The Autumn Republic

Ket cocked an eyebrow, her first change of expression since they arrived. “Oh?”

“I’ve spoken to Lady Winceslav on your behalf,” Adamat said. “She agreed that whatever petty crimes you and your sister are guilty of are secondary to the safety of Adro. As a member of Tamas’s council, she has given me the authority to offer you an out.”

“And what could that possibly be?”

“You will immediately step down from command. Your sister will step down from command as well. You will be escorted to your estate in northern Adro, where you will have one week to put your affairs in order before you and your households will be exiled. You will be allowed a onetime stipend of one million krana, and your property will be confiscated by the state.”

Ket’s nostrils flared. “That is not an out. That’s a sentence.”

“One million is a lot of money,” Abrax said sternly. “Do you think Tamas will be so kind when he returns?”

“Tamas is dead.”

“He is not.” Abrax removed a letter from her pocket and handed it to Ket. “We received this communication just this morning. Tamas has crossed the Charwood Pile with the Seventh and the Ninth and sixty thousand Deliv infantry. He will be here in two weeks.”

Adamat felt his jaw drop. Tamas was alive? For certain? Why had Lady Winceslav not mentioned this? It changed everything!

Ket paled visibly. She took up the arrest warrant once more, her fingers shaking, and read it over thoroughly.

“I suggest,” Adamat said, “that you be sure to be out of the country by the time he arrives.”

“What of my men? Who will take command?”

“I will,” Abrax said.

“That is not legal!”

“And you are concerned about what is and isn’t legal?” Adamat asked lightly.

Ket rounded on Adamat. “I have covered for my sister’s crimes, yes. But I am still a general of the Adran army and I am a patriot. I will only take this ‘clemency’ ”-she spit the word as if it were poison-“on the condition that my men will be safe.”

“Your men will be placed under special command of the Wings of Adom,” Abrax said. “We will immediately send Hilanska a missive stating that you have been relieved and that your three brigades are under our employ-and protection-until Field Marshal Tamas returns to the field.”

Ket’s fingers drummed on the table and she stared hard at the air above Adamat’s head.

“General,” Adamat said, “this is the only way they will survive. Surely your scouts have told you that the Kez are already positioning themselves to attack tomorrow morning, and General Hilanska is positioning for a flanking maneuver.”

“More proof that he’s working with the Kez,” Ket said.

Adamat shared a nervous glance with Abrax. “Even if that’s true, he dare not attack once your brigades are under the Wings of Adom flag.”

Ket leapt to her feet suddenly. “All right! I agree. I relinquish command. I’ll take my sister and go. Just let me address the men one last time.” There was a note of appeal in her voice that hadn’t been there before, and Adamat could see she was in earnest.

Abrax met her gaze with steel in her eyes. “You will not have the chance to mend your reputation, Ket. Your men will know you as a thief and a liar.”

Anger and grief danced across Ket’s face-raw emotions of which Adamat wouldn’t have guessed her capable.

Slowly, Abrax stood, and with a sigh she added, “I will make certain they know that you stepped down with their best interests at heart.”

Ket’s only answer was a defeated nod.

Abrax clasped her hands behind her back and squared her shoulders. “General Ket,” she said, “you are relieved of command.”

Morning came with an unwelcome chill in the Wings of Adom camp.

Adamat stared, bleary-eyed, as Kez infantry began to form just within view, a couple of miles to the south. Their tan-and-green uniforms made them look like acres upon acres of fall wheat ready for the harvest. How many infantry did the Kez have left? Two hundred thousand? Three? Abrax’s scouts said that they’d brought up fresh levies from Budwiel during the night.

He jumped at the sudden blast of a cannon. Several more followed, and Adamat knew he should get used to the noise. For now it was just Abrax warning the Kez to keep their distance. It would get worse as the morning wore on and hundreds of cannons opened fire on every front.

Abrax stood beside him, looking out from their vantage on top of a hill where Ket’s command tent had been. Instead of the Kez, she was watching to the northeast.

“Any word?” Adamat asked.

The bulk of the Adran army, under Hilanska’s command, was hidden by the hills.

“We sent over thirty messengers throughout the night,” Abrax said, her voice raw. “At least ten of whom were shot on sight. I don’t know what Hilanska has told his men, but he has turned them against us completely. Lady Winceslav would have gone herself if I hadn’t prevented it.”