Lord of the Silent Kingdom

Doneto shrugged. 'You're the military commander.'

Hecht turned to Titus Consent. 'Are those scouts back yet?'

'One party. The ferry crossing will be tough with this many men. It could take a week.'

'It took us all day last time with just a few hundred. But we need to secure it. Even if we can't go over we can control traffic. Colonel Ghort. Let's take a walk. I want to pick your brain.'

Hecht paid Doneto no more heed, which probably irked the Principate. He did not care. He had his own personal Principate. Muniero Delari traveled slowly but he traveled. His presence assured Doneto's best behavior.

There was no sign of trouble between them.

How long could that continue?

Of more immediate concern was the depth of Pinkus Ghort's commitment to his sponsor.

Doneto thought he owned Pinkus Ghort. Pinkus might not agree but would still feel indebted. It was no secret that he still lived in the Principate's town house.

'What's up?' Ghort asked once they were safe from avesdroppers. Hecht's lifeguards maintained an acceptable cparation but were close enough to intervene if evil showed is face.

'Recall what we talked about during the ride up? Just tossing things around?'

'We talked about a lot of stuff. Gad, it's nice. I like it cool like this.'

It was windy, almost cloudless, and unseasonably cool. 'Might affect the vintage.'

'Yeah. Probably. What do you think?'

'I have no idea. I don't understand wine. The Sonsan nation is what I'm thinking about. Check the map. It's barely seventy miles from here.'

A Bronte Doneto involved in a scheme with the Special Office would not find a raid on Sonsa to his taste. If Ghort was in tight…

'You thinking just a raid? Or a general chastisement of the city for being unfriendly?'

'I'm thinking, make Sublime love us by forcing the Three Families to bend the knee.'

'And maybe get a closer look at Bit and her crew, too?'

'Absolutely. I do still want the real story on Vali.'

They stopped walking, looked across slopes and hills covered with vines. It was beautiful country. Ghort said so. 'The Connec is, too. What we saw of it.'

'We'll get to see that part again. Sublime is close to obsessed with taming Raymone Garete.'

'Lot of that infecting the Society, too. I'd as soon not. It won't be close to easy. Even with a pair of heavyweight sorcerers tagging along.'

'One sorcerer. Principate Delari isn't here to participate. He's here to keep an eye on your boss.'

'On my boss? On you? I thought he'd, like, adopted you.'

'On Doneto.'

'Doneto? What do you mean, Doneto? I don't work for him. I work for the City. What do you mean, Delari wants to keep an eye on him?'

'You still live in his house, Pinkus. And he thinks you're his man. He still tries to lay claim on me, sometimes. I don't know what the problem is between him and Delari. Maybe it's all just Delari. But there is bad blood.'

'He hides it pretty well.'

'He does. I wouldn't know about it at all if it weren't for the boy.'

'Armand? There's something weird about that one, Pipe.'

'Wow! Can't get anything past you.'

'What I mean is… Can it. The demon himself.' Bronte Doneto had come out for a stroll. Not unusual. But his constitutional kept bringing him closer.

Hecht said, 'Go snatch Sonsa. If you need more than the Brothen contingent…'

'They should be plenty. How soon?'

'I'm done telling. It's your mission, now. Do what you need to do and go when you're ready. Your Grace.'

'Gentlemen.'

Ghort said, 'I was just telling Pipe that this looks like the place I want to retire, I get lucky and round up enough booty. Go into the winemaking business.'

Hecht said, 'You'd probably suck down all the profits.'

Ghort's man Bo Biogna left camp with a picked team that same night. Next morning the entire Brothen contingent departed. Hecht told the morning staff meeting, 'I've given Pinkus a special mission. If our master unleashes us, he'll catch up.'

There were questions. Hecht did not answer them. These men did not need to know.

Principate Bronte Doneto was among those asking. Maybe Pinkus had moved beyond a sense of obligation to him.

Maybe.

'Forget Ghort,' he said. 'We need to move up to the Dechear. Colonel Smolens, I suggested a feasibility study to you and Lieutenant Consent. Mainly to keep you out of trouble. Did you follow up?'

Smolens admitted, 'We did. It should be easy. Sir.' The honorific added only because members of the Collegium were present.

Titus Consent said, 'There is no plan for stopping you. Assassination is their only worry.'

Hecht considered Muniero Delari from the corner of his eye. The old man showed no special interest. He hoped that meant this would not get to Osa Stile. 'Good. Get out warning orders to prepare to move up. Smolens, you get the other job.'

'Is that an execute, sir?' Smolens asked. He was eager.

'Put it together and do it.'

Delari was paying attention, now. And suddenly suspicious.

Whatever anyone thought, Piper Hecht was still his own man.

The Patriarchal army drifted westward, covering barely a hundred miles in ten days. Forward elements reached the Dechear and staked out camps at likely crossing points. The nearest surviving bridge was way upstream, at Viscesment. The Captain-General divided his forces, the better to reduce the strain on Ormienden and to remain tactically prepared. Principate Doneto chose to accompany the southernmost division. The same favored by the Captain-General himself. This was the largest division that would strike toward Antieux. Doneto had begun to smell blood. He had a score to settle.

There was work aplenty even for Principates, including turns watching over the bridgehead the Captain- General established on the west bank. Doneto and Delari alike spent hours interviewing locals and itinerant members of the Society, trying to gather solid facts about the strange events plaguing the Connec.

Smugly, Piper Hecht noted that neither Principate had missed Colonel Smolens. They assumed him to be with one of the other divisions.

Smolens would do to Viscesment what Pinkus Ghort meant to do to Sonsa.

Only Hecht's immediate staff knew. Enough of a bond had formed that even Clej Sedlakova enjoyed belonging to an inner circle putting something over.

Hecht was with Sedlakova, reviewing recollections of the country round Antieux. 'They won't make the same mistakes. They'll have built more cisterns and those will be full. Titus says they've reengineered the main gate, adding machicolations and a second portcullis operated from a second guardroom in order to make treachery more difficult.'

'I wasn't putting much faith in the Society's secret friends, anyway.'

'That may still work.'

'What's the ground like? Is mining an option?'

'I think it's on bedrock. That and a height advantage are why it's sited a little back from the river. We'll see something similar, on a larger scale, when we get to Castreresone.'

'How high are the walls? There'll be a lot of deep topsoil around if winemaking is serious business.'

'You lost me there.'

'Something we don't do much anymore, that they did a lot in ancient times. Build a ramp to the top of the wall. Raise it higher than the wall if you can, so you can attack downhill.'