"And what should I do about the invaders?" Aridatha asked.
"We've had that set for months. Just follow the plan. Let it unfold."
Aridatha nodded, plainly wishing there was some way to reduce the bloodshed. He was less pessimistic about the outcome of this conflict than was the Great General. But he feared the price would be so crippling that victory would be the greater evil for the city as a whole.
Mogaba told him, "I want you to return to your own headquarters now. Continue to direct your troops from there."
"But... "
"If this goes badly and you're here with me when they come you'll have to pay a crueler price than necessary. Do as I say. Ghopal, you take over here. No one goes into the Palace. No one comes out. If the enemy gets this far make sure they know about the Khadidas and the Daughter of Night. I expect you to stay out of the way yourself. The best people to get the information to are the two wearing the fiery armor. Widowmaker and Lifetaker. They'll listen to you. They're the girl's natural parents. Aridatha, why are you still standing there? You have your instructions."
Ghopal asked, "What'll you be doing?"
"Readying a pair of counterattacks that'll make these strange foreign soldiers wish that they'd never left the land where they were born." The Great General projected immense confidence.
He did not feel a bit of it inside.
Nevertheless, his stride was that of an arrogant conquerer as he walked away from the Palace, a gaggle of messengers and functionaries scurrying behind him. He spun off orders as he went.
Mogaba spotted the white crow watching from a cornice stone. He beckoned. "Come down here." He patted his shoulder.
The bird did as it was bid, startling Mogaba's entourage.
The Great General asked, "Are you who I think you are?"
115
Taglios: The Special Team
There were some tasks too important to entrust to anyone but family. The responsible captains at the South Gate were always related to Ghopal Singh, though they were officers in the City Battalions. They were all men who dared not be disloyal because their pasts were all tangled up with the Greys, the Great General, and the Protectorate.
Also, they were men who were mentally disciplined enough to retreat without running away. They were men who had prepared themselves and their followers for this day. Though, originally, they had expected the Protector herself to be entering their killing zone.
116
Taglios: Outrageous Fortune
The passage through the barbican seemed a maze from inside, though there were only a half dozen turns. From above it did not look that bad. Until huge blocks of stone fell out of the walls, blocking the way ahead of and behind the Captain, trapping her, her staff and another dozen men.
The falling blocks initiated a train of mechanical events, the first of which was the launching of a storm of poisoned darts. Horses screamed and men cursed. And, as I sent my flying post downward to try to get the Captain out of there, burning oil sprayed from ports in the walls.
So this was how they had planned to get rid of Soulcatcher.
The heat drove me back. The black Voroshk clothing could not stand up to much of that.
Sleepy had chosen to place herself at the middle of the invading column. Which meant our forces had just been split in two.
A massive counterattack was sure to develop.
I pushed myself up beside Arkana, who was numb with the horror. "Get ahold of yourself! I want you to find Suvrin. Tell him I'll take charge on the city side. He can build steps to get the rest of the men past that mess. He can use the lumber meant for siege engines. Go on! Get going!"
Once again I did not have to whack her to bring her out of her stupor.
Once again Mogaba had dealt us one off the bottom of his deck. This time our chances of surviving did not look good.
We should have been prepared for it. He had told us that there were arrangements in place.
Sometimes you just do not hear what is being said.
I checked the sun before I reached the ground.
We would have to hang on for a bit longer than what inspired me with optimism.
"It won't be long," I insisted to the commanders on the ground. "We need to put ourselves into a position to hang on until nightfall. Once darkness comes... "
"The Unknown Shadows."
"The Hidden Realm."
Shouts. A scatter of arrows fell.
"Push a company along the wall that direction," I directed. "I want those steps under our control when the others start joining us." I had to show an optimism I did not feel. I hoped Suvrin would press his half of the attack.
No man could question the courage of the soldiers from Hsien. They mauled the City Battalions badly. They mauled reinforcements from the Second Territorial. Unfortunately, the City Battalions and Mogaba's Second Territorial elite mauled them right back. It did not take long to see that Sleepy might have taken too big a bite. The Great General seemed to have plenty of reserves, though he was parsimonious when it came to investing them.
Vigorous support from Arkana, Shukrat and Tobo kept us from being overwhelmed.
Once Tobo woke up enough to begin thinking more than mechanically the tide began to turn. Once he recalled that he was good for something more than dropping rocks and fire-pots. Once he added his sorcerous skills to the girls' weaker ones we got stinging insects, painful worms of fire, lemon and lime snowflakes that pitted armor and flesh.
Nevertheless, the enemy kept us confined until darkness came.
Darkness always comes.
117
Taglios: Night and the City
The Great General took charge of the riverfront defenses personally. He found morale abysmal when he arrived, accompanied by reserves from the Second Territorial. The long succession of military disasters had the soldiers suspecting that defeat was inevitable and that they were being wasted in a hopeless cause.
The Great General himself led his own lifeguard in a counterattack of such fury and finesse that the enemy soon lost everything that it had taken them all day to capture.
The invaders got no support from above. The Great General interpreted that to mean that they were in desperate straits at the South Gate.
There was not a lot of communication between forces. Nobody knew what anybody else was doing, really. The best anyone could do was cling to the plans and hope the enemy did not get too much enjoyment from his advantages.
Mogaba's opponents tried reinforcing themselves with recent recruits. That did them little good. Those men entered the fighting in groups too small to make any difference.
The last attackers fled in the barges they had used to make their initial landings, drifting downriver because they did not have enough men healthy enough to row against the current. All the barges were overburdened, one so much so that it shipped water at the slightest rocking. It did not remain afloat long.
Mogaba treated himself to a long breather. He turned his mind off completely, closed his eyes, let the cold winter air chill him.
When he was calm and breathing normally again he allowed himself to return to the moment.
He could get the best of this thing yet. If he could get these men to the South Gate and get in a hard blow he might damage the enemy enough to earn his own people a fair chance of making it through the night. If he succeeded, victory would be his. They would not be able to survive everything he would throw at them tomorrow.