Chapter 63: Ground Forces

Radu stopped outside the chamber, his hand coming to rest on the sill of a window. For a moment, he reflected on the beauty of the stained glass. Its theme was a simple hunt, with a bowman, his dog at his side caught in the middle of a bark, and his arrow pointed at a distant deer. It was an uncomplicated scene and Radu had always enjoyed looking at it. It was a picture of a simple, joyful moment caught in glass. A simple scene for simpler times. Sadly, the simpler times were fading quickly.

His eyes traveled beyond the window, to the distorted view outside. It was raining. It was a minor summer squall, but it reflected Radu’s mood perfectly. The clouds blotting out the sun were like the darkness filling Radu’s mind, where the complexities of the world were beginning to weigh down the eternal hope he held within. The drops of rain were an austere reminder of the tears he felt he could not let loose. Those drops, alighting on the stained glass, distorted the outside even further. It perfectly reflected the complications of the future and the distortion of his choices.

He looked down at the sill, but his eyes were looking beyond it, within the vast reaches of his own mind. When he’d first become Emperor, it had been like a game. A rather straightforward game of cause and effect. He’d do this and that would happen; each action he made had what he felt was a predictable reaction. Now, though, the game had become a burden, his moves causing nuanced ripples that affected things beyond the obvious.

He sighed. The truth was the ripples were always there, but he had been too young or too naïve to see them. The things his decisions touched hadn’t increased with time. Instead, he’d just started seeing a bit better at the outer effects of his choices. Now, it felt like he couldn’t break wind without dire consequences. The world had become a dangerous place ... and he was not altogether certain of his role in its grand tapestry.

He took a deep breath and used both hands to push away from the sill, a symbolic gesture to represent him pushing back the maudlin mood which had overcome him. His back firmed and his face hardened as he reached for the door handle. He went from Radu to the Emperor with that action. That Radu and the Emperor were the same man was immaterial; the empire needed the emperor, not Radu. With a firm step, he walked into the chamber.

He looked around the room. Joric was standing on one side of the large iron pine table, bent over it and pushing small black markers onto a rolled-out map, the edges on two sides curling up around the heavy weights placed down to avoid it rolling up completely. Radu shook his head. His friend was still the non-descript man he’d always been but, thanks to his position as the Praetor of the Red Guard, he was far more recognizable now. The man’s face had become lined and tough, the face of someone who was constantly out in the elements. His hair was thinning though he’d managed to avoid any gray in his hair so far.

Praetor Conna Delin, Praetor of the Army, was beside him. The woman was tall, almost six feet, but even through the gray, long-sleeved shirt of her uniform, it was evident she was heavily muscled. The familiar black tabard with silver lining, embossed in the center with crossed swords over a stylized, vaguely triangular shield, covered the customary, short sleeved, chain mail shirt commonly worn for ceremonial purposes. The full chain mail shirt, long sleeved and hanging almost to the warrior’s knees were normally worn and, of course, plate armor was used in battle. The plate armor wasn’t near the quality of the Wenland Knights, but recent innovations in metalworking and design styles had made it better than the Zultir Knights.

The praetor kept her hair short, maybe three to four inches total with the sides even shorter. Her hair was combed in stylized chaos, generally parted on the right but the locks tended to go in every different direction while still hugging her roughly triangular face. Her brown eyes were intent and roaming over the map in front of her. Radu knew her to be a focused, brilliant leader, rarely missing a trick.

It was evident Praetor Mannfred Daggin, Praetor of the Navy, had once been a thick, muscular man. Sadly, over time, the muscularity had changed over to mere bulk. The man was still thick, but most of the thickness was taken up by muscles which had grown fat and flabby over time.

He was still sharp, however, and his squinting brown eyes rolled over the map carefully. His leather gloved hands were clasped behind him, stretching his thick linen shirt across a rolling chest and portly stomach. His brown hair flecked with gray strands was long and pulled back into a scraggly pony tail, the hair pulled clear and straight along the sides of his head. Most of his face was covered by a long, thick, unkempt beard turning the same gray as the hair on his head, but what could be seen of his face was ruddy and thick, like pale leather.

“The timing won’t work,” Daggin interjected. “From Bristol to Sansot, in best conditions riding a full sail, it’d take me the better part of three days to get down there. Then, another three to four days ride clear across Radagar and half-through Marager, up to Allir, its capital. That’s seven to ten days just to notify the Maragar legion it has to ride up to Carapur, which is a ten-day ride, at best. You’re talking the better part of a month before reinforcements arrive.”

“Now, the problem is it’s not best conditions, is it?” Daggin asked. “In summer, wind generally blows from the south, so we’ll be riding into the wind. Plus, it’s storm season, which means we’ll have delays riding out whatever storms are out there. So, just getting from Bristol to Sansot is going to take close to two ten-days all on its own.”

“What won’t work?” Radu asked as he entered the door. His eyes ran from Joric to Mannfred Daggin to Conna Delin to Vondi and back again.

“The Naval Praetor was just telling us why he couldn’t get a message to the Maragor Army legion,” Vondi relayed, dissatisfaction dripping from her voice.

“I can get the message there,” Daggin responded harshly. “What I can’t do is make a ship go faster than it can go.”

“We have a small army camped west of Carapur, just inside the Kortho border,” Joric explained, ignoring the glares between the Naval Praetor and the Right Hand of the Emperor. “Scouts say it’s close to a thousand strong, if not more...”

“Don’t tell me,” Radu interrupted. “It’s running under the Gobeckli banner?”

“Well, yes,” Joric confirmed. “The problem is it’s just outside the Gobeckli district. They claim it’s just a war game, but with what we heard between Zynna and Abrum, I’m not sure we can take the chance.”

Radu thought a moment, looking back and forth between the people gathered. Daggin and Vondi were still glaring at each other while Delin studied the map and Joric awaited his words. Radu grimaced, rubbing his hand down his face.

“I’ll write a decree, telling the Gobeckli army to go home,” Radu said slowly, thinking through his words. He pulled his hands behind his back and paced around the table. Finally, he stopped between Joric and Delin and looked down at the table. He took a few markers from around Kortho City and moved it down to Carapur. “We’ll have it delivered by a full company of Army and a full company of Red Guard. That’s over 1500 warriors in total so they should get the message. Meanwhile, Daggin will send the message to the Maragar legion. Half the legion, actually, the other half is down at the Zultir border. I want three of those five companies to march towards Carapur. We’ll keep the other two companies in reserve – have them occupy Allir.”

Vondi started to speak but Radu raised his hand to cut her off. “I’ll explain to King Boch when he arrives – if he arrives. For all we know, he could be complicit in this, though I don’t think it likely.”

Radu turned and looked at the map, then up to Daggin. “Even if it takes a month, we need to move those troops up. If Zultir meets the combined companies of Army and Reds and defeats them, we’ll need the Maragar companies to march on Kortho City to alleviate whatever siege they plan ... or to liberate the city, if Zynna actually does know a secret way into the city. If we’re lucky, though, Maragar will come up behind the Zultirans and we can grind them between our two forces.”

“Send word to Yllucia, as well,” Radu added pensively. “Have them send three companies towards Carapur – whichever companies are closest. Send word to Vacilla and have them send three companies to the Maragar border, just in case. They’ll need to adjust their rotation to keep all six companies fresh. Maybe stagger relief, one company at a time. Meanwhile, we’ll have Hortenth prepare to assist Vacilla as necessary.”

“What about Endogar and Joren?” Vondi asked.

“They’re too far away,” Conna Delin replied pensively before Radu could respond. She glanced at Radu approvingly, her eyebrows raised in pleasant surprise. She’d worked with the emperor for years, of course, but this is the first time he’d shown a strategic bent. Turning, she used a wooden dowel to trace a path to the west, just past the border of Endogar to Kendill.

The Korthan Empire consisted of eight kingdoms comprised, basically, of four northern kingdoms and four southern kingdoms, though the empire was not north-south oriented but rather tilted towards the east, much as the Strait of Morrud was tilted. The actual borders were a patchwork, but the kingdom of Kortho was in the northeast with Yllucia on its western border. Joren was on Yllucia’s western border with Endogar, the northwest corner of the empire, on Joren’s western border. The Vagarall Sea occupied all of Endogar’s southern border and half of Joren’s, with Hortenth and Vacilla occupying the other half.

Hortenth was the smallest kingdom and was wrapped by Vacilla on its eastern and southern borders. Its western border was the Vagarall Sea and its northern border was, of course, with Joren. Vacilla’s eastern border was to Maragar on the north and Kultir on the south. The northernmost edge of Maragar’s western border was shared with Yllucia, while Radagar covered all of its eastern border with Kortho being the northern border for both Maragar and Radagar. Radagar’s eastern border was on the Torrid Ocean and its southern border, like Maragar’s, was with Zultir.

“Besides,” Delin continued, her eyes narrowed shrewdly. “While we’re currently on good terms with Kendill, I don’t trust them not to try to take advantage of the situation.”

“I’ll keep the Endogar legion focused on the border with Kendill and make sure the Joren legion knows to support Endogar,” she said, raising her eyebrows and looking at the Emperor, “just in case.”

Radu’s eyes narrowed shrewdly and he nodded in assent.

“It might be time to increase the walls in Andelvon, though,” Delin went on, pointing to the city just inside Maragar, on the Maragar/Zultir border. “Legate Evgan is head of the Ninth Maragar. His father was a mason and taught him everything about the trade. The man is a god when it comes to masonry. I’m getting a bit tired of running around striking down the Zultirans over and over. Let’s make Andelvon and the rest of the border cities so fortified, they’ll think twice about coming across the border again.”

Delin looked up at the emperor. “I’ll have Evgan move from city to city along the Maragar-Zultir border and build walls chaos itself would have trouble bringing down. Then I’ll send him down the Radagar border with Zultir and do the same thing. Within the next decade, Zultir won’t be able to cross the border without having to leave an enemy fortified city behind them – and no one is stupid enough to do that.”

“I like the way you think, Delin,” Radu grinned appreciatively.

“That sounds awfully expensive,” Vondi spoke up hesitantly.

“I’ll pay for it from the emergency fund,” a voice spoke up from behind them.

The five spun to face the intruder, their hands running to the hilts of non-existent weapons – no one entered the Emperor’s presence with a weapon except the Emperor’s guards and Vondi, though she wasn’t wearing a sword at the moment. The woman was shorter than Vondi, perhaps 5’4” tall. Like Vondi, she was thin and athletic, but where Vondi was naturally curvaceous, the woman was leaner and flatter. Also unlike Vondi, her hair was the color of wheat and fell around a thin, oval face. The woman looked young, but the plentiful lines around the eyes and the ones just beginning at the edges of the mouth indicated she was somewhere over thirty.

“Should I have made more noise coming in?” she asked in surprise. Her eyebrows were raised but her hands just fidgeted with the off-white linen dress she was wearing.

“Who invited you, Lina?” Vondi asked unkindly.

“I did,” Radu said, looking at his sister askance. He was aware the two women didn’t get along that well – it was one of the reasons Lina didn’t accompany him often – but it couldn’t be helped. Lina had information they needed.

Just as Vondi was his Right Hand and in charge of the empire’s martial forces, Lina Velesta was his Left Hand and in charge of the empire’s coffers. She advised him on everything from the tax rate to the amount of stores needed for the coming year. Like Vondi with the military, it meant she practically ran the entire empire’s monetary system from behind the scenes. Radu knew his skills were more managerial, assessing and deploying talent, rather than getting involved. He oversaw both Vondi and Lina but trusted them to do their jobs without much interference.

Radu walked over and kissed the woman on her cheek, causing her to blush. “We have an emergency fund?” he asked in surprise.

“Do you ever actually read the reports I give you?” Lina asked archly.

“Not really,” Radu replied with a slight shrug. “No. That’s why I have you. I figure if you know what you’re talking about, it’s good enough.”

“I swear, one day I’m going to just run off with the treasury,” Lina pouted.

“Let me know when, and I’ll run off with you,” Radu laughed. “We can become merchants and roam the world buying and selling trinkets!”

Lina shook her head wryly. “I started the emergency fund twelve years ago. Right after the last time Kendill tried to invade Endogar and we had to rebuild the cities on the border. You should remember; it nearly bankrupted us.”