Steven Brust - Dragon

"Luck," said Dortmond.

"I feel sick, Loiosh."

"Good cheese, Boss."

I said, "So tell me, what are you going to do after the campaign is over?"

"Me?" said Dortmond. "I'm going to go fight another one."

"Why, for heaven's sake?"

"Because," he said, "I like it."

"You're not looking for promotion?"

"No. I like it where I am."

"And if you get knocked on the head in one of these battles?"

He closed one eye, tilted his head, and said, "You're a cheerful son of a bitch, aren't you?"

"Just curious."

He shrugged. "All right. Well, you have to die sometime."

"Yeah, I've heard that before. It doesn't strike me as a good reason to rush into it."

"Have some more cheese."

I did. A little later a woman I didn't know came over and joined us. He gave her some cheese and brandy; I took the hint and made myself scarce. Back by our own tent I met Napper, who scowled, I suppose just on principle, and said, "Are we going on any more of your expeditions?"

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes."

"I don't know. Maybe. Hey, Napper."

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever wonder what it's all about?"

"What, the war? Why, do you know?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"What, then?"

"Fornia stole something Morrolan wanted."

"Oh. Seems reasonable. We should go steal it back."

"I doubt it will be that simple."

"You're probably right." I thought, but didn't say, Besides, that would end the war, and you'd hate that. Then I thought, Yeah, it would end the war. Maybe I should do that.

"Sure, Boss. It'll be easy."

"Well, but it might be possible."

"How?"

"If we get to a decisive battle, Fornia will be there, and if Fornia is there, the sword will be there."

"Sure, just walk up and take it."

"I don't know, Loiosh. Maybe—"

"Maybe you'll get yourself killed, Boss."

"Everyone's got to die sometime."

"Heh."

"And it'll probably be safer than standing to battle."

I had him on that one; he shut up.

We were joined by Dunn, Tibbs, Virt, Aelburr, and Rascha, and the bunch of us sat around and I listened as they told stories, most of them funny and not terribly complimentary toward officers, about various campaigns they'd been on. Rascha announced light picket duty again, which I went off and did, then I went to bed once more.

It was one of the most pleasant days I've ever had.

The next morning we watched as a cavalry troop rode in and set up camp near ours, and, shortly thereafter, we saw the movement of more of our infantry. I recognized Aliera riding a light-colored, spotted horse alongside the infantry column; I wondered if she knew how much those who marched beside her hated the dust she was kicking up. They made camp to the west of us.

Things changed with the new arrivals. Nothing drastic, yet it was unmistakable. There was a bit more snap to everyone's motion, and a little more saluting here and there, as if to look good in front of the conscripts. There was no fraternizing between corps, either.

Late in the afternoon, word spread through the camp that Sethra Lavode had arrived; Aelburr claimed to have seen her. Shortly after the evening "meal" a young-looking Dragonlord I didn't recognize arrived at our tent and said I was to follow him. Virt shot me a look. I shrugged, collected Loiosh from one of his scavenging expeditions, and followed.

We went through the camp and into the camp of the conscripts. I tried to spot the differences between their camp and ours, but there just wasn't all that much; except, of course, that these were mostly Teckla rather than Dragons and there were certainly a great many more of them. But they had the same sort of campstools we were using, and the bits of conversation I caught seemed about the same, the expressions on their faces were no different from those in our camp. Make of that what you will.

At the far edge was a large pavilion tent, and it was to there my nameless escort directed me. I clapped and heard Sethra's voice telling me to enter. I did and was directed to a chair between Morrolan and Aliera—not a terribly comfortable position, by the way—with Sethra and the Necromancer sitting across from me. I had obviously interrupted some sort of discussion: Aliera had a look as if she were about to froth and spit; Sethra's brow was furrowed; and Morrolan kept making glances at his cousin as if she were an unidentified creature that had appeared in his soup. The Necromancer seemed only barely present; I wondered where her thoughts were while suspecting I was glad not to know.

"Well, Vlad," said Morrolan after I was sitting and drinking bad wine. "How are you enjoying the life of a soldier?"

I shrugged. "Loiosh likes it more than I do."

"I've heard," said Morrolan, "that he has been adopted by your company as mascot."

"Yeah. He's insufferably smug about it."

"Hey now, Boss. That's not fair."

"Truth isn't, Loiosh."

Sethra said, "You've done some good work, I am told."

"Sure," I said. "For what it's worth."

"I think it was worth something," said Morrolan.

"Maybe," I said. "I don't know. I don't have enough of an idea of how our little company fits in with everything else that's been happening."

"You saved some lives in your company," said Morrolan.

"Okay," I said. "But none of those battles were decisive."

"The next one will be," said Sethra.

I digested that. "You're ready, then?"

"I hope so," said Sethra. "But, more important, Fornia is. He has to make a stand somewhere, and this location has symbolic importance. He won't be able to pass it up."

"Symbolic importance," I repeated.

Sethra gave me a half smile. "Don't start," she said. "It also has a great deal of strategic importance; as far as he can tell, we're backed up against the mountain, and—"

"As far as he can tell?"

"We have lines of retreat, Vlad. Northward. Let me worry about that part of it."

"Sorry."

"In any case, this will be a good place for him to win a battle. He'll fight here. He has to. From here, I can push straight into the heart of his realm. Besides, if he can hold us for a few days, he has another division coming up."

"He does?"

"He sent his third division all the way around the other side of Chengri to cut me off from my base of supplies."

"That doesn't sound good."

"Well, if we're stuck here for three or four days it won't be good. You'll start getting hungry. But I don't plan on being stuck that long; I plan on pushing through him while I have the advantage of numbers. He knows that. He'll fight here."

"I believe you," I said. "What exactly do you want of me?"

"What we want," said Morrolan, "or, rather, what I want, is exactly what you said you wouldn't do, way back when this all started. I want you to get that sword from Fornia."

"Funny about that," I said. "I'd just been thinking the same thing."

"I still don't like it," said Aliera, evidently continuing a discussion I'd missed the beginning of. "If we're going to do that, why not go all the way? Hire a thief and just be done with it."

"For one thing," said Sethra, "we don't know any thieves."

"Vlad can put us in touch with one."

"And for another," said Morrolan, "that wouldn't accomplish what I want. I don't just want the sword. I have a perfectly good sword." Here he touched the hilt of Blackwand. "I want it taken from him."

"You want him humiliated," said Aliera.

"Call it defeated," said Morrolan. "And defeated at every level. Both militarily and by losing the very item that caused the war."

"If you defeat him," I said, just to be argumentative, "won't he have to give it up?"

"Military defeat," said Sethra, "is not an all-or-nothing proposition. I believe we can hand his army a major defeat. That doesn't mean he'll be powerless, and it doesn't mean he can be compelled to surrender all of his forces. To do that would require a far greater campaign than this one, more costly in every way, riskier, and with the danger of Imperial intervention."