“My investigation is ongoing,” Adamat replied. “I’ll be sure to inform Lady Winceslav if she is needed further.”
“She will not be bothered,” Barat said. Abrax gave him an unreadable look, and he fell quiet.
Adamat pretended to ignore Barat, focusing his eyes on Abrax. Inwardly, he examined the young brigadier. Why was he so protective? Son-like affection for the widow, or something deeper. Aloud, he said, “I’m conducting an investigation. I’m not some salesman, harrying your mistress without cause. Now then.” He opened the carriage door. “I have other suspects to bother.”
Brigadier Barat stepped forward as the carriage door shut and put his hand on the windowsill. “Brigadiers of the Wings of Adom are not to be trifled with, Inspector. Do not push the limits of your authority.”
Adamat pushed the brigadier’s fingers from the carriage window with the end of his cane. “Don’t try my patience, young man. I’ve dealt with worse than you.” Adamat rapped twice on the ceiling and the carriage began to move. That one would be a problem sooner or later.
“Bo says you’ve wrapped me in protective sorcery.”
Taniel fell into step beside Ka-poel. She gave him a sidelong glance, her green eyes unreadable. She’d avoided him as they made their way off the mountain, by walking either far behind or far ahead. It could have been coincidence that she was always bundled to the ears, unable to talk whenever they passed close by. He thought not. She knew he wanted to ask questions.
Another long glance. They kept trudging through the snow, snowshoes making the going slow and awkward, but saving them from falling through the soft middle layer and having to wade through the stuff.
“Thank you,” Taniel said.
Her next look was surprise. He resisted a smile.
“He says you’re very powerful,” Taniel said.
She paused for a moment and turned toward him.
“I wonder what I did to deserve your protection.”
Ka-poel reached out a bare hand and touched his face.
Taniel had an image of Ka-poel in the back of a muddy hut, naked and afraid, crying. They’d blinded her with some herb to keep her from trying to escape, and, unseeing, she had flailed about with a sharp stick, trying to kill one of her captors, when Taniel had entered the hut. She’d recognized his voice, and he’d been able to calm her. He remembered the cuts on her stomach and thighs, and the blood on her face.
The vision left Taniel gasping. He slowed down to steady himself, suddenly weak in the knees. Had she done that? The vision had been from his own eyes. How could she…? He shook his head. He’d ceased trying to guess what she could or couldn’t do.
They reached a lip of the trail overlooking the Mountainwatch. Bo was a few paces ahead of them, and when Taniel heard a sharp inhalation of breath from Bo, Taniel rushed up beside him.
It seemed the whole world spread out beneath them. Not far below, Shouldercrown sat on the mountain ridge separating Kez and Adro, like a cork in the center of a dam. Below that, tiny from this height, Taniel saw men.
They filled the basin just below Shouldercrown on the Kez side. There was a sea of tents, and roads that looked like serpents leading back to the center of Kez, each one of them writhing like lines of ants.
“An army,” Bo breathed.
“The whole damned Grand Army.” Taniel took a snort of black powder.
Gavril grunted. “Or well near it.”
“Where the pit did they come from?” Taniel asked. “We’ve been on the mountain, what, six days?”
“Seven,” Gavril said.
“They weren’t there when we left,” Taniel said.
Gavril just shrugged. “I was too drunk to know.”
“They weren’t there,” Taniel said with certainty. “War was declared” – he did some math in his head – “less than three weeks ago. How could they possibly gather the entire army in that time? And why are they here, when Surkov’s Alley is an easier target?”
Taniel found they were all looking at Bo.
“Julene,” Bo said with a sniff.
“No,” Taniel said. “No way she knew about the army. She’s been with me for five weeks.”
“It’s not her army,” Bo said. “But I’d be willing to bet she’s going to use it.”
“How?”
“Plans within plans,” Bo said. He avoided Taniel’s gaze. “She let slip once that she’s well known in the Kez court.”
“We’re not going to find her body, are we?”
Bo shook his head. “She fell on the Kez side anyway.”
“Then what now?” Taniel asked.
Gavril took a deep breath. “We take our places at the Mountainwatch. We do what the Mountainwatch has done for a thousand years.” He drew himself up. “We defend Adro.”
They reached the fortress by the middle of the afternoon. A small group of men and women waited at the northeast gate. Closer, a group of three women were rushing up the path. Taniel didn’t even need to guess who they were.
Privileged were magnetic to the opposite sex. Most agreed it was their bearing and power. It was common knowledge that their constant interactions with the Else gave them incredible sex drives, so few Privileged, especially the males, went without a harem. Bo was no exception.
Bo pushed them and their questions away with a brusque wave of his hand and instead went with Fesnik and another Watcher named Mozes, who took him away without a word. Ka-poel disappeared at some point, leaving Taniel alone with Gavril.
“I want to get a better look at that army,” Gavril said.
Taniel followed him across the bastion. He’d need to get a good look at this army to report to Tamas.
Workers were everywhere. Taniel had not imagined so many people could fit in the Mountainwatch bastion and he wondered if reinforcements had been sent from Adopest. Watchers rushed around in a frenzy, most of them carrying muskets or rifles. Despite the hurry, no one seemed to actually be doing anything. The Watch was in top shape and they’d done their preparations. Now they awaited the attack.
The southern wall of the fortress was an ancient bastion, designed with the contours of the mountain in mind. The reality of artillery fire meant that the town could be bombarded quite easily from falling munitions, while the wall itself would remain almost undisturbed. The points of the bastion were filled with fixed gun emplacements – as many as could be crammed into the space. It fairly bristled.
Taniel and Gavril went out to the tip of the bastion. They could see the whole mountainside from here and Taniel couldn’t help but wonder how suicidal the Kez troops would have to be to attempt to take the Mountainwatch. There were miles of switchbacks within clear sight of artillery and small arms, and only one flat approach to the main fortress – straight up the road. Anywhere else, they’d have to scale the mountainside and then the wall, all while under fire from above.
Taniel held up his thumb, trying to gauge distance.
“There’s a town halfway down the mountain,” Gavril said. “Called Mopenhague. They’ve set their advance camp there.”
“How far?”
“In a straight line?” Gavril said. “Three miles. Just out of range of artillery.”
“Not too far for me.” Taniel would crease a few heads when the fighting started, and they’d have to move their camp back another mile.
“Novi’s toes!” Gavril was frowning down the mountain. “Those idiots.” He grabbed a young Watcher by the shoulder and pointed down the slope. “Who’s letting them get this close? They’re within musket range, no problem. Almost to our redoubts!”
The boy shrugged. “Sorry. They’ve just been coming up. No one’s given the order to fire. We sent a runner to Adopest when the army arrived, but we haven’t gotten orders yet.”
Taniel searched the slope for where Gavril had been pointing. There was a thin ribbon of men moving up and down the switchbacks. Their uniforms were sand-colored with green trim. Kez infantry. They carried timber and tools, and they were coming up just below the redoubts. Adran soldiers in the redoubts simply watched as the men worked.