around our cities. Now it was a question of finding out if our auxiliaries and our troops could master the art of tunnelling.

Then it was time to meet Lady Shorr. I'd allowed the Shorrs a brief family reunion, but we had to consider their future. They were landless again. The first time, she had had turned down Lady Rona's offer of marriage alliances. But after her betrayal of the Morcars, and the results of Turn Six, she didn't have many options left; we Grahams were the only game in town for the Shorrs.

- "We meet again." said Lady Shorr. She was a striking woman, with dark skin and purple-streaked white hair.

- "I am sorry for your losses." I said.

- "Thank you. Do you know? You're the first person to say that to me. I know that I don't deserve sympathy, after what I did to the Morcars, but I didn't kill half of their family."

- "No."

- "So. Is this the 'What do we do with the Shorrs?' conversation?"

I had to laugh. "Pretty much, yes."

- "Use our talents. We can help you. Symenon is a skilled strategist. We can fight for you: lead troops, run cities..."

- "No."

- "Surely you need officers."

- "I wouldn't say no to

that

. But Lady Shorr, you must know that we can't trust you." I told her about Melanie Morcar's attempted coup. "There is no way that I would ever put the Shorrs in a position to try the same thing."

- "I wouldn't." she said. "I've learned my lesson there. But if we served with your army loyally and effectively, you could repay us by granting us the next city you capture."

- "No. That's not happening. I'll feed you and your family. But you have a choice. It can be like the Morcars; you can be prisoners. Or you can be adopted. Become Grahams."

- "What is this 'adopted'? How could we become Grahams?"

- "I officially make you members of our family. In effect, I take you as my children."

Lady Shorr only stared at me. I couldn't read her expression.

- "You would have us give up our name? It's all we have left."

- "And it will remain all you have left. Do you think that the Balabans or the Hadyks will give you another city?"

- "They might. If they defeat you, and take all ten cities, they would definitely give the Morcars and the Shorrs at least one production centre each. Just to have two more families to intermarry with."

- "If that's how you see it." I said. I stood up, indicating that our meeting was over. She was deluded if she thought the Morcars would ever forgive her. Besides, the four families were hopelessly intermingled as it was. Intermarriage was a mere formality; they were already one big family.

- "Wait!" Lady Shorr held out a hand to stop me. "I... I need time. To consider."

- "To talk to your family?"

- "Yes. That, too."

- "Very well."

Truth be told, I wasn't worried about Shorr treachery. Or another attempted coup by the Morcars. If by some horrible oversight on our part, they did succeed in taking control of a Touchstone, the only thing that would change would be the colour tone of the Portal room. A curtain, the flecks in the flames around the Portal itself, a tapestry...

They couldn't take over any of our troops. But it might be interesting to see how they behaved if they thought they could.

***

Peony had new clothes. She had on a white gown with green trim. It was high-necked, and topped with a little ruff of lace. Over that she wore a green cloak, edged with silver thread. She had a silver fillet as well, to hold her hair in place.

- "You've never looked more beautiful." I told her.

Her face was pale, but her cheeks were rosy as she blushed almost continuously.

"Are you nervous?"

- "I've never been the centre of attention for so long, like this."

The whole family was gathered in the castle courtyard. Wantrao, Travot and Stina sat on chairs, so they didn't have to stand. Two hundred and ninety-eight unit commanders ringed the yard, along with seventy representatives of the auxiliaries.

Boloda and Kisel led Peony out of the castle, while Nosey and Pudge followed close behind, holding up her cloak. The family members let out a sigh as they caught sight of her. She came to stand beside me, and took my hand.

- "Did you hear that?" I asked. "You took their breath away."

She flushed again. "The only one I want to impress is you."

- "You've done that from the start."

Peony went off script then, pulling on the front of my robe, bringing my head down so that she could kiss me. I pulled her close, and actually lifted her off the ground a little, so that I didn't have to bend over so far.

Our audience gave us an enthusiastic round of sustained applause. Everybody seemed to be grinning.