“You’d be amazed at how little I do know-” Sespian rubbed his head, perhaps remembering his months of being drugged, “-insofar as imperial secrets go. Raumesys didn’t share as much with me as you’d think. I wonder now if he somehow knew, all along, that I wasn’t… Well, no, that’s unlikely, or he would have killed me.”
Amaranthe patted his arm, though she returned her attention to Starcrest.
“My fourth-year engineering professor at the military academy designed the current aqueduct system,” he said. “I was one of his student assistants at the time and was much honored to be chosen to help. In the beginning, I assumed I’d be running calculations for him and double-checking his work. Instead, I learned quite a bit about… excavation that semester. I did, however, manage to have myself removed from the laborious assignment, inadvertently I assure you, by presuming to make a few field improvements to the Model 4L Steam Shovel. To this day, I maintain that my improvements made it more efficient. And powerful. Had the operator simply allowed me to instruct him in the changes to a few key controls… Well, it’s not my fault he refused to take advice from a seventeen-year-old boy. He-”
Tikaya touched his arm. “In most circumstances, I wouldn’t interrupt your enthused rambles, love, but these folks are waiting for an explanation as to why you, a presumably loyal imperial man despite your years in exile, are blowing up important parts of the city’s infrastructure. I, too, am curious.”
Rias cleared his throat, the faintest tinge of red brightening his cheeks. “Yes, forgive me.” He leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table. “We do not have the forces to combat anyone in a straightforward confrontation, so we must use guerrilla methods. Every one of our opponents must protect the city, otherwise they’ll win a poor prize should they come out on top. Each knowing that the other wants an intact capital to take over, I’m guessing they will suspect some outside invasion force is responsible for the destruction.”
Amaranthe nodded. Hadn’t she herself thought along those lines?
“Unless they’re self-absorbed idiots, they’ll recognize the need to stop these attacks. They’ll either band together, to deal with this unknown enemy, or they’ll attempt to solve the problems on their own. They cannot, however, afford to ignore the threat. The citizens… Thus far, most of the citizens have been hiding indoors, letting the various armies fight amongst themselves, but they’ll no longer be willing to be bystanders once the food and water threat is revealed. Thus our enemies will have problems to deal with on two fronts. Our guerrilla attacks, at which we are not lingering around to address opposition, will force them to place troops at strategic points. Also, the citizens will demand a resolution sooner rather than later, giving our opponents people at their backs with whom to deal.”
Sespian and Books were nodding, so they must have already heard all of this and come to accept the plan. Tikaya’s frown was more dubious, but she didn’t protest aloud. She might be the kind to wait until she was in private with her husband to accuse him of megalomaniacal lunacy.
No, not megalomaniacal, Amaranthe admitted. Just… shifty. If she was honest with herself, it sounded like a plan she would come up with. All right, it was a bit grander in scale than most of her plans, but still.
“What will we be doing while all this is going on?” she asked. “Or are all of our-your-troops busy with the guerrilla attacks?”
“Our troops,” Starcrest said, extending a hand toward Sespian and Ridgecrest. “Many of them are busy planning further mayhem, albeit doing as little genuine damage as possible, to keep our opponents running around with blankets, trying to swat out the fires. But assassins have been striking at the Company of Lords as well as Forge operatives. I’ve dispatched a team to check on-”
A knocked sounded at the door.
“Come,” Starcrest called.
Four natty soldiers in pressed uniforms marched into the room, their rifles gripped in front of them in perfect parade configuration. A bald man with heavy jowls, walked between them, a rumpled dressing gown sweeping about his ankles. His fur-lined boots were the only piece of clothing appropriate to the cold night. Alarming, since he couldn’t have been less than eighty years old.
Amaranthe didn’t recognize him, but from the way Sespian stirred in his chair, she thought she should.
“Books?” she whispered out of the side of her mouth.
“Lord Delvar Markcrest,” Books replied, “one of the senior members in the Company of Lords.”
“Lord Markcrest,” Starcrest said. “I’m glad you could make it to-”
“Make it? As if I had a choice. I’ll not vote for you, I don’t care which one you are.”
“I’m not… any of them, my lord,” Starcrest said. “I learned that you and your brethren were being targeted-”
“Targeted? Seven of my colleagues are already dead,” Markcrest growled. “That I know about.”
“That is why we’re offering refuge for those who remain. I wish you to take the first train north. I’ve sent word to my brother in the countryside, and he’ll board you at Ravenwood Estate until the smoke clears down here.” Starcrest nodded toward the soldiers. “Continue your mission, please.”
“Yes, my lord.” They thumped their fists to their chests and marched out.
“Ravenwood Estate?” Markcrest’s forehead wrinkled, as if he were trying to dredge something from his memory. He peered more closely at Starcrest. “You aren’t… are you… General Kreg Starcrest’s boy?”
Starcrest blinked. It must have been a long time since someone referred to him as his father’s son. “Yes, sir.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, and nobody spoke. It was doubtlessly only in Amaranthe’s mind that Starcrest stood taller, trying to look worthy in the older man’s eyes.
“I’ve only recently returned from… exile,” Starcrest said. “We’re attempting to find a resolution to this mess that’s been created. We want to work with the Company of Lords, not against it.”
“I should hope so,” Markcrest snapped, though much of his anger had faded.
“Joth,” Starcrest asked Ridgecrest, “can you take him down to the cafeteria? See to his needs? Lord Markcrest, I’ll come down and talk to you shortly.”
Ridgecrest bowed his head and ushered their guest out.
As soon as the door shut, Amaranthe blurted, “You’re kidnapping people.” Everyone stared at her. “My lord,” she added.
“You don’t approve?” Starcrest tilted his head, his lips twitching in… was that bemusement? “This morning, at her bequest, I met the prisoner you instructed to be kidnapped.”
“Er, yes,” Amaranthe said. “I mean, no. I don’t disapprove, given the desperate nature of these times, and, ah…” Erg, why was everyone still staring at her? “It’s just that you’re Fleet Admiral Starcrest. I wasn’t expecting you to be-” she cut off before uttering “just like me” or, worse, “as crazy as I am.” After all, she hadn’t achieved quite what he had with her unorthodox problem-solving style, and he wasn’t some scummy outlaw in the eyes of most of the population. Some unfairness in that, she decided. He was exiled-wasn’t that every bit as bad as being an outlaw? — yet nobody cared.
Tikaya leaned against her husband’s arm. “She expected you to play fair, love.”
“Oh,” Starcrest said, drawing out the syllable. “Well, I wouldn’t have lived past thirty if I made a habit of doing that. How would one win a battle against superior man- and firepower if one stuck to common and acceptable wartime practices?”
“Uh.” Amaranthe winced at her lack of eloquence. “I understand. But I’d thought, you being a Turgonian hero…” She stopped herself before she devolved into whining. She would not, for the sake of herself and her ancestors, stand there and sulk about how everyone considered him a hero for apparently using the same tactics that made her an outlaw. “Your tactics aren’t what I expected, my lord, but I’m sure they’ll get results. In fact, you seem to have your thumb on the pulse of… everything.” Had they truly only been gone for twenty-four hours? He’d been busy. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a few of my men and go…” She met Books’s and Sespian’s eyes. “Flintcrest has Sicarius. No, Flintcrest’s Nurian wizard has Sicarius. With some kind of magical control device.” She tapped her temple. “He’s being forced to work for him. There are… a bunch of pikes in Flintcrest’s camp with severed heads mounted on them.”