Chapter 24

Corec told Sarette about the events of the previous night while they waited for the others. The knights were the last to arrive. Like Nedley, they’d been out in the village to help reassure people and keep them from panicking.

“Thanks for coming,” Corec told the group after everyone else was seated. He remained standing. “We just finished up with the prisoners—”

“Why’d you let them go?” Georg demanded. “They killed two of our men!”

“They were under a demonic spell,” Corec said. “They couldn’t control their own actions.”

Georg waved that off. “Kevik told me. What makes you think they’re not lying?”

Kevik had kept quiet, but he looked uncomfortable too. Perhaps Corec should have asked the two men to be more involved with the questioning. They didn’t have any experience with the red-eyes.

Treya answered the question. “The only reason I was able to stop them was because it was demonic magic,” she said. “And I made sure they weren’t lying.”

She had a knack for getting the prisoners to tell the truth, but if it was a spell of some sort, Corec suspected she’d only needed it on a few of them. Most had been talkative enough without it, and they’d all told the same story.

“Were they really the king’s mercenaries?” Kevik asked.

Corec drew Bertram’s badge from his pocket, a black, eight-pointed star, and dropped it on the table. “They carried these, and Ral sent a runner back from their campsite. They left their armor there so no one would recognize them.”

Georg snorted. “Stupid.”

“Yes, stupid, and lucky for us. It could have gone a lot worse.”

“Why does he want you dead?” the older knight asked.

Corec was getting tired of not having an answer for that question. “I don’t know. Our best guess is that it’s because I know he’s a mage and a...” He paused, glancing at Razai. Demonborn had a hard enough time in Larso without getting blamed for whatever Rusol was doing. “A warden.”

They hadn’t known those things during the previous attacks, but the topic was complicated enough without useless speculation on what the original reason had been.

Kevik wrinkled his brow. “A warden? Like the title you’ve been using?”

“It’s just a kind of magic. I can tell you more later if you want to know, but the important part is that the other wardens don’t want anyone to know who they are. For Rusol, I’m not sure it matters. As the king of Larso, being a mage is probably bad enough. What will the Church do if they find out?”

“If you knew he was after you, why come here?” Georg asked. Kevik knew some of the details, but for the older knight, it was all new.

“The last time he tried, his men murdered a lot of innocent people trying to get to me. I figured if he wants to kill me, I should make it easier for him. Here, we’re close enough to draw out his attacks. I was trying to keep him away from anyone else, but I wasn’t expecting to be surrounded by civilians. That’s going to make things more difficult.”

“You came here for the fortress?” Kevik asked, his tone carefully neutral. “Not the dragon?”

“No,” Corec said. “We’d planned to find someplace up north. I certainly didn’t intend to be anywhere near Fort Hightower. But someone had to deal with the dragon, and once that was done and we found this place, it made more sense to stay. The advantages outweigh the drawbacks.”

Kevik nodded and leaned back in his chair, relaxing his shoulders.

“What did you learn from the prisoners?” Boktar asked.

“There were four squads last night,” Corec said, getting the conversation back on track. “We killed thirteen men and released fifteen. Sarette’s going to watch the western routes to make sure they don’t head back to Larso.”

Razai sat forward, looking interested, but Corec shook his head. He would need her for other tasks.

“The same day they left,” he continued, “seven hundred more mercenaries in Tyrsall were also ordered out. As far as we know, those troops aren’t demon-controlled, but that actually makes it worse. They’re fighting for coin, and Treya can’t heal that.”

“They’re coming here?” Katrin asked

“I’m not sure, but it’s too much of a coincidence to expect otherwise. I think we can handle seven hundred if Sarette and Shavala are willing to fight, but I don’t know if that’s all we’ll be facing. Rusol’s got another two thousand mercenaries up north.”

“I thought our plan was to retreat if he sent an army here,” Bobo said.

“That was before all these people showed up,” Corec said. “We can’t leave a thousand or more civilians behind. It would be different if we were talking about the knights, but you can’t trust a large group of mercenaries unless someone’s keeping tight control over them. Rusol’s already shown he doesn’t care who they kill, which means we’ve got to stay and fight.”

“Then you’re talking about a real war,” Boktar said.

“Maybe, but so far, he’s only used mercenaries against us. Sending other troops outside the kingdom would require cooperation from the Church and the peerage. If we make the first battle too expensive of a loss, he might not have enough support to continue the war.” Corec grabbed a stack of papers he’d left on the bench and dropped it on the table. “So that’s what we’re going to do.”

Boktar eyed it. “You worked all that up this morning?” he asked.

“I’ve been working on it for over a year,” Corec said. “Let’s see if any of it’s still accurate.”

“Why did they come here, Lady Katrin?” Thella asked. “What did they want?” The woman had her two youngest children with her, a baby boy in her arms and a little girl standing solemnly at her side.

“We don’t know,” Katrin said. That was still the truth, technically, even if they had some guesses.

“They won’t come back, will they?” Thella was staring anxiously down the hill, where the knights were teaching her husband and some of the other settlers how to use a crossbow.

“We hope not, but if they do come again, Corec will do everything he can to protect you.” Katrin added a touch of power to her words—not enough to overcome the woman’s rightful worry, but enough to calm her down. Panic wouldn’t help anyone.

Thella bit her lip as she watched her husband load a crossbow bolt. “I don’t want Hortis to get hurt.”

“I promise we’ll do our best to make sure the village men don’t see any fighting,” Katrin said. “Hortis is just down there to learn how to protect your family.”

Corec had only allowed the idea of a civilian militia to help the settlers feel safer in case there was another surprise attack. He had no intention of using them in a real battle, though four of the new militia members had already volunteered to join the soldiers.

“Are you sure?”

“I am, but for now, we need everyone to be strong,” Katrin said, once again adding power to her words. “Can you be strong?”

The woman took a deep breath. “Strong ... yes. Strong.” She squared her shoulders and set off to gather her two oldest children, Bril and Maya, from where they’d gathered with the other village kids to watch the training session.

Katrin was checking the list of names she carried when Corec approached.

“I think that’s everyone on the north side,” he said. “How’s it going?” He looked exhausted, even with help from Treya. He’d been awake for a day and a half without a break.

“They’re worried, but it’s not as bad as I thought,” Katrin said. “That thatcher, Willson, he’s taking his family back to Four Roads.”

Corec sighed. “I can’t blame him. Those neighbors of his—what’s the name? Renwood, I think. They’re going too. And another family over on the west side.”

Katrin thought about that for a moment. “Willson’s and Renwood’s cottages are right next to each other. What if we took that space and built a new tavern there?”

“You want another tavern?”

“Something outside the walls, for the public,” Katrin said. “You said we need to start keeping the gates closed. And we can make this one bigger. Not just a tavern, an inn. We’re going to need one—the boarding house won’t have enough room for people who are just passing through.”

The builders had already begun work on the boarding house and two apartment buildings. An inn seemed like the next logical step, and Barz could handle the extra responsibility.

Corec tried to cover up a yawn. “Sorry. Yes, that makes sense. I’ll let Boktar know.”

“And then we can use the tavern in the fortress just for our own men. Or for something else.”

“We’ll move the barracks kitchen and mess hall over there. That’ll give us room enough in the barracks for another squad, since it seems like we’ll need it.” Corec stared at the spot where the inn would be, his eyes unfocused.

“You should get some sleep,” Katrin said.

“We’ve still got to talk to the folks on the south side. Ready?”

Ellerie found Corec in his office, a mage light shining overhead as he read through some paperwork.

“Hey,” she said.

He looked up, rubbing his eyes. “Ellerie!” he said, standing. “Shavala said you weren’t coming until tomorrow.”

“Leena told me what was going on, so we came back early. There’s an army on the way?”

“We don’t know anything for sure yet, but we’ve got to plan for at least seven hundred of Rusol’s mercenaries.”

Ellerie considered that. “Can we handle that many?”

“If we don’t make too many mistakes. I’m more worried about who else he’s going to send. He’s got a lot more than seven hundred men, and if his bondmates come, we’ll lose our main advantage.”

During her first visit home, Ellerie had sought out some spells to help them retain that advantage. It seemed it was time to get back to studying.

“When will they be here?” she asked.

“Could be two weeks, could be two months. Could be never. There’s a lot we don’t know. Once Leena’s rested up, I’m hoping she can make a few trips for us.”

“She told me. Can I do anything to help?”

Corec was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry about your mother,” he said.

Revana was a more complicated topic than Ellerie wanted to get into. “At least she’s not in pain anymore,” she said. “Vilisa asked that I convey her appreciation for your official recognition of her ascension to the throne.”

He furrowed his brow. “Did I do that?”

“I wrote a letter and added your name. The other ambassadors were doing the same thing.” Ellerie was Vilisa’s ambassador, not Corec’s, but her sister had so far been tolerant of her split loyalties.

Corec nodded. “As for helping, yes, I’ve got a list for you somewhere.” He flipped through the mess on his desk. “That work crew from Senshall is here, rebuilding one of the old warehouses. The coal wagons have started running, but we’re still waiting on a caravan master to manage the exports. The first real trading caravan arrived—Overland Holdings, hauling wool south from Four Roads—but we didn’t have anyone manning the bridge. Boktar got it all settled, but we’ll need a tollhouse or something.”