bottle of wine stood open, two perfect porcelain wine bowls glowing
white at its side. Balasar waved the attendant away and poured the wine
himself. Sinja accepted a bowl and sat across from him.
"It was nicely done," Sinja said, gesturing with his free hand toward
the city. "Well-managed and quick."
Balasar looked up, almost as if noticing the streets and warehouses for
the first time. Sinja thought a hint of a smile touched the general's
lips, but it was gone as soon as it came. The wine was rich and left
Sinja's mouth feeling almost clean.
"It was competent," Balasar agreed. "But it can't have been easy. For
you and your men."
"I didn't lose one of them," Sinja said. "I don't know that I've ever
seen a campaign start where we took a city and didn't lose anyone."
"This is a different sort of war than the usual," Balasar said. And
there, in the pale eyes, Sinja saw the ghosts. The general wasn't at
ease, however casual he chose to he with his wine. It was an interesting
fact, and Sinja put it at the back of his mind. "I wanted to ask after
your men."
"Have there been complaints?"
"Not at all. Every report suggests that they did their work admirably.
But this wasn't the adventure they expected."
"They expected the women they raped to look less like their sisters,
that's truth," Sinja said. "And honestly, I expect we'll lose some. I
don't know how it is in Galt, sir, but when I've taken a green company
into battle the first time, we always lose some."
"Inexperience," Balasar said, agreeing.
"No, sir. I don't mean the enemy spits a few, though that's usually true
as well. I mean there are always a few who came into the work with epics
in their heads. Great battles, honor, glory. All that pig shit. Once
they see what a battlefield or a sacked town really looks like, they
wake up. Half these boys are still licking off the caul. Some of them
will think better and sneak off."
"And how do you plan to address the problem?"
"Let them go," Sinja said and shrugged. "We haven't seen a fight yet,
but before this is finished, we will. When it happens I'd rather have
twenty soldiers than thirty men looking for a reason to retreat."
The general frowned, but he also nodded. At the edge of the pier, half a
hundred seagulls took to the air at once, their cries louder than the
waves. They wheeled once over the ships and then settled again, just
where they had been.
"Unless you have a different opinion, sir," Sinja said.
"Do this," Balasar said, looking up from under his brow. "Go to them.
Explain to them that I will never turn against my men. But if they leave
me . . . if they leave my service, they aren't my men any longer. And if
I find them again, I won't he lenient."
Sinja scratched his chin, the stubble just growing in, and felt a smile
growing in his mind.
"I can see that they understand, sir," he said. "And it might stop some
of the ones who'd choose to hang up their swords. But if there's someone