"Dragons!" someone was shouting.
"Four days," Burke sighed. "So much for my fantasy of doing this with a well-trained army."
The dragons weren't attacking, not yet. Instead, they gathered at a large field a mile downriver. Pet listened quietly as spies reported back to Ragnar, Burke, and the other leaders. Pet, as commander of the archers, was now privy to these meetings.
The lead spy, it turned out, was Shanna, the woman who'd rescued Pet from the dungeon. She hadn't taken part in the raid on the Nest, but she had learned from her contacts that Blasphet had failed in his attempt at genocide. Only a handful of the sisters had managed to escape in the aftermath, but Shanna was confident there would be no valkyries joining in the attack on Dragon Forge. Blasphet hadn't been found; the matriarch wasn't letting anyone leave the Nest until his threat was neutralized.
Shanna was now dressed much more modestly than she had been as a servant of Blasphet. She was wearing the gray, non-descript clothing of a human slave. She hadn't shaved her head in a week and already her scalp tattoos were vanishing beneath a haze of dark hair.
Burke listened impassively as the numbers were reported. Nearly ten thousand well-armed earth-dragons, with at least five hundred cavalry mounted on the backs of great-lizards. The earth-dragons had catapults and ballistae. There were also a thousand humans among the dragons, slaves working to assemble the tents, dig latrines, unload the supply wagons, and staff the mess tents.
"The supply wagons are the most dangerous thing we face," Burke said. "If Shandrazel has any management skills at all, his army has access to all the food in the world. We have all the food inside the walls of Dragon Forge, which will last us, if we're careful, a month."
"I'm not eating those pickled earth-dragon babies," said Pet.
"If a man gets hungry enough, he'll eat anything," said Burke.
"The Lord sent ravens to feed his prophet Elijah," said Ragnar. "We shall have no want of provisions."
Burke gave Ragnar a sideways glance and returned to questioning the spies. The next number that caught Pet's attention was the figure of two hundred sun-dragons. He thought back to his former mistress, Chakthalla. She'd loved him like he was her child and had never mistreated him, but he remembered how intimidating she could be with her sheer size and power. Even as she had showered words of praise upon him, he'd never been completely unaware of the fact that those words came from a mouth that could have snapped him in two. As of this meeting, Burke's manufacturing team had produced only thirty-six bows. Apparently, Burke had brought coils of cable from his tavern to use for the bowstrings, but those spools were now emptied. He'd assembled a machine to make new cable, but the process was a difficult one to calibrate, and the earliest batches were producing cables that were too brittle. If the dragons attacked soon, thirty-six sky-wall archers against two hundred sun-dragons wasn't a promising ratio.
"How long it will be before the dragons finish assembling their army and decide to attack?" Pet asked.
Shanna shook her head. "We haven't heard. Some say that Shandrazel is awaiting more troops from the Southern provinces."
"That's good and bad," said Burke. "Good if we have more time-it would take at least a week for all those troops to arrive. But it's bad if we wind up facing three times as many dragons."
"However, it's also said that Shandrazel is being prodded by Charkon to invade tomorrow at dawn," said Shanna. "Charkon believes they have all the troops they need to take back the fortress."
"Charkon is probably right," said Burke. "But only because he doesn't know about our surprises."
"Surprises?" Pet asked, noting the plural. "Do we have something other than the wheel-bows?"
Burke nodded. "There's Big Chief. I carted in most of his parts, and the team has him just about assembled. He's mostly a psychological weapon. Earth-dragons aren't terribly bright. They get confused and frightened easily by things they've never encountered before."
Before Pet could ask further questions, Shanna stepped in with her own answer about surprises. "Our time with Blasphet has proven fruitful. We've learned how to make oil that, when burned, produces a smoke that paralyzes dragons. Unfortunately, it works best in a confined space. Also it requires a fungus that grows on peanuts, and Blasphet used most of his stockpile invading the Nest. I've had people producing a supply for us ever since I learned the secret, but we only have a few barrels. Still, if any dragons make it inside Dragon Forge, we can ignite the bonfires and spike them with the poison. We can put half the invaders to sleep if the wind is in our favor."
"That sounds useful," Pet said.
Shanna nodded. "That's only part of the knowledge we've stolen from Blasphet. If we knew for certain that the attack was tomorrow, we could make life unpleasant for the invaders. There's a tasteless, odorless mineral salt we can add to their breakfast that will produce diarrhea and vomiting three hours after its ingested. It doesn't kill dragons, but it can make them wish they were dead."
Ragnar spoke. "Tell your spies to poison tomorrow's breakfast, Shanna. The Lord has revealed to me the attack will take place at dawn. Our ultimate weapon, of course, is the guiding hand of God."
Burke took his spectacles from his nose and wiped them with his shirt. He said, in a thoughtful tone, "Not that I don't trust the Lord's word, but I'd like some insurance. Shanna, you've been good at gathering rumors. If we really want this attack to take place at dawn, I need you to spread one."
"Do we want this attack to take place at dawn?" Pet asked. "Half my men don't have weapons. We've had barely any training at all. We aren't ready!"
Burke placed the spectacles back on his face as he nodded. "It's true, we aren't. But, right now, Shandrazel's army is as small as it's ever going to be. We'll be better armed and better trained a week from now, but we aren't going to have any more men. Shandrazel, on the other hand, might have doubled his army in that time. If he attacks tomorrow and finds half his army shitting themselves and the first wave of sun-dragons slain by our sky-wall, we'll have achieved an important psychological victory. Shandrazel will no longer have the confidence of other dragons. If we're lucky, his army will abandon him."
"What if we're not lucky?"
Burke shrugged.
Ragnar smiled. "We need not trust in luck. The Lord is on our side."
Pet sighed. "Fine. I just wish I had more time for my men to practice."
Burke grinned grimly. "As you pointed out, we're not fighting dinner plates. Your men have a target forty feet across to shoot at. It's like hitting a barn wall."
"A barn wall moving straight overhead and dropping darts on us. Still, I'm not arguing. Your reasons for wanting the attack tomorrow make sense."
"So what rumor do you want me to start?" Shanna asked.
"Say that we're unprepared. Say we're outnumbered five to one already."
"That's a cutting a mighty fine line between a rumor and actual intelligence," said Shanna.
Burke nodded. "Most of all, make sure the dragons know that a man named Kanati is in here. It's vital that Charkon hears that name."
"Why Charkon?" Pet asked. "He already wants to attack tomorrow."
"Yes. But he's a good soldier and will wait until Shandrazel gives the word. Once Charkon hears the name Kanati, he'll stop taking orders from Shandrazel and start giving them. He'll make this attack happen no matter what Shandrazel wants."
"Why?" Pet asked. "Who's Kanati?"
"I am, or used to be," said Burke. "And since you've met Charkon, you might have noticed he's one ugly son-of-a-bitch."
"That scar," said Pet, shuddering. "Half his face is practically gone."