Andrew Ashling Invisible Chains 2 Bonds of Fear

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.Just my thumb.The trickis where you try to stop the liquid.Now do you see?We only have to block both passes.If we canmanage that, suddenly it's of no importance anymorehow strong their army is.Ten thousand men or fivehundred thousand.If we are master of the passes itdoesn't matter.There is room for maybe ten men tostand abreast, and the passes run for miles.We'llonly have to face those ten, twenty men.No matterhow many are thronging behind them.What gooddoes it do you to have an army of a hundredthousand warriors, if you can't deploy them?Hemarchidas was stunned. Is that why you wanted to occupy the Plains? It'snot just a hunger for conquest then?Anaxantis snickered. I meant it when I said that I think that a nation thatdoesn't expand is on the road to perdition.Nobodyis claiming those lands.Maybe nobody sees theopportunities they offer.So why shouldn't I claimthem? Besides, there are other reasons than theMukthars to make them our own. But, if it is that simple, why didn't we alreadyoccupy the passes? Because the principle is simple, the execution notso much.To begin with we need some time to studythe actual conditions there.We will need to buildwalls, and that is not without problems.We need tobring masons, stone cutters and other workmenthere and see to it that they are protected while theywork.At the Urtdam-Dek Pass the walls need to runclose up to, or even some distance into the sea.It alltakes time.Time and soldiers. Not that many however.Let's say a thousand ateach pass. Yes, but not the same thousand permanently.Eventually they'll have to be relieved by fresh troops.Unless we turn the passes and the lands aroundthem into marquessates.The New Marches, if youwill.But then we need people to work the land.Neither can we leave them there as outposts in thewilderness.We haven't met them as yet, but thereare robber gangs active in the plains. And Mukthars.Obviously, as we caught some. Yes, and who knows what other groups lurk in thewoods.You see? Not as simple as all that.As longas we don't have complete control over the Plains,there's always the risk that our outposts might beattacked.Furthermore, as long as the New Marchesaren't self sufficient, everything will have to bebrought there from Amiratha.We will needequipment and food.That means long, vulnerablesupply lines.Which means we will need soldiers.Wejust started to train them.Hemarchidas whistled. Quite an undertaking. We must occupy the Renuvian Plains and bringthem into cultivation.Bring order to them and the ruleof law.That's the most efficient and in the long runthe safest way of going about it. It will take time, like you said. If we manage to beat the Mukthars and chasethem back to their homelands with their tailsbetween their legs, we might have enough time. And here was me thinking that you only wanted togo down in the chronicles as Anaxantis theConqueror, Hemarchidas said.Anaxantis smiled. Oh, did I fall asleep.I'm sorry. Never mind, Hemarchidas said, you're probablystill tired from riding back and forth across theNorthern Marches.Still a little dazed, Anaxantis sat up and lookedaround. We should be getting back.It will be dark soon. Not soon, the days are getting noticeably longer.but, fair enough, let's go home.They went, like they had come, on foot, guiding thehorses who walked behind them by the reins, lookingfor the path. If you don't want to talk about it, say so, but haveyou decided anything, one way or the other, aboutyour brother?Anaxantis shrugged. No, not really.I still can't make up my mind.Sometimes.Last evening, it would have taken but afew words and I would have called the whole thingoff.I was this close to setting him free.I have thiswhole plan ready to reinstate him.to make it all goaway. But you didn't set him free? No.In the cold light of morning I realized I stilldon't know.if.if the other one is gone.The eveningbefore he was so gentle, so caring.Pathetically so,frankly. Of course he is.It's in his interest.And you lefthim alone for quite a while. Two weeks and a few days.Not all that long, but Iagree that to him, on his own, it must have seemedmuch longer. Aren't you afraid that if you were to set him free,he might turn back into his former haughty self? Faceit, as lord governor, he was useless in the highestdegree.That's a disastrous combination: arroganceand incompetence.Will you still have some kind ofhold over him? There's the personal level as well. I know, I know, Anaxantis sighed. See, that'swhy I can't decide.They walked on silently for a few minutes. You know, Hemarchidas said, my offer is stillvalid.Just go to the base camp near Dermolhea fora few days to inspect the troops.Give me the keys toyour apartments.When you come back it will be as ifhe never was there.You still care for him, I know.Ipromise he won't feel a thing. I wish it were that simple, Anaxantis thought. They say that out of sight is out of mind.Is it alsoout of the heart? What you propose is about as farout of sight as you can get.Maybe I should takeyou up on your offer.Have done with it, for onceand for all.You're right, what if I set him free and theother has been hiding there, somewhere deepinside after all? What if it was all a front? What if,once free, he turns against me and catches meunaware? And then there is the other scenario.What if I fallin battle? Then it all ends.I won't carry my revengebeyond the grave.After all, he can't touch me there.In that case he might as well be free.I must find away to provide for that eventuality. What if it's real? Maybe the other just isn't thereanymore and all that is left is the one I sawyesterday, just before falling asleep.My love.Mypoor, pathetic love.He walked steadily on, his head bowed to theground.Hemarchidas did nothing to break his trainof thought.They reached the path. A test, Anaxantis thought, mounting Myrmos. Ineed a test.A test that will unequivocally, without ashadow of a doubt, decide the matter one way orthe other.If he fails it, I will err on the side ofcaution.I have no choice. Yes, Friend of Wolves, he had come a long way.He had started out an infirm, weak boy, raped andcaptured by his older brother.By his inner strength,his willpower, his discernment and wits, and with thehelp of the lessons of his mother, he had overcomehim and turned the tables on him.By all rights heshould have killed him.Safety considerationsrequired it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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