'Do you wish it was?'
He laughed. 'I'm content to fight, as long as they respect me. For in the end, Zubaidit, we must all bow our heads before the cloaks.'
'Captain!' Two runners pounded up, one holding a lamp, the other bending double as he heaved out and sucked in air and came up talking.
Giyara ran up in their wake. 'Captain Arras. Ten boats are coming in to the shore twenty paces north of the eastern causeway.'
'How came I not to hear any sounds of fighting?'
'Subcaptain Orli had screens set up to conceal spearmen in the shallows and men in the water to tip others overboard. We killed about thirty so fast the rest fled. Runners are tracking their movements along the channel downstream. Of the rest, we've taken four living prisoners and six boats.'
'Excellent! If the others come to shore, kill them. Otherwise, waste no arrows in the dark. Their report to their commanders will give the enemy pause. They'll not attack again so quickly. Is there aught else?'
'No, Captain. Your orders?'
'Just as I've told you.'
'Yes, Captain.' The youth nodded at his comrade holding the lamp and after taking a pair of slow breaths, more pushed out than pulled in, he set out at a run.
'Good lad,' said Arras. 'But I don't recognize him.'
'Maybe you couldn't see it from your angle, Captain,' said Giyara, 'but he's wearing a First Cohort badge. Orli must have detached him from his old unit-'
From the far shore came a burst of shouting, a frantic call for archers.
'The hells!' said Arras, raising a hand to signal. 'Do they mean to attack-?'
The sky swept low. A brush of smothering wings and sullen dread doubled him over before he realized he was groveling. Hating himself for his weakness, he straightened. The winged horse trotted to earth on the graveled roadway. The man dismounted stiffly. He walked stiffly, favoring his right leg, and held his left shoulder at an odd angle.
Arras made the obeisance at once, open hands hiding his eyes. 'Lord Yordenas.'
'Who is in command?'
T am, lord. I'm Arras, captain of the Sixth Cohort.'
'Took heavy losses at High Haldia, did you not?' The cloak's tone was surly. Arras dared not look up to gauge his temper, but anger and resentment swept off the cloak so strongly it was like keeping one's balance in a winter gale.
'So we did, lord. We regrouped into three companies, half strength, and more recently were ordered to join the main army for the assault on Nessumara. We have taken positions on this island and absorbed the remains of First Cohort.'
'You did not retreat?'
T saw Seventh Cohort in trouble on the causeway from archers, lord. I deemed it better to push forward to a strong defensive position than to retreat under heavy fire from an enemy whose position we could not penetrate.'
'First Cohort fell apart,' said the cloak with the petty disgust of a child who'd had his favorite toy snatched out of his hands. 'Captains dead, cadres routed. We were supposed to march into Council Square in triumph! The cursed Nessumarans betrayed us!'
Arras thought it prudent not to remind the cloak that the only traitors in this case were the folk who had been prevented from allowing the army to enter the city unopposed. 'Yes, lord. What of the two cohorts caught out on the causeway?'
T don't know! I haven't reached the main camp in Saltow. I've galloped all the way to the northern causeway and back. Heavy woodland, sunken into this cursed marsh. They didn't take the barriers down at all on the northern causeway, as they said they would! Instead, there came archery fire out of the woods. Traps
dug into the mire around the causeway. Snakes and snappers in the water and among the twisting roots of the cursed trees! Our cohorts had to retreat despite Lord Radas's best efforts at keeping them in line and moving forward. Now what will we do?'
The cursed man was throwing a temper tantrum! And that, gods rot him, after he had abandoned the troops he was supposed to be leading.
Arras kept his voice mild, his shoulders bowed, and his gaze fixed on the ground. 'My cohort is intact, lord. I have the remnants of First Cohort well in hand as reinforcements for my own soldiers. If we can learn the disposition and number of the local troops, we can determine our best course of action. Has the city militia sent its entire strength out to the causeways? Have they milked themselves dry in setting up this ambush? If we strike hard and push past now, will we meet concentrated resistance? Or are these troops all they have? If so, we can still take the city today.'
'What do you recommend, Captain?'
The cursed cloak did not know what in the hells to do. That the gods had endowed him with such power had not made him wise or clever. He had no more understanding and discernment than he'd ever had — and that clearly was not much — yet he was meanwhile able to reach right into your heart and kill you.
Even so, a single cloak could not conquer a city alone.
'To come up with a plan, Lord Yordenas, I need information about the number and disposition of troops and barriers and skirmishers within Nessumara and the surrounding region.'
The cloak's anger stung like wounds. 'So you have already said. Don't lecture me!'
'My apologies, lord, for speaking out of turn.' Arras kept his head down, knowing an incautious glance would betray his secrets. 'I only mention it because you, my lord, are best suited to reconnoiter.'
'I am a holy Guardian! Not a scout!'
'My lord, I'm only pointing out what I am sure has already occurred to you. If you scout ahead now, when no reeves can fly, it would allow us to know whether it's best to retreat, or to attack.'
'It was flying ahead of the lines that got me stuck with arrows. Cursed archers! We must wait for Lord Commander Radas. He'll meet us at Saltow.'
'But my lord, the more time they have to regroup and recover and retrench-'
'I command you to retreat to Saltow! Do you defy me, Captain?'
'No, my lord.'
With that, the cloak was content. His passing left Arras shaking so hard it took him many breaths to calm himself. When he rose, only Giyara remained. All the others, even Zubaidit, had fled from the cloak's brutal presence.
'Captain?' A shout caused Giyara to take a step back, looking for the source of the noise. She kicked the lamp, but with quick reflexes caught it on her boot and tipped it back upright before much oil spilled. Fire flared on the ground, eating the oil as it hissed smoke.
They listened but heard no further alarm.
He shook his head. 'We can hide from the eyes of the reeves beneath a forest canopy, or inside buildings, or underground like the delvings. Out in this flat land, it's impossible. They'll always know where we are, except at night. What a waste. The only way to make this work is to overrun Nessumara's defenses quickly, burn down Copper Hall, and drive out the reeves. One setback is not a defeat. An attack might still have worked-'
'We're going to retreat?'
He whistled, venting anger. 'You heard the order. We retreat at dawn.'
14
As Miravia slept, Mai sat on the porch overlooking the tiny garden at the heart of the compound, her private retreat. A night wren chirped, but the taste of the air was already growing sweeter with the promise of a rising sun.
'There is a man loitering outside our gates,' said Chief Tuvi. 'I suspect he is an agent hired by the Ri Amarah.
