Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 450
making these pervert things out there in the desert. And she
says no."
"She dissolved Parliament," said the Winckler.
"Know what that means, boy? She told all ‘em nobles to
get packing! She’d run the country directly." Maenin shook
his head. "She wanted to turn us all into perverts! The towns
were just the start. After them, the cities, who knows what
we’d be having to say? All I know is I’ll never take orders
from no pervert."
"The nobles who make up the Upper House formed an
army," said the Winckler. "They called on General Lavin to
command it. Except he wasn’t a general, then. He was from
one of the old families, they gave him the job because he had
pull."
Maenin stood up. "Shut up! The General’s a good man.
He’s kept us alive right to the palace, and he’ll keep us alive
when we go in. We’re gonna win, and it’s ‘cause of him."
The Winckler raised his hands apologetically. "You’re
right, Maenin. You are indeed right. To start with, the queen’s
army was bigger than ours. We licked ‘em, and it was ‘cause
of the General."
"Damn right." Maenin sat down.
"How did you do that?" Calandria asked, trying to project
boyish curiosity.
Maenin and the Winckler told how Lavin had predicated
his campaign on knowledge of stockpiles the queen kept in the
desert. Summer was traditionally the time for campaigning; in
northern Ventus, war stopped when the snows came. Iapysia’s
southern desert remained warm, but the population was mostly
concentrated along the northern border of the desert, and the
seashore.
Lavin launched a phony campaign in summer, and drew