Parno's Gambit: The Black Sheep of Soulan: Book 3

by N. C. Reed

  “I don't know what she said to him, she's never told me,” Winnie shrugged. “I do know that she was trying to pressure Parno into marrying her before he returned to the front so that she could try and conceive a child.”

  “Good grief,” Memmnon allowed his head to fall back on his shoulders as he looked toward the ceiling in exasperation. “Tell me you're joking.”

  “I'm not. Why?”

  “Winifred, why would you think that's a bad idea?” Memmnon tried to coach her.

  “I don't think it's a bad idea,” she replied. “Why do you think it is?”

  “I just told you what kind of father. . .how our father, the King, treated Parno when he was a child. Parno may as well not had a father. Now, why would he agree to try and create a child only to leave his or her mother alone the very next morning, now knowing when or if he would return or if he could assure that child's safety?”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  -

  Parno sat before his dying fire, gazing into the embers that glowed with the gentle breeze. The coals would rise and fall in light almost as if they had a heartbeat of their own, creating a small light show against the rocks that lined his fire pit.

  He had been back with the army for almost three weeks. In that time he had accomplished a good deal of work. 1st Corp was even now being retrained, as was 2nd Corps though they would be a week to ten days behind due to travel. Chad and his men were doing better than expected and would be ready for deployment in less than a month while the first regular army unit to attend Cove's training session was well into their own cycle. Another two months, three at the outside, would see the first full division of cavalry trained up to the new standards ready to take the field.

  All of that should have made Parno happy. Yet he knew that as good as the news was, it paled next to the work that remained to be done. Until 1st and 2nd Corps had completed their training cycle and were back on the line, the Soulan Army was vulnerable. Even after that his army would remain weaker than the enemy, especially when he pulled either Herrick or Freeman's men off line for their turn at the new regimen. He poked absently at the coals with a stick, his mind far afield.

  He'd received word from Pierce that his efforts had been hampered by bad roads and trails, but that also meant that any enemy force would face the same. Meanwhile Pierce had arrived at Springfield and established his command, patrols already out and Pioneers already working to close off trails and roads or at the minimum make them harder to travel. Among all that would be traps and pitfalls to make the enemy wary of approaching even open roads for fear of ambush or injury from those traps.

  Additional messages had informed him that the River Guard was now patrolling both rivers and the special artillery unit was in place along the Cumberland, supported by an infantry regiment and a smattering of cavalry. If the Nor managed to move up river then there should at least be some warning. It was nothing but blind luck that the Imperials hadn't already tried something like that considering their extensive use of boats in their initial assault. Parno shook his head in silent recrimination of himself for not thinking of it sooner.

  “What troubles you my Prince?” Cho Feng asked quietly and Parno managed to prevent himself from jumping. He was convinced that Cho did that just to startle him. He refused to give the older man the satisfaction when he could help it.

  “Where would you like me start Master Feng?” he replied, leaning back in his chair and looking toward his teacher. “There's a long list of things that trouble me at the moment. Be glad to share them with you,” he snorted.

  “I see,” Cho nodded as if Parno's reply had granted him some answer only he could hear.

  “What do you see Master Feng?” Parno asked, curious as to the answer.

  “You are thinking about her,” Cho said calmly, taking a seat across the fire from Parno. Surprised by the statement, Parno couldn't stop himself from laughing. A raised eyebrow was the only response from Cho.

  “I assure you Master Feng I was not,” he managed to choke out after a minute. “In fact she might be the one thing I haven't been thinking about as I sat here.”

  “I see,” Cho raised his other eyebrow, a signal that he was more or less calling Parno a liar.

  “Think what you want Cho,” Parno shrugged, still chuckling. “It doesn't cost me anything for you or the rest to believe that I'm sitting here brokenhearted.”

  “Are you?” the oriental warrior challenged.

  “I am not,” Parno assured him. “At the moment you spoke I was somewhat angry with myself for ignoring the threat of the river for as long as I did.”

  “It was not your responsibility at the time,” Cho reminded him.

  “It has been for a while now,” Parno rebutted, shaking his head. “I should have thought of it. Should have anticipated it.”

  “So should others,” Cho shrugged. “As I recall you have a military unit that is responsible for river security,” his teacher reminded him. “They should have already had a plan for this scenario.”

  “Should have, yes,” Parno agreed. “But as with so many of Therron's appointments, I'm afraid the Commodore is more qualified to support my brother than lead the River Guard.”

  “Then replace him,” Cho said simply.

  “If I can find a suitable replacement I will,” Parno nodded. “For the time being I think the fear of losing his head will ensure that the good Commodore at least follows my orders. I doubt I can expect any kind of original thinking out of him but he can at least do what he's told.”

  “What else?” Cho asked.

  “Thinking about how short handed we are, and how long it will be before we can have the entire army trained up and ready. And after that how long it will be before we can take any action that will begin to move the Nor out of our lands.”

  “It may be that you cannot force them back and will have to settle for a war of attrition,” Cho suggested.

  “No, we can't do that,” Parno shook his head slowly, looking into the fire once more. “That way leads to defeat, Cho. They have more men, more support, more everything than we do. We have a few advantages but none of them are usable in such a war. We have to make them fight, but fight when and where we want. Where we have the advantage and can use it against them.”

  “You know your enemy and yourself,” Cho nodded in satisfaction. “Yet you must also face the fact that your enemy may not allow you to select the battlefield nor the day of engagement. What then?”

  “If they attack here, we hold here,” Parno shrugged. “We have three more or less full corps here plus several independent commands as well as our new artillery. We've made a fairly impressive defensive line and have sufficient cavalry to prevent a flanking maneuver, even one in strength. We are outnumbered,” he nodded slowly, “and that will hurt us. I estimate the enemy has us at least at a two-on-one disadvantage, and likely closer to three-to-one. But,” he looked up at his teacher suddenly, “they have a choice to make as well.”

  “Oh?” Cho asked, leaning forward. “What would that be in your opinion?”

  “They have enough men to defeat us here, probably,” Parno said. “But their losses will be so great they can forget about conquering the rest of Soulan, let alone occupying it. The war will stretch on for years and they will never have any peace in these lands.”

  “A possibility,” Cho nodded thoughtfully.

  “So they can't do both,” Parno shoved his stick into the fire and left it, standing. “They have to decide what's more important; defeating us, or claiming our territory for their own. Looking at the time, money and material they have invested in this war, I think it's clear they want to conquer and hold Soulan for themselves. Add us to their 'Empire'. That means they need their army somewhat intact in order to pacify the Kingdom.”

  “True,” Cho nodded.

  “They lost a field army at the Gap, or at least so much of it that what's left is useless,” Parno held up a finger. “They've lost two battles here that cost them heavily.�
� A second finger. “It cost us too, but far worse for them. Semmes and his command managed to destroy their feint,” he added a third finger. “Hurt their navy and exposed their ruse, not to mention inflicting serious losses on them. Our own losses were ruinous to be honest, but they accomplished their mission. Nor losses are adding up in a hurry and they had planned to take us by surprise. The war should have been long over by now had their plans worked.”

  “But they didn't,” Cho leaned back, a faint look of amusement on his face.

  “So now their plans are shot,” Parno nodded as he began to pace slightly. “They have to face the fact that we will be able to cripple their army if they come at us. We may not win the field but we can spoil their victory. We can hurt them enough that they can't take over Soulan, which means their losses mean nothing.” He paused, face contorted in a frown.

  “Past commands have seemed callous or indifferent to losses,” he said flatly. “One of the things that Darvo mentioned to me was the Nor penchant for simply throwing mass numbers of men at us with no thought for actual strategy or tactics. Just charge at us and overwhelm us with numbers. Which has always failed in the long run.”

  “But. . .” Cho prodded when Parno didn't immediately continue.

  “But this time is different,” Parno stopped his pacing and looked at his teacher. “This time the Nor aren't going about things dumbly. They're using their heads for once and that might make them dangerous indeed. Combining their strength with some intelligence could well be what helps them achieve victory. Or would have,” he muttered.

  “Were it not for you,” Cho finished for him. “You, my Prince, have been the thorn in their side. Actually more like in their eyes, to be more accurate. You have blunted their stroke to take your capitol,” the oriental held up a finger of his own, “then led an attack against their position here that set them back several weeks and inflicted heavy losses.” A second finger.

  “When they had mustered a prepared attack on your positions you beat them back, again inflicting massive losses upon them,” he added a third finger, and then a fourth. “And it was you who saw through the ruse out on the ocean, enabling you to bring the other half of your army to bear here. Something they sought to prevent until it was too late. From their standpoint, you are the problem, Parno McLeod,” the older man grinned slightly.

  “I doubt they even know who I am,” Parno snorted. “Whoever that is over there probably just thinks Therron is lucky or else allowing his subordinates to command in battle.”

  “That may be true now, and was certainly true in the beginning,” Cho nodded. “Remember however that your flag of truce offer was sent in your name?” Parno looked at him.

  “I had forgotten that,” he admitted, a bit shame faced. “So much for them not knowing who I am, huh?”

  “A simple thing to over look,” Cho allowed Parno a bit of leeway. “But something to be aware of. The enemy at least knows who you are even if they know nothing else about you. Remember that. They now know you,” he cautioned.

  “They know who I am,” Parno emphasized with a shake of his head. “That's not the same thing as knowing me. No one over there will know much about me because no one cared anything about me before now. Anything they know will have been learned before the war for the most part. Inept, drunken brawler, womanizer, the list goes on and on, right?”

  “An important distinction and a good observation,” Cho agreed. “But you have proven to them by now that you are not inept, whatever else might be true.”

  “That's true, yeah,” Parno agreed. “But they won't know anything worthwhile about me otherwise. Nothing about my training or my education, things like that. It will be hard for them to anticipate me, at least for now. That will change the more we're engaged of course, but for now I'm still largely an unknown factor to them. Combined with the reverses they've suffered recently it might make them hesitant, at least for a bit.”

  “And that time will benefit you, not them?” Cho prodded, always teaching.

  “No, it could benefit them as well,” Parno replied after brief consideration. “But the longer they wait before resuming action, the better off we are. If they actually wait long enough for just 1st Corps to finish training and return to action then I'm confident we can meet any attack they can mount and survive.”

  “I see,” Cho said yet again and Parno looked sharply to him.

  “What does that mean?” he demanded.

  “Perhaps you were not thinking of her after all,” the older man smiled and Parno had to chuckle.

  “Always comes back to that, doesn't it?” he asked. “You, Karls, even Enri seems to want to say something on occasion. And I'm pretty sure that Harrel has thought about it more than once.”

  “We are merely concerned for you,” Cho shrugged, unapologetic.

  “Don't be,” Parno told him firmly. “It's better this way. I tried to make her see that before and couldn't. Apparently, this time I succeeded. I have put the good doctor behind me and you all need to do the same. We have more than enough in front of us without looking behind us as well.”

  “I will agree with that,” Cho nodded slowly. “I am sorry to see you have such a loss, my Prince,” he added softly.

  “Ah, I'm used to it,” Parno shrugged, returning to his seat and the stick he'd left poked into his fire. When he said nothing else, Cho rose and departed as quietly as he came, Parno not even noticing as he gazed into the fire.

  “I'm used to it.”

  ~*~

  Parno woke the next morning with an idea. Messengers were sent out and orders issued. An hour later over a dozen high ranking Soulanie officers were assembled in the Marshal's command tent.

  “It's time we start putting the Nor on edge,” Parno told them without any preamble. “We can't just sit here and let them dictate everything, we have to set the pace. Before I had to send them on another mission, Generals Beaumont and Whipple were operating behind enemy lines, harassing lines of communication and supply, attacking smaller detachments and slowing larger ones where possible. We're going to replicate that on a much larger scale, now.”

  “I'm taking one cavalry division from both 4th and 5th Corps, placing them with the cavalry division I took from 3rd Corps, and forming a new if temporary unit. We 'll call it 1st Cavalry Corps for now, I suppose. I will leave it to Generals Davies, Herrick and Freeman to decide the command structure according to their experience, but the orders are simple; get in behind the Nor line, deep into occupied territory, and tear it up. Destroy anything you can that might hurt the Nor or aid us in any way. Kill all the Nor you can wherever you can with an eye toward preserving your own command wherever possible. I don't want any suicidal or reckless attacks made so far from home. Every soldier and every horse we lose are lost for good so far from here, so make sure your losses are weighed against what you might accomplish. Understood?”

  “Yes sir,” a dozen or more voices replied, heads nodding all over.

  “Very well. Make plans to head out tomorrow morning. You have the rest of the day to see to your provisioning. I expect you back here in no more than two weeks unless something is wrong or you find a reason to head back all at once. Be watchful for Tribal Warriors. We haven't seen them since the cavalry battle but they were here then so they are probably still in the area. If you get the chance to kill them take it, so long as doing so doesn't endanger your command. I cannot stress this part enough, gentlemen; do not endanger your command. I would rather you allow a ripe target to get by you than for you to risk great loss in trying to take it. You primary mission is to keep the Nor off balance, so as long as you're doing that, everything else is a bonus. Any questions for me?”

  “Prisoners, sir?” one man asked.

  “None,” Parno said flatly. “Black flag all the way, gentlemen. Anything else?” There wasn't.

  “Then Godspeed you all and good hunting.”

  ~*~

  The 5th, 9th and 14th Cavalry division commanders were arrayed before the c
ommander of 1st Army and the other Corp Commanders. There were a total of twelve full cavalry divisions in the standing Soulan Army along with numerous smaller, independent commands ranging from battalions to regiments to entire brigades. For reasons that had long since been forgotten there had never been a 7th or a 13th division. All three men were good commanders and among the best trained and educated in all of Soulan.

  “General Allen, you will lead the combined command,” Davies addressed the commander of the 9th Cavalry, part of Raines' 3rd Corps. The man nodded his understanding, remaining silent.

  “Remember the Marshal's warnings,” Davies stressed to them. “Do not endanger your commands. Your primary mission is to spread havoc among the heathen and be seen doing it. Reports of a large group of southern horse soldiers in their rear areas will likely cause a problem among their rank and file as well as panic their leadership. In the past that has always been how we hurt them so badly.”

  “You take no prisoners,” he said grimly. “I know that is distasteful but consider that it's how they make war. And remember that many of our fellow subjects are now suffering the not so tender mercies of the Imperial Army. Let that harden your hearts when necessary or needful.”

  “If I may?” General Thaddeus Coe, commanding 5th Cavalry raised a hand. “Are we to allow some prisoners to live so as to let them spread the word? If we kill ninety of one hundred for example and then release the rest? To tell their tale to others?”

  “An excellent tactic and one the Marshal has already approved of,” Davies nodded approvingly. “Good thinking. You may certainly do so. Anything else?”

  “The Marshal said unless we find a reason to head back sooner,” General Wilton Vaughan, commander of the 14th Cavalry said. “What would qualify as such a reason?” Vaughan was a towering black skinned man whose family's military service predated the Kingdom itself. His ancestor had literally rode with Tyree.