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Tib till he can strike at Mashiz?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say yes," Abivard answered, "but guessing what he has
in mind gets harder every year. Still, though, that would be about the second
worst thing
I can think of for him to do."
"Ah?" His principal wife raised an eyebrow. "And what would be worse?"
"If he struck down the Tib and at the same time sent envoys across the
Pardrayan steppe to stir up the Khamorth tribes against us and send them over
the Degird River into the northwest of the realm." Abivard looked grim at the
mere prospect. So did
Roshnani. Both of them had grown up in the Northwest, not far from the
frontier with the steppe. Abivard went on, "Likinios played that game,
remember Videssian gold was what made Peroz King of Kings move into Pardraya,
what made him meet his end, what touched off our civil war. Couple that with
the Videssian invasion of the land of the Thousand Cities and "
"Yes, that would be deadly dangerous," Roshnani said. "I see it. We'd have to
divide our forces, and we might not have enough to be able to do it."
"Just so," Abivard agreed. "Maniakes doesn't seem to have thought of that
ploy, the God be praised. When Likinios used it, he didn't think to invade us
himself at the same time. From what I remember of Likinios, he was always
happiest when money and other people's soldiers were doing his fighting for
him."
"Maniakes isn't like that," Roshnani said.
"No, he'll fight," Abivard said, nodding. "He's not as underhanded as Likinios
was, but he's learning there, too. As I say, I'm just glad he hasn't yet
learned everything there is to know."
Hurrying west across the floodplain from the Tutub to the Tib brought
Abivard's army across the track of devastation Maniakes had left the summer
before. In more than one place he found peasants repairing open-air shrines
dedicated to the God and the Prophets Four that the Videssians had made a
point of wrecking.
"He had some men who spoke Makuraner," one of the rural artisans told Abivard.
"He had them tell us he did this because of what Makuran does to the shrines
of his stupid, false, senseless god. He pays us back, he says."
"Thank you, Majesty," Abivard murmured under his breath. Once again
Sharbaraz' order enforcing worship of the God in Vaspurakan was coming back to
haunt Makuran. The peasant stared at Abivard, not following what he meant. If
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the fellow hoped for an explanation, he was doomed to disappointment
Tzikas' horsemen rode ahead of the main force, trying to let Abivard know
where the Videssians were at any given time. Every so often the cavalry
troopers would skirmish with Maniakes' scouts, who were trying to pass to the
Avtokrator the same information about Abivard's force.
And then, before too long, smoke on the northern horizon said the Videssians
were drawing close. Tzikas' scouts confirmed that they were on the eastern
bank of the Tib; they'd been either unwilling or unable to cross the river.
Abivard took that as good news. He would, however, have liked it better had he
had it from men who owed their allegiance to anyone but Tzikas.
Because Maniakes was staying on the eastern side of the Tib, Abivard sent
urgent orders to the men in charge of the bridges of boats across the river to
withdraw those bridges to the western bank. He hoped that would help him but
did not place sure trust in the success of the ploy: being skilled artificers,
the Videssians might not need boats to cross the river.
But Maniakes, who had not gone out of his way to look for a fight the summer
before, seemed more aggressive now, out not just to destroy any town in the
land of the Thousand Cities but also to collide with the Makuraner army
opposing him.
"I think the scouts are right they do have more men than they did last year,"
Turan said unhappily. "They wouldn't be pushing so hard if they didn't"
"Whereas we still have what we started last year with minus casualties, whom I
miss, and plus Tzikas' regiment of horse whom I wouldn't miss if they fell
into the
Void this minute," Abivard said, Tzikas not being in earshot to overhear. "Now
we get to find out whether that will be enough."
"Oh, we can block the Videssians," Turan said, "provided they don't get across
to the far side of the river. If they do "
"They complicate our lives," Abivard finished for him. "Maniakes has been
complicating my life for years, so I have no reason to think he'll stop now."
He paused thoughtfully. "Come to that, I've been complicating his life for a
good many years now, too. But I intend to be the one who comes out on top in
the end." After another pause he went on. "The question is, does he intend to
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