“I am,” said Bergen. “I saw that one of the pennants on your wall was of the Second Battalion of the Enoran Steel.”
Arken folded his arms. “You have the look yourself. Infantry?”
“Cavalry.”
“Which unit?”
“First Company. Enoran Cavalry.”
The men's eyes widened. “Ah,” said Arken. “That far north. Your accent is good.”
“I've served with Ilduuri units,” said Bergen. “And there were Ilduuri merchants in my home town. Several are friends.”
“I've served in Enora,” said another man. “Our commanders used to send small Ilduuri units to Enora to gain experience. Enora has been attacked far more than Ilduur over the years. But our commanders stopped the practice last year.”
“Or rather, the Remischtuul replaced our commanders,” Arken said bitterly. “Our good ones, anyhow.”
“We heard,” said Bergen. “Though we did not think it so serious.”
Arken considered him for a moment. “You took some risk coming here, friend,” he said. “You've seen the men hanging in the squares?”
“They're only the beginning of it,” said another, bitterly. “Others have disappeared. They're not coming after the Steel yet, because they are afraid of making us angry. But give it time.”
“You seem angry enough already,” Bergen observed. “Yet the Ilduuri Steel remain silent, while the Rhodaani and Enoran Steel fight for their lives.”
“There are not enough of us,” Arken muttered. “The Remischtuul have removed many of our senior commanders. Nasi-Keth replace them. A few have battle experience, but most only know svaalverd. Most Nasi-Keth are loyal to the Remischtuul.”
“I've seen,” Bergen agreed. “What of your most senior officer? General Daani?”
“He does nothing. He does not speak to his men, and the men grow alarmed. We do not know what his opinion is. Some say we should wait until General Daani acts, and others say we should force his hand. Daani has always been a friend to Saalshen, Enora, and Rhodaan in the past.”
“A false hope,” said another man. “If Daani were on our side he would have acted already. He leaves it far too late.”
“The stall owner said that you are Haast's son?” Bergen pressed.
“My name is Arken Haast.” Arken, Sasha could not help but notice, was very handsome-blond, square-jawed, blue-eyed, and built more like a Lenay warrior than a lowlander. “It seems that Tershin sent you looking for my father, Taaner Haast. He is Master of the Steelwright's Guild. He works in the furnaces there.” He pointed to the smokestacks by the lake.
“And you will succeed him when you leave the Steel?”
Arken shrugged. “Perhaps. But if the Regent Arrosh defeats our northern brothers, Ilduur may not survive that long.”
Bergen looked at Sasha, perhaps wondering why she remained silent. Sasha found it useful to see how men behaved first with men, before introducing a woman into the mix. Perhaps she was maturing, finally. A few months back, she could not have found the patience.
“And as Master of the Steelwrights' Guild,” Bergen asked, “your father has a seat on the Remischtuul?”
Arken nodded, cautiously. “He is just one man, of a hundred and thirty-five seats. But Tershin keeps the Guild's books, and father told me he'd noticed the Remischtuul's payments in talons.”
“From where does the money come, do you think?”
“There's a Meraini company in town, isn't there?” one of the others said darkly. “With wagon loads of Meraini coin.” There were sullen nods from all present. And burning anger.
“Ilduur has not declared itself neutral,” Arken stated. “It has been bought, by the Chansul of Meraine.”
“Is that it over there?” Sasha asked, pointing across the rooftops. “Is that the Remischtuul?” There was a grand building at the base of the valley slope, overlooking the city. Huge and wide, it looked like a palace, yet too large and new for some feudal monstrosity. That, and it seemed to have no defensive walls.
“It is,” said Arken, frowning at her. “Your accent is not Enoran or Rhodaani. Where are you from?”
“Lenayin,” said Sasha. Men stared at her.
“Lenayin fights for the Regent,” one observed with menace.
“Not anymore. I led them to change sides.”
“I said her name was Sasha,” said Bergen. “Her full name is Sashandra, and you already know her last.”
Arken grinned. “You're having a joke,” he said to Bergen.
One of the others scoffed. “Sashandra Lenayin? The warrior princess?”
“The same,” said Bergen.
“What did you think I'd look like?” Sasha wondered aloud.
“You're too small!” another man declared.
“And Lenayin would never change sides,” said another. “They are barbarians. They love only to fight and care not who they slaughter. To change sides is for them dishonourable.”
“How odd, Bergen,” Sasha said mildly. “These men claim to know more of my people and myself than I do.”
“This is Sashandra Lenayin,” Bergen said firmly, “and I warn you not to anger her or she may give you a lesson none of you could survive. She fought with her people against my Enoran brothers at the Shero Valley, where we gave the Lenays a hard-fought loss.”
“That much news has reached us,” Arken admitted.
“At Shero Valley, she led her people in a great defection, where perhaps three-quarters of them abandoned the Regent to join us. We were enemies, but in Enora we embraced as brothers. The Verenthanes of the northern Lenay provinces remained with King Koenyg, but the rest followed Sashandra Lenayin, by her action and choice alone.”
The Ilduuri men were silent. Suspicion battled with hope in their eyes.
“I am Enoran cavalry,” said Bergen, drawing himself up to his full, considerable height. “I lost friends to the blades of Sashandra Lenayin's comrades at Shero Valley. I swear to you on their graves that I speak the truth.”
“I also lost friends to Bergen's comrades,” Sasha said solemnly. “Possibly to Bergen himself for all I know. One man who died had been as an uncle to me from since I was a little girl in my home village of Baerlyn. Yet the Enoran Steel fought with courage and skill, and they earned the respect of Lenayin. Later, as we advanced into Rhodaan and then Enora in the wake of the Regent's Army, we saw the devastation left behind, and we began to question.
“You have heard only half-truths of Lenay honour. Yes, we are loyal, but mostly we follow our code. The code says that there is only honour in the fighting of worthy opponents. We all saw too many dead children upon the road to Shemorane to believe any claim by the Regent to be fighting in honour's name. The Enoran Steel, on the other hand, was judged in battle and found worthy. My people decided on their own, according to their native values. I merely gave them a nudge.”
“You are Sashandra Lenayin,” Arken said quietly. There was a light now to his eye. Hope, full-fledged and burning. “You have the steel I have only seen in serrin women of the talmaad. So few human women fight. I do not see who else you could be.”
“Why send you?” another asked. “If the Army of Lenayin follows you, why risk you to come here?”
“Because if Ilduur does not join this fight, we are all finished. My brother Damon leads well, and my uman Kessligh Cronenverdt even more so.” There were nods at his name, enthusiastic and wide-eyed. Sasha had not quite expected this, but she sensed an opportunity. She had to grasp it. “But I cannot convince Ilduuri to do anything that Ilduuri will not decide to do for themselves, in their own hearts. And that is up to you.”
“I have little hope for the hearts of most Ilduuris,” said Arken. “Those here in Andal have no interest in the world outside. They have convinced themselves that foreigners are nothing but trouble and do not deserve our sweat and blood. But the Ilduuri Steel are different. We wish to fight, but the Remischtuul has removed all our leaders, and scattered them to the corners of Ilduur.”
“The Remischtuul will not let us leave,” said another man. “And however much the Steel wish to fight the Regent, they will not fight the Remischtuul, and the Ilduuri people, to be able to do it.”