Promise of Blood

Two gaping holes faced him on the mountainside. The darkness was too deep even for a Marked’s senses, but he suspected what he might see. A pair of tunnels, each about a foot taller than a man, bored out completely by sorcery as if by a gigantic drill. He sighted along the tunnels, up the mountainside, and guessed at their destination.

Bo and Gavril joined them after a minute.

“There’s no one here,” Gavril said, bewildered.

“Thanks for pointing that out,” Bo snapped.

“Shut up,” Taniel told Bo.

“Where are all the sappers? Where’s the Privileged?” Gavril said.

Taniel lifted a hand. “Up there.”

“You mean they’re finished?”

“Yes.”

“And they come out…?”

“Above the Mountainwatch,” Taniel said. “Up on the ridge. Last night I thought I saw something up there. I dismissed it as a trick of the moonlight. Now I don’t think I was seeing things.”

Gavril stared up toward the ridgeline far above them. “The sorcery required to carve these…”

“Julene,” Bo said. “And probably half the Kez Cabal along with her.”

“Then why didn’t they attack yet?” Gavril said. “The northeast pass is barely guarded. There’s not even a watch on that wall half the time. They could have hit us from up there with a thousand men and there’d have been little we could do about it.”

“She doesn’t care about the Mountainwatch,” Bo said. “Never has. What she cares about is getting to the top of the mountain.”

“It still doesn’t make sense,” Taniel said. “She could have destroyed Shouldercrown and then headed up the mountain. Unless…”

“She’s in a hurry,” Bo finished. He stared up toward South Pike’s peak through the darkness for several moments. “I’ve heard stories floating around the cabal, as old as Kresimir, that the most powerful Privileged could use the auras of other planets, the moon, the stars, and the sun to amplify their sorcery. She needs the summer solstice.”

Taniel felt sick to his stomach. He took a shaky breath. A quick hit of powder helped. “But,” he said, “even if she’s in a hurry, why didn’t she tell Field Marshal Tine about the tunnels? How could she hide them even from him?”

“I think there’s more going on in the Kez camp than we know,” Bo said. “Julene is using the royal cabal, for certain. Perhaps not Tine, though.”

Gavril scratched his chin. “How could she hide this? And if she didn’t tell him about it, why two tunnels?”

“She hid it from us,” Taniel said. “And I think this is a backup plan. If she can’t summon Kresimir, she still wants to be able to take the Mountainwatch. I don’t think she banked on us just walking down here to find it.”

They stared at the tunnels in silence for a few moments. “Can she really summon Kresimir?” Gavril asked.

“She can try,” Bo said. “Whether she’ll be successful… that all depends on how many Privileged she has with her.”

“I don’t like the idea of waiting to find out,” Taniel said. He turned to walk back up to the Mountainwatch.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll need some supplies if I’m going to chase her up the mountain.”

Bo caught up to Taniel faster than he expected. “That’s suicide,” he said. “She must have thirty or more Privileged with her. Maybe Wardens and soldiers. Once they get wind of you…” He snapped his fingers. “Gone.”

“I’ll not let them get wind, then.”

They reached the others and told them of the situation.

“I’m going after Julene,” Taniel said.

“You mean, the one powerful enough to summon God?” Fesnik said.

Katerine crossed her arms and gave Taniel a look that clearly said he was an idiot. “I suppose you’ll tell us next that you’re going alone, as it’s too dangerous for the rest of us.”

Taniel barked a laugh. “Pit, no. Anyone can come that wants. I don’t want to die on that cold son-of-a-bitch mountain alone.”

Bo nearly choked. “I’ll go,” he said.

“Like pit you will,” Katerine snapped.

“Get off it, woman,” Bo said. “Julene’s got to be stopped.”

“Let the Marked do it.”

“I’ll go with you too.” Rina’s quiet voice almost made Taniel jump. She stood off to the side, quietly holding the leashes to her dogs. “Where Bo goes, I go.”

“Don’t you…” Katerine began.

“I said leave off!” Bo said.

Gavril looked torn. “I should,” he started, then fell silent.

Gavril wanted to come with them, Taniel realized, but the Mountainwatch was his responsibility. If Field Marshal Tine resumed the attack, Gavril needed to be there to rally the defenders.

Taniel said, “Your responsibility is here.” A thought occurred then. “Will the Novi monks let them pass?”

“I don’t know,” Bo said. “If they don’t, Julene will level the monastery.”

“Shit,” Gavril spat. “They are good people.” He turned to Mozes and Fesnik. “Set the powder.”