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"Perhaps we should pray for guidance," Leonidas the Priest said, "beseeching
the Lion God to show us his will."
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Count Thraxton looked at the hierophant as if he'd taken leave of his sense.
So did James and Dan. There, if nowhere else, Thraxton and his fractious
generals agreed.
It soon became clear they agreed nowhere else. Earl James and Baron Dan,
quite forgetting Thraxton's higher rank and bluer blood, went right on arguing
with him. His own replies grew ever shorter and testier. Around noon, another
courier from Ned of the Forest came into the farmhouse. Like the one before,
this message was addressed to Leonidas the Priest. Again, the hierophant read
it aloud: " `My force has now come up quite close to Rising Rock. Previous
report was in error. The southrons seem to be fortifying, as I can distinctly
hear the sound of axes in great numbers. They can be driven from thence, but
you will have to drive them.' " Spectacles glistening, Leonidas looked up from
the paper. "The signature and the request to forward are as they were in the
previous despatch."
"You see, your Grace?" James of Broadpath said with what Thraxton reckoned
altogether too much pleasure. "Not even Ned of the Forest supports your view
that delay will serve here."
"Whether Ned of the Forest approves of what I do is, I assure you, your
Excellency, not of the least importance to me," Thraxton said. "In my view,
the man is ignorant, and does not know anything of cooperation. He is nothing
more than a good raider."
"Sir, whether you fancy Ned or not, he's quite a bit more than a raider," Dan
of Rabbit Hill said. "You weren't up on Merkle's Hill with me, the first day
of the fight. His riders were holding back Doubting George's southrons as well
as any footsoldiers could have done. I told him so, in plain Detinan, because
I've not seen many cavalry outfits that could have done the same."
Count Thraxton folded thin arms across his narrow chest and fixed Dan with
his most forbidding stare. "I have never questioned his courage, your
Excellency. I have questioned, and do continue to question, his wisdom and his
military judgment. Merely because he believes something is no reason to
proclaim that the Thunderer's lightning bolt has carved his opinion deep into
stone."
Leonidas the Priest cleared his throat. "It would appear to me, your Grace,
that you were willing enough to use Ned of the Forest's opinion as a
touchstone when it marched with your own."
"When I wantyour opinion, you may rest assured that I shall ask for it,"
Thraxton growled. His own opinion was that the hierophant was a dawdling,
prayer-mumbling blockhead. He didn't try very hard to keep Leonidas from
seeing that that was his opinion, either.
Earl James said, "How does it harm you, how does it harm the army, to order a
proper pursuit?"
"Ihave ordered a proper pursuit," Thraxton said. "We shall follow on General
Guildenstern's heels as soon as the army recovers to the point where it may
safely do so. And I remain convinced that, when we approach Rising Rock, the
southrons shall be compelled to evacuate it and ignominiously retreat."
"Your Grace, I don't want those sons of bitches to retreat," James said.
"Even if they do, they'll just come back and hit us again some other day. I
want to kill them or take them prisoner. Then we won't have to worry about
them any more. We need to get between them and Ramblerton and drive them to
destruction. That's my view, and I still hold it."
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"I am pleased to hear your view." Thraxton's tone suggested he was about as
pleased as he would have been at an outbreak of cholera. "I must remind you,
however, that King Geoffrey has entrusted command of this army to me. I needs
must lead it as I reckon best."
"Even when your view is dead against that of every general serving under
you?" James of Broadpath persisted.
"Even then. Especially then. I do not command this army for the sake of being
loved," Thraxton said.
"I believe it, by the gods!" Baron Dan muttered.
Thraxton filed that away for future vengeance. Aloud, though, he said only,
"What I command for is victory. And I have won a victory."
"So you have," Earl James said. "You could win a greater one. You could win a
victory that would restore King Geoffrey's hopes here in the east, a victory
that would give us a good chance to take Franklin away from the southrons and
might even let us get back down into Cloviston. Youcould do that, your Grace,
or you could fritter away what you've already won. The choice is yours."
"I have already made the choice," Count Thraxton said. "I have made it, and
all of you seem intent on evading it. Butyou shall obey me, or you shall be
dismissed from your commands. It is as simple as that, gentlemen."
James of Broadpath threw his hands in the air. "Now that I'm here, I begin to
see how the armies of the east came to be in the straits in which they find
themselves. Have it your own way, Count Thraxton. By all the signs, that
matters more to you than anything else."
Thraxton started to tell James just what he thought of him, but the burly
officer from the Army of Southern Parthenia paid no attention. He turned on
his heel, all but trampling Leonidas the Priest, and stormed out of the
headquarters. Baron Dan of Rabbit Hill followed. Leonidas held his place, but
his expression was mournful. He said, "I believe you would be wiser to think
again on the choice you have made." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]