* * *

Aidan felt helpless. Detecting something amiss, Horse asked his old friend what was wrong.

"It is command. They have ordered no retaliation, not even a pursuit of those Com Guard cowards. Worst yet, Khan Chistu has directly ordered the Falcon Guards to maintain its position. He will not yet release us to operate independently."

"Those Com Guards were in swift 'Mechs, and we have not made contact with any major Com Star units. Pursuit would have been useless and the Guards cannot break through an enemy that is not there, quiaff?"'

"I suppose so. But the implications of it all are what anger me most. They are as cautious in this matter as with the whole campaign. We move ahead slowly, slower than we have to. We use the dead of night for cover.

When has a Clan unit ever hidden in the night? I tell you, Horse, something has changed in the Jade Falcon leadership, perhaps in the entire Clan command structure."

"What has changed, Aidan?"

"There is a word in the old books we read, Horse. Subtlety. You know what it means. Well, we are being subtle. Imagine, the Clans being subtle in combat or anywhere else. We are a fearless people. Have not Clansmen always preferred the direct, even the brutal, approach? If we did use tricks, we accomplished them in an open field, with no concealment. Now our strategy is more like our enemy's. Eventually, we will be hiding behind disguised topography before springing out."

"Let us hope not. So you think subtlety—if that is the right word—is the wrong approach?"

"I simply do not know. All I know is how unClanlike it seems."

Horse laughed quietly, but the sound came distinctly over the commlink.

"What amuses you, Horse?"

"I was thinking back to when first we met. You were not one to worry over whether something was Clanlike or not. UnAidanlike maybe, but not—"

"That is enough, MechWarrior Horse."

"Yes, sir."

The march toward the Prezno River slowed even more. Other Com Guard units attacked and did some damage, but no more Jade Falcon BattleMechs went down. However, the Jade Falcon lines were spread thinner, as the Falcon command group ordered several Elemental units to patrol the flanks.

Aidan began to feel uneasy. It made no sense that the Clan forces were not sweeping easily to victory on Tukayyid. How had the previously arrived Clans lost so many encounters? Events were not supposed to turn out like this. The Clans had a cause, a just cause, an almost sacred dream. If the Star League was to be restored, it was only just that the Clans should already have arrived on Terra. Then a strange idea struck him. Perhaps, Aidan thought, it was not justice they were dealing with, but fate.

26

The Falcon command group called a halt to the march ten kilometers from the Prezno River, calling all Cluster commanders to a nearby grove for a war council. The MechWarriors remained in place with their 'Mechs, waiting for rations to be brought them by the field techs.

A thin line of dawn outlined the mountains in the distance as Aidan's VTOL descended to the landing area just outside the grove. He would have liked to take the battle into the mountains, for something about rough terrain appealed to him. The relatively uncomplicated flat-land of Prezno Plain seemed favorable only to the defender, especially with the Com Guards' propensity for sneak attacks and ambushes. The enemy had not actually done much damage since the maiming of Faulk, but they had disconcerted the Jade Falcon forces.

What we need now is an all-out assault, Aidan thought. Something that would bind all the Jade Falcon units together. Something that would shock the command group and Khan Chistu out of their ridiculous caution.

The argument was already joined when Aidan entered the war council. Nobody paid him much attention, and being commander of the Falcon Guards would prevent him from having the equal voice in council to which he was entitled. He accepted a bowl of rations from a tech, and began to pick at the meal of mostly vegetables and fruits from Tukayyid as he listened to the discussion.

The issue under debate was whether to give artillery cover to the heavy OmniMechs as they mounted an assault on the two bridges over the Prezno River. Beyond the bridges, which were apparently being held by small units from the Third Com Guard Army and the Eleventh Com Guards, were the two cities that were the Jade Falcons' assigned objectives. Not only were the Cluster commanders arguing over the issue of artillery cover, they were also bickering about how much ammunition to use.

Bored with listening to the various commanders throwing facts and figures at one another, Aidan glanced around the grove. Like him, most of the Jade Falcon officers were silently watching and listening. Some, however, showed by their body movements and sounds of approval or disapproval which side they endorsed. On the fringes of the grove, a few warriors were moving around nervously, eager to get back to their BattleMechs and the battle.

"Your face shows a sour expression, Aidan Pryde," said a voice from behind him. Recognizing the voice at once, Aidan did not turn around immediately. It was Marthe Pryde speaking. Just hearing her set off vivid flashes of memory, particularly of times in the sibko when she used to speak in just this gentle voice. They had talked of so many things in those long ago days, of falcons in the air, pilots in their BattleMechs, fate in their lives.

He turned to see Marthe standing calmly. In one hand, she was holding a thin branch. With the other hand she was methodically pulling off the few spiky leaves still attached to the bark. But she did it absentmindedly, for her eyes were on him.

"I was not aware I looked—what did you say?—sour?"

"Well, most people cannot read your face as I can, the way I learned back in the sibko."

"I thought you had rejected all memory of the sibko."

"What makes you think that?"

"Something you told me once about leaving sibko days behind."

Marthe nodded. "Perhaps I did say that. I do not always speak well." She tested the stick, which she had stripped of leaves, bending it, letting it go, examining its resilience. "What is your opinion of our Tukayyid campaign so far?"

"It has been too cautious, too slow. We should be on the other side of Prezno River by now, but instead we're sitting in some grove discussing how to get there or how much ammo to use in assaulting the bridges."

"You do not approve of the strategy debate?"

Aidan felt his hands go involuntarily into fists. "No, I do not approve.Not that my approval matters one way or another. They argue like merchants over the price of a bauble. How trivial this is." He inclined his head toward where the heated discussion continued.

"Trivial? I do not think Khan Chistu would like to hear that."

"Someone should tell him."

"Perhaps someone will."

"You have his ear?"

"Sometimes. When I wish it."

"You couple with him?"

"Sometimes. When I want to."

"Not under his orders?"

"I do little under anyone's orders."

"I envy you, Marthe."

"No. I envy you, Aidan Pryde."

She looked away from him, away from the debate. With a whip of one arm, she flung the stick, watched it sail out of the grove, then land near the tail section of one of the VTOLs.

"Marthe, how could youenvy me?You must know of my codex by now. I am one of the tainted ones, in command of a dezgraunit, while you, you have ascended to near the top of the Clan Jade Falcon command structure. As you say, the Khan will listen to you."