Fortress Draconis (55 page)

Crow frowned. “I thought we wanted to avoid that, Will.”

“Yes, so I was thinking if there was a way to make something like sewer rats magickal, they would end up detecting the rats as they moved around.”

The Vorquelf shook his head. “No such spells.”

“Couldn’t we tattoo them like you?”

“No, boy.” Resolute shook his head. “The tattoos are difficult to get and require an intelligence to make work. Magister, am I wrong?”

Orla shook her head. “There’s no spell that will make the rats give off traces of magick.”

“Forgive me, Magister, but that’s not exactly right. There isn’t onenow, but I could make one up.” Kerrigan yawned, then rubbed sleep from his eyes as he struggled into a sitting position. “It could be done, and fairly easily.” Alexia whirled. “Really? How?”

The fat Adept rolled to his feet. “Well, it would be a variation of thearcanslata spell, triggered through the Law of Contagion. We would take a large rock and shatter it. Each piece would be linked to every other piece. We enchant them to strengthen that bond, then tie a small piece to each of the rats. A larger piece remains behind and a mage will pulse a spell into that larger piece, which would then be passed to the smaller pieces. If he made the big rock glow in the dark, the smaller rocks would also glow. Any vylaens looking to detect magick would pick up on that spell. And the beauty of this system is that different mages could use different spells—as could the same mage, creating different but similar traces, confusing the vylaens into thinking it is a huge invasion force.”

Will nodded and pointed to Kerrigan. “Exactly.”

Resolute raised an eyebrow. “You mean to say you understood what he said?”

“Um, well, not exactly, but it sounded like it would work.”

“It will work.” Kerrigan nodded once, setting his jowls to quivering.

“It actually could work.” Orla leaned heavily on her staff. “The trick will be getting ourselves into the city. If we don’t use the sewers to get in, we will be highly visible.”

Alexia turned back to the map and tapped a finger against her chin. “Perhaps not. People are still catching fish and otherwise making use of the lake. Perhaps we should have our people join the city residents as they return to Svoin.”

“That would mean that our people would be unarmed.”

Crow rubbed a hand over his face. “I may be so sleepy that I don’t see what you do, but unarmed people aren’t going to be able to rescue the hostages.”

“You’re right, Crow, but our people will only goin unarmed. I would like to employ the Warhawks in nocturnal raids on the city. They’d shoot arrows, use spears, and otherwise make life miserable for the garrison forces on the walls. In the aftermath of those raids they should be able to drop bundles of weapons and light armor which our Vorquelf confederates can hide. If that is not feasible, we use Will’s plan to overwhelm the vylaens by picking a route in that will have no rats. Unless the vylaens plot magick against an existing map of the sewers and notice an area where there is no activityand send forces there, we ought to be in quickly.”

Orla nodded. “We can pick a route determined by where they place the hostages. We head back out through the sewers, or perhaps fight our way to the docks and take a ship out.”

Peri flicked a taloned finger against one of the larger ship models in the port. “Firecocks would slow pursuit.”

“Good thinking, sister.” Alexia looked at the people assembled around the table. “Flaws?”

“There are some, certainly, Highness.” Crow placed his left hand on Alexia’s right shoulder. “I suspect none of us is sufficiently rested to spot anything more than the obvious ones at the moment.”

The Vorquelf leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the table. “The entry into the city is very risky, but getting the hostages out will be more so. Securing a building and holding off the Aurolani forces isn’t going to work because they will overwhelm us at some point. A fighting retreat through the sewers or streets will kill the hostages. We need to be able to evacuate them quickly. If we had a thousand Warhawks we could just fly them all to safety, but we’re stuck in that regard.”

“Yours is an excellent point, Resolute, as was Crow’s.”

Alexia hooked blonde hair behind her right ear. “I suggest we all get something to eat, then get some sleep and come back at this tomorrow morning. I’m sure there is a solution to Resolute’s problem, as well as any others we may spot.”

She smiled and nodded her head toward Will. “And, thank you, Will, for your insight. You’re right, this wasn’t a military problem so much as it was a theft. We’ll steal the hostages away from Svoin, somehow we will, but this is a wonderful start.”

Will beamed at her praise, and didn’t stop all evening, despite Resolute’s scowls and Qwc’s teasing. He even smiled as he drifted off to sleep, and that smile broadened as he dreamed. Not because he dreamed of Alexia, but because he dreamed up a solution to Resolute’s problem. He awoke with enough of the dream still in his head to reconstruct the whole of it. And Will the Nimble, King of the Dimandowns, knew it would work.

A lexia had found Will’s plan for dealing with the hostage ^4 evacuation intriguing. She took pleasure in Adrogans’i llook of surprise when the thief explained it, but he agreed to it a bit too quickly for Alyx to feel truly comfortable. The plan, while imaginative, required logistical and materiel support that she didn’t think the expedition had. Dealing with those details, however, passed from her hands to Beal mot Tsuvo. Adrogans had another job for her.

The Jeranese general announced his immediate intention to march to Svoin. “Your Wolves will accompany the Zhusk in a reconnaissance-in-force. I want to know what is out there before us. You’re to watch and not engage large forces. But take on smaller bands, learn what you can of Svoin and Aurolani forces; this will be important.”

Adrogans allowed her to supplement her Wolves with Resolute, Crow, Dranae, Peri, and two other Warhawks. He said he wanted the Norrington kept close to work with Beal on the hostage rescue, but both of them knew risking Will on a scouting mission was stupid. His presence with the

main body would raise morale, while his loss in her company would irreparably damage it.

The reconnaissance force consisted of just shy of three hundred soldiers. The Zhusk tribesmen rode stout little mountain ponies that navigated tracks clinging to the sides of hills and mountains with an amazing amount of heart. The trails they rode wound down deep into valleys where thick vegetation hid the sun, and past long waterfalls that spawned rainbows from their mist. The Zhusk, while not seeming to pay that much attention to their surroundings, appeared to be preternaturally aware of how far Aurolani forces had corne into their territory, and often pointed out campsites or other signs of invasion.

The distance between the camp and Svoin, as a Gyrkyme might fly, should have only taken four days to traverse on horseback. The army’s main body would move far more slowly, taking close to a week to make the journey on foot. Alyx shuddered to think how the supply wagons would make the arduous trip, and didn’t mind having Adrogans saddled with that problem.Given that he’s requested half again as much support as he requires, he can lose a lot of it and still have a viable force when we reach Svoin.

The reconnaissance force kept its rate of advance slow and cautious. It meant they’d not outdistance the main army, precluding an Aurolani force slipping undetected between them and setting up an ambush. For the most part Alyx’s force traveled to particular objectives as quickly as was prudent, then sent scouts out laterally and a bit forward on the wings to get some inkling of what the next day would bring. Reports were prepared with care and sent by Gyrkyme back to Adrogans who, in turn, acknowledged them and requested information about certain targets.

Three days out, entering the foothills that separated the plateau edge from the downslope into the Svoin basin, scouts reported activity at an iron mine. Human slaves overseen by gibberers, vylaens, and at least one Vorquelf were pulling ore from the mine and loading it into carts drawn by mules for the long trek back to Svoin. The city’s smiths would transform the raw ore into iron and steel.

In consultation with Agitare, Crow, and Resolute, Alyx decided to take the mine and free the prisoners. Given that scouts only reported a dozen Aurolani troops present at the site, the Wolves would easily take the prize. Alyx elected to wait until darkness provided cover for both Zhusk and Alcidese soldiery. That also gave them a chance to stop the wagon train leaving the mine.

The wagon train consisted of a half-dozen creaky old wagons with six mules pulling each, and two human slaves per wagon. A Vorquelf with long flowing black hair, eyes of a deep blue, and decorated with a few tattoos rode at the head of the column, while two gibberers with pikes walked at the back, and one walked along at each side of the middle of the procession.

Peri kept watch over the wagon train while a dozen Zhusks accompanied Resolute, Crow, Alyx, and Phfas on a fast advance along game trails that paralleled the road. The Zhusks and Crow carried bows, Resolute his longknives, and Alyx her sword. Phfas carried no weapons. Alyx had been afraid he would slow the ambushing squad, but he showed great agility and stamina moving through the forests. They all managed to work up a sweat as they hurried on foot to a small hill where the wagon train would have to slow its already torpid pace to get the heavy wagons up to the crest.

They reached the ambush site well ahead of the wagons. Alyx split the Zhusks in half, sending six with Crow to the far side of the trail. Both sets of archers were positioned so their shots would not strike each other, meaning they were ordered to shoot at an angle down the trail instead of straight across. Alyx, Resolute, and Phfas remained toward the uphill side of things, since Resolute had his own idea for dealing with the renegade Vorquelf.

With everyone in position, they waited. To her left, Resolute remained all but motionless. Since his silver eyes had no pupils, Alyx couldn’t even guess what he was looking at. In some ways she imagined he was not really studying the scene before him, but pulling some other vision from his memory. He seemed too calm to be preparing for combat. She shivered. He had to be one of the most frightening individuals alive.

Phfas sat cross-legged on the ground and brushed his fingers over plant leaves and flower blossoms with a childlike abandon. He lifted up mats of wet, brown leaves, then watched the chaotic scurry of ants carrying away egg-cases. His motions, and the light humming he engaged in, would not betray the ambush, and gave him a youthful innocence she had not suspected he could possess. There were moments, though, when the humming faded, the smile froze, and the eyes grew distant, that made her wonder if he were not sharing Resolute’s vision, or seeing something entirely different. Something dark and nasty, not for a child at all.

Alyx herself studied the trail, noticing how sunlight dappled leaves and the ground, shifting and swaying as light breezes teased the trees. The pragmatic part of her mind took comfort in the fact that the wind was coming up from the plains, so her troops would not be betrayed by scent. The more romantic part of her relished the wind’s soft kiss on her cheek, and the way it cooled her neck and face. Then pragmatism would kick in again, causing her to loosen her sword in its scabbard and inventory her belt and boot daggers with a touch.

She wondered, for a moment, how Crow was occupying his time. He certainly had an arrow nocked. She found it easy to imagine him picking at the black lacquer coating on his bow, chipping off pieces of it to reveal the silverwood beneath. Only elves made silverwood bows, and she’d never seen one styled like the horse-bow Crow carried. Such a weapon in a man’s possession meant the elves felt him worthy of such an honor—and the fact that he’d hidden his bow’s nature while in Yslin was cause for curiosity.

Phfas brought his head up sharply, which broke her out of her reverie. Resolute just stretched and rose to a knee. Down toward the base of the hill the wagons stopped and the slaves on the second one started to unhitch their mules so a double team could be used to haul the first wagon to the top of the hill. The gibberers milled around in a knot toward the back of the procession, while the Vorquelf rode his black stallion halfway up the hill, then turned in the saddle to watch those behind him. In addition to a sword on his hip, the Vorquelf had a silverwood longbow resting athwart the horse’s shoulders, and a sheaf of arrows in a saddle quiver before his right knee.

Resolute slid silently from cover and barked harsh words in Elvish.

The mounted Vorquelf’s horse came around as the silverwood bow came up. The Vorquelf nocked, drew, and released in an eyeblink. Since the plan had been for them to take him alive if at all possible, none of the archers had been instructed to shoot him.And even if one had, no one could have shot before he did.

Alyx looked toward Resolute, certain she’d see an arrow quivering in his chest, but he stood there, startled and wide-eyed, still unharmed. Nothing obstructed her view of him, or the arrow slowly revolving in the air, barely a yard from his breastbone. The leaves surrounding the hole in the foliage through which she looked did quiver, matching the palsied tremor of Phfas’ extended left hand.

Elsewhere bowstrings sang and gibberers howled. Crow whistled loudly, letting everyone know the gibberers were down and dead. All that passed into the background, however, as Resolute raised his right hand and plucked the arrow from the air. He studied it for a moment, then cast it back over his shoulder.

The other Vorquelf snapped a comment in Elvish, then returned the bow to the saddle quiver. Bringing his right foot up over the horse’s neck, the Vorquelf slid fluidly from the saddle and drew a straight longsword. Clad in sleeveless leathers as was Resolute, the Vorquelf waved him forward.

Resolute drew both longknives and advanced. The window in the foliage collapsed, forcing Alyx to shift around to watch the road. Phfas joined her, a bit winded, his skin glowing with sweat. His mouth opened in a silent cackle that sent a shiver through her.