The Road to Hell

Chapter Thirty-One

January 31

“Come on, chan Resnair! It’s a frigging gangplank, not the grand staircase at Hawkwing Palace, for gods’ sake!”

Arlos chan Geraith smiled as the leather-lunged chief-armsman remonstrated gently with the petty-armsman staggering down the gangplank to the Shosara docks under his heavy pack and shoulder-slung rifle. The unfortunate chan Resnair didn’t look as if he felt particularly well, which really shouldn’t surprise anyone. The North Vandor in winter could be as unpleasant as any body of water in the world, and the division-captain didn’t doubt two thirds of his men had found themselves wondering whether or not seasickness was fatal.

From chan Resnair’s looks, the petty-armsman might well be among the sizable minority who’d wished it had been.

“At least none of the ships actually sank, Sir,” Regiment-Captain chan Kymo observed dryly, as if he’d read chan Geraith’s mind. “A time or two, there, I was pretty sure one of them was going to,” 3rd Dragoon Division’s quartermaster added.

“Nonsense. Nonsense!” Chan Geraith slapped the taller and much younger chan Kymo on the shoulder. “Why, I never doubted the splendid seaworthiness of those transports for a moment! After all, the sea runs in Ternathians’ blood!”

“But not even Ternathians can breathe it, Sir,” Regiment-Captain chan Isail pointed out.

“A mere bagatelle which shouldn’t have occupied your minds for a single instant,” chan Geraith said sternly.

“I’ll try to bear that in mind next time I’m aboard a transport that seems intent on standing on its head, Sir,” chan Isail assured him, and chan Geraith chuckled. Not that chan Kymo and the chief of staff didn’t have a point.

“The important thing,” he said rather more seriously, “is that we’ve got everybody across now except for the Ninth and the Thirty-First. And we’ve got enough shipping to bring both of them over in a single lift. That means we can have them here and ready to move out in less than three weeks.”

Chan Isail nodded. They hadn’t managed the movement in as orderly a fashion as they’d hoped, which shouldn’t have surprised anyone, given the speed with which the entire operation had been thrown together. Brigade-Captain chan Khartan was still in place at Salbyton and wouldn’t be able to pull his remaining regiment-the 9th Dragoons-out of the defenses there until the first brigade of Division-Captain chan Jassian’s 21st Infantry Division arrived to replace him. Brigade-Captain chan Ursan’s lead regiments should reach Salbyton within the next three days, however. At that point, chan Quay would entrain back to Renaiyrton, link up with Brigade-Captain chan Jesyl’s 31st Dragoons-the last unit of Brigade-Captain chan Sharys’ 3rd Brigade, which was currently still en route from Jyrsalm, where it had been awaiting additional Bisons and Steel Mules-and follow the rest of the 3rd Dragoon Division to Renaiyrton and across the ocean as soon as the TTE transports could return from Shosara. The rest of 5th Corps’s infantry and supports would be arriving in Traisum over the next couple of months, aside from Brigade-Captain Desval chan Bykahlar’s 3rd Brigade of the 21st Infantry, which would be following chan Geraith’s division down the Kelsayr Chain.

The movement, which undoubtedly had every TTE traffic manager between Traisum and Sharona tearing his hair, wasn’t pretty, and it bore precious little relation to the tidy paper studies the Imperial Ternathian Army’s staff college was accustomed to putting together. It was, however, working, which was not a minor consideration for the largest trans-universal troop movement in history. Although, judging by the Voice messages coming down-chain, it was only the beginning of what the Emperor had in mind.

Of course, the other side’s probably thinking a lot of the same things we are, chan Geraith reflected. That could make things…interesting. If our flanking move happens to run into a division or so of Arcanans headed to reinforce Harshu…

No doubt that was true, but given the concentrated firepower the 3rd Dragoons represented, he’d take his chances against an Arcanan division in the open field.

“All right.” He turned away from the tall-sided ships lying against the docks and headed purposefully for the steamer sedan on the quayside with the faint heat shimmer of a kerosene-fired boiler dancing above its exhaust. It flew a fender-mounted flag with the two gold star bursts of his rank, and the driver popped out, opened the rear door, and saluted sharply as he and his staff officers approached.

“The first thing is to get ourselves to chan Quay’s HQ and check in,” the division-captain continued as he settled into the forward-facing rear seat and chan Isail and chan Kymo took the rearward-facing seat across from him. “The next order of business is to get a Voice message off to Battalion-Captain chan Yahndar and make sure everything’s still proceeding more or less to plan at his end.”