us, or drug us.'
'I told you I'm sorry. I want to help. Even if I didn't, I have a right to know what's going on.'
'A right? You have a nerve, Damasco.'
I threw my hands up in an attitude of defeat. 'Estrada… Marina… if only to pass the time, could you please let me know what we're doing here?'
She sighed. 'We're waiting.'
'For the other troops?'
'For Moaradrid.'
It took me a moment to digest that. My initial shock was brief, though, for fragments of Estrada's plan were coming back to me. We were bait, she'd said, bait for an ambush. We were drawing close to the southernmost tail of the Castoval, so wherever the meeting place was it had to be close.
Yet if our only purpose was to play hare for Moaradrid's hounds, why had we crept in disguise through his lines?
First things first, though. Estrada was right, I tended not to pay attention to anything beyond my immediate circumstances, and this wasn't the first time it had got me into trouble. I suspected I'd missed plenty of useful details during our time in Altapasaeda, but one gap in my knowledge gaped more widely than the others did. 'You knew Alvantes before this week, didn't you?'
'We're old friends.'
I'd swear she blushed. Even if she didn't, Estrada was a terrible liar.
'You were more than that.'
'All right. We were… lovers, I suppose you'd call it. A long time ago. Then Lunto was promoted…'
' Lunto?'
'Lunto Alvantes.'
I suppressed a snigger.
'…and I became involved in politics. It got more and more difficult to see each other.'
'So that's why he's helping you?'
'He's helping because it's right. Because he doesn't want to see a beast like Moaradrid ruling the Castoval and maybe even be king one day. Panchetto wasn't a bad man, but he could never see farther than the walls of his palace. We never meant for him to be hurt, though,' she finished sadly.
It had begun to rain while we'd been talking, weighty drops that shattered on the ground, the cart sides and our clothes like a thousand tiny drums tattooing in unison. Milky light on the horizon gave way to hillocks of grey cloud topped with treacle-black gloom. I noticed then how cold it was. 'Why don't we get back inside the coach?' I asked.
'Will you be all right on your own, Saltlick?'
Saltlick had been lolling with his head back, letting raindrops course into his throat. He looked up long enough to nod and grin at Estrada. 'Go home,' he said.
Estrada glanced towards the mountain peaks that closed the valley. Hidden somewhere in those heights was giant territory. 'Yes. Not long now, Saltlick.'
We were in the carriage with the door shut before I asked, 'You've told him you'll help him get home?'
'And I will. Once this is over that's my first priority.'
Estrada sounded as though she meant it. I made a silent resolution that, whether or not she helped Saltlick return to his family, I would. It was the least I could do after last night, and of all the promises I'd made recently it was the one that most deserved to be honoured.
Of course, from what little Estrada and Alvantes had told me I'd be lucky to help myself, let alone anyone else.
'So you persuaded Alvantes and a few of his men to join up with you. What are they, more bait?'
'Not a few. The entire Altapasaedan City Guard is pledged to us. But hopefully Moaradrid doesn't know that.'
'How could he not?'
'They abandoned their barracks during the night, led by Sub-Captain Gueverro. Moaradrid will be led to believe they heard the news of Panchetto's murder, panicked at the thought of a battle and mutinied. Thanks to Panchetto, they've such a terrible reputation for cowardice that he should believe it. Even if he doesn't, it can't make much difference. He'll be in too much of a hurry.'
'He doesn't know where we've gone.'
'He will soon.'
I was beginning to see. If the ambush was set for a particular time then there was no point blundering in half a day early with Moaradrid's army nipping at our heels. All the others would find when they arrived would be our corpses. Alvantes and Estrada must have some way to control when Moaradrid came after us. Deciding that she'd tell me in her own time, I rested my head against the backboard and closed my eyes. The rain was pounding, heavier than before, a rattle that seemed to shake the whole carriage.
When I opened my eyes, Estrada was looking at me.
'Understand, Damasco,' she said, 'I can't forgive you. You're utterly selfish, you've behaved despicably, and even if this latest repentance is sincere it won't make any difference to how I feel.'
'Fine.'
'All right. Well, I'd gone to Altapasaeda to ask Lunto for his help, and to buy a little time. I hadn't realised Moaradrid would be able to move so many troops so quickly, or that he'd confront Panchetto so openly when his lines were already weakened. He'd grown desperate. His scheme for the crown was unravelling. He must have realised an attack on Altapasaeda was suicide, but there seemed a real chance he'd try anyway. If he'd won, recovered the stone, and captured Panchetto into the bargain, he might have levered the king off the throne without another drop of blood being shed. Alvantes agreed to pledge the Guard, even though Panchetto would never forgive it. But by then the problem was how we'd get to the rendezvous point at all.'
'When we first heard about your deal with Anterio, we thought about confronting you. Then Lunto suggested we use it to our advantage. We'd lead Moaradrid to believe you'd fled upriver with the stone; he'd go hunting after you, and — if the timing was right — run right into our trap. We'd no way to know what would really happen. We had no idea Panchetto would find out what you were plotting, or insist on going along when Alvantes went to arrest you, or take Moaradrid with him.'
A thought struck me. 'If the Guard have abandoned their barracks and Panchetto's dead then…'
'Yes. Moaradrid's forces are almost certainly in Altapasaeda now.'
My jaw dropped. 'You've sacrificed an entire city. I can't believe Alvantes let you give up Altapasaeda.'
'It's not a sacrifice. It's a gambit.'
'Only if it works.'
I regretted my insensitivity as soon as I'd said it. Estrada looked, for just an instant, as though she could easily have broken down altogether. I could hardly imagine the strength of will it had taken to conceive this strategy all those days ago, and then to follow it through over every setback and tragedy to this point, where everything hung in the balance and everything was on her head if it failed.
'It will work,' she said.
'All right,' I agreed, trying to sound as though I believed it. 'So how can you control when he comes looking for us?'
Estrada's voice dropped lower, as if she had to drag the words from some internal gulf. 'The wounded men from the fight at the harbour are in the palace. Moaradrid will have found them and tortured them. Their instructions were to give us up at dawn.'
I shuddered. Alvantes's handpicked guards had been braver and more foolhardy than I'd guessed. I remembered the state Saltlick had been in when I rescued him. I had a fair idea what they would have gone through. Except… 'It's long past dawn.'
'Yes.'
'And we can't be that far from Altapasaeda.'
'About three hours.'
I realised abruptly that not even the most violent torrent could make the hammering coming from outside.
