Amber couldn’t carryme as a spider; her butterfly form wasn’t strong enough. That meant I was walking… or flying. I made sure I had all my weapons, even outfitted with light armor, a breastplate, grieves, and bracers, then I walked out of the camp to the north, into the forest. I moved through the woods until I was well beyond the north of the Vauphan front line, but had to be careful not to get too close to where the Elistans might have scouts.
I found the tallest tree I could, then climbed it, mostly as a human, then finishing off — getting to the very top — as a spider. Then I spun a sort-of sail from my webbing and caught a south-westerly breeze, which carried me right over the Elistan camp, to set down lightly on the pinnacle of a tent’s post at the edge of the camp.
I moved carefully around the camp, but didn’t hear anything other than idle soldiers’ gossip for most of the morning. Finally, I found a large tent and scurried under the canvas. Inside were a group of men around a large table.
Jackpot, a command meeting.
I got a little closer, hiding behind one of the support beams for the large tent, then let my hairs do the listening.
“They could easily overrun us,” one man said. I recognized the voice, but I wasn’t sure from where. Perhaps my spider-hair-hearing was distorting it a little? That wasn’t important, so I kept listening. The same man continued, saying, “Why do they wait?”
Another man, with a much deeper and more commanding voice answered. “Our spies report that they are expecting another four thousand men in the next ten days or so.”
“But why wait?” the first man asked. “We’ll have received some reinforcement by that time as well and—”
“Shut up and let me finish, Lynx!” The second man cut off the first.
Lynx?
A shudder ran through me. I would have swallowed a lump in my throat, if I wasn’t a spider. Lynx was the True-Bonded name of my first love, Kelen. I felt both startled and relieved. I hadn’t expected him to be here, a commander at the front, but then… he’d been Chosen three years before me, four years ago now. He could have risen in the ranks of Panther House in that time. If he was here, perhaps I could talk to him, perhaps he’d listen to reason. I had to hope.
That reminded me, Cougar would probably be reaching the front lines soon. I hoped he’d heeded my warning and listened to what I’d said. I didn’t know if his queries and doubts would help shed any truth on what was going on, but it might.
I listened in again, having missed a bit of what the more commanding voice had said. “…may overrun us, yes, but after the four thousand soon to come, they aren’t expecting any more reinforcements for some time. Weeks away at best. And, in that time, if their spies are as good as ours, they’d know we’re expecting a significant force as well. It’s all in the math. Let’s say they wait until the four thousand new troops arrive. Their ten thousand against our seven thousand — since the Pterolycus troops will be here by then — would probably mean a victory, but at what cost? Let’s say they lose two thousand men and we lose the same. That means when the remaining troops from Pterolycus, along with the reserves from the capital arrive, we’ll have ten thousand men, half of whom are fresh. They’ll have eight thousand, all of whom are weary from the first battle and a desperate attempt to build fortifications. We’d wipe them out, send them running. So, it’s a stalemate for now. Though it may not seem it, the advantage lays with us. We have fortifications in place, not much, but enough to slow their advance and cause them some pain in their first strike. And the longer we wait, the more troops we’ll have. Assuming no battle, we’ll have twelve thousand men to their ten. We can sit behind our growing fortifications and wait for them, perhaps even raid their camp to demoralize them. We’ve already won this fight, it’s just a matter of how. Unless they get some miraculous addition to their forces, they cannot win here.” Silence hung in the room for a moment. “And…” I couldn’t see the man, but with how he said even just that single word, I felt like he was smiling, pompous, arrogant. “Though I haven’t received the latest command updates, last I heard, we were going to ask Pegasus’ troops to head south to a fleet of ships being readied.” The man laughed. “With all the Vauphani troops being funneled north, their southern coast will be ripe for the taking. We can’t keep those lands, of course, but we can pillage and burn their coast with impunity while their forces mass in the north. That will show them who’s superior, show them that it’s our right to hold these lands.”
A cheer went up, but I’d heard enough. I wanted to leave. It was clear now who the true warmongers were among these two sides, and I was sickened by this show of aggression by my own people… or those I’d thought were my own people.
I forced myself to wait, to see if there was any other information I might glean here, but the meeting broke up after that.
I quickly crawled outside and waited where I could see the exit. I caught sight of Lynx and followed him as he went to a modest sized tent and entered.
I crept under the canvas again and found a two-part pavilion, like Alvere’s, but with only one room in the back and a much smaller sitting area in the front.
Lynx was alone, facing away from me, so I transformed and cleared my throat.
He turned and was so surprised he fell on his ass. I must have been quite a sight, a warrior woman with armor on and spear in hand.
“Hello, lover,” I said, hoping that might defuse the tension I saw in his rigidness. “Remember me?”
“Sara?” he breathed.
“It’s Legs now. House Maverick.”
He blinked, and got up slowly. “You’re…” He gave me the usual once-over that most men do, but then did it again, slower, truly taking me in. “You’ve changed.”
“I like to think so.”
He didn’t approach, didn’t come and embrace me, which I’d thought one of his possible reactions. Instead, I caught a quick glance toward the room at the back of the tent. “I… you shouldn’t be here. How did you get here? When did you get here?”
I followed his gaze, purposefully looking at the separator between the two rooms. “You’re not alone?”
“Ah…”
“No, he’s not,” came a voice from the back area. A moment later a woman appeared. She wore only boots and a loose robe, casually wrapped around her. She and I looked at each other for a long moment before she gave a breathy laugh and dismissed me. And I could see why. She was everything I was, but… more. My height but with more of a curve at her hips and significantly more of a curve at her bust, the lazily applied robe showing an abundance of cleavage. Yet the belt tying the garment closed showed a slender waist. Her hair was a shade off of mine, brown and wavy, but tinged with golden-red. And her eyes were a brilliant gold.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” She asked, languidly, going to Lynx and draping herself over him, pressing close while looking at me the entire time.
He hesitated before saying: “Lady Claw, meet Lady Legs.”
