The Fireseed Wars

"That's Nythros City, Chief. This is one of six breach points in the city walls that Styphon's Grand Host used to enter the city. It took them about two ten-days of intense bombardment, but they were implacable. The Nythrosi had no choice but to dig in and retreat into their fortifications."

"The Grand Host did all this with just those old iron-hooped cannon of theirs?"

"Not quite, Chief. They brought some thirty-two and sixteen-pound guns with them into Hostigos and they scavenged several more off Ardros Field after the Hostigi were driven away."

"There doesn't appear to be any resistance."

"There's been heavy fighting from both sides for several days, but this was not where the Nythrosi chose to make their big stand."

Kostran punched in a request on his controller and the picture dissolved and was replaced by the main city gates, one of which was down on the ground; the other hanging to the right wall by its iron hinges. He upped the magnification: The area was swarming with soldiers in the blue and orange uniforms of Hos-Ktemnos. The Ktemnoi Sacred Squares were dressed in blue shirts and breeches, with orange sashes and plumes on their high-combed helmets. The musketeers wore brown boiled-leather jacks while the billmen had polished steel breastplates.

Resistance was stiff from the red-coated defenders, but crumbling. It appeared that most of the Nythrosi were using spears, crossbows and winch-drawn arbalests. They might as well been firing rubber bands for all the good their missile weapons were doing against the attacking Sacred Squares.

The view shifted to another sky-camera to show more invaders, some already at the heart of the city in an area dominated by monolithic structures that looked like something plucked out of Fourth Level, Roman Imperial. The wide city streets were vacant except for occasional clots of red defenders and the inexorable flow of Styphoni soldiers. Many of them near the center of town were wearing the black cloaks of the Zarthani Knights.

"There's more news," Kostran said. "I'm not sure whether or not it counts as good news for our friend Kalvan, or bad news."

"Shoot." Verkan said.

"Prince Anaxon was killed in the initial attack. For some reason the idiot wanted to lead his troops, like some Fourth-Level Alexander!"

Verkan frowned. "He did this before at the Battle of Phyrax Field and got a bop on the head as a result. Anaxon's memory was affected and he went missing for a couple of days. You think he might have learned better. Prince Anaphon-not Lysandros' general, but Anaxon's twin brother- accompanied him in his folly. The Prince was hit in the leg by a mace blow that fractured most of his upper thigh, and as a result of his wound the leg was amputated. He died after two ten-days of severe pain, when gangrene set in. At the time, it was hard to tell if his death was a result of Aryan-Transpacific's barbaric medical practices or whether he was a tragic 'casualty' of convenience orchestrated by Styphon's House.

"Now Anaxon is dead, too. Leaving the throne of Hos-Ktemnos open for grabs, which is awfully convenient for Styphon's House. Danthor Dras mentioned that Prince Anaxon was breaking free of Styphon's reins and that Anaxthenes himself had targeted the Prince for discorporation."

"I'll have our agents on the ground look into that, Chief. If we could roundup some evidence that the Inner Circle ordered Anaxon's death, it would go a long way to stirring animosity to Styphon's House in their home base. Maybe even enough trouble they'd have to bring the Royal Ktemnoi Army back home, as well as Styphon's Own Guard to protect the Inner Circle. That would effectively castrate the Grand Host!"

Verkan grinned. "Yes, but what you're suggesting is Paratemporal Contamination. We've got enough problems now with the Paratime Commission and the Executive Council. Besides, it might implicate Archpriest Danthor. Dras is our only window into the Inner Circle. But, getting back to Nythros, aren't they the same people who helped ferry Kalvan into Thagnor? If so, why isn't Kalvan coming to their aid?"

"It was purely a mercantile transaction on both sides," Kostran said. "Kalvan, according to Tortha, was able to pass them some of his Styphon's House bearer bonds in exchange for his passage to Thagnor."

"That's a neat trick."They both laughed. "I wouldn't want to be the city controller who tried to collect on those bonds!"

"Boss, they don't have very good record keeping on Aryan-Transpacific. Those runes are fine for letters, but their numerical system takes up a lot of characters. Kalvan's been trying to introduce the Europo-American numeric system to the Hostigi and they've taken to it pretty well. In another twenty years, even Styphon's House will be using it. But right now the banking houses mostly work on trust. Anyone who's caught committing forgery loses his right hand for the first offense. As a result, they don't get many repeat offenders."