Forged in Blood I (26 page)

Though the office faced the unlit yard behind the house, a dusting of snow helped him locate a familiar black wool cap. Basilard moved closer to the light from the window. Even with the movements exaggerated, his hand signs were hard to read, but Sicarius caught the gist.

They’re coming inside.

Even as Basilard signed, the faint
snick
of a door being shut drifted up from below. The front door, not the back, Sicarius decided. Footsteps followed, two sets.

Sicarius signed,
The suitor is coming in with the daughter?
That might cause some drama if the father was unaware of the relationship—or aware of it and disapproved. Ridgecrest, intent on Sespian, didn’t seem to have noticed the sounds from downstairs yet.

Not exactly
, Basilard signed.
Maldynado went in with her.

What?

Basilard lifted his shoulders and, though it was hard to tell in the dark, that might have been an eye roll.
He said Amaranthe said he was supposed to come in and help sway the general.

Somehow Sicarius doubted that had been Maldynado’s motivation in approaching the girl.
Remain on guard
, he signed.

Basilard lifted a hand in acknowledgment.

“I think it’s admirable—or ambitious—that you want to reclaim the throne,” Ridgecrest said, “especially given that Ravido’s business allies have a few cannons aimed in your direction. But from what I’ve heard, you no longer have a stronger claim than any of the others descending on the capital.”

“If Ravido is your source, he can hardly be trusted,” Sespian said. “He’d say anything to legitimize his attempt at usurping my position.”

“Are you saying the assassin lurking at my window is
not
your father?”

Sicarius returned to
lurk
behind Ridgecrest again. Soft murmurs drifted to his ears via the hallway. Maldynado must have stopped to chat with the girl in the kitchen. Sicarius was tempted to check on him and ensure all he was doing was
chatting
. Sicarius didn’t care with whom Maldynado engaged in coitus, but doing it with the daughter of the general they were trying to win to their side would prove problematic.

“That
he
thinks he may be my father does not make it the truth,” Sespian said. “My mother was sleeping with Raumesys at the same time.”

Sicarius wondered if Sespian believed his own words.

Ridgecrest rotated in his chair, his single eye squinting up at Sicarius. “Enh.” He turned back to Sespian. “You look more like him than Raumesys.”

“You look more like a knife fighter off the streets than a general.” Sespian waved to the older man’s battered face. “But I’m not going to hold it against you.”

Ridgecrest chuckled at that. When Amaranthe was negotiating, Sicarius usually found it to be a good sign when the enemies started laughing, but Sespian didn’t have her charm, and Sicarius didn’t know if he’d won anything yet.

“No matter who ends up on the throne,” Ridgecrest said, leaning back in his chair, “many men will be killed in the fighting, men who signed on to defend the empire against foreign invaders, not to battle each other. No matter who wins in this, Turgonia loses. If you were the ancestors-decreed proper emperor, I’d be obligated to back you, but if your claim is no better than several others…” Ridgecrest hitched a shoulder. “I’m not going to commit Fort Urgot, especially when you, pocket assassin or not, have so few forces at your command. Do you have
any
forces, yet?”

“I do.”

Good, Sespian didn’t state numbers. A handful of outlaws, and the two soldiers Amaranthe had schmoozed into joining their side, wouldn’t impress a general.

“Why didn’t you join Ravido?” Sespian asked. “He seems to have the most forces on hand, along with his wealthy female allies. If you seek to stave off bloodshed, wouldn’t you find it propitious to ally with him? And have the deed, as it were, done the quickest?”

“I haven’t said no to him,” Ridgecrest said.

“Oh.” Apparently that wasn’t the answer Sespian had hoped for.

“I’m waiting to hear from the Company of Lords,” Ridgecrest said. “And… an old colleague.”

“Is there anything I can do that will change your mind and convince you to join me?”

“No.”

This time Sespian didn’t say the, “Oh,” but it was on his lips. He met Sicarius’s eyes. Sicarius tried to read the thoughts behind the gaze. Did he want suggestions for other arguments to use on Ridgecrest? Or did he want Sicarius to apply force?

“What old colleague?” Sicarius asked, wondering if anything had come of the letter he’d posted weeks earlier.

The hallway stairs creaked.

Ridgecrest rose from his chair. “Friend of yours?” he asked Sespian.

“I don’t…” Sespian looked at Sicarius.

“Maldynado and the girl.”

“The
girl
?” Ridgecrest strode to the door.

“Sir, uhm, you’re naked,” Sespian reminded him.

Ridgecrest had already flung open the door. The young woman from the porch stood there, her wavy black hair framing a face dominated by puffy red eyes and pouting lips. The expression changed to one of surprise at the sight of her father standing in the doorway.

Maldynado ambled into view, holding a lantern. “Oh, hullo, Lord Ridgecrest. Haven’t seen you for some time. Doing well?”

“What’s going on?” Ridgecrest growled.

“Daddy, you’re
naked
,” the daughter said, raising a hand to shield her eyes.

She was younger than Sicarius had first guessed. Fifteen, perhaps. Sespian frowned fiercely at Maldynado, though Maldynado probably didn’t see it. Ridgecrest filled the doorway.

“Where have you been with my daughter?” Ridgecrest’s hand dropped to his waist, as if to grab a pistol. The only thing down there within reach wasn’t going to be much use against Maldynado.

“In the kitchen. Consoling her,” Maldynado said. “Platonically, I assure you. I’m involved now, you know. But that fellow who brought her home wanted to send his snake into her garden, if you catch my meaning, and she wasn’t ready for all that. Apparently he tried to pressure her and stormed away when she refused to give in to his charms. Charms probably not being the right word. What’re they teaching in officer training school these days anyway?”

Maldynado’s babble was doing nothing to placate Ridgecrest; the general’s fingers had curled into fists, and the veins on his arms stood out. Since Sespian wasn’t the target of his ire, Sicarius simply folded his arms across his chest and waited. Maldynado could handle himself if the conversation devolved into pugilism.

“
Snake
?” Ridgecrest’s voice had increased in volume. “
Garden
!”

Doors creaked open in the hallway. “Daddy?” came an uncertain inquiry from another young female.

“Joth?” an older woman—the wife—asked. “What’s going on?”

“Bloody beheaded ancestors, I don’t know.” Ridgecrest lifted a fist and shook it at Maldynado, though he didn’t cock it back for a punch. “How did all you miscreants get into my fort to start with?”

“Over the wall, naturally,” Maldynado said.

Had Amaranthe truly sent him along to
help
? Maybe she simply hadn’t wanted to take him on
her
team.

“Daddy, you need to demote Lieutenant Mosscrest tomorrow. He is
not
a gentleman.”

Sicarius headed to the window to check on Basilard. He doubted Sespian was going to get anything more out of Ridgecrest, and it seemed like a good time to leave. Surprisingly, he caught amusement on Sespian’s face.

At his look, Sespian shrugged and signed,
It must be quite the experience to be the only man in a house full of women.

“Ouch,” Maldynado blurted from the hallway. “Why—
I
didn’t do anything.”

This is irrelevant to our mission
, Sicarius signed back.
We should go.

The amusement on Sespian’s face disappeared. He seemed stung by the brusque dismissal, and Sicarius regretted it. He should have tried to respond lightly in kind. But this blowup could bring soldiers to check on the house. He and the others needed to leave before—

A flash of orange brightened the horizon. A boom echoed in its aftermath, and a tremor ran through the house, rattling windows and a glass chandelier downstairs.

The shouts halted.

“What now?” Ridgecrest stomped to the window.

“Artillery fire,” Sicarius said.

“I know that, but whose?”

Sicarius didn’t have the answer to that. It had come from beyond the walls of Fort Urgot.

A chorus of deep bongs arose from outside, someone sounding the alarm. Booming knocks reverberated from the general’s front door.

Ridgecrest strode for the stairs.

“Clothes, dear,” his wife said from the other direction.

Ridgecrest bellowed a, “Coming,” to whoever was pounding at the front door and stomped back up the hall toward his forgotten trousers. “Stay in your rooms,” he told his daughters.

Maldynado took the opportunity to sidle into the office. “Time for us to go?”

Sicarius was inclined to say yes, but Sespian shook his head. “Let’s see what’s going on. Maybe we can help Ridgecrest in a way that would endear me to him.”

Maldynado shrugged and followed Sespian into the hallway. Sicarius wondered when his son had started thinking like Amaranthe.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Sespian looked like he meant to stride out the front door. That’d be a good way to get shot, especially since the general hadn’t answered it yet.

“Out the back,” Sicarius said, diverting him into the kitchen.

He passed the other two and reached the door first. Basilard was waiting on the steps.

Trouble
, he signed.

“We gathered that,” Maldynado said.

Squads of armed soldiers, their gear clattering with each step, were jogging toward the various sets of stairs leading to the parapet on the wall. All of the guard towers were lit now, and lamps were coming on in buildings all over the fort. Shouted orders echoed through the streets, with the words “attack” and “siege” repeated over and over, amidst commands for soldiers to join their units and find their battle posts.

“We’re not going to get near those walls without someone seeing us,” Sespian said. “I’m joining Ridgecrest.”

“Sespian.” Sicarius gripped his arm.

“You heard him. He hasn’t committed to anything yet. Regardless, nobody here is going to shoot
me
. I agree that
you
may want to stay in hiding, but I’m going to see what’s happening.”

Sespian pulled away. Sicarius could have kept him from going—indeed, he wasn’t entirely sure soldiers
wouldn’t
shoot Sespian if word was getting out about his true parentage—but he’d probably be safe tonight. The soldiers would have other things to worry about. They might put aside their other concerns if they saw
Sicarius
, though, so he searched the buildings in the fort for a less populated place that would afford him a view. A clock tower rose from the square near the front gate. That would have to do.

“Want me to go with him?” Maldynado asked. “I think Ridgecrest is past wanting to hit me. Much.”

“No,” Sicarius reluctantly said. “Our team is too notorious. The soldiers would capture—” or kill, “—us if they got the chance. Among them, Sespian should be safer without us.” Though Sicarius resolved to acquire a rifle on the way to the clock tower in case anyone standing near his son
did
make a hostile move. He ought to be able to hit most targets from that vantage point.

Basilard signed,
Where to?

“Follow me,” Sicarius said.

He jogged through the alleys, taking to the rooftops to avoid troops jogging for the walls. At one point, running along the gutters of a barracks building, he spotted a straggler coming out of the front door. The soldier paused, leaning his rifle against the wall to tug on his helmet and fasten a chinstrap. By the time he turned around to retrieve his weapon, it was gone.

With the rifle and an ammo pouch in hand, Sicarius skimmed behind evergreen hedges fronting the building until he reached the corner. From the alley, he climbed a downspout, regaining the roof again before the private asked, “Did anyone see my gun?”

Maldynado was waiting with Basilard, sharing hand signs and snickers. More booms reverberated through the night, and something slammed into one of the fort walls. Their faces sobered. Sicarius sped past them, across two more rooftops, and down into the square with the clock tower in the center.

By this time, most of the troops had reached the walls and were lining the parapets, several teams manning weapons. In front of the massive double doors leading out of the fort, two infantry companies formed precise squads, rifles in hand, swords hanging from their belts. Nobody had opened those doors, but if someone gave the order, the soldiers would storm out.

With their faces forward, none of the men saw Sicarius, Maldynado, and Basilard running through the shadows behind them. The clock tower was unguarded, so they slipped through the door and jogged up the spiral staircase unopposed. Chains and gears filled the empty air to their right, but Sicarius’s only interest was in the view from above. He outpaced the others and reached the wooden platform several stories above the square. After ensuring no enemies occupied the space, he ran to a window facing west, the direction from which that first round had been fired.

The snow had picked up, but it didn’t hide the sea of lanterns burning a half mile from the walls. Not just to the west, but to the east and north as well. The cold, dark lake lay to the south, making it difficult to move companies of men into position in front of the fort’s double doors, but lanterns meandered through the trees along the jogging path there as well. There were thousands of soldiers out there, maybe tens of thousands. And they’d brought weapons. The lights revealed the hulking shapes of steam trampers, armored lorries, and all manner of mobile projectile launchers. It was Turgonian technology, not that there’d been much doubt. There was no way a foreign invasion force of this size could have come up the river, along the roads, or over the mountains without being spotted. This was another warrior-caste competitor for the throne, someone doing a much better job of rounding up troops than Sespian.