Soldiers Live

111

Taglios: Sleepy Flew

We're going to start strapping you down, Pop," Arkana told me as she towed me into camp. She had been on a routine patrol kite-clearing when the explosion happened. In rushing to see the results she almost got knocked out of the sky by a daredevil swinging from a flying fence post.

"Just get me down. Fast. Preferably right in front of the Captain's tent." Sleepy had to know. Now. And somebody needed to go watch the Palace. If the whole damned thing caved in... If Mogaba and his henchmen died in the disaster... . If the Khadidas and the Daughter of Night escaped in the resulting chaos... .

Some hearty fires were burning over there now. A strong glow silhouetted the city wall now.

I kept having to explain as more notables reached the Captain's tent. And I kept urging Sleepy to make whatever move she was considering making right away. Never again would the other side be as confused and disordered as they must be now. She agreed but pointed out that our bunch were not terribly well organized right now, either.

The Captain dealt with the problem of interruptions in the most amazing fashion I could imagine. After delegating Suvrin to begin preparing an attack, she told me, "Take me up there. Show me what's happened."

"You?"

"Me. I'll keep my eyes closed until there's something to see. Before we leave I'll throw an old blanket over my seat so I won't get your post all wet."

I shook my head, disconsolate. "I wish Swan was still around. A straight line like that shouldn't go to waste. Let's do it."

"Wait. Suvrin." She issued more instructions. So he would have something to do in his spare time.

Her absence would slow nothing down.

"Tie yourself on good," I told Sleepy. "I might decide to do a few loops while we're up there."

She growled like a whole pack of angry rats. Made it clear that if she fell off I might as well just keep on going.

"All right. But coming home hanging underneath like a carp on a stringer is a lot better than the alternative."

"If you don't mind a little embarrassment."

"I don't mind at all if I'm alive to get red in the face." Something you learn as you get older. Or, at least, you should.

We were passing over the gateway complex when I realized that I had gone right back up without having paused to check on my wife.

Was I not a little old to feel guilty about everything? She would not be going anywhere any time soon.

It was not possible to get dangerously close to the Palace. The fires were huge now. The heat was intense, even through the Voroshk clothing. And the higher you flew the more turbulent the air became. There were no kites anywhere nearby anymore.

I figured Mogaba would give up on the kites soon. They were not doing us any harm.

Sleepy clung to the post with white knuckles. I wondered if we would need a chisel to break her grip once we got back on the ground. But she did manage to keep her voice sounding normal. "What in the world is burning? That place isn't anything but a big old stone pile."

The flames were not limited to the Palace now. Several fires were burning nearby. The entire area was crawling with people, most being gawkers who just got in the way of the soldiers, officials and volunteers actually trying to accomplish something.

"Somebody's still thinking," I told Sleepy. "They've put troops around the place." I dropped lower and moved close enough to spot Aridatha Singh out working two thin lines of soldiers, one facing outward, holding the mobs back, the other, stronger, facing inward. The latter were more heavily armed. Anyone leaving the palace was going to get a good hard look. "I hope they got those guys in place before the Khadidas and the girl got away."

"Back to the gate. If we're ever going to invade this city, now is the time."

"You found enough boats yet?"

She tensed up. She did not answer for a moment. "You figured it out."

"Logic suggests that it makes no sense to storm those walls with no more men than we have. Particularly when Taglios has almost no defenses on the river side." A point which would have occurred to the Great General, too.

"There is no easy way in," Sleepy told me. "The defenses on the river side just aren't as obvious." She proceeded to explain about log booms and chains that controlled traffic, forcing it into narrow channels well-ranged by massed artillery ashore. A barge loaded with attackers could be pounded into driftwood and fish food in minutes.

I said, "I see where this is going."

"Do you really? Will I attack by day or by night?"

"It's dark now but by the time you can get anybody to the point of attack the sun will be up."

"Take me back. I have to get things moving faster."