Enlightened Empire

Soon, the fleet had moored along the new piers his men had constructed for this purpose in the last few days. However, the fleet was much smaller than what he had expected. As Corco stepped onto the wooden planks below the ships, he spotted a familiar face above.

"What happened? Where"s your brother?" he shouted towards Princess Sumaci, who had traded her green dress for st.u.r.dy sailor"s cloth. As she looked down, the girl first appeared annoyed, but her features eased as soon as she saw him.

"Why thank you for your concern, King Corco. I have indeed returned safe and sound." She leaned over the railing towards Corco, and her long hair fell down to frame her blossoming smile.

"Look, this is no time to play around. You"re missing around half your ships. Where"s your brother?"

Although he couldn"t really complain if the Verdant Folk had taken back half their fleet, it would still be a problem for transportation if they had just halved their commitment in the middle of a military operation. Even worse, they might have been the victim of a sudden storm, as the sudden turn in weather would suggest. In that case, they might have lost half their shipss, which would make him not only unpopular with the Verdant Isles, but also with all the southern lords who would have lost their warriors in Corco"s risky endeavor.

"My brother is fine, as are the ships you are so worried about. And I am serious as well, great king. I am only a small, helpless damsel in bitter need of a husband. Would no one have pity and consider my feelings?"

After she had spoken, the helpless girl vaulted down and landed her heavy boots on the pier besides Corco.

"A damsel commandeering a ship?" Corco grinned. In truth, he had a bit of fun with the banter, but there were important issues to discuss. "Maybe it would be better to speak in private."

A while later, they sat in Corco"s tent, each with a hot mulled wine before them. Although it was the first cold day, his current attendant had already been prepared by the time he returned.

"Right, so where did you keep the rest of my fleet, damsel?" Corco asked Sumaci who held her cup in both hands and slowly sipped the spicy wine.

"...we were split in half on our way back. Northern ships have set up a blockade in the Narrow Sea, so only the supply ships have made it through. Wacoca took charge of the second fleet which transported the southern warriors and was forced to turn back."

"Bulls.h.i.t," Corco stated in a calm, kingly manner.

"Would you mind your language in the presence of a lady?" Sumaci asked, though her grin told him that she didn"t really mean it.

"Oxen feces then. How can they have enough ships for a blockade? We"ve closed off the mouth to the Narrow Sea as soon as I came back with your extra ships. Rapra Castle lets us control the entire area, so how did they sneak that many ships through that quickly?"

After she had contemplated her wine a bit more, Sumaci looked up, one finger on her lower lip.

"Maybe they have been around for a while and were antic.i.p.ating your crossing. After all, not only King Corco can come up with plans."

"Makes sense." This was getting annoying. He really needed to consider the potential moves of his opponents more. "It wasn"t Pacha though. Divitius?" he mumbled to himself.

"Food has been readied." From the tent"s corner, Tama carried two steaming bowls of stew to the damsel and the king. So long as he hadn"t taken care of Nahlen, Corco wouldn"t be dumb enough to eat the communal food. "And if this servant may be so bold: Who has planned the blockade matters little for now. We are stuck behind enemy lines, understrength and with no supply lines. These issues need to be rectified."

After she had spoken, Tama walked past Corco and took a seat half a step behind him.

"That"s right. We can still puzzle over causality once we"ve solved our crisis. Not that it"s too much of a problem, really."

"Not much of a problem?" The spoon already halfway up to her mouth, Sumaci looked up with large, clear eyes. Meanwhile, the meat on her spoon had seen enough of the girl"s indecision and decided to take the plunge back into its old home. With a comedic splash, it disappeared back into the stew.

Somehow, Corco managed to not laugh and instead shrugged in indifference. "It"s a shame your brother isn"t around to witness my glory, but the other lords would only get in the way anyways with their infighting. Even at full strength, we"d struggle to win a direct confrontation against Pacha"s army, so it"s much better to have a smaller, more united and more agile force."

"Unless there is another rebellion, no?" Sumaci"s sneaky grin had returned, this time framed by the steam from her food and drink.

"You"ve heard about that?" Corco raised an eyebrow. How could this girl get her hands on confidential information?

"Were you not around when my father called me an obedient girl? Well, I have done the right thing for our family and set up some... sources. The Verdant Folk hear many things, King Corco, many more than you expect." After she had showed off enough, Sumaci stuffed her face with the stew and chewed in one cheek. At least she could have maintained the illusion for a bit longer.

"You"re a pretty good spy, huh?" Ignoring Tama"s derisive scoff, Corco smiled again. Though he was glad that apparently, his spymaster was well aware of his guest"s movements.

"Indeed," Sumaci mumbled past all the food in her mouth,"it is one of my many talents."

"Well, you shouldn"t worry too much about the holdovers from that incident. I already have some of my best people on the job." While Sumaci sank back into the food, Corco spied over his shoulder to Tama and saw her grin and nod in response. He really hoped he hadn"t misplaced his trust in this instance. As he turned back, Sumaci was still immersed in her meal, still uninterested in etiquette. Of course she knew the etiquette and had displayed it in the past, but she seemed aware that the king didn"t really care much for formalities.

"Now, for an issue you can actually help me with. We need to take inventory. Most importantly:" Corco leaned forward. "Did you carry the snow shoes, skis and amber gla.s.ses with you on the ships?"

"Those bundles of sticks and stones?" The girl looked up again, confusion all over her sauce-stained face. "Yes we did, though I do not see the point of these toys, much less bringing thousands of them."

"That"s because you"ve never seen proper snow before, tropical girl." Though Sumaci seemed mildly upset with her twisted mouth, Corco continued his lesson as he extended a silk handkerchief across the table. "That"s why I had my craftsmen do some extra work and start on those snow shoes before we left Saniya. Although the winter has taken its time this year, we"ve just reached a turn. Any day we"re gonna get snow, and it won"t melt until spring. At that time, you"ll worship me for my foresight. In fact, so long as we have those shoes and enough supplies, Pacha and his greedy band of followers will never catch us, trapped in enemy lands or not."

Of course, their spies, their use of maps and their telescopes would also play a role, but the snow shoes were new. New toys were *exciting*.

"In that case, I wonder how those supplies would be guaranteed, considering the blockade." By now, Corco had managed to draw the girl"s attention away from her meal. Maybe it was a bit silly that he would be proud of that. "I understand King does not want to talk about confidential information, but this is a problem that concerns all of us, and my sailors can help coordinate our efforts. The Verdant men are great fighers in their own right, more than enough to hold their own, be it sea or land."

"For now that won"t be necessary. Thank you for your offer though, I"ll keep it in mind." Corco winked at the overenthusiastic girl. "In fact, the solution to all our problems is easy enough. Tama."

As soon as he called out, he could hear the soft rustle rustle of his spymaster"s robe as she rose from her seat."

"Yes, King Corco."

"What"s the latest word from the east?" First, he needed to reconfirm everything he knew.

"There is still no movement from King Pacha"s side. It appears as if they have not even attempted to send any additional scouts, at least so far. One could almost believe they have not received any message of our landing at all. Maybe the enemy has decided to stand down and confuse us through inaction, maybe there has been an interruption in the king"s intelligence network. Although I am somewhat concerned about the implications of either option, the fact that the king"s camp is in no state to move out quickly remains unchanged. King Pacha cannot attack us within the next five days, at least. I have also taken the liberty to send further scouts up north to check on House Ichilia, and detected no movement from around Huaylas either."
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As she spoke, Tamaya crossed the room and took some paper, ink and quill from a wooden chest, which soon landed in front of Corco. After such a long time of cooperation, his attendant knew exactly what he wanted to do next.

"Not that I expected any movements from them anyways... still, if the Ichilias are willing to send ships for a blockade, they might also be willing to send soldiers for an attack. Good thinking."

"Indeed, King Corco is correct."

Though Corco thought it was silly to praise him for a mistake, he had learned to let Tama"s rigid att.i.tude slide every now and then. However, someone else was far less inclined.

"Seems like your servant does a better job than you." "Maybe she should be in charge instead," Sumaci"s provocation seemed to imply.

Although Tama stepped forward with a frown, Corco retained his smile and raised a hand to hold her back. At the same time, he wondered if Sumaci knew what sort of enemy she was about to make in Tamaya.

"That"s why she"s the spymaster, and not me," he acknowledged instead. "We all have our talents. Some of us can consider all aspects of intelligence gathering and organize vast networks of informants and runners. Some are good at guiding a country down the right path and delegating tasks to the right people. Some are good at complaining, mostly."

For a moment, Sumaci looked stunned, her mouth half agape, before she caught her own expression again.

"I apologize for my rudeness. No matter what, you are my teacher after all."

To Corco"s surprise, the princess actually bowed, though only a little and only for a second. Rather than make more jokes, he decided to let the matter go and focus on work. Thus, he bent down and began to write out his orders.

"Anyways, Pacha"s inactivity gives us enough time to gather up some supplies. We"ll be sending out our soldiers in small groups, for requisition of grain and firewood from the villages in our immediate surroundings. Tama, I want you to make sure we pay for the food, we brought more than enough silver with us to feed the army through the winter. No pillaging either. These are my people, even though they are temporarily not under my command. I"ll have to rule them someday, and I don"t want them to remember me as a butcher."

Tama nodded and took her own notes with a piece of coal.

"I will oversee their behavior. If we send them throughout this estate, we should be able to acquire enough supplies to last us a good while."

"No, you will send them all along the coast instead." Corco shook his head. "I want every fishing village along the coast taken by a small troop and cleared of food. People too, if you have to. Relocation, not murder, by the way. That one still applies. I know it"s less efficient, but this way, our food problem is still solved, and wait! There"s more: If you order now, you can also break that ludicrous blockade in the Narrow Sea in one fell swoop!"

"You intend to starve them out," Tama realized, her eyes enlarged into two serene ponds.

"Even if they expected us to cross the water and attack the coast at some point, they didn"t know when we"d do so. There"s no way they have sufficient food and water aboard those ships. Though loaded, those old-timey war galleys can also only carry so much. At some point, they will have to resupply on land. Where will they do that? They can"t go south, cause we still have half an army there, plus that warning system of beacons I conveniently installed in the Chawir marshes. In the west they"re blocked off by Rapra Castle, and in the east by Qarasi. Their only viable route is back north, but soon that will be gone as well. They"re trying to starve us out, are they? Let"s just see which one of us starves first."

As he thought about his plans, a sinister smile crept onto Corco"s face. Their supplies weren"t an insurmountable problem, and their enemies were on borrowed time as well. Soon enough, this nonsense war would be over.

"In light of this plan, I would like to request for some additional supplies." Tama"s voice came from his side. "There are a few issues which need clearing up and the ghosts are under-equipped."

As Corco was still immersed in his plans, he waved the spymaster"s request away without a second thought.

"Whatever you need, just tell the quartermaster. You have free reign."

"This servant will do everything to repay the trust given to her." Unbeknownst to Corco, Tama"s smile was no less dangerous than her king"s. All the while, Sumaci sat with an empty cup in her hand and worried about the quality of her company.