Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...

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"How do you know that?"
"Because they'reArkan . And they think they've never lost."
"You're assuming. They aren't blind; they can see how far into their Empire the invaders are."
"Oh." Sova cast her eyes downwards.Gott, I feel stupid .
Shkai'ra sat up sharply. "Zaikdammit, you're slow today, girl. Here."
On, no. Sova sidled to her side. She couldn't see the fist raised behind her head, but felt it there, waiting.
"So. What else?"
"Ahhh—" Sova thought fast. "The fresh troops—their horses are tired. They must have outrun their
supply lines and Iheard there was a raid to cut them off but they've outrun them anyway. They don't have
Haians, but that's standard—"That was dumb, oh no … She flinched, though without showing it, but the
hand didn't come down. "Ummm…"
"You're missing half," said Shkai'ra. "At least mostly.Which half?"
One of those questions that had to be answered instantly, or else. "Half? Oh, Gotthumml,our half!" The
fist, starting to come down, stopped. "Us, umm, all right. We've had a good night's sleep, we aren't tired,
new mercenaries have joined up, we have Haians, and we have Che—"
Whap. Hard knuckles drove into the top of Sova's head.Oww . "You're just repeating the opposite of
them ," the Kommanza snapped. "Don't you know anything about us that you don't about them? We
have Zh'venghkua, you said. So what?"
"Well, we don't only have him but his reputation— that makes them shit their pants. Excuse my la—"
"Yes, all right, though you mostly covered that before, under morale. What else does it mean? What
does he habituallydo ?"
She hates giving hints, Sova thought.So she's more likely to hit after she does . "Uhh… leaves them
a way out. To retreat."
"How do you know that?"
"Everyone—I mean, I heard it. It's common knowledge."
"What does that mean?"
"What—that it's common knowledge?"
She sensed Shkai'ra's hand wind up slightly, then hold off. "Ia."
"Uhh… well… I guess… they'd know it, too! So they won't fight as hard as they would if they were
cornered."
"Yes." Shkai'ra's voice actually sounded somewhat pleased, but she didn't go so far as to say "Good."