Parabolis Read Online Free PDF Page B

than those of men half his age.
    He walked over to the hearth to warm his hands and looked around the room. “Where are the others?”
    “There are no others,” the duke replied. “Sit.”
    Merrick waited until the general took his seat beside Eli. “This meeting is not for the Royal Court,” he added. “Not for now, at least.”
    “Why the secrecy?”
    “We’ve decided to act.”
    The general sighed through his nose. “And how long have you known this?”
    “For as long as our benefactor has funded this initiative.”
    “‘
Benefactor.
’” The general grunted. “I don’t trust that man, Merrick. You know this. I don’t trust anyone who wears a mask.”
    “Trust him or not, General, he has delivered on every account,” said Eli. “We now have international support.”
    “You call a handful of wealthy men ‘international support?’”
    “I call it money. As you know, General, wars are won with money. And with our funds secure, we will proceed as planned. We enter Meredian soil on the night of their Harvest Festival and take Carnaval City. We take Carnaval City, we take Pharundelle. And that means the Republic.”
    The general pressed his finger down on the map along the borderland marked by a star, northwest of Carnaval City. “What about this?”
    “Yes, the Gateway to the Republic. What about it?”
    “You still don’t understand the implications of what it is that the Republic has managed to construct here, do you?”
    “Enlighten me, General.”
    “The Ancile is a star fortress. Unlike your conventional fortresses with high walls and rounded turrets, this intricately designed structure is composed of low set, thick walls made of brick, reinforced with an external shell of iron. Here, several armed bastions extend out into diamond shaped points, designed to prevent storming infantry cover from defensive fire. Run between them and you’ll be met with an onslaught of rifle fire and arrows. A conventional approach will do us no good.”
    Eli smiled. “I couldn’t agree more. Consider for us an
un
conventional approach then.”
    “To the west, you have the Wilds, the World’s End beyond that. To the east, the Borderland Ridge overlooking our own highlands as far as Muriah Bay. There’s no way around it but by the Amaranthian. And we’d risk forfeiting the element of surprise and invite a swift counter-offensive, assuming, of course, the Royal Fleet’s successful engagement with their blockade. There is no strategically advantageous approach.”
    “I’m disappointed in your lack of imagination, Arun,” said the duke.
    The general sighed again. “For more than a millennium we have managed to coexist in relative harmony with our neighbors to the south. Perhaps it is not too late to reinitiate dialogue.”
    The duke sat back in his seat. He folded his arms and cocked his head. “You don’t think this Ancile, which you’ve described in great detail, sitting there on our border, poses any threat to our sovereignty?”
    “Of course it does.”
    “You’ve no stomach to fight, then?”
    “The question is not what is in my stomach,” the general’s voice grew louder as he continued, “but whether or not an open war is what the king would have wanted.”
    “The king is dead. I am regent until the child returns. All I want to know is if I take a course of action that leads us to war, will you fight for us?”
    Arun’s eyes lit up, brighter than the fire. Through clenched teeth he replied, “With all due respect,
Your Highness
, I was Bjorn of the Crimson Knights while you were still a hairless pup! Never again will you question my loyalty to the throne. Regardless of who sits on it, I would die for my kingdom.”
    The duke smiled. “That’s all I wanted to hear.” Both he and Eli then rose from their seats. “Come with us.”
    “Where? What’s this all about?”
    “Our answer to the Ancile. Bring your coat.”
    The three men shared a carriage into a barren field behind Castle