«I know what you need to do,» Rhegorios said suddenly. «Have Bagdasares turn the whole Tib into a Voimios strap and flip it about so that all at once we're on the west side and the cursed Makuraners are on the east.»

Maniakes laughed out loud. «You don't think small, do you, cousin of mine? Except for the detail that that sounds like a magic big enough to burn out the brain of every wizard in Videssos, it's a splendid notion.»

«I thought you'd like it,» Rhegorios said. Now both men laughed. Rhegorios went on, «If you've got a better idea, I'd like to hear it.»

«What I'd like to do,» Maniakes said, «is play a trick on them like the one my father used against Smerdis' men when we were fighting alongside Sharbaraz. My father made a big, fancy, obvious move to cross a waterway—pinned the enemy's attention to it nice as you please. Then he put a force across downstream from his feint, just far enough that nobody noticed them till they were too well established to be checked.»

«That sounds good,» Rhegorios agreed. «How do we bring it off?»

«We're short of rafts, and this country doesn't have enough trees to make building them easy,» Maniakes said. «Maybe we can try using the hide boats the locals make.»

«You mean the round ones that look like soup bowls?» Rhegorios rolled his eyes. «To the ice with me if I'd be happy getting into one of those. I can't see how the people who use them keep them from spinning round and round and round. Or were you talking about the rafts that float on top of blown-up hides so they'll carry more? If those are the kinds of ideas the Makuraners get when they think of boats, it's no wonder they never tried coming over the Cattle Crossing.»

«The locals aren't Makuraners,» Maniakes reminded him. «And take a look around, cousin of mine. They do what they can with what they have: not much wood, not much of anything but mud. You can't make a boat out of mud, but you can raise beasts on what grows out of the mud and then use their hides to go up and down the rivers and canals.»

«Do you really want to try putting our men into those crazy things to get to the west bank of the Tib?» Rhegorios said. «Even more to the point, do you think you can get horses into them? Men are stupid; if you order them to go and do something, they'll go and do it, even if they can see it's going to get a raft of them—» He used the term with obvious relish. «—killed. Horses, now, horses have better sense than that.»

Like his cousin, Maniakes knew horses all too often showed lamentably little sense of any sort. That, however, wasn't relevant. Rhegorios' objection was. Maniakes said, «Maybe you're right. But if you are, how do you propose getting over the river?»

«Who, me? You're the Avtokrator; you're supposed to be the one with all the answers,» Rhegorios said, which was highly annoying and true at the same time.

«One of the answers the Avtokrator is allowed to use is picking someone who knows more about a particular bit of business than he does and then listening to what he has to say,» Maniakes returned.

«If you want to talk about the business of chasing pretty girls, I know more than you do,» Rhegorios said. «If you want to talk about the business of guzzling neat wine, I know more than you do. If you want to talk about the business of leading a cavalry column, I know at least as much as you do. If you want to talk about the business of crossing a river without bridging or proper boats, neither one of us knows a bloody thing.»

«You certainly made noises as if you knew,» Maniakes said.

«If you want to talk about the business of making noises, I know more than you do,» Rhegorios said, impudent as usual.

«I know what I'll do.» Maniakes thumped himself in the forehead with the heel of the hand to show he'd been stupid. «I'd have had to do it when we got to the Tib any which way. I'll talk with Ypsilantes.»

For the first time in their conversation, he discovered he had Rhegorios' complete and ungrudging approval. «That's a good idea,» Rhegorios said. «If the chief engineer can't figure out a way to do it, it can't be done. If you want to talk about the business of having good ideas, you may know more than I do.»

Being praised for an idea as obvious as it was good did not make Maniakes feel much better; the thought that it hadn't occurred to Rhegorios, either, consoled him to some degree. He wasted no time in summoning Ypsilantes. The chief engineer was nearer his father's age than his own; he had commanded the engineering detachment accompanying the Videssian army the elder Maniakes had led in alliance with Sharbaraz and against Smerdis.

«How do we get across the river?» he repeated when Maniakes put the question to him. His handsome, fleshy features did not show much of the amusement he obviously felt. «Your Majesty, you leave that to me. Tell me when and where you want to go across and I'll take care of it for you.»

He sounded as confident as if he were discussing his faith in Phos. That made Maniakes feel better; he'd seen Ypsilantes was a man who delivered on his promises. Nonetheless, he persisted: «Tell me one way in which you might accomplish that.»

«Here's one—first one that pops into my head,» Ypsilantes said. «Suppose you want to cross somewhere near the place where a good-sized canal flows off to the northeast from the Tib—flows off behind where we already are, in other words. If we divert water from the river to the canal, what's left of the river will be easy enough to manage. Like I say, you leave all that sort of thing to me, your Majesty.»

Maniakes remembered his thoughts back in Videssos the city on how best to run affairs. Here was a man who plainly knew how to do what needed doing. «When the time comes, Ypsilantes, I will,» the Avtokrator said.

The engineer saluted, clenched right fist over his heart, then hurried off to ready what might need readying. Some officers of his ability would have had their eye on the throne. All he wanted was the chance to play with his toys. Maniakes was more than willing to give him that, and so could give him free rein as well. He wondered if Sharbaraz would have been so trusting, and had his doubts.

When the army was only a couple of days' ride from the Tib, a scout came galloping back to Maniakes. «Your Majesty,» he called, «the King of Kings has sent you an ambassador. He's on his way here now.»

«Has he?» Maniakes said, and then, a moment later, «Is he?» The scout looked confused. Maniakes knew it was his own fault. He went on, «Sharbaraz has never done that before. How can he send me an ambassador when he doesn't recognize me as rightful Avtokrator of the Videssians?»

«I don't know, your Majesty,» the scout said, which had the virtue of being an altogether honest answer.

«Go back and tell this ambassador I'll listen to him,» Maniakes said without any great warmth. The scout hurried off as fast as he had come. Maniakes watched his back. The most likely reason he could find for Sharbaraz to send him an envoy was to try to delay him so the Makuraners on the west bank of the Tib could shore up their defenses. But he couldn't refuse to see the fellow, because the likely reason might not be the true one.

The ambassador reached him less than half an hour later. The fellow rode a fine gray mare and wore a striped caftan shot through with silver threads. He was about fifty, with a full gray beard and the long face, swarthy skin, and deep-set eyes that marked the Makuraners. Bowing in the saddle, he asked in fair Videssian, «You are Maniakes son of Maniakes?»

«Yes,» Maniakes answered. «And you?»

«I am Rafsanj son of Shidjam,» the ambassador said, «and I bring you greetings from Sharbaraz son of Peroz, King of Kings, may his years be many and his realm increase, mighty, powerful, awesome to behold, a man whom the God delights to honor—»

Maniakes held up a hand. Sharbaraz bore more titles and attributes than a stray dog had ticks; Maniakes wasn't interested in having them all trotted out. «Sharbaraz hasn't been interested in treating with me before,» he remarked. «After all, he recognizes the fraud he calls Hosios son of Likinios as Avtokrator of the Videssians, not me. What has made him change his mind?» He thought he knew the answer to that: an invasion that looked like succeeding was a good way to get anyone's attention.