First Lord's Fury (Page 95)

Gathered in the tent were most of the highest-ranking Citizens of the Realm, a group of tired, bloodied, travel-stained men and women with proud bearing and grim expressions. Every surviving High Lord was present, along with most of the High Ladies. The captains of the Legions were also there, along with representatives from the Senate – who, Amara felt sure, were there mostly in a ceremonial function. All things considered, the tent was quite crowded.

Amara spotted Lady Veradis standing beside her father, the silver-haired Lord Cereus.

"Amara," Veradis said, and hurried over, her expression concerned. "What happened?"

"Oh, I bumped my hand into something obstinate," Amara replied.

Veradis took her by the left arm and lifted Amara’s hand in tandem with her own eyebrow. "This is broken."

"In a good cause. I’ll have someone see to it when we’re finished."

Veradis made a clucking sound with her mouth, and said, "Oh, you’re impossible. Just give it to me."

"There’s no need to – "

Veradis lifted her left hand and quite calmly snapped her stiffened fingers and thumb together, as if in the motion of a closing mouth, then cradled Amara’s wrist gently and murmured something to herself. The pain eased over the next several seconds, and Amara let out a breath of relief.

"That’s him, huh?" Doroga asked Bernard.

"Yes."

Doroga shook his head, studying Gaius Attis. Then he said, "Be right back."

The broad-shouldered barbarian calmly approached the Princeps. As he got close, both Ehren and Lady Placida seemed to grow tenser. Lady Placida slid half a step forward, to place herself between Doroga and Attis.

"Take it easy, woman," Doroga drawled. "Just want to talk to the man."

"Your weapon, sir," Aria said stiffly.

Doroga blinked, then seemed to remember his cudgel. He offered it to Lady Placida by its handle, and released it as soon as she had it. The cudgel fell with a heavy thump, and Lady Placida grunted. She had to make a visible effort of furycraft to lift the weapon again and set it calmly aside.

Doroga nodded, then stepped up onto the platform to stand over Attis, staring down at him, his hands on his hips.

"You would be the Clan-Head Doroga?" Attis asked politely.

"Yes," Doroga said. "You are the man whose people convinced Atsurak to lead thousands of my people to a bloody death."

Attis stared at Doroga, then swept his gaze around the room. Finally, he looked down at his own blanket-covered lap and smiled, rather bitterly. "It wasn’t difficult."

The buzz of conversation in the room simply stopped. Everyone stared at Attis, Amara included. Oh, certainly, everyone had known who was behind the events preceding Second Calderon, but there was what everyone knew, then what they could prove. Lord and Lady Aquitaine had gotten away with it without leaving any concrete proof to connect them to the Marat invasion. No one had spoken of it openly – such a charge, made without proof, would have been instant and undeniable reason for the Aquitaines to call the speaker to the juris macto.

And yet, Attis had just admitted to his part in the plot, in front of the most powerful Citizens of the Realm.

Doroga grunted, nodding, evidently unaware of what he had just done. "Lot of people died. Yours and mine."

"Yes," Attis said.

"If there was time," Doroga said, "you and I might have an argument about that."

"Time is something of which I am in short supply," Attis replied.

Doroga nodded. "It is done. Dealing with the vord is more important. But I will have your promise not to do any such thing in the future."

Attis looked bemused. "Yes. You have it."

Doroga nodded and extended his hand. Attis reached out, and the two traded grips of one another’s forearms.

"Thank you for your help today," Attis said. "You saved the lives of many of my people."

"That is what good neighbors do," Doroga said. "Maybe no one ever taught you Alerans about that."

"Entirely possible," Attis said, a smile still touching his lips. "I must ask you if any more of your people might be willing to help us."

Doroga grunted. "I have called. We will see who answers. But I and my Clanmates are here. We will stand with you."

The Princeps nodded. "I welcome you."

"Be a fool not to," Doroga said. "After this is done, you and I will talk about balancing scales."

"I would be pleased to discuss it," Attis said.

Doroga grunted, faint surprise plain on his features. "Right. Good."

"We should begin, I think," the Princeps said.

Doroga folded his arms on his chest, nodded to Attis, and ambled back over to Amara and Bernard.

"Citizens, Senators, Captains," Attis said, raising his voice. "If you would give me your attention, please. We will discuss the defense of the Valley. Our host, the rather farsighted Count Calderon, will describe his defensive structures to you."

Bernard looked at Amara and gestured in irritation at his jaw.

"Ah," she said. "Your Highness, my husband has injured his jaw and will have difficulty speaking. With your permission, I will brief everyone about our defenses."

"By all means," said the Princeps.

Amara stepped forward and up onto the platform with the sand table. Everyone gathered around to look. "As you can see," Amara said, "the Calderon Valley is divided into three separate sections by the new walls. We are currently just behind the westernmost wall. It is by far the longest and the lowest, running approximately five miles, from the escarpments to the shores of the Sea of Ice and standing at an average height of ten feet. The second wall is approximately twenty miles from here. It is just over three miles long and runs from this salient of the escarpments to the sea. It is of standard construction at twenty feet, with gates flanked by towers every half mile. The final defensive wall is situated here, at the far end of the valley, protecting the town of Garrison and the refugee camps of those who have already arrived."

"I’m curious," interrupted Senator Valerius, "how a Count of the Realm managed to fund all of this construction – and then to conceal its presence, as well."

"With a great deal of support, sir," Amara replied calmly. "The sections of wall within sight of the causeway were raised only a few days ago. The rest went unobserved thanks to the generous use of camouflage to hide them from the view of fliers and the fact that few visitors to the Valley stray far from the causeway."