"Adams, Robert - Horseclans 05 - The Savage Mountains 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Adams Robert)

When he had delivered his report to the High Lord, Milo nodded his thanks, then waved at the vacant chair across from his own. "If you've not something pressing, Hahfos, sit you down and have some of this abominable wine."

Hahfos' ready smile lit his face. "Thank you, mah lord." Milo waited until the officer was seated and had poured and tasted the wine, then asked, "How heavy is your new mantle, good Hahfos? Do you wish you still were simply sub-strahteegos of the Fourteenth?"

Hahfos absently rubbed a horny forefinger up and down his short, slightly canted nose. "Yes, mah lord, sometimes. But then, when ah had the Fourteenth, ah sometimes wished ah still was simply a keeleeohstos, too. Ah suppose that all men think back on the days when things were comparatively easy, whenevah we're faced with difficulties we didn't have then."

"How true, how true," Milo sighed. "I sometimes think back to the freedom I enjoyed as a Horseclans chief, centuries ago. But tell me, how are you getting along with the regimental commanders? My staff informs me there's been a bit of friction since this march commenced."

"Only one real bone of contention exists, mah lord Ah forbade certain gentlemen, whose ideas of discipline are somewhat at variance to mah own, from administering any moan than five lashes to any soldier within a given week. Ah pointed out that, since a man with twenty or thirty stripes can't march in ahmah and as we have no ambulances to carry them, they would weaken owah force were they to abide by their accustomed ways. Ah also pointed out that I had only two men flogged in six years, with no noticeable loss of discipline in the Fourteenth."

Milo grinned. "Good for you, Hahfos. Rubbed their noses in your successes, did you? I'd imagine that that galled them more than your order."

Hahfos shook his head. "Ah did not say what ah said to offend them, mah lord. But all ah said is true, mah lord! Ah know, ah proved mah views! The whip makes good men bad and bad men worse and it is, in any case, completely unnecessary. Advocates of the whip call it the 'Foundation of Discipline,' but it is no such thing, mah lord. If a commander be able and lets his men know that

he cares for their welfare, he can easily maintain all the discipline needed with only rare application of the whip. Ah consider the whip to be the final argument of lazy or incompetent officers!"

He had waxed very vehement, now his tone softened. "Ah am sorry if ah offended mah lord, but mah lord did ask... ."

"No, Hahfos," Milo reassured him. "I was not offended. I could not agree more with most of it. But the cult of the whipping frame is hard to root out It's a carryover custom from two centuries ago, from the pre-Horseclans Ehleen army, in which common spearmen were all peasants-to all intents and purpose, brutish and brutalized military slaves. I inherited that army intact and thought it best, at the time, to allow the Ehleenee officers to maintain most of their accustomed practices. When in later years I attempted to inaugurate new customs, I discovered the past ones to be so firmly entrenched from top to bottom that I would've chanced precipitating a virtual mutiny to force my will.

"But I was steeling myself to take that very chance, Hahfos. Then came the Second Kuhmbuhluhn War and, on its heels, the invasion by King Zenos VITI, and, since, we've seldom been at peace for any length of time."

"Ah understand, mah lord," said Hahfos sympathetically. "It is truly said that crowns and coronets can fast weigh down the spirit

"But mah lord, ah ... that is, would mah lord object if ah were to ..."

Milo smiled once more. "Hahfos, you have free rein, my earnest prayers and all my approval. If you can do what you did with the Fourteenth with this corps, you will succeed old Ehmeekos as lord strahteegos of the armies, you have my solemn word on it."

Chapter V

Glumly, the nahkhahrah watched the last of the Gahrbehdyuhn Tribe depart his village, the ponies at a stiff trot, headed due south. As his assembled host had melted away, even as the accursed Undying Devil and his army had pressed farther and farther into the mountains, the temper of this chief of chiefs had worsened to the point where few men were now reckless enough to stray within easy reach of his fist or his ready raider's knife, especially when delivering bad news-and there was little news, these days, which was not bad.

The nahkhahrah could cheerfully have strangled each and every man of the departing tribe, but he immediately ruffled when a voice from close behind him said mockingly, "Soon my Maidens will be the only warriors in this dungheap village of yours, my valiant ally. This is the third tribe which has lost its courage and turned tail since the Undying Devil entered the mountains, is it not? Two tribes fled north and this one goes south. Where is the over-vaunted valor if its fierce Ahrmehnee? Or is that valor as much myth as are the tales you use to keep your womenfolk in bondage? Eh?"

Bristling, the nahkhahrah spun about to face his tormentor, knobby hand gripping the hilt of his big, heavy knife, worn, yellow teeth bared in a snarl of rage.

The brahbehrnuh did not twitch a muscle at his obvious threat. Though the two Maidens behind her tensed and fingered their hilts, she stood with her trousered legs spread wide, her arms akimbo. One of her attendants carried the brahbehrnuh's gold-plated helm, and the tall woman's glossy, black hair fell untrammeled, framing a strikingly handsome face. The full lips showed the even, white teeth in a mocking sneer, while the woman's ebon eyes glittered forth contempt

There were no Ahrmehnee warriors anywhere close by, and the nahkhahrah, though unquestionably brave, was not reckless. Grudgingly, he released his knife, growling. "Now, by Our Lady's Cusps, woman, I would Her emissaries had left you and your arrogant, unnatural breed in your hold! Had I mine own way-"

"But you do not!" snapped the brahbehrnuh, coldly. "Her dread Curse lies upon her or him who first breaks our alliance. Were it not so, I and mine would long since be back where we belong. Aye, and those of your poor, downtrodden women we could free with us!"

Pale and speechless with rage, the nahkhahrah brusquely pushed past the brahbehrnuh and her guards, limped into the council house and loudly slammed the thick door behind him, shooting the bolt for good measure. Stumping to his place, he simply sat, cracking his big knuckles, his scarred face working. And seeing the bloodlust shining from his eyes, no one of the nine dehrehbehee remaining asked any questions of him.

From the moment of entry into the village of the brahbehrnuh and her hundreds of armed, armored and supercilious female warriors, there had been tension of one sort or another. Obviously, the People-of-Powers had expected the tension to lessen and so had all felt free to leave on their mission to the Muhkohee tribes, but it had worsened, if anything. For one thing, burgeoning familiarity with the Maidens had virtually dissolved the semi-superstitious awe of them which many Ahrmehnee had had; for another, the blatant attempts of many of the Maidens to foment trouble between the nahkhahrah's tribesmen and their womenfolk or to seduce nubile maids and matrons into perverted sexual practices-which practices seemed to be endemic amongst the strutting, man-despising Maidens-had set all the Ahrmehnee warriors' teeth on edge and had caused the nahkhahrah ceaseless difficulties in preventing outright massacre of the vastly outnumbered "allies."

Early on, he had attempted to reason with the brahbehrnuh, had tried to persuade her to draw rein on her crudely antagonistic following, pointing out that unless she did so the only certain result would be the spilling of blood and that, considering the fact that she and hers were hundreds amidst thousands, a serious session in arms between Ahrmehnee and Maidens could end in but one way. It had been wasted breath and effort. The sow had heard him out, then insulted him, all the dehrehbehee and their Sacred Ancestors, obscenely; further, she had offered disparaging comments on all Ahrmehnee warriors, then on men in general. Then she had stalked from the council house, a mocking laugh floating behind her.

And the foul situation had worsened and worsened to the point at which the Council had had to actually execute three tribesmen who had drawn steel, in order to show the host that they were serious about maintaining the now shaky alliance. The nahkhahrah had taken to praying earnestly each night at moonrise that the People-of-Powers would soon return so that the projected invasion could get under way while he still could exercise a measure of control over his men.