The Last Goddess

by C.E. Stalbaum

  Chapter Twelve

   

  Rook shook his head as he looked out over the rocky bluff towards the awe-inspiring grandeur of what common parlance dubbed “The Wall.” From here, perhaps a dozen miles away, it could have been an enormous gray serpent slithering across the horizon.

  “It still baffles me to this day,” Van commented, rubbing gently at his horse’s mane, “why anyone ever thought that building this thing was a good idea.”

  “Hundreds of miles of stone to protect a dying empire from an unstoppable horde,” Rook said. “It had an actual purpose once.”

  Rynne shrugged as she squinted through a spyglass. “We might get to see it crumble in our lifetimes.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “How old is it?” Selaste asked as she stepped up next to him.

  “Nine hundred years, give or take,” Rynne told her. “The rulers of the First Darenthi Empire were always leery of the so-called ‘savage hordes’ of the south. They figured this was the best solution.”

  “I take it they were wrong.”

  “It worked for a while, but no static defense can stop a determined enemy forever. Eventually it was breached and the empire was torn apart. It took about a century for the Second Empire to coalesce, and ever since Darenthi rulers have been restoring or rebuilding sections of the Wall. It’s mostly political at this point.”

  Selaste frowned. “How do you mean?”

  “The Darenthi like to insist they’re victims of aggression,” Rook explained. “As a defensive structure, the Wall plays into that narrative. It might have even been true a hundred years ago, but ever since the Balorites seized power and created the Faceless, the Republic has been about as passive as a frenzied vretarg.” He tilted his eyes down to Rynne. “See anything?”

  “Plenty of Faceless,” she reported, lowering the glass and pressing her lips together. “You realize there are supposed to be thousands of them along that thing, right?”

  “I’m sure that’s exaggerated.”

  Rynne shrugged. “Maybe, but I hope we’re not planning on carving our way through them. I think it’s time you let us in on this plan you’ve been keeping to yourself.”

  “I don’t see why we need to fight anything,” Tiel put in. “We can just take Faros Road not ten miles from here. The gate is wide open—the Empress has made it very easy for merchant traffic to pass through.”

  “That’s a disaster waiting to happen,” Rook told him. “Prince Kastrius has had almost two days to prepare. He’ll have people watching all the obvious ways across.”

  “You said he and the Empress don’t get along. Don’t her forces control the border?”

  “Naivety,” Van murmured. “It’s almost cute when it doesn’t get you killed.”

  “He has a point,” Rynne said, glaring at the big man. “Even if Kastrius has people watching it, what are they going to do? He’s not going to risk killing Darenthi soldiers and making a scene.”

  Rook cocked his head. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. The prince is an obsessed and desperate man, and he thinks we’re taking the Messiah away from him. A little bloodshed isn’t going to stop him. Besides, we don’t even send our people that way if we can avoid it.”

  “You do realize the first place he’ll expect us to go instead is the Breach,” Rynne pointed out. “He’ll have people there, too. Maybe even a small army.”

  “I never said anything about going through the Breach,” Rook said innocently, doing his best not to smile.

  “What, do you want us to climb—” Van stopped himself and swore under his breath. “No, you wouldn’t.”

  Tiel’s eyes flicked between them. “Wouldn’t what?”

  “You don’t want to know,” Rynne murmured, though Rook could see the beginnings of a coy grin tugging at her lips. She’d finally figured it out too, and he knew she wouldn’t be able to resist something so crazy.

  Van shook his head. “Abalor’s eye, we are not pulling a Torgain’s Gambit, not here and not now.”

   “Why?” Rook asked. “I can’t think of a better time.”

  Rynne groaned. “What is your fascination with that, anyway? Is this some macho thing?”

  “It’ll work,” Rook assured them. “Trust me.”

  “Feel free to let the rest of us in on this conversation at any time,” Selaste grumbled.

  Rook turned to face them all. “It’s a trick Van, me, and a couple of our army friends came up with. It’s actually not very complicated, but it does require a mage. Fortunately, we have you.”

  Van sighed. “You know, suddenly charging through the Faros gate doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.”

  “You can’t back out on what you said now,” Rynne scolded playfully. “This does seem a little crazy, though. Even for us.”

  “If that’s not a damning indictment,” Van muttered, “then I don’t know what is.”

  Rook waved his hand dismissively. “You worry too much. I think you’re getting old; there was a time when you couldn’t wait to pull stunts like this.”

  “Yeah, well, I grew up. I guess I’m just surprised you didn’t.” He shrugged and crossed his arms. “Anyway, you might as well explain it to them.”

  “The Galadon River cuts through the wall about a mile east of here. There’s a bridge over it, and it’s too wide to build a portcullis to block swimmers.”

  Selaste raised an eyebrow at him. “I assume the Darenthi aren’t blind to this vulnerability.”

  “No, they usually keep a double patrol on the sentry tower next to it,” Rook said. “Given the difficulty of crossing the water, it’s not enough of a gap that a serious military force could exploit it, but it is a perfectly accessible path for individuals or small groups. They used to worry about Ebaran spies slipping through during the nighttime.”

  “And you think we can sneak five people and their horses through that gap without anyone noticing?” Tiel asked. “Was this Torgain person able to make everyone invisible?”

  Rook chuckled. “No, but if either of you can, feel free to let me know.”

  “I’m not even sure that’s possible. I’ve heard rumors about some Darenthi techniques, but—”

  Selaste brushed her hand against Tiel, and he vanished mid-sentence. Rook blinked, and Rynne actually dropped the spyglass she’d been holding.

   “Shakissa’s mercy,” they breathed in unison.

  “I can’t maintain it for very long on other people, unfortunately,” Selaste said. She removed her hand, and a few seconds later the monk reappeared.

  “Goddess forgive me,” Tiel whispered, shaking his head. “I should not have doubted you, Your Emi—I mean, Selaste”

  She sighed softly and turned back to Rook. “You were saying.”

  Rook licked his lips and found that his mouth had gone dry. “Uh, well, that should make this a lot easier, then.”

  “You weren’t done explaining how it normally works,” she prompted.

  “Right,” he murmured, his mind slowly catching up. “The idea is that you need a distraction to pull the soldiers away from the wall. Simple concept, really. The only way you’re going to get that many guards from their posts is to light one of the signal flares farther down the wall.”

  “Which, if you’re not physically up on the wall, would take a mage,” Selaste reasoned. “Light it with magic, draw the guards away. Most of your group swims through during the confusion, then the actual lighter comes back and heads across afterwards. Seems like a much larger risk for that person, though.”

  “That’s why Torgain got to name it. You don’t need a mage if you’re willing to risk going up there and lightning it manually, but that’s a lot more dangerous.”

  Tiel frowned. “Don’t the guard posts have sending stones? The Darenthi can’t be so backwards they still rely on flares.”

  “Faceless can’t use them,” Rook explained. “They only carry out very simple commands, and they’ll herd right towards a signal flare. For all their br
ute strength, they aren’t exactly brilliant tacticians.”

  “But aren’t there human guards up there with them?”

  “Not right now,” Rynne said, glancing through her spyglass. “With the imminent peace treaty, the Empress probably figures it isn’t worth the cost to sustain an actual garrison here. Faceless don’t eat, drink, or sleep.”

  “I’m sure there are plenty of human officers along the wall somewhere, but she cut the standing defense forces by a half or more a few months back,” Rook said. “The river is a vulnerable spot, though, so I would expect a patrol to come by periodically.”

  Selaste looked past him out towards the Wall. “If the river current is strong, it’s going to take time to move five horses across. And if we get caught, that’s not a place I’d want to fight in.”

  “We’ll have to be careful,” Rook admitted, “but it’s our best option.”

  Van grunted. “That’s certainly debatable.”

  Rook smiled. “We also have two krata. It gives us a lot of options the three of us didn’t have back in the day.”

  “Why do I have the feeling I’m going to like this part of the plan even less?” Van asked, plopping down upon a rock.

  “You’ve known him the longest,” Rynne pointed out.

  “Don’t remind me,” he replied with a resigned sigh “You might as well lay it out, Nate.”

  Rook turned back to the wall. “I plan to. Everyone take a seat, and I’ll tell you exactly what we’re going to do.”