The Shadows of God by J. Gregory Keyes Page A

me in the slightest, I fear I will be forced to demonstrate just how we treat your sort on this continent, if we take a mind to.”
    The earl tried to glare, and the veins pulsed on his forehead.
    “James is your rightful king,” he said weakly.
    “I once would have agreed with you,” Oglethorpe said mildly, “as well you know. But that was before he forsook God and took Lucifer and the damned Russians as his bosom companions. Now only two sorts of men serve him —the evil and the foolish. Which are you, Mar? Evil I will not tolerate. I have the head of your pet witch in a bag. My Indian friends wish to burn the evil from you, slowly, with all the craft of their kind. But if you are merely foolish, you can make amends. You can set things right.”
    “May I have some brandy?”
    Oglethorpe laughed. “Yes, and you may have some brandy.”
    “No — I meant—now, I meant…”
    “I know you did. You may have it. Will it be one cordial of many to come or your last drink before dying?”
    “You are no gentleman, sir, and your father would be ashamed.”
    “My father is dead, and his estates are ash. Answer my question.”
    The earl dropped his head. “Curse me for an old man,” he muttered, “but do not give me to the savages. I’m tired of this place, weary of this war. I will tell you what you wish to know. Only do not give me over to them.”
    And Oglethorpe smiled as he might at a wayward child.

    THE SHADOWS OF GOD
    “You have my word. Serve me as I wish, and you will be quite safe. Joseph, bring him some brandy, will you?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Mar gulped at it when it was in his hands. “I heard you were dead, you know,”
    Mar said, after a moment. “We had reports that your army had been crushed.”
    “I don’t doubt it. I put those reports out myself.”
    “Eh? But General Simmon’s command — ”
    “Quite destroyed. But I found one of his field aetherschreibers, and thus sent word back to Charles Town and your false king of a… different outcome. I’m sure they’re onto the trick by now, but now they don’t know where I am. Even with their flying corvettes, they must have some idea where to look, and they have none.” He raised his glass. “But they will. Nairne is at Fort Montgomery.”
    “Yes.”
    “And you have laid siege to it.”
    “I have.”
    “And how does that proceed?”
    “Not well, thus far, but—” Mar stopped quite quickly.
    “I did say everything,” Oglethorpe reminded him gently. “Vex me in the slightest, I said.”
    “I sent for reinforcements,” Mar admitted.
    “Are they coming on foot or in the flying ships?”
    “Neither.”
    “Boats, then, up the Altamaha? Come, sir, do not make me guess.”

    THE SHADOWS OF GOD
    “Boats, yes. The underwater boats the Moscovados brought.”
    “Oh, yes. Franklin told me about those. I have not seen one with my own eyes.
    But I think I shall. How many men do you have at the siege?”
    “Five hundred men and fifty taloi.”
    “Fifty taloi.” Five hundred men was a lot, considering he had only fifty-four.
    The taloi were automatons, made of alchemical stuff and inhabited by demons.
    At close range they could be dealt with, for the wizard Franklin had supplied him with a depneumifier—his men called it a devil gun—that could strip the demons from their artificial bodies. But the redcoats had learned that much and used the taloi as mobile artillery; and in that capacity they were still very much a danger.
    “How many men do you suppose Nairne has?”
    “I have guessed two hundred. But the women and even the children have been seen firing muskets.”
    So Nairne probably had fewer actual soldiers than Mar thought.
    “When will the amphibian boats arrive?”
    Mar took a long, deep breath. “By morning,” he murmured.
    “How many?”
    “Four, each with fifty troops.”
    “Two hundred more men. Seven hundred men, four gunboats, fifty taloi.
    Anything else?”
    “No. Fort Marlborough would spare me no