Verkan was beginning to feel-and not for the first time-that his time on Kalvan's Time-Line was more and more turning into a job rather than a hobby. The problems there followed him to Home Time Line, just like problems here followed him to Kalvan's Time-Line. The mess on Alexandrian-Roman, Seleuco-Macedonian Subsector had been easy to clean up in comparison. One of the employees of Vendrax Luxury Imports had freelanced in local dives as a mind reader, using a miniature radio and a local confederate. The problems started when the locals began to take him seriously and word got out that he was in truth the reincarnated Alexander.
The would-be mind reader saw this as the opportunity of a lifetime, hypno-meched all the available data on Alexander the Great, had a cheap face sculpt, faked his death to skip out on his job at Vendrax and resurrected himself as Alexander. The locals went gaga, overthrew their local tyrant and were threatening to restore him to Imperial greatness when the Paratime Police were notified of the problem by a supervisor at Vendrax who didn't buy his corpse switch.
Unfortunately, the local Paratime Police Inspector in charge of operations on the time-line was a drone waiting for his retirement and had botched a rescue job, killing several hundred locals and using enough technology for cries of witchcraft to be uttered in the streets. Verkan had been called in because the Inspector refused to leave and he had to personally fire him and those subordinates stupid enough to go along with his plan instead of notifying Paratime HQ.
By the time Verkan arrived, it was obvious the Paratimer was terrified at the havoc he'd caused and really only wanted to get out of town. However, he had his own bodyguard and several advisors who saw him as their ride to the top; they weren't going to allow anything to get in the way, including the false Alexander's desire to do a quick skip. Meanwhile, a major war was brewing and very little trade was happening at Vendrax Luxuries.
It had taken Verkan and his investigators three days to find out where they were keeping the false Alexander, on the top of a four-story warehouse in Alexandria. They came in at midnight on an airbus, dusted the place with sleep gas, landed on the roof, broke in and 'liberated' Alexander, who was now in the hands of the Bureau of Psych-Hygiene for a memory wipe and psycho-social adjustment.
Verkan had returned to his office to find Kostran absent-mindedly twirling his pipe, sitting across from Verkan's horseshoe desk. "You're supposed to be in Greffa representing the House of Verkan-what are you doing here?" Verkan asked, as he sat down.
"Chief, we've run across a real anomaly. Zinganna and myself agreed that you needed to be brought up to speed on what's been happening in Greffa the last couple of days."
I haven't been gone that long, Verkan thought to himself. "What happened? A palace coup?"
"Nothing that bad. We've just verified local reports that a large army from the West Coast is traveling north across the old Iron Trail. It will be arriving on Grefftscharrer territory in two or three days."
"What? Isn't that the home of the Ros-Zarthani-the supposedly decadent descendants of the Zarthani populations on the East Coast. What are they doing on the old Iron Trail?"
Kostran shrugged. "Their army is too small to be an invasion force, but it's too big for anything but trouble-at least, that's how the Grefftscharrers see it. We believe they're from the city-state of Antiphon, but have been unable to verify this since we don't have any agents there. The Ros-Zarthani army has all of Greffa in an uproar."
"I don't doubt it. The Grefftscharrers usually expect their enemies to attack from the east or south, not from the west. What are they going to do about it?"
Kostran stopped twirling his pipe, loaded the barrel and lit up. "The Council of Merchants wanted King Theovacar to raise an army and send them packing. The Assembly of Lords was in agreement."
"That's a first. I can't remember the last time those two bodies agreed on the color of the sky! I take it that Theovacar wasn't too anxious to take on this invading army?"
"You're right, Chief. There's no gain for him no matter what he does. If Theovacar raises an army and defeats the barbarians, so what-they're just a bunch of hicks with spears. On the other hand, if he loses-Theovacar is in a mess of trouble and could lose his throne. Not that either the Council or Assembly of Lords would shed any tears. Neither body is happy about the way King Theovacar has been centralizing his authority in Grefftscharr."
"That's a given. So what did he do?"
"Theovacar told them that as long as the barbarian army did not commit an act of war he was not able to justify attacking them. However, if one of his barons or princes felt threatened, they were free to raise their own army. The Prince of Thagnor, who's been trying to slip out of Theovacar's leash for years, decided to raise an army of his own. Prince Varrack did a pretty good job; about six thousand levy, three thousand mercenary horse and the Army of Thagnor-another four thousand men."
Verkan nodded. "Good move, you've got to hand it to King Theovacar. Even if the Prince wins, he'll lose a lot of troops; if he doesn't win, he might not only lose face but his life as well. How did Varrack get his troops into Greffa without starting a civil war?"
"He's having them ferried over now. They'll be arriving in a few days. One might almost think Varrack had something to do with this invasion, if we didn't know better."
Verkan nodded. "You're right. I bet Theovacar isn't sleeping well these days. After all, it's Theovacar's job, not his nobles', to defend his kingdom from invasion, whether they can be classed as 'hicks with spears' or not."
"I think Theovacar's afraid that if he moves the Royal Army away from Greffa City, his enemies will attempt a coup-or start a civil war, while he's out of town. It's the same problem Great King Lysandros faces if he heads up the Harphaxi Royal Army and chases after Kalvan in Hos-Hostigos next spring. If Theovacar stays in Greffa while his troops march off, he's even more of a coup target."
Living in Greffa hadn't slowed Kostran's mental muscles; if anything, it had quickened them. "So what's Theovacar's answer?"
"So far, he's not talking. There's lots of grumbling in the streets about Kings who don't honor their oaths and obligations-mostly from his petty barons, at this point. The commoners don't care since they feel safe behind the city walls. The merchants are too busy rubbing their hands together over all the profits they're making selling fireseed, food stocks and weapons to Varrack and his crowd. Meanwhile, Theovacar's most vocal opponents are playing soldier with Prince Varrack. Maybe he's hoping they'll get their heads handed to them on a platter!"
Verkan laughed. "I wouldn't put it past him. I'd like to see him work the Executive Council."
They both laughed together.
"Kostran, what are Prince Varrack's chances?"
"It's hard to tell. We know very little about the West Coast city-states. I've already picked two agents to infiltrate Merinos City. They'll find out what's going on since that city is the drop-off point for Ros-Zarthani expeditions along the old Iron Trail.
"We have done some nighttime aerial surveillance and it appears that this Ros-Zarthani army is a first class operation by the way it's run, but they've never encountered firearms before-that's a big liability. On the other hand, the Grefftscharrers are over-confident and Prince Varrack's never been in a battle this size. I'd call it a toss up."
Verkan shook his head. "I hate to take sides, but I hope Varrack beats the iron-pants off the Ros-Zarthani and sends them back to Antiphon where they belong. Kalvan's got enough problems without another army to worry about."
"You've got that right, Chief. Soldiers from all over the Five Kingdoms are arriving at Hos-Harphax now that word of Captain-General Phidestros' success in Beshta is being shouted around to all corners by Styphon's House. You'd think he'd just conquered the entire Princedom of Beshta instead of a border castle. Now, there are rumors of a war against Thaphigos."
"Styphon's House knows they need to counter Kalvan's good public relations. What better propaganda than to show that Kalvan can be defeated on his own turf. This victory has been a big morale boost for Styphon's House. Maybe they want Lysandros to flex his army's muscles some more. Another unexpected dividend of Rylla's invasion of Phaxos."
"Kalvan's got his work cut out for him next year, all right. He thought he might get some help from the Council of Dralm, now that Xentos is Primate."
Verkan shook his head. He paused to take out his pipe and filled the barrel with tobacco.
Kostran sniffed the air. "That's not your usual blend. It smells like that Kalvan's Time-Line weed."
Verkan laughed, then lit his pipe. "I got used to it-I like the flavor now. But getting back to Xentos, he's both a true-believer of Dralm-which means he can't be trusted to act in a rational manner-and he's very ambitious, which he won't admit to himself-"
"Which makes him a good candidate for the Bureau of Psychological Hygiene."
"Or Roxthar's Investigation! Unfortunately, even Xentos doesn't know which way he's going to blow next, so Kalvan's whistling into the wind if he's depending upon the Primate and the League of Dralm for support to solve his Kingdom's problems. The next round is Kalvan's and it's going to be up to him to come up with another one of his 'miracles,' if he plans to knock Styphon's House out of the game."