The Dance of Time

He gave Narses a not-entirely-admiring look. "And what's the second thing?"

The old eunuch's smile was very cold. "I should think it was obvious. The Persians can have that area—if they can take it."

After a moment, Damodara laughed harshly. "Yes. Let them bleed. Done, Narses."

* * *

In the Iron Triangle, it was Belisarius' turn to stare at a message. Then, tilt it so that Maurice could see. He also spoke the words aloud, for the benefit of Justinian and Calopodius.

PROPOSE ROMAN ENCLAVE BETWEEN INDUS AND CHENAB EXPANDED NORTH TO MULTAN STOP ROMANS MAY HAVE MULTAN STOP PERSIANS MAY HAVE PUNJAB WEST OF INDUS TO MULTAN STOP NORTH OF MULTAN MAY HAVE PUNJAB WEST OF CHENAB AND JHELUM STOP IF THEY CAN TAKE IT FROM SATI ARMY STOP

"It's nice to see our new ally isn't an idiot," mused Justinian. "Unlike the old one."

The Grand Justiciar got a look on his face that could have been called "dreamy-eyed," if he'd still had eyes.

"Forget it," said Belisarius, half-chuckling. "We are not going to form a pact with Damodara to attack Persia and carve it up between us."

"Probably a bad idea," admitted Justinian. "Still, you have to admit it's tempting."

Maurice had ignored the byplay. By now, having read the message perhaps five times, he was scowling fiercely. "Fine and dandy for you and Damodara—Khusrau's probably in on it, also—to scheme up ways to bleed Persia's aristocracy dry. But I remind you that I will have to be the one to deal with them. And I'm damned if I'm going to go along with any foolhardy plans to launch a massive frontal assault on the Malwa here. Their fortifications aren't much weaker than ours, you now."

"I doubt that'll be a problem," Belisarius said, shaking his head. "If you're guessing right about Khusrau's plans, he'll probably insist that you remain here while he leads a glorious Aryan sweeping maneuver against the right flank of the enemy. He'll want you to keep some pressure on, of course."

Maurice grunted. "We're doing that anyway, just being here."

"Multan's what? About a hundred miles north of here?" asked Justinian. His face still had traces of dreaminess in it. "And at that point, the distance between the two rivers must be at least fifty miles."

Belisarius drew up a mental image of a map of the Punjab. "Yes, that's about right."

"So our 'enclave'—using the term very loosely, now—would contain something like two thousand square miles."

"Um... Probably closer to fifteen hundred," countered Maurice. "That's an awfully narrow triangle."

"Still. Even fifteen hundred square miles is a fair amount of breathing room. The land here is all fertile, too, even as arid as it is, because of the rivers. We could support a million people, easily. Some enclave!"

Belisarius couldn't help but smile. Justinian might insist that he'd given up his wicked old imperial ways of looking at the world, but it never took much to stir the beast up again.

"That's as may be," he said, a bit brusquely. "It's certainly a good deal for us, at least in the short run—and, better yet, might go a long way to mollifying Theodora. In the long run... hard to say. We'd be completely dependent on maintaining trade routes through either Persian or Indian territory, don't forget. We wouldn't even have a common border with the Kushans."

Justinian started to say something, but Belisarius drove over him. "Enough of that, however. We still have a war to win."

He turned to Calopodius. "Draft another message telling Damodara we agree. And add the following—"

* * *

—bz-bzzz-bz-bz-bzzz-bzzz-bz-bz-bzzz—

"I purely detest that sound," snarled Narses. "My ears are too old to be inflicted with it."

But he made no move to leave. Didn't so much as twitch a muscle.

The message finished, the operator handed it to Damodara. Again, the new Malwa emperor tilted it so both Narses and Rana Sanga could read the contents.

AGREE TO ALL TERMS STOP THINK PERSIANS WILL ALSO STOP BELISARIUS CAN CROSS THE THAR WITH FIVE HUNDRED MEN STOP PROBABLY REACH AJMER IN A FORTNIGHT STOP WELLS ALREADY DUG STOP IF YOU CAN SEND AUTHORIZATION BY THAT TIME CAN PUT RAJPUT FORCE IN THE FIELD TO INTERCEPT SATI STOP KUSHANS WILL DELAY HER AS LONG AS POSSIBLE STOP

By the time they finished the message, all three pairs of eyes were very wide.

"God damn him," said Narses tonelessly. "No man should be that smart. Not even me."

Damodara shook his head, just slightly. "He planned for this, and months ago. There are no wells in the Thar—so he had them dug in advance."

"Months?" Sanga's headshake was a more vigorous affair. "I think not, Emperor. I think he has been planning this for years."