Best Served Cold

“Who says they are?” When she turned to Rogont, he was smiling like a thief who’d whipped the fattest purse of his career. He spread his arms out wide. “Rejoice, Murcatto! The miracle you asked for!”

She blinked. “They’re on our side?”

“Most certainly, and right in Foscar’s rear! And the irony is that it’s all your doing.”

“Mine?”

“Entirely yours! You remember the conference in Sipani, arranged by that preening mope the King of the Union?”

The great procession through the crowded streets, the cheering as Rogont and Salier led the way, the jeering as Ario and Foscar followed. “What of it?”

“I had no more intention of making peace with Ario and Foscar than they had with me. My only care was to talk old Chancellor Sotorius over to my side. I tried to convince him that if the League of Eight lost then Duke Orso’s greed would not end at Sipani’s borders, however neutral they might be. That once my young head was off, his ancient one would be next on the block.”

More than likely true. Neutrality was no better defence against Orso than it was against the pox. His ambitions had never stopped at one river or the next. One reason why, until the moment he’d tried to kill her, he’d made Monza such a fine employer.

“But the old man clung to his cherished neutrality, tight as a captain to the wheel of his sinking ship, and I despaired of dislodging him. I am ashamed to admit I began to despair entirely, and was seriously considering fleeing Styria for happier climes.” Rogont closed his eyes and tilted his face towards the sun. “And then, oh, happy day, oh, serendipity…” He opened them and looked straight at her. “You murdered Prince Ario.”

Black blood pumping from his pale throat, body tumbling through the open window, fire and smoke as the building burned. Rogont grinned with all the smugness of a magician explaining the workings of his latest trick.

“Sotorius was the host. Ario was under his protection. The old man knew Orso would never forgive him for the death of his son. He knew the doom of Sipani was sounded. Unless Orso could be stopped. We came to an agreement that very night, while Cardotti’s House of Leisure was still burning. In secret, Chancellor Sotorius brought Sipani into the League of Nine.”

“Nine,” muttered Monza, watching the Sipanese host march steadily down the gentle hillside towards the fords, and Foscar’s almost undefended rear.

“My long retreat from Puranti, which you thought so ill-advised, was intended to give him time to prepare. I backed willingly into this little trap so I could play the bait in a greater one.”

“You’re cleverer than you look.”

“Not difficult. My aunt always told me I looked a dunce.”

She frowned across the valley at the motionless host on top of Menzes Hill. “What about Cosca?”

“Some men never change. He took a very great deal of money from my Gurkish backers to keep out of the battle.”

It suddenly seemed she didn’t understand the world nearly as well as she’d thought. “I offered him money. He wouldn’t take it.”

“Imagine that, and negotiation so very much your strong point. He wouldn’t take the money from you. Ishri, it seems, talks more sweetly. ‘War is but the pricking point of politics. Blades can kill men, but only words can move them, and good neighbours are the surest shelter in a storm.’ I quote from Juvens’ Principles of Art. Flim-flam and superstition mostly, but the volume on the exercise of power is quite fascinating. You should read more widely, General Murcatto. Your book-learning is narrow in scope.”

“I came to reading late,” she grunted.

“You may enjoy the full use of my library, once I’ve butchered the Talinese and conquered Styria.” He smiled happily down towards the bottom of the valley, where Foscar’s army were in grave danger of being surrounded. “Of course, if Orso’s troops had a more seasoned leader today than the young Prince Foscar, things might have been very different. I doubt a man of General Ganmark’s abilities would have fallen so completely into my trap. Or even one of Faithful Carpi’s long experience.” He leaned from his saddle and brought his self-satisfied smirk a little closer. “But Orso has suffered some unfortunate losses in the area of command, lately.”

She snorted, turned her head and spat. “So glad to be of help.”

“Oh, I couldn’t have done it without you. All we need do is hold the lower ford until our brave allies of Sipani reach the river, crush Foscar’s men between us, and Duke Orso’s ambitions will be drowned in the shallows.”

“That all?” Monza frowned towards the water. The Affoians, an untidy red-brown mass on the neglected far right of the battle, had been forced back from the bank. No more than twenty paces of churned-up mud, but enough to give the Talinese a foothold. Now it looked as if some Baolish had waded through the deeper water upstream and got around their flank.