Read Online Century of the Soldier: The Collected Monarchies of God (Volume Two) by Paul Kearney - Free Book Online

point of taciturnity, and yet generous to a fault. He and Avila had been completely outfitted with cold-weather clothing and all forms of travelling gear. They had been given mules from the baggage train to ride when every man in the army marched on foot, even its commander, Barbius. Their hurts had been doctored by army physicians with terse gentleness, and as they were completely inept their rations were cooked for them at night by Joshelin and Siward, the two soldiers who seemed to have been assigned to look after them: two older men who had been relegated from the front rank of fighting infantry to look after the baggage train, and who accepted their extra duties without a murmur.
    "An incredible society, it must be, in Fimbria," Avila said to his friend as they rode along near the back of the mile-long column.
    "How is that?" Albrec asked him.
    "Well, so far as I can make out, there is no nobility. That's why their leaders are called electors. They have a series of assemblies at which names are put forward, and the male population vote for their leaders, with each man's vote counting for the same as the next, whether he be a blacksmith or a landowner. It's the merest anarchy."
    "Strange," Albrec said. "Equality among all men. Have you noticed how free and easy the men are with our friend the marshal, Barbius? He has no household worth speaking of, no bodyguards or retainers. And he keeps no state, except for a tent where the senior officers meet. But for the fact that they do as he says, there's no difference between him and the lowliest foot-soldier."
    "It is incredible," Avila agreed. "How they ever conquered the world I'll never know. Were they always like this, Albrec?"
    "They had emperors once, and it was the choosing of the last one that sent the electorates into civil war and provided the opportunity for the provinces to break away and become the Seven Kingdoms."
    "What happened?"
    "Arbius Menin, the emperor, was dying, and wanted his son to succeed him even though he was a boy of eight. Sons had succeeded fathers before, but they had been men of maturity and ability, not children. The other electors wouldn't stand for it, and there was war. The empire crumbled around their ears while Fimbrian battled Fimbrian. Narbosk broke away from Fimbria entirely and became the separate state it is today. The other electorates finally patched up their differences and tried to win the provinces back, but they had bled the country white and no longer had the strength. The Seven Kingdoms arose in place of the empire. The world had changed, and there was no going back. Fimbria retreated in on itself and no longer took an interest in anything outside its own borders."
    "Until now. This time," Avila said grimly.
    "Yes. Until this day."
    "What changed their minds, I wonder?"
    "Who can say? Lucky for us something did."
    Joshelin came alongside them, leading his train of mules, his weathered face aflame with the cold and the pace of the march.
    "You sound like a student of history," he said to Albrec. "I thought you were a monk."
    "I used to read a lot."
    "Aye? What about that book you were so keen to get back from the marshal's tent? Is it worth reading?"
    "Whatever it is, it doesn't concern you," Avila said tartly. Joshelin merely looked at him.
    "Only the ignorant are too poor to afford courtesy," he said. "Inceptine." He slowed his paced so that the two monks drew ahead of him again.
    Albrec touched the ancient document that was once more hidden in the folds of his cloak. Barbius had given it over with not even a question as to its content. The little monk had received the impression that the Fimbrian marshal had a lot on his mind. There were couriers - the only Fimbrians who ever went mounted - coming and going every day, and camp rumour had it that they were in contact with General Martellus of Ormann Dyke, and that the news they bore was not good.
    Soon the time would come when the two monks would have to break away from the