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To Vanderberk's mind, a meeting such as that would only be for one reason. Preliminary peace negotiations. Most probably, for Corrico's eventual surrender. Things were going too well for Melmoore right now for it to be anything else.

Damn, it was too soon. He couldn't leave Vantalay yet. Perhaps he could send someone to bolster Corrico's forces, but who? Agh. He wanted to wait until Graves' name popped up again before committing any men to such an endeavor. There was a decent possibility that Graves was headed to Melmoore, and if so, then sending more men there would be a waste of resources unless Jercash was also sending some. Or Dozer, that old bastard.

Agh. If the Melmoorian invasion was to be salvaged, then something would have to be shaken loose soon, either here in Vantalay or one of the other fronts. Corrico surrendering so early would lead into Ostra being overwhelmed not long thereafter, and then the Vanguard would be able to divert even more men or resources to other trouble spots.

Such as Sair, where the next report came from. Bloodeye was still having difficulty pushing into the Wetlands, which was at once surprising and also not. The Vanguard presence in that country was so greatly diminished that the task should have been a simple one, but Bloodeye had been stuck for a while now, so the fact that there was no change could not be considered shocking.

The exact question of why was still a persistent one, though. According to various sources, they knew it wasn't Jackson leading the defense over there, at least not directly. So who was the one holding the Vanguard remnants together?

And what was this about a failed venture into Lorent? Banda Toro had been slain, too?

Everywhere they went, it seemed the same story was playing out. Local warriors causing headaches. It was hard to argue that Abolish's heavy focus on the Vanguard had made it all but blind to the many other threats in the world.

This was where Ivan's presence was sorely missed, Vanderberk felt. If he were still with them, then many of these lesser-known opponents would not have been able to take them by surprise. Jercash's replacements for the Salesman of Death could only do so much on such short notice.

As ever, many of these issues could in some way be traced back to Gohvis. If only he had listened to Vanderberk when they clashed and gone to retrieve Ivan. So much of this might have been avoided now.