Not that he expected to fool anyone about that.
He considered the faces of his two fellow admirals. Sharpfield looked skeptical, but then, Sharpfield always looked skeptical. None of Black Water's spies had been able to intercept any of Queen Sharleyan's dispatches to her fleet commander, despite their best efforts, but the duke was privately certain of what he would have found if he had been able to read any of them. And, to be honest, he didn't blame Sharleyan a bit. In her shoes, he would have done everything he thought he could get away with to minimize his own exposure and losses in the service of one of his most bitter enemies. Not that understanding her motives made their consequences any more pleasant.
Still, Sharpfield was also a considerably more experienced naval commander then Prince Nahrmahn's Earl Mahndyr. And however unwillingly his queen had been compelled to support this entire campaign, Sharpfield was far too intelligent to do anything overt to which the Group of Four might take exception.
Mahndyr was another matter. Unlike Sharleyan, Nahrmahn had every reason to want this campaign to succeed. Well, to see it avoid failure, which wasn't precisely the same thing, perhaps. Black Water, now that he'd met the Prince of Emerald, had come to the conclusion that his own ruler had underestimated him. Nahrmahn was anything but the fool Black Water had been warned to expect, and, the duke was quietly certain, he'd made arrangements of his own to protect himself from the consequences of a victory by Prince Hektor. Whether or not those arrangements would work was another matter, of course. But, either way, he was even more certain Nahrmahn would prefer to take his chances against a victorious Hektor rather than against a victorious-and enraged-Haarahld.
That would definitely appear to be the case judging by the way Nahrmahn's navy had responded to Black Water's orders in the two months since the destruction of Baron Tanlyr Keep's squadron, at any rate. Mahndyr had pitched in and goaded his own captains and crews into energetic-if not necessarily wildly enthusiastic-cooperation with Black Water's rigorous training exercises.
Sharpfield's cooperation had been less enthusiastic than Mahndyr's, but, by the same token, his captains had been better trained to begin with. And Black Water had taken Sharpefield's own experience into consideration and sought his advice in planning the fleet's exercises, which actually appeared to have gotten the senior Chisholm officer actively involved in the process. The duke had also been careful to stay fairly close to home during those two months, unwilling to offer the Charisians the opportunity to lure another detachment into a trap until he'd whipped his command into something a bit more cohesive, and his efforts had borne fruit.
There were still weak spots, of course. Black Water suspected there would have been in any coalition this diverse, even if all of its members had wanted to join it in the first place.
The worst weakness of all was that the components of the fleet were still organized on a national basis. Black Water would really have preferred to break up all three of the allied fleets and recombine their units into integrated squadrons. Not even Mahndyr was going to agree to that one, though.
Short of achieving that particular impossible goal, the duke was about as satisfied with his command as he had any right to expect in this less-than-perfect world. It wasn't going to get much better, at any rate, and at least he could count on its doing pretty much what he asked it to at sea. The problem was convincing his fellow admirals that what he wanted to do needed doing before they put to sea.
"Thank you, Sir Kehvyn," Black Water said as the flag captain completed his briefing. Then he looked down the table at Sharpfield and Mahndyr.
"I believe this information puts rather a different complexion on our own situation," he said. "Clearly Haarahld's known a great deal more about our plans-and our capabilities-than any of us had believed was possible. Exactly how that information came into his hands is something I'm sure all of us would like to know. What matters for our purposes right this minute, however, is what we do now that we know what he's apparently done on the basis of his knowledge."
"With all due respect, Your Grace," Sharpfield said, "do we really know what he's done? We have a single report from a single one of Prince Hektor's spies. Even granting that the man is completely honest, and that the information he's reported is true to the best of his own knowledge, he could be in error on some-or all-of the points in his report. And even if every word of it's completely accurate, we have no way of knowing what's come of Haarahld's actions."
The Chisholm admiral shook his head with a half-snort.
"Personally, I think Haarahld would have to have been out of his mind to try something this idiotic, and I can't remember the last time someone accused Haarahld of Charis of stupidity. The chances of his even finding Malikai and White Ford at sea, whether he knew the originally proposed location for their rendezvous point or not, would be minute. And, even if Cayleb did find them, his galleons would have been outnumbered by something like six-to-one when they engaged."
He shook his head again.
"I simply can't see Haarahld taking that sort of chance with that big a piece of his total navy-and his own son's life-when he'd have to be shooting almost completely blind."
"Then what do you think he's done, My Lord?" Black Water asked courteously.
"I don't have the least idea," Earl Sharpfield said frankly. "I suppose it's remotely possible he's trying some sort of complicated double bluff. If he ostentatiously sent his galleons off early, counting on us to still have at least some spies in Charis to report the fact, he could want us to believe the topsails we've been seeing belong to merchantmen, when they're actually the sails of his war galleons. On the other hand, I'd have to admit that trying something like that doesn't strike me as a great deal more reasonable than sending his entire force of galleons haring off into the middle of the Parker Sea!"
"Well, he's obviously done something with them," Mahndyr said, "and I, for one, am inclined to trust your man's information, Your Grace." He inclined his head in Black Water's direction. "I'll defer to Earl Sharpfield's greater experience at sea and agree it seems like a remarkably foolhardy risk on Haarahld's part. Still, if he did have better knowledge of our plans than we believed he did, he must have known the odds, the forces being assembled against him. He may have calculated that he couldn't hope to defeat our combined forces after all of them were joined together and decided that some chance-even if it were a slim one-of preventing us from ever uniting all of our ships at all was better than a certainty of seeing his own fleet destroyed after we did."
"That's certainly possible," Sharpfield acknowledged a bit grudgingly. "It just seems so . . . unlike Haarahld. He's very like his father was. I met the old king when I was a captain. The Queen's father chose my ship to transport a diplomatic mission to him, and my impression of him was that he was always ready to take chances, even bold ones, but only when the possible return outweighed the risk and the odds were in his favor. Everything I've ever heard about Haarahld says he thinks exactly the same way, and that isn't-can't-be the case here, whatever this report seemed to indicate."
"I would tend to agree with you, under normal circumstances, My Lord," Black Water said. "In this case, though, I believe we have to at least tentatively accept that the information is correct. And if it is, then I think we must also assume that either Cayleb managed to intercept Duke Malikai, or else he didn't. If he did, they've fought a battle, which one of them won. If Cayleb won-or even if he simply failed to make contact at all-he should be back sometime in the next two to four five-days. If Duke Malikai won, he should be here within the same timeframe. If he slipped past Cayleb without making contact at all, he should be here within no more than the next two five-days. What we have to do is to decide how to proceed until one or the other of them turns up."
"I'm very tempted to suggest we do nothing to bring on a general engagement until Duke Malikai arrives," Sharpfield said. "That was the original plan for the campaign, and it would offer at least some protection against the possibility that Haarahld truly is trying some sort of complicated misdirection with the movements of his galleons. And," he added, looking Black Water straight in the eye, "if Duke Malikai and Baron White Ford don't arrive, that should be a fairly pointed indication of what will happen to our galleys in a battle against these new galleons of theirs."
"I disagree, Sir Lewk," Mahndyr said in a courteous tone. "I believe we should do our very best to provoke, even force, a general engagement as soon as possible. If Duke Malikai won against Cayleb, then we'll be in an even better position to proceed after his arrival if we've managed to defeat Haarahld, in the meantime. If he lost, but still managed to inflict heavy losses on Cayleb, then it's important that we neutralize Haarahld's galleys to prevent them from supporting and covering Cayleb on his return. And if Cayleb won without suffering significant losses, it's more important than ever that we not have to worry about facing Haarahld's galleys at the same time we confront him."
"I find myself in agreement with Earl Mahndyr, My Lord," Black Water said to Sharpfield. "I'll confess that I myself would feel much more comfortable if we had some independent confirmation of this single report. Nonetheless, it seems to me we have to at least probe to see whether or not Haarahld's galleons are in company with the rest of his fleet.
"If it turns out they are, our information is obviously in error. If it turns out they aren't, then I think Earl Mahndyr's suggestions will have considerable merit. While it's true the original plan for this campaign required us to wait for the arrival of the Tarotisian and Dohlaran squadrons, it's also true the reason we were waiting for them was to attain a decisive numerical superiority over the Charisians. If all we face is the eighty galleys of Haarahld's peacetime navy, then we have a decisive superiority at this moment."
There was silence for a moment, and then, almost as if against his will, Sharpfield nodded slowly.
VII
Off Triton Head,
Charis Sea
"They are coming south, Your Majesty."
Captain Tryvythyn gave King Haarahld a rather peculiar look. The sort, Haarahld reflected, which was normally reserved for prophets, madmen . . . or seijin.
"Are they, indeed, Dynzyl?" he responded mildly, looking up from his lunch.
"Yes, they are, and in considerable strength," his flag captain said. "According to Flash, it looks like their entire fleet, in fact."
"I see."
Haarahld picked up his wineglass and sipped, then wiped his lips with a snowy napkin.
"Well, Dynzyl," he said then, "if they seem intent on offering battle, I suppose they have a reason to. We, on the other hand, do not."
"Not an immediate reason, Your Majesty, no," Tryvythyn agreed. The i on the adjective was slight, but unmistakable, and Haarahld smiled.
"Dynzyl, Dynzyl!" The king shook his head. "I know giving ground against these . . . people goes against the grain. And I know Bryahn kicked their arses for them the last time they came this far south. But you and I both know they wouldn't be here if Black Water didn't feel fairly confident we wouldn't be doing that to them again. And whatever they may want, what we want is to continue to buy time until Cayleb returns."
"True enough, Your Majesty," Tryvythyn conceded.
He did not, Haarahld noticed, point out that no one in the Charisian fleet knew whether or not Cayleb was returning. The king felt a sudden, powerful temptation to tell his flag captain what he knew, but he suppressed it easily enough.
"Pass the word to Bryahn," he directed instead. "Tell him to execute the plans we discussed yesterday."
* * *
"Well, this is unexpected," Duke Black Water commented, and Sir Kehvyn Myrgyn chuckled beside him.
"I hadn't realized what a gift for understatement you have, Your Grace," the flag captain said, when Black Water looked at him, and the duke smiled. But then the smile faded, replaced by a thoughtful frown, as he considered the report.
"South," he murmured, scratching the tip of his nose while the brisk northeasterly ruffled his hair. "Why south?"
"It does seem peculiar, Your Grace," Myrgyn observed. "I would have expected him to fall back towards Rock Shoal Bay, if he was intent on avoiding action."
"So would I," Black Water agreed.
He cocked his head and clasped his hands behind him, standing by the starboard bulwark of Corisande's aftercastle, and rocked up and down on his toes for several seconds.
"Whatever he's up to, Your Grace," Myrgyn offered, "it does look as if he wants to avoid a general engagement."
"Which would appear to confirm the report that his galleons are somewhere else." Black Water nodded. "If all he has is eighty galleys, of course he doesn't want to fight our combined strength. But this business of falling back away from Rock Shoal Bay . . . That bothers me."
"You think he's trying to draw us into some sort of ambush, Your Grace?"
"An ambush by what?" Black Water asked. The frustration in his question wasn't directed at his flag captain, as Myrgyn understood perfectly, and the duke flung out one arm in a sweeping gesture at the long columns of allied galleys forging steadily southwest.
"If our information's correct, he doesn't have anything he could 'ambush' us with! And if our information isn't correct, what point would be served by moving clear down into Darcos Sound before offering battle?"
"Perhaps he's simply trying to avoid being trapped inside the Bay, Your Grace," Myrgyn suggested after a moment. Black Water looked at him, one eyebrow raised, and the flag captain shrugged.
"We've always assumed the Charisians would fight to hold the bay, Your Grace. What if we were wrong? What if Haarahld's willing to let us have the bay, if that's what it takes to prevent us from pinning him down?"
"In theory, if he did that, it would give us the opportunity to send a raiding force past Lock Island," Black Water said thoughtfully. "Would he run that risk?"
