and his brow creased.
'Sorry, you look busy,' said Anglhan as he backtracked towards the cave mouth. 'I didn't mean to interrupt.'
VIII
The wrangling over who got the new weapons took another three days for Aroisius to settle. The rebel leader was forced to split the cache amongst the chieftains, in proportion to the number of men each led. The chieftains were free to distribute the weapons amongst their own bands as they chose. With just two days before the rebels would break camp and move towards Magilnada, Anglhan knew he had to find some way to stall the attack quickly.
Sweating despite the chilling wind, Anglhan hauled himself up the cliff path to the tented camp. Most of the rebels had left on their daily forage and hunt, leaving Griglhan and his warriors to practise their climbing on the cliffs above the campsite. Anglhan found the bandit leader at the base of the rock face coiling rope while his men laboured up the cliff.
'I feel the spirits' blessings today,' Anglhan said cheerfully. He picked up the end of a length of rope and began idly knotting it.
'What are you so happy about?' asked Griglhan, not looking up from his task.
'No reason,' Anglhan replied airily. 'Good to see that rope I got you is strong stuff. Wouldn't want any of you falling down that cliff. I'm just glad the rain's still holding off. Let us hope the spirits see fit to give us a dry sky when we attack. I'm sure you and Aroisius will make the proper sacrifices and such, just to be sure.'
'I hadn't thought of that,' said Griglhan. 'We should get a boar or something.'
'That would be wise. You and your lads have got the most dangerous job, it's only right that you have the spirits on your side.'
'What's that?' Griglhan pointed at the double-loop of rope in Anglhan's hands.
'This?' Anglhan replied distractedly. He acted as if he wasn't even sure for a moment. 'It's a sling knot. We use it for hauling cargo aboard.'
Griglhan took the rope and inspected the knot, tugging at it roughly.
'A man could slip his arms through those loops,' the bandit muttered. He looked at Anglhan. 'Would that be safer than having it tied around your waist?'
Anglhan looked for a moment as if he didn't understand the question and peered up at the men clambering across the rocks.
'When it's windy, the men at the mast top use that knot for their safety lines. If you fall with that around you, you might dislocate a shoulder, but if you fall with it around your waist, you could snap your back. I think that's it, but I might be confused. I'm not a terribly practical man.'
Griglhan leaned towards Anglhan, staring at the knot.
'Teach us how to tie these,' he demanded.
'I'll have Furlthia and some of my old crew show you,' Anglhan replied. 'They'll do it better than me, be sure of it.'
'Thank you.'
'No problem. I figure you'll need every help you can get. You boys certainly don't lack courage, do you? Climbing down in the dark, on wet rocks? I've got men that don't think twice about hanging from a sail boom that wouldn't do that.'
'It won't be that dark,' Griglhan said with a shake of his head. 'That's why we've picked the night of the half-moon.'
'Ah, yes, very clever. Although…'
'Although, what?'
Anglhan had to hide his delight. Why, he wondered, did such a simple trick work so often?
'It seems to me that the lighter it is, the more chance you'll be seen from the wall and tower.'
'We have to have some light so that we can see where we're climbing.'
'Good job you've got the best armour, that's what I say. I mean, if your men don't get on to the wall, the whole attack is going to fail. It's good to know that Aroisius is putting you first in his priorities.'
'Lord Aroisius made it clear that nobody is to argue about the new weapons,' Griglhan said. 'He said that we have to stop squabbling like children with a piece of sweetcake.'
'Very right he is too,' said Anglhan, rocking back on his heels. 'He's the one in charge, after all. We can trust him to have considered everything.'
Griglhan nodded.
'It's the small things that he's so good at, isn't it?' Anglhan continued. 'It's smart to have everything prepared, like what to do if it's cloudy, or rainy, or if it isn't cloudy.'
'You're not making sense.'
'Well, if it's cloudy, it might be too dark for you to climb. And the cloudier it is, the more chance of rain making your job more difficult.'
'So? I'll tell Aroisius that we aren't doing it unless we get a clear night.'
'That's for you and our fearless leader to sort out, nothing to do with me.' Anglhan smiled and clapped Griglhan on the arm. 'We can't fail with men like you!'
IX
Later that day, Anglhan found Lubrianati and his men returning from their forage. Using the same sort of arguments that had worked on Griglhan, he convinced the chieftain that it would be absolute suicide to attack the gatehouse of Magilnada with anything less than total darkness. As he flopped down onto his cot in the landship's main cabin, he wondered how long it would take Aroisius to sort out this dispute, with the lives of both men at stake.
The rebel leader's solution was both swift, sensible and exactly what Anglhan wanted. Aroisius announced that the attack would be delayed until the night of no moon, so that there would be total darkness to cover their approach. The fires would be set in the mill before the climbers started down the cliff. If the rain was too heavy for the flames to catch, the attack would be called off.
Six days after this pronouncement, after the attack would have taken place if the original plan had been followed, autumn storms hit the mountains. Wind and rain almost destroyed half the camp on the plateau and the rebels had to take shelter in the caves. New rivers poured through cracks and crevasses in the rocks, soaking many of the supplies that had been carefully hoarded over the summer. The hillmen amongst the army wagged their chins and warned that the seasons had turned. The spirits of summer had lost their annual battle, and now the spirits of winter were in the ascendancy.
As gloom fell like a shadow over the camp, Aroisius was forced to make a reluctant announcement: there could be no attack until spring. Anglhan remembered just in time to look suitably disappointed.
Mekha
Autumn, 209th Year of Askh
I
