'Major,' he said, saluting for the benefit of anyone watching, 'everything in place?'
'They are, but I'm far from happy about leaving the compound open to attack – it's a big risk to take.'
Ilumene had suggested the gates be left open and a fair number of the men sent out into the city. Kiyer's flood notwithstanding, Ilumene didn't want the people to feel abandoned by their secular rulers. Over the years the city's streets had been built so floodwater could be safely diverted away. He was confident the battle would follow Azaer's script and be short-lived. What was far more import' ant was the perception people in Breakale, Wheel and Burn would have of this day – in preparation for the day they were forced to choose sides.
'What if they slaughter the garrison?' the major asked.
'They won't,' Ilumene said confidently. He looked around at the figures on the wall and congregated in the compound's yard. He'd dressed every suitable servant in uniform and set some to manning the walls while the rest were ordered to wander around looking aimless while the main complement of Ruby Tower Guards were hidden away or disguised as servants, with their weapons well hidden.
'They'll want to see the duchess's body before they do anything else. Go out there and meet them under a flag of truce and have the guards surrender. The mercenaries they've employed will still be thinking clearly, even if the priests can't, so they will be wary. We keep clear of the gates and don't try to shut them.' He pointed towards the largest group of real soldiers. 'Move them to the other side of the compound, away from the gates.'
'But if we let them all into the compound we'll be outnumbered,' Feilin pointed out, still looking unhappy. 'Surely that's why we're trying this ruse in the first place?' Like many of his fellow soldiers of Litse blood, he had pale skin and fair hair, which made him look ashen in his deep crimson uniform.
'If you don't move them, it'll be too obvious that we're ready for them – unless you've got a company of white-eyes I don't know about?' Ilumene's sharp tone was enough to provoke a look of slight fear on Feilin's face. He shifted uncomfortably, as though the bruises he still bore had started to ache again.
'No, of course not.'
'Then we give them somewhere to retreat to. The gate's a bottleneck – and we might even get lucky with the fioodwater.'
At the mention of Kiyer's Deluge Feilin glanced nervously at the cliffs looming large behind the Ruby Tower. The thunder had abated, but the clouds above Blackfang were darker than ever.
'I think they'll stay and fight.'
'Fine by me. They'll be met on three sides in that case.'
'What about the mages? Surely they'll have far more than we do?'
Ilumene nodded; Major Feilin had made a good point – under any normal circumstances. They might not have anyone to rival Mage Peness, but with the assembled mages of every cult in Byora to call on they had the weight of numbers on their side.
'Peness, Jelil and Bissen won't be able to fight them all, no,' he agreed.
'So what is your plan?'
'My plan, sir?' Ilumene said with a wolfish look. 'Oh no, not my plan, yours. I have just taken the liberty of anticipating your orders. The three mages are positioned in one of the eastern rooms in the tower. Most battle-mages need to be able to see their enemy to do anything really nasty.'
'So what use are they going to be on the wrong side of the tower?' the major asked, bemused, still trying desperately to understand what his subordinate had in mind.
'They're going to be cowering; far enough away that the priests won't have any reason to suspect a trap.' Ilumene turned and pointed at the tower. It was an enormous building, not as tall as the Tower of Semar in Tirah, but far wider. The tower was hexagonal in shape and built in steps, the lowest being the size of a palace itself, with walls thicker than those of most castles, to support the weight of the tower above. 'The Duchess Chamber,' he said. 'I heard it was changed, years back.'
'The last duke remodelled it, what, twenty years ago, perhaps?' Feilin said, still completely mystified.
'He put in all those pillars and a hallway, so the main entrance didn't lead straight in?'
'Yes, but so what?'
'So all that work's not structural,' Ilumene said. 'We can bring it down – and the rest of the tower will still stand.'
'But-' Feilin began before cutting himself off. 'Merciful Gods!'
'Hah, they ain't showing much mercy these days, so I reckon we should return the favour,' Ilumene said with feeling. 'They'll have dozens of priests, all with only weak magic; an Aspect-Guide ain't as good as a mage's daemon. Maybe someone like Mage Peness has the strength and speed to do something about a roof falling in on him, but none of them will.'
'And they'll be confident Peness won't oppose them,' said Feilin softly.
'Aye, before they even walk through those gates they'll know whether we can match that strength or not. When they realise we can't, they'll relax. Priests ain't got a soldier's instincts; their penitents won't be able to stop them in time.'
Natai blinked, suddenly awakening, and looked around. Two anxious faces stared back, the dark-haired Lady Kinna and Jeto, Natai's steward. From the look on their faces she'd been out of it for longer than she'd realised -Jeto could be as fussy as a dowager duchess at times, but Kinna was as ambitious and heartless as any Litse noblewoman.
'Your Grace?' said Lady Kinna cautiously. She'd been the only one of Natai's close circle to come straight to the Ruby Tower when she heard what had happened in Hale. For all her youth, she's a sharp one, Qanas always said-
The thought went no further as a spasm ran through her body. Natai felt her hand begin to tremble and had to clasp it tight with the other. Strange. My body understands my grief when my mind cannot quite accept it.
She looked down at her hand. One of her rings was missing a stone, and a graze three inches long ran from the knuckle beside it down the back of her hand, tracing the path of the missing gem.
It was a ruby, she recalled, a ruby spilled with blood – who will find that? One of their mercenaries? Not a priest, their heads are raised too high now. Perhaps a pilgrim, come to pray- No; not after this. The temples will be closed until the ground is hallowed again. While these murderers live, Hale is not sacred.
She went to the window, unable to bear the sight of the door to her chamber. Catching sight of it out of the corner of her eye was enough to make her hope her husband was about to walk through.
'Kinna, is there-V Her voice wavered and caught, and she stopped, unable to continue. She hugged her arms around her body, ignoring the pain it provoked, the hot* heavy feeling of a badly bruised shoulder and the sharp throb where skin had been cut.
'There… No, your Grace,' came the hesitant reply. 'Nor of Sir Arite. Major Feilin has said he cannot send anyone out for information, not when we're trying to look as if we are beaten.'
Natai didn't speak. That there was a battle coming didn't appear to matter. She was exhausted, her body screaming for sleep, but her mind refused.
Sergeant Kayel seems to thrive on conflict; he looks as alive now as when he was fighting my guards. Do 1 envy or pity him? she wondered.
Perhaps she would seek Ruhen out and lose herself in those bewitching eyes… No, she could not, for Kayel had carried her as if she were dead, up to her rooms high in the tower, careful to let others see the blood leak from her head and drip onto the stairs.