The Blinding Knife(256)

“You have me for ten minutes,” Gavin said.

“Pardon?” Delara Orange asked.

“There’s going to be a battle for Ru in two days, and I need to be there.”

“And how are you going to do that? We thought you were with the fleet,” the Blue said.

So Gavin explained, concisely. He could travel across the sea in a day. There was already a map on the table with the disposition of forces that they had guessed. Gavin moved and added and subtracted forces until it was accurate.

“How do you know all this?” Delara asked.

“I’m the Prism,” Gavin said. “Five minutes.”

“You can’t treat us like this. We aren’t slaves to take your orders. What will you do if we don’t let you go?” Klytos Blue asked.

Turning cold eyes on the little man, Gavin said, “I’ll kill you and piss on your corpse.” He meant it.

Klytos Blue’s mouth dropped open. His wasn’t the only one.

“I came here as a courtesy,” Gavin said. “But thousands of people are going to die if I don’t leave, so tell me, is there anything wrong—anything at all—in valuing thousands of warriors over one spineless worm?”

Klytos spluttered, “Are you… are you calling me a worm?”

“That’s the kindest thing I have to call you right now.”

Klytos opened his mouth, and Gavin pointed a hand at him and shrouded it in flame. “Try me,” he said. “ ’Cause I really need to piss.”

The White intervened. “Gavin, Lord Prism, what do you intend to do?”

So he told them. Delara Orange looked distraught that he was already considering Ru lost, but he told her if things went well, they might be able to save the city after all. He didn’t believe it, but it placated her. And then he left.

No one tried to stop him.

Karris was at the back dock. Together, with four more Blackguards, they crossed the seas. The ships of the fleet had anchored less than five leagues from Ruic Bay.

The battle would begin tomorrow.





Chapter 107




It was still night when Kip was summoned to the deck. He dressed quickly, pulling on his trainee’s garb. He strapped the dagger sheath to his calf, and checked that the slit he’d cut in his trouser leg allowed him to grab it. It was more obvious than he would have liked, but people probably wouldn’t be looking at his leg today. He put the lenses pouch on his right hip. He ran a hand through his unruly hair and stumbled up to the deck.

The Wanderer was under way, though only the foresails and mizzen were raised. The sailors worked silently, apparently aiming to get the ship into a different position before dawn. The Blackguards were gathered on deck around Commander Ironfist.

“How well did you study those black cards, Kip?” Commander Ironfist asked.

“Sir?” Commander Ironfist had seen the new cards, but how did he know about the black cards?

“Not many secrets on Little Jasper, Kip.”

“Uh, pretty well, sir.”

“You see any of the apotheosis cards?”

“I have no idea what that means, sir.”

“Maybe they’re just a rumor, then. Never seen any of them myself.”

The commander moved to address everyone, but Kip interjected, “Sir? Um, I know that after we were inducted, there wasn’t really time to file papers and everything. I wanted to—I’m technically, or was technically, I guess? Teia’s owner, anyway.”

“Are you worried about your payout? Now?”

“No, sir! I mean, if I die, sir, I want Teia to get it all. I didn’t even really realize until we were fighting the Gargantua that if I died she wouldn’t get anything. She needs it more than the Guiles do, sir.” Kip was suddenly embarrassed, and he wasn’t completely sure why.

The commander looked at Kip for a long moment, then nodded. It would be taken care of. He turned to the Blackguards. “All right, form up.” He barely raised his voice, but everyone moved smoothly into rows. They put the trainees like Kip up front. Commander Ironfist picked up a bowl where a fistful of shiny black berries had been crushed. “Trainees,” he said. “I expect some of you have full pupil control, but if you don’t, dab a finger in this and touch the corner of each eye. One dab will serve for both eyes. It’s belladonna. It’ll dilate your pupils for you. It should wear off by full sunrise, but you’ll be extremely sensitive to light until then. More isn’t better. This stuff’ll make you go blind.” He handed the bowl around, and almost everyone but Kip dabbed a finger in. Kip drew out his sub-red spectacles instead.

Cruxer goggled at him. “You have Night Eyes?” he asked. “Can I see them?”