Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 451
the queen’s forces on a long retreat along the oceanside. He
had the navy on his side, so the queen’s forces could not pursue
his army too far.
Then he struck inland, and captured the desert stockpiles.
When the end of the campaign season arrived, the queen’s
forces had exhausted their supplies, but Lavin’s forces had
several months’ worth of grain and dried fish. They drove
north, as the queen’s forces suffered desertion and attrition. By
the spring of this year, they had taken two-thirds of the
country. The queen retreated to her summer palace, and Lavin
marched a small force into the desert to clean out her
experimental towns, and strike at her palace from the south.
That force had encountered no resistance, and arrived here
sooner than expected. The queen’s forces were engaged west
of the palace by the bulk of Lavin’s army. He had no time for
a decent siege of the walled summer palace. Lavin would have
to throw them against the walls in a day or two, or face the
retreating royal army.
"It’s okay, though," drawled the Winckler. "He’s got a
plan, as usual."
Maenin squinted through the roiling wood smoke.
"What? What plan?"
"Haven’t you heard? He’s going to meet the queen
tomorrow, to get her to surrender. If he does it, we don’t have
to fight at all. The war will be over!"
"Shit. Really?" Maenin shook his head. "That’d be
something. Be too bad, though, I kinda wanted to taste one of
those noble ladies she’s hiding there. The perverts were no
fun. They had no spirit. I want a woman who’ll try and claw
my eyes out!" He laughed, and the others joined in. Calandria
showed her teeth.
They speculated for a while about how well the noble