Брайан Макклеллан - Wrath of Empire

“It’s best I not tell you where we’re headed.”

“I understand.” Vallencian reached out and plucked the letter from Vlora’s fingers. “I will deliver this to Holm immediately.”

Vlora held up a hand. “If you would wait two hours, actually.”

“Exactly?” Vallencian produced a pocket watch. “It will be done. Good-bye, Lady Flint. May we meet again under more favorable circumstances.” He gave a flourishing bow and backed away, then turned and disappeared into the fog.

Vlora watched him go, then turned to find Ben Styke waiting for her. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

“What a strange person,” Styke said.

“He’s a good one,” Vlora said, somewhat more defensively than she’d intended.

Styke spread his hands. “I heard what he did with his ships at Landfall. ‘Strange’ isn’t an insult coming from me. You wanted to see me, Flint?”

“I expect you figured out we’re leaving.”

“I gathered. My lancers are ready to ride, but no one knows where to.”

Vlora stood on her toes, peering into the dark fog for some sign of Olem. She spotted him nearby, his jacket discarded while he and a trio of soldiers replaced a wagon wheel. “Where is Taniel?” she called to him.

“One, two …” Olem grunted as he helped lift the wagon, and replied in a strained voice and the jerk of his head. “Last I saw, he was getting a new horse.”

“Come with me,” Vlora told Styke. They walked over to a corral of captured Dynize horses, and found Taniel and Ka-poel going through the herd with a critical eye. She beckoned them over. While she waited, she turned to Styke. “You remember the godstone, correct?”

“The thing we fought the Dynize for south of Landfall?” He rubbed his nose vigorously. “That thing reeked of old sorcery. I didn’t like it.”

“I’ll give you the short version,” Vlora said. “That godstone is an artifact of immense sorcerous power. It is one of three that in conjunction can be used to create a new god. Taniel has hired us to find, secure, and hopefully destroy the other two godstones before either Lindet or the Dynize can find and use them.”

Styke stuck a tongue into his cheek. “Huh.”

“I don’t really care if you believe me. You and your lancers will be paid the same as my own Adrans – and Taniel is going to bleed gold for this.”

“I’ve heard weirder things,” Styke grunted.

“Are you in?”

“Perhaps. Where is our objective?”

“The western coast of Fatrasta, at the end of the Hammer.”

Styke lifted his eyes to the sky, his lips moving silently, as if he were examining a map in his head. A small, strange smile touched the corners of his mouth. “The money sounds good, and keeping Lindet away from her prize will delight the pit out of my lancers. So yes, I’m in.” Taniel and Ka-poel joined them, and Styke gave each a nod. He eyed Ka-poel for several seconds before turning his attention back to Vlora.

“Excellent,” Vlora said. She had expected more questions, defiance, or … she didn’t really know. Styke’s legend never included him being easy to work with, so his quick answer was a relief. “Taniel and Ka-poel managed to dig through the archives Lindet was forced to abandon in Landfall.”

“Her personal archives,” Taniel interjected.

Styke gave a low whistle. “I bet those were full of fun.”

“You have no idea.”

“I think I do,” Styke said with a tight smile.

Vlora continued. “Lindet has the approximate location of both of the other godstones, but as far as we know, she hasn’t actually found them yet. We don’t know if they’re hidden, or buried by time, or what. One of them is located in the Ironhook Mountains near a gold-mining town called Yellow Creek. I’m taking my army up to try and find it.”

“And you want the lancers to find the other one?”

“Our information on the other one is more vague,” Taniel spoke up. “We know it’s out on the Hammer, probably in the vicinity of Starlight. We need someone mobile to go looking for it.”

Styke looked from Taniel, to Ka-poel, to Vlora. Slowly, he took off his big ring and breathed on it, polishing the skull on the breast of his faded cavalry jacket. “Have the Dynize landed on the west coast?”

“That’s what Taniel’s intelligence says,” Vlora said. “Though not in as big numbers as at Landfall.” She watched Styke’s face for some hint of hesitation. She needed to go after both stones, but splitting her infantry was the worst possible scenario.

“And Lindet will no doubt have troops in the area,” Styke added.

“Without a doubt,” Vlora said. “I intend on putting Major Gustar and the remnants of his cuirassiers and dragoons under your command. You’ll be riding with close to a thousand seasoned cavalry.”

Styke replaced his ring and opened and closed his hand, eyes on a thin white scar over the tendons of his wrist. “Fewer might be better in this situation,” he said. “But Gustar knows what he’s doing. I’ll take them.” He nodded to himself, and Vlora let out a soft sigh of relief. Losing her cavalry would be rough, but Styke could use them more fully on the coast than she could up in the mountains. Styke opened his mouth, and Vlora tensed in the face of protestations. He said, “I can smell sorcery. I have a few other Knacked in my company. But if Lindet’s Privileged haven’t found it yet, how do you expect a bunch of lancers to do it?”

Vlora glanced at Taniel, who snorted out a laugh. “You remember that favor you owe me, Colonel?” Taniel asked.

“I do,” Styke said slowly.

Ka-poel grinned, and Taniel put his arm around her waist. “Well, I’m calling it in. You’re not going to find the godstone. She is, and you’re going to make sure she survives, even if it costs the lives of you and every one of your men.”

Vlora dismissed Styke and left Ka-poel and Taniel to pick out their horses for the journey ahead, hoping she’d made the right decision in giving Styke her cavalry. Something nagged at the back of her mind, something that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She put it aside and found Olem just as the first company of Riflejack infantry began their march out of camp.

“Everything set with Styke?” Olem asked.

“He’s in,” Vlora said. “He’ll take Ka-poel and go cause havoc in the west. Taniel will come with us to find and secure the other godstone.”

“Does Styke know he’s a distraction?”

Vlora grimaced. “ ‘Distraction’ is a harsh word. He has his orders, and he has Ka-poel. I daresay he has a better chance of finding and destroying his godstone than we do ours.”

“But sending him out across Fatrasta will draw attention away from us.”

“Styke is not a subtle man. I think he’s well aware of that and the dangers it entails. What’s done is done. Oh, I gave Vallencian a letter for Holm.” Vlora dug into her pocket and produced a second letter, handing it to Olem. “Wait an hour, then send a runner to the Dynize camp.”

Olem took the letter and held it with both hands, as if weighing it. “What do they say?”

“The first letter,” Vlora said, watching the last vestiges of the camp disappear as soldiers fell into marching formation, “tells General Holm that I’m leaving. It also tells her that the Dynize general has orders to take my head and will march after me. She can either give chase, or she can use the opportunity to press on toward Landfall.”

“And this letter?” Olem hefted the other note.

“It tells the Dynize general that I’m leaving, and that the Fatrastans also want my head and will give chase and that he can deal with whichever he deems to be the largest threat.”

Olem stared curiously at the letter. “So you told them both the truth, more or less.”