Gwillgi shrugged. “And my posted duty is to observe the Shadow War. This seems as reasonable an observation post as any.”
Little Hugh said, “The Fudir an’ I, we started out together, on the hunt for January’s Dancer. I don’t see why we shouldn’t end it together.”
Greystroke rolled his eyes, said nothing, but did not move toward the door.
“Graceful Bintsaif?” said Bridget ban.
“Aye, Cu?”
“An’ I gave the order, would ye be throwin’ my thickheaded bairn o’er yer shoulder an’ cart her tae the roof?”
“Aye, Cu. If you gave the order.”
Bridget ban turned to the door just as Tina Zhi returned, entering in the normal fashion from the hallway. “I have damped the field,” the Technical Name said. “Even those with tokens can no longer leap.”
“Oh. Well,” said Bridget ban, “that makes all the difference in the world.”
Eglay and Domino had shut down their game and the Fudir used the play deck to project an image of the kill space. “I’ve highlighted the Cache, where the Vestiges are kept,” he said. “We have to assume that Gidula and the Secret Name know the location, and will go straight there. We don’t know which entry they will take—”
“They will take each entry,” said Ravn. “They will come as water comes, through every channel.”
Donovan studied the building plan, though he and the Sleuth and Inner Child had been considering options ever since the Child had spotted the approaching party. He pointed. “Three, Four, and Five, disable the drop-wells, force them onto the stairs. Plant traps to rake the stairwells, but with the triggers near the top so we catch as many as possible. Greystroke, take Little Hugh, and Matilda. You three are the most accomplished at camouflage. Wait near the main entrance, allow the enemy to pass, then follow behind, picking off stragglers. Matilda, salt the lobby and stairwells with fear. Shadows and Names will not run, but they might advance less boldly.”
“What of me?” asked Pyati.
“The enemy will gather at these two points,” the Fudir said, “and converge on the Cache from both ends of the building. Eglay, you take the east wing; Pyati, take the west. Domino, you take this choke point, where the main stairs come up. Take one magpie apiece. Pluck some fruit, then withdraw to this line. Draw them in as far as possible before pruning. Once they trigger the stairwell traps, they will know the building is defended and will act accordingly. Keep them complacent as long as you can. Our advantage is that we know their destination.”
“Little good will it do them,” said the Technical Name. “The Cache is unbreakable.”
The Fudir shook his head. “They will not have come all this way under these circumstances without some plan to effect entrance.”
“Likely, the Secret Name intended to leap into the Cache; but that way is now blocked, thanks to my timely technical action.”
“Gidula leaves no contingency unplanned. Is there a hidden way into the Cache?”
“If there were,” said Tina Zhi, “neither Gidula nor the Secret Name would know of it.”
In other words, said the young man in the chlamys, there is a hidden way. Right, agreed the Sleuth. If the Cache is sealed and she went in to deactivate the leaping tokens, how did she get out? So: If Gidula knows the way, he must have learned of it from one of the College. The Virgins were sworn to secrecy. And two years ago he began to urge the attack on the Secret City and—perhaps, plan the decimation of Names and Shadows alike.
“Gidula kidnapped one of your Virgins about two years ago,” Donovan said, “and tortured her into revealing the hidden entrance.” Once again, Tina Zhi’s body language was louder than her denial.
“We only know that Beata disappeared,” she admitted, “not that Gidula was behind it.”
Together, Donovan and Bridget ban bent over the holomap of the building.
“This room above the Cache…,” the Hound said, pointing.
“A fane,” Donovan told her, “dedicated to the Daemon Muse.”
“Where the College conducts its private rites,” said Tina Zhi. “None else may enter.”
Then that is where the hidden entrance is concealed, said the Sleuth.
“And Gidula kept it in his pocket until he could use it,” said Bridget ban. “Do you mean he instigated this entire battle as a cover?”
The Fudir nodded. “You have tantalized the other Names,” he said to Tina Zhi, “with dribs and drabs: the leaping tokens, the sparkle armor, the accelerated healing. You can understand how a certain cupidity might overcome them. They tire of golden eggs and would have the goose entire.”
“Who!” Tina Zhi demanded. “Who else is in it?”
“Beside Gidula and the Secret Name? No one meant to survive this night. People, when you surrender your positions, fall back to here, covering the fane. Five, to the Security Room on the top floor. Keep us apprised of movements within the building. No argument. Your role is vital, and once Gidula realizes we are are tracking him, he will send magpies to search you out. Ravn—”
“I have my oon target, sweet. There is a man who left me to dangle on a cliff when he could have killed me. Such kindness demands reciprocity.”
“And you,” said Bridget ban to Donovan buigh. “I suppose you will hunt down the Secret Name and take your long revenge.”
But Donovan shook his head. “Revenge is for fools. If the past is to have a hold over me, I would prefer it to be the good times and not the bad. Should he and I meet, only one of us will leave, but I’ll not seek him out. Let Fate decide whether we encounter each other. Defense of the Cache is foremost. Méarana, the point of least immediate danger is with Five and the system monitors. Stay with him. Bridget—”
“Ochone! ’Tis an ill fork ye hoist me on,” the Red Hound said. “I know where my heart tells me to be. I know where my head tells me I must be. Graceful Bintsaif, go with my daughter and Five Padaborn. Her life is your life.”
“Aye, Cu.”
Donovan completed the dispositions. “Remember: active measures, fluid defense. Find long shots and go for the snipe when you can. Booby a few traps. Plant diversions. Hit and run…” He stopped and scanned his small army. “And all the other elementary instructions which none of you need hear.” He held a hand out. “To the blood and to the bone,” he said. The Shadows and the magpies slapped his hand and departed silently to their posts.
Gwillgi allowed his sharpened teeth to show. “We’re your ace, Donovan. They won’t know that Hounds are on the scene.”
“Act insofar as you hold that secret as long as possible,” Donovan told the Hounds. “Just remember: whatever ruthlessness you may think you own, the Shadows own ten times more. Their skills are no greater, but their hesitations are less. And of them all, Gidula is the most treacherous. He smiles.”
Greystroke wore coveralls of anycloth. In the lobby, he altered them to resemble a shenmat. Little Hugh watched in dismay. “Ye cannot be serious.”
But Greystroke showed his teeth. “Easier to blend into a crowd.” He detailed a brassard on his left arm with a symbol hard to discern.
Matilda of the Night joined them. “Stairwells prepared. Put these filters in your noses to block the effects.”
Greystroke complied. “You reveal your secrets.”
“Don’t be a fool. You have no idea what my secrets are. There are four stairwells they can take and only three of us. Let us not all trundle up the same one.”
“East wing,” said Greystroke.