Ignoring the sounds of conversation and cooking coming from outside the ever-dingier small silk tent, Anna looked from Liende to Hanfor.
“You wished to talk with us?” asked Hanfor.
The walls of the tent rippled in the momentary breeze, and stopped moving. Anna cleared her throat, then took a long swallow from the water bottle. “Sorry. My throat gets dry with all the road dust.” She cleared her throat a second time. “Yes, I did. I wanted to talk about the Mansuurans. If we leave the Liedfuhr’s lancers in Neserea, we’ll have the same problem in another year. Two at the most.”
“You wish to destroy them after all?” asked the veteran, fingering his gray beard as he did when thinking or nervous. “You destroyed near-on a hundred fifty-score of the Neserean lancers and armsmen Rabyn raised.”
“That leaves almost a hundredscore lancers, and that makes them more powerful than the armsmen left in Neserea.”
“Are they not better trained?” asked the chief player.
“Far better,” Hanfor acknowledged.
“Tonight, we’ll try something,” Anna said.
Hanfor raised his eyebrows.
“Do you have two or three lancers who can send a heavy arrow farther than the others?”
“A half-score would be better.”
“We’ll get as close as we can, and I’ll use the lutar to enchant a few shafts.”
“You would kill the overcaptain? That will not persuade the
captains under him,” Hanfor predicted. “They would regard that as cowardice.”
“Then, I’ll remove them one by one until some idiot gets the message.”
Liende smiled sadly. “There will be many you may remove, and before you get that far, one will order the lancers to attack us.”
Anna felt like throwing up her hands. “What am I supposed to do? I spared the Mansuurans because they didn’t start this mess, and because I wanted to make a gesture to the Liedfuhr. But they aren’t exactly helping things either.”
“They would regard that as treason … unless they had no choice.”
“Then … maybe, we won’t give them any choice,” Anna said.
“If you attempt this, do not essay it too often,” suggested Hanfor. “Or they will attack, and you will not be prepared to destroy them, for there is every chance that is what you will have to do.”
“Can we try this once?” asked Anna.
Hanfor smiled. “Once … they will not expect, not after you have let them escape.”
“And then what?”
“They will turn and attack, tomorrow morning.”
Anna sighed, then looked at Liende. “Can you have the players ready with the long flame spell and the arrow spells?” Always the flame spell, and always the innocents die because of the arrogance and stupidity of their superiors. Including you …
“We will be ready. Like you, I would wish otherwise, but I do not see such.” Liende offered the sad smile that Anna had seen too often.
“Neither do I.” The Regent looked at Hanfor. “Do you?”
“As I said, Regent, they will not accept aught you offer that does not leave them in control of Neserea, and that you and Defalk cannot accept.”
“Tonight then. They get one chance.” Which is more than people have usually given you.