He headed across the courtyard in the direction of the war room, while I led Mahrai toward the dining hall. There, beneath sturdy stone arches, my traveling companions sat around a well-worn wooden table, talking, laughing, and drinking from clay cups. Plates lay between them, empty of everything except bones, the meat thoroughly stripped. A set of dice lay abandoned in the center of the table. They looked up when we came in, first with smiles, then with frowns as they realized who accompanied me. They pushed their seats away from the table, ready for anything.
“Guys, as you know, this is Mahrai,” I said. “She’s decided to join our side.”
“Has she really?” Vesma rolled her eyes. “I wonder why that was.”
“My reasons are my own,” Mahrai snapped. “Do you want to make an issue out of them?”
Vesma glared at her. I inched closer to Mahrai, ready to intervene if they started fighting. But Vesma took a deep breath, sat back, and turned her gaze to the tabletop.
“Not going to make an issue,” she said. “I’m glad you chose the right side.”
I turned to Mahrai. “Would you give us a minute?”
The woman nodded before she moved to the hallway outside.
“I’m not sure this is wise, husband,” Kumi said.
“I think she was being manipulated to join the cultists,” I explained. “I don’t know what Saruqin had against her, but it was something big. Besides, I’ve let her know what will happen if she shows any signs of treachery.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” Kegohr asked, genuinely unsure.
“I’ll kill her.” I placed a hand on the Sundered Heart’s pommel for emphasis.
“Right.” Kegohr nodded.
“I figure we do it now and get it over with,” Vesma said.
Kumi sighed. “My brother Labu was a good man who did evil. Perhaps Mahrai is like him?”
“Perhaps,” I said. “But we need an edge in the coming battle. And she could provide it. Sometimes, it’s worth allying with an enemy, or giving them a chance to do the right thing.”
My friends all nodded, but they still seemed unsure. It was clear they would take my lead, though.
I went to the hallway and brought Mahrai back into the room.
Kegohr and Kumi, who had risen from their chairs, walked over to shake Mahrai’s hand.
“Good to have you on the team.” Kegohr beamed. “Any friend of Ethan is good by me.”
“I’m not sure I’d call us friends.” Mahrai shot me a sardonic smile. “But I hear that’s on offer.”
“If there’s anything we can do to help, just ask,” Kumi said. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”
“A drink would be good,” Mahrai answered. “Fighting this one was thirsty work, and then there was being chased by demons.”
“Demons?” Vesma’s face turned white. “Saruqin has demons?”
Kumi fetched water and wine while the rest of us sat down. Mahrai explained what had happened during the evening. Soon, all five of us were talking eagerly about how we could tackle the demons and how Mahrai’s powers could best be deployed alongside the rest of our arms. Old enmities were forgotten, for a while at least.
A Pathless walked in and came to stand beside me.
“Excuse me, Swordslinger,” he said. “Lord Ganyir would like to see you all in the war room.”
“You guys should come with,” I said to my friends.
We followed the messenger down a passage to the war room, where Ganyir sat at the table with Tahlis perched to his right and a map of the city and surrounding area spread out in front of him. He looked up as we came in and nodded in silent greeting. It wasn’t until we were all seated and watching him attentively that he spoke.
“Now that we have Mahrai and her golem on our side, I know exactly where to strike to hit the Unswerving Shadows and break their hold over my people.” He pointed to the place on the map where the road from the fortress reached the city walls. “We will strike directly at the pathway gate. It isn’t as large or as strong as the main city gate, and so will be easier to break. We will use Mahrai’s golem to punch through it and provide a gap in the city’s defenses.”
“If it means paying for my past sins, I’ll do it,” Mahrai said. “But I follow only the orders of the Swordslinger.”
“You’ve joined us, so you’ll do as you’re told.” Ganyir picked up a sheet of paper and ran his eyes down a list. “Unless you want to go back to Saruqin.”
Mahrai’s hand tightened around the arm of her chair, but she didn’t come back with the angry retort I had expected. There really was more to her than the shows of bravado I’d seen in the field.
“We strike first thing tomorrow morning,” Ganyir said. “We have something close to a fully equipped army, and I am determined to make the most of it. There are many among the Pathless who have chosen to take up arms beside us. There are the initiates from the Steadfast Horn Guild, who are growing in strength and confidence under Ethan and Tahlis’ tutelage. And there are yourselves, a skilled and powerful group of Augmenters to take on Saruqin and the cult priests. Between us, we will not only gain a foothold, but we will drive them out of the city. We will take what has been stolen and broken. We will liberate it, repair it, renew it. We will bring the Gonki Valley back to the glory it once knew.”
There was a pregnant silence in the war room. I couldn’t help feeling somewhat proud of the lord. Gone was the depressed and apathetic man I’d met days ago.
“We’ll crush them,” Mahrai said, breaking the silence.
Then, we set to talking about the details, looking at the map of the city and deciding who would best be fielded where. Mahrai knew where troops were positioned within the city, where the priests went and when, and that gave us an advantage. There was no guarantee that they would stick to those routines now
