Clan and Crown

"I'm not after an apology, Sergeant Major. I want an assessment of the situation."

"Sir." He looked at the ceiling for a moment. "Colonel Parsons had not yet attempted to plant surinomaz, but it's reasonable to suppose he'd have done no better at that than he did in holding the land," Elliot said. "While he was in command, we lost Corporal Hartford to guerrilla activity. Five more troopers were severely wounded. A total of twenty-three successfully deserted.

"Since you took command, Private Reznick has been killed in action, and three others have been severely wounded, all in battles. There have been no losses to guerrillas. Ten former deserters, eleven counting Mr. Mason, have returned to duty, and nobody has run off. Troop morale is high. We have over six hundred acres in surinomaz, and I guess there's no revolt brewing out there even if the peasants aren't too happy about growing the stuff." He shrugged. "On the evidence, your way works."

"And the men realize that?"

"Most," Elliot said. "All that count."

Meaning there are things you aren't telling me, Rick thought. But no point to that now. "The key to 'my method' has been to cooperate with the legitimate rulers here."

"You have done more than this. You have become one of us," Tylara said.

"The point is, I've tried to regularize our positions. One key to that is Wanax Ganton. Another has been the triple alliance of Drantos, Tamaerthon, and Rome."

"I would place your friendship with Yanulf and the Priesthood of Yatar at equal importance," Tylara said. "Especially as The Time approaches. Husband, no one has more admiration for you than I. I also know that you do not recite your accomplishments to gather praise from us. What is it you wish to say?"

"I have a policy question," Rick said. "But I wanted everybody to look at it from the right direction. The question is-what do we do about Ganton?"

"What should we do?" Gwen asked. "I mean, what are the choices?"

"You've watched him with Octavia. That's the first question, do we encourage this match? Beyond that. Do we want him to be Caesar?"

"Does he want to be?" Gwen asked. "Not that it would be automatic. The position isn't really hereditary."

"True," Rick said. "Look, here's the situation. The Westmen are coming down off their plains. Lots of them. They're pretty good troops. Probably can't take castles-" he looked to Mason for confirmation.

"Not by storm," Mason said. "Not stone ones, anyway. But they can wipe up anything else. Murphy had the best ditch, logs, and earth system I've seen on this planet, and he wouldn't have been able to hold much longer-would have lost already if it hadn't been for the battle rifles."

"So what'd you do with him?" Warner asked.

"He's set up in that castle Harkon used to have," Mason said. "With a lot of peasants to guard. He'll be okay until the food runs out."

"So we can hold castles, but not the land," Warner said. "So how do we feed those people?"

"Going to be worse than that," Mason said. "Below the Littlescarp things are too wet. Up on the high plains, that hot wind that comes down from the desert is drying things out."

"Probably the source of some of our rain," Warner mused.

"Could be," Mason said. "But for sure it won't do the crops much good. I don't know what the climate's going to be like, but up in the high plains it's been the driest spring anyone can remember."

Gwen was studying the map on the far wall. "Could we abandon the high plains?"

"It is my land," Tylara said. "Mine and Rick's."

"It's nobody's land if there's nothing to eat," Rick said.

"Captain, you have to hold it anyway," Mason said. "Otherwise the Westmen will ride right across to the Littlescarp and come down into Drantos proper. I'd rather fight them up there where they don't have so much room to spread out."

"The legends are relatively clear," Gwen said. "The Westmen swept all the way to the gates of Rome during one of the times of turmoil. Possibly the last one."

"So we'll have to stop them. Only who commands?" Rick asked. "Me?"

"You can't," Elliot said. "The Shalnuksis are coming, and you've got to deal with them. And somebody's got to keep the surinomaz crop growing-"

"There's the University situation, too," Gwen said. "It really is getting serious."

"Tylara told me," Rick said.

"Yes, the minor clans see much booty and little danger," Tylara said.

"Which makes for sticky diplomacy with Mac Clallan Muir, and you'll be personally needed," Gwen said.

"More than that, Captain," Elliot said. "If you send a sizable army up into drought country, the logistics are going to get sticky. With Apelles and his clerks to help I can probably handle most of the administration, but somebody's got to enforce our decrees. There's nobody except you to stand up to the barons."

"Can Caradoc command?" Warner asked.

"I suppose he must go," Gwen said.

"Yes, he'll be needed out there, but he can't be commander," Rick said. "He hasn't enough rank yet. We can groom him for promotion after this. But it'll be a long campaign."

"Then you certainly ca

"Yeah," Rick said. "But more than one empire has come apart because it couldn't solve the problem of nomad light cavalry. We've got better armor and equipment, but Murphy says there'll be a lot of Westmen. It'll take discipline to beat them."

"For a long war that requires discipline, count not on Drantos warriors," Tylara said. "Even those of Chelm."

"That's the problem. The Westmen won't fight until they've got an advantage. We can win every ten-day and get nowhere, but any defeat can be disaster," Rick said. At Manzikert the Byzantines won the day but at dusk became scattered. They were cut up in detail. After that Alp Arslan's Turks ravaged Asia Minor so thoroughly that when the Crusaders went through a generation later they found brambles growing in what had once been thriving cities.

"If you want disciplined troops, you need Romans," Gwen said. "You could ask Caesar for a legion or two. Oh-of course! There are only two men in Drantos who could command Romans. You and young Ganton. And if he leads Roman soldiers in a successful battle, then he really is eligible to become Caesar."

Tylara looked at Gwen in surprise, then nodded agreement. "So this is what you meant when you began. When you asked what we are to do with Wanax Ganton." She shook her head slowly. "To ask such a question is high treason-my lord, you have been with Ganton these past four ten-days. You must know better than we what we must do. As you always do."

"I don't know," Rick said. "But I don't see we've much choice. Can we put together a disciplined force without Romans?"

"Only if you lead it," Tylara said. The others nodded agreement.

"So we need Romans. Can anyone command except the Wanax?"

"Only Publius," Tylara said. "He might command both Romans and our bheromen." Rick winced, and Tylara nodded agreement. "Aye, he is quarrelsome and likes not 'barbarians.' And I think he will like even less this conceit of Ganton as Caesar."

"There's an understatement," Gwen said. "But you won't get Publius to come west anyway. He's got all he can do as Marselius's proconsul."

"I agree," Tylara said. "But though Romans will obey their officers, the bheromen will not follow Roman legates. And we ca

"What's the rest of it, Captain?" Warner asked. "You obviously thought this far already." Elliot gave Larry Warner a sour look, but still nodded agreement.

"First thing, if we've got Roman armies in the west, we want Dravan held by somebody trustworthy, which means Tylara."

There were murmurs of agreement.

They all agree. Why not? They won't be separated from their families. Well, Caradoc will. And Reznick's kids won't ever see him again. We didn't even ask them. Rick lifted a small bag onto the table. "These are Reznick's personal effects," he said. "Some of the stuff goes to his wives."