Django Wexler - The Shadow Throne

When they finally reached the head of the group, they found a narrow clear space separating the marchers from a crowd of dockmen and angry-looking young women, packed shoulder to shoulder across the street like a line of battle. In the space between the two sides, Peddoc and his coterie of militaristic admirers faced off against a huge man in a leather apron.

The confrontation was happening in plain view of the wall of the prison. Raesinia looked nervously to the parapet, and was reassured to see it was lined with more Docks rebels. The two lines were yelling incoherently at each other, and it was only once she broke free of the crowd and approached Peddoc that she could hear what was going on.

“-I don’t mean to be rude ,” Peddoc was saying, “but there is a proper way to conduct a siege, which you would know if you’d had military training as I have. It’s only natural that we follow the plan-”

“Who’s this lot, then?” said the big man, catching sight of Raesinia and the others.

“Ah.” Peddoc straightened up and looked unhappy. “These are my”-he caught a furious glare from Maurisk and Dumorre-“colleagues. The other members of our council. Though, as a trained military man, I have taken the lead on the actual direction of our campaign.”

“Well, I’m Walnut,” the man said. “Jane’s on her way. Does anybody want to tell me what the hell you all are doing here without going on about lines of circumcision?”

“Lines of circumvallation ,” Peddoc said. “It’s a basic military concept for sieges-”

“We’re here for Danton,” Cyte said, which drew looks from both Maurisk and Dumorre.

“Not just Danton,” Maurisk said. “We’re here to take back the Crown for the people.”

“To give the Crown to the people,” Dumorre said, “returning government to its proper-”

Raesinia fished out her copy of their Declaration and held it aloft. The others lapsed into a sullen silence.

“We’re here to free the prisoners,” she said. “And to ask the king to acknowledge the Deputies-General, at which these other points will be debated. ”

“All well and good,” Peddoc said. “But as the problem for the moment is a military one-”

There was a shuffle in the ranks of the dockmen, and after a moment two women emerged from the crowd. One was tall, with disheveled red hair and green eyes aglow with manic energy. The other, plain-faced with white-blond hair cut almost military short, stayed a step or two behind. It was easy for Raesinia to guess which one was “Mad Jane,” but she named herself anyway.

“I’m Jane,” she said. “And this is Winter. Walnut, who are these people?”

“They seem to be in charge,” Walnut said.

“All of them at once?”

“As best I can tell.”

“We’re a council,” Peddoc said. “And I-”

“We didn’t agree to be a council,” Maurisk interrupted. “That implies that we have equal votes.”

“Voting should be proportional to representation,” Dumorre said. “Which means nobody should be listening to Peddoc.”

“I think you’ll find,” Maurisk said, “that support for the reasonable center-”

“We’d have to carry out a census,” Dumorre interrupted.

“It’s not a matter of votes!” Peddoc said. “I have the experience-”

Raesinia stepped forward as they fell to arguing, and silently handed the declaration to Jane. She and Winter scanned it briefly, then looked up at her.

“And who are you?” Jane said.

“Raesinia,” Raesinia said. “I’m here because one of my friends was shot dead by a Concordat assassin last night, and because I think more of them are being held in there .”

“And the Deputies-General?” Jane said.

Raesinia jerked her head at the bickering council behind them. The corner of Jane’s lip quirked.

“In other words,” Jane said, louder, “you’re here to help.”

“Exactly!” said Peddoc. “Listen. You’ve obviously been doing quite well, for amateurs, but if we’re going to take the Vendre, then a siege on modern scientific principles is obviously called for. The first step is the establishment of a line of circumvallation to prevent outside assistance from reaching the invested position. We can start by digging a trench across-”

“Contravallation,” said Winter.

Peddoc and Jane both looked at her. She shrugged uncomfortably.

“Lines of contravallation protect the besiegers from attack by outside forces. Lines of circumvallation guard against sorties of the garrison. You’ve got them backward.”

There was a long silence.

“I always got those confused on exams,” said someone in the back of Peddoc’s retinue. “Cost me a few points with old Wertingham.”

“Well,” Peddoc said, trying to recover his momentum, “we’ll need both, obviously. And-”

“And you’re proposing that we dig a trench?” Winter said. “Here?”

She stomped her foot, and everyone looked down. Like all the streets on the Island, this one was cobbled.

“Well,” Peddoc said again, more weakly, “obviously-”

“There’s also the fact that the Vendre sticks out into the river,” Winter went on. “So your lines are going to be underwater for about two-thirds of the length. But I was more concerned about another point. When you say you want to conduct a scientific siege, you mean by the Kleinvort method, I assume?”

“I. . I think so,” Peddoc said. “It’s been some time-”

“That calls for a series of parallels to allow the attackers to reach close range, which seems superfluous in this case as we can already walk up and touch the walls without difficulty. More to the point, though, once the final parallel is established, the attackers must establish a breaching battery and effect a breach before making the final assault. Is that correct?”

Peddoc, mesmerized, simply nodded.

“Have you brought a siege battery?” Winter looked at Walnut. “You’re taller than I am. Do you see any guns?”

Walnut shaded his eyes, theatrically, and stared out over the bridge.

“What my companion is trying to say,” said Jane dryly, “is that we may be a bit beyond the textbooks here.” She raised her voice. “And as for the rest of you! I want you to know that I could give a damn about this”-she shook the Declaration-“or your Deputies-General. But”-and now she looked down at Raesinia-“my friends are in there, and I intend to get them out. Anyone who wants to help with that is welcome. What you do afterward is your own business.”

There was a long pause. Then, all at once, the council erupted with a hundred shouted arguments. Through the tumult, Raesinia caught Cyte’s eye and smiled.

MARCUS

“What about the river?” Marcus said.

“I took a look at the docks this morning,” Giforte said. He sounded gloomy. “There’s one small pier and a couple of boats.”

“How many men would they hold?”

“Call it a dozen each. Not nearly enough.”

“Not for all of us, no.” Marcus frowned. “I should have thought of that sooner. We could have sent to the shore and arranged a whole flotilla.”

“There isn’t room for a whole flotilla,” Giforte said. “This place was designed to defend against an attack from downriver. Most of the wall goes right down to the waterline.”

“What about the. .” Marcus hesitated, not wanting to use the word “rebels.” Rebels were crazed fanatics screaming for blood. These are. . something else. “The rioters? Have they tried to block the crossing?”

“There’s a few small boats out there, but they’re just watching for now. I don’t think they’re organized enough to stop an armed force. Once they figure out we’re trying to move people that way, though. .”