Taniel swallowed. This parley needed to accomplish two very important things: it needed to convince Jiffou that Lindet was still in Planth and that the defenders had the upper hand. It appeared he already assumed the former. It was the latter Taniel was worried about. They needed him to hesitate.
“We’ve called in every militia for a hundred miles,” Taniel retorted. “It’ll be more than enough to deal with a Kez brigade.”
“You speak like you have the might of the famous Adran infantry behind you,” Jiffou said. “You don’t. You have, at best, a few dozen disorganized militias. I am no fool. Now, let us get this over with. I expect the unconditional surrender of the city and for Lindet to be brought to me in chains.”
“Withdraw your men from the borders of the city immediately,” Styke replied. “Return to New Adopest and inform the colonial governor that Ben Styke had a lovely time with his daughter at the regional gala two years ago and he looks forward to seeing her again.”
Bertreau coughed into her hand, unsuccessfully covering a laugh. Jiffou’s eyes narrowed. “Jest if you like,” he said. “It won’t save your necks from the noose.”
We’re acting too cavalier, Taniel thought. Overplaying our hand.
“You have a city full of civilians there,” Jiffou said, spreading his hands. He relaxed his “portrait” stance, as if to say he could be a reasonable man. “My orders are to put the city to the torch, but I have the leniency to spare the city if you hand Lindet and her cabinet over to me at once.”
“And the defenders?” Taniel asked.
“You’ll be arrested and tried as traitors to the crown, of course.”
“Huh,” Styke said, “you’re not very good at this negotiating thing, are you?”
“What is my alternative? Set the city on fire and let you walk free?”
“That sounds more pleasant to me,” Styke said.
“You’d let ten thousand people die for the chance to save your own neck?” Jiffou asked.
“You wouldn’t?”
Taniel glanced at the colonel sidelong. The two words were blunt, forceful, and had no sound of a bluff about them. He wondered if Styke had really agreed to defend the city out of a sense of duty. Was he just looking for an impossible fight? Was he suicidal – or would he retreat too early and cost them all their lives?
“What makes you think the Lady Chancellor is even here?” Bertreau asked.
Jiffou responded with a moment of silence, looking past Styke to weigh Bertreau thoughtfully. “Has she fled?” he asked, before answering himself, “No. It’s a bit late for that bluff, major. My spies would have informed me.”
Taniel glanced at Bertreau. Her face was unreadable, but she had to be thinking the same thing he was: Lindet’s Blackhats in Planth had managed to turn or expose every single one of the Kez spies. Impressive.
“Hand over Lindet and her cabinet,” Jiffou said, “And I’ll tell my superiors that the people of Planth were cooperative and offered no resistance, and that I found no military presence in the city when I arrived.”
“You’d let us just… walk away?” Taniel asked.
“I would. If you give me Lindet.”
So far, Jiffou hadn’t displayed the hallmarks of a Kez officer who’d purchased his commission like all the others. He was confident and in control, without being a total fool. He was willing to ignore orders to fry the bigger fish. But Taniel could see the eagerness in his eyes. Capturing Lindet would end this revolution and make Jiffou’s career.
“Give us three days to consider,” Styke said.
Jiffou scoffed. “You have an hour.”
“There are a large number of militias here,” Bertreau pointed out. “To peaceably hand over Lindet we’ll have to get the approval of the militia commanders. That will take at least three days.”
“Yes, while you wait for reinforcements. I’m familiar with your frontier tricks, major.” Jiffou tapped his chin, eying the city. He was no doubt willing to sacrifice his entire brigade for a chance at Lindet – but a bloodless finish would be quite the coup. “I’ll give you a day,” he said. “That is my final offer.”
“Done,” Styke responded.
The two parties split, Jiffou returning to his camp with his bodyguards while Taniel walked back toward the city with his companions. As soon as they were out of earshot, Styke made a growling sound in the back of his throat, like a dog eager for a fight.
“I’ll try to keep their scouts at bay this evening,” he said, “but you’ve got until noon tomorrow to get as many people out of the city as possible. Make every second count.”
Taniel was pulled out of his bed by the distant thunder of artillery. He sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes, wondering whether it was a dream before a whistling sound caught his ears. There were a series of loud crashes, far too close for comfort, and then he was up and running, pulling his jacket on as he went. It was barely light, no later than six in the morning.
“Pole! We’ve got a fight,” he shouted, slapping the canvas of her tent as he passed.
Church bells began to ring, and Taniel found Styke’s men rousing from the makeshift barracks they’d set up in the city square. Armor clattered as man and horse alike were armed in the ancient plate. Taniel found Styke leaving his tent, hopping along with one arm in his cavalry jacket and his pants around his ankles.
Styke saw Taniel and let out a string of expletives.
“I thought we had until noon?” Taniel shouted above the whistling of Kez shells.
“Damned Kez must have figured out our game. Bloody pit and bloody damn blasted son of a bitch. You better hope they plan on a good shelling before they send in their infantry because it takes real damned long to get this armor on.” Styke gestured to the big warhorse his groom was rubbing down and the ten stone of armor laid out on the ground next to it. “Tell Bertreau to buy us some time.”
Bertreau, it seemed, was already ahead of Styke. Taniel arrived at Fort Planth to find the entire garrison already lining up in formation while the fort cannons were aimed and loaded.
Taniel and Ka-poel joined Bertreau on one of the fort lookout towers and stared across the fog-covered field to the Kez camp almost two miles away. At some point during the night their artillery had been moved up – six light mortars and eight guns – and the army were already in formation, waiting for the order to advance.
It took five minutes for Fort Planth’s six light cannons to return fire, and only fifteen minutes before one of them had already been slagged by the enemy artillery. The Kez had the weight, range, and numbers on the heavy guns. Taniel returned fire with his rifle when he could, picking off gun crews and mid-ranking officers but it seemed that the Kez had a replacement ready for each soldier he killed.
The field was soon obscured by powder smoke, making his opportunities fewer and farther between.
“Looks like he’s just going to sit out there and shell the city,” Bertreau said glumly.
“It’ll give Styke time to get ready, at least.”
Bertreau shot Taniel a look. She pointed at the slagged cannon less than fifty yards from them. “It doesn’t matter whether we have Styke or not. If Jiffou shells us until he runs out of ammunition half the city will be on fire and we’ll be lucky if there’s a garrison left to defend it.” She shouted for a messenger to evacuate the remaining civilians from the southern half of the city.