Free Jonathan Moeller - The Ghosts 06 - Ghost in the Forge by Jonathan Moeller

discreet distance behind Halfdan, hands near his weapons. 
    The objects of Lord Titus’s ire waited twenty paces away. Four hundred Anshani cavalrymen, armored in scale mail and spiked helmets, spears resting in their hands, long oval shields upon their arms, and bows and quivers hanging from their saddles. Their leader, an Anshani khadjar, wore a cloak of brilliant crimson silk. The other horsemen were anjars, lesser nobles who owned enough land to equip themselves with horse and armor. The Imperial Legions produced the finest infantry in the world, but the Anshani nobles fielded the best horsemen. 
    If it came to a fight, Caina was not sure who would win.
    “It is still egregious,” said Titus. “Are we brigands, that the Shahenshah should send soldiers to dog our path?”
    “It is part of the Emperor’s agreement with the Shahenshah,” said Halfdan. He sounded as if he were soothing a truculent child. “The Shahenshah agreed to allow the Emperor’s Lord Ambassador to cross his lands with a cohort of the Imperial Guard. But until we leave the boundaries of Anshan, a guard of the Shahenshah’s soldiers will escort us.”
    “To make sure we stay out of trouble,” said Titus.
    “In essence, yes,” said Halfdan. “But it would be impolite to say so.”
    “No one,” said Titus, “will match a Lord of the Empire for courtesy. Very well. Let us greet our…escort.” 
    He spurred his horse forward, accompanied by his bodyguards and a squad of the Imperial Guard.

    ###

    The column traveled south across the grasslands, and then came to the Great Western Caravan Road.
    Caina had read about it in her father’s books as a child. The road began in Anshan and traveled through the hills and mountains at the heart of the Shahenshah’s domain. It cut through the western grasslands, the Red Forest and the petty domains of the free cities, and reached the gates of New Kyre. There were many romantic tales about dashing highwaymen preying upon the merchants of the Road, highwaymen who sometimes abducted the merchants’ petulant daughters and won their hearts with roguish charm.
    Caina suspected the reality was rather more prosaic. 
    “All those grain wagons,” said Corvalis. A constant line of grain wagons traveled west along the Road. “Where are they going?”
    “New Kyre,” said Caina, walking at his side. She had given up riding in the wagon. Claudia rode in the wagon, and she constantly offered suggestions on how the teamsters could handle their animals, how the Imperial Guards could clean their weapons, and how the merchants could store their cargoes. If she was masquerading as a merchant’s spoiled daughter, Claudia was doing a fine job. 
    Caina suspected she was not masquerading. 
    “Why New Kyre?” said Corvalis.
    Halfdan spoke up from the wagon. “New Kyre controls only a few hundred square miles outside of its city walls. Half a million people live in New Kyre, and the city cannot possibly feed itself. So they must import grain. Their fleets carry grain to their harbors, and they buy the rest from Anshan. Anshani khadjars have made vast fortunes selling grain to the Kyracians. Cyrican lords, too, before the war started.”
    “A pity,” said Claudia, “that the Legions cannot strike these grain caravans. The Empire could strangle New Kyre and end the war.”
    “If we did that, my daughter,” said Halfdan, “that would mean war with Anshan. The Shahenshah allows those caravans to pass through his lands, and his khadjars reap great profits selling grain to the Kyracians. Were the Empire to attack a single Anshani caravan, the Shahenshah would declare war upon the Empire…and the Emperor would lose any chance of forcing the war to a truce.” He wiped some sweat from his brow. “Though such concerns are far above a simple merchant of jewels.” 

    ###

    The next day a second caravan joined the column.
    And unlike the others, it was not carrying grain. 
    The caravan had a dozen wagons, and