soldiers? The idea was absurd-why would Basilica have mercenary soldiers running loose? Had there been a war? God had never made Moozh so forgetful that he couldn't remember a whole war!
"And the immediate provocation-the murders. The blood was already flowing-we had to come, to stop the bloodshed. Yes, that will be plenty of justification for it. No one can criticize us for attacking the city of women, if we come to save them from blood in the streets."
So that's my plan, thought Moozh. A very good one it is. Even God can't stop me from carrying it out. "Write it up, Plod, and have my aides draw up detailed orders for a thousand men to march in four columns through the mountains. Only three days' worth of supplies-the men can carry it on their backs."
"Three days!" said Plod. "And what if something goes wrong?"
"Knowing they have but three days' worth of food, dear Plod, the men will march very fast indeed, and they will allow nothing to delay them."
"What if the situation has changed at Basilica, when we arrive? What if we meet stout resistance? The walls of Basilica are high and thick, and chariots are useless in that terrain."
"Then it's a good thing we'll bring no chariots, isn't it? Except perhaps one, for my triumphal entry into the city-in the name of the Imperator, of course."
"Still, they might resist, and we'll arrive with scarcely any food to spare. We can't exactly besiege them!"
"Well have no need to besiege them. We have only to ask them to open the gates, and the gates will open."
"Why?"
"Because I say so," said Moozh. "When have I been wrong before?"
Plod shook his head. "Never, my dear friend and beloved general. But by the time we get the Imperator's permission to go there, the chaos in the streets of Basilica may well have been settled, and it will take a much larger army than a thousand men to force the issue."
Moozh looked at him in surprise. "Why would we wait for the Imperator's permission?"
"Because the Imperator forbade you to make any attack until the stormy season is over."
"On the contrary," said Moozh. "The Imperator forbade me to attack Nakavalnu and Izmennik. I am not attacking them. I'm passing them by on their left flank, and marching as swift as horses through the mountains to Basilica, where again I will not attack anybody, but will rather enter the city of Basilica to restore order in the name of the Imperator. None of this violates any order of the Imperator."
Plod's face darkened. "You are interpreting the words of the Imperator, my general, and that is something only the intercessor has the right to do."
"Every soldier and every officer must interpret the orders he is given. I was sent to these southlands in order to conquer the entire western shore of the Earthbound Sea-that was the command the Imperator gave to me, and to me alone. If I failed to seize this great opportunity that God has given me"-ha!-"then I would be disobedient indeed."
"My dear friend, noblest general of the Gorayni, I beg you not to attempt this. The intercessor will not see it as obedience but as insubordination."
"Then the intercessor is no true servant of the Imperator. "
Plod immediately bowed his head. "I see that I have spoken too boldly."
Moozh knew at once that this meant Plod intended to tell the intercessor everything and try to stop him. When Plod meant to obey, he did not put on this great pretense of obedience.
"Give me your computer," said Moozh. "I will write the orders myself."
"Don't shame me," said Plod in dismay. "I must write them, or I have failed in my duty to you."
"You will sit with me here," said Moozh, "and watch as I write the orders."
Plod flung himself to his knees on the carpets. "Moozh, my friend, I'd rather you kill me than shame me like this."
"I knew that you didn't intend to obey me," said Moozh. "Don't lie and say you did."
"I meant to delay," said Plod. "I meant to give you time to reconsider. Hoping that you'd realize the grave danger of opposing the Imperator, especially so soon after you dreamed a dream that was contemptuous of his holy person."
It took a moment for Moozh to remember what Plod was referring to; then his rage turned cold and hard indeed. "Who would know of that dream, except myself and my friend?"
"Your friend loved you enough to tell the dream to the intercessor," said Plod,