Winter blinked back a moment’s tears, remembering Bobby coming to her when she’d first noticed the change Feor’s magic was working. How long could she have lived, if she hadn’t followed me? Another year? Longer? They’d never know now.
“If you’d like,” Abraham said quietly, “I can send you into a deep sleep. I thought that might make the prospect... easier. Only with your permission, of course.”
Sothe gave a small smile. “I consider myself as capable of bearing pain as anyone, but I must admit the prospect of being burned alive was unappealing. I think your way sounds better.”
“Wait,” Winter said. “What am I supposed to tell Raesinia? Assuming... things work out.”
“She knows I intend to go with you,” Sothe said. “Just not the details. Tell her I gave my life to stop the Beast.”
The assassin nodded again politely. She dropped a small pack at Winter’s feet, then lowered herself onto the pyre, taking care not to disturb the logs. Winter watched with a quiet awe at her self-?control. She’s not even trembling. When she was comfortable, Abraham stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder.
“I don’t blame you,” Winter said abruptly. “For... what you did. And I think... maybe you can balance the scales.”
Sothe only smiled. A moment later her eyes closed and her breaths became slow and deep.
Abraham stood up. “I should get back to the cutter’s station,” he said, looking from Alex to Winter. “If you need my help, you’ll know where to find me.”
“Thanks,” Alex said. “Don’t forget to keep your own head down.”
He nodded gravely and left the clearing. Alex looked down at Sothe nervously, then raised her eyebrows at Winter. “So, now we just... light her on fire?”
“Not yet.” The Steel Ghost’s voice rang from nowhere. For a few seconds the air was full of flying sand, and then the robed, masked figure stood beside the pyre, looking down at Sothe. “This is a brave woman,” he murmured.
“You have no idea,” Winter said.
“I will start looking for the core,” he said, straightening up. “Once I find it and the battle has begun, I will return here. The transformation will not take long.”
“Good luck,” Winter said. We’re all going to need it.
The Ghost vanished into a tower of swirling sand, which rose out of the clearing in a rush of wind. Alex brushed a few errant grains out of her hair and sighed.
“I guess we wait here,” she said.
“There’s a lot of that in battles,” Winter said.
“Do you get used to it?”
She reflected for a moment. “No. It’s always the worst part.”
Alex barked a laugh, then paused. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“The ‘core’ we keep talking about. The Beast’s first body. It’s Jane, right? Your old... friend?”
Winter nodded. “Ionkovo kidnapped her and took her to Elysium. The Priests of the Black forced her to read the name of the Beast.”
“Are you sure you can do this?” Alex gestured at the pyre. “She’s still... alive. Sort of. If we get there, you’re not going to hesitate?”
There was a long silence. The sun, just emerging over the horizon, threw the shadows of the trees across the clearing.
“I loved Jane,” Winter said. “But she... changed. She tried to kill me.” Winter smiled ruefully. “I don’t pretend it’s going to be easy. But it’s not going to stop me.”
Jane’s face rose in her mind for a moment. Her mischievous grin, her flashing green eyes. Take the knife...
I will, Winter told herself firmly. For Cyte, and Raesinia, and Marcus, and everyone else. This is what I want.
Jane only laughed at her. In the depths of her soul, Infernivore stirred uneasily.
RAESINIA
The campfires went out as the sun came up. Through Marcus’ spyglass, Raesinia could see men in blue uniforms forming up on the flats, looking for all the world like a military parade. She searched for Janus among the mounted officers, but couldn’t make out faces.
They stood on a protruding rock just at the crest of Bear Ridge, above and behind the lines of trenches and the guns in their sloped pits. Straight ahead was the point of the ridge, facing northeast, directly toward Janus’ army. The great V formation of the Army of the Republic stretched back and away from Raesinia on either side, like the wings of a bird. Most of it was beyond her view—?the bulk of the hill and the remaining trees blocked her line of sight to the west and south, where the line dipped down onto the plain.
She handed the glass back to Marcus. A table had been set up at the base of the rock, and officers bustled about, delivering messages and plotting reports with a reassuring professionalism. For once, no one was suggesting that she shouldn’t be there, or that she’d be safer farther to the rear. The men took their cues from Marcus, and she’d—?at last—?trained him out of such habits.
“Here they come.” Marcus swung the glass back and forth. “He’s not wasting any time.”
“This is the attack?” Raesinia said. She squinted at the columns. “Already?”
“This is the beginning,” Marcus said. “He doesn’t know where we are, exactly, though his scouts have told him we’ve taken this hill. So he’ll brush us, just to see what he’s up against.” He raised his voice, addressing one of the runners at the base of the boulder. “Message for Colonel Archer. Tell him to hold fire unless things get out of hand. No sense wasting ammunition and showing them our guns.”
Whoever was in command of the artillery across the field had no such compunctions. Tiny puffs of smoke rose into the air, followed a few seconds later by the flat, drifting booms of the reports. Raesinia looked for the impacts, and saw only one, an explosion of dirt rising from the foot of the hill as a ball rebounded.
“Half a battery,” Marcus said contemptuously. “He wants to scare us into opening fire.”
Another half battery started shooting a few minutes later, at closer range. After the first few salvos, the balls started to land on the forward slope of the hill more often than not, but they still caused little damage. The Girls’ Own and Second Division soldiers were huddled in their trenches, not formed up in easily visible ranks, and only a supremely lucky direct hit would prove deadly.
Meanwhile, the advancing columns got clearer. There were two of them, companies one behind the next, well spaced out. At two hundred yards from the base of the hill, still unmolested by any fire from the Army of the Republic, they deployed into a single long line, three ranks deep. Flags hung limp against their poles at regular intervals.