"Of course not. We're going to fight the Duko and sack his city-though the plunder will have to be shared with Olmo and Novella Citta, or so I imagine. Some of us, and perhaps many of us, will be killed. Some of you will be killed as well. If I were half the prophet people think me, I could tell you how many, perhaps. I can't."
One of the other officers (Karabin is his name) asked, "Can't you say whether we'll take your silver?"
"I prefer not to get into that."
Kupus repeated, "Can you?"
"If you're asking about your personal decision, Captain, I can't tell you. If you intend this company of yours..." I spread my hands. "I am here."
Referring to the Duko's officer, another lieutenant said, "I think we ought to bring out Sfido, too."
I told him I agreed.
The captive Soldese officer was led out, and when I saw that they had not troubled to untie his hands, and that no one brought him a stone to sit on, I knew that my decision had been correct.
"This is Captain Sfido, the commander the Duko set over us," Kupus told us. "Technically, I'm his second in command."
Some of the listening men chuckled.
"Captain, these three men are from Blanko. The one in the black robe is Inclito's sorcerer."
His eyes conveyed his query, and I nodded.
"When I first met him, he was Rajan of Gaon. They call him Incanto here, but in Gaon they say that his real name is Silk."
As I shook my head, Oreb croaked loudly, "Good Silk!" I ordered him to be quiet.
"These two are Colonel Vivo and Colonel Bello. They're probably shopkeepers with needlers, or farmers like General Inclito here. I don't know."
"You're trying to suborn these troopers from their duty," Sfido said to me; as soon as I heard his voice, I knew he was an antagonist to be reckoned with.
"Not at all," I declared. "I'm simply trying to persuade them that they should repay whatever they may have received from your Duko and take service with Blanko. Captain Kupus would notify you of the change, and we would let you go back to your Duko to tell him about it. We'd even give you a horse for that purpose."
"They've gotten no money from Duko Rigoglio yet," Sfido said. "Many have been with him for almost a month, however. If they do as you suggest, they'll forfeit a great deal of pay, money that they've earned and that they deserve."
Bello inquired, "Are you prepared to pay them now?"
"No." Sfido displayed his bound wrists. "Are you?"
Bello did not reply. I asked Sfido, "Are you saying you have the money here, hidden in your tent?"
He shook his head. "It will be sent from Soldo on the tenth of the month."
There was a stir among the listeners.
Inclito said, "We ought to take it, if we can, Incanto. That shouldn't be too hard for you."
I nodded.
Sfido smiled-he had a good, warm smile. "Next you'll say you'll pay them for the time they spent in our Duko's service. If there's anyone here stupid enough to believe it, you'll probably win him over."
"No," I said, "I won't."
An officer whose name I had not yet learned, a burly man with a fair mustache, announced, "I think this has gone far enough. If we stay with Soldo, we'll get the wages the Duko promised. If we sign with Blanko, we'll be starting over for less money. We've all seen the Duko's horde. Most of us haven't seen Blanko's. I haven't myself, but from what I heard just now, I think the Duko's going to win it."
Lieutenant Karabin said, "You weren't in Gaon."
"I would say the same if I had been."
The wrangling went on for some time. It would take every sheet I have to give it all, nor do I remember it well enough to set it all down; often there were two or even three persons talking at once.
At last I stood upon my stone seat and was able to quiet them. "You're about to fight among yourselves," I told them.
The two mercenary officers loudly denied it.
"Listen to me! If you decide to remain in Duko Rigoglio's service, the Gaonese among you, and a few others who were in Gaon, will fight the rest. If you come over to Blanko, nearly half of you will fight to remain with the Duko. There's not a man among you who doesn't know in his heart that what I've just said is true."
I waited for someone to object. No one did, and Oreb crowed, "Silk talk!"
"I said earlier that with a hundred troopers I could have crushed you. Now you see how easily I could have done it. What need did I have for troopers, when I could so very readily have set you to fighting among yourselves?"
They were silent and shamefaced.
"But I don't want to see you crushed. Far too many of you fought beside me when we beat the Hannese. Let me make the case for my side again; I promise to do it quickly, and to be as quiet as you like afterward.
"First, Blanko will pay you. Whatever Captain Sfido here may honestly believe, I know that Soldo won't-they don't have enough.
"Second, Blanko will win. A few minutes ago I spoke of sharing the loot of Soldo with Olmo and Novella Citta. Did you hear anyone ask about that? Or object? I didn't. The Duko's allies are our allies now."
Fava said, "I told everyone about their changing sides."
"There is the case for Blanko in a nutshell," I continued, "and I believe that any of you who look at it squarely will see that it is a very compelling one."
The burly officer snorted. "Not compelling enough for me."
"Hear Silk!" Oreb insisted, and I told him to be quiet.
"Many of these men will side with you, Lieutenant, I feel sure. I would like to speak for a moment to those who would side with me."
He stood and drew his needier.
So did Captain Kupus. Kupus said, "I don't think we'll allow that."
"You have no reason not to," I told him. "All that I want to say to them is that they must not fight their comrades-who are also mine. It would be best if you fought for Blanko and justice. But it would be better for you to fight against Blanko than for you to fight among yourselves."
I spoke to Kupus again. "Captain, I would like to make you an offer, one that will keep friend from killing friend. Colonel Bello, Colonel Vivo, and I came here with you, unarmed and under a flag of truce. I'm sure you won't deny that; you know it's true."
He nodded.
"Very well. I want to exchange myself for General Inclito and his daughter. If-"
The burly officer with the blond mustache interrupted me. "When you were listing your reasons for thinking your town might win, you didn't say anything about your magic."
"It is not my town," I told him, "and I have no magic to threaten you with."
That set off a buzz of talk.
Fava shouted to make herself heard. "My grandmother's an old, old woman. She was nearly fifty when she came here to Blue, and she knows a lot about stregos. She says Incanto's the greatest strego she's ever seen." More loudly still, she shrieked, "Don't say you weren't warned!"
Kupus stepped near enough that he could speak almost normally. "You'll exchange for Inclito?"
I nodded. "And his daughter. I want to be with you to keep you from killing one another."
"Not the daughter." Holstering his needier, he took a slug gun from one of the bystanders and fired it into the air for silence. "She came on her own to try and get her father out, and we're keeping her."
That was how our meeting ended. Before Inclito left, he tried to have a word with me in private but was prevented by Kupus and the guards. He told Kupus, "Take a tip from someone who knows, Captain. It's over. You and your men will be part of Blanko's horde before long. You may not think so, but you don't know Incanto like I do." He kissed Fava before he rode off with Bello and Vivo.
Our hands were free until nightfall; then Sfido ordered us bound. Our guards took my staff, and chased Oreb away.
Chapter 13
Escape to Green
Once again I have let this account fall behind events. I am back in Blanko, and staying once more with my friends Atteno the stationer and his wife; he has let me refill this little ink bottle, and given me a great deal of paper-more, surely, than I will ever need. My task here is to raise enough money to pay our mercenaries, and I am finding it far from easy; but before I get into that, I should explain how we came to have them, although I can scarcely expect anyone who reads this to believe me.
They had no tent for Fava and me, the only tent in their whole encampment being the one Sfido had brought. The snow, which I had borne easily at first, became a sort of torture after sunset, wetting and chilling everyone. I huddled under some thornbushes with Fava; and although she may have gotten some warmth from me, I got none from her. For hours I lay there shivering while four troopers with slug guns stood guard over us, my freezing fingers grasping one another inside my robe; but eventually I fell asleep.
Or woke.
I was lying upon stone instead of stones, a level stone floor that felt blessedly cool although the steaming air I breathed might have come from a bathhouse. A man with a cloth around his head in the Gaonese fashion crouched beside me. He shook my shoulder, saying softly, "Rajan, Rajan."
I sat up, sensing somehow that the perspiring girl who lay at my side was a human being, although the light was so dim that I could only just make out the face of the man who had shaken my shoulder. "Yes, Chaku, I'm awake. What do you want with me?"
"Rajan, where are we?"
I had no idea; but I held my finger to my lips, fearing that he would wake Fava.
One of the troopers who had been set to guard us stepped over to stand next to Chaku. His name was Schreiner, and he asked "Have you done this to us?" in a voice that trembled with fear.
"Done what to you?" When I do not have the answer, I find it best to ask another question.
Chaku turned to him. "Am I dreaming?"
When Schreiner did not answer him, I asked, "Do you usually ask others whether you're dreaming in your dreams, Chaku?"
"Never!"
"Then I doubt that you're dreaming now," I told him.
The door was flung back by a burly human slave, and a small but handsome man in rich robes came in, followed by three naked muscular human slaves. Iron bands encircled their wrists, bands joined by heavy chains they swung like weapons. The robed master pointed to Chaku; sensing what was about to happen, I hurried over to stand before him with outspread arms.
The slaves hesitated; then the largest, a graying man with protruding ears and a lantern jaw, indicated Schreiner.
His master nodded.
Schreiner raised his slug gun, but it was knocked out of his hands before he could fire; a second blow from the big slave's chain followed like lightning, dashing Schreiner to the stone floor.
At once the robed master threw himself on top of him, and appeared to kiss his neck. His slave whispered, "You shaggy well better beat hoof, Patera."
Chaku fired as he spoke. The robed master's head seemed almost to explode, wetting my face with blood and brains flung hard enough to sting. From other parts of the huge room, others fired, slugs shrieking as they ricocheted from walls, ceiling, and floor. The slaves shouted and raised their hands, then snatched up their master's body and ran, slamming the iron door behind them.
Fava sat up screaming.
By then I had recognized the place. Overcome with wonder and awe, I muttered, "I am asleep and dreaming, and they are in my dream." Fortunately, Chaku did not overhear me.
The chamber that confined us was so dimly lit that I could scarcely make out its walls; but as well as I could judge, only Fava had changed at all. And even Fava had changed only subtly, for she had always seemed an apple-cheeked child just short of puberty, with long, light brown hair and a winning smile.
Thinking about this, and what had just occurred, and certain other things, I sat down upon the cool flagstones again, my right forefinger drawing circles on my cheek.
While I sat lost in thought, Schreiner, our guard, recovered consciousness; his head was bandaged with strips torn from his tunic, and then, because he seemed not to like my company, he was helped to his feet and led away. I saw these things, but they made little impression on me. The dream, I felt, must surely end soon, as our earlier dream of Green had when it was interrupted by the cook. The various difficulties that I had tried to think of some way of confronting as I lay beside Fava under the snow-covered thornbushes would be pressing again, and I struggled against them with little hope, while wondering whether I was not in fact freezing to death while I wiped the sweat from my face with the sleeve of my robe.
I wanted to prevent the mercenaries from murdering one another, and I could see no way to do it other than by bringing them all to Blanko's side, meanwhile stepping in to smooth such quarrels as I chanced to witness.
Very well, they had to be brought to Blanko's side-but it seemed out of the question until enough time had passed to show the falsity of the Duko's promises clearly-and by that time the war would more than likely have been lost. I reproached myself bitterly for pretending to agree when Inclito spoke of intercepting the mule-loads of silver the Duko had promised to send, since by nodding as I had, I had appeared to accept the idea that Duko Rigoglio had such a sum at his disposal and would pay it out. I had nodded so it would seem that Inclito and I were in agreement on all questions. Still it had been a mistake, and one I continue to regret.
(As I write, it strikes me that there is a chance, however slight, that Inclito was correct and I mistaken. The tenth is only three days distant. It would be well to send horsemen to intercept the silver, if it exists; but I have no horses here to speak of, and I feel sure Inclito will do it himself if he is not hotly engaged.)
How could Duko Rigoglio be persuaded to abandon his war? I had sent Fava with that hope, and had likewise written those letters to Olmo and Novella Citta, hoping that the messengers would be captured by the Soldese - all in order that Rigoglio, fearing that his allies were not as reliable as he had supposed, would cancel his invasion. Both my tricks had clearly failed, and as I sat on the stone floor of that sweltering room in which I could not possibly be again, I could devise no fresh scheme that seemed apt to succeed.
