Across from Elara, at the other end of the table, Hugh studied Baile’s map. He looked thoughtful. Hugh could twist his face into any expression he wanted. The man was a chameleon. She had seen him go from terrifying to aw shucks, I’m just a dumb oaf in a blink, but the unguarded moments like this, when he forgot to put on a show, and his intelligence shone through, were her favorite.
Favorite. Ugh. She snapped herself back to reality. It was the fatigue. She was so tired, she could barely see straight.
Lamar hurried into the room, Dugas following him. She had a feeling those two plotted together a lot more than anyone realized.
“Bale?” Stoyan asked.
The berserker snored.
“Is he hung over?” Elara asked quietly.
“No. It’s the battle warp,” Hugh said. “Wears him out.”
Johanna leaned forward, trying to read their lips. Elara signed to her, recounting the conversation.
“He’s good for a bit, but then he crashes,” Lamar added.
Hugh took a carafe from the table, poured a cup of black coffee, walked over to Bale, and put his hand on Bale’s shoulder.
The berserker raised his head, blinking his eyes.
Hugh put the coffee in front of him.
Bale nodded, sniffled, and gulped the coffee.
“You all know why you’re here,” Hugh said. “We have a date with Landon Nez in two weeks. Karen?”
“He is camped at the Rooster ley point,” the werewolf said. “There isn’t much there except a small village, a couple dozen buildings at most and a supply station.”
“Slow down,” Elara told her. She had gotten adept at signing over the years, but she was tired and thinking and signing at the same time took all of her concentration.
“Sorry.” The werewolf continued slower. “The security is tight, so I couldn’t get close. He’s shipping vampires in twenty-foot metal freight containers, five per container. I counted twenty-four containers, and more were coming in.”
A hundred and twenty vampires. A single vampire was not an issue. Ten vampires would be too much even for her. Ripping their magic out took an effort, and while she was busy with the first five, the rest of them would get by her, scale the walls, get into the castle… If Hugh’s water trap didn’t work, and even fifty vampires made it over the wall, Baile would become a killing box, even with all of the Iron Dogs in it.
She checked Hugh’s face. He didn’t seem worried.
“How many people?” Lamar asked.
“Too many,” Karen said. “I’d estimate at least three hundred if not more. The place was dead last time we surveilled it and now it’s Saturday morning market.”
“He is bringing the entire Legion?” Stoyan asked.
“Probably,” Hugh said.
“Lots of black and purple,” Karen said. “He definitely brought the Cleaning Crew.”
“The Cleaning Crew?” Savannah asked.
“The Legion has three components,” Lamar explained. “The navigators, which are Masters of the Dead and the journeymen; the undead; and the Cleaning Crew, human shock troops that follow the vampires and kill anything they leave behind.”
“How good are they?” Dugas asked.
“Decent,” Stoyan said. “Not a problem for us one-on-one.”
“It’s never one-on-one,” Bale said. “It’s always one of us and four of them.”
“The Cleaning Crew is expendable,” Hugh said. “Nez is pragmatic. Undead are expensive, humans are cheap.”
“Also,” Karen said, “I saw Halliday.”
Bale cursed.
“Are you sure?” Lamar asked.
“I’m sure,” Karen said. “It was her. Unless you know some other middle-aged dark-haired bitch, who travels with Nez and carries around a pair of Chinese crested dogs.”
“You saw the dogs?” Felix asked.
“Saw, smelled, heard. It’s Halliday.”
Elara looked at Hugh.
“Beastmaster,” he said. “Roland likes to use magical animals in his wars. She is his wrangler.”
“What kind of magical beasts?” Dugas asked.
“An elephant the size of a cruise ship with three heads and tusks that shoot lightning,” Bale volunteered.
“There is no such thing,” Savannah told him.
“There is,” Stoyan told her. “It’s called Erawan. We’ve seen it.”
Johanna knocked on the table.
They looked at her.
“Seriously?”
Stoyan held up his fist, and made a downward motion, imitating a nodding head. He was signing, “Yes.” He did it in a hesitant fashion, the way those who have just started learning ASL sometimes second-guessed themselves.
Johanna grinned at him.
“You should see the size of its shit,” Bale said. “It’s a truckload.”
“This tells us two things,” Hugh said. “One, Nez will come at us during magic. Two, Roland let him pull on his other resources, which means Nez took this to Roland and Roland approved this fight.”
“This changes things,” Lamar said.
“How so?” Savannah asked.
“Nez was content to ignore us,” Hugh said. “Something happened to bump us up to the head of his queue.”
She knew exactly what it was. “Aberdine.”
Everyone looked at her. Savannah raised her hands and took over the signing.
“You protected Aberdine against a significant magic force,” Elara said. “You’re a fighting unit again. An army and a threat. He thought he could come and kill all of you at will, but now he can’t.”
She saw the calculation in Hugh’s eyes. He shook his head. “I doubt it. Did Nez ever explain why he wanted the castle?”
“No,” Savannah said. “He just offered to buy it again and again.”
“Maybe there is something here that he needs?” Stoyan wondered.
“I can’t imagine what it would be,” Elara said honestly.
“Let’s table that for now,” Hugh said. “Before we start planning, are there any ways into the castle that I’m not aware off? Hidden passages, secret tunnels?”
Dugas glanced at her. Elara nodded. Yes, give him the thing. Hugh was an infuriating sonovabitch and a bastard, but he would protect them to the bitter end. Baile was the only home he knew now.
Dugas reached into his robe and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it once, twice, a third time, and spread it on the table. A complex drawing in black ink marked the large piece of paper: a central ring, from which lines spread out like spokes from a wheel. The lines started straight, then curved, lopped and intersected each other, twisting together into a complex maze.
“What am I looking at?” Hugh asked.
“Tunnels,” Dugas said helpfully.
Hugh and the centurions peered at the map.
“Is all of this under us?” Hugh asked, pointing at the map.
“Yes.” Dugas nodded.
“Fuck me,” Hugh said.
Elara almost laughed.
“Why?” Lamar asked, his eyes wide.
“We didn’t dig them out,” Elara said. “They were already here when we moved in.”
Hugh fixed her with a stare. “Were you planning on telling me about the damn tunnels?”
She pretended to ponder it. “Possibly.”
“Would you like to tell me now?”
“There are tunnels under the castle, Hugh.”
“There it is. Thank you.” If sarcasm was liquid, she would be up to her ankles in it.
“You’re welcome.”
They glared at each other across the table.
Dugas cleared his throat.
“Is there anything else you would like to disclose?” Hugh asked. “Do the gates open when someone says a magic word?”
“Not that I know of,” she told him. “Why don’t you scream some magic words at the gates for a while and tell me how it turns out?”
Dugas cleared his throat again.