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dead."
The Great General refused to take anything at face value where those people
were concerned. "Where would they go?"
"Maybe something's happened at Dejagore. Or farther south."
Farther south would have to be beyond the Dandha Presh. Support for the
Protector had evaporated outside those territories still directly under the
Great General's control, near as his agents could determine, though there had
been no outbreaks of enthusiasm for the return of the royals. The mood of the
empire was indifferent, excepting amongst those who could profit, one way or
another.
Same as it always was, Mogaba reflected.
Mogaba played with a snail shell as he talked. Doing so seemed almost a tick
anymore. But he startled Aridatha by popping his arm back suddenly, snapping
the shell out as hard as he could throw. "Time for a full-scale field
exercise. Let's find out how good their intelligence is with wonder boy away."
Aridatha asked a few brisk questions. These days he commanded the division
that would form the left wing of Mogaba's army. It was backboned by his own
City Battalions.
The Great General said, "Make all your preparations exactly as you would if we
were going down there to fight. Issue appropriate rations. But prepare in a
relaxed manner. We just want to see how ready we are. So we know where we need
to do more work. Don't encourage questions. And from now on I want to see our
spies personally when they bring in news."
Aridatha went away wondering what Mogaba really had in mind.
The Great General sent for the rest of his staff and commanders. He spent a
particularly long time, in bright midday sun, conferring with his cavalry
captains.
Chapter 84
Page 224
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Beside the Cemetery: Confusion
Willow Swan stuck his head into Sleepy's cabin, which had been built for her
from the better logs harvested from the Grove of Doom. "Another contact with
Mogaba's cavalry. Three miles west of the Rock Road."
This happened periodically. It was one way the Great General kept track of his
enemies. The probes became more numerous when Mogaba wanted to provoke a
response. Sleepy grunted, untroubled.
"I'm a little concerned," Swan told her. "This time they're pushing harder.
Since we don't have any good way to get anything out of the hidden folk who
didn't run off after Tobo, we don't have any idea what Mogaba is doing. We're
as blind as he is."
"Is his main force maneuvering behind his cavalry screen?"
"I get that impression."
"Then he's trying to harass us into another panic." Twice already Taglian
forces had come south and demonstrated until Sleepy responded, whereupon they
had retreated rapidly. Mogaba was trying to get his virgins some
confidence-building experience under the stress of near-battle. No doubt he
would push them a little closer this time. "Run one brigade up behind the
pickets and have them make a lot of noise. Keep another brigade in camp.
Everyone else can see to their normal business. I think we're due for a
reaction from the Daughter of Night pretty soon."
Her campaign against the Deceiver messiah and the Goblin-thing was much like
the Great General's against her.
Swan reminded her, "We have official Deceiver titles for those two now." A
fact one of the hidden folk had discovered in far Asharan, of all places, just
before Tobo's departure. Asharan was a small city to the southwest unlikely to
have any impact on any events unless through its band of Deceivers. "Khadidas.
Khadidasa." Slave of Khadi. Or Kina. "Is that one or both of them?"
"Those are the male and female forms. One for each."
"Willow, that girl won't be called a slave by anybody. She has the same blood
as her mother and aunt. Daughter of Night suits her just fine."
Swan shrugged, departed. Tobo had said that there was no love lost between the
girl and the Khadidas. That, in fact, they tended to bicker. That, further,
the girl had begun to appear almost disillusioned.
The Great General's cavalry continued to harass Sleepy's scouts and pickets.
Skirmishes popped up everywhere. Commercial traffic dwindled on the Rock Road.
Sizable troops of horse probed the brigade deployed to screen the Company
force. They were mostly Vehdna. Vehdna had a tradition of being excellent
horsemen. These horsemen showed well against Hsien's professional infantry.
Sleepy brought the other brigade out of camp and handed the backup role off to
the native recruits.
"I'm getting worried," Swan told Sleepy.
"It must be escalating. You were just concerned before."
"Exactly my point. Why is Mogaba working so hard to make us think he's working
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