Nevertheless, Dardas carried on.
"I wouldn't normally recommend a night attack, but the surprise advantage will be considerable. I want those Far Movement mages in place as soon as possible."
"Yes, General Weisel," one of the senior officers said.
"They're to go out past both enemy flanks." Dardas's lips pulled in a tight grin.
"Understood, General," said the officer. "Two squads are moving the mages covertly into position right now. Both have Far Speak wizards with them, of course. They'll report when all is ready."
"Outstanding." Dardas sounded pleased. There was even a faint note of hysterical giddiness in his voice.
If the officers were aware that the general appeared distressed, they didn't show it. But Raven noted the odd, overwrought manner. Maybe, though, this was just how Dardas behaved when faced with an actual battle.
I don't think so, Vadya said.
Neither do I, Raven said, grimly.
Something was definitely wrong.
The same senior officer blinked at the general, smiled admiringly, and said, "You mean to outflank the enemy's flanks."
Dardas nodded. "That's correct."
"A brilliant strategy, sir."
"It's served me before."
"Sir?"
"Never mind." Dardas waved. "Report when the Far Movement mages are in place. In the meantime, continue to get the companies organized to be Moved through the portals. Dismissed."
The officers all saluted and dispersed. Dardas's eye now fell on Raven.
"Ah, Raven. Exciting, isn't this?" He swept an arm to encompass the whole, huge militaristic display around them.
"Yes... uh, General," she said, biting her lip again. She had to maintain a front for him. He was unaware that she knew his secret. "Very exciting, sir," she said, more firmly this time.
Dardas nodded and even that was exaggerated, a jerking movement.
"We're going to outflank the outflankers," he said, happily.
"I overheard, sir."
But Dardas was looking down at the maps on the table, not hearing her. "It's a nice tactic they've got, whoever they are. See how their forward companies are arranged? It's bait, pure and simple. They have deliberately placed a 'weakness' right there in the middle, this unit that's weaker than the others on either side of it. They want me to attack there. It would draw our forces forward, toward that specific point. If I hadn't known in advance about the flanking maneuvers..."
"How did you know?" Again Raven was horrified to hear herself blurt so tactlessly. So much for her stoic front.
Dardas looked up from the maps. There was a hot glint in his eyes that seemed to pierce her.
"Oh," he said finally, "let's just say this particular scenario has a kind of... familiarity about it." He let out a chuckle that climbed sharply into the upper registers.
Raven felt a chill.
Has he gone mad? she wondered.
Perhaps not, Vadya said. As Dardas, he must have memories of past battles, a vast experience of war.
Raven felt herself frowning. Do you mean that this might resemble something from two hundred and fifty years ago, some battle he and his Northland army fought? It was a staggering thought, though perfectly logical.
Yes.
Amazing, Raven said.
"Fergon!" the general called abruptly.
The aide came scampering to his side, saluting, freckled face flushed. "Yes, sir!"
Unexpectedly, Dardas clapped a comradely hand on the junior officer's shoulder and said, "I want you to fetch a drink for myself and this delectable creature here. We're going to drink a toast to this war. Right away, Fergon!"
The young officer vanished. Raven had time only for a veiled, dismayed look at the general, who was chuckling anew, before Fergon returned with a bottle and two cups. He neatly filled the cups, handed them over, and scurried off once more.
Dardas lifted his cup, some of the dark liquor sloshing over the brim, and said, "To the eternal strife, the unending play of might against might, the test of every fighter's valor, and the dread beauty of bloodshed. To our war!"
Raven held her cup numbly a moment, then hurriedly drank. Dardas gulped his heroically and tossed away the cup. Raven found herself looking down at the maps, at the confusing scrawls of troop movements. She saw the enemy flanks, to the east and west, moving to surround the Felk army.
Suddenly, she looked up. A terrible thought had occurred to her.
It was sharp enough that Vadya perceived it. No, she said, horrified. You don't think...?
It's certainly possible, Raven said.
But you can't tell him, not without revealing that you know Weisel is the host body for Dardas.
Raven prepared herself grimly. Then that's what I'll have to do. This is too important.
Vadya raised more objections, but Raven deliberately shut them out.
"General Dardas," Raven said, clearly and levelly.
It took a moment for it to sink in, then the general froze. He turned and looked at her fully. The grin died on his face, replaced by a cold, penetrating stare.
"What?" he asked, too softly to be heard by anyone but her. "What did you call me?"
Raven drew a steadying breath. "I spoke to Mage Kumbat," she said, not hesitating now, but also speaking quietly, privately. No one else needed to hear this. "He told me. We are alike in this way, General. I am Raven, and yet I'm not. You are Dardas, yet you appear as Weisel."
He seemed to absorb the shock with admirable speed. He regarded her closely, shrewdly.
"Why are you saying this to me now?" he asked.
Without a waver, Raven said, "Because I believe I see a flaw in all this." She indicated the maps on the table.
Dardas's brows lifted. "Do you imagine you know something of military strategy that I don't?" He sounded incredulous, but there was a first hint of anger in his voice.
Raven trembled. She didn't want to invoke this man's ire.
"Tell me, General, is this similar to some battle you fought in your... your original lifetime?"
It felt to her as if she were asking a most intimate, most inappropriate question, and perhaps she was. But she stood her ground.
Dardas didn't answer. He frowned, looked puzzled, then annoyed, then seemed to coolly consider her question.
"As a matter of fact," he finally said, "it does."
Raven was biting her lip again. She forced herself to stop. "It is possible, General," she said, "that this particular battle—whatever it is—has been studied by the enemy. Dardas's exploits are quite famous, I understand. They're a matter of history. It is further possible that this enemy has recognized your style from previous actions during this war. They may believe you are copying Dardas's techniques of warfare, and so they might have, conceivably, restaged this battle, believing that you will react as you did in its original incarnation."
It drained her. She felt suddenly lightheaded.
Dardas's jaw had slowly unhinged. He gazed at her, stupefied now.
"You believe this is a trap within a trap?" he asked in a whisper. He waved a stiff hand at the maps.
Raven swallowed. "I strongly believe you must consider the possibility, sir." Inside her head, Vadya was utterly silent now.
Dardas shook his head, but not to negate what she had proposed. "If it's true, then I face an enemy far more worthy than I suspected." A soft, pleased smile played briefly on his lips. This time, the expression wasn't strained.
He took a step closer to her and brushed a finger along her sublime jawline, apparently not caring who saw this.