style="font-size:15px;"> William smiled ruefully. ‘I thought as much, but I had to ask.’
‘Thank you for asking, m’lord,’ said Erik. ‘I’m flattered.’
William grinned at Calis. ‘You must use magic. He’s halfway to being the best tactician I’ve ever met – and if he keeps studying he will be the best – and you want to waste him as a bully sergeant.’
Calis smiled slightly, an expression of wry amusement Erik had come to know well. The half-elven Captain said, ‘We have more need of bully sergeants to train soldiers right now than we do tacticians, Willy. Besides, my bully sergeants are not the same as yours.’
William shrugged. ‘You’re right, of course, but when they come, each of us is going to want the best we can find at our side.’
‘I can’t argue that.’
William left and Calis said, ‘Erik, thank you.’
Erik repeated, ‘I made a promise.’
‘To Bobby?’ asked Calis.
Erik nodded.
Calis’s expression darkened. ‘Well, knowing Bobby, I’d best tell you now, I need a sergeant major, not a nursemaid. You kept me alive once, Erik von Darkmoor, so consider your promise to Bobby de Loungville discharged in full. If it comes to a choice between my life and the survival of the Kingdom, I want you to make the right choice.’
It took Erik a moment to comprehend what had just been said. ‘Sergeant major?’
‘You’re taking Bobby’s place,’ said Calis.
‘But Jadow has been with you longer –’ Erik began.
‘But you have the knack,’ interrupted Calis. ‘Jadow doesn’t. He’ll do fine as a sergeant – you saw how the new men are shaping up – but promoting him any higher would put him in a situation where he would be a liability instead of an asset.’ He studied Erik’s face a moment. ‘William wasn’t overstating the case about your abilities as a tactician. We’ll need to work on your comprehension of strategy as well. You know what’s coming and you know that once the struggle begins, you may find yourself out there with hundreds of men looking to you to keep them alive. An ancient Isalani general called it the “fog of battle,” and men who can keep other men alive while chaos erupts around them are rare.’
Erik could only nod. He and the others around him who had traveled with Calis had seen the army of the Emerald Queen, had been a part of it for a time, and he knew that when that host of hired killers arrived on the shores of the Kingdom, chaos would ensue. In the midst of that chaos, only well-trained, disciplined, hard men might survive. And it would be upon those men that the fate of the Kingdom – and the rest of the world of Midkemia – would rest, not on the Kingdom’s traditional armies.
‘Very well, Captain. I accept,’ said Erik.
Calis smiled and put his hand upon Erik’s shoulder. ‘You didn’t have a choice, Sergeant Major. Now you need to promote some men; we need one more sergeant for the balance of this year, and a half-dozen corporals besides.’
‘Alfred of Darkmoor,’ said Erik. ‘He was a corporal and a bully until I got through with him. He’s ready to take on the responsibility, and at heart he’s still a brawler and we’ll need that when the time comes.’
‘You have that right,’ said Calis. ‘Every man a brawler, for that matter.’
Erik said, ‘I suppose we have enough potential corporals around. I’ll make up a list this evening.’
Calis nodded. ‘I must talk to Patrick before this turns into a full-blown reception. Excuse me.’
Roo returned when he saw Calis leave, and asked, ‘Well, did you get promoted or did Jadow?’
‘I did,’ answered Erik.
‘My condolences,’ said Roo. Then he grinned and struck his friend on the arm. ‘Sergeant Major.’
‘What about you?’ asked Erik. ‘You were telling me how things are at home.’
Roo smiled weakly and shrugged. ‘Karli is still upset I took off to go after you on such short notice, and she was right: the children don’t recognize me, though Abigail does call me daddy, and little Helmut just gives shy grins and gurgles.’ He sighed. ‘I got a warmer welcome from Helen Jacoby, truth to tell.’
‘Well, from what you told me, she is in your debt. You could have turned her and her children out on the streets.’
Roo chewed on a piece of fruit a moment. ‘Not really. Her husband had no part in the plot to kill my father-in-law.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ve got a few loose ends to tie up; Jason, Duncan, and Luis have been careful in seeing to my company while I was gone, and my partners in the Bitter Sea Company haven’t robbed me too outrageously.’ He grinned. ‘At least, I haven’t found any proof yet.’ His expression turned serious again. ‘And I also know that this army you’re about to become a significant part of will need provisions, weapons, and armor. Those don’t come cheaply.’
Erik nodded. ‘I have some small idea of how we’re going to meet the Emerald Queen, and while we’ll never put as large a force in the field as she will send against us, we’ll have to mount the most ambitious campaign since the Riftwar, and one never matched before.’
‘How many men under arms do you think?’
‘I’m speculating,’ said Erik. ‘But at least fifty, sixty thousand more than the current armies of the East and West.’
‘That’s close to a hundred thousand men!’ said Roo. ‘Do we have that many?’
‘No.’ Erik shook his head. ‘We have twenty thousand in all the Armies of the West, including the ten thousand directly under the Prince’s command. The Armies of the East number more, but many of them are honor garrisons. With our long-term peace with Roldem, the other eastern kingdoms are calm, not willing to try anything without Roldem distracting us.’ Erik shrugged. ‘Too much time spent with Lord William, I guess, talking strategy … We now must start building for the battle here.’ With a shake of his head he said softly, ‘We lost too many of our key men on our last trips to Novindus.’
Roo nodded. ‘There is a large debt to be repaid to that green bitch.’ Then he sighed audibly. ‘And a huge billing to finance it.’
Erik smiled. ‘Our Duke is getting into your pocket?’
Roo returned the smile, though his was far more wry. ‘Not yet. He’s made it clear that taxes will remain reasonable because he expects me to underwrite a large portion of the coming fight and to convince others, like Jacob Esterbrook, to provide funds as well.’
Mentioning Esterbrook, Roo again thought of his daughter, Sylvia, Roo’s mistress for the better part of a year before his sailing to rescue Erik, Calis, and the others. He had seen her only once since returning two weeks ago, and he was planning on seeing her tonight; he ached for her. ‘I think I should call upon Jacob soon,’ he said as if the thought had just come to him. ‘If he and I together agree to participate in financing the war, no one else of importance in the Kingdom would refuse the Prince’s request.’ Dryly he
