Erdine, the cocksure cavalryman with the plumed hat. Her lover. Marcus shook his head. “I’m sorry.”
“Goddamned gallant idiot,” Abby said, quiet enough that Marcus wasn’t certain he’d been supposed to hear. She took a deep breath and raised her voice. “All right! Everyone, over the river!”
Marcus waded across himself with the rest of them, the water warmer than he’d expected. On the other bank, they were lighting torches as the sun faded. Cannon were parked atop the riverbank, silent sentinels watching for anyone who might try to follow.
Marcus didn’t think they would, not here and not tonight. But they’ll come. And we’ll buy time.
I just hope Raesinia can do something with it.
16
Winter
Just after midnight, Winter, Alex, and Abraham left the abandoned Haeta camp and struck out through the forest, swinging wide to avoid running into Vess and her band. After a lengthy detour, they turned toward the fortress again, breaking out of the tree line and crossing the clear ground close to the river. There was a jumble of rocks here to use as cover, and the sentries on the wall were easily visible by the light of their torches. By timing their moves as the men made their rounds they were able to reach the base of the log palisade without being spotted.
“Take Abraham up,” Winter told Alex. “I can climb the rope.”
Alex nodded, and Abraham, looking resigned, suffered himself to be once again tucked under her arm. A beam of darkness anchored them to the wall with a soft crunch of wood, and Alex let it take her weight as she walked up one of the logs. Winter pressed herself tight against the wall, listening. She heard a gasp, then a thump, but no screams. A moment later, a knotted rope hit her on the shoulder, and she began to climb. Her legs still screamed at the effort. Maybe I should have had Alex carry me, instead.
At the top, Alex and Abraham stood on the wall walk over the sprawled body of a uniformed Murnskai guard. Alex shrugged apologetically.
“He was waiting on the steps,” she said. “I don’t think he managed to warn anybody.”
“Is he dead?” Winter said, stretching her legs as cramps threatened her aching muscles.
“Just asleep,” Abraham said. He looked uncomfortable. “My power can be... applied to things other than healing, in an emergency.”
“This whole damned trip is an emergency,” Alex said.
“If it means we don’t have to kill the people we’re trying to help, I’m all for it,” Winter said. “Come on—let’s get off this wall and under cover.”
Inside, the fortress was less organized than it appeared. The central building was three stories tall, made of stone and clearly a military structure. But the space inside the walls was crowded with smaller buildings, wooden shacks, lean-?tos, and tents. Some had the uniform look of army-?issue shelters, but most did not. A few fires were still burning, and Winter could see people sitting around them, despite the late hour. Keeping watch?
“Camp followers?” Alex guessed.
“More likely refugees,” Abraham said. “Between the weather and the Beast, people are scared. Some of them probably fled to the nearest army post.”
Winter guessed their number at a few hundred, along with perhaps a hundred soldiers. A rickety wooden stair led down from the wall walk and into the camp, and she threaded her way among the tight-?packed shelters. The presence of the refugees was helpful—?it meant, if they were careful, no one would automatically assume they were intruders. Now if we can only find what we’re looking for.
She wasn’t sure, exactly, what they were looking for. Something about the way the sergeant had reacted to Kollowrath, as well as her own experience with aristocratic senior officers, told her that the bulk of the garrison probably wasn’t particularly dedicated to the captain. If I can convince them that the Beast is coming and that we all need to flee together...
“There’s the ships,” Alex said. “Plenty of guards, though.”
The stone pier on which the two sailing vessels were docked was indeed heavily guarded, with a couple of bright lanterns and at least eight men on watch. They’re worried about the refugees trying to steal the ships. Unless they decided to simply attack the garrison, there would be no sneaking out that way.
“We need information,” Winter muttered. “Follow my lead, and try to look pathetic.”
Alex looked down at her battered clothes, then over at Abraham. “That shouldn’t be hard.”
Winter picked a fire with only one person beside it, an old man in creased leathers, with a long rifle leaning against his shoulder. He wore a fur hat and had long, greasy gray hair. She saw him tense as they approached, then relax slightly, his hand falling away from the rifle.
“Hello, friends,” he said in Murnskai. Winter silently gave thanks that she’d been practicing with the Haeta. “I don’t know you.”
“We just arrived,” Winter said. “May we share your fire for a few minutes?”
He gestured laconically. Winter sat, the heat feeling good on her aching legs, and Alex and Abraham settled down beside her. The old man looked at them curiously.
“You’re a long way from home,” he said.
“That’s the truth,” Winter said, nodding. “I’ve been traveling a long time.”
“Going somewhere?”
“Just... away.”
“I know that feeling,” the old man said. He grinned, showing a total of perhaps five remaining teeth. “I’m Fyotyr.”
“Winter,” Winter said. “I wanted to ask you a few questions, if I could. About what’s going on here. I didn’t expect there to be so many people.”
“No one did. Everyone thought they were the only one with the idea of running to the army when the summer froze or when the demons came stalking.” Fyotyr spat into the fire with a sizzle. “I’ve been to the garrison many times. It’s on my route east, when I go that way. But I’ve never seen it like this.”
“What are the soldiers going to do with everyone?”
“They don’t know, God help them.” Fyotyr shook his head. “That bastard Kollowrath would put everyone out of the gate and let the demons take them, but Lieutenant Dobraev and Sergeant Gorchov have more sense. If it were up to Dobraev, we’d have been gone from here days ago, but Kollowrath insists on waiting for orders from high command. Orders!” He snorted. “The world has gone to hell—?anyone should be able to see that. Blizzards and demons and now Vhalnich says he’s the new emperor. What’s the sense of holding down a little fort in the middle of nowhere?”
Dobraev. As she’d expected, that was the man she needed to talk to. It sounds like he already wants to evacuate. We just need to convince him to take us along.
“Why is there such a heavy guard on the boats?” Alex said. “Are they afraid someone is going to steal them?”
“Some of the refugees already tried,” Fyotyr said. “Kollowrath was furious. He ordered the sails and oars stripped and stored in the keep so it wouldn’t happen again. I think he’s terrified but can’t bring himself to admit it.”