The Devil You Know Read Online Free PDF

of the help. “I can arrange that,” Alban said. “Obviously, you only need a fraction of the manpower for an occupation, unless you get an insurgency problem, which isn’t likely here. That said—”
    “They need to be paid, and the locals can’t afford it,” Saloninus interrupted. “Yes, I know that. We’ll pay them, naturally.”
    “Say—” Alban took a moment for the dreams of avarice. “Thirty thousand nomismata a year?”
    Well, it’s not my money, so I kept quiet. “Fine,” Saloninus said indifferently. “I’ll put a lump sum in escrow with the Knights, as a token of good faith; draw on it as you need it.”
    I think the poor man was seriously shaken. He’s straightforward enough for a man in his line of work, but I’m guessing that
draw on it as you need it
undermined the very core of his understanding of the world. All those years killing people and beating them up in order to get money, and instead, there are people out there who’ll just give it to you. “Suits me,” he said, in a quiet voice. “Right. First thing in the morning.” He paused. I surreptitiously conjured a small steel-reinforced chest under my right foot. “Here,” I said, and pushed it toward him under the table.
    He wouldn’t need to count it. He knew that. He rested his foot delicately on it, as if on a rose.
    * * *
    Same old same old for the villagers and nomads of Mysia. Out of the early morning mists emerged a column of armoured men, their footsteps barely audible on the thick leaf mould. King Carduan IV wasn’t at home when we called; he never is when people invade his kingdom. He has barges moored ready all the time, with the royal treasury stowed aboard. He’s not bothered about anybody stealing it. After so many wars and occupations, there’s not enough there to make it worth the effort. The royal guard stayed home, their wives busily weaving baskets to sell to the foreigners.
    Our forces occupied the Citadel. It’s an amazing thing, if you like military architecture (I must confess I do, though purely on an aesthetic level). It was built by the Eastern Empire, back when they were the invaders du jour. They chose a flat-topped mountain, actually a dormant volcano; there’s a rainwater lake up there on top, natural hot water. The defensive walls are built out of huge rectangular blocks of black lava; fifteen feet thick at the base. There’s a curtain wall, a boiling—seriously—moat, an outer wall, and an inner keep. There’s fifteen acres of storage sheds for food and equipment. The circumference of the curtain wall is three miles, but four hundred men could hold it indefinitely against the world, assuming they’ve laid in adequate supplies. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that the Citadel has never been taken, by storm, siege, or treachery. Come to that, it’s never been attacked. It’s been voluntarily evacuated and abandoned nine times, but that’s different.
    He got me to fill the barns with sacks of flour and barrels of salted bacon, while Alban’s sappers made a few minor repairs to the drawbridge. The Mysians don’t come near the place ever, except to loot the food stores when an invader leaves. They know it’s nothing to do with them. Also, I think they know it’s a volcano, a fact which appears nowhere in the military libraries of the surrounding nations.
    Alban kept trying to report to me for orders, even though he knew perfectly well who was in charge. He was trying to make himself believe this was a normal, businesslike military operation, and that he wasn’t working for a lunatic. “Do you anticipate any hostile activity from the King?” he asked me.
    I shook my head. “Usually when there’s an invasion he goes and stays with his cousin the seed-merchant, just across the border,” I said. “I gather he prefers it there to here. The Mysians won’t bother you at all. Particularly if you buy their baskets.”
    He nodded. “What are we doing here?”
    “Don’t ask