The Autumn Republic

“It didn’t mend the schism,” Tamas said, “because Hilanska planned a betrayal all along. And what the pit is Adamat doing down here? Damn it all, this is when I needed Ket the most. Aside from Hilanska, she was the most capable commander here. Where’s Abrax?”

“On her way here.”

“We don’t have more than a couple of hours before the Kez attack. Gather the General Staff-I want as many senior officers as you can get within twenty minutes. We’ll send orders to the rest via messengers. Olem, what did you find?”

Olem arrived at a sprint and paused briefly to catch his breath. “He left everything. Hilanska’s been in bed with the Kez since the beginning. I found dozens of letters.”

“Anything to tell us who his accomplices are?”

“I haven’t had time to sort through it all.”

“Time. Bloody pit, we need time more than anything else. I can’t plan a defensive on such short notice, not against that monstrosity.”

“Olem,” Vlora said, “did you find Hilanska’s personal seal?”

“It was there with everything else.”

“Get me a fresh horse!” Vlora yelled.

Tamas asked, “Where are you going?”

“I need one of the Wings’ code breakers,” Vlora said. “Someone who can replicate Hilanska’s cipher. If we move quickly, I think I can buy us an extra day.”

Tamas dictated a message for the Kez commanders based on the language Hilanska used in his own letters and notes, then had a Wings code breaker translate it into Hilanska’s cipher. The message stated that Hilanska would be able to get someone close enough to Abrax to assassinate her if she let down her guard, but that that would require the Kez to appear to withdraw and get ready for an attack the next day.

The whole process took nearly two hours and looked, to Tamas’s eye, like a rush job. It would be a miracle if the Kez believed it.

But if they did, it would buy them twenty-four precious hours to prepare for the Kez attack. Time they desperately needed in order to have any chance at winning this battle.

Tamas lifted his eyes to Olem, who was waiting in the entry to the command tent, hand casually on his pistol, as the Wings’ code breaker applied Hilanska’s own hot wax and seal to the forged message. Tamas took it from him and blew on the wax to cool it, then handed it over to Olem.

Olem snapped a salute. “I’ve found a few of my most loyal Riflejacks, sir. I’ll send one of them over to the Kez with it.”

“They know it’s a terrible risk? If the Kez sniff out the deception, they’ll be killed. Or worse.”

“Already have a man for the job. He knows.”

“Good. That’s the only message I want going to the Kez. Tell the sentries they are to shoot on sight anyone who makes a break for the Kez lines. They can’t know I’m back.”

Tamas nodded a dismissal. When Olem was gone, he turned uncomfortably toward the code breaker, feeling the wound from Hilanska’s knife open at the movement and send a stab of pain through his belly that he tried to suppress. Slowly, hoping that the code breaker didn’t see his fingers shaking, Tamas broke open a powder charge and sprinkled a bit of black powder on his tongue. The resulting powder trance settled in, stilling the pain.

“Good work, soldier,” Tamas said.

“Thank you, sir,” the code breaker said. “If I may say so, it’s a pleasure to have you back. I know Brigadier Abrax is relieved.”

Tamas forced a smile. “I’m glad to hear that. It’s good to be back. You know, we didn’t have professional code breakers back in the Gurlish Wars. I had to make do with giving some of my cleverest men special duty. It didn’t even occur to anyone to make it a regular duty until Lord Winceslav. I’ve been telling myself for fifteen years that we need our own code breakers in the Adran army, but somehow it always got pushed down the list.”

“I had the good fortune to work with Lord Winceslav,” the code breaker said. “He was a very intelligent man.”

“I agree. It was a shame to lose him. But your Lady is far more clever than her husband was. I always wondered if she came up with the idea for the code breakers and let her late husband take the credit.”

The code breaker remained silent, looking down at his feet.

“I’m sorry if I ramble. You don’t have to respond to that.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Olem returned a moment later, giving Tamas a sharp nod to tell him that the messenger had left. “Soldier,” Tamas said to the code breaker, “you can head to the mess and get some breakfast. Or lunch. I don’t even know what bloody time it is.”

“Sir, permission to return to the Wings?”

Tamas glanced at Olem, who stepped up next to the code breaker. “Sorry, soldier, but you’re going to have to stay here for a while. We’re keeping it quiet that Field Marshal Tamas has returned. It’ll make it easier to pull one over on the Kez.”

“I won’t tell anyone, I swear.”

“We’d prefer not to risk it,” Olem said.

The code breaker glanced between Tamas and Olem. “Sir?”

“I’m sorry,” Tamas said. “We’re keeping it quiet even among our own men for as long as we can. We have to weigh the morale boost against the need for secrecy.”