The Conjuring Man, page 22
She glanced at Adam. “Could you put a portal gateway on the airship?”
Adam looked at Lilith, who frowned. “I don’t think so,” she said, finally. “A regular gateway is keyed to the wards surrounding its location, which doesn’t actually move under its own power. We lost a bunch of portals ten years ago when an earthquake knocked all the crystals out of alignment. The airship’s defences are very different and it doesn’t actually stay still, which means the portal energies will be constantly shifting. I don’t think it could be done ... at least, not yet.”
Dalia nodded behind them. “You anchored a portal out here,” she said. “Didn’t you?”
“Yes, but Farrakhan doesn’t move and doesn’t have any significant wards,” Lilith said, bluntly. “Heart’s Eye does have wards, but the crystals were keyed to them before one pair was set up outside the university and the other pair transported here. The airship is a very different kettle of fish. I think any attempt to set up a full-fledged portal would collapse under its own weight.”
Adam frowned. Lady Emily established temporary portals, he recalled. How did she do it?
“We might be able to adapt, if the portal’s position was constantly predicable,” Lilith said, slowly. “But it would still be tricky.”
“We’ll look into it,” Adam said. He’d find out what Lady Emily did and then see if they could copy the trick. “But we can’t promise anything.”
“Understood.” Betty grinned. “We won’t count on it.”
She nodded as they walked past a pair of tents. “The medical tiles you devised have been working wonders,” she added. “Their charges don’t last as long as the notes promised – we reported this to the university, as you requested – but their effects certainly do. A great many of our wounded are up and walking again, thanks to you. We’ve also been able to reserve more ... intensive ... medical treatment for people who would be dead or permanently crippled without it. I think the news has done wonders for people being willing to volunteer to march to the war.”
“Not that they needed it,” Dalia said, stiffly. “We were committed from the moment we rose up against the king.”
Adam glanced from her to Betty and back again, wondering how many cracks in the local government had been papered over by the desperate need to build and maintain a united front against the monarch. Both monarchs. Whatever promises she made, Queen Violet would be reluctant to surrender everything to the people. Adam had yet to hear of a monarch who genuinely believed their people should have the right to choose, no matter what they told themselves. The lies might be different – they were – but they all boiled down to one person having the unquestioned right to rule, with no accountability to anyone.
Which means we dare not let her – or anyone – think she has the whip hand, he thought, morbidly. If she does, she’ll turn on us.
Taffy coughed. “We’ve also been repairing the railway lines,” she added, changing the subject. “It was surprisingly easy. They could have done a great deal more damage by ripping up the struts or tearing the timber out of place. Instead, they set a bunch of fires that did localised damage, but little else. We won’t get a locomotive past Lenovo until we take the city, of course ...”
She smiled. “We can still move troops up and down the rails and offload them near the city,” she added. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”
Lilith frowned. “Did they not destroy the old locomotives?”
“No,” Taffy said. “We did more damage ourselves, to be honest, when we were evacuating Heart’s Ease. They took a pair of locomotives that were passing through Farrakhan and put them in the warehouse, but otherwise left them there. We had no trouble putting them back into service.”
“They probably thought the railway couldn’t be repaired in a hurry,” Adam said. He could see why. The railways looked so extensive it was easy to forget they were composed of modular sections, designed for hasty replacement. “It’s an easy mistake to make.”
“Or the railway staff ignored orders to burn the locomotives,” Dalia said, darkly. “We didn’t find any of the engineers, when we took the city, nor the drivers or anyone else. None of the old crews remained.”
Adam blinked. “What happened to them?”
“We don’t know,” Betty said. “It’s possible they fled into the countryside, when martial law was declared, or they were rounded up and taken east. The king is no fool. He doesn’t want to go back to the world before steam power just to make sure he remains in control.”
Dalia snorted. “And how can you be sure? Have you met the king?”
Betty’s face darkened. “If Queen Violet is correct, her brother murdered their father to take the throne,” she said. “Kings are inevitably protected, carefully so. Doing the act and getting away with it required a scheming mind and a certain amount of luck.”
“Unless Arnold did it for him,” Adam said. He’d wondered as much, when he’d first heard the news, but there was no way to be sure. Arnold was certainly both willing and able to murder a king, and – given his power and skill – should have no trouble hiding his tracks afterwards. It would be ironic indeed if his sister had been right for entirely the wrong reasons. “What do we do now?”
“Now?” Betty grinned. “We finish our inspection of the city, and the army, and then we have a meeting with Queen Violet. It’s time for a council of war.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Adam hadn’t known what to expect, as they were shown into the war tent.
His imagination had run riot, of course. Golden cushions, golden chairs ... a throne for the queen, of course, and perhaps even chairs for the rest of them, a scene right out of a truly absurd blue book. And yet, the tent was actually something of a disappointment. The table was the most ornate piece of furniture in the room and it looked as if it had been pulled out of a workshop, rather than the remains of the town hall or a merchant’s mansion. The chairs were simple and wooden, and there wasn’t a hint of gold braid in sight, save for the tassels on the queen’s outfit. She stood to greet them, nodding politely. Adam wasn’t sure if it was an attempt to court them, or an unspoken acknowledgement she wasn’t all-powerful. She needed their cooperation to win her throne.
“Lord Adam,” Queen Violet said. “Lady Lilith, Lady Taffy.”
Adam felt his cheeks heat. Lord was the common title for a magician, but he had no magic and no titles. He was a freeman of the city – no, he’d been a freeman. Now? He wasn’t so sure. Was he a student at the university, a master, an independent academic ... or what? And if so, where did he stand in the pecking order? He laughed at himself a moment later. They could worry about that after the war, when everything was sorted out. Right now, they had too many other problems.
“Your Majesty,” he said, unsure if it was the correct way to address her. It was unknown for ruling monarchs to visit Beneficence, mainly to avoid raising a whole host of questions both monarchs and city councillors would prefer to remain buried. “Thank you for your welcome.”
The queen smiled. “Please, take a seat,” she said. “We have much to discuss.”
Adam nodded as he stepped past the magic detector – it ticked warningly as Lilith followed him – and took a seat. The table felt packed, even though there were only a handful of people in the tent. Captain Blademaster sat at one end, facing two noblemen who’d deserted their king and fled to join his sister, at least partly – if rumour were to be believed – to make sure someone from their families wound up on the winning side. Adam’s lips twitched in disgust. They’d have relatives on the other side too, just in case. And there was no way they could be trusted. They’d be watching carefully for signs they needed to jump ship before the queen’s cause sank without trace.
Never trust an aristo, he reminded himself. They talk about honour, but they always put their family first.
“I think we can abjure formality,” Queen Violet said, once Betty, Dalia and Jasper had taken their seats. Adam wasn’t sure what Jasper was doing at the table, although he supposed it was possible the city’s revolutionaries were short of magicians. Jasper had always wanted to be a big fish in a small pond, and now he had his chance. “There is no time to worry about petty details when we have a war to win.”
The two aristos looked irked, their faces darkening before they collected themselves. Adam hid his amusement with an effort. He’d always been told good manners were gold, and they were, but they also helped separate those who’d inherited their positions from those who’d climbed through merit. It was all too easy to spot someone who lacked the right breeding and then refuse to treat him as an equal ... he shook his head. The Levellers were bound and determined to put an end to promotions through anything but merit. A man could talk like a ditch-digger and no one would give a damn, as long as he was good at his job.
“Captain-General Blademaster,” Queen Violet said. “You may begin.”
Blademaster tapped the map on the table. “The war front has been stabilising over the past two weeks,” he said, his voice betraying no hint of doubt. “There have been numerous raids into the countryside, and some skirmishing between our advance parties and their pickets, but on the whole, neither side has committed itself to a major offensive. Our intelligence, however, suggests that may be about to change. King Ephialtes has been funnelling troops and equipment into Lenovo, tightening his defences and ensuring the city remains under control while he readies a counter-offensive. I believe his forces will attempt to move as quickly as possible. If nothing else, he needs to keep us from spreading revolutionary propaganda deeper into his kingdom.”
“He’ll find that tricky,” Betty said, wryly. “There’s no way he can keep us from sneaking through the lines under cover of darkness.”
“He must still try.” Blademaster said. “We did take in a number of runaways and deserters, since the city fell, but the flood of newcomers has slowed to a trickle. Anyone willing to gamble everything on our victory, without further proof we have a chance, has already come, unless they’re too far away to make it. The average serf knows very little about the geography outside his village and, as far as he is concerned, Farrakhan and Heart’s Eye might as well be on the other side of the world. I fear anyone who does set out to come here will be caught by cavalry patrols before they make it very far.”
Adam swallowed. “Is there anything we can do about it?”
Queen Violet showed no irritation at his interruption. “Yes,” she said. “We can win.”
Blademaster nodded. “We have been in contact, thanks to you” – he shot Adam a smile – “with revolutionary elements in Lenovo. The king’s troops have cracked down hard, but fortunately most of the leadership went underground and, since then, have continued to raise rebel cells. A second uprising is unlikely to succeed, at least not without massive bloodshed on both sides, but they’ll be in the enemy rear when we take the offensive. And take it we must.”
“Your Majesty,” one of the noblemen said. “Should we not at least try to reach out to the king?”
“Traitor,” Dalia hissed.
Adam tried not to flinch at her tone. Lilith had looked at him, the first day they’d met, like something she’d scraped off her shoe ... and even she, back then, hadn’t managed to pack anything like as much contempt and disgust into her tone. The nobleman did flinch, his hand dropping towards his sword before he caught himself. Adam knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Dalia would have been whipped to death if she’d spoken to him like that before the war. Now ... he made a mental note to keep an eye on the bastard. A man who felt, rightly or wrongly, that he was being denied the respect he was due could get very dangerous indeed.
“Sir Kentuck,” Queen Violet said. Her voice dripped sweet reason. “What could we possibly offer my brother that he could reasonably accept?”
Sir Kentuck reddened. “Safe passage into exile?”
“No, because he would not trust it,” Queen Violet said. “And why should he?”
She indicated the map. “Captain?”
“We have been drilling our troops since securing the city,” Blademaster said, as if the brief aside had never happened. “We can and we will deploy upwards of five thousand fighting men. We don’t have an accurate figure on how many troops the king has deployed – most estimates are obviously too high or too low – but we suspect we’ll be outnumbered. They’ll also have the advantage of remaining behind the walls, forcing us to either lay siege to the city – which will tie our troops down as well as inflicting untold hardship on the population – or storm the walls, with all the attendant atrocities. I suspect their general is hoping we’ll have to choose one of the two. Either way, it would give our cause a black eye.”
Dalia snorted. “Our troops will not run wild.”
“They might,” Betty said, calmly. “And even if they behaved themselves, the fighting alone would still devastate the city.”
Adam shuddered. He’d never watched a populated city get stormed by an invading army – Heart’s Ease had been largely evacuated before the king’s army arrived – but he’d heard horror stories. Soldiers charging the walls, clambering over the bodies of their dead comrades, to break into the city and force open the gates, then running riot through the streets in an orgy of plundering, raping and killing. The stories were nightmarish, to the point the living would envy the dead. And if Blademaster was right ...
“We need a third option,” Betty said. “If we commit atrocities, even accidentally, the king will be able to unite the kingdom against us.”
“I agree,” Blademaster said. “We do have some advantages. Our weapons are generally better. We have much – much – better communication. There’s some evidence the king has been attaching low-level magicians to his regiments, equipped with chat parchments, but their system is rather cumbersome. We also have elements within the city that will rise up in our favour, if they think they can win. They’ll need to liberate themselves just to keep their city from becoming a battleground.”
He took a breath. “We do have a rough plan for taking the offensive,” he said. “But it will be a gamble.”
Taffy cleared her throat. “What if we just march past the city? We can just ... leave them penned up and move on to Lokane.”
“If we lay siege to the city, which we’d need to do if we wanted to keep them trapped, we’ll condemn the population to starve,” Blademaster said, bluntly. “If we leave light screening elements in place and nothing else, they’ll have plenty of opportunities to either cut our supply lines or even stab at Farrakhan itself. No, we need to take the city as quickly as possible. They know it, too.”
“We could always try to talk their commander into surrender,” Sir Kentuck offered. “There’s quite a bit we could offer him, if he concedes without a fight.”
Queen Violet shook her head. “If intelligence is to be believed, my brother has already taken hostages,” she said. “His generals know what’ll happen to their families if they surrender without a fight. Even if his top commander tries to surrender, his subordinates will turn on him. No, there’s no way to avoid a major confrontation.”
“A few less aristos,” Dalia said. “What’s not to like?”
Sir Kentuck started to speak, but Queen Violet spoke over him. “We need to take down the defences and break into the city as quickly as possible so it is clear to any outside observers that the defenders did everything they could,” she said. “From a practical point of view, we want my brother to think that executing the hostages would be pointless, if not likely to get his subordinates plotting against him. If they feel the hostages are doomed anyway, they’ll discount their survival and take action.”
Taffy leaned forward. “Could we not try to rescue them?”
“They’re locked in the Black Tower,” Queen Violet said. “It is an inescapable prison.”
Adam smiled. “That’s what they said about the Tower of Alexis,” he said. “And Lady Emily broke in and got the prisoners out.”
“Lady Emily isn’t here,” Sir Kentuck snapped. “Do you know how she did it?”
Blademaster cleared his throat, loudly. “We’d need an army on the ground,” he said, before Adam could say something cutting. “And if we had that, the war would be over and we would be the winners.”
He tapped the map. “Our problem is to take Lenovo with as little bloodshed and destruction as possible,” he said. “Accordingly, once the airship returns, we will move our advance elements forward to Winter’s Bane” – he pointed to a mid-sized town on the map, no bigger than Heart’s Ease – and bring up the rest of the troops as fast as possible. The defenders will either come out to fight, in which case we’ll meet them in the field and crush them through superior weaponry, or remain behind the walls. That’ll give us our chance ...”
Adam listened, thoughtfully, as Blademaster outlined the plan. It seemed simple enough, although he couldn’t help thinking it relied on a great many things going precisely as planned. Blademaster himself was dismissive of the risk, pointing out – when Adam raised the concern – that they could call off the offensive at any moment if the plan seemed on the verge of failure. Adam had to admit he had a point and yet, he couldn’t help feeling uneasy. It seemed too good to be true.
“We have better communication,” Blademaster said, simply. “The king’s troops had to keep pressing the offensive against the university defences, even when they were winning, because they couldn’t recall them. Even trying meant that some elements would withdraw, but others would remain, ensuring they’d be chewed to pieces. We don’t have that problem. We can get our people out of the trap before the enemy realises what we’re doing and relocates their troops to take advantage of our withdrawal.”
“So you say,” Betty said. “What if you’re wrong?”
“Then we lose a great many lives,” Blademaster said. “I understand your concerns, but the only other option is to stand on the defensive permanently and hope the king will leave us be.”
