The Grand Crusade (24 page)

“It might have been, but now things are in jeopardy. The crowns are in an uproar over the betrayal.”

“That’s not what concerns you, is it, truly?” Warmth threaded through his words. “You’re concerned because she has always promoted you as the leader who would destroy Chytrine. You wonder if she has been laying some sort of a trap.”

Alexia bowed her head. “Again, I wonder if you can read my mind.”

“Your question, Alexia, is normal.”

“This is more than a commander wondering if she has the ability to lead troops into battle.”

His jaw dropped open in a dragonish smile. “That I understand. You are young and though trained well, this is a war unlike any fought in centuries. Lord Norrington, the last man who led troops against her, failed and became her creature. You wonder about that. You also wonder what she saw in you that made her so certain you were not a threat—for if youwerea threat, she would not have urged you on others.”

“You’re right, she doesn’t think I’m a threat.”

“Perhaps she is wrong.”

Alexia laughed. “I would have to be an idiot to lead an army into battle, counting on the fact that my enemy is that stupid.”

“I agree, but I think you fail to look at a basic truth. She underestimates you. She underestimates everyone, but most especially you because she sees you as a tool of her own making. The fact that you have been hostile and closed to her,

the fact that you have taken up with Crow, all of these things lead her to believe you have no depth. The fact that you love is something she cannot understand: your love for Crow, forPerrine, for your friends, this isincomprehensible to her. She doesn’t understand that you are doing things for others, not just for yourself.

“She sees you as someone bent on military glory, and she expects you to act like it. Markus Adrogans has been raised to be your rival to spur you to excesses. Those excesses will be punished. But you know better than all that.”

Alexia nodded and could see the wisdom in the Black Dragon’s words. Alyx always had been stiff in dealing with Tatyana, from the first when she bit her, on up through her taunting her with the possibility of carrying Crow’s child. She even knew from talking with Crow that Chytrine had offered him the chance to be her consort and he had refused her. Alexia had won a prize Chytrine had sought for herself, which could have further clouded her thinking.

The princess swallowed. “She knows what I feel is the wise course for the conduct of the war. She knows what I will do.”

The Black Dragon shrugged. “So you will do things differently. The advantage you have, my dear, is that when the best battle plan falls apart, you are able to think, to order, and tolead. Chytrine’s minions do not have that freedom, nor are the stakes as high for them. You fight to guarantee for others what they have long since surrendered. All other things being equal, that will win the day.”

Alyx gave him a wry smile. “But will all other things be equal?”

“Not if you do the job you are capable of.” The Black Dragon smiled broadly. “They will be very uneven, and in your favor. And Chytrine will pay dearly for her arrogance.”

Alexia waited until Crow had finished spreading the map of the eastern half of the world out on their bed before she began to speak. It showed Saporicia in great detail, the same for Oriosa, Muroso, and Bokagul. Loquellyn, Sarengul, Sebcia, and the north were rendered less exactly. She would have preferred things to be far more precise, but to have asked for more work on the map might have tipped people off as to what she was thinking.

“I wanted to share with the six of you what I am proposing for our battle plan. I trust you both to be able to execute what I plan, and to keep this a secret until we reveal it to the crowns. There will be many objections for a whole host of reasons, but our people, the military people, will accept it, so their leaders have little choice but to agree. Still, the moment we make it public, Chytrine will know and will plan accordingly.”

The others in the room nodded solemnly. Augustus, Peri, and Crow faced her from across the bed, Dranae and Resolute from the foot, and Erlestoke stood at her right hand. The Oriosan Prince nodded slowly. “I’m sure whatever you are thinking will come as a surprise.”

“I hope so, but I also want you to tell me where I’m wrong.” She began by pointing at Narriz. “Our troops are gathering here. I will need to split our forces into three groups. The main group is the one I shall lead. It will comprise over seventy percent of the personnel we have and will head north, up theDelasena Rivervalley. We will be aiming for Bacirro, which is the city the Aurolani will threaten after they bypass Fronosa. After we break part of the army there, we will press them back toward Fronosa. There is a weakness there I want to exploit. We will retake Fronosa and move into Muroso

Yes, Highness, what?”

King Augustus folded his arms across his chest. “You know I have the utmost

confidence in you, Alexia. But what makes you so certain that you will retake Fronosa so quickly?“

“Sire, I know I will take Fronosa because the taking of that city—and all the other cities I shall mention—was the substance of the raid dream I told to theCrown Circleand Tatyana.”

“But Tatyana was Chytrine.”

“Yes, she was.” Alyx gathered her hands at the small of her back. “Chytrine seemed to believe strongly in the power of prophecy, especially as realized in those dreams. Look at my cousin, Mikhail, taking the Three Brothers. That was what he dreamed, and it came true. That strengthened belief in those prophecies. Mine is one that she has always told me I must fulfill.”

Erlestoke frowned. “Why would Chytrine believe these dreams would come true?”

Alexia shook her head. “I don’t know if she does or not. If she does, it could be because she sees them as elements working toward the fulfillment of some dream or prophecy she knows about. Her belief or not is immaterial, however. What is important is that she believes that / believe. Her assumptions about me are not realistic. She sees me as a younger, less experienced Markus Adrogans. Once she sees me moving in the pattern she is expecting, she will believe she has me right where she wants me. She will lay her trap and snap the jaws shut on me.”

Augustus scratched at his chin. “That is a dangerous assumption to make.”

“But we’ll know if it is a valid one by her first move after Fronosa. If she goes after Bacirro with a weak force, one I can crush, we’ll know she is offering me bait.”

“Sister, when would she strike?”

Alexia rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. “The exact moment I can’t be certain, but I would have to win several victories. Morale would have to be high, and word of the prophecy would have to spread before she was going to make an attempt. In my dream, the grand battle took place in Sebcia, at Lurrü. The closer we get to there, the more she will assume I am looking past a small battle toward the final one. It would be a fatal mistake for me to do so.”

Resolute let a low growl rumble in his throat for a moment. “You do not accept your dream as prophecy, even though your cousin’s dream did come true.”

“No, I don’t, Resolute, for one simple reason: I never dreamed that night. I never had the chance.” She smiled. “My cousin, against all protocols, confided his dream to me. He was happy and I was a bit jealous. He asked me about my dream, and I lied. I made things up. I had been schooled in history, so I recounted a series of battles I knew had taken place historically, and I kept them away from Okrannel because he might know our history. Then, when I went before theCrown Circle, well, they already knewwhat I had dreamed. Whether it was my cousin or someone else listening, I don’t know. So I told the same lie

again, in more detail. Fronosa got tossed in just because it was a link between Bacirro and Paloso on the Murosan coast.“

The Alcidese King shook his head. “I see the logic in your assumptions. But if she thinks too much about it, she may well see the truth.”

“That’s why 1 don’t intend to give her that chance.” Alexia pointed to the hills district northeast of Narriz. “I want to put a small force in here, one that is highly mobile, to harass the troops she will have in the area. It, ultimately, will be the force that takes Fronosa. Primarily what I want from it is to hit and run, disrupting supplies. It’s something we have done before, and her commanders are likely to see it as a nuisance force as it was in Muroso. When we need it to hit hard, however, it will. That’s not all, though.”

Alexia looked at Erlestoke. “Captain Venes raised a valid point about Oriosa. That flank has to be secured. Right now, with Oriosa neutral, we both have the same measure of security, though Chytrine does have troops in your nation.”

“In my father’s nation.”

“Erlestoke,youmay see Oriosa as his, but the people of Oriosa see it as yours.” Alexia rested a hand on his shoulder. “What I want you to do is to take a force and march right up through Oriosa. Chytrine will recognize the threat you pose and have to devote troops to oppose you.”

“Her troops will oppose me, certainly, but they will be second in line. My father does have his supporters among the nobility. They will also oppose us with troops.” Erlestoke pressed his black mask tighter against his face. “You’re asking me to initiate a civil war.”

“No. I’m asking you to assume your rightful place at the head of an Oriosan army. You’re not going to be there to make war on your father, and the people will know that since you will not lay siege to Meredo. You will bypass it and keep going. You’ll pick up troops from those lords who oppose your father and when Chytrine attacks, she will be attacking Oriosans. That will cause the countryside to rise up to support you.”

“You understimate Oriosans if you think I won’t be shedding their blood.”

“No, I don’t think I am, Erlestoke. I know what you’ve done. I know what Crow did. I know your brother joined the Freemen. I’ve had a good chance to look into the hearts of brave Oriosans. I know they will fight, and will even fight for you.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze. “What I want from you is to find a way to bring them to us. You didn’t like what your father was doing and you chose to leave. Your people didn’t like it any better, but they didn’t have that choice. Now you can give them a choice, if you are willing.”

Erlestoke sighed heavily. “I don’t know. This is something I must think hard about. I know this needs to be done, I just don’t know if I can do it. When do you require an answer?”

“You have a day.”

The prince jerked back, then nodded. “A day. Okay.” Alexia glanced at Resolute. “I want you to lead the hill force.”

“No.”

“What?”

Crow smiled. “I told you.”

“I can’t lead it, Alexia. You’re expecting me to say it is because I have no standing. Save your breath. I cannot lead it because I am not going to be available.”

Alexia frowned. “What are you talking about?”

The tall Vorquelf looked down at her with argent eyes. “Have you forgotten what Oracle said? Will’s waiting for us on Vorquellyn. That’s where I’m going. I’m taking Oracle with me.”

Alexia felt her guts begin to knot up. “That’s insane, Resolute. You’ll be slaughtered once you hit Vorquellyn. You yourself said you need a full-blooded Vorquelf to get where Will is waiting, and none exists.”

“It doesn’t matter, Princess. It has to be done. In all your thinking about what Chytrine may or may not take as prophecy you neglected one thing: it was the Norrington Prophecy that started all this. You might not want to believe in it, but I do.”

“Resolute, Idobelieve. I believe Will was the embodiment of it, and that what he did has set things in motion so we can destroy Chytrine.”

“I like that interpretation, Princess. I wish I could afford to believe it the way you do. Oracle says Will is waiting. The prophecy says Will will vanquish Chytrine and redeem Vorquellyn. For all I know my death, Oracle’s death, there, on Vorquellyn, may be required.” He shrugged. “Besides, you need someone going to Loquellyn to convince the Loquelves to come through the highlands and help you out. Might as well be me.”

Alexia looked at Crow. “Can you talk sense to him?”

“It would be the first time in our long association. Besides, I know how stubborn he is. He’s going to do what he said he’s going to do. I assume you’re going to need someone to watch your back.”

Resolute nodded. “I will, but it won’t be you, my friend. You’re going to be leading the hill force that takes Fronosa.”

“But

”

The Vorquelf shook his head. “Who better?”

Crow laughed. “I could name a dozen. Prince Erlestoke, for one. Adrogans for another.”

Erlestoke smiled. “I’ll trade assignments with you.”

“Your father would love that. No.”

Augustus frowned. “What are you going to do about Adrogans, Alexia?”

She shook her head. “I will keep him aware of what we are doing, but there is not much more I can do. His people are too far away. His cavalry could be here in a month and a half, perhaps, and be another two weeks trying to find us in Muroso. The trek would ruin them. His infantry couldn’t be here until late summer.”

The king leaned forward and traced a line from Svarskya around through the Ghost March. “He could take the shorter route.”

“He’ll fight every step of the way.” She smiled. “It will give Chytrine something to think about. Do you think he would do it?”

“If he was of a mind to have created an empire, he’d already have declared Okrannel to be part of it. You’d never get approval to order him to do that.”

“So I just keep him aware of what we are doing and hope he takes the hint?”

Augustus chuckled. “I think you have no other course. In fact, I’m certain you will be told to give Adrogans orders to stay in Svarskya. I might suggest you entrust them to Resolute for delivery.”

The princess smiled. “I’ll do that. Dranae, what do you think?”

The dragon in manform folded powerful arms over his chest. “In my time with you I have learned to trust your judgment, all of you. Your strategy seems sound. I will fight alongside you. I believe Arimtara will also. It will give you some counters to any dragons Chytrine might use.”