"How were Anna and the kids?"

"I only got to see them once. I had to keep my head down. You're a lucky man. They miss you more than my bunch missed me."

"Did anyone notice you?" Dumb question. Of course they had. Otherwise, there would be no letters. "Did you get my new falcons and firepowder?"

"First instance, probably not till after I left. By anyone we worry about." He frowned, remembering something. "I did bring the stuff. All that I could lay hands on. Way more than you asked for. To keep anyone else from getting them. Those in the business kept working. They knew somebody would pay a lot for a more efficient way to kill people."

"It isn't people I want to kill. I can do that now. My concern is the Night."

"The Night is at our mercy. So let's see what we can do about its servant on the mountain."

Madouc, recovered enough to work now, and several other lifeguards all frowned over Consent's suggestion. They were quite willing to take it easy as long as there was food and drink and their pay came on time – though there was nothing to spend it on in the High Athaphile.

Hecht asked, "What about our situation here? Will there be problems if we try to come home?"

"Who could stop you? If you come up with the transport?"

"I don't know. I can't make sense of the political situation." He watched the men dragging up the new falcon batteries, kegs of firepowder, cases of ammunition, and other weaponry. Most of those men would rather be working the mines under Arn Bedu. That did not necessitate climbing the mountain carrying a hundred pounds. Men from the Direcian camp watched, too, obviously troubled. They suspected Hecht was about to pull something.

"There's more news."

Hecht caught the edge in Consent's voice. "Do we need to talk about it privately?"

"It wouldn't stay secret. I didn't make the trip alone. It's a question of caring, really."

"I'm likely to care more than most?"

"Precisely."

"Then get to it, since it won't matter to any of these dunderheads."

"Hey!" Madouc protested.

'Titus?"

"King Charlve is dead."

"And? We've known that for months."

"There have been a lot of changes in Arnhand because of it. And now it looks like Anne is trying to buy the new Patriarch, too."

"Meaning?"

"She has Sublime's letters of blessing. She's put Regard on the Arnhander throne."

Hecht chuckled. "She paid enough. To our profit."

"Now she wants something more. She's called out the entire feudal levy to help King Peter stop the Almanohides."

"The what?"

"The who. The Almanohides. Praman tribal fighters from the other side of the Escarp Gebr al Thar."

"Oh." Hecht had not heard that name for those people before.

"The new Kaif of al-Halambra summoned them."

That Hecht did know. The process had begun before their departure from the Connec.

"He's determined to crush Peter before he can be any more successful. He means to keep on moving north if he breaks King Peter. He sees nothing to stop him now that we've moved over here to Artecipea."

Hecht understood the hidden message.

A new storm was coming. It was time to keep an eye on their backs, in case the uneasy alliance here fell apart.

Hecht said, "Let's put the fear of God in our friends. We'll let them see the firepowder weapons at work. Speaking of which. You need to find Drago Prosek right away."

"The situation in Direcia had another interesting effect. The Patriarch himself postponed the marriage between Empress Katrin and Jaime of Castauriga."

Hecht had not thought much about events inside the Grail Empire. "Interesting."

"Want some more interesting? You were invited."

"Say what?"

"Anna showed me the letter. With the Imperial seal. Signed by the Empress herself. Requesting the presence of the Captain-General at the celebration mass. And so forth."

"I don't understand."

"Don't ask me to explain."

Was it Helspeth? "One more puzzle to keep me awake at night, then."

"Plenty of puzzles to keep me up."

Hecht frowned. Consent sounded unhappy. "How so?"

"There have been a couple more suicides amongst my Devedian relatives and acquaintances."

"And? I'm not understanding. Were they that upset about you converting?"

"No. None of them believed I meant it. I was the Chosen One. How could I run out? They're only now starting to believe it. But they're still cooperating. They still think they can profit from the connection."

"And I'm still confused, Titus."

"My problem is, these men who killed themselves, I've known them all my life. I can't believe any of them would become that hard a slave of despair. Devedians and despair are intimates. Life partners. Soul mates. They wouldn't kill themselves."

"So what's going on?"

"I don't know! That's the horrible part! Men who wouldn't kill themselves at the worst times did it in front of witnesses."

Hecht sighed. He sensed Consent's pain. But what could he do? "I can pray for them, Titus. That's all. I didn't know them. I don't know what drove them."

"Never mind me, Captain-General. The new falcons are here, including the ones Prosek designed. Along with tons of firepowder and ammunition. If you want to provoke the Night, now is the time."

"Which is why you need to get together with Drago Prosek."

The pagan stronghold had not suffered much from traditional artillery. The besiegers had not been able to build many engines. Lumber was scarce. What little there was had to be hauled a long, hard way before it could be used.

Ammunition was plentiful, though. There were rocks everywhere.

The falcons could do little damage, either. They did not have the power. But those that Prosek had redesigned could be fired faster than the others.

The powder and shot for the new generation were preloaded into a cast-iron pot that seated into a breech in the reinforced base of the falcon. A protruding thumb rotated into a notch, holding the pot in place. That rotation brought a drilled hole into view. Firepowder dribbled into the hole would be fired with a slow match. The pot could be replaced quickly. The spent pot could be reloaded at leisure while the weapon itself went through subsequent firing cycles.

Hecht now felt better about his chances for surviving the interest of the Night. But the new weapons and ammunition and firepowder had cost enough to leave the Patriarchal army strapped. Despite successes in the Connec and intercepted specie shipments from Salpeno, there would not be enough money to carry on past midsummer.

Hard work in the mines helped keep the soldiers out of trouble. And they needed distraction. Disaffection had begun to appear amongst the rank and file. Some thought their Captain-General was not forceful enough with Brothe. They thought their commander should have told the Patriarchal legate to use his new assignment for a suppository.

Titus Consent suggested, "A few bordellos down the mountain would be more useful than making these guys work fifteen hours a day on mines and approach curtains. Especially when those people around the other side aren't doing anything."

They were not working because Count Hercule and his Praman associates were as nervous about each other as they were about Arn Bedu. Both told the Captain-General, individually, that there was no reason to work. That time was the best weapon in their arsenal.

Hecht told them, individually, "I want to go home. And my men aren't in a patient mood."

The Mountain and Az, or Bone, were always close by when Hecht talked to Iskandar and Count Hercule. He got few chances to visit. Nor did the Ninth Unknown create many opportunities for communication. Yet the man in brown was often there, in the corner of Hecht's eye.

Redfearn Bechter reported sightings every day. Bechter was troubled. Bechter was no longer convinced by his Captain-General's protestations of ignorance.