* * *
“Do you think it worked?” Akari asked as soon as we returned to our room.
Fang, Archer, and the Gorelli brothers were waiting for us.
“I don’t know,” I said. “We’ll have to see what sprouts from the seed we’ve planted.”
“Got to water it first,” Fang said, his eyes glinting with enthusiasm. My jittery excitement was contagious. I wondered if any of us would sleep that night.
“Did you get the stuff?” I asked.
Archer smirked and held out a fist full of chalk sticks. Lud Gorelli peeled a rucksack off his shoulder and thrust it at me. I peered inside. Several spiders crawled around on the bottom and lining. I shuddered in spite of my request for them. The chalk was for drawing “mystic” runes, not that any of us knew what such runes should look like, but odds were good no one else in the outpost would either.
“Archer and Fang, you’re going to be in charge of planting this stuff. Focus on the officers this first night. We’ll look at tomorrow night when it comes. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you it’s death to be caught. Be careful.”
After those two left, I asked Akari, “Do you have that guard roster with you?”
Her forehead crinkled. “Yes, but why?”
“I need to see who was on duty while we were out there talking.”
She rummaged and produced a scrap of paper. “Why does it matter?”
“Because,” I said, looking over their names, “they need to be imprisoned before this thing gets too far along. By the time somebody thinks to wonder who started this rumor, I want them already incarcerated.”
“So their word will be suspect?”
“Exactly.”
Akari tapped her lip. “You have a shifty mind, Fortis.”
“Thank you.”
* * *
We were weary. During the day, we had to maintain the facade, keep the shop running, pretend we did not notice the harried fear in the eyes of passersby, the accusations chasing people through the streets. Night brought no end to our work. We continued to plant evidence. Arrests were made at gunpoint, prisoners locked in the old reservoir. The soldiers on the outside grew more bewildered as the number of arcane symbols increased rather than diminished. Comrades became suspect. The nature of the outpost worked in our favor. Men, only stationed here for twelve-month rotations, had not built long-lasting friendships, no great trusts that could fight the fear growing exponentially every night. I watched from the shadows, knowing fear also. Every night my men went out, they risked discovery. How quickly everything would unravel then. I worried for them. I worried for the mission. I worried we would run out of time.
The knock on my door near dawn on the fifth day sent me lunging for my knife. Might someone suspect our party? The guards who had overheard Akari and me that first night had been arrested, but what if somebody else deduced a correlation between our arrival and the beginning of the rumors?
Another knock. I was alone in the room. The Gorelli brothers were watching the entrance to the reservoir. Fang and Archer were planting evidence. I had given Akari orders to rest.
“Come in.” Knife bared, I perched beside the entrance.
A familiar black-skinned face poked through the door. I exhaled and lowered the knife. Akari took in my tense stance, the weapon, and arched her eyebrows.
I waved her in and closed the door behind her.
“You look awful,” she said.
She looked haggard as well, but I decided she would not appreciate my mentioning it. “I feel like we’re balanced on the lip of a volcano, and any little gust of wind will send us toppling into molten lava.”
“Things seem to be going well. It’s chaos, but it’s what you predicted. I’m... surprised.”
“You doubted my magnificent plan?”
“Sorry, Fortis. I didn’t think it would work.”
“Why did you agree to this madness then?”
“Because some people are worth following even into madness.”
“Ah.” That I understood. This whole plot balanced between my need to please the captain and to provide a solution I could live with—to assuage what would be a horrendous guilt if these men died because of my actions. Are other people’s noble acts so tainted? So based on selfish interest? Or is there something wrong with me?
Akari sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m glad I was mistaken.”
“There’re still eighty or ninety people out there.” I rubbed my forehead. “At least, the officers and most of the non-coms are accounted for.”
“About the officers...”
“Yes?”
“Your Lieutenant Ross is missing.”
“Oh? He must be hiding somewhere. Fang marked his room the first night. Well, it can’t be helped. Let’s just hope he keeps hiding until after the company arrives.”
A heavy fist pounded on the door, the Gorelli twins. At my beckons, they tromped in, followed by Fang and Archer. The Gorellis sported a number of scrapes and bruises. My stomach writhed. If my plan got one of my own men killed...
“What happened?” I asked.
“Some of the locals tried to arrest us, Corporal.”
“Anyone hurt badly?”
“Naw.”
“Good.” I picked up a pen and began twirling it in my fingers and pacing. “Here’s what I need. Akari and Fang, go scrounge us two days’ worth of food and water. Archer, find the key to the jail under the headquarters building. Gorellis, find us weapons, powder, and ammo. After everyone’s done, come back and get some rest. We’re going to hole up for the next two days.”
“What about tonight?” Archer asked. “We going to plant more magic stuff?”
I shook my head and paused next to the tiny desk. I peered at scraps of paper scribbled with equations and graphs—the product of sleepless nights. It seemed insanity to believe human superstition could be calculated by mathematics, and yet my estimates had thus far proved accurate.
“No,” I said. “We’re past the inflection point. Diminishing returns from here on out. There’s fuel enough for the fire to burn on its own. On the evening of the seventh day, we’ll collect those remaining free. At the current rate, it shouldn’t be more than twenty or thirty people. We won’t risk unlocking the reservoir until our reinforcements come, but we’ll be able to stuff that many people into the jail cells. Any questions?”
“No, Corporal.”
“Good. Make it happen.”
They clomped wearily from the room.
Sharing their ennui, I collapsed on the bed. It wasn’t until the door creaked open that it occurred to me, perhaps I should not have sent everyone away.
The figure framed in the doorway held a cocked pistol. Akari’s joking advice from earlier in the week played through my mind: don’t get caught anywhere alone....
Hair ruffled, eyes bleary, uniform rumpled, Lieutenant Ross entered the room and shut the door without taking his eyes off me. I swallowed. Stupid, Fortis. Stupid. Akari told you the man was unaccounted for, and you didn’t think he might come for you?
I was flat on my back, legs sprawled on the bed. My knife was on the desk, out of reach. I did still have the pen, though. Perhaps he would consider dueling by ink? From the icy cloak shrouding him, I doubted it.
I licked my lips. “I don’t suppose you came here to seduce me?”
His eyebrows formed a V, and his lips reared back from his teeth. “You’re behind all this, aren’t you?”
“Me?” I blinked innocently.
He pointed the pistol between my eyes. His hand shook.
I tensed, ready to roll to the side, though I suspected the effort would prove ineffective. “Can we talk about this?”
“No. You and your cursed mouth. That’s what started all of this, isn’t it? Why? This can’t all be to get back at me.” His eyes narrowed. “Who are you working for?”
My breath caught in my throat. Dangerous question, that one. I had to shift him to another subject. The imperials would put a
side their internal suspicions if a common enemy appeared. I studied Ross. Exhaustion hunched his shoulders like a double-loaded rucksack. He must have spent the last four days dodging patrols, hiding, afraid. And angry.
“I’m sorry, Ross.” I meant it.
“No!” He screamed it this time. “I don’t want your pity. Anybody’s but yours. They hated me at the Academy. They called me names, made fun of me. But they liked you. It wasn’t fair.”
I could not look away from the shaking hand clenching the pistol.
“And then you showed up here. And the colonel liked you.” He sucked in a choked breath. “You magic-cursed bastard. I spent months trying to...”
I frowned. The colonel had spoken rather passionately about his family, his wife. What sort of relationship had Ross hoped for?
“You made friends with him in one afternoon, and he spent the whole next day talking about you.” The lamplight reflected orange against the moisture in Ross’s eyes. He lifted his free hand to dash the tears away.
Only chance. I threw the pen at his face and rolled off the bed.
The pistol fired. Wood splintered. I lunged for the knife. Smoke filled the room and stung my nostrils. Ross hurled the pistol at me. It clipped my jaw. Pain radiated through my head. My groping fingers locked around the hilt of the knife.
Ross produced a blade of his own. He launched himself at me. We went down in a tangled heap. My head cracked against the side of the desk. My vision blurred.
He was heavier than I remembered. Hot breath washed over me. Moisture splattered on my cheek. Spittle? Tears? Hoarse, ragged breathing—his or mine?—assaulted my ears. His knife glinted with dawn’s reflection through the window. The pale blade plunged toward my throat.
I threw up an arm, deflected it, and suffered a burning gash. Instinct and pain stole sanity. I jabbed upward with my other hand. My knife stabbed through flesh, chipped a rib, and thrust deeper.
Ross dropped his weapon and rolled away. My blade protruded from his chest. I wiped sweat from my face with a trembling hand, then checked him.
The wound was fatal. I rested his head in my lap and tried to ease his last minutes. If he saw the tears in my eyes, they meant nothing to him. He cursed my name as he died.
* * *
Twilight descended on the seventh day. The company would arrive sometime after midnight. Twenty-seven imperial soldiers remained free with only the six of us to take them prisoner and lock them in the cells beneath the headquarters building. The problem? Two were guarding the reservoir, but the rest occupied a single room on the third floor of a barracks building. I sent Fang to take a closer look. Akari, Archer, the Gorelli twins, and I crouched in the shadows across the street.
I sensed, rather than heard or saw, Fang’s return.
“We’ve got a problem,” he murmured next to my ear.
We retreated a block. I set Archer and the twins to watch the shadows, then interrogated Fang.
“It’s your lieutenant,” he said. “Apparently, they almost caught him the other day and he screamed they were being fooled. Now that things have quieted down and they’ve had time to think, some are starting to have their doubts. About half of them want to bargain with the colonel for lenience and release the soldiers. The other half want to hold fast until the supposed navy arrives. They were arguing when I left. I got the impression somebody might try to open the reservoir tonight.”
Akari hissed. I cursed. We were so close. A few more hours and the company would arrive. If the entire outpost was freed, they would be awake and milling around in the streets. That was the worst thing that could happen.
“Twenty-five together in that room?” I asked.
“Yes, Corporal.”
Akari asked, “Any chance of subduing them?”
“With just the six of us?” Fang asked. “Maybe if I could trade you for the captain and Sergeant Thunder. Those two are wicked fighters. Even then...” He shook his head.
“We’ll have to separate them somehow,” I said.
“Got a plan?” Fang asked.
I sent the Gorelli twins to take care of the two guarding the reservoir, then I began pacing. Gravel crunched softly beneath my feet. Ideas swirled through my head. Should we set a building on fire? Pick them off while the imperials rushed to extinguish it? I envisioned the outpost burning down with four hundred men roasted alive beneath the surface. I shuddered.
“We don’t have much time,” Akari said.
“I’m aware of that,” I snapped. I took a deep breath. “Sorry. Let’s go to the officers’ billets.”
“You have an idea?” Akari asked.
“I’m getting one.”
I left Archer watching the barracks, then dragged Fang and Akari into the officers’ quarters. We lit lamps and located the colonel’s room. Our light revealed a clean-swept floor with not so much as a pair of smalls draped over the military-issue furniture. A portrait of a woman and children marked the only non-standard addition. I sent them a brief salute, hoping their husband/father would return to them unharmed.
I regarded Fang with a critical eye. “It’ll have to be you. You’re the only one with gray in your hair. Can you do an imperial accent?”
Before he could answer, I began rummaging through the colonel’s drawers. Akari and Fang exchanged shrugs.
“Akari,” I said. “Go look through the officers’ quarters and find two uniforms, one that will fit me and one for Fang. Fang, find a razor and scissors.”
They hesitated.
“You don’t actually expect to pass as imperial officers, do you?” Akari asked. “These people have been buying alcohol from you all week. They’re going to recognize you.”
I rubbed my fledgling beard. Neither Fang nor I had shaved for days. Nor had we suffered haircuts for some time.
“No,” I said. “It’ll work. Now, get the dress uniforms, Akari. Nothing wrinkled. We need to look good. We need to look like we just came from the mainland.”
Akari sighed, but left to follow the order. Fang sifted through the colonel’s belongings. I wished we could get our hands on naval uniforms. Still, the army often traveled with the navy. And we need only fool the imperials for a few moments.
I found what I was looking for, spare lieutenant colonel pins. I handed them to Fang and told him to start shaving. Ransacking someone else’s quarters provided me with lieutenant’s rank. Akari returned with uniforms and boots.
“Excellent,” I said. “Can you cut our hair?”
“What do I know about cutting hair?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but she said, “And if you say I should know because I’m a woman, I’m going to smack you.”
“That sounded like insubordination.” I arched my eyebrows at Fang. “Don’t you think that sounded like insubordination?”
“Yes, Corporal. Shall I kill her for you?”
“Maybe later.” I handed Akari the scissors. “Pretend you’re scalping someone annoying.”
“That shouldn’t be a stretch,” she grumbled. She reluctantly accepted the scissors and worked on my unruly tufts. “They’re going to recognize you.”
“It’s dark. They’re sitting up there having a meeting by candlelight. The only thing they’ll see is the flames reflecting on our rank. It’ll work. Fang, let’s hear you do an imperial accent.”
He was putting on one of the uniforms. “This is too snug. There’s no place to hide my knives.”
“You’re an imperial officer. Nobody’s going to attack you. Now, let’s hear your accent.”
“That was my accent.”
“Oh,” I said. “Well, I’ll be your aide-de-camp. Hopefully, they won’t think it odd when I start doing the talking. It’ll work.”
“What’s our backup plan?” Fang asked.
“We don’t have time for a backup plan. This is good. It’ll work.”
“You’ve said that three times now,” Akari said. “Trying to convince yourself?”
I growled. “Just finish with the h
aircut.”
Akari nicked my ear.
“Oops,” she chirped.
* * *
Colonel Fang and I ascended the staircase and strode onto the third floor. We each carried a knife and a loaded pistol at our belts, though I hoped we would not need to use them. Our thudding boots echoed from the walls. Light bled onto the polished floor from an open doorway. Voices hushed at our approach.
I drew a steadying breath and nodded to Fang. He nodded back, not looking nervous at all. Bastard. He entered the room. I came in on his heels.
Twelve bunks lined the walls. Chairs and tables filled the center of the large room. Soldiers in various forms of repose and undress sprawled on the furniture. They stared at us. Sweat dripped from my armpits and slithered down my rib cage.
“You boys don’t come to attention when an officer enters the room?” I hollered. “Where’s your discipline, soldiers?”
They shot to their feet, overturning chairs. They snapped to attention, heels together, backs rigid, eyes focused forward. Lamps burned on the tables, illuminating card games, half-eaten food, and open bottles of alcohol.
“What’s going on at this outpost? Where are the officers? And the rest of the soldiers? The admiral and half the fleet are on their way in from the harbor, and it’s black out there. Why aren’t there any lamps lit? Why isn’t anyone manning the walls? What is going on here?”
They all started talking at once. Even knowing the situation, I had trouble making sense of their babble.
“Be quiet!” I roared.
They subsided.
“The admiral and his staff are going to be here any moment,” I said. “Are you men supposed to be eating and drinking in here? Is that alcohol?”
Someone’s nose whistled, or was it a whimper?
“Look, you slavering infants. You better do everything I say and fast if you don’t want to be court-martialed. You, you, you, and you.” I whipped my finger around. “Get out to the walls, man the posts. You four, go down to the docks and get some lights put out. You men, go fetch the officers. You four, get the street lamps lit.”