Chapter 15

Katon showed up just as I finished my snack and I filled him in on the dustup and the problem which was approaching. He said he'd take care of getting the new volunteers settled in and away he went.

Big'un came by an hour or so later and said he'd brought the last lowboy back with a container. Quasterson would be back a little later but before dark.

"Good. I hope he can get back to the water pipe problem before long," I said.

"He said tell you to forget it. He finally remembered how to make plastic out of milk and vinegar. He looked around at some of the new stuff that came in and one of the containers had a small lathe, a Bridgeport, and two drill presses. He thinks all our problems are over, or will be when we teach the locals how to make more and better steel," he said.

"What? Does he think he can build a steel mill?"

"No. There are ways to make it with older technology and less infrastructure. We won't be building a blast furnace or a steel mill, but he can make it better and faster than they do now. You do know their swords aren't cast iron don't you?" Big'un asked, and laughed at me.

"Well I'd never thought about it. I'm sure glad Quasterson gave up on his pills," I said.

"Hell, he had to. We left his source behind. He knows now he's better off without that shit," Big'un said.

"At least that's a good thing. I'm wondering how we should react to this patrol they sent out," I said.

"I'd say we just ignore it, watch a little closer for the next one, and do our best to integrate the men we have now into a better force," he said.

"I guess you're right. It's too damned bad we can't make compound bows for our men. They'd be a hell of a lot better than the ones we have now," I said.

"Didn't I just tell you about Quasterson giving up on his happy pills, and about the lathe and Bridgeport that came in. He's already figured out how to make better bowstrings and when he found the Bridgeport he sat down right away and tried to figure out some cams for compound bows," he said.

"Cams?"

"The little wheel like things that make them compound bows in the first place. Damn, it seems the smarter Quasterson gets the fuzzier your thinking is. Maybe you're having a bad reaction to your pussy addiction," Big'un said.

"Fuck you. I can't be having that much of a reaction," I said.

"Something has pulled a cloud over your head. Well, not a cloud exactly but you have been scattered lately. Maybe you're trying to do too much too quickly.

"Like this water pipe deal for instance. Sure, they'd be great. It would be nice to go in and take a normal shower for the first time in a long time, but bathing in a tub ain't killing us and it's not like we have to tote the water," he said.

"I have been getting exercised over the water and I don't even know why I'm bothering. We have another city to get hold of and Christina tells me Pentah is nearly half again as large as Kahtal. Maybe I should hold off on even thinking about plumbing until we get a chance to examine it more closely," I said.

"There you go. You're probably just excited because this is your first castle," Big'un said, and laughed at me over it.

"Eat shit you big bastard, but I know what you're talking about. Here I am not knowing whether to shit or go blind over water pipes when I should be thinking about getting ready to take a city," I said.

"It's good to see you getting your priorities back in proper order. We've got a lot of fucking training to do yet, even with our unstoppable Bradleys. We can fight our way into the city easily but we can't patrol the streets with the Bradleys, and a handful of guys with automatic weapons can't do crowd control," he said, and I knew he was right.

We had a couple of thousand men here in Kahtal who had moved more or less smoothly into a sort of MP role but how many of them could we divert to Pentah, and would that many be even nearly enough for a city so much larger? Hell, I just didn't know, but at least Big'un had given me the answer.

"I'm glad we had this little talk Big'un, and you're exactly right. I'm trying to micromanage a Kingdom or two and it just ain't working. I'm putting you in charge of maintaining the peace in Pentah after we have it secured. I'd suggest you draft Chungi, Katon, and Major Charliwine to help you formulate a plan.

"Major Charliwine should be very helpful since he's recently come from there. I'll even let Christina help you out. The only part of the takeover I want, after the city's army has surrendered, is disposing of King Dasga II. If you can't help killing him while getting control of the population go ahead, but remember. If you kill him you get his wife," I said.

"You lowlife bastard. What kind of shitty deal is this? I'm the one who told you what you needed to do and now you're handing the worst job off to me," he said, fuming.

"Of course I am. Remember, no good deed goes unpunished. Now, get to work," I said, and for once I was the one laughing.

Today I made it to supper on time and eating was even more of a pleasure after I'd relieved my mind by shoving things off onto Big'un. I did think about some of his problems though and I asked Christina if she had any ideas about how hard Pentah was going to be to take over.

"You probably won't have much trouble. Even though the city is larger, my father doesn't like to keep a big army unless he thinks he needs to attack something. Pentah has a large company of city guards that perform basically the same task as what you call police. They keep order and bash heads together when people are causing trouble. They are under the control of the King ultimately, but I know father never had to deal with them directly.

"You won't have to capture every street corner. Just deal with my father and the other high officers who live in the castle and let the ones with sense enough to surrender keep the city going normally.

"Father was always against his father's grand plan to steal Quancho. Charliwine's patrol that father sent out was probably to find more evidence for leaving you alone. Father's grand scheme of conquest was to build up his cities slowly and just encroach his way to domination of all he surveyed.

"Of course when the patrol doesn't come back, and as he starts hearing word from travelers that you've killed King Frata, taken over all of Lagan, and are building roads and armies I'm sure he'll start worrying about his security in Perneath and begin trying to build up his men to protect himself and his holdings," she said.

"I wish I'd asked you about it sooner. What you're saying makes me think we should go on and attack as soon as possible," I said.

"Of course you should. There's a back way into the castle just like there has been everywhere else, and yes, I know exactly where it is. The secret isn't as much of a secret there, but they do keep a few men stationed in it near the exit to keep people from wandering in," she said.

Talk died down after that since I started thinking at full speed and quit asking questions, though I didn't stop eating or even slow down. Christina's information was going to cause a big change in plans. I sent Greggory to call Big'un back before the meal was even over and after I'd stuffed in all I could hold I made excuses to my wives and told them I might not get to bed for a few hours.

Big'un was waiting in my office when I got there and Talia had more coffee and snacks for us, even though she was officially off duty and should have been resting. For some strange reason Big'un looked damned near happy to be called right back to see me, and I finally figured he must have a notion of what I was about to say.

"Yes, I know why I'm back. I was going to tell you in the morning if you hadn't found out for yourself. I saw Christina just after I left you earlier, and I knew we'd have to get a move on. I talked to Katon too and he thinks there'll be no trouble here even if we take all the additional men we've had on MP duty with us," he said.