[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

that had formed in the commanding general's mind. Hesmucet said, "It's only a
matter of time now."
"I think you're right, sir," George said, nodding. "Now we can push to the
east of
Marthasville or to the west, go up north of the place on either side just as
we choose, and
Bell won't be able to stop us. The most he can do with what he has left, as I
see it, is sit tight and stand siege."
"If he does that, he's mine, and so is his whole fornicating army," Hesmucet
said.
"I'll take it clean off the board, the same as Marshal Bart took Camphorville
on the Great
River and its defending host last year."
"I don't believe Bell will do that," Logan the Black said. "He's a swinger, a
puncher.
He'll keep trying to hit us for as long as he can."
"Good," Hesmucet said. "The more he wastes his force, the sooner he won't be
able to strike with it at all. I always worried about Joseph the Gamecock. He
held his men in.
If I'd made a mistake against him, he kept the wherewithal to make me pay for
it. But
Bell? Bell's thrown away as many good men the past two days as Joseph did
during the whole campaign from Borders all the way up to here."
His subordinates nodded. Not even Fighting Joseph could disagree with that.
George said, "Bell's a first-rate man to command a brigade. Point him at the
foe, turn him loose, and he'll hit hard. But put him in command of an army? Of
an army trying to hold off a bigger army? I don't know what false King
Geoffrey was drinking when he thought of that, but I hope they serve him more
of it."
Logan the Black nodded. "Well said. Our foes' mistakes go a long way toward
making this an easy fight for us."
"They can't afford to make mistakes, not any more," Doubting George agreed.
"We have the luxury of greater strength, which lets us make our errors good."
He dipped his head to Hesmucet. "Not that we've made many on this campaign."
"For which I thank you," Hesmucet replied. If George said a thing like that,
he had to mean it, which made the compliment doubly pleasing. Hesmucet went
on, "Now there is one other bit of business that wants doing. Brigadier Logan,
I am grateful for how well you fought James' wing, but I do not intend that
you keep command of it."
"And why not, if I fought it well?" Logan demanded. He was a proud man, and he
had done his duty and more than his duty. Hesmucet would have to handle him
carefully.
He said, "My main reason, Brigadier, is that you are not a professional.
Meaning you no disrespect, but I find it easier to deal with men who have been
through Annasville, as I
have."
"Plenty of them, on both sides of this war, have proved themselves to be
idiots,"
Logan said tartly.
"True enough, your Excellency, but you could also say the same for officers
who haven't been through the military collegium," Hesmucet replied. "I am
Page 146
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
pleased to have you as a brigade or division commander. As a wing commander .
. . I'm sorry, Brigadier, but no, not permanently."
However proud he was, Logan took it like a man. "It's your army, General. You
will
have your way here. If you think I'm going to tell you I'm happy about it,
you're
mistaken. And now, sir, if you'll excuse me . . ." Saluting, he spun on his
heel and strode out of the headquarters.
"You did the right thing, sir," Fighting Joseph said. Approval from him was
the last thing Hesmucet wanted. Striking a pose, Fighting Joseph went on, "Now
you can consolidate your forces. An army of only two wings led by your two
senior commanders would surely be more efficient than one of three."
And it would double the size of the force you command, which is what you've
got in mind, Hesmucet thought. Aloud, he said, "I find myself reasonably
satisfied with the command arrangements as they exist at present."
"Do you indeed, sir? Do you indeed?" From Fighting Joseph's tone, Hesmucet
might have expressed a fondness for scratching his backside in public or
eating with his fingers.
More scornfully still, Fighting Joseph said, "And who could possibly replace
James the
Bird's Eye?"
Who but me?
he all but shouted.
"If you must know, I had in mind Brigadier Oliver," Hesmucet replied.
Now Fighting Joseph frankly stared. "Oliver? You must be joking . . . sir. I
hope you're joking. Oliver the blond-lover? Oliver the gods-drunk? Oliver with
his right arm gone? Lion God's twitching tail, it'd be like putting a cross
between Bell and Leonidas the
Priest in charge of a wing."
"No." Hesmucet shook his head. "Oliver's pious, but he knows soldiering as
well as he knows the gods. And he's not brash and rash, the way Bell is. He
thinks before he moves."
"I agree," Doubting George said. "Before the war, I thought Oliver was a
horrible windbag, and I wished he would quit blathering on about loosing the
blonds from the soil. But that is King Avram's policy now, so we all needs
must follow it. And Brigadier
Oliver is a more than capable soldier, as the commanding general said."
"Giving that wing to such an untried man and a junior untried man is an
outrage when senior officers are available," Fighting Joseph insisted. "Not
only an outrage, but also a gross injustice."
"I'm sorry, General, but I don't agree," Hesmucet said. "Brigadier Oliver will
have that wing."
"Disgraceful." Fighting Joseph drew himself up to his full height, which was
perhaps an inch less than Hesmucet's. In a voice like thunder, he said, "If
that is your final decision, I cannot abide the insult, and must offer my
resignation from King Avram's service and from this, his host."
Without a doubt, he thought Hesmucet would find him indispensable and would
knuckle under to that threat. Without a doubt, he had never so badly misjudged
a situation which, with Viziersville on his record, was saying a great deal.
Hesmucet had all he could do not to chortle with glee. "Lieutenant General
George, you are my witness," he said. "Fighting Joseph has tendered his
resignation."
"Yes, sir," Doubting George agreed. "I heard him do it."
"And you shall also be my witness that I accept the said resignation,
effective immediately," Hesmucet went on.
"Yes, sir," George repeated. "I will so testify, at need."
Fighting Joseph first looked as if he didn't believe his ears, then as if he
Page 147
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
didn't want to. "How how dare you?" he spluttered. "How do you think you can
manage this army without me?"
"I expect I'll manage," Hesmucet answered. "And, since you've resigned, it's
not your concern anyway. A good evening to you, General. I trust you will make
a splendid success of yourself in civilian life."
Still looking as if he'd been hit in the head with a rock, Fighting Joseph,
having fought for the last time, stumbled out of Hesmucet's headquarters.
Hesmucet found a jar of spirits and poured a mug for himself and one for
Doubting George. Though he'd lost
James the Bird's Eye, his men had held Bell's, and he was rid of Fighting
Joseph. He wondered which of those would prove the bigger victory.
* * *
"Bell had his chance," Lieutenant General George told his brigadiers. "He had
it, and he couldn't do anything with it. Now it's our turn, by the gods, and
we'll see how well he likes that."
"That's right," Absalom the Bear rumbled. The big man went on, "The traitors
have played games with us for too long. I don't believe they've got the men to
play games any more."
"We've got Brigadier Oliver pushing up to our left," George said. "Now
Hesmucet is going to stretch this wing up toward the right, toward the
glideway link with Dothan
Province and the one with northern Peachtree Province. Once we've got those in
our hands, too, how's Lieutenant General Bell going to feed Marthasville?"
"That's simple, sir," Brigadier Brannan said. Doubting George's commander of
siege engines paid close attention to logistics. His handsome face twisted
into a thoroughly nasty grin. "He won't. Those bastards will starve, and then
we'll clean 'em out." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]