Westrons Pt. 20

All of the senior commanders of the New model Army were summoned to the Palace, for a formal presentation to the Royals. Tallia was included, and traveled with us. Countess Aneli met us there.

The Queen was very gracious, though a bit distant again. She treated me like everyone else - so much for being 'almost family'. Maybe she didn't want to make her husband jealous. Or was it for the benefit of Themis' husband? The less he knew about me, the better, I suppose.

The Royal Consort was good-looking enough, and carried himself well. That was his job, in a nutshell: look semi-intelligent and nod at the right moments. Well, that and father an heir.

He was smart enough to know that his role was ornamental. He didn't embarrass himself, or the Queen.

Maia Simonia's Prince Consort was under less pressure. Less was expected of him, because he was heir to vast tracts of land. Also, he'd already fulfilled his main purpose: Simonia had delivered a female - another heir to the throne, once removed.

Princey (as I thought of him) wasn't that bad a guy, from what I could tell. But his attendants got on my nerves right away. He had an entourage of four or five elegantly dressed male courtiers, who whispered to each other and giggled.

I'm sorry - but men shouldn't giggle like that. And if they do, they should make damn sure that their whispers aren't too loud.

- "... Kanitz' little experiment ..." I heard, from a male who was darting glances at me.

- " ... lucky ... Tudino's hemmer ..." said another.

- "More fluent than I expected." said a third, making no real attempt to whisper. "Dresses up reasonably well."

Little turds like these were the reason why headbutts were invented. I took a deep breath, and tried to control my temper.

- "Are you talking about US?" said Tudino, very loudly.

Conversation ceased. Princey's courtiers instantly shut up, and found interesting things to look at - well away from Tudino.

- "Shall we go into the garden?' suggested Princess Maia Simonia.

Princey had enough decency to be mildly embarrassed by his loud-mouthed hangers-on. He didn't come straight out and apologize, but he did try to engage me in a conversation about military matters. He didn't know much about war, but I had to give him credit for trying.

Aneli was a little distant, too. Unless my calendar was off, or her cycle was irregular (which was always possible), she should be due for her hemmer in a month or so. But she didn't say a word about it. Did she have a guilty conscience, I wondered?

Faregil almost swooned, to meet the Queen. Votuda was probably very impressed, but she went to great lengths not to show it. Avette, of course, acted as if she was at the Palace every other day.

When the Queen and her Court withdrew, Kanitz asked us all to remain behind, and to join her in her office.

- "Your army is not a secret." Kanitz told us. "On the contrary, I want it well known that we are creating a new fighting force. I need to attract Inhabers and Colonels who might be interested in serving with you - under Cook's command."

"You must know that there are many who would refuse, if I ordered them to join your army. For political reasons, or ..."

- "Because of me." I said.

Kanitz only nodded. "Yes. That. Cook's reputation is something of an impediment."

- "Not to mention his gender. And his Pylosian origin." said Avette.

- "All true. But we need to find Inhabers who won't turn us down if we invite them to join you. I'm asking for your advice: who should I approach? Who should I ask?"

"Friends of yours? Open-minded, progressive officers ..."

There was a moment of silence. After a while, it got longer than a moment, and began to be a little uncomfortable.

- "Colonel Frad?" said Langoret. She didn't sound 100% sure.

But she'd broken the ice. Tudino started naming people (most of whom I'd never heard of). Avette only mentioned one person, and even then she was frowning as she spoke. All of her progressive friends were already in the room.

But Kanitz made a note of every suggestion, no matter how tentative.

- "Alright." she said. "If you think of anyone else, over the next few weeks, please let me know. But I have another, more immediate question for all of you."

"How do you feel about serving alongside Penchens?"

The reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Tudino was excited.

- "They're excellent troops!" she said. "How many?"

- "I've hired eight regiments of Penchens." said Kanitz.

For a moment, there was utter silence in the room.

Everyone present had at least some idea of how prohibitively expensive that would be for the Crown.

- "Eight?" said Aneli. "But ... the next war is ... five or ten years away."

- "Two or three." said Kanitz. "Perhaps less." She glanced at me. "I have it on good authority that the Crolians are preparing to renew hostilities long before we expect it."

I was a little shocked that the Chancellor had said this openly - in front of Aneli. That was the equivalent of posting it on billboards all over the capital. Thousands of people were going to know before nightfall.

But then, there was no way to hide that many Penchen regiments; Westrons were going to learn about them sooner or later. And maybe Kanitz wanted our military to know about the seriousness of the threat as soon as possible.

- "Eight Penchen regiments?" said Tudino.

- "Four will be attached to the New Model Army. That's why I'm asking: do any of you have a problem working with Penchens?"

Only Avette and Aneli seemed uncertain. Everyone else seemed genuinely pleased.

- "Very good." said Votuda.

- "This will also send a clear signal to our Inhabers." said Kanitz. "Hopefully, some of them will realize that the New Model Army will become the place to be."

I hoped that she was right. In my time at AFOTA, I hadn't met all that many cadets capable of original thought, or willing to go against the majority opinion.

But if I was a drawback, maybe some of the Colonels could attract support?

Langoret was highly respected, in professional circles. Avette was well-known, for her duel with Berandot, if not for her timely arrival at Limset. Tudino was quite famous, and very popular. Neither Faregil nor Votuda had any pull, though.

I, of course, was at least infamous, or notorious. But I hoped that there might be a few Inhabers out there who could see beyond the duel and the hemmers and the brawls and assassination attempts ...

We all had two weeks' leave before we had to go back to the camp. Tallia tried very hard to let me spend some of it with Esyle.

***

Tallia was truly in her element as my Chief of Staff. She was super efficient, and highly organized. The other Colonels quickly realized what Langoret and Faregil had already learned: Tallia knew as much about their regiments as they did.

She also seemed to enjoy having me to herself again. She shared my bed, several times a week - when I wasn't exhausted from a route march. Tallia knew that I would try to please her, if she was sleeping with me. She had an excellent sense of when I was too tired, and gave me space to sleep alone.

She'd become a truly wonderful lover. Tallia knew what she liked, and wasn't shy about telling me. She was often the aggressor, or the initiator - which I absolutely loved.

Tallia wasn't just an assistant, or a side-kick: she was a force in her own right.

***

The Penchens arrived.

Four regiments of foot, with their artillery and a hundred ox-carts, carrying their tents and equipment, ammunition and food. (Penchens were omnivores, unlike the Westrons and Crolians - I was hoping they might invite me to mess with them occasionally)

For many of the new recruits in the Chancellor's Regiment, that first sight of the Penchens came as a bit of a surprise: their uniforms were surprisingly similar. Blue coats, and grey pants.

But at close range, the differences were more obvious. The Penchens wore headgear like a shako, while Westron soldiers had only light caps. The Penchen blue was a little darker, too. And their soldiers wore shoes, while Westron troopers went barefoot, because of the shape of their ankles and feet.

The Penchens also wore their long hair in queues, tied at the nape of the neck.

The Penchen regiments moved well. Their discipline and training were exceptional. Very, very good troops. But I was surprisingly nervous.

Would they be open to our new tactics? It wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to use them as line infantry, rather than lights, but it would cost us a little flexibility.

Much more important was the question of how we'd get along.

General Leydz was polite, but no more. Everything about the way Leydz carried him/her/itself, and how it spoke, made it quite clear that we weren't going to be friends. It was on contract, and it would follow my orders, as long as they didn't recklessly endanger its regiment.

And there was my problem, in a nutshell. I didn't even know what pronoun to use to describe my new ally.

My first impression suggested that Leydz was utterly humourless - a bit grim, in fact. The General introduced his four regimental commanders. We exchanged polite greetings, and I officially welcomed them to our camp.

Leydz then presented two junior officers, who would act as liaisons between us.

- "Captain Isaal. Captain Senau. They are fluent in your language, General. They can be trusted with any task." said Leydz.

I presented Tallia as my Chief of Staff. "With your permission, General, she will help your troops find the section of the camp allocated to them."

Tallia went off with the two liaison officers. Then I formally introduced the Westron Colonels to their Penchen counterparts. There was quite a bit of curtseying and bowing.

I made a brief statement, welcoming them all and stressing our respect for the quality of Penchen soldiers - and quickly cut it short. They didn't want to listen to me spout cliches; they wanted to get their tents set up.

Some hours later, Tallia came back with the two liaison officers.

Isaal was short, and slender; Senau was tall - taller than me - and painfully thin. They would be part of my command team for the foreseeable future. Aides de camp, of a sort. If I needed to send an order to General Leydz, one of these two could write it out in Penchen, so that there would be no confusion.

Well, less confusion. In a critical situation, I could always send one of them in person.

They would be translators, intermediaries, and so on ...

- "Have you eaten? Are you hungry? Thirsty?" I asked.

- "They ate at their camp." said Tallia.

I decided to seize the bull by the horns, and address the question that had been plaguing me since I first learned that I was going to have Penchens under my command. I spoke to Isaal first, because he/she/it was looking at me, while Senau was busy examining the inside of my tent.

- "Please forgive me if I'm being rude - but do Penchens use personal pronouns?" I knew from my Sleepread lessons that the words existed in Penchen. What I didn't know was which ones they preferred to use.

Isaal smiled, without showing any teeth. "We use 'she' and 'her', General Cook."

- "You do?"

- "It's not that we think of ourselves as female. It's more of a courtesy to Westrons. They are all female. Well, except for you ... We do this to avoid confusion. So that you will understand us better."

- "So, if you were hired by the Crolians, would you use masculine pronouns?"

- "Yes. I have heard that we do, though I myself have never served with the Crolians." said Isaal.

- "I'm curious. How do you refer to each other, in your own language? The personal pronouns, I mean. Again, I don't mean to be impolite - I'm just very curious."

- "We have equivalents for 'I', 'me', and 'my/mine'. We also use 'they' and 'their', 'you' and 'your', and so on."

- "But if you were referring to ... Captain Senau, for example. What if ... I wanted to speak to ... ah ... Senau, but ... uh, Senau was with General Leydz?

Isaal smiled, showing very good teeth. "Exactly as you did, General. I would say that Senau was not here, because Senau was with General Leydz. Then I would ask you if you wanted me to send for Senau."

- "Very interesting. Thank you, Captain."

- "My pleasure, General."

***

I gave the Penchens three days to rest. Most of the officers came out to watch the Chancellor's Regiment firing volleys at the skirmish dummies.

- "Very poor shooting." said Captain Senau, in his own language.

- "It may be more difficult than it appears." said Captain Isaal.

They were speaking Penchen, unaware that I understood every word. The senior officers were even more critical; most were smugly confident that their troops could do better. A few were outright arrogant.

I'd encountered arrogance aplenty at AFOTA. But these Penchen had a right to feel superior. They were among the best infantry on the continent.

Still, I was hoping to show them that we were building something even better.

On the fourth day, I took them on a route march with the Anelis and Tudino's regiment.

- "No artillery. No ox-carts. Four days' food per soldier." I warned them, in advance.

The Westrons left them in the dust.

To be fair, I would have been left behind, too, had I not been practising the Run 100, Walk 50, for years. Isaal and Senau tried hard to keep up with us, but they were plainly suffering. I left a squad with them and pushed on.

We set up camp, and settled down to dinner. The two liaison officers stumbled in well after dark.

- "What was the point of that demonstration?" asked Tudino. "Are you trying to embarrass them?"

- "Goodness, no. I want them to respect us a little more, though. They'll be more open to learning from us when they realize that we can do things they can't."

The Anelis and Tudinos got half a day of rest. Then we practiced musketry fire by platoon, and exercised with the three pounders.

The two Penchen liaisons watched with interest.

General Leydz and his contingent arrived just before dusk. I'd sent out the first companies of both Westron regiments to escort them in.

To his credit, the General saw to setting up camp and getting his troops settled before he came to see me.

- "May I ask, General Cook, what was the purpose of this exercise?" he asked. "Captain Isaal informs me that you camped here last night. With your 3-pound cannon."

- "I had two purposes, General Leydz. The first was to give these two regiments another workout. The second, obviously, was to let you and your soldiers see them do it."

- "Are these two regiments your elite? In terms of marching, at least?"

- "All five regiments in camp can do this. Langoret's may be the best, at this point, but Votuda is close."

- "I see. So you move can very fast. Without artillery, and without food."

- "That's right."

I didn't press him. Leydz excused himself, and rejoined his staff.

- "That's all you're going to say?" asked Tudino.

- "For now."

Next morning, we were up and away before the Penchens had started their breakfast.

I had the rifle companies wait for them, a league further on, and then pretend to skirmish with our allies.

The rifles retreated, and were replaced by the 2nd companies. And then the 3rd. We kept this up until noon.

Then the Penchens found us blocking their advance, in line, with our 3-pounders arrayed in front of us.

Leydz seemed to understand. He began to deploy his Penchen regiments into line.

We pulled out, and retreated before they had finished their evolutions.

We had to push the pace a bit, but we got back to the main camp just after dark.

Isaal and Senau didn't make it. Again, I left a squad with them.

***

I had General Leydz thinking. He wasn't ready to concede anything, yet, but he was certainly wondering. So were the two liaison officers.

The Penchens deserved a day or two off to recover from what was - for them - a long and exhausting march.

I didn't give it to them. The very next day, I had them out on the firing range, shooting at the scarecrows. They were very embarrassed when their first regiment scored only 11 hits on our target dummies.

I didn't tell them that their score was twice as good as anything we'd been able to do. Of course, they'd fired three volleys in the time a Westron regiment could only manage two.

Still ...

All four of their regiments took the test. The best score was 11 hits.

Then I invited all of their officers to watch our 1st companies' rifles in action.

General Leydz was a professional soldier, in a superior army. He trusted in their discipline, and their training. But he was no fool.

Two weeks after their arrival, he invited me to their section of the camp for a meal.

- "I am intrigued by your tactics, General." he said. "I am not certain of their value against a Crolian army ... yet I suspect that you could march around them and threaten their supply lines very effectively."

"And I am intrigued by these ... open order attackers you deploy. I suspect that we would have to ... emulate these tactics, to a degree, in order to defend against them."

He wasn't ready to convert his regiments into light infantry, but he did ask if I would help train a company from each one.

It was a start.

***

I wasn't the only one who had trouble addressing the Penchens. All of the Westron Colonels (with the possible exception of Langoret) and Tallia had difficulty, too.

Yet all Westrons were fascinated by Penchens, especially when it came to their sex lives. There were numerous discussions, especially among our rank and file, speculating about Penchen hemmers - how and when they happened, how long and how intense they were, scents and fluids ...

There were Penchen females and Penchen males in their contingent. Perhaps 20 to 25% of the officers and soldiers were in sexually active, monogamous relationships.

I was surprised to discover that Kanitz had been wrong on one point: there were same sex couples. These homosexual relationships were a small minority, but the Penchens didn't seem to differentiate at all. A hemmer couple was a hemmer couple. End of story.

***

"May I ask a question, General?" asked Captain Isaal.

- "Fire away."

Isaal was growing on me. He/she/it was inquisitive, clever, and had a good sense of humour. Isaal made an effort to be personable, to get to know Tallia and me, and my bodyguards.

Senau, on the other hand ... Senau didn't do anything wrong. He/she/it was polite, if distant. There just wasn't much warmth there.

I still had trouble with personal pronouns, and with two genderless Penchens.

Isaal wasn't a 'she'. Not that Isaal was particularly masculine, but Isaal wasn't female - that was for sure. Senau was a little more ... feminine?

To be on the safe side, I found myself speaking to them in Penchen style, using their names to a ridiculous degree - avoiding personal pronouns.

- "Are these demonstrations intended to show us - the Penchens - that your regiments are as good as ours, or even better, in some ways? Or is your instruction aimed at your own troops?"

Isaal's head was tilted slightly to one side, as ... Isaal waited for my reply.

- "Well ... both, I suppose. Although I don't think I'm as clever as you're suggesting."

- "I'm quite certain that you are, General." said Isaal.

***

"I don't understand." said Tallia. "Isn't it dangerous to show the Penchens your tactics? Won't they ...?"

- "Won't they what?"

- "Won't they use them against us, if we ever have to fight them? Or ... they'll tell the Crolians, if they get hired to fight against us next time."