Cook, Glen - Dread Empire - 02 by Cook Glen

Author:Cook, Glen [Cook, Glen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen:

SUMMER’S END

Mowaffak Hali overcame the army of Ipopotam quite cleverly. He seized the poppy fields before

they could be destroyed. But now bands of partisans roamed the countryside.

“They’re a stiff-necked people, Lord,” he admitted. “They won’t accept amnesty.”

“I don’t want excuses, Mowaffak. I want them brought to heel.”

“They’re using the tactics we did before coming to power, Lord.”

“Not exactly. There’s a difference, Mowaffak. Aboud’s people didn’t know who their friends

were. We do. Till they stop resisting slay every man you encounter. Burn their villages. Destroy their fields. Drive them into the forests. Pull down their heathen temples. Eradicate their devil-worshipping priests. And feed and treat kindly those who yield their arms.”

“They’re not wild dogs, Lord.”

“I’m getting old, Mowaffak. There isn’t an ounce of mercy in me anymore.”

“I have news from the north, Lord. The northern host moved against us there.”

A chill crawled over El Murid. His expression betrayed him.

“The news isn’t bad, Lord. El-Kader turned them. And the Scourge of God has destroyed the

Altean army. It’s only a matter of time till he occupies Kavelin and links up with el Nadim.”

“El-Kader succeeded without Nassef? This year’s campaign is a success?”

“So it would seem. The Scourge of God is preoccupied with bin Yousif and the Guildsmen

who slew Karim. He means to have his revenge. And yours, Lord.”

El Murid became pensive. Mowaffak was politicking again. “I have my grievances with bin

Yousif. But he’s only a minor nuisance. Nassef is letting himself be distracted by a side issue. His warriors are needed against the army of the north. This is no time to indulge personal desire.”

“My thought exactly, Lord.”

Hali’s expression betrayed him. Ipopotam was the grossest of side issues, of indulgences.

Pacification was tying up thousands of warriors needed elsewhere.

“Go away, Mowaffak. Flog these people. Bring them to heel.”

“As you command, Lord.”

El Murid glared at Hali’s retreating back. Once again Mowaffak had left him to wrestle with

his conscience.

Mowaffak was right. But he dared not enter the moral and spiritual lists, to do battle with

his addiction, while this war demanded his attention. The war between the soul and the flesh,

when it came, would consume him. It would be total and without quarter.

Cued by his thinking, his old wounds began aching.

The Disciple’s retinue were worried. Their master seemed to have lost his spirit, his zest, his drive. All too often he retreated into his own inner realms rather than face the crises staring at the Kingdom. Some, like Hali, begged Esmat for help.

What could he do? the physician asked. He simply did not have the personal or moral

courage to shed his procurer’s role.

And because of that weakness, even Esmat himself held Esmat in contempt.

Altaf el-Kader was not known as an emotional man. His acquaintances knew him as one who

let himself be rattled by nothing.

Nevertheless, he blew up when the crows of disaster fluttered in from Altea. Even his

boldest subordinates could not approach him. But when the storm blew away, el-Kader was

more cool than ever. He had, in a way, been reborn.

He spoke to the assembled captains of the Host of Illumination.

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