In the early hours of the morning, the Captain of Refuge left Vaeasa. Beneath a smoke-stained night sky, a line of heavy wagons and soldiers made their way out of the gates and headed east, towards the ruins of Celp.
Heast did not see the Lord of Faaisha again before he left, but after Lehana and her soldiers had arrived, before the wagons were pulled out of the warehouse, before the horses were placed into harnesses, Tuael sent a messenger. The young man arrived with a rolled map, one drawn in sketches of ink that would have made Samuel Orlan shudder for its simplicity. It marked out positions stretching from the north of Faaisha down to the south. The first was the Faaishan force that the marshals had brought together, the second the positions of the Leerans. They were marked in white and red, respectively, while a single black dot in the east marked Refuge. The position marked was the outpost Refuge had destroyed before Heast and Anemone had come to Vaeasa, and he took from that a small pleasure, for it meant that Bliq and Qiyala had managed to evade whatever trackers the marshals had left there while they made their way to Celp. Beyond that, however, the message was simple: the Lord of Faaisha and his marshals were going to push down into the collection of Leeran forces, and they wanted Refuge to push up, into them.
It was a simple, if brutal, battle plan, one that would be won through bodies, blood and sheer numbers. Heast would not have thought the Faaishans had the numbers for such a push, but the map had a small note pinned to the back of it, which explained that a combined force from Mireea and Yeflam were marching with the Saan over the Spine of Ger.
The Saan.
Surely Muriel had not hired them?
‘The Innocent killed the war scout of the Dvir in Cynama,’ Lehana told him, after they had left Vaeasa, after the torchlit walls that defined the world behind them had fallen away. She drove the fourth of the eight carts along the road, the reins loose in her hands, and a finely made bastard sword at her feet. ‘It happened at a party that the Queen’s youngest daughter gave. Yoala announced her engagement to a Saan prince moments before the Innocent arrived. He killed her, and he killed a number of Saan warriors after that.’ She tightened the reins as the trail they followed wound through thick trees. ‘He did not kill the Saan prince. He escaped, and the Queen sent him back to his father.’
Heast stretched his steel leg out to ease the muscles on his hip. ‘I would not want the Saan as my enemies,’ he said, ‘but they are not the boon that you would think them to be on the battlefield.’
‘Are they undisciplined?’
‘No. They fight well with each other, but poorly alongside others. Most experienced captains will not sign on to fight beside them.’
‘Does that mean we’ll leave, then?’ Lehana had, Heast was discovering, a dry, quick humour. ‘I can go back to my bed, my husband, my gardens and my gold.’
‘You would miss the excitement of using Tinalan fire lances,’ he said. ‘I was surprised to learn that the First Queen had access to them.’
‘She didn’t. Truthfully, the Queen did little of the work for what is in the carts. The majority of it was done by a representative of Leviathan’s End.’
Heast was surprised.
‘I didn’t think you knew,’ Lehana said, after she saw his face. ‘It was a woman who arrived. What I remember most was her neatness, how all her clothes were tailored to fit her exactly. She had a very precise way of speaking Ooilan, as well. There was nothing wrong with how she spoke it, and in fact, it was its perfection that set it aside. No slang, no slips in pronunciation, nothing. Her name was Zlyv. She offered nothing in the way of a last name. When she did speak, she spoke to the Queen. She said that she had been sent on behalf of Leviathan’s End, to provide for Captain Heast and Refuge. I could barely believe what I heard.’
Heast shared her feeling, even now. He could not remember any battle in which Onaedo had used her own considerable power to influence a conflict.
‘The Queen had begun to stockpile weapons and armour,’ Lehana continued, while one hand reached back, into the back of the cart. ‘We had not arrived in Vaeasa unarmed, but the Queen and I had always believed that we would need more, but because of the war, it was hard to get much from within Faaisha to put aside. The warehouse you saw wasn’t even a quarter full before Zlyv arrived. But by the end of the week it was as we saw it. The Queen sent me to oversee the deliveries. Leviathan’s End did not name a price for what was delivered, and for a while we all thought that it was not what it seemed.’ She pulled out a package wrapped in brown paper. ‘But it was,’ she said, handing the parcel to Heast. ‘It was everything, and more.’
The paper slit easily. A square cloth badge fell out, followed by others. On each of them was an empty image of the world over a red and black background.
There was no letter.
Heast picked up one of the insignias of Refuge and turned it over in his hand. ‘Newly made,’ he said.
‘What does that mean?’
He shrugged and changed the topic. ‘I was told,’ he said, ‘that you cannot go home. That none of you can.’
If Lehana was surprised, she hid it well. ‘A Queen’s Guard lives and dies with her Queen. At least, that is the tradition. None of us here was ever a guard for the Queen before. In a previous life, I mean. Pueral made it clear to all of us when we were given the posting that we were being given it based on our actions, our reputations and our dedication. It was not a secret by the time I was given my post, but it was still controversial. The Queen’s daughters were quite open in their belief that we would still die with the Queen, as the guards before had.’
Heast handed her one of the insignias. ‘After we are done here, you and your soldiers will be given a choice. You can stay, or you can go.’
‘After?’ She smiled and there was, in her smile, a gentleness. ‘Captain, we’re all going to die here.’
‘After,’ he repeated. ‘But first, who is your best sergeant? The one who trains your recruits and runs soldiers hard.’
‘Ko Dtnaa,’ she said without hesitation.
‘When we camp, I’ll show her how to use the fire lance. She’ll have the responsibility of training the rest of you. When we reach Celp, she’ll also have new soldiers to break in. She’ll find them dedicated and hungry, but inexperienced.’
Lehana nodded. ‘And me, sir? Refuge cannot have two captains.’
‘You’ll be my second,’ he told the soldier who, until recently, had been Captain to the First Queen. ‘If I die, Refuge is yours to command.’