Enemy in the Dark by Jay Allan Read Free Book Online Page B

triumph.
    â€œPlease send Brigadier Orestes my congratulations.” Callisto knew he should call his subordinate himself, but he needed a little time. Time to absorb the magnitude of his army’s ordeal—and to convince himself this was a victory. Orestes was a good officer, and he deserved his commander’s heartfelt thanks, but Callisto didn’t know if he was capable of that. Not yet.
    He didn’t blame Orestes for the losses. He doubted even Marshal Lucerne himself could have won Lusania at a lower cost. But those were still his soldiers out there, and a lot of them were dead or mangled in the field hospitals. If fighting at the side of Marshal Lucerne for three decades had taught Callisto anything, it was never to forget the common soldiers. Generals were prone to blindness toward the suffering their campaigns caused, to the misery of the men they commanded, seeking only personal glory and justifying any amount of pain and suffering with victory.
    Officers like that didn’t last long in Lucerne’s army.
    Callisto knew his first stop. He was going to visit the field hospitals to pay his respects. He owed them nothing less, miserable tribute that it was.
    Then he would go to Orestes’s headquarters. He’d known Ravenna Orestes for a long time, and he suspected the brigadier would be as uncomfortable accepting accolades now as Callisto would be offering them. If there was one thing Augustin Lucerne had pounded into his officers, it was humility, to appreciate and respect the common soldiers, the ones who fought the battles and died in the trenches and the blood-soaked fields.
    Callisto walked slowly down the hillside, his mind focused on the battle now entering its final stages. He knew the fight on Rykara would soon be over, but he felt no satisfaction.
    There is no glory here. Only death and the heavy burden of duty.
    â€œMarshal Lucerne, I am sorry to disturb you, sir, but we have new reports from Rykara and Nordlingen.” The aide stood in the doorway, clad in the absurd red-and-gold uniform the advisory council had mandated for senior staff. His voice was tentative. Like most of Lucerne’s people since the completion of the conquest, he tiptoed around the marshal like a supplicant fearful of offending. He leaned through the open door, peering cautiously toward Lucerne.
    The marshal was lying on the simple cot he’d brought in to replace the ornate bed the master of the household had chosen for him. After a lifetime in the field, he couldn’t sleep a wink in the plush softness of a nobleman’s bedding. His eyes were open, and he was staring up at the ceiling.
    â€œI wasn’t asleep, Colonel.” And if I was, it wouldn ’ t matter. I ’ ve told you all a hundred times I want to be informed when any news comes in no matter what I am doing. Why do you all act like I ’ m going to strike you down for waking me up or interrupting a meal?
    Lucerne disliked the subservience of the civilian staff, but he understood it at least. To them he was a bloody conqueror, the man who’d crushed the brutal warlords who had ruled Celtiboria for centuries. Millions had died in Lucerne’s wars, and their shadows hung over all he did. He was the unquestioned master of the most populous world in the Far Stars, and all but a scant handful of men and women who breathed the air of that planet were afraid of him.
    But Colonel Artemis Cross wasn’t a civilian. He wasn’t just an adjutant. He was a seasoned combat leader with twenty years’ experience in the field. He’d been neck deep in the blood and death of Lucerne’s campaigns, and he’d served with valor anddistinction. And now he hovers around me like some ancient priest meekly begging favor from the gods . What have I created?
    Lucerne could tolerate the foolish worship from new recruits if he had to, but since the war on Celtiboria had been won, even the hardened veterans stared at