The Autumn Republic

Nila thought of trying to start a conversation once more, but neither of her companions seemed to be in the mood to speak. Her window showed nothing but hillside for almost a quarter of a mile, so she turned to the attaché case of papers she still clutched in her hands.

She had read most of the requisition reports from before Taniel was captured by the Kez. With only a few pages to go, she leafed through them slowly, scanning each line.

She had always thought that quartermasters must have the dullest task in an army, but the way the numbers read on the lines was almost mesmerizing. She imagined that with more experience, she could read these numbers and know exactly how many infantry or cavalry an army had, or the tactical tastes of a particular general.

One line caught her eye about halfway down the page. She read it over a second time, then a third, checking the date.

“Bo…” she said.

“Hmm?”

“Has anyone mentioned Taniel’s movements the day before he was hoisted above the Kez camp?”

Bo scratched one of his muttonchops. “I talked to one of the camp cooks-the ones that used to be Mihali’s assistants. Taniel visited Mihali in the late afternoon.”

“Did they say why?”

“No. But I can take a guess. He’s bloody stupid enough to go after Kresimir alone. That’s the only way he would have been captured, after all. And he probably went to Mihali for advice.”

“And he would have left immediately for the Kez camp?”

“Search me.” Bo shrugged. “Why?”

“It must be nothing.” Nila flipped the page, reading through the requisitions and dates, but there were no more requisitions reported by Taniel. She felt her breath quickening suddenly. “Bo…”

“What is it?” he asked, shaking his head peevishly as if his thoughts had been interrupted.

“Do you remember me telling you what Colonel Etan had told me? About the two companies of soldiers Hilanska had sent to the mountains?”

“Yes, yes. Get on with it.”

She handed Bo the report. “Look at this requisition made by Taniel, about halfway down the page.”

“I see it.” He ran his eyes over it several times before saying, “This doesn’t make any sense. Why the bloody pit would Taniel requisition three hundred air rifles?”

Nila leaned forward. “Back when I was Tamas’s laundress, I overheard him say that all the air rifles in Adro had been locked up in an armory in Adopest with strict orders that only a powder mage could order them. Look at the time!” She thrust her finger onto the page. “This was four o’clock in the morning. It had to have been after Taniel was captured. The requisition was falsified in his name!”

“Oh, bloody pit,” Bo said. He pounded on the roof. “Stop the carriage! Stop it now!”

“What are you doing?” Lady Winceslav asked as the coach came to a halt.

“I need two horses,” Bo said.

“Done. What’s going on?”

Bo leapt out of the carriage. “A traitor would know Taniel had been captured and that they could falsify the report.”

“To what end?”

“If he thought that Tamas might return, perhaps. It doesn’t matter. Hilanska has sent his men, armed with air rifles, to hunt down Taniel.”

“How do you know?” Nila asked.

“Three hundred air rifles are enough to outfit two companies of Adran soldiers. Two companies sent into the mountains on Hilanska’s orders. If that’s a coincidence, I’ll eat my hat. I have to go.”

“I’m coming with you,” Nila said.

“No. Stay with the Lady. No one must slow me down. I’m going to rain fire and earth down on those two companies, and anyone near me will be torn apart.”

“Then why two horses?”

Bo tugged on his Privileged gloves. “So that when one drops dead beneath me, I can keep riding.”

CHAPTER 11

Adamat waited with Brigadier Abrax as General Ket went over the documents he had brought.

They were in Ket’s personal tent. The guards outside had been dismissed. Ket slowly leafed through the documents, first reading the arrest warrant issued by Ricard Tumblar and the two judges in Adopest and then looking through the list of charges and evidence presented to the court in the case against her and her sister.

It must have been thirty minutes before she finally shuffled the papers together cleanly and set them on the table in front of her, leaning back. She looked from Adamat to Abrax and then back again.

“Do you deny these charges?” Adamat asked, glad to finally break the silence.

“I do not.”

That was a surprise. “I was sent here to arrest you,” Adamat said.

“You understand the current situation?” Ket asked.

Beside Adamat, Abrax nodded. “Yes.”

“You expect me to recuse myself,” Ket said, “hand over command of my men to Hilanska, and go with you to Adopest?” Before Adamat could answer, she continued, “I won’t do that. Hilanska is a traitor. He intends on selling us all out to the Kez. Whatever it is that I’m guilty of, treachery is not one of those things.”

She had told them as much about Hilanska when they arrived, but had been unable to present evidence. She claimed that her own witness had been poisoned by one of Hilanska’s men.

“Actually,” Adamat said, “that’s not what we had in mind.”