Read Online War Maid's Choice-ARC by David Weber - Free Book Online Page B

he hated operating blindly. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to do it, but he’d never liked it. It was difficult—and risky—to improvise or modify strategies when he didn’t even know what the ultimate motives of and reasons for his orders were.
    The orders themselves were remarkably clear and unambiguous, however. That was something.
    “All right,” he said after a moment, allowing his chair to come back upright. “Having just told you we’re not going to move until we’re ready, now I’m going to tell you that we are ready...almost.”
    “We are?” Sahrdohr straightened with a jerk, and even Salgahn’s eyes narrowed speculatively.
    “‘Almost,’ I said,” Varnaythus cautioned, raising one index finger. “There’s been a certain degree of...discussion back and forth, and I’ve convinced Them we need a narrower focus this time. One of the reasons we failed last time was that each of Them had His or Her own objectives and strategies. This time our Lady is in charge, Sahrdohr, and we’re going to avoid the kinds of distractions that got in the way last time.”
    Both Sahrdohr and Salgahn nodded in understanding. The Dark Gods’ greatest weakness was their unwillingness to truly cooperate with one another. The same weakness afflicted their servants, but it was even worse among the gods themselves.
    “That’s good to hear,” Sahrdohr said after a moment, and to his credit, he sounded as if he actually meant it. Which he might, Varnaythus reflected. The mortality rate among the Dark Gods’ servants who had actually faced Bahzell Bahnakson or Tomanāk’s other champions here on the Wind Plain had been effectively total. Sahrdohr could well be analyzing how his own position might be improved if something unfortunate happened to Varnaythus.
    Of course, if whatever happens to me is truly unfortunate, it’ll probably happen to him, too. I wonder if he’s factoring that into his analysis?
    “I think it’s good news, too,” he replied aloud. “But let’s not any of us start thinking this is going to be simple, because it’s not.”
    “If it were going to be simple, they wouldn’t need us ,” Sahrdohr said with a grin which made him look even younger.
    “A reassuring thought, I’m sure,” Varnaythus said dryly, and Salgahn surprised him with a chuckle.
    “All right,” the elder wizard continued. “We’ve been ‘authorized’ to assassinate Bahzell and Tellian ourselves if we can find a way to do it.” He rolled his eyes, and both of his companions grimaced. The Dark Gods had tried that approach more than once now...with uniformly disastrous results for their mortal instruments. None of the present trio were in favor of encountering those same results in person.
    “Obviously,” he continued, “there are limits to how directly we can approach that sort of thing. I’m, ah...doing my best to encourage our good frind Arthnar to organize an attempt, and he’s certainly got more than enough motivation, given what their canal projects are going to do to his own arrangements. Unfortunately, he’s not an idiot, either, so I don’t know how successful I’ll be in getting him to move.” He shrugged. “I think we can probably get him to at least see what a few anonymously hired mercenaries can accomplish, but it would be foolish to expect a high chance of success 0ut of that sort of attempt.”
    “I can understand his reluctance,” Sahrdohr said drily. “On the other hand, what about an attempt on Bahnak or Kilthandahknarthas? Killing either of them would probably derail their damned project, as well, wouldn’t it? I’ll admit they could probably survive better without the dwarf than without Bahnak, even if Kilthan was the one who got Silver Cavern and Dwarvenhame to put their weight behind Bahnak in the first place. But losing him would still have to be a major blow. And Bahnak, now...he’s the glue holding this entire hradani ‘Confederation’ together, and there have to be