Westrons Pt. 20

- "You think it's foolish to train them with us? Short-sighted?"

She made a face. "Obviously, you're going to tell me it isn't. But they might not be our allies in the next war."

- "True. But the Crolians already know about our open order skirmishing: we used it against them at Limset. It's not a secret anymore."

"They may not have figured how to respond effectively. I certainly hope they haven't. But it's possible that they're training skirmishers of their own."

"What would happen if our Penchen allies suddenly ran into enemy skirmishers - and they weren't expecting it?"

- "Better that they be prepared. I see." she grumbled.

- "Not only that. How would our allies feel if they discovered that we were keeping secrets from them? That we weren't dealing with them in good faith?"

- "I was just checking." said Tallia. "I wanted to make sure that you had thought this through."

There was something about the way she said it that made me smile.

- "Thank you. I'm glad that you think about things like that." I said. "By any chance, were you also checking whether I'm too tired to make love with you?"

- "Maybe ..." she admitted. "Are you?"

***

Our open order tactics were not well suited to the Penchens. They relied more on their tremendous discipline and steadiness under fire - and their ability to get off three volleys a minute.

They were also never going to be able to keep with one of our regiments on the march. But if they could see the need for rapid movement - if they could travel a little lighter and a little faster than the Crolians, it could be vital.

General Leydz turned out to be a bit more flexible than I'd expected.

- "I cannot make wholesale changes." Leydz told me. "Not without the permission of the King. But perhaps we can make one small ... adjustment."

Captain Isaal explained that four companies (one from each Penchen regiment) would be detached to train with us more directly. They would try to copy our skirmishing style.

- "We may not use them offensively, but if we are confronted with skirmishers, the General could employ these companies as a counter-measure." said Isaal.

- "That's good thinking." I said. If the Crolians had developed skirmishers of their own, the Penchens would have at least some kind of answer.

- "Glad you approve." said Isaal.

I had to take a good look: was that veiled sarcasm? Captain Isaal saw me looking, and tilted his/her/its head to one side.

"Something wrong, General?"

- "No."

In fact, I went on having a difficult time speaking to the Penchens.

They were soldiers, in an all-female army. I was well accustomed, by now, to using 'she' or 'her' when discussing officers and soldiers.

But the Penchen - and especially the two liaisons - looked nothing like females. They weren't particularly masculine, either, but they definitely weren't feminine.

It's hard to overcome a lifetime's experience. Not female = male, as far as I knew. So I tended to treat the Penchens as male.

None of them ever said anything about it, but it was still odd to hear Senau say something like: 'Captain Isaal will be right back, as soon as she finishes briefing General Leydz. Ah - here she comes. Did you need to speak with her?'

Weird.

****

As it turned out, Tallia was not the only member of her family who could get things done. Her mother, Tisucha, arrived at our camp, with four young doctors in tow.

They were young, wide-eyed, and all female, of course.

- "May I present Doctor Boska?" said Tisucha.

Boska was one of the homeliest Westrons I'd ever met. Her lips were tightly pursed, and her nose twitched; she seemed to disapprove of everything she saw, or smelled.

- "We were about to eat. You must be hungry after your long journey. Will you join us?"

I introduced Tallia, Langoret and the other Colonels, and the Penchen liaisons. Dr. Boska frowned when she saw the food on my plate.

- "Green vegetables should be eaten only in very small quantities." she said. "They can cause excessive wind, and even fevers."

- "For Westrons, of course." said Tisucha, quickly. "General Cook is Pylosian."

- "Still ..." said Boska.

I was remembering what little I knew of medicine in 18th century Earth. Most common ailments tended to cure themselves in time, with rest and sleep; that didn't prevent doctors from claiming the credit.

It was an age of apothecaries, who prescribed laxatives or 'bleeding' to purge their patients of foul humours of vapors. Surgery was often performed by barbers - because they had access to sharp cutting instruments.

There were no painkillers. Broken limbs were often amputated, and then cauterized with fire. They had no idea of bacteria; the simplest of wounds could fester and kill.

I did remember a Sleepread article about a medical school in a town called Philadelphia, in 1799. Bleeding a patient, they taught, could cure fevers, asthma, sciatica, headache, rheumatism, coughs, apoplexy, epilepsy - and of course was necessary after all falls, blows and bruises.

Hospitals were horrendous. The poor were convinced that hospitals were a plot to get rid of them, because so many people went in - but so few came out. (I'm not making this shit up. Research it yourself.)

All I wanted was a few more doctors or surgeons, who could help provide for the sick and wounded.

War was coming, and there would be ghastly wounds, but Tisucha had brought me Boska - who thought that veggies were bad for you. She could tell that I wasn't thrilled. Mother and daughter got me outside, after the meal.

- "She's not a bad doctor." said Tisucha.

- "Vegetables cause fever?"

- "She is unfamiliar with Pylosian and Penchen physiognomy - I admit it. But she can set bones, and she doesn't immediately resort to amputation." said my mother-in-law (even though I wasn't married to her daughters - alright, that does sound strange).

- "There aren't that many doctors who are willing to come out and serve with the army." said Tallia. "I think mother did well to get you any at all."

That immediately knocked me down a peg. "She did. I apologize, Tisucha. I'm indebted to you."

- "They're not ideal." she admitted. "But you can train them to your liking. They're young enough that they haven't yet formed unshakeable opinions."

She grinned.

"And you may find, Cook, that Boska may change her opinion about green vegetables if you haven't farted excessively for a few days."

***

Langoret was clearly my Second in Command, because she was the only one who could have run the whole show if I wasn't there. She also took over a big chunk of the responsibility for training, whenever I had to spend time with the Penchens, or if I took one of the Westron regiments on an overnight march.

There was no sexual tension between us. She and Tomos obviously loved one another. I would never have interfered with that. I liked Tomos - but I loved Langoret.

She was as important to me, in some ways, as Tallia. Langoret was like a sister - and once in a while she was like a mother. I would sometimes find her looking at me, as if she was a hen with one chick.

- "Are you alright?" she said, one evening. "You look tired."

I'd been training with Avette's regiment, and then working with Boska and the doctors, exposing them to the rudiments of battlefield medicine. They thought I was drawing on my military experience, while in fact I was teaching them about infections and sterilization from what I remembered of my high school science classes.

- "I'm fine."

- "Perhaps you should take a short break. We can spare you for a few days."

- "Why would I need a break?" I said. "I'm fine."

I ran into Tudino a few moments later.

- "You feeling alright, Cook?" she asked. "You look a bit worn down."

- "You too?" Et tu, Tudino?

The moment I got back to my command tent, Tallia picked up the same theme.

- "You look tired, Cook." she said. "Why don't you take a couple of days off?"

That was too coincidental. I was immediately suspicious. "Are you and Langoret hatching some kind of plot?"

- "No. Why would you say that?" She tried - and failed - to look innocent.

I looked around the tent. The Penchen liaisons had blank faces. Ishana was unreadable, as usual. Madze and Koroba weren't there, but Nasta was blushing.

I went over to her. She wouldn't meet my eye.

- "Won't somebody tell me what's going on?" For a moment there, I'd suspected that Nasta was going into hemmer, but she smelled no different. She was embarrassed, not aroused.

- "It's Koroba." said Tallia.

- "What's wrong with Koroba?"

- "Nothing. She's going into hemmer."

- "Oh."

- "She was afraid to ask you to join her. She knows how busy you've been. Langoret, Tudino and I agreed that you should take a few days, and go see her."

It was a plot. My lovers and my 2nd in command were conspiring to get my bodyguard laid. And me, too.

- "Fine!" I snapped. "One day off for all regiments, except the Penchens. Make and mend. The day after that, Langoret's go on a route march, with Tudino's." That would teach them.

***

Koroba smiled when I entered her room.

- "You came." she said.

- "How could I not? Half the army was involved in a conspiracy to get me here."

She was ensconced in a little rural hemmer cottage. It was simple, but charming. There were some lovely touches, like the lace tablecloth, and the draperies around the windows.

None of that mattered, of course, because Koroba herself was the central attraction. I could smell her the moment I opened the door. She was wearing a lacy undergarment, with thin shoulder straps - and nothing else.

Her shining white-blonde hair had been brushed with care, and her bright brown eyes were alight. She grinned impishly.

- "I'm sorry." she said, insincerely.

- "No, you're not." I sat down on the bed, not too far away. "You know ... you could've just asked me."

She flushed a little.

- "I didn't want to bother you. You're so busy."

- "You're my friend, Koroba. You've saved my life - more than once. All you had to do was ask."

She lowered her eyes, suddenly shy.

- "Your friend?"

- "Of course you're my friend." I said. "You've taught me about Westron politics, you play practical jokes on Nasta and me, you've entertained me on long marches and long boat rides ..."

Koroba looked up at me, her eyes moist. Westrons were especially emotional during their hemmer, and vulnerable.

I also remembered a conversation with Themis, outside Tonol, at the onset of her hemmer.

"Tell me about females in Pylos." she said. "If they do not go into hemmer, how do you prepare them for copulation?"

- "Well, I might ask her to share a meal with me."

- "We have shared many meals, since we met." she pointed out.

- "And I've enjoyed your company, each and every time."

- "Ah - I see! You say nice things to her, in the hope that it will produce a physical reaction. Does this warm her body? Does it cause her juices to flow?"

I had to laugh. "Sometimes, I suppose."

- "Why do you laugh? Say something else - something nice about me."

So I kept talking to Koroba. I wasn't trying to seduce her - she was so primed, she'd probably have killed me if I tried to leave. We were going to have sex. But I could make it even more special for her, simply by telling her some truths.

- "You're a freakishly good fighter, Koroba. I'm still awed by how fast, and how accurate you were, that night we got ambushed just outside the Palace."

"You make me laugh, and you make me smile. Do you have any idea how wonderful that is? You're clever, and quick-witted - so much so, that I forgive you for teasing me and swinging your hips and wiggling your ass ..."

She smiled.

I raised my hand, and caressed her cheek.

"And you must have some idea how lovely you are." I continued. "Your hair, your eyes ... your beautiful face ... and that wicked, toned body ..."

I wasn't making any of this up. Koroba was a pretty, sexy little assassin, and well nigh irresistible.

- "Those are ... very nice things to say." she said. "They just make me want you more."

- "All true. Every word. You'd know right away if I was lying."

- "You really think of me as a friend?" Odd, that - of all the things I'd said, that was she chose to concentrate on.

I kissed her cheek, and she flowed into my arms.

She wanted to copulate in some unusual positions - against the wall, on the table, with her legs up over my shoulders, on the floor, face down - it was Koroba, after all.

But she'd evidently been talking to Tallia and Tudino: Koroba wanted make love, as well. She wanted to be wooed, a little, and to feel as if we weren't motivated exclusively by lust.

That wasn't difficult.

***

We trained hard - for months. I drove the Westron regiments relentlessly, and pushed the Penchens as hard as I dared.

Kanitz sent for me, and I returned to the capital. The Chancellor delayed our interview, postponing it by two days, so that I could spend time with Esyle and the children at the Belere. I also had a chance to visit my children at the Palace nursery, before meeting with Kanitz.

- "You and Koroba have grown close." was the first thing she said.

- "How -?"

Wenzla laughed. "We talk, Cook - you must know that by now!"

- "Still ... "

- "Koroba and Oshide were very good friends. It means a great deal to her that you consider her a friend as well. And ... just so you know - they were both protégés of mine. That's why I entrusted you to their care."

It was my turn to feel a bit emotional.

- "You keep reminding me not to trust anyone." I said. "Then you say something like that."

Kanitz did something unusual. She got up, and came to sit beside me. She put one arm around me.

- "You have to be careful, Cook." she said. "We worry about you, and we want to protect you."

She gave me time to recover, to master my emotions and gather my wits.

Then she brought in Themis - and the Queen.

- "Chancellor Kanitz has done a marvelous job organizing your army. And we have wonderful new to announce to you."

- "Four more regiments, Cook." said Princess Maia Simonia - my Themis. "Four more Colonels want to be part of your New Model Army."

*****