The Thousand Cities

«You sound as if you might mean us, not just the Kubratoi and the other barbarous nations of the farthermost east,» Piran said.

«Of course I mean us,» Abivard exploded. «Maniakes has spent the past two years trying to tear down the land of the Thousand Cities one mud brick at a time. He hasn't been doing that for his own amusement; he's been doing it to pay us back for having taken the westlands away from Videssos. If we can cut off the head by taking Videssos the city, the body—the Empire of Videssos—will die. If we can't, our grandchildren will be trying to figure out how to keep the Videssians from taking back everything Sharbaraz has won in his wars.»

«That is why the King of Kings sent us on our long, hard journey,» Tus said. «He agrees with you, lord, that we must uproot the Empire to keep it from growing back and troubling us again in later days.»

«Will the Kubratoi horsemen and single-trunk ships be enough toward helping us get done what needs doing?» Abivard asked.

Piran said, «Their soldiers are much like Khamorth anywhere. They have a lot of warriors because the grazing is good south of the Astris. A few of their fighting men wear mail shirts in place of boiled leather. Some are loot from the Videssians; some are made by smiths there.»

«What about the ships?» Romezan asked, beating Abivard to the question.

«I'm no sailor—» Piran began.

Abivard broke in: «What Makuraner is?»

«—but they looked to me as if they'd be dangerous. They carry a mast and a leather sail to mount on it, and they can hold a lot of warriors.»

«That sounds like what we need to do the job, right enough,» Romezan said, eyes kindling with excitement.

Abivard hoped he was right. Along with catapults and siege towers, ships were a projection of the mechanical arts into the art of war. In all such things the Videssians were uncommonly good.

How he had resented those spider-striding galleys that had held him away from Videssos the city! He hadn't thought he could hate ships more than he'd hated those galleys. Now, though, after ships had let Maniakes bypass the Makuraner-held Videssian westlands and bring the war to the land of the Thousand Cities, he wondered where his greater antipathy lay.

«If we have ships to put their ships out of action—» He frowned. «Have the Kubratoi met the Videssians on the sea in these single-trunk ships?»

«We saw no such fights,» Piran said. «Etzilios was at peace with Videssos while we were in Kubrat, you understand, not wanting to make Maniakes worry about him.»

«I do understand.» Abivard nodded. «Maniakes needs to think all's quiet behind him. He needs to invade the land of the Thousand Cities again, in fact. The farther he is from the capital when we launch our attack, the better off we'll be. If the God is kind, we'll be in Videssos the city before he can get back.» He smiled wolfishly. «I wonder what he'll do then.»

Harking back to his original question, Tus said, «Etzilios assured us, boasting and vaunting about what his people have done, that their ships had stood up against the Videssians in times past.»

«I know they were raiding the Videssian coast when we were in Across,» Romezan said. «They could hardly have done that if their ships didn't measure up, now, could they?»

«I suppose not,» Abivard said. The wolfish smile remained «The Videssians did have some other things to worry about then, though.»

«Aye, so they did.» Romezan's smile was more nearly reminiscent than lupine. «We scared them then. When we come back, we'll do more than scare them. Scaring people is for children. Wi

«Well said!» Piran exclaimed. «The Kubratoi, like most nomads, would phrase that a little differently: they would say fighting wars is a man's proper sport. They will make allies worth having.»

Allies worth betraying, Abivard thought. If all went well, if the Kubratoi and the Makuraners together took Videssos the city and extinguished the ancient Empire of Videssos, how long before they started quarreling over the bones of the carcass? Not long, Abivard was sure: Makuran had always had nomads on the frontier and never had had any use for them.

Something else occurred to him. To Romezan he said, «We'll be taking the part of the field army you brought out of Videssos to the land of the Thousand Cities, not so?»

«We'd better,» Romezan declared. «If we're going to try to break into Videssos the city, we'll need everything we have. Kardarigan's chunk won't be enough by itself. Tell me you think otherwise and I'll be very surprised.»

«I don't,» Abivard assured him. «But while we're in Videssos, Maniakes is going to be in the land of the Thousand Cities. And do you know who will have to keep him busy there and make sure he doesn't sack our capital while we're busy sacking his?»

«Somebody had better do that,» Romezan said. His eyes sparkled. «I know who—those foot soldiers you're so proud of, the city militiamen you trained into soldiers almost worth having.»

«They are worth having,» Abivard insisted. He started to get angry before he noticed that Romezan was gri

«They'd better, or Sharbaraz will want both our heads and likely Turan's, too: he'll be commanding them, I suppose, so he won't be able to escape his share of the blame,» Romezan said. He whistled a merry little tune he'd picked up in Videssos. «Of course, if your fancied-up city guards don't do their job, the King of Kings may not be able to take anybody's head, because Maniakes may not have left him with his. One way or another, the war ends next summer.»

«Not 'one way or another,'» Abivard said. «The war ends next summer: our way.»

Romezan, Tus, and Piran lifted their silver goblets of wine in a salute.

Prince Peroz stared up at Abivard, who in turn looked down at the little fellow who would one day rule him if he outlived Sharbaraz King of Kings. Peroz reached up and tried to grab hold of his beard. He hadn't taken that from bis own children; he wouldn't take it from his future sovereign, either.

«He's starting to discover that he has hands,» Abivard said to Denak, and then, «They change so fast when they're this small.»

«They certainly do.» His sister sighed. «I'd almost forgotten. It's been a while now since Jarireh was tiny. She's almost Varaz's age, you know.»

«Is she well? Is she happy?» Abivard asked. His sister hardly ever mentioned his eldest niece. He wondered if Denak thought of Jarireh and her sisters as failures because they had not been boys and thus had not cemented their mother's place among the women of the palace.

«She is well,» Denak said. «Happy? Who could be happy here at court?» She spoke without so much as glancing over at Ksorane, who sat in a corner of the room painting her eyelids with kohl and examining her appearance in a small mirror of polished bronze. Maybe, by now, Sharbaraz had heard all of Denak's complaints.

«If we take Videssos the city—» Abivard stopped. For the first time in a long while he let himself think about all the things that might happen if Makuran took Videssos the city. «If we take the city, Dhegmussa will offer up praise to the God from the High Temple and Sharbaraz King of Kings, may his days be long and his realm increase, will quarter himself in Maniakes' palaces. He should bring you with him, for without you he never would have had the chance.»

«I've given up thinking that what he should do and what he will do are one and the same,» Denak answered. «He'll go to Videssos the city, no doubt, to see what you've done for him and, as you say, to vaunt himself by taking over the Avtokrator's dwelling. But I'll stay here in Mashiz, sure as sure. He'll take women who… amuse him, or else he'll amuse himself with frightened little Videssians.» She sounded very sure, very knowing, very bitter.