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stratagem, been seized by Dietrich of Tarnburg with no more
    than a few thousand mercenaries. These had entered the city through aquaducts,
    literally over (pg.35) the heads of unsuspecting Cosian armies camped about the
    city. This act had stalled the invasion. I expected Dietrich to be able to hold
    Torcadino through the winter, but little longer. I had borne letters from
    Dietrich to Ar germane to these matters.
    In the intrigues of the time, and to divert suspicion, Gnieus Lelius, high
    councilor, and first minister of Ar, he who was acting as regent in the absence
    of Marlenus, Ubar of the city, had even had me brought to the Central Cylinder
    under guard, as though I might have been arrested, and was to be examined on
    some charge. There, personally and at length, I had spoken to him. I had urged
    him to march to Torcadino and confront the main body of Cosian forces. But the
    troops of Ar had not been recalled, nor diverted to Torcadino. They had
    continued to march northward, as though the major danger lay at Ar’s Station.
    This, in effect, seemed to negate the bold stroke of Dietrich, to slow the
    Cosian advance, and give Ar time to organize, to arm and march. Ar had not moved
    against the Cosians at Torcadino. She had marched north, presumably to relieve
    Ar’s Station. Gnieus Lelius had listened to me thoughtfully and patiently. But
    he would, it seemed, trust to the judgment of his officers.
    I had then been kept in Ar for weeks, a guest in the Central Cylinder, waiting
    and waiting. Then at last I had been given a sealed letter for the commander of
    Ar’s Station, whose name was Aemilianus. That was all. That very night, on
    tarnback, I had streaked northward from Ar. I had sold the tarn only two days
    ago, to proceed on foot. The skies had seemed heavily patrolled. I had little
    doubt they would become more so as I proceeded farther northward. It seemed to
    me that my chances of successfully delivering the message to Aemilianus,
    whatever might be its contents, might be improved if it were borne not by
    tarnsman but by one afoot, one who might, say, among mercenaries, or civilians,
    mix inconspicuously. This speculation was further encouraged by the fact that
    Ar’s station would surely have its tarn wire strung and the skies about it, as
    nearly as I had determined, were currently controlled by Cos.
    (pg.36) “But,” said the man, “such a force has not passed this point.”
    “I do not know its location,” I said. I had stayed at certain inns in the south,
    past which it had taken its march, taking five days to pass given points. Then,
    moving northward, I had stayed at inns, also on, or near, the Vitkel Aria
    somewhere north of Venna.
    “It cannot have just disappeared,” he said.
    “It is a mystery to us,” I said, “but doubtless to those with access to the
    proper intelligence network, its movements and position are well known.” I had
    encountered refugees from Ar’s Station and its environs even south of Venna.
    Some told me they had seen the army pass. Some had even told me that men and
    women they knew had followed the army northward, as though confident of its
    victory and returning to their homes. What puzzled me most was that the Viktel
    Aria was the most direct route, for hundreds of pasangs, to Ar’s Station.
    Indeed, Ar’s Station, in effect, secured the northern terminus of the Viktel
    Aria, or Vosk Road, at the Vosk.
    The Viktel Aria was a military toad, one laid out by military engineers as a
    military route. It sped almost directly from Ar to the Vosk. It made few
    concessions to towns or communities. Its primary purpose was to provide a
    reliable, nearly indestructable surface for the rapid movement of armed men.
    this being the case, however, why had the army of Ar not kept to it, on its
    presumed journey to raise the siege of Ar’s Station? The most likely hypothesis
    seemed to me to be that it was making its way not to Ar’s Station but to
    Brundisium, where, months