Kushiel's Mercy

until Serafin sent for us.
    Along with General Liberio, Serafin received us in the quarters that had once belonged to the Count of Amílcar. His violet eyes were bleary for lack of sleep, his face looking creased and older. Liberio was the fresher of the two. As an old military hand, I daresay he had experience doing without sleep. Sidonie appeared calm, but I could sense the tension in her.
    “Tell us what was decided,” she said. “Please.”
    Serafin yawned. “Forgive me. In principle, everyone more or less came to agreement, with a notable exception or two. ’Tis too valuable a chance to waste. And yet, ’tis too desperate a chance on which to risk much.”
    “What does that mean?” I asked warily.
    He tossed a sheaf of paper at Sidonie. “Read.”
    She skimmed it briefly. “It’s a charter granting sovereignty to Euskerria.”
    Serafin nodded. “Of course, it’s contingent on their full support against Carthage. And my continued regency.”
    Ambition, I thought.
    Sidonie glanced up. “Will I be representing you as well as Terre d’Ange, then?”
    “Therein lies the ‘more or less’.” Serafin smiled wryly. “Yes. All the necessary assurances are in the charter. We’ll do our best to give you a chance. What you make of it is up to you.” He gestured. “The both of you.”
    “You sound as though you’re sending us off on our own, unaided and alone,” I observed.
    Serafin and Liberio exchanged a look. “Nearly,” Serafin admitted. “You’ll be assigned a guide, of course.”
    “Imriel, me, and a guide?” Sidonie asked flatly. “That’s all?”
    General Liberio cleared his throat. “Your highness, I’d send an entire squadron if I thought they could protect you. I don’t. Astegal knows that you’re here and he knows you’re desperate to get to Terre d’Ange. The moment we send out a sortie, he’s going to be on the alert. This escape can succeed by only one of three means.” He ticked them off on his thick fingers. “Strength, speed, or guile. We don’t have the strength. He’s already routed this army once. If we had the numbers to meet him on the battlefield a second time, I’d have done it.”
    “What about speed?” I asked, remembering what I’d seen atop the battlements.
    “Astegal’s got his cavalry pinned behind his infantry, trapped between two rivers. They’ll have to get through their own defenses to reach us.”
    Liberio gave me an approving look. “True. However . . .” He reached for a sketch on Serafin’s desk. “There’s an embankment here, and defensive trenches here and here. The bridge across the Barca River lies here, between the trenches. Astegal’s cavalry will have to pass the embankment and a trench to reach it, but you’ll have to cross a trench, too.
    We’re still working out that part.”
    I studied the sketch. “So we’ll not have much of a lead.”
    “No,” he said bluntly. “And every mount in Amílcar’s been on siege rations for the past weeks. Unless I miss my guess, Astegal will send his Amazigh after you. Those desert-bred horses they ride are swift, hardy, and well-fed. I don’t like your chances in a foot-race.”
    “So where does guile come into play, my lord general?” Sidonie inquired.
    “Ah.” Liberio nodded. “We mean to capture and hold the nearest trench long enough to get a small mounted company across it and over the bridge. Half of them will scatter, bound for the cities Ramiro discussed. The other half, with you among them, will race northward.” He exchanged the sketch for a map and traced a line. “Astegal will expect you to make for the nearest pass. They will. But you’ll take your leave of them before his cavalry catches you and make your way secretly through the mountains to Roncal.” He tapped the map. “Here. It’s a Euskerri stronghold with a pass beyond.”
    “I remember,” Sidonie said absently. “Janpier Iturralde was from Roncal.”
    “Who?” I asked.
    “The Euskerri ambassador,” Serafin said. “Or as near as they have to one. That’s who you’ll treat with, Sidonie.”
    “So I take it we’re no longer serving as bait?” I inquired.
    The other two men exchanged another glance. “I’m afraid that’s not changed,” Liberio said somberly. “I expect the Amazigh will catch the men they’re pursuing, your highness.
    And when they do, my men will have orders to betray you, leading the Amazigh into a Euskerri ambush. You’ll have a lead on them, nothing