My plans to eat were forgotten as I hurried across the camp to the command area. Not to the tent that I visited every day. A command had come from Orthand, couched in polite terms but a command none-the-less, and I was hurrying to obey.
I felt hollow. Empty. My brief dreams of a significant unit of my own, of equality with Tulian Dural Verrans were ashes. My money was wasted and my cohort on its way to being destroyed. Having shared the information with my cousin I could not even send a messenger telling him to get back the hell out of there and wait for me, or come back to us. I should have done it straight away but instead I had lost my temper. It was an important lesson and I had drummed it into my head all day. Stay cool! No matter what the reverse, stay calm. Think! Facts, think, decide, act. There was no place on that list for feel or want. Okay, want had a place, but only as in 'I want to achieve this thing,' then facts, think, decide, act. I had lost my men. I accepted the responsibility and swore it would never happen again. The taste of that responsibility was bitter in my mouth. Orthand would not risk a man of his to save mine; nor would Tul, though he might regret it more.
“Orchids.”
The guard at the command tent let me pass and I walked the few paces to the entrance and stepped inside.
“Good of you to join us, Cerulian.”
Orthand stood with all the commanders of his legion around a large table on which were laid papers and maps in profusion. Tul was also there. I moved to the table after saluting and greeting the commander with all the calm and respect I could muster. I was nothing and I might as well accept it. I might as well go and get drunk as I was damn little use for anything else.
“Look at this,” Orthand tapped the map that was laid out over the bulk of other papers.
I did.
He pointed at various places on the map as he spoke. “We are here, the border with the Geduri is here. It is another hundred miles to my clients. The news from there isn't good. I suspect the place will be more or less overrun by the time we arrive.” He didn't look happy but was calm and matter of fact. I briefly wished I had the ability to emulate him.
“Already,” he continued, “there are reports of the Alendi forces breaking up to slaughter and loot smaller communities. So it looks likely there will be no mass Alendi movement south, at least for now. In the meantime the Prashuli,” he waved his hand over the western area bordering the Alendi lands, “and the Orduli appear to be raising against us. Today I received good intelligence that there is a fairly significant force of Orduli here,” he stabbed the map roughly where I took Sheo to have meant. “I have reason to believe that some Alendi forces are heading that way to join with them and that further Orduli chieftains are being persuaded to rise against us and also join them. In the meantime they will, I think, advance further into friendly territory.”
He looked around the table, meeting the gaze of each man. “Cerulian, what do you think?”
I thought for a moment only. I had been following the facts, putting them in order, prioritizing. I knew what I thought but paused a second to be sure.
“If the intelligence is accurate the Alendi can wait, especially if they have men moving east. The easier pickings will hold their attention for a good while. As I understand it there is no army in the field to meet the Orduli.”
His lips twitched in a fleeting smile. “There is a single cohort. Doubtless the commander will refrain from engaging. There will be local Geduri units but I suspect they will be spread out and unorganized.”
“No doubt. However if he joined us and we moved together against the Orduli we could smash their army in time to dissuade any more of the Orduli chieftains from taking arms.” I pointed out that the border between the area under threat and the Alendi was quite close to where we would likely meet them. “If they advance against us into Geduri lands we could meet them here in eight days or less. And that would bring us almost as close to the Alendi border as if we marched on north.” I opened my mouth to continue but he interrupted me.
“Almost as close. Yes. That's what I thought. We don't want to fight a war on two fronts. Nor do I want to advance into Alendi lands and have the Orduli advance to my rear, cutting me off from a line of supply or retreat. The Prashuli could do the same, of course, in time. This way we hit one flank of the threatening enemy and roll them up east to west. Comments?”
It is what I had thought. Maps are wonderful things. They make everything so clear. As soon as I had seen the map I had seen the solution to our military problem. Only by coincidence was it a solution to my own, but I couldn't be happier.
I cleared my throat.
“Yes, Cerulian?”
“Nothing sir, dry throat.”
He stared me in the eye for a long moment without expression. He glanced down at the map and away once more.
“Then I am decided that that will be our course. Dismissed, gentlemen.”