The other problem was that the news that arrived was often wildly inaccurate, or at least inaccurately reported and promulgated. The agents of the broadsheets and pamphleteers were everywhere, nosing up to every deputy and ministry for the latest tidbits. Every part of the new government leaked information like a sieve, but often only when it suited that particular individual’s purposes, or when that information could be carefully doctored to appear in a favorable light. Thus, one broadsheet might announce a famous battle won at the same time another blared about a military disaster, and various towns, fortresses, and river crossings changed hands with bewildering speed, depending on who was doing the writing.

As time passed, however, the stories became more solid, and actual eyewitnesses to distant events began to trickle in, so some bits of truth could be discerned. Marcus’ instructions told him to pass along anything he thought credible to Janus, via the flik-flik line, and so he’d sat down with his maps and some of the more reliable reports to cull the wheat from the chaff. Once he began paying attention, however, the picture that emerged was worrying.

The worst disaster had come in the north, on the Borelgai coast. There had been persistent rumors since just after the declaration of war that the Borelgai navy had laid siege to Nordart, Vordan’s primary northern port, and the Army of the Transpale under General de Brolge was variously reported to be relieving the garrison, maneuvering for a field battle, or retreating in disorder after a defeat by Borelgai forces. Now, however, all the reports agreed that things were far worse than that. After a brief standoff with the Borels, de Brolge had in fact gone over to the enemy bag and baggage, declaring his support for Orlanko—rumored to be in exile in Borel—and his contempt for the Deputies-General. Most of the royal regiments in the Army of the Transpale had followed him, and the volunteers had scattered in a panic, leaving no significant army between the Borelgai and Alver on the Pale. Ecco Island, once the primary base of the now-defunct Vordanai fleet, had been captured, and Enzport, at the mouth of the Pale, was widely expected to be next.

Meanwhile, General Hallvez of the Army of the North, on the Murnskai border, had decided to steal a march on his opponents. The legions of Imperial Murnsk were vast, but also notoriously slow to muster and deploy, and Hallvez had thought that delivering an early blow was just the thing to rock the enemy back on his heels. What had happened next was not clear, but Hallvez had apparently marched his twenty-odd battalions into a trap, where they had been decisively beaten by a Murnskai force less than half their number. Hallvez, raving about sorcery, had retreated into Vordan with the remnants of his army, and sent message after hysterical message to the Ministry of War demanding reinforcements.