‘You’ll have it, but I’m not sure it’ll do much. Drakh’s got a way to block my divination too.’
Rain swore. ‘What’s keeping Nimbus? We’re sitting ducks out here!’
I started to answer, then paused and turned. Through the door I could see Landis standing stiff and still. He said something into the comm, his manner curt: whatever Nimbus said back, he clearly didn’t like it.
‘Verus?’ Rain asked.
‘One sec,’ I said, frowning. Landis and Nimbus were speaking through a private channel, but they weren’t too far away . . .
‘What the hell?’ I muttered. That doesn’t make sense.
‘What’s going on?’ Rain asked.
‘He’s about to tell us,’ I said absently. I looked ahead, sorting through the futures in which we contacted Talisid.
Landis broke the connection with a sharp movement and strode back through the door. ‘Director Nimbus has issued new orders,’ he told us. His expression was flat, giving nothing away. ‘Rain’s force is to pull back.’
‘For what, an attack on the keep?’ Rain asked.
‘To Nimbus’s command post.’
‘I don’t get it,’ Rain said.
‘We’re not attacking,’ Landis said, his voice clipped. ‘Nimbus’s orders are to establish a defensive position and wait until the Council can break through the wards on the shadow realm and reinforce us.’
‘What?’
‘That’ll take days,’ I said. I was still busy with the futures, pushing our conversation aside with the fateweaver to explore possibilities. ‘If we’re lucky.’
‘This is ridiculous,’ Rain said. ‘Landis, I don’t want to launch an attack either, but . . . this is just stick your head in the sand and hope.’
‘I agree,’ Landis said curtly. ‘Unfortunately, Nimbus holds command. I’m going to have to go over his head.’
‘Won’t help,’ I said. ‘Council are divided.’
‘Talisid?’ Rain asked.
‘Nimbus has told Talisid that a ground attack is hopeless,’ I said. ‘Talisid isn’t willing to overrule him without something more to go on.’
‘Dammit!’ Rain said.
I made my decision. It was surprisingly easy. ‘Rain, keep your troops where they are,’ I told him. ‘Landis and I will come over to see the lay of the land.’
‘And Nimbus’s orders?’
‘I’ll deal with it.’
Rain’s projection looked dubious, but he nodded. ‘All right. I’ll meet you at point K.’
Rain’s image winked out and I turned to Landis. ‘Could you gate us please?’
Landis was watching me closely. ‘What are you planning, Verus?’
‘I think I can see a way to make this work,’ I said. ‘But . . . I’m going to need you to trust me.’
Landis’s eyes rested on me, considering.
We came through the gate to arrive in a small room inside a castle building behind Rain’s lines. Rain was waiting with another Keeper called Ilmarin. ‘All right, Verus,’ he told me. ‘Where to?’
‘Easternmost point of your lines,’ I told him. ‘That big flat rooftop.’
Rain led us out on a snaking route through narrow passages and halls. ‘Vihaela’s been using some sort of custom spell,’ he told us as we walked. ‘Launches a small conductive bolt wrapped in a shell designed to pierce shields. When it hits, it discharges a death pulse that stops the heart. Very low signature, very hard to detect. We’re trying to close off her firing angles, but . . .’
We were passing the men (and occasional women) of the sieging force, deployed in small groups behind walls and improvised barricades. They were huddled behind their cover, hiding or waiting or just sitting slumped. Few met our eyes. The difference compared to Landis’s force was like night and day, and it worried me. Battles are usually won or lost by morale; a combat force will break and run long before they run out of men. These soldiers had taken heavy losses last night, they’d had bad news all day, and right now they were being forced to sit and hold a position under sniper fire. I wasn’t sure how close they were to falling apart, but it didn’t look good.
We came out onto the rooftop, squarish in shape with a waist-high parapet. A couple of soldiers gave us brief nods but stayed down on the staircase, out of sight. ‘Keep your eyes open,’ Ilmarin warned. He was a long-faced air mage, one of the few Keepers from the Order of the Star who didn’t seem to have a problem with me. He seemed to be acting as Rain’s second. ‘We’re about due for Vihaela to take another shot.’
Rain looked around the bare rooftop. There was no cover, not unless you went right up to the parapet and ducked down. ‘Sure you want to stay here?’
I nodded.
Landis glanced towards the complex of buildings to the north. ‘So this is where our old friend Drakh has chosen to make his stand, hmm?’
The three of us left Ilmarin at the stairs and walked out to get a better view. To the north we could see where Richard’s force was gathered, a close-packed sprawl of one- and two-storey buildings laid out across the castle’s north-eastern corner. Dozens of windows looked down over small courtyards, mostly hidden from our view.
‘Yes . . . just a second.’ Rain put a hand to his ear, then looked at me. ‘Nimbus wants to know if we’ve started to withdraw.’
‘Tell him we’re staying,’ I said.
Rain and Landis looked at me.
‘I’ll handle Nimbus,’ I said.
Rain raised his eyebrows but spoke quietly into the focus. Landis was studying the buildings to the north. ‘Does look like a challenge, doesn’t it?’ he said conversationally. ‘You think you can assault the place, Rain?’
Rain cut the connection and looked up. ‘On paper, we’re stronger. In practice . . . ?’
‘I might be able to do something about that,’ I said.
‘All right, Verus,’ Rain said. ‘You’ve dragged us up here; let’s hear it.’
The futures that I could see looked brooding and still. But with Richard somewhere in those buildings, I didn’t trust my divination for something like this. Instead I reached out with the fateweaver. I knew what I was looking for, and began to shape the direction in which the futures would go, sketching out the rough lines of what I needed.
‘I’m sure the Council’s told you about the item I have,’ I said, lifting my right hand for a second before letting it drop. ‘So far I’ve been using it for personal combat, but that wasn’t what fateweavers were made for. They were tools for commanding armies. During the attack on the tombs, I got a sense for how that would work.’
‘Were you using it?’ Landis asked.
‘I tried, but every time I’d try something on a large scale it’d fizzle out. I’d try to bring about a favourable outcome, but every single person on our side was trying to do the same thing on a smaller scale in different ways and they’d pull the futures in a dozen different directions. It was only later that I realised what the problem was. In the Dark Wars, fateweavers were carried by generals.’ I looked between Rain and Landis. ‘To make this work, I need tactical command. The Keepers and soldiers in the attack have to be following my direct orders.’
Rain snorted.
‘It’s not a joke,’ I said.
‘Verus, there’s no way in hell Nimbus is giving you command,’ Rain said. ‘Hate to break it to you.’
‘It’s not Nimbus’s support I need,’ I said. ‘He might be director, but it’s the two of you that the Order of the Star and the Order of the Shield really trust. Being assigned command doesn’t matter a damn if the troops won’t listen. But the Keepers do listen to both of you.’
Rain and Landis looked at one another.
‘I think I can win this battle,’ I said. ‘With much fewer losses than we’d take otherwise. But I’ll need you two to vouch for me.’