Warrior (The Key to Magic) (13 page)

Eventually, magicians would have to come from all about the world to meet the needs of the expanding use of skyships in trade.  The sailed skyships were adequate but would never match the speed or utility of those propelled by magic.

Now, though, Mar was more interested in finding magicians to pilot his warships.  An expansion of the pool of potential candidates by including the Sister Cities was, again in hindsight, an obvious step.

He slipped back into the normal surge of time.

Remaining in his seat -- surely imperial prerogatives gave an emperor leave to address his subjects without having to stand -- he said, "It is my hope that qualified magicians shall soon practice their craft in all corners of the Empire.  However, perhaps it has not yet become generally known that only those born to be magicians can learn to manipulate the ether.  Sadly, this trait has proven to be extremely rare.  At present there are only six journeyman magicians in all of the Empire and each and every one of them is in constant demand as we struggle against the Brotherhood of Phaelle.  It will not be possible at this time for any to divert from their efforts to bring down the Brotherhood.  However, should any person aspiring to become a magician wish to travel here to meet with me, I will cause them to be examined for the required abilities, and, as my schedule permits, will instruct all who show promise.  These magicians may then return to their own cities and share their craft with others."

The princess smiled and it was easy for Mar to extrapolate her thoughts from this reaction.  She had not honestly believed that he would offer anything that would immediately dilute Mhajhkaei's monopoly, but this straightforward promise of her own skyship pilots in the not too distant future was more than the vague suggestion of consideration of the idea that she had anticipated.

"We greet this most generous proposal with joy," she replied.  "Suhr will recruit volunteers immediately."

Mar had purposefully made no mention of the fact that only he had the ability to create and infuse the spells that gave the wooden hulls the capability of flight.  While no attempt had been made to keep this secret -- there were hundreds of workers involved in the construction of the skyships in Khalar, Mhajhkaei, and at the Monolith and it would have been impossible to conceal the fact -- he did not want to generally publicize the potential vulnerability that all Imperial skyships depended solely upon his magic.

Speaking next in quick succession, the envoys of the southern island princedoms offered only blandishments and sincere, if non-specific, pledges of support.

Lord Kgelohr of Lhinstord was the first to broach the matter of the war against the Brotherhood.

"Gracious Emperor, we Lhinstordii are exceedingly thankful for this opportunity to reaffirm our fraternal bond with the Mhajhkaeirii and to recall the longstanding amity that has existed between us and our partners in the Principate.  However, facing as Lhinstord does the imminent threat of Phaelle'n aggression from Mhevyr, it behooves me to focus on the dire issues at hand.  Foremost, I must inquire when we might expect Imperial reinforcements to arrive to assist against the Phaelle'n advance that will surely come with the end of the spring rains and the arrival of the fullness of summer?"

Mar had often discussed with Mhiskva whether or not a commitment should be made to send Imperial legions to strengthen the threatened eastern-most cities, but he had not arrived at a decision.  Now, no longer able to put the issue aside, he faced the choice of offering deceptive assurances or simply telling the unpleasant truth.  He decided to do the later.

"Sending armsmen to every Sister City would be an irrational dilution of the strength of the Imperial Army."

"Emperor, Lhinstord understands the basics of military strategy as well as any, but it remains a fact that Lhinstord sits astride the most likely route for the Brotherhood to move west.  We would suggest that it is a valid strategy to base Imperial Strength at Lhinstord."

Prince Plhoris shot to his feet.  "Zlhahv sits only thirty leagues to the southwest of Mhevyr and the monks will surely move against my city first.  Their Shrikes fly over almost on a daily basis.  My lord emperor, Zlhahv must have armsmen and skyships first!"

"Zlhahv sits behind the heavily forested Dzou Hills and the broad Dnei River," Lord Kgelohr rejoined.  "There is no natural geographic barrier between Lhinstord and Mhevyr.  We face attack across the open farmlands of the coastal plain."

"A hundred leagues of level ground will mean that your scouts can provide you with warning days in advance, while we will hardly know that the Phaelle'n have attacked before they appear at our very walls!"

As Lord Kgelohr began a strident rebuttal, Mar pondered.

Dividing the Imperial Army, such as it was, was without a doubt a fundamentally wrong decision, but the simple fact remained that if he did not defend the Sister Cities then the Empire would cease to be before it had truly formed.

While no direct reports had been secured from Mhevyr, all external indications -- the movement of legions and the concentration of supplies -- indicated that the offensive that the Brotherhood had been preparing would soon be launched.

He wove a quick modulation to cause the dust in an area above the center aisle to flash briefly into a bright flash of white fire and produce a muffled report.  Though certainly not diplomatic, this demonstration of magic proved quite effective at silencing the row.  Both envoys fell silent and dropped into their seats.

He floated from his throne and moved to the center of the aisle to make sure that he had everyone's attention as he began to speak.

"We shall confront the Brotherhood on the plains before Lhinstord," he decreed.  "Prince Plhoris, you will prepare to receive Imperial forces within two days and will take command of the defense of the southern flank.  Lord Kgelohr, for the obvious practical reasons, Lhinstord will indeed be the base of operations of our drive to the east to liberate Mhevyr.  Jzaegleomyri, Praae and Suhr will muster their legions immediately and surrender them to Imperial service.  The other cities will stand in readiness.  Imperial skyships will be dispatched as soon as possible to transport our forces to Lhinstord.  Now, your skyships are waiting.  You will all return to your princedoms as soon as possible and take the necessary actions to implement my orders."

FOURTEEN

Mar's spur-of-the-moment declaration had been easy to make, but proved difficult to implement.  The sad fact, which he had already known in theory, was that he did not actually have enough armsmen and skyships to adequately defend the theoretical scope of the Empire, which was the entire area of the Principate.

Scarce minutes after the envoys had all departed the throne room, he huddled with his much diminished staff -- now down to just Mhiskva and Berhl -- at a table to find out exactly what could be done.  A bit to his surprise, neither marine officer appeared to have any disagreement with his abrupt and unplanned decision but rather devoted their efforts wholeheartedly to an attempt to figure out how to make the numbers work.

One thing was immediately clear: Mar's plans to use Plydyre as a springboard to challenge the Brotherhood in the Bronze Archipelago would have to be abandoned.

"It's a good thing that the monks pulled out of Bhaestryndt," Berhl said.  "Otherwise, we'd have nothing to send to Zlhahv.  Even so, we'll have to leave Plydyre practically undefended."

Mar shifted in the chair that he had ordered brought -- he certainly was not going to sit on the throne to conduct real business -- to reach out to a stack of reports holding down a map.  A sharp stab of pain from the end of his right leg made him wince.  Already the bones and muscles were noticeably longer, with the ends of his stumps a tender mass of raw flesh and occasionally writhing veins, and he was constantly experiencing odd sensations of discomfort.  Disregarding the spike, he shifted through the papers until he found the most recent update from Khalar.

"Another Khalarii legion has finished the minimum stage of training," he told the two marine officers.  "We can send it to support what's left of the Volunteer Brigade."

"That will leave Lord Purhlea with little more than the seven hundred armsmen of the Guard," Mhiskva pointed out.

"If he wants it, he can have the temporary loan of a troop of marines from the brigade at the Monolith," Mar decided.  "That, along with the two finished polybolos boats that he has, is enough to police the city.  As far as we know, the Phaelle'n have very little, if any, aerial transport.  Any land attack on Khalar -- or Mhajhkaei for that matter -- will have to travel the old fashioned way, overland on foot, and it would take months to reach Khalar through the forest.  We'll keep a screen of Scouts up in sailed boats between here and Bholsdsk.  That'll give us sufficient warning to intercept any strike that the Phaelle'n decide to throw toward Lord Purhlea or any of the provinces.  Send a courier to Khalar as soon as possible.  Let him know what we're doing and tell him to ship out the new legion."

Mhiskva nodded.  "Aye, my lord king.  What of the marine detachments aboard the supply skyships?   If we pull all the quads from them when they dock back at Mhajhkaei, we should eventually be able to form at least two troops that can be the basis of a new brigade."

"Do it.  Let the captains know that they'll have to hire their own guards in the interim."

"When all the skyships are gone forward, Mhajhkaei will be open to attack by the Shrikes," Berhl contributed.  "We've been training the borough militias as fire brigades and preparing stronger buildings, deep cellars, and the catacombs under the Citadel as shelters, but there's not nearly enough room for all the civilians."

"You want to evacuate the city?"

The maidsear shook his head.  "That would simply create chaos.  We don't have logistics in place to move everyone into the countryside and leaving the city completely empty would create its own problems.  We could, though, announce a mandatory evacuation of the very young and the very old to their relatives in the provinces.  Some wouldn't budge, but we'd get a good number that would just pack up their whole families and move out in their own time and by their own means.  We'll still lose people to an attack, but at least some would be out of harm's way.   I'd also like to distribute the polybolos works, specifically including all the scholars, engineers, craft workers, and their families to areas around Elboern.  We can't easily shift the skyship yards, but I'd like to transfer half of our current trained workforce to Pamplyea and Bholsdsk to begin setting up new yards."

"Issue whatever proclamations you need to get that accomplished," Mar told him.  "Mhiskva, you'd better tell Lord Purhlea to take similar precautions.  Berhl, any other ideas?"

"Not at the moment, my lord king."

"If you think of something, just do it and tell me about it later."

"Aye, my lord king."

"Let's go over the list one last time to make sure that we haven't missed anything."

The maidsear riffled through his notes and began to repeat the assignments that the three of them had worked out.

Mhiskva's marine brigade, now designated as A in compliance with a simple system that optimistically envisioned an eventually huge military force that would protect the entirety of the projected domains of the Empire, would remain at the Monolith to defend the irreplaceable skyship facilities there.  The brigade formed over the winter in Mhajhkaei, designated B, would be garrisoned in the Citadel to provide security. 

As he simply did not have enough armsmen to do so, Mar had decided that it would be futile to attempt to mount a conventional defense of The Greatest City in All the World.  Ten thousand men would not have been enough to man all of the triple walls and towers of the Citadel.  They had had to accept the assumption that the battles on the plains west of Lhinstord would protect Mhajhkaei. 

Knight-Commander Aerlon, his inexperienced II Corps, and the newest armored skyships from Master Khlosb'ihs' Monolith yards, Numbers Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-One, Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, and Twenty-Four, would go to Zlhahv.

Lhinstord would get Knight-Commander Dhrasnoaeghs and the veteran I Corps who would immediately prepare defensive positions just east of the city.  At the appropriate time, Mar would bring up Number One to provide aerial support.

Coirneal Relvhm, with his Skyship Corps and its transports
Nlarlt
,
Emperor Rwalkahn
,
Pju
,
Khas'thga
, and
Emperor's Justice,
and their numerous tows would be hidden about the Near Islands to watch for the appearance of the Brotherhood's magical ships.  This would also place the Skyship Corps in position to reinforce either Lhinstord or Zlhahv at need.

Ten legions were expected immediately from the Sister Cities, with an additional eight to ten to follow.  The initial plan was for these to take a protected reserve position under the cover of the thick forests of the Steo Hills ten leagues west of where the old Imperial Highway crossed the broad and slow Sand River.

In addition, Commander Tresh and Vice-Commander Rhel would move the
Defenders,
the
Reapers
, and the Elboern Legion there and begin the process of organizing a new corps with the addition of the first two of the promised four Suhr legions.   The other contributed legions would likewise, in theory, combine to create corps with the overall commander of this army to be chosen at some future date.

Mar interrupted Berhl's recitation to say, "We'll need a name for the army, I suppose.  Can't keep referring to it as 'the army with the three new corps.'"

Berhl made a notation.  "A number, a letter, or something more traditional?"

"We'll stick with simple," Mar decided.  "Call it the First Army."

Myre's Number Five, Syre's Number Six, and Mistress Lysael's Number Seven would serve transport duties at first and eventually be assigned as the permanent aerial contingent of that army.

For now, Mar's basic plan was to position his forces to deflect the anticipated Phaelle'n attack.  Whether or not the Empire could mount a counter-offensive remained to be seen.