“No matter who ends up on the throne,” Ridgecrest said, leaning back in his chair, “many men will be killed in the fighting, men who signed on to defend the empire against foreign invaders, not to battle each other. No matter who wins in this, Turgonia loses. If you were the ancestors-decreed proper emperor, I’d be obligated to back you, but if your claim is no better than several others…” Ridgecrest hitched a shoulder. “I’m not going to commit Fort Urgot, especially when you, pocket assassin or not, have so few forces at your command. Do you have any forces, yet?”
“I do.”
Good, Sespian didn’t state numbers. A handful of outlaws, and the two soldiers Amaranthe had schmoozed into joining their side, wouldn’t impress a general.
“Why didn’t you join Ravido?” Sespian asked. “He seems to have the most forces on hand, along with his wealthy female allies. If you seek to stave off bloodshed, wouldn’t you find it propitious to ally with him? And have the deed, as it were, done the quickest?”
“I haven’t said no to him,” Ridgecrest said.
“Oh.” Apparently that wasn’t the answer Sespian had hoped for.
“I’m waiting to hear from the Company of Lords,” Ridgecrest said. “And… an old colleague.”
“Is there anything I can do that will change your mind and convince you to join me?”
“No.”
This time Sespian didn’t say the, “Oh,” but it was on his lips. He met Sicarius’s eyes. Sicarius tried to read the thoughts behind the gaze. Did he want suggestions for other arguments to use on Ridgecrest? Or did he want Sicarius to apply force?
“What old colleague?” Sicarius asked, wondering if anything had come of the letter he’d posted weeks earlier.
The hallway stairs creaked.
Ridgecrest rose from his chair. “Friend of yours?” he asked Sespian.
“I don’t…” Sespian looked at Sicarius.
“Maldynado and the girl.”
“The girl?” Ridgecrest strode to the door.
“Sir, uhm, you’re naked,” Sespian reminded him.
Ridgecrest had already flung open the door. The young woman from the porch stood there, her wavy black hair framing a face dominated by puffy red eyes and pouting lips. The expression changed to one of surprise at the sight of her father standing in the doorway.
Maldynado ambled into view, holding a lantern. “Oh, hullo, Lord Ridgecrest. Haven’t seen you for some time. Doing well?”
“What’s going on?” Ridgecrest growled.
“Daddy, you’re naked,” the daughter said, raising a hand to shield her eyes.
She was younger than Sicarius had first guessed. Fifteen, perhaps. Sespian frowned fiercely at Maldynado, though Maldynado probably didn’t see it. Ridgecrest filled the doorway.
“Where have you been with my daughter?” Ridgecrest’s hand dropped to his waist, as if to grab a pistol. The only thing down there within reach wasn’t going to be much use against Maldynado.
“In the kitchen. Consoling her,” Maldynado said. “Platonically, I assure you. I’m involved now, you know. But that fellow who brought her home wanted to send his snake into her garden, if you catch my meaning, and she wasn’t ready for all that. Apparently he tried to pressure her and stormed away when she refused to give in to his charms. Charms probably not being the right word. What’re they teaching in officer training school these days anyway?”
Maldynado’s babble was doing nothing to placate Ridgecrest; the general’s fingers had curled into fists, and the veins on his arms stood out. Since Sespian wasn’t the target of his ire, Sicarius simply folded his arms across his chest and waited. Maldynado could handle himself if the conversation devolved into pugilism.
“Snake?” Ridgecrest’s voice had increased in volume. “Garden!”
Doors creaked open in the hallway. “Daddy?” came an uncertain inquiry from another young female.
“Joth?” an older woman-the wife-asked. “What’s going on?”
“Bloody beheaded ancestors, I don’t know.” Ridgecrest lifted a fist and shook it at Maldynado, though he didn’t cock it back for a punch. “How did all you miscreants get into my fort to start with?”
“Over the wall, naturally,” Maldynado said.
Had Amaranthe truly sent him along to help? Maybe she simply hadn’t wanted to take him on her team.
“Daddy, you need to demote Lieutenant Mosscrest tomorrow. He is not a gentleman.”
Sicarius headed to the window to check on Basilard. He doubted Sespian was going to get anything more out of Ridgecrest, and it seemed like a good time to leave. Surprisingly, he caught amusement on Sespian’s face.
At his look, Sespian shrugged and signed, It must be quite the experience to be the only man in a house full of women.
“Ouch,” Maldynado blurted from the hallway. “Why-I didn’t do anything.”
This is irrelevant to our mission, Sicarius signed back. We should go.
The amusement on Sespian’s face disappeared. He seemed stung by the brusque dismissal, and Sicarius regretted it. He should have tried to respond lightly in kind. But this blowup could bring soldiers to check on the house. He and the others needed to leave before-
A flash of orange brightened the horizon. A boom echoed in its aftermath, and a tremor ran through the house, rattling windows and a glass chandelier downstairs.
The shouts halted.
“What now?” Ridgecrest stomped to the window.
“Artillery fire,” Sicarius said.
“I know that, but whose?”
Sicarius didn’t have the answer to that. It had come from beyond the walls of Fort Urgot.
A chorus of deep bongs arose from outside, someone sounding the alarm. Booming knocks reverberated from the general’s front door.
Ridgecrest strode for the stairs.
“Clothes, dear,” his wife said from the other direction.
Ridgecrest bellowed a, “Coming,” to whoever was pounding at the front door and stomped back up the hall toward his forgotten trousers. “Stay in your rooms,” he told his daughters.
Maldynado took the opportunity to sidle into the office. “Time for us to go?”
Sicarius was inclined to say yes, but Sespian shook his head. “Let’s see what’s going on. Maybe we can help Ridgecrest in a way that would endear me to him.”
Maldynado shrugged and followed Sespian into the hallway. Sicarius wondered when his son had started thinking like Amaranthe.
Taking the stairs two at a time, Sespian looked like he meant to stride out the front door. That’d be a good way to get shot, especially since the general hadn’t answered it yet.
“Out the back,” Sicarius said, diverting him into the kitchen.
He passed the other two and reached the door first. Basilard was waiting on the steps.
Trouble, he signed.
“We gathered that,” Maldynado said.
Squads of armed soldiers, their gear clattering with each step, were jogging toward the various sets of stairs leading to the parapet on the wall. All of the guard towers were lit now, and lamps were coming on in buildings all over the fort. Shouted orders echoed through the streets, with the words “attack” and “siege” repeated over and over, amidst commands for soldiers to join their units and find their battle posts.
“We’re not going to get near those walls without someone seeing us,” Sespian said. “I’m joining Ridgecrest.”
“Sespian.” Sicarius gripped his arm.
“You heard him. He hasn’t committed to anything yet. Regardless, nobody here is going to shoot me. I agree that you may want to stay in hiding, but I’m going to see what’s happening.”
Sespian pulled away. Sicarius could have kept him from going-indeed, he wasn’t entirely sure soldiers wouldn’t shoot Sespian if word was getting out about his true parentage-but he’d probably be safe tonight. The soldiers would have other things to worry about. They might put aside their other concerns if they saw Sicarius, though, so he searched the buildings in the fort for a less populated place that would afford him a view. A clock tower rose from the square near the front gate. That would have to do.