The Radiant War

Chapter 31b

     A few minutes later, the Brigadier walked towards the gate holding a grimy white shirt, formerly belonging to a street lamp lighter, tied to a pole. His chest itched as he imagined a dozen guns aimed at him, any of which could end his life before he even heard the shot, but he walked steadily and with every outward appearance of confidence as if he was surrounded by a shield of steel that no bullet could penetrate. Sometimes, an uncertain enemy would back down without a shot being fired if faced down firmly and sternly. It wasn't a widely advertised fact, but bluff and bluster was one of the most effective weapons in warfare.

      “Stop where you are!” a voice called out, and the Brigadier relaxed. If they were talking, they weren't going to shoot. “Tell your friends to disperse before we come out and disperse them, and we won’t be taking prisoners!”

     “I came to offer you the chance to surrender,” replied the Brigadier. “As you can see, the whole city is against you. We're in no hurry. If you don't give yourselves up we’ll just starve you out. Doesn't matter to us how long it takes. Weeks, months. It’s all the same to us.”

     The guard laughed. “We've got Radiants!” he said. ”What'll you do if we send them out to get you?”

     “Scatter and hide,” replied the Brigadier, “But that won't do you any good. We can watch every gate from hiding. We'll see if you send anyone out, to fetch food or for any other reason, and they’ll be ambushed in the streets. No-one will return to the palace alive. Maybe you can grow crops in the palace grounds. That's the only way you'll avoid a very unpleasant death from starvation.”

     “You fool!” The guard laughed. “The Radiants can bring food in, right over your heads! They can also bring in explosives and artillery, anything else we need, and when we're ready we’ll retake the city. Put down this pathetic uprising with blood and fire. Give yourselves up now before you make it worse for yourselves.”

     “You think the Radiants will be willing to act as your delivery service?” asked the Brigadier. “You think they've got nothing better to do? Why should they care if you live or die? Why should they go to that much trouble for you? King Nilon's regime is over. His army has been destroyed...”

     “That's a lie!” There was an edge in the man's voice that told the Brigadier that he was half ready to believe it, though. There must be rumours circulating in the palace. If ordinary citizens could receive news by pigeon from Helberion, then surely the King could as well, and although powerful people usually took precautions to prevent sensitive conversations from being overheard, accidents happened. People were occasionally careless, especially if they were under stress or in the grip of a powerful emotion. The Brigadier was heartened, therefore. He now believed that the palace was full of rumours of a massive defeat in Helberion. Whether the rumours were true, of course, was another matter.

     He decided to push his luck, therefore. What mattered wasn’t the truth, so much. It was what people believed the truth to be, and that was where he had the chance to help things along a bit. “It is the truth,” he said therefore. “We are in communication with our agents in Helberion...” Not exactly a lie if a message sent by pigeon carrying third hand news counted as a communication with agents. “...and they are keeping us fully informed of events over there. Carrow's army has been destroyed and King Leothan is sending his own army to carry out a punitive strike on this city. You have nothing to stop him but a few hundred city guards armed only with sidearms. Better for you to surrender now than suffer injury or death when your palace comes under artillery fire.”

     That last bit was an outright lie, of course, but lies, or disinformation as military people liked to call it, was another well established weapon in times of war. As the guards knew very well, of course. The Brigadier didn't expect them to believe him. He only wanted to sow a few seeds of doubt and he knew he had succeeded when there was a long pause before the guard spoke again, as if he and his fellows were having a furious discussion in hushed voices as to whether his outrageous claim was to be believed.