He made his way through several such camps, more than one marked by a busy attempt to get ready to ride. One man said, “If you break to the east, up this river, then cut through the hills to the south, you will probably get free.”
The man next to him answered, “What? You’re an oracle now?”
De Loungville led them to the area surrounding the brokers’ tent, where he found a knot of terrified brokers standing outside their own tent. He pushed past and entered.
A low wooden desk was used by the brokers, and behind it sat a large man in fine armor, well cared for but obviously used often. His feet rested on the polished wood, mud scattering all over the documents still upon them. He looked little different from the other soldiers in camp except that he was older, perhaps older than Praji and Vaja, the oldest men in Calis’s company. But rather than of age, his aura was that of a man of profound experience. He calmly looked at de Loungville and his companions as they entered, and nodded to another soldier who stood behind him. Both wore an emerald green armband on their left arm, but otherwise they wore no distinctive markings or uniform.
De Loungville stopped and said, “Well then, what fool blows a call to quarters?”
“I have no idea,” said the old soldier. “I certainly didn’t want to cause this much commotion.”
“Are you the Emerald Queen’s agent?”
The man said, “I am General Gapi. I’m no one’s ‘agent.’ I’m here to inform you of your choices.”
Erik sensed something in this man he had seen in a few others—the Prince of Krondor, Duke James, and Calis upon occasion. It was a sureness of command, an expectation that orders would be followed without debate, and Erik decided that this man’s title was no mercenary vanity. This man commanded an army.
De Loungville put his hands on his hips and said, “Oh, and what choices are those?”
“You can serve the Emerald Queen or you can die.”
With a slight gesture of his head, de Loungville instructed the men around him to spread out. Erik stepped to his right, until he stood opposite the single soldier in the tent behind Gapi. De Loungville said, “Usually I get paid to fight. But your tone makes me think I might be willing to forgo payment this one time.”
Gapi sighed. “Break the peace of the camp at risk, Captain.”
“I’m no Captain,” said de Loungville. “I am a sergeant. My Captain sent me down to see what the fuss was.”
“The fuss, as you call it,” answered Gapi, “is the consternation of men too stupid to realize they have no choice. So you don’t hear a garbled version of what was said here an hour ago, I’ll repeat this so you can tell your Captain.
“All companies of mercenaries mustering in this valley must swear fealty to the Emerald Queen. We begin our campaign downriver against Lanada in a month’s time.
“If you attempt to leave to take service with Our Lady’s enemies, you will be hunted down and killed.”
“And who’s doing this hunting and killing?” asked de Loungville.
With an easy smile, Gapi said, “The thirty thousand soldiers who are now surrounding this pleasant little valley.”
De Loungville turned and glanced outside the tent. He searched the ridges above the valley and saw movement, a glint of light upon metal or a flicker of shadow, but enough to tell him that a sizable force was ringing the valley. Letting out an exasperated sound, he said, “We wondered what was taking you so long to reach here. We didn’t think you’d be coming in force.”
“Carry word to your Captain. You have no choice.”
Looking at the General, de Loungville seemed about to say something. Then he just nodded and motioned for the others to follow him.
They were silent until they were away from the main camp, when Erik said, “You look bothered, Sergeant. I thought the purpose was to join this army.”
“I don’t like it when the other side changes the rules,” said de Loungville. “Around here you pay a man to fight. I think we may be getting sucked deeper into the sand than we thought.
“Besides,” he added, “when I’m going to get buggered, I like to be asked nicely first. It annoys me when I’m not.”
17
Discovery
Roo pointed.
In the distance, fire marked a skirmish. True to his word, General Gapi attacked any band seeking to leave to the south. A few captains were stiff-backed enough to try to smash their way through the encircling army, and they were met with the full weight of those soldiers already in better positions and dug in.