Shadow Games

Chapter Thirty-one: TAGLIOS; A BOOT-CAMP CITY

It had been years since I hazarded internal surgery. Before I started I was shaky and filled with doubts, but habit took hold in the crunch. My hand was steady. One-Eye restrained his natural exuberance and used his talents judiciously to control bleeding and deaden pain.

As I washed my hands I said, "I can't believe it went that well. I haven't done one of those since I was a kid, practically."

"She going to pull through?" One-Eye asked.

"Should. Unless there're complications. I want you to check back every day to make sure she's doing all right."

"Hey, Croaker. I got me an idea. Why don't you buy me a broom?"

"What?"

"When I wasn't busy doing anything else I could be sweeping up."

"I'll get myself one, too." I spoke to the child's parents briefly, through Frogface, clueing them in on what had to be done. Their gratitude was stifling. I doubted it would last. People are that way. But as we were about to leave I told the father, "I'll collect on this."

"Anything."

"It won't be trivial. When the time comes."

He understood. He looked grim as he nodded.

We were about to step into the street when One-Eye said, "Hold up." He pointed.

I looked down at three dead bats arranged in a neat equilateral triangle. "Maybe the boys aren't imagining things." The bat cadavers were not neat.

A crow cawed somewhere nearby.

I muttered, "I'll take my help where I can get it." Louder, "Could you make a bat spy on people?"

One-Eye thought about it. "I couldn't. But it might be possible. Though they aren't long on brains."

"That's all I needed to know." Except for who was running the bats. The Shadowmasters, I presumed.

The twenty-hour days started. When I was not preoccupied with anything else I tried to learn the language. After you have learned enough they come easy. Or easier, anyway.

We went at it trying to keep things simple. All the evidence indicated that the Shadowmasters would use the Ghoja ford for their main crossing. I abdicated the defense of the others to the cult leaders and concentrated on what I thought I'd need to stop that main force in its tracks. If it got across the river and started rolling north, I feared we would have a repeat of Swan's campaign. Any victory at all would be at a price too dear.

I started by forming the cadres of two legions based on the model used by the Jewel Cities in early times, when their armies were citizens with little field experience. The command structure was the simplest possible. The organization was pure infantry. Mogaba was overall commander of the foot and boss of the first legion. His lieutenant Ochiba got the second legion. Each got to keep ten Nar for NCOs and each of those ten picked a hundred candidates from among the Taglian volunteers. That gave each legion a thousand-man base which would be expanded about as fast as the Nar could teach them to march in a straight line. Mogaba got Wheezer, Lion, and Heart for staff work. I did not know what else to do with those three. They were willing but had little practical value.

Sindawe and the remaining Nar were to form a third, training and reserve legion that I expected to employ only in desperation.

Otto, Hagop, the Guards, and the roi I charged with putting together a cavalry force.

Sparkle, Candles, Cletus, and the rest from Opal and Beryl got stuck with the fun stuff, quartermastering and engineering. Hagop's nephew ended up with him. He was another one who was useless.

The ideas were mostly Mogaba's recommendations, which he had worked out while I was scouting southward. I did not agree with all of them, but it seemed a sin to waste the work he had done. And we had to move in some direction. Now.

He had it all figured. Sindawe's legion would both produce new people for the leading two units and would develop as a force itself more slowly. He did not believe we could manage a force larger than three legions till we developed a lot of local talent.

Lady, Goblin, One-Eye, and I were left to handle everything else. The important, exciting stuff, like dealing with the Prahbrindrah and his sister. Like setting up an intelligence operation, finding out if there were any local wizards we could use. Charting strategy. Coming up with gimmicks. Good old Mogaba was willing to leave me the staff work and strategy.

Actually, about the way it should be. The man embarrassed me with his competence.

"Goblin, I guess you should take counterintelligence," I said.

"Har!" One-Eye said. "That fits him perfectly."

"Borrow Frogface whenever you need him." The imp moaned. He got no pleasure out of having to work.

Goblin put on a smug look. "I don't need that thing, Croaker."

I did not like that. The runt was up to something. Ever since we came back from the country he had had that smugness about him. It meant trouble. He and One-Eye could get so involved in their feud they forgot the rest of the world.

Time would tell what was up.

"Whatever you say," I told Goblin. "As long as you get the job done. Dangerous agents of the Shadowmasters I want you to take out. Small-timers set up so we can feed them false information. We've also got to keep one eye on the big priests. They're bound to give us grief as soon as they figure out how. Human nature."

Lady I put in charge of showmanship and planning. I had decided where I wanted to meet the enemy already, before I had anything to meet him with. I told her to work out the details. She was a better tactician than I. She had managed the armies of an empire with astonishing success.

I was learning that part of a captain's job is to delegate. Maybe genius lies in choosing the right person for the right task.

We had maybe five weeks. And the time was counting down. And down. And down.

I did not think we had a prayer.

Nobody got much sleep. Everybody got testy. But that is the way it is in our business. You learn to adjust to it, to understand. Mogaba kept telling me it was going great on his end, but I never got time to review his outfits. Hagop and Otto were less pleased with their progress. Their recruits were of classes that saw discipline as something imposed only upon their inferiors. Otto and Hagop had to resort to asskicking to get their people in line. They came up with a couple of interesting ideas, like adding elephants to the cavalry. The Prahbrindrah's census of animals had turned up a few hundred work elephants.

I spent my time rushing around in confusion, more often a politician than a commander. I avoided recourse to dictate when I could, preferring persuasion, but two of the High Priests gave me no choice most of the time. If I said black they said white just to let me know they considered themselves Taglios's real bosses.

If I'd had time I'd have gotten vexed with them. I didn't, so I didn't play their games. I got them and their chief boys together, with the Prahbrindrah and his sister chaperoning, and told them I didn't care for their attitude, that I would not tolerate it, and the schedule from here on in was do it Croaker's way or die. If they didn't like that, they were welcome to take their best crack at me. Then I would roast them over a slow fire in one of the public squares.

I did not make myself popular.

I was bluffing, sort of. I would do what had to be done, but did not expect to have to do it. My apparently violent nature should cow them while I got on with the job. I would worry about them after I'd turned the Shadowmasters.

Thinking positive all the time. That's me.

I'd have starved if I'd gotten a pound of bread for every minute I really believed we had a chance.

Several people made sure news of the face-off got out. I heard rumors that some temples closed their doors for lack of business. Others had to turn away angry crowds.

Great.

But how long would it last? These peoples' passion for supernatural nonsense was far older and more ingrained than their passion for militarism.

"What the hell happened?" I asked Swan, first chance I got. I was getting the language, but not fast enough to grasp religious subtleties.

"I think Blade happened." He seemed bemused.

"Say what?"

"Ever since we've been here Blade's been spreading seditious nonsense about priests should stick to taking care of souls and karma and keep their noses out of politics. Been selling that down to our place. And when he heard about your confab with the High Priests he got himself out in the streets to spread what he called ‘the true story.' These people are all for their gods, you better remember that, but they ain't so hot on some of their priests. Especially the kind that grab them by the purse and squeeze."

I laughed. Then I said, "You tell him to back off. I've got troubles enough without a religious revolution."

"Right. I don't think you got to worry about that."

I had to worry about everything. Taglian society was under extreme stress, though it took an outsider to see it. Too many changes too fast in a traditionalist, restrictive society. No way for conventional mechanisms to adjust. Saving Taglios would be like riding the whirlwind. I would have to stay light on my feet to keep the frustration and fear directed against the Shadowmasters.

One-Eye wakened me in the middle of one of my four-hour snoozes. "Jahamaraj Jah is here. Says he's got to see you right now."

"His kid take a turn for the worse?"

"She's fine. He thinks he's going to pay you off."

"Bring him in."

The priest slipped in looking furtive. He bowed and scraped like a street dweller. He plied me with every title the Taglian people had been able to imagine, including Healer. Appendectomy was a piece of surgery unknown in those parts. He looked around as though expecting ears growing out of the walls. Maybe that was an occupational hazard. He did not like the sight of Frogface at all.

That suggested some people knew what the imp was. I should keep that in mind.

"Is it safe to talk?" he asked. I followed that without translation.

"Yes."

"I must not stay long. They will be watching me, knowing I owe you a great debt, Healer."

Then get on with it, I thought. "Yes?"

"The High Priest of the Shadar, my superior, Ghojarindi Ghoj, whose patron is Hada, one of whose avatars is Death. You distressed him the other night. He has told the Children of Hada that Hada thirsts for your ka."

Frogface translated, and added commentary. "Hada is the Shadar goddess of Death, Destruction, and Corruption, Cap. The Children of Hada are a subcult who dedicate themselves by way of murder and torture. Doctrine says that should be random and senseless. The way it works out, though, is that those who die have got onto the boss priest's shitlist."

"I see." I smiled slightly. "And who is your patron, Jahamaraj Jah?"

He smiled back. "Khadi."

"All Sweetness and Light, I take it."

"Hell no, chief. She's Hada's twin sister. Just as damned nasty. Got her fingers into plague, famine, disease, fun stuff like that. One of the big things the Shadar and Gunni cults squabble about is whether Hada and Khadi are separate deities or just one with two faces."

"I love it. I bet people get killed over it. And priests look at me weird when I say I can't take them seriously. One-Eye. You figure I'm guessing right when I think our buddy here is helping himself by trying to weasel out of a debt?"

One-Eye chuckled. "I figure he plans to be the next Shadar boss."

I had Frogface go straight at him. He did not blush. He admitted he was the most likely successor to Ghojarindi Ghoj.

"In that case I don't figure he's done anything but make the vig. Tell him thanks but I figure he still owes me. Tell him that if he all of a sudden finds himself boss priest of the Shadar I'd be real proud if he'd make his people mind and not get too ambitious himself for a year or two."

Frogface told him. His grin went away. His lips tightened into a wrinkly little nut. But he bobbed his head.

"Get him on the road, One-Eye. Wouldn't want him getting in trouble with his boss."

I went and wakened Goblin. "We got priest problems. Character named Ghojarindi Ghoj is siccing assassins on me. Take Murgen, go over to Swan's dive, dig out his resident priest hater, have him finger the guy. He needs promoting to a higher plane. It don't have to be spectacular, just unpleasant. Like having him shit himself to death."

Grumbling, Goblin went to find Murgen.

One-Eye and Frogface got to watch for would-be assassins.

They were professionals but they were not up to getting past Frogface. There were six of them. I had some of the Nar, who favored that sort of thing, take them to a public square and impale them.

Ghojarindi Ghoj went west a day later. He perished of a sudden, dramatic surfeit of boils. The lesson was not lost on anyone.

The lesson was, of course, don't get caught.

Nobody seemed upset or displeased. The attitude was, Ghoj had placed his bets and taken his chances. But the Radisha did give me some thoughtful looks while we fussed over whether I needed another thousand swords and especially if I needed the hundred tons of charcoal I had requisitioned.

Actually, we were to the games-playing stage already. I asked for a hundred tons knowing I wanted ten, figuring to groan and gripe and give in and get more of the arms.

The recruits were providing their own kit. The arms I most wanted financed by the state were pieces that could not be well explained to a civilian. I was having trouble enough convincing Mogaba that wheeled light artillery might be of value.

I was not sure it would myself. That depended on what the enemy did. If they behaved as they had before, artillery would be wasted. But the model was the Jewel Cities legion. Those guys dragged light engines along to knock holes in enemy formations.

Oh, fuss. Some things you just settle by saying I'm the boss and you'll do it my way.

Mogaba did not mind.

Seventeen days to go, estimated. Lady visited me. I asked her, "Will you be ready?"

"I'm almost ready now."

"One positive report amongst the hundreds. You brighten my life."

She gave me a funny look. "I've seen Shifter. He's been across the river." One-Eye and Goblin, in their capacities as spymasters, had had little luck, mostly because the Main was just plain uncrossable. They had no lack of volunteers.

As for cleaning up the Shadowmasters' agents in Taglios, that had not taken them ten days. A bunch of little brown guys had bitten the dust. A few native Taglians remained. We were feeding them plenty of truth, and just enough bull to tempt their masters into making their major crossing effort where I wanted it.

"Ah. And did he learn anything we want to hear?"

She grinned. "He did. You get your wish. They'll bring their main force over at the Ghoja ford. And they won't be with their armies. They don't trust each other enough to leave home base unguarded."

"Beautiful. Suddenly, I feel like we've got a chance. Maybe only one in ten, but a chance."

"And now for the bad news."

"I guess it had to be. What is it?"

"They're sending an extra five thousand men. Ten thousand in the Ghoja force. A thousand each at Theri and Vehdna-Bota. The rest come across at Numa. They tell me Numa is crossable two days earlier than the Ghoja ford is."

"That's bad. They could have three thousand guys behind us when it hits."

"They will unless they're morons."

I closed my eyes and looked at the map. Numa was where I had told Jahamaraj Jah his Shadar people could make their mark. He had raised twenty-five hundred cultists only by straining. Most Shadars wanted to wait and get into our ecumenical force. Three thousand veterans would roll right over him.

"Cavalry?" I asked. "Have Jah meet them at the water's edge and do what he can, and fall back, and have our cavalry hit them from the flank as they're about to break out?"

"I was considering sneaking Mogaba's legion down, smash them, then rout march to Ghoja. But you're right. Cavalry would be more efficient. Do you trust Otto and Hagop to handle it?"

I did not. They were having their problems taking charge. Without the bloodyminded roi to kick ass where that was needed, their force would have been a travelling circus. "You want it? You done a field command?"

She looked at me hard. "Where have you been?"

Right. I'd been there often enough.

"You want it?"

"If you want me to take it."

"Singe me to a crisp in the fire of your enthusiasm. All right. But we won't tell anybody till it's time. And Jahamaraj Jah not at all. He'll try harder if he don't know help is coming."

"All right."

"Any other news from our seldom-seen friend?"

"No."

"Who is that woman he's dragging around?"

She hesitated a moment too long. "I don't know."

"Odd. Seems like I've seen her somewhere before. But I can't place her."

She shrugged. "After a while everybody gets to look like somebody you've seen before."

"Who do I look like?"

She didn't miss a beat. "Gastrar Telsar of Novok Debraken. The voice is different, but the heart could be the same. He moralized and debated with himself, too."

How could I argue? I'd never heard of the guy.

"He moralized once too often. My husband had him flayed."

"You think I moralized about Ghoj?"

"Yes. I think you put yourself through hell after the fact. A net gain. You've gotten smart enough to get them first and cry later."

"I don't think I want to play this game."

"No. You wouldn't. I need some of your time for tailors to take your measurements."

"Say what? I got me a flashy uniform already."

"Not like this one. This one is for boggling the minions of the Shadowmasters. Part of the showmanship."

"Right. Whenever. I can work while I'm being measured. Is Shifter going to be there for the show at Ghoja?"

"We'll find out the hard way. He didn't say. I told you, he has his own agenda."

"Wouldn't mind having a peek at that. He give you one?"

"No. Mogaba is staging a mock battle between legions today. You going?"

"No. I'm going to be sucking up to the Radisha for more transport. I got the charcoal. Now I got to get it down there."

She snorted. "Things were different in my time."

"You had more power."

"That's true. I'll send the tailors and fitters."

I wondered what she had in mind... . What? Did I see that? What was that? Did she shake her tail as she was going out? Damn me. My eyes must be starting to go.

Weekly assessment session. I asked Murgen, "How's the bat situation?"

"What?" I had caught him from the blind side.

"You brought the bat problem up. I thought you were keeping track."

"I haven't seen any for a while."

"Good. That means Goblin and One-Eye got the right people out of the way. From where I sit everything looks like it's going smooth. Probably faster than we had reason to expect." I'd had no individual complaints for a while. Lady had found time to help Otto and Hagop put the fear into their snooty horsemen. "Mogaba?"

"Twelve days left on the worst-case estimate. It's time to put teams out to watch the river stages. Worst case might not be absolutely worst."

"The Radisha is ahead of you. I talked to her yesterday. She'd just grabbed off half the post riders for that. Right now the river is running higher than expected. That may not mean anything. We'll have plenty of weather yet."

"Every day we get is another hundred men I can take into each legion."

"Where are you at now?"

"Thirty-three hundred each. I'll stop at four thousand. Be time to move out then, anyway."

"Think five days is enough to get down there? That's twenty miles a day for guys who aren't used to it."

"They'll be used to it. They do ten a day with field pack now."

"I'll get out to look them over this week. Promise. I've got the political end pretty well whipped. Hagop. You guys going to be ready?"

"It's coming together, Croaker. They've started to realize we mean it when we say we're trying to show them how to stay alive."

"It's getting close enough that they have to think about it as more than a game. Big Bucket. How about you guys?"

"Get us fifty more wagons and we can roll tomorrow, Captain."

"You look at the sketches of that town?"

"Yes sir."

"How long to set it up?"

"Depends on materials. For the palisade. And manpower. Lot of trenching. The rest, no problem."

"You'll have the manpower. Sindawe's bunch. They'll go down with you and move on later, as our reserve. I'll tell you, though, the resource situation is bleak. You'll end up depending on the trench more than the palisade. Cletus. What about artillery?"

Cletus and his brothers grinned. They looked proud of themselves. "We got it. Six mobile engines for each legion, already built. We're working the crews on them now."

"Great. I want you to go down with the quartermasters and engineers and get a look at that town. Put some of the engines in there. Big Bucket, you guys better head out as soon as you can. The roads are going to be miserable. If you really need more wagons mooch them from the citizens. Be quicker than me trying to gouge them out of the Radisha. So. Can't anybody come up with anything I can fuss myself about? You know I'm not happy unless I'm worrying."

They looked at me blankly. Finally, Murgen blurted out, "We're going to meet their ten thousand with our eight? Isn't that worry enough? Sir?"

"Ten thousand?"

"That's the rumor. That the Shadowmasters increased the invasion force."

I glanced at Lady. She shrugged. I said, "We have unreliable intelligence to that effect. But we'll be more than eight thousand with the cavalry. With Sindawe we'll actually outnumber them. We'll have the field position. And I have a trick or two up my sleeve."

"That charcoal?" Mogaba asked.

"Among other things."

"You won't tell us?"

"Nope. Word has a way of getting around. If nobody but me knows I can't blame anybody but me if the other side finds out."

Mogaba smiled. He understood me too well. I just wanted to keep it for myself.

We commanders are that way, sometimes.

My predecessors never told anybody anything till it was time to jump.

Afterward, I asked Lady, "What do you think?"

"I think they're going to know they were in a fight. I still have grave doubts about winning, but maybe you're a better captain than you want to admit. You put every man where he can do the most good."

"Or least harm." Wheezer and Hagop's nephew still had not shown me they were good for anything.

Seven days till deadline. The quartermasters and engineers and Sindawe's reserve legion were two days gone. Incoming post riders reported their progress as disappointing. The roads were hopeless. But they were getting help from people along the way. In places the troops and locals backpacked the freight while the teams dragged the empty wagons through the mud.

We were going to get some grace. We were still getting drizzle when that should have ended a week ago. Reports had the fords way too high to cross. The watchers guessed we had at least five extra days.

I told Mogaba, who needed time more than anyone else. He grumbled that his main accomplishment to date was that he had taught his troops to march in straight lines.

I thought that was the critical lesson. If they could maintain order on the battlefield...

I was not comfortable with the gift of time. As each day perished in turn, and I had more reports of the trouble the advance party was having, I grew ever more antsy.

Two days before our originally planned departure I summoned Mogaba. "Have you relaxed any because of the extra time?"

"No."

"Not easing up at all?"

"No. If we leave five days later, they'll be five days more prepared."

"Good." I leaned back in my chair.

"You're troubled."

"That mud. I had Frogface go scout. Sindawe is still twenty miles from Vejagedhya. What'll it be like for the mob we'll take down?"

He nodded. "You're thinking of leaving early?"

"I'm seriously considering leaving when we originally planned. Just to make sure. If we're there early we can get rested and maybe a little more trained under field conditions."

He nodded again. Then took me by surprise. "You play hunches sometimes, don't you?"

I lifted an eyebrow.

"I've watched you since Gea-Xle. I'm beginning to understand how your mind works, I think. And sometimes I think you don't understand yourself well enough. You've been troubled all week. That is a sign you have a hunch trying to come through." He left his chair. "I'll proceed on the assumption that you'll leave early."

He left. I thought about him knowing how my mind works. Should I feel flattered or threatened?

I went to a window, opened it, looked at the night sky. I saw stars between racing clouds. Maybe the cycle of daily drizzle was over. Or maybe it was just another pause.

I went back to work. My current project, taken catch-as-catch-can, was one I was working on with Frogface. We were trying to figure out what had become of the books missing from all the libraries around town. I had an idea that a certain anonymous official had them squirreled away in the Prahbrindrah's palace. The question was, how to get to them? Invoke my powers as dictator?

"Ignore the river."

"Say what?" I looked around. "What the hell?"

"Ignore the river."

A crow stood on the windowsill. Another settled beside it. It delivered the same message.

Crows are smart. But only for bird brains. I asked what they were talking about. They told me to ignore the river. I could put them on the rack and they would not tell me more. "All right. I got it. Ignore the river. Shoo."

Crows. All the time with the damned crows. They were trying to tell me something, sure. What? They had warned me before. Were they saying I should pay no attention to the river stages?

That was my inclination anyway, because of the mud.

I went to the door and yelled, "One-Eye! Goblin! I need you."

They mustered in looking surly, standing well away from one another. Not a good sign. They were feuding again. Or working up to it. It had been so long since they had eased the pressure that it might be a major blowup.

"Tonight's the night, guys. Take out the rest of the Shadowmasters' agents."

"I thought we had some extra time," One-Eye carped.

"We might have. And we might not. I want it done now. Take care of it."

Under his breath Goblin muttered, "Yessir your dictatorship, sir." I gave him a dirty look. He moved out. I went to the window and stared out at that clearing sky.

"I had a feeling things were going too good."