He left the rest unsaid. Of all the men in Solinga, these three officers certainly didn’t need to have the penalties for “embarrassing” Demansk spelled out in detail. They knew the details, already—had to, since they were about to carry them out.
The oldest of the officers, a trim gray-haired man named Kirn Thatcher, smiled faintly and gave a nod of his head toward the youngest.
“My vote’s for Ulrich, then. He’s Haggen gentry. They’re an incorruptible lot of yokels, not like us decadent Vanberts proper.”
That was Ulrich Bratten, whose coarse black hair and dark complexion indicated his heritage. He came from Hagga, the Confederacy’s auxiliary nation in the far northeastern peninsula of the continent. Like the Roper League, Hagga retained the formal trappings of being an “independent realm,” even if in practice it was simply a vassal of the Confederacy. It was not unusual at all for Haggens and Ropers to ignore the fiction altogether and simply enlist directly in the Vanbert army.
Bratten frowned. “Not sure that’s such a good idea. The Emeralds have never been too fond of us Haggens. The gods know how many wars we fought with the bastards before Vanbert stifled the lot of us.” He sounded vaguely distressed by the latter, as if the big and vigorous-looking young general officer regretted the passing of those lost days when Haggen and Emerald phalanxes clashed almost annually on the open plains between the two neighboring countries.
“I don’t care about that,” stated Demansk. “I’m not trying to cater to the Emeralds, just keep them contented.” He ignored Thatcher’s little snort of derision. It wasn’t aimed at him, and he tended to share Thatcher’s skepticism concerning the likelihood that the notoriously fractious Emeralds would ever be “content” about much of anything. “As long as the province is governed fairly and firmly, with no more tax-gouging and other illegal levies, that’ll be good enough.”
“I agree,” added the third of the officers. That was Robret Crann. In age somewhere between Thatcher and Bratten, he was much heavier built than the other two general officers. He gave Thatcher a somewhat reproving glance. “I’ve been here longer than either Kirn or Ulrich. Personally, I’ve always found Emeralds easy enough to get along with. Sure, they use three words when one would do, and it always takes them an hour to get to the point. But they’re not that impractical, when you get right down to it.”
The look of reproof segued into a sly smile. “As any commander who’s been swindled by an Emerald supplies provisioner can testify.”
That brought a little laugh into the room from everyone, even though Thatcher’s face was half-scowling. The famous metaphysical penchant of Emeralds did not extend to their merchants, who were stone-cold empiricists to a man.
Demansk planted his hands on his knees and straightened up on his couch. “Ulrich?”
The young officer hesitated for not more than a second. “I’ll do it. Even though—” His young face, every line and angle of which practically exuded vigor, was not that of a happy man.
Demansk chuckled. “Relax, son. I’ll be very surprised if the Island campaign is the last chance you’ll ever have to prove your mettle in the field. Besides, you’ve already done that anyway—it’s the reason you’re the youngest brigade commander since . . . well, since me. And you didn’t have my family connections. That promotion was won on the field, and well deserved.”
He rose, took a few steps, and clapped Bratten on the shoulder. “The truth is, the experience will be good for you. You know it as well as I do.”
After a moment, Ulrich nodded. Although the rank he held was, in military terms, that of a general commanding a brigade, the formal Vanbert term for it was actually magistrate in arms. Above the level of battalion commander—whose rank was either “battlemaster” or simply “battalion,” depending on whether the man who held the command was promoted from the ranks or received his appointment directly from the Council—the Confederacy of Vanbert drew no sharp lines between military and civil posts. Depending on the circumstances of the moment, a Vanbert leader was expected to be able to exercise competent authority in any field of political or martial endeavor.