John Carr - Kalvan Kingmaker

Larkander let out a loud whoop and took off at a run. At another time it might have lightened Sargos' spirits, but at the moment all he could see in his mind were the countless dead bodies drifting down the Great River. The gods were capricious: sometimes they gave a man great gifts, but, in payment, they often took much more in return. If the god who had favored him, was-as the witch woman said-the Raven Hag of War, the price would be high indeed-both for him and his Clan.

As soon as Colonel Kronos nodded, signifying that everyone was seated, Kalvan banged his pistol butt on the table for silence. "We don't have much time. So, princes, lords, and generals, please keep the questions to a minimum. General Baldour, would you bring us up-to-date on the nomad invasions.

General Baldour was more familiar with the western territories than any of the other Hostigi generals. Baldour walked over to the deerskin map of the northern Great Kingdoms, east of the Great River (Mississippi), and pointed to a spot just north of the Middle Kingdom city of Kythar (Louisville, Kentucky) with his sword point. "We just had a merchant return from Kyblos; the word there is that the northernmost horde is just outside of Kythar Town. Typically they would have avoided Kythar like the plague, since it's also the site of Tarr-Ceros-the chief fortress of the Zarthani Knights. But Grand Master Soton's army, which is less than a day's ride away, is driving them in that direction.

"Remember, Your Majesty, this information was a quarter moon old when it reached Kyblos City and it took another half moon to reach us. We can expect the nomads to follow the trade routes along the Lydistros River so by now they could be into the Trygath."

There was a collective gasp from around the table.

Rylla pointed at General Baldour. "Do you think the tribesmen will move into Kyblos or go east into Hos-Ktemnos?"

"If they weren't being chased by the Knights, there's no doubt they would go straight into Hos-Ktemnos because the way is easier and the pickings there are so much better. But if they travel east they're going to run right into Tarr-Lydra, where they'd be caught between Grand Master Soton's army and the Order's fortress garrison-which would be suicidal.

"Prince Kestophes of Ulthor has every right to believe the nomads will soon be on Ulthori lands and thereby a legitimate claim to his overlord's protection. There is no way to avoid supporting Kestophes with a substantial force without Your Majesty acquiring the name of a King who advances himself at his Princes expense."

"That was my own analysis," Kalvan said. Rylla nodded her agreement.

Chancellor Chartiphon rose to speak. He'd been given the promotion after Xentos returned his chain-of-office and left for Hos-Agrys. "It looks as if we are going to have to delay the invasion of Hos-Harphax until the nomad problem has been settled."

Which was exactly what the Styphoni wanted, thought Kalvan to himself, cursing Soton and his progenitors in four languages. Trader Tortha's analysis had been right on the money. Did he dare split the army into two smaller forces as he had done to such disastrous results last spring? It would be interesting to see what his General Staff thought.

"Harmakros, what do you think of splitting the army in two corps, sending half to go after the nomads in the west and the other corps to invade Hos-Harphax?"

"Your Majesty. We have reports that the nomad clans and tribes number anywhere from one hundred thousand men to just over a million, and that depends upon whether you're talking about the advance horde, the main horde and all the divisions. To say nothing of breaking down the number of fighting men in proportion to old men, women and children. We just don't have enough information to judge what's waiting for us. If we don't take at least thirty thousand soldiers we may be overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers. I, for one, do not believe we can risk a two front war again."

"On the other hand," Prince Ptosphes added, "we can be certain that the Army of Hos-Harphax is going to stay within its borders and not be on campaign unless we attack first. If we do that now, we may find ourselves fighting the Harphaxi in the east, the Ktemnoi in the south and the nomads everywhere else. As our Great King has told us repeatedly, the only thing worse than fighting a two front war is fighting one on three or four fronts. And that's just what we may have here if we invade Hos-Harphax!"

Kalvan sighed deeply. He was going to have to be more careful about throwing out military maxims in front of his General Staff. Although in this instance, his own advice struck him as frightfully sound. Here he was not only caught on the horns of a dilemma, but on the prongs and antlers as well!

"I agree with Harmakros and Ptosphes. We must abandon our plans for the invasion of Hos-Harphax and draw up new ones for the defense of Kyblos."

All the assembled Princes and generals nodded in agreement. Prince Sarrask of Sask rose up and said, "A cheer for Great King Kalvan, who has brought us several good seasons of fighting and now promises us more!" There was a collective cheer and a chorus of "Down Styphon!". Then Sarrask added, "Aye, and when we've finished giving the barbarians a good arse kickin,' let's come back and finish the job we started last year in Hos-Harphax!"

There were more cheers and Sarrask sat back down.

"Thank you, for the vote of confidence," Kalvan said. "Now let us get down and work out the details of how we're going to get there and which troops we're going to take. First, General Hestophes is going to need reinforcements for his Army of Observation at Tarr Beshta." Kalvan had decided that he wanted his best general, Harmakros, with him in the field, so he had left Hestophes where he was in charge of the border force. "We don't want to give Captain-General Phidestros any fancy ideas while we're gone. How does Hestophes' force look right now, Harmakros?"

"He has four regiments of Royal horse and one of infantry, plus about another two thousand Beshtan cavalry." Harmakros nodded to Prince Phrames, who was sitting at the other end of the table next to Sarrask.

"That's less than five thousand men," Kalvan said, "let's send him the Second Musketeers and the King's Heavy Horse and the Heavy Cavalry-they won't be of much use where we're going." Since so many of his cavalry-men, even the former mercenaries, were titled or younger sons of nobility, Kalvan had been forced to create three regiments of old-style fully armored cavalry. He had considered them worthless until they'd dented Grand Master Soton's flying wedge of Zarthani Knights at the Battle of Phyrax.

The heavy cavalry's value now was in the east where they could help shore up his defenses against the Harphaxi. They would be a real liability in the broken terrain of the Trygath up against the much lighter nomad horse. Regardless, he would still be stuck with his Lifeguard, the heavies of all Hos-Hostigos heavy cavalry.

"That gives General Hestophes seven thousand good troops. Prince Phrames, can you spare anymore men?"

"Some, Your Majesty. I can send a thousand musketeers and pikemen. But no cavalry, since I need every single man jack of them to train my recruits. I don't have to tell Your Majesties the shape I found the Beshtan Army in after the invasion."

Prince Sarrask hooted. "Half-dead, half-starved and half-naked. Old Balthar was a chokepurse, he was."

No one bothered to mention that Kalvan had taken the cream of the mercenaries into the Royal Army, leaving only those free companions too infirm or too old to fight for Prince Phrames and the other Princes. Still, all in all, Phrames had done wonders with the remnants of the old Army of Beshta and had managed to re-take a border castle that had renounced fealty during the war with Beshta in the dead of winter.