She preened at the commanders backhanded compliment. He stood with his back to a brick wall, a swaying lamp nodding shadows across the buttons of his jacket. Aides and colonels bustled about, some shoving little counters across the map board, others reading or writing dispatches.
Venera smelled engine oil and wet cement. The alliance army had set up its headquarters in a preservationist roundhouse about a mile from Liris; these walls were thick enough to stop anything Sacrus had so far fired. For the first time in days, Venera felt a little safe.
I wouldnt have had to be foolhardy if the situation werent so dire, she said. It was tempting to upbraid this man for hesitating to send his forces to relieve Liris; but Venera found herself uninterested anymore in taking such familiar pleasures. She merely said, Tell me whats been happening out here.
The commander leaned over the board and began pointing at the little wooden counters. Thereve been engagements all across Greater Spyre, he said. Sacrus has won most of them.
So what are they doing? Conquering countries?
In one or two cases, yes. Mostly theyve been cutting the preservationists railway lines. And theyve taken or severed all the elevator cables.
Severed? Even to an outsider like her this was a startling development.
One of the aides shrugged. Easy enough to do. They just use them for target practiceexcept for the ones at the edge of the world, like Liris. The winds around those lines deflect the bullets.
She raised her eyebrows. Why dont they just use more high-powered guns on them? The aide shook his head.
Ancient treaty. Places limits on muzzle velocities. Its to prevent accidental punctures of the worlds skin.
Not significant, anyway, said the commander with an impatient gesture. The war will be decided here on Greater Spyre. The city will just have to wait it out.
No, it cant wait, she said. Thats what this is all about. Not the city, but the docks.
The docks? The commander stared at her. Thats the last thing were going to worry about.
I know, and Sacrus is counting on that. She glared at him. Everything thats happening down here is a diversion from their real target. Everything except She nodded at Liris.
Now they were looking at each other with faintly embarrassed unease. Lady Thrace-Guiles, said the commander, war is a very particular art. Perhaps you should leave such details to those whove made it their careers.
Venera opened her mouth to yell at him, thought better, and took a deep breath instead. Can we at least be agreed that we need to break Sacruss hold on Liris?
Yes, he said with a vigorous nod. We need to ensure the safety of our leadership. For that purpose, he pointed at the table, I am advocating a direct assault along the innermost wall.
A moment of great temptation made Venera hesitate. The commander was proposing to go straight for the walls and leave the group trapped at the worlds edge to its fate. He didnt know that his objective was actually there. Theyd made themselves her enemies and Venera could just forget to tell him. Leave Guinevera and the others to Sacruss mercy now that she had the army.
She couldnt claim not to have known, though, unless the Lirisians went along with it. And she was tired of deceptions. She sighed and said, Liris is a critical objective, yes, but the rest of our leadership is actually trapped with the Lirisian army at the edge of the world. There were startled looks up and down the table. YesMaster Thinblood, Principe Guinevera, and Pamela Anseratte, among others, are among those pinned down in the hurricane zone.
The commander frowned down at the map. On it, Liris was a square encircled by red wooden tokens representing Sacruss army. This circle
squashed a knot of blue tokens against the bottom edge of the map: the Lirisian army, trapped at the edge of the world. Left of the encirclement was a no-mans land of tough brush that had so far resisted burning. Left of that, the preservationist siding and army encampment where they now stood.
This is a problem, said the commander. He thought for a moment, then said, There are certain snakes that coil around their victims and choke them to death. She raised an eyebrow, but he continued, One of their characteristics, so Ive been told, is that if you try to remove them they tighten their grip. Right now Sacrus has both Liris and our leaders in its coils, and if we try to break through to one they will simply strangle the other.
To relieve the Lirisian army, they would have to force a wedge under Liris, with the edge of the world at their right side. To do this they would trade off their ability to threaten Sacrus along the inner sides of Lirisfreeing those troops up to assault the walls of Liris. Conversely, the best way to relieve Liris would be to come at it from the top, which meant swinging the army away from the worlds edgethus giving Sacrus a free hand against the trapped force.
Venera examined the map. We have to fool them into making the wrong choice, she said.