[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

bright ideas would work. Unfortunately, he'd come up with no bright ideas of
his own. That left him . . . sleepless on a hard cot near Proselytizers' Rise,
when he'd hoped to go back into Rising Rock in triumph.
When sleep did come, it did a better job of ambushing him than he'd done of
catching the southrons unaware as they pushed into Peachtree Province. He woke
with a feeling of deep surprise, almost of betrayal: what else might his body
do to him while he wasn't looking?
He broke his fast with a couple of hard rolls and a cup of rather nasty tea.
Southron galleys prowled outside the ports of the north, those that hadn't
fallen to King Avram's men. Getting indigo out, getting proper tea in, grew
harder month by month.
Count Thraxton had just finished his abstemious meal when a runner came in
and said, "Your Grace, the king will see you now."
"Very good." Thraxton got to his feet. "I'll come." Only after he'd got
moving did he reflect on the absurdity of that. If King Geoffrey wanted him to
Page 158
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
come, of course he would. He had no business speaking as if he were doing his
sovereign a favor. He'd been commanding the Army of Franklin a long time;
maybe he'd got used to the idea of having no one around of rank higher than
his.
He ducked his way into the pavilion he'd had run up for the king. Dropping to
one knee, he murmured, "Your Majesty."
"Arise, old friend," Geoffrey said. Thraxton straightened. The king seemed in
a mood to put aside some of the formality of his office. He waved Thraxton to
a stool and sat down on another one himself, though he sat very straight, as
if his back pained him. "What can I do to help you win back Franklin?"
"Give my army another wing the size of James of Broadpath's," Thraxton
replied without the least hesitation. "Give me the unicorn-riders and siege
train and artisans that go with such a force. If I had them, I would sweep the
southrons from this province as a cleaning wench sweeps dust from a parquet
floor."
"If I had such men, I would give them with both hands," King Geoffrey
replied. "I have them not, I fear. To give you Earl James and his followers, I
had to rob Duke Edward in Parthenia and pray the southrons would stay quiet.
We are . . . stretched very thin these days, you know."
"Yes." Thraxton's doleful nod matched his doleful countenance. "You do know,
however, that the southrons have sent reinforcements into Rising Rock?"
"I know it," Geoffrey said. "The more men they have there, the faster they
will starve. So I hope, at any rate."
"Indeed." Thraxton nodded again, this time in more willing agreement. "We
have our hand on their windpipe to the east of here. I will do everything I
can to squeeze it shut."Maybe I'll parade through the streets of Rising Rock
yet. Maybe .
King Geoffrey nodded, too. "Good. May the gods favor our cause, then. Now . .
. I shall transfer Ned of the Forest to the vicinity of the Great River, as
you ask. I gather the two of you have known a certain amount of friction
trying to work together."
"You might say so, yes." Thraxton remembered Ned's index finger stabbing at
his face like the point of a sword.
"Very well. I was given to understand as much." Geoffrey paused, looking
thoughtful.He's going to tell me something I don't want to hear , Thraxton
thought; he needed no magecraft to realize as much. And, sure enough, the king
went on, "In his own way, Ned is valuable to the kingdom. I understand why he
needs to leave this army, but I would not have him leave while feeling
ill-used. That being so, I intend to promote him from brigadier to lieutenant
general before sending him east toward the Great River."
"You will of course do as you please in this regard," Thraxton said woodenly.
"If it were up to me . . ."If it were up to me, Ned of the Forest would face
the worst of the seven hells before I finally let him die . But he couldn't
very well tell that to King Geoffrey, not after what the king had just told
him.
"Sometimes these things can't be helped," Geoffrey said. "Winning the war
comes first. If we do not win the war, all our petty quarrels crash to the
ground along with all our hopes. Do you want to live in a world where our
Page 159
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
serfs are made into our liege lords?"
"No, by the gods," Thraxton replied, as he had to. And he told the truth. But
he didn't care to live in a world where Ned of the Forest was allowed to
prosper, either.
"I'm glad that's settled, then," the king said. It wasn't settled it was a
long way from settled as far as Count Thraxton was concerned. But, though
Geoffrey was his friend, Geoffrey was also his sovereign. He couldn't say what
lay in his heart. His stomach twinged painfully. Of itself, his left hand
rubbed at his belly. So far as he could tell, that did no good at all, but
sorcery and medicine had failed him, too. Geoffrey went on, "Having dismissed
Dan of Rabbit Hill and Leonidas, with whom do you intend to replace them? You
will need men you can trust."
"Indeed, your Majesty," Thraxton said, in lieu of laughing in King Geoffrey's
face. Men he trusted were few and far between. When he thought about how many
men put under his command had shamelessly betrayed him, he found it altogether
unsurprising that that should be so.
"What do you say to Roast-Beef William, then?" Geoffrey asked.
Count Thraxton stroked his graying beard. The year before, he and Roast-Beef [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]