Anna’s tent was set up without the sidewalls, more as an awning to offer some shade for the group that gathered in the late afternoon. She glanced at Jecks, then let her eyes travel across Hadrenn, Stepan, Jimbob, Kinor, and Liende. Liende brushed back hair that showed less and less red and more white, but offered an amused smile to Anna.
Himar stood before the group, and his voice was raspy as he talked. “ … likely that we will meet with Bertmynn’s forces on
the morrow. He brings near-on eighty score, though some are foot levies from Dolov … with little experience or training. His own lancers are well seasoned, and they will be at the fore …”
The faintest of breezes carried a hint of coolness from the river to the north then faded, leaving the group sweating in the unseasonably sultry heat.
“Lady Anna has studied Bertmynn’s forces with her glass, and they are here.” Using a whittled length of pencil wood, Himar pointed to a spot on the crude map just south and east of where the River Syne and the River Dol joined. “Where he now waits is perhaps a ride of three glasses.”
Hadrenn looked at the maps and then toward Anna before speaking. “We could circle south of him, cross at one of the lower fords, and then go downriver and take Elahwa from behind. We would not have to face Bertmynn … .”
Anna shook her head, without even thinking about getting opinions from Jecks or Himar. “That’s not the reason I’m here. I want it set up so that all of Bertmynn’s armsmen are in one battle.”
“You risk all of your armsmen as well,” countered Hadrenn, “and much of my forces.”
“Yours are at risk in any eventuality, Lord Hadrenn,” suggested Jecks. “You cannot raise the numbers he has, nor can you count on assistance from the Liedfuhr or the Sturinnese.”
“Well we know that,” answered the brown-haired lord of Synek. “Well we do.”
Himar cleared his throat, and the others looked at the mustached overcaptain. “Ah … also, if we circled south, Bertmynn could well be between us and either Synek or Defalk, and then we would have to fight more in a place of his choosing.” Himar addressed Hadrenn. “Also, should aught go amiss, you can return to Synek more easily if we fight more to the north.”
Jecks nodded. After a moment, so did Hadrenn.
“We’ll have to move slowly in the morning,” Anna said. “We can’t afford to attack from lower grounds—”
“Or be attacked from higher ground,” added Jecks.
“And we’ll need time to set up the players.” Anna glanced
toward Liende, who nodded. Then she inclined her head to Himar.
“The Regent and Lord Hadrenn have explained our aims,” Himar said. “It is now time for you to tell your subofficers and those men who will carry them out. Remember that the task of all the lancers is to protect the sorceress and the players first. If we succeed in that, Bertmynn will fall.”
As the others hurried away, in the burnt orange of twilight, Jecks and Anna remained under the awning tent, with Kerhor and Blaz a dozen paces away.
“You do not wish Ebra to be like Dumar,” Jecks offered in a low voice.
“That’s partly it.”
“You could take Ebra, and none would gainsay that.” The white-haired lord’s eyes flicked in the direction where, a hundred paces away, Hadrenn was speaking with Stepan. “You would likely rule better than young Hadrenn, even from Falcor.”
“I can’t rule Defalk very well,” Anna said. “The last thing I need … anyone needs … is another set of lords to argue with. This way, the women of Ebra who don’t like the old ways have somewhere to go. Those who like the old ways can keep them, and outside of complaining about the free state, and me …” She shrugged. “Whatever.”
“You do not wish to leave a trail of fire and spells,” Jecks suggested.
“No. In Dumar, I ended up destroying a whole city of innocents—or mostly innocents. That was because I let myself get backed into a corner.”
“You backed Ehara into a corner, most would say.”
“No. In losing, he forced my hand. Or I let him, because I worried about spending too much time in Dumar with the Thirty-three machinating in Defalk. And … I was trying to be merciful, and it didn’t turn out that way. This time …”
“Is that why Gestatr remains in Synek?” Jecks’ eyes twinkled.
“Yes. He’s more valuable to Ebra than Hadrenn.”
“And so, to Defalk,” Jecks affirmed.
Anna nodded. Except nothing works out the way you plan it, not the details or the costs, anyway.