"It's a smart move. It's typical of his thinking. And it's working. We haven't had any deaths from starvation, yet-but lack of sufficient food was probably responsible for a number of fatal illnesses last winter. The relief column organized by Steadholder Isana of Calderon might-might-hold us through until harvest, but the refugee camp here is only one of a dozen, spread around the outskirts of Canim-occupied territory."

There was a moment of pensive, even worried, silence.

"Captain," Gaius asked, his rich, calm voice bringing the fearful pause to an end. "I assume you have attempted to apply standard Legion doctrine in your battles against the Canim."

"Yes, sir," Tavi said.

"And how would you characterize its effectiveness?"

"It has been of limited value, sire."

Gaius glanced around the room. "Why?"

"The Canim don't play by the rules, sire," Tavi said.

In the front row, Captain Miles had apparently recovered enough to snort out a rough breath of a laugh.

The creases at the corners of Gaius's mouth deepened slightly. "Explain."

"They don't rely on furycrafting, sire," Tavi clarified. "They can't use it, and have no need for it. As a result, they don't think in the same terms, strategically. For example, they have no particular need for the use of causeways, the way an Aleran Legion does, if it wants to move rapidly. They avoid causeways whenever they can, forcing the Legion to march overland, which gives them a significant advantage in the field. They march faster than we do.

"We've compensated for this to some degree, by introducing training for overland marches, the addition of auxiliary units of cavalry-"

Aquitaine murmured something at the back of the room. Tavi only caught the phrase "naked barbarians," but the men standing with him let out low, growling laughs.

"-as well," Tavi continued steadily, "as the addition of a cohort of mounted infantry."

"Mounted infantry?" asked High Lord Cereus.

"They ride to the fight, then dismount, Your Grace," Tavi clarified. "It lets us field a solid block of legionares to support our cavalry and our Knights, and provides us with greater tactical flexibility in the field."

Arnos let out a derisive snort. "This is all beside the point, Gaius, and we all know it. Captain Rufus Scipio's tactics and Sir Cyril's strategies have, I admit, managed to hold on to the region and contain the Canim threat. It's quite possible that, given how badly outnumbered they have been, they were even appropriate to the task at hand. But that situation is now at an end."

The Senator rose and addressed the room at large. "I have two outsized Legions of the Senatorial Guard, fresh and made up purely of veteran legionares, now camped outside. Between them and the remnants of the First Aleran, we will sweep the beasts back into the sea and end this humiliating charade." He turned to Lord Aquitaine, specifically. "I anticipate that we will bring the war in this theater to a conclusion by midsummer, at which point we can increase the pressure on Kalare's remaining forces and restore order to the Realm."

Tavi stared at Arnos blankly for a moment. Was the man insane? True, the two Legions of the Senatorial Guard contained nearly ten thousand men each-but unless the mathematics instructors at the Academy had done Tavi a grave disservice, it still meant that the Canim's forces outnumbered the Alerans by well more than two to one. Those were not impossible odds by any stretch of the imagination, but they were daunting-and they did not take into account any former-slave forces the Canim might have raised.

"Such an undertaking would be… premature, Senator," Tavi said. "Until we have learned more about the additional forces being raised by the Canim."

That drew every eye in the room.

"What?" Sir Miles sputtered.

"The Canim have armed at least one Legion of former slaves," Tavi said. "We presume that they're offering freedom in exchange for-"

"Does this matter?" Arnos demanded, scorn open now in his tone.

"They're our fellow Alerans," Tavi spat. "Many of the people who stayed probably did so because they had nowhere else to-"

"Immaterial," Arnos said, arching an eyebrow. "As you yourself have pointed out, every loyal Aleran has already left the occupied territory."

"That isn't what I said-" Tavi began.

Arnos's well-cultured baritone overrode him effortlessly. "Those who remain behind-whether they are taking up arms against the Realm or simply supporting the Canim for their own personal profit-are traitors." His smile was sharp and hard. "They deserve nothing but a traitor's death."

A number of men raised their voices at that point. Tavi began to join them, but there was a sudden presence at his side, and Tavi turned to find the First Lord standing beside him.

"Be silent," Gaius said quietly.

"But, sire," Tavi began.

"Be silent," the First Lord hissed. His eyes turned to Tavi and gave him a single, hard look, so full of authority that the young Cursor never so much as considered doing or saying anything else.

"Yes, sire."

Gaius nodded once, as the impatiently raised voices grew louder. "I need you exactly where you are-in command of the First Aleran. Don't give him an excuse to remove you."

Tavi blinked and could only stare blankly at Gaius.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you here, lad," the First Lord continued. "My support doesn't mean what it once did, I'm afraid. Today, I'm little more than the chair of a meeting."

"I didn't even get to tell them about what Ehren's contacts have learned or the theories we've drawn from it."

Gaius's lips compressed for a moment. "He doesn't want to hear it. Arnos and his friends have plans for what happens next in the region, and their plans do not necessarily leave room for such minor inconveniences as fact."

Tavi ground his teeth. "He's a fool."

"He's a fool with the backing of the Senate," Gaius corrected him. "And he is the lawful commander of the Guard-and the First Aleran, I might add. He'll be assuming command in the region, with Sir Cyril as his senior advisor."

Tavi took a deep breath. "What would you have me do?"

"Your best," the First Lord said. "Work with Sir Cyril. Mitigate the Senator's idiocy. Save as many lives as you can."

"If Arnos does what he says, Nasaug is going to hurt us, sire. Badly."

"Three months," Gaius said. "Keep things together here for three months."

"What?" Tavi asked quietly, confused. "Why three months?"

"Because by then, the war with Kalarus will be finished, his rebellion over, and we'll have regular Legion commanders to spare. Once the Senate's 'state of emergency' is over, Arnos can go back to pushing soldiers around a sand table where he belongs."

Tavi blinked at him. "How is that going to happen, sire?" The First Lord arched a greying eyebrow at him. Tavi noted, for the first time, that their eyes were now on a level with one another.

Gaius's eyes glittered with dark humor for an instant. "That would be telling." He cast a glance at the tumult Arnos's comments had created. "The task I'm handing you is unenviable. Can you do it?"

Tavi looked up at the discord swirling around the Senator and narrowed his eyes. He knew all too well the kind of price the legionares were forced to pay when their leaders made even relatively small and honest mistakes. What Arnos was proposing was barely this side of insanity, and the suffering that his actions could inflict on noncombatants in the occupied territory was a thing out of the young captain's nightmares. Something had to be done. "Yes, sire," Tavi said quietly. "I can."