"First, that very disturbing report, the other day, fromThoheeks Portos, and now this-it's all enough to give me more gray hairs at the very thought of what may very well be bubbling away in the minds of the men he's abusing and denying the few simple plea-sures that they have certainly earned by way of su-perlative service to Council's army, many times over.

"As regards your good fortune, CaptainVahrohnos Bralos, you must know that no man rejoiced more than did I. However, while I and most other members of Council would consider your acquisitions from that Hahkmukos creature more in the nature of a reward for services, it is indeed quite possible that this newThoheeks Pahvlos might also be of the opinion that the jewels you found within the cabinet are indeed loot, if only because the previous owner must have looted them from somewhere, at some time.

Our good Tomos advises us that you have a plan to broach to representatives of Council today. What is it?"

Presently,Thoheeks Grahvos rang for a scribe and dictated two official doc.u.ments. Then, while the man penned duplicates of each, Bralos set a small chest of cour bouilli on the table and from it counted out some twenty pounds of gold.

When the doc.u.ments all had been sanded, signed, sealed and witnessed and the scribe was departed, Thoheeks Grahvos smiled broadly and said, "All right, my boy, it's all done. So far asThoheeks Pahvlos or any of his faction are concerned, you have admitted taking loot, taken advantage of the broadcast amnesty and conveyed to representatives of Council a golden-hilted dagger plus a certain measure of gold. But between us, you have that doc.u.ment recognizing your generousloan to Council, it payable to you or to your heirs at the end of ten years along with an interest of twenty-five percent the year, and should you die with-out formal heirs or legitimate issue, it will be paid to your present overlord or his heirs."

"Please, my lordThoheeks," protested Bralos, "twenty-five percent the year is far too much. Really there should be none. Cannot my lord allow this to be a true gift to the ConsolidatedThoheekseeahnee ?".

The big, brawny n.o.bleman just stood and stared at the younger for a moment, then he addressed Thoheeks Mahvros, saying, "The next time that Pennendos or Vikos or another of that stripe launch again into their incessant slanders of our n.o.bility in this realm, recall you this day and this most generous minor n.o.bleman. Thank G.o.d that we have good men like him still among us to come to our aid in time of need. "No, my good Bralos, your generosity is much ap-preciated, but no. Your loan will be repaid with the indicated interest as indicated in this doc.u.ment."

"All right, CaptainVahrohnos," barked the white-haired GrandStrahteegos at Bralos, standing rigidly before him, "I know that you prized a jeweled, gold-hiked and gold-cased Yvuhz dagger on that mission to the north, so hand it over and I won't have you striped . . . this time. Also, I want in my hands by nightfall of this day all of the gold or silver remaining of the loot you took in times past. When we come back from this campaign, we will see to the selling of your uncon-firmedvahrohnoseeahn, in the south, your squadron captaincy and all else you saw fit to squander army monies upon."

"My lord ..." began Senior CaptainThoheeks Por-tos, who had been ordered to bring Bralos here.

But he was coldly, brusquely cut off in midsentence. "Shut your mouth, Portos! Yap only when I tell you to. My present business is with this posturing puppy."

During the brief interruption, Bralos' gaze flitted to the girlish Ilios, who lay stretched languidly on a couch behind the old man, the long-lashed eyelids slowly blinking, the too-pretty face blank. He wondered whether the pegboy was using hemp or poppy-paste.

"Would my lord GrandStrahteegos Thoheeks deign to peruse an official doc.u.ment of the Council of the ConsolidatedThoheekseeahnee ?"asked Bralos, for-mally and very diffidently.

"Give it to me," snarled the old man, adding, "And it had better have some bearing on your crimes against this army of mine. I've had all that I can stomach of larcenous newly rich sc.u.m like you lording it over your betters and buying lands and ranks you but ill deserve."

Upon reading the doc.u.ment, his face darkened with rage. From between slitted eyelids he looked up at Bralos with pure, distilled hatred. "You shoat, you thing of filth and slime, how dared you to commit so infamous an enormity as this? I should have you slowly whipped to death or impaled, do you know that?

I hope that I never again see so foul an instance of insubordination as you have herein committed, you fatherless hound-pup! Are you aware, Portos, of what your favorite here has done? Are you? Well, answer me, d.a.m.n you!"

"No, my lord GrandStrahteegos, I am not. I have not yet seen the doc.u.ment," replied the brigade commander.

"Know you, then, Senior Captain, that this infa-mous malefactor turned the Yvuhz dagger and some pounds of gold over toThoheeks Grahvos andThoheeks Mahvros, and they then not only granted him a full pardon for his misdeeds in not turning all his loot over in the beginning, but recognized his landholdings and purchased t.i.tle in an official Council doc.u.ment, of which this is a legal, witnessed copy. On the basis of this . . . this"-he waved the doc.u.ment about-"this piece of filth, this thing who calls himself Bralos now is confirmed and recognized by Council as theVahrohnos of Yohyultonpolis, and no matter that he acquired lands and t.i.tle with gold that was as good as stolen from this army of mine. And not only that, but that aged fool of a Grahvos so phrased this thing that this puppy now is also recognized by council as a captain-of-squadron of mercenary light cavalry/lancers."

"But, my lord GrandStrahteegos Thoheeks," re-monstrated Portos, "ever since the CaptainVahrohnos bought the entirety of responsibility for his squadron, you have been referring to him as a mercenary." The old man glared at Portos for a long moment, then grated in a frigid tone, "Senior Captain, do not ever again display such a degree of temerity as to feed me back my own words, not if you'd keep that ugly head on those shoulders and the flesh on the bones of your back. You and everyone else with two bits of brain to rub together knew just what I meant when I called him a mercenary scoundrel, and it was not a description of his rank or his status in my army, either. If you don't-really don't-know just what I meant, then you are an utter dunce and should not be com-manding a section, much less a brigade, in any kind of an army!"

Looking back at the still-rigid Bralos, he growled, "All right, my lord CaptainVahrohnos, you and your sly chicanery have stolen a march on me . . . this time. But be you warned, I am long in forgetting and I never forgive. I mean to see you dead for this, soon or late, I mean to see you die under circ.u.mstances that will reflect no slightest shred of honor on either you or the misbegotten house that was responsible for putting a thing like you out into the world, of afflicting decent folk with the fox-shrewd stench of you.

Take your slimy doc.u.ment and get you out of my sight!Dismiss !"

Outside, Bralos mounted but sat his horse until Portos came out, his olive face black with suppressed rage, his big hands clenching and unclenching, his movement stiff, tightly controlled. But he spoke no word to Bralos until they were both well clear of the army headquarters area.

"Bralos, had it just been reported to me, I doubt that I would've, could've, believed it. But Iheard it, heard it all. I can only surmise that the man is going- h.e.l.l, has gone-stark, staring mad. Man, you just don't talk to the senior officers of your army that way unless in strictest privacy. He had some choice slights for me, too, after he'd dismissed you, and hearing him I could not but think of how good it would be to see him laid out on a pyre, for all that we have no officer capable of replacing him. He couldn't be as vicious toward me as he could and was toward you, of course, because I'm his peer in civil rank and I could call him out, force him to fight me breast to breast in a formal duel. But what he could get away with saying, he said.

"I tell you, friend Bralos, immediately I get back to my place, I'm going to have to write out an account of all that just happened. I couldn't put such a job to a clerk or it would be over the whole army in an eyeblink of time . . . and that we definitely do not want; there's trouble enough brewing already, thanks to that old man. Then I'm going to dispatch it toThoheeks Grahvos, at the palace; you can add a statement to it, if you wish to so do."

But Bralos shook his head. "No, the more you stir s.h.i.t, the more and worse it stinks. Besides, you can say all that needs the saying, Portos."

What with one seemingly unavoidable delay after another, the army was a week late in leaving for the old capital, taking the circuitous northern route now used by traders over roads recently refurbished by gangs of state-slaves. Bralos and his remaining men watched the army march out of the sprawling camp and set foot to the eastern road, led by light cavalry- not a few of these their comrades, Bralos'

troopers and officers-and with their supplies and baggage, their remudas and beef herds behind them.

It had been at the very next called meeting of senior officers after the explosive interview with the Grand Strahteegos that this newest catapult boulder had been dropped upon Bralos. After covering the order of the march column as regarded infantry, supply and bag-gage, specialist units and remounts, each category pre-ceded by the name of the officer to command it and be at all times responsible for it, the GrandStrahteegos finally got around to the cavalry.

"Senior CaptainThoheeks Portos as brigade com-mander will, of course, exercise overall command ofthe horse, directly under me. He will also be in com-mand of his own squadron of heavy horse. Captain Chief Pawl Vawn of Vawn will be in command of his Horseclans medium-heavy horse.

Captain-of-war-ele-phantsKomees Nathos of Pinellopolis will be in overall command of his six bulls and the three cow draught elephants, a.s.sisted by Captain-of-work-elephants Gil Djohnz.

"Lastly, as regards light cavalry, Captain-of-squadronOpokomees Ehrrikos will, for this campaign, com-mand his own three troops and an additional three troops which will be seconded to him from out of the Wolf Squadron, with the senior lieutenants of both squadrons to a.s.sist him."

Bralos could not move or speak for a moment. He looked every bit as stunned as he felt, and, noticing this, not a few of his peers and superiors began to mutter amongst themselves.

Raising his voice, old Pahvlos went on to say, "Captain-of-squadronVahrohnos Bralos of wherever, having shown himself treacherous and most disloyal to me and my army, will remain here with one troop to maintain order in the camp, where those I can trust can keep an eye on him."

Bralos came to his feet at that last, his fury bubbling up in him, his hand clamping hard on the hilt of his saber.

"Draw it!" hissed the GrandStrahteegos, cruel glee shining out of his eyes. "Go ahead and draw that steel of yours, you young t.u.r.d out of a diseased sow. Draw it before all these witnesses; that will be all I need to put a hempen necklace around your scabby throat, sneak-thief, poseur, illegitimate puppy."

Bralos was on the verge of doing just that, suicidal action or no, but a powerful hand clamped cruelly hard about his upper arm, and in a whisper,Thoheeks Portos' voice said, "Let be, son Bralos, let be, I say. Don't play directly into his hands. He's clearly, obvi-ously trying in every way he knows to provoke you, making no slightest secret of that fact. He couldn't strip you of your gold, so now he would have your blood, your honor and your life, so don't just hand him that satisfaction. You outthought him before; do it again. That will hurt him far more than a honed edge would."

When Bralos let go his well-worn hilt and sat down, there was a chorus of released breaths all about the crowded room.

Putting the best face he could upon his keen disap-pointment, the GrandStrahteegos crowed, "You see, gentlemen, you all saw it, didn't you? The craven criminal will not even speak to refute my words; he's patently not only guilty of his crimes, then, but an honorless coward, to boot."

Bralos rose more slowly this time, came to rigid attention and said, slowly, clearly, very formally, "Captain-of-squadronVahrohnos Bralos of Yohyul-tonpolis prays that he be allowed to appear before a full panel of his peers, that they may hear all evidence for and against his guilt of the charges made by the GrandStrahteegos Thoheeks Pahvlos and decide, there-from, his culpability or innocence. If found guilty by them, he will leave the army. If found innocent, he will demand that his accusers meet him breast to breast, fully armed, in a formal duel overseen by Ehleen gentlemen."

The old man's face darkened in ire. "Shut your lying mouth and sit down, you thieving cur! No brave, honest, honorable gentleman needs hear anymore of your nauseating misdeeds from anyone.I say you're guilty-guilty as very sin-and that's all that's neces-sary, hear me?"

"No it is not, my lord GrandStrahteegos Thoheeks" spoke up Sub-strahteegosTomos Gonsalos, adding, "According to the traditions of this and every other Ehleen army-past or present-of which I have heard or had dealings, a n.o.ble officer accused of cowardice or of any felonious conduct by anotherofficer has the right to demand that a panel of officers to include all who heard the allegations spoken or read them written be met as soon as expedient to hear or view all evi-dence and thereby judge his guilt or his innocence. It would pain me to have to report to the High Lord Milo Morai that so tradition-minded an officer as you refused to abide, in this one instance, by the tradi-tional method and see justice done, thereby."

Glaring hatred at the sub-strahteegos,old Pahvlos made to speak twice but produced only wordless growls of insensate rage, then finally stalked out and left his staff to conclude the briefing as best they could. These men's efforts were not helped by the loud sounds of crashings and hangings emanating up the hallway from the direction of the GrandStrahteegos 'private quar-ters. That the old man had at last found his voice was clear to all; the shouted curses, obscenities and shock-ing blasphemies were proof of it.

When the meeting had been adjourned and the offi-cers had silently filed out of the building, they all- seemingly of but a single mind and regardless of the crush of preparations still awaiting them in their own units-made directly for the officers' mess, chivvied out the cooks and servants, then commenced their own meeting.

"I liked that old man, I did," commented Captain-of-pikes Guhsz Hehluh. "I respected him, too, but after today, h.e.l.l, I don't know if I want a man like that over me and my Keebai boys anymore. He carried on like a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum, there at the end of everything. What the h.e.l.l would happen to the f.u.c.king army was the old b.u.g.g.e.r to do that in battle sometime?"

"Something's changed him, altered his character dras-tically, and certainly for the worse," said Captain-of-foot Bizahros, commander of the infantry brigade. "When first he came to lead us here, it was as if I still were serving under him in the old royal army, and I rejoiced, as did right many other officers and men of the old army. But now . . . it's almost as if another person were inhabiting his mind. He always averred in the past that the commoner soldiers must be treated well by all officers, from the highest to the lowliest, must be always shown that officers have the best inter-ests of their men at heart at all times. But now . . ."

"Yes," nodded Senior CaptainThoheeks Portos, grim-faced, "but in the present state of affairs, we'll be very fortunate do we not have to put down a mutiny or two during this campaign . . . and if not then, then surely when we get back and our units once more go under these ridiculous, divisive camp strictures of no women, no alcohol save the thoroughly watered issue and no movement outside the perimeter save on or-ganized details."

"It seems to me, and G.o.d grant that I'm wrong, in this instance," opined Captain of Light Infantry Ahzprinos, "that our esteemed GrandStrahteegos is dead set upon splitting up our army-destroying any rapport between the officers and the common soldiers of their units, fomenting dissension of all sorts be-tween the units and the officers, first playing foot against horse, then playing mercenary against regular units and so on.

"Take the beginning of this business today, for in-stance. He knew d.a.m.ned good and well that Captain Opokomees Ehrrikos and CaptainVahrohnos Bralos have had differences and are not on the best of terms even yet, and it seemed he could not rest but had to pick at that scab."

"What was or is between Bralos and me is our personal affair," said Captain Ehrrikos bluntly, "and I did not at all like him using or trying to use it as a foil to make more bad blood between me and a military peer. Bralos, I didn't and don't want the responsibility of a double-size squadron thrust w.i.l.l.y-nilly upon me, but as you must know, I had, have and will have d.a.m.n-all choice in the matter, not so long as Icon-tinue to serve under this increasingly strange, new-model GrandStrahteegos Pahvlos.

"But Bralos, comrade, you have my word of honor before all of these gentleman-comrades that your troops and officers will in no way be made to suffer while under my command. They'll be asked to perform noth-ing that my own troops are not asked. I will deal with them at all possible times through their senior lieuten-ant or troop-lieutenants and they will be stinted on neither remounts nor supplies. Our GrandStrahteegos is both my military and my civil superior and I am sworn to obey his orders, where such orders do not impinge upon my personal honor, but I'll be d.a.m.ned if I'll serve him as a rod with which he can punish an officer to whom he has taken a dislike or that officer's subordinates, either."

Sub-strahteegos ThoheeksTomos Gonsalos said, "That is a good and a most n.o.ble gesture, Captain Ehrrikos. You other gentlemen should take it to heart, recall it when next that old man makes to set two of you to fighting, tearing at each other like alley curs. Remember that the continued cohesion and existence of this army is vital to the continued power of Council and to the very survival of these ConsolidatedThoheek-seeahnee. If you don't want, to see a return to condi-tions of anarchy and chaos in these lands, then you must all cooperate to defeat whatever schemes this once-great man's mind is apparently concocting. For all I know, he wants to be king, but if he does, it would seem to me he'd be trying to bind the army to him, not erode its discipline, fracture its cohesion and drive its best officers and common soldiers away from it."

The army was gone for six weeks. Immediately it had marched back into the camp, while still the trains were making their dusty way to their depot, with a cracking of stock-whips and the shouts and foul curses of drivers and drovers, Captain-of-squadronOpokomees Ehrrikos of Panther Squadron and Senior Lieutenant Hymos of Rahnpolis reined up and dismounted before the building housing the camp headquarters of Wolf Squadron. After slapping as much dust as they could from their sweat-stained clothing, they entered to con-front Bralos.

The first look at the officers' faces told Bralos that something was amiss, and he suffered another cold chill of presentiment. Even so, he saw both the tired, sweating men served cool, watered wine and waited silently for the bad news for as long as he could bear it before finally demanding, "All right, how many men were lost from my squadron, Ehrrikos?"

"One killed, neck snapped when his horse fell at the gallop; the horse had to be put down, too. Three injured; one stabbed in the thigh with a spear, one knifed in some senseless, pointless brawl of a night- theeeahtrohsee give him a forty-sixty chance of living- one with his clavicle broken by a fractious remount horse."

"Then why the long faces, gentlemen?" demanded Bralos, still more than certain that something was terribly wrong.

The senior lieutenant opened his mouth to speak, then, but kept silent when Captain Ehrrikos spoke first.

"Almost to the old royal capital, there was a small bit of action on the road, you see."

"Bandits?" said Bralos with incredulity. "They must've been mad to nibble at a column so large and strong."

"No, not bandits, but certainly mad, nonetheless, Bralos. There was a gang of state-slaves at work at a crossroads, not working on the main road, but on the one crossing it there. A troop of your boys was riding back down the column to relieve another troop-one of mine-that had been riding rearguard forsome hours. When some d.a.m.ned farmboy wight of an infan-tryman dropped a spear, one of the slaves grabbed it up, used it to slay two slave guards, and then two more slaves were armed. The other guards happened to be on the other side of the road with the marching column between them and the action, so your Lieuten-ant-of-troop Gahndos of Rohthakeenonpolis bade his men encircle the murderous slaves and disarm or kill them. He's a good officer, that one, Bralos, but of course his early trainingwas under me.

"The troopers had to finally kill all three of the slaves-that's where your trooper got the spear wound in his thigh, he came in under your man's lance only to get another in his whip-whealed, scabby back before he could withdraw the point of the spear. At the very end of the action, the GrandStrahteegos and his guards came pounding back from the head of the main column.

"Now in that ruckus, one other of your common soldiers, a sergeant, had been thrust in the armpit by one of the slaves he was trying to hit with the flat of his saber; in the withdrawal, the hooked blade of the slave-guard spear caught in and tore loose a good part of the upper sleeve of the sergeant's arming-shirt."

"Uh-oh!" said Bralos, shaking his head. "Pahvlos saw the mail lining?"

"No, not at first. In fact, he was reining about to go back when his d.a.m.ned IliosPooeesos saw and pointed it out to him," replied Captain Ehrrikos sourly. "But he just stared, then rode on back up to his place in the column, and the march resumed from there.

"That evening, however, when we were barely done with the horses and the cooks were minding the ra-tions, the old man rode in with his guards and a troop of heavy horse, fully armed and with Senior Captain Portos along for good measure, though he had left his pegboy in his pavilion, sitting on his peg, I suppose.

"He ordered me to fall out all of your troops- officers, sergeants and troopers. I did, what else could I do, Bralos? He ordered that they be a.s.sembled in ranks unarmed but carrying their arming-shirts, and this was obeyed. Then he and several of his guards dismounted and stalked up and down the ranks, using knives to cut the sleeves from off every arming-shirt save only those of the officers, throwing the sleeves out on the ground before the formation.

"That all done, he preached your three troops a long homily that concerned mostly his belief that an excess of useless armor slowed down troopers and needlessly overweighted their mounts. Nor could he stay a few stabs at you, it seems, telling them that they would not be punished unless they should try to reaffix the sleeves without first removing the forbidden mail inserts from them. He chided them for continuing to serve under a base, thieving, forsworn, arrogant, im-pudent, insubordinate . . . have I forgotten any, Hymos, my boy?"

"Only some of the more colorful references to Cap-tain Bralos' ancestry and personal habits, my lord Captain," replied the senior lieutenant wryly.

"Well, Bralos, you get the general drift of the old man's slanders," concluded Ehrrikos.

"How did my men take all this, Hymos?" asked the commander of Wolf Squadron. "Do they seem to think the worse of me?"

The youngest officer smiled grimly. "Sir, they con-sidered, first and foremost, the source and thought of all the hardships that he has tried to inflict upon them and all the other soldiers, and they recalled the officer who has so generously cared for them, indulged them, even paid them out of his own purse whenhis accuser would not. No officer or sergeant needs to tell the troopers of your squadron who is their champion, their benefactor and their truest friend, my lord Cap-tainVahrohnos Bralos, nor can the fevered rantings of even so high-ranking an officer of this army as the GrandStrahteegos Thoheeks Pahvlos the Warlike con-vince the squadron that white is suddenly become black and black, white.

"And CaptainOpokomees Ehrrikos holds high re-gard for you, as well, my lord. The GrandStrahteegos ordered the mail be buried, but the captain instead saw it hidden and scattered around the officers'

baggage wagons, instead."

But when Bralos would have thanked his military peer, Ehrrikos shrugged and said, "h.e.l.l, comrade, I'd've done the same for any other whom I happened to feel was being wronged and robbed through no real fault of his own. That kind of mail is d.a.m.nably expen-sive stuff, I know; I once priced a shirt of it and walked around in a state of shock for two weeks afterwards."

"But the risk you took for me . . ." Bralos pro-tested, his words cut off by Ehrrikos.

"d.a.m.n the risk, my friend, it's you who is at risk, terrible risk, every day and every night while Pahvlos is in this camp. For whatever reason, he truly hates you, he means to have your guts for garters, and no doubt about it. Were I you, I'd keep my blankets rolled and my baggage packed constantly. Be ready to take your squadron and ride at a moment's notice, comrade, for you know that if you flee alone, that monster we now serve will, at his best, send Wolf Squadron on your trail with written orders to bring back your head. At worst, he'll force them to bring you back alive to be slowly tortured to death, or maimed, then impaled or crucified."

"No, I talked all of everything over with Sub-strahteegos ThoheeksTomos Gonsalos while the army was gone," said Bralos soberly. "I have decided that the very next personal insult or public accusation of wrongdoing of any nature or attempt to get at me through the officers or common troopers of Wolf Squad-ron will be the time when I sell back my rank, demand , the long-overdue pay of my troopers, sergeants and officers, mount us all up and set out for myvahrohnoh-seeahn, in the south. As Tomos says, Pahvlos is a very old man and is leading a very strenuous life and can-not therefore be expected to live much longer, even does he not so far overreach himself that the Council finds it must put paid to his long-overdue account lest he finally really wreck this army of theirs for good and all.

"In normal times, I like soldiering, but I cannot do it longer under such a man, so I will leave it until he no longer commands."

"I pray that you not wait just a little too long, my friend," said Ehrrikos earnestly . . . and prophetically, though he knew it not.

Chapter VII.

Sergeant Tahntos was seated astraddle a contrivance of wood, the sharp edges of two dovetailed boards cutting like a dull knifeblade into his naked crotch. His arms were trussed brutally tight behind his back, elbows to wrists, the hands become a uniform bluish grey from lack of circulation, the muscles of his upper torso looking fit to burst through the skin with the strain. A brace of heavy shields was suspended from each ankle. His eyes were closed, though the lids fluttered from time to time, and save for trickles of blood from each corner of his mouth, his face was pale as fresh curds, his jaws tight-clenched in his agony. Three spearmen of the GrandStrahteegos' foot-guards squatted nearby, watching and occasionally taunting the suffering sergeant in a cruel, childish way.

"Hey, big man, has them boards cracked yore b.a.l.l.s, yet? Heheheh," shouted one of them.

"It was one feller, out of a.s.shole Ahzprinos' bunch of stump-jumpers, he was," another put in, "he scrooched him around wrong and the d.a.m.n boards cut his p.e.c.k.e.r plumb in two, he bled like a f.u.c.kin'

stuck pig, too, died in five minits. Don't thet beat all? Hey, Sergeant, you hear me?"

"Aw, h.e.l.l, he ain't no fun atall," remarked the third disgustedly. "He ain't screamed or begged or nuthin', ain't made hardly a sound a body could hear lest they was right up there with him. Maybe we oughta ask for to hang another couple of shields on his laigs, I bet you his moneythat would start him in to screechin', boys. What you think, you want to do it?"

The nude, tortured man jerked reflexively as a deerfly bit his cheek, and the movement almost made him lose his precarious balance. Righting himself brought a low groan of pure agony from behind his chewed and b.l.o.o.d.y lips.

"Here he starts, boys, here he starts," said one of the foot-guards with excitement and evident relish.

"Firstest thing you know he gone be a-howlin' like a dog and a-cryin' like a baby at the same time."

"No, he is not." The cold, hard voice came from behind them, and they all whirled about to see a fully armed lancer officer sitting a fine horse, his helmet and breastplate winking in the sunlight, a bared saber at rest against his spauldron. Behind him were ranged a dozen or more officers and sergeants of lancers, all armed, all with cold menace shining from their eyes, but none of their stares so icy, so intimidating as that of the officer who led them.

Dropping the reins on the pommel-k.n.o.b of his war-saddle, the officer waved a signal to those behind him, saying, "Get Sergeant Tahntos from off that h.e.l.lish contraption before it unmans him or he dies of pain. If these s.a.d.i.s.tic swine make to halt or hinder you in the least, you have my leave to put them up there in his place."

After removing the shields from the sufferer's an-kles, strong, gentle hands joined to lift his tormented body from off the sharp-edged boards, then the flash-ing blade of a dagger severed the cords binding his wrists and elbows. While four men carried their com-rade back to the horses to lay him facedown across the withers of yet another's horse, two troopers batted and cuffed the three foot-guards about until they had surrendered all of the clothing and the money and personal effects of Sergeant Tahntos.

Finding a store of cords and other things beneath the contrivance, certain of the troopers and sergeants took time to bind the arms of the foot-guards, hoist them all up on the sharp boards, weight their ankles, and leave them, already shrieking piteously.

"No slightest doubt but that they'll be coming after me quite shortly, Hymos," said Bralos.

"They'll play merry h.e.l.l getting you, my lord Cap-tain," averred Senior Lieutenant Hymos firmly. "Not one officer or man in Wolf Squadron but won't fight to the very death for you. Comes to that, we can hack our way out of camp and ..."

"And you'd all be slaughtered, darted out of the saddle by the light infantry or shot full of arrows by thefoot-archers, and I could not live with the knowl-edge that I'd been responsible for that kind of a mas-sacre," said Bralos just as firmly. "No, what you will do is first send officer-gallopers to the sub-strahteegos, to Portos and to Captain Ehrrikos of Panther Squad-ron . . . oh, and to Captain Chief Pawl Vawn, too. Most of the senior officers are my friends, and, too, I have friends on Council. The only way that that old b.a.s.t.a.r.d could kill me unopposed would be to do it in private, and that's not what he wants at all; for some reason, he wants a public execution complete with all the ritual humiliations and tortures and maimings and a well-witnessed death. No, in custody or not, I'll be safe for the nonce.

"But after you've dispatched those gallopers, I want you and all the rest of the squadron to start getting ready for a march of about two weeks. If we ever come back here at all, it won't be for some time, like as not, so pack up everything. The cooks and theeeahtrohsee have been paid for thirty more days, so bring them and the other specialists along, also. Tell the smith to pack everything that he can squeeze into that traveling forge I bought him, and the cooks are to strip the kitchens and snag any edibles they can beg, borrow or steal from wherever.