The lie was obvious, but Theos didn’t know what to do about it. “I’m just restless,” he said. And then they stopped talking.
The temperature dropped as the sun set, so they denned up and snoozed, and when he could wait no more Theos shook Finnvid awake, and they crept down the hill and around the bend. Two dark shapes would be easy to see against the white snow, so they kept to the forest and didn’t get too close. They watched as the midnight shift took over the post and the others retreated to the simple cabin to sleep. Theos made himself wait a little longer, giving the soldiers in the cabin time to settle.
Finally, he and Finnvid set out. Theos stopped walking before the sentries could call a challenge, hoping to keep them from making noise that would alert those in the cabin, and then walked forward slowly, hands raised to show they were empty. Beside him, Finnvid was doing the same thing.
“Theos?” The voice was hushed but familiar. “By the sword, Theos, it’s good to have you back.”
“Achus.” Theos stepped closer. “You remember Finnvid? He enjoyed it so much here that he’s returned.”
“Andros said you two were together.” Achus muttered a few words to the other men in the sentry tower, then slid down the ladder and moved toward them. He clapped Theos on the shoulder and nodded at Finnvid. Theos began to tug the bag of soil from around his neck, but Achus reached out and caught his arm. “Better not. They might count the bags and realize you’re back.”
“Who are ‘they’?”
Achus sighed. “Things have gone all wrong, Theos. You need to get into the city before sunup. I’ll walk with you and explain as we go.”
So they started down the path, and for the first time in his life Theos wasn’t relieved to be coming home. Instead, as Achus spoke, he felt himself growing more and more tense.
“The warlord’s taken over,” Achus said. “He had Tamon executed—claimed the captain had committed treason, been conspiring with the enemy. But he wouldn’t give details about any of it. Said the trial had to be private because there were important secrets that might be spilled otherwise.”
“Tamon’s dead?” Another Sacrati, another comrade, gone. If there’d been a battle, Theos would have been prepared for the loss, but this? His sorrow rose until he pushed it down and replaced it with anger. “We don’t have secret trials!”
“We do now,” Achus said with disgust.
“What are we doing about it?” The biggest part of Theos’s plan had been to get back to the city, talk to Tamon, and find out what to do. Now that was gone, and there was nothing left in its place. “What’s Andros up to?”
Achus sighed. “He came back and took shelter in the city, trying to understand what was going on. The warlord found out he was around and invited him down to the barracks to discuss the captain’s trial. He made it sound like he’d release the captain to Andros’s care.”
“But the captain is dead.”
“He is now. He wasn’t then. Not until Andros showed up to get him. Then the warlord arrested Andros and gave the execution order for the captain.” Achus was silent for a moment before saying, “We didn’t know about the execution. The Sacrati. We knew the captain had been arrested, but we still thought . . . I don’t know. We thought it was a bluff. Thought the reeve could negotiate his freedom. If we’d known, we would have done something, of course. But we didn’t know. Not until the warlord dumped his body on our barracks’ doorstep and told us we no longer had the right to our own commander.” Achus shook his head as if he was overwhelmed by it all.
Theos fought back his anger at the Sacrati inaction. They hadn’t had the whole story; the captain had chosen to keep secrets, and that was why he hadn’t had defenders when he needed them. If Theos had been in Windthorn, without knowing about the warlord’s betrayal in Elkat, he probably would have waited, too.
“And now he has Andros? I understand why you wouldn’t have known to do something about the captain, but why haven’t you rescued Andros?”
“Some of us want to.Iwant to. He told us what happened with the Elkati, but then the warlord took him before we could figure out our next step. And he’s being guarded by regular soldiers. Lots of them. If we want to free him, we’ll have to fight them. It’ll be Torian against Torian. And if Sacrati attack regular soldiers, the warlord will be able to make it look like he was right all along. People will think that the Sacratiaretraitors, and wearetrying to start a civil war. The soldiers will fight back because they think they have to, and we’ll fight back to defend ourselves. And where does that end?”
Theos swore softly. He was a simple man and didn’t like these complications. They made him feel like he was drowning under all the words, all the possibilities. But then he realized he was walking beside someone who was a much better swimmer.
“Ideas?” he asked casually, as if he were just giving Finnvid a chance to be part of the conversation.
“The letter,” Finnvid said quickly. “Unless Andros lost it. If it’s still around, it’s clear evidence. A bit tricky to know what to do with it, though. Normally you’d give it to whoever’s in charge. In this case, that might not work so well.”
“It could still work,” Theos said.
“You want to show the warlord evidence of his own betrayal? What do you think he’ll do with that information?”
“Not the warlord. This isn’t Elkat; it’s Windthorn. The warlord might be giving orders, but he’s not really in charge.”
“He still isn’t? With the captain dead?”
“No. The people are. The women . . . hopefully we can keep the women out of this. But the men need to know what’s going on. One warlord is nothing compared to a couple thousand soldiers.”
Finnvid nodded slowly. “So we need to speak to the men. And we need to be safe long enough to make sure they listen. How can we arrange that?”
Theos frowned at Achus. “The Sacrati and the regular troops aren’t truly at war, at least not yet. You’re still on sentry duty, not stuck in jail. Could I just talk to people? Go to the dining halls, the training yards—”
“And get arrested yourself,” Achus said. “You’d have to sneak around, and I really don’t know which of the soldiers we can trust. Most of them just want this all to go away, I think, but I know the warlord has spies.”
