Page 129 of Obsidian Throne
“Nothing yet,” Taras responded, pouring over the paperwork in front of him.
“He has to be plotting something,” I said, not for the first time. “He knows once the pass opens, Lochlann will be able to get through, and that will not end well for him.”
“Since the pass could open anytime in the next couple of months, he’ll be planning something soon, then,” Evander said thoughtfully.
“How many forces would we need to take this fight to him?” I asked after a moment.
He shook his head. “More than we have. All the military tactics in the world won’t make up for the fact that he’s holed up in a veritable fortress, and we have no allies to the east anymore. Crane’s forces have been decimated, and our own weakened. Armies on the march aren’t exactly subtle, and I suspect we wouldn’t get further than the border before we were summarily slaughtered.”
“Well, that’s...promising,” I muttered.
“All of this is assuming he even attacks again,” Lord Lehtinan added.
“Iiro is never going to let this stand,” I countered.
Something Evander had just said was niggling at my brain.Armies on the march aren’t exactly subtle.
No, they weren’t.
But my men were.
Evander was watching my face closely enough that he saw the moment it dawned on me.
“You have something in mind.” He phrased it as a statement more than a question, but I nodded anyway.
“The Unclanned,” I said. “They move about unseen.”
“But a few hundred men wouldn’t be able to overtake the castle, even in a surprise attack,” Taras said gently.
Evander looked at me with wariness, though, and I knew he already saw where I was going with this.
“Those were only the men I could reach on the way here, in less than a week, in a small section of Bear. I could probably get...five times that many?” I guessed. “Would that be sufficient?”
I watched the gears turning in my husband’s brilliant mind, knowing he was also taking into account whatever small advantage my skill with the weather would bring us. Holding my gaze, he nodded, a single, reluctant dip of his chin.
“Get them how?” One of the lords asked.
“Sir Evander offered reintegration into the clan in exchange for fighting. Surely, that will bring them here,” Taras suggested.
I shook my head, but it was Evander who answered.
“They don’t trust the Clan, or…me,” he said with a resigned frown. He glanced at me, visibly bracing himself. “What did you have in mind? Sending one of them out?”
His tone was a hair too casual, like he knew that wasn’t where I was going with this. Now was our chance to see if he meant what he said about my choices.
“To some extent, they trust each other, or at least, will listen to each other, especially Andrei. But they won’t follow him.” I squared my shoulders. “They will follow me.”
“You want to go out to recruit them yourself?” he asked, again so, so neutrally.
I nodded.
“Alone?” His voice was tighter now.
“I would take a small contingent of my men,” I clarified. “Including Andrei.”
He held my gaze for what felt like an eternity before he finally swallowed, a muscle twitching in his jaw. “When do you leave?”
I squeezed his hand, my shoulders falling with relief.