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"That if you pull back," she said, "if you turn this gambit into a siege of patience instead of a slaughter, I will personally see to it that certain… factions in the royal court do not use your restraint as an excuse to raid your back lines. You get ti. Your n get to live long enough to eat sothing that is not panic. The court gets to think it has simply chosen a more elegant strategy. Everyone saves face. And I get to… decide what to do about the man on the hill without you trampling him in the anti."
Vorak studied her for a very long ti.
Behind him, the map did not move. The teeth markers sat in place, waiting.
"You are asking ," he said finally, "to stake my command on the word of a woman whose na I do not know, whose rank does not show, and whose allegiance is unclear."
"Yes," she said.
He exhaled through his teeth.
"This is deeply unwise," he said.
"Walking into a spear range was also deeply unwise," she said. "He did it anyway. Sotis the stupid choice is the only one that lets you sleep later."
Vorak's eyes dropped for a mont to the ledger of casualties in his mind.
A total of eight thousand three hundred plus marched out to kill Kai over the last few weeks. (From the ti he sent four vice generals..)
Eight to nine hundred ca back. The rest were dead. Nine hundred plus… Yavri's people were staying on the mountain.
He had felt every subtraction.
"If I do as you suggest," he said slowly, "I will have to find a story. One that lets my employers accept a pause without slling weakness. They do not like weakness in their hired generals. They like it even less in their own borders."
"Then give them a story," Ikea said. "You are good at ledgers. Be creative with the narrative column. Tell them you are shaping the field. That the White hair Lord's power is… volatile. That you have seen signs of… external interest. Not from ," she added, "from the things I ntioned. The old ones. You can even na one if you like. They will not check. They are superstitious about certain syllables."
The old woman's eyes flickered.
"She is not wrong," she said. "If you speak of wild pacts in the court, half the hall will make signs and decide you are very wise. The other half will whisper that you are senile and move slower. Both responses buy you ti."
Vorak's fingers drumd on the table again.
Outside, the camp murmured. n slept. n sharpened blades. n wondered whether tomorrow would be their day to die.
On the hill, a wounded Lord lay awake, listening to the Stone and the slow hum of a cocoon and the fading echo of a woman's voice on the Soul Road.
Vorak looked up at Ikea.
"If I agree," he said, "and you fail to keep your side of this as yet unwritten bargain. If the forest turns on my supply lines while I hold my n back. If the capital decides my caution was cowardice. What then."
She t his gaze without flinching.
"Then," she said, "I will owe you. Personally. And I pay my debts. I will make sure you are protected from any punishnt."
There was sothing in the way she said it. Sothing that vibrated the air, made the old woman's slate hum a little.
Vorak closed his eyes for a heartbeat.
When he opened them, they were steadier than before.
"Very well," he said. "Tonight, we lay the teeth anyway. I am not entirely mad. Tomorrow, I will walk to that mountain with a smaller vanguard, under a flag that says parley instead of conquest. I will speak to the Lord myself. I will tell him that certain… wild interests have taken note. If he is wise, he will listen. If he is not, I will have at least satisfied my curiosity before I die or before he does."
He inclined his head to Ikea, not quite a bow, not quite not. "I will have a duel with him. Not a deadly ga. If he wins I can give a better excuse and if he loses… I won't harm him badly."
"In return," he said, "you will see that my back does not beco a banquet. And you will do… whatever it is you plan to do about him."
Ikea let out a breath she had not realized she had been holding.
"Agreed," she said.
The air between them twisted. Not visibly. Nothing as crude as that. But sothing settled. A contract not entirely of words. The old woman shivered as if soone had walked over her grave on a very hot day.
"You two are insane," she said mildly. "But at least you are insane in compatible directions."
Vorak gave a short bark of a laugh. "Shaa Shaa Shaa Shaa!"
"Insanity is simply logic that has not yet had ti to prove itself," he said. "See that it does."
Ikea turned toward the flap.
"I will," she said. "And general."
He looked up.
"Tell your n to sleep," she said. "All of them, if you can. The things that watch from the dark will be… quieter if they see that you are not trying to steal the night as well as the day."
Vorak's brow rose. "I will consider it," he said.
She slipped out into the cool dark.
The camp's noises died down around her as she walked. Not because anyone had given an order yet, but because n who had been braced for another night of drills were suddenly very aware of how tired they were. Word moved through lines and clusters. The general has a plan. The general spoke with sothing strange. The general might not kill us all tomorrow.
On the slope, the desert wind shifted.
On the mountain, Kai's eyes snapped open.
The Soul Road thread tickled his mind.
"Ikea," he whispered.
There was no direct answer. But the system stirred.
[Ding! System notification- External war field variables updated.
Hostile army stance: adjusting.
Vanguard disposition: reduced.
Flag status predicted: parley possible. Advisory: opportunity for nonlethal resolution increased by 23 percent.]
Kai stared at the invisible words.
"Why," he said softly. "What did you do."
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