“We will decide how best to proceed after we win,” General Pollack said. “We do not have much time. Sorcerers Row is the safest place in the city, but it won’t remain safe for long.”
“There have been a series of probes against the wards, looking for weak points,” Sienna said, coolly. “Someone is readying themselves to break into the street.”
Harman looked as though he wanted to say something, but General Pollack glared him into silence. Emily eyed him, thoughtfully. She didn’t pretend to understand the politics, but Harman was definitely unpopular. Did he really think he could boss everyone else around, just because he was the last guildmaster? Or was he desperately trying to cling to something he’d once owned? It wasn’t as if the Fists of Justice would have any use for him either.
General Pollack ran his fingers over the map. “I managed to speak to a number of old friends,” he said. “We put together this outline. As you can see, the Fists have established patrol bases around the city and are currently running patrols through the major streets. So far, they’ve left the alleyways, Fishing Plaice and the Lower Depths alone, but I expect that to change as they build their numbers. Starry Light and Temple Row, by contrast, have a strong presence.”
“Makes sense,” Harman said. “The wealthiest part of the city.”
“Correct,” General Pollack said. “They’ve already arrested a number of prominent citizens and their families, taking them to the Iron Cage. I don’t know what they’ve done to the former occupants, but I don’t think it was anything good.”
Emily glanced at Caleb. “The Iron Cage?”
“The city jail,” Caleb explained. “One of the strongest buildings in the city.”
“Getting them out will be impossible,” Harman said. “That building is tough.”
“Correct,” General Pollack said. “We would probably be able to get inside if we were uninterrupted, but they’ll respond at once to any challenge to their power. We’d be knee-deep in Fists before we got through the first set of wards.”
“And they have a god,” Harman said. “How do we fight that?”
“It’s a trick,” General Pollack said. “Justice is nothing more than a complex set of spells.”
Emily winced, inwardly. If she was right, that was far too close to the truth for her peace of mind. They might defeat Justice only to discover the birth of a dozen other entities within the year.
“That’s no spell,” Dagmar said.
“It can be beaten,” Sienna said. “It’s just a matter of figuring out how.”
Harman frowned. “And if you’re wrong?”
“Then it’s a god.” Dagmar sounded oddly amused. “It can still be beaten.”
Emily gave him a surprised look. How could someone believe that a creature was a god and yet, at the same time, believe it could be beaten? But then, the Norse, Roman and Greek gods hadn’t been invincible either. Justice might be powerful – there was no doubt about that, she knew all too well – but not unstoppable. God or no god, the entity could be stopped.
And we have to keep believing that, she told herself, firmly. If we believe we cannot defeat him, we may as well surrender now.
“It is neither all-seeing nor all-powerful.” Sienna crossed her arms under her breasts as Emily glanced at her. “It would have crushed us all by now if it were a true god.”
General Pollack nodded. “For the moment, we will do our best to evade Justice while we undermine their control over the city,” he said. “We do not have the time, unfortunately, to gather the information we need before taking the offensive. The longer we wait, the stronger their position will be.”
“But that would mean risking exposure,” Harman pointed out. “Shouldn’t we build up our strength first?”
“They’ll be doing the same,” General Pollack said. “And they already have a big head start.”
“They also have a god – all right, a powerful entity,” Harman insisted. “We’d be drawing their attention!”
“You’re already at the top of their list of targets,” General Pollack said. “You are, after all, the last surviving guildmaster.”
Harman looked pale. “Fine. How do you want to proceed?”
“We’ll wait until nightfall,” General Pollack said. “At that point, we’ll gather our forces and launch a set of hit and run attacks against their positions. If we hit here” – he tapped a street on the map, only a short distance from Sorcerers Row – “they will dispatch reinforcements, of course, from Temple Row. It’s their closest strongpoint.”
“It’s too close,” Harman said.
Dagmar frowned. “Or do you have something else in mind?”
“It’s a diversion,” General Pollack said. “We need to sneak someone into the temple. Janus, the bastard, does not appear to have moved into the Guildhall. Nor has he gone to the castle. He’s staying in the temple and rarely showing himself.”
Emily frowned. If Janus wasn’t showing himself…what did it mean? Was he the one pulling Justice’s strings? It would make sense, although Janus had been at the square when Justice had made his big appearance. Her tired mind produced a dozen possibilities, each one more complex than the last. Janus might even be Justice…
“He might just be consolidating his power,” Croce said. “It’s only been a day since the coup.”
True, Emily thought.
“We have to find out what he’s really doing before we can figure out how to counter it,” General Pollack said. “And that means getting into the temple and finding out.”
He looked at Emily. “Lady Emily, will you attempt to sneak into the temple?”
Emily blinked in surprise, then glanced at Caleb. Her boyfriend looked as surprised as Emily felt. He hadn’t known his father planned to ask Emily to undertake a dangerous, perhaps suicidal, mission. Emily wondered, vaguely, if he’d expected to be asked first…it made sense, she supposed. But then, General Pollack had watched her walk into Heart’s Eye and kill a necromancer. He might hope she could do the same again.