Ka-poel spread her hands, questioning.
"What? Fraternization? You know. Men and women being … together. Intimately."
She pointed between them, then made a flat, chopping motion with her hand. But we aren't. The grin on her face made the motion appear mocking, like a child denying that they'd done something wrong when they'd been caught doing it.
It made Taniel's heart beat faster, and he could feel his face go red. "All right, girl, we're going now. Just after I piss."
When he got back to the horse, he found her sitting in the saddle already, but toward the front, as if she expected him to sit behind her.
"Move back," he said.
She ignored him. He pulled himself up into the saddle behind her, and to take the reins, he had to wrap his arms around her waist. She snuggled up against his chest and he flicked the reins with a sigh.
The number of people along the road increased as they got closer and closer to the front. In the last ten miles there were so many tents that they filled the entire valley from one side to the other. It seemed like a sea of people – soldiers, smiths, whores, cooks, laundresses, and merchants. He saw soldiers with the stripes of just about every brigade in Adro, including all of the Wings of Adom, Lady Winceslav's mercenaries. By now she'd know that Tamas was dead. Taniel wondered if she'd pull her mercenaries out of the war.
The road seemed to disappear beneath the crowd, and Taniel knew they were just one good rainstorm away from it becoming a shit hole of mud. The Addown River cut through the whole thing, a dirty mess clogged with the waste of hundreds of thousands of people. There were barges moored here and there along the river – supply ships from Adopest, no doubt bringing food, weapons, and fresh recruits.
The tents gained some order as he finally reached the army proper. He didn't think he'd ever look forward to straight lines and discipline again, but after having to push his way through the final few miles he was glad to leave the reserves and hangers-on behind him.
For most of the trip down the Alley the cannon fire had rumbled together like thunder in the distance. Now he could pick out individual blasts. The artillery crew were working full-time, it seemed. That didn't surprise him; he'd seen the Kez Grand Army.
What did surprise him was the crack and spark of sorcery he noticed as he got closer. There were Privileged fighting on the front – on both sides. Most of the Kez Cabal had been wiped out at the Battle for South Pike or at Kresim Kurga by Ka-poel. And where had Adro gotten any Privileged?
It took some questioning, but Taniel was soon able to find the closest officers' mess. It was mostly full of officers from the Third Brigade. He tossed his powder-keg pin on the bar.
"I need a room," he said.
The barkeep eyed him suspiciously. "No rooms here, sir. All full up."
"Kick someone out," Taniel said. "I'm not sleeping in a tent in this mess." Pit. He'd skin a man who tried to do something like that to him. But Taniel wasn't about to leave Ka-poel anywhere in an army this size that didn't have a locking door.
"I'm sorry, sir. I can't do that."
Taniel looked down at his powder-keg pin. "You see that, right?"
The barkeep slid the powder-mage pin back across the bar toward Taniel. "Look, ‘sir.' There aren't any powder mages left in the army. They've all been wiped out. So don't try to pull one over on me."
Taniel rocked back on his barstool. All of them? Gone? "What do you mean ‘wiped out'? How could they be wiped out?"
"They were with Field Marshal Tamas when he was lost behind the enemy lines."
"There's not a single Marked this side of Budwiel?"
"Not just this side of Budwiel. They're dead."
"Have you seen the bodies?" Taniel demanded. "Well, have you? Do you know anyone who has? Has there been recent news from Kez? I thought not. Now get me a drink, and have someone find out about getting me a room."
The barkeep folded his arms across his dirty apron and didn't move.
"Look," Taniel said, "if I'm the last living powder mage north of Budwiel, then I'm a damned celebrity. There are Privilegeds out there who need to be killed. I'll need a drink and eventually some sleep to be able to do that."
"Is this man bothering you, Frederik?"
A woman positioned herself at the bar and looked at Taniel, bemused. Taniel recognized her as the major with the beauty mark on her cheek. The one who'd tried to arrest him earlier that day. Had she followed him?
"Ma'am," Frederik said. "He claims he's a powder mage."
"He is. This is Taniel Two-Shot."
The barkeep ducked a quick bow. "Sorry, sir. What will you have?"
"Gin." Taniel cleared his throat. "No apology needed."
"And for the savage?"
Ka-poel was drumming her fingers on the bar, looking bored.
"Her name is Ka-poel, and she'll have water."
She smacked him in the shoulder.
"Wine," Taniel amended. "Something with a light taste."
The major regarded Taniel warily, sizing him up the way she might an enemy on the battlefield. "You let your servants treat you like that?" she asked.
"I'm sorry," Taniel said, trying not to let his irritation show. "I must have missed your name?"
"I'm Major Doravir, of the Third, adjutant to General Ket."
"My ‘servant' is a Bone-eye, Major. A sorcerer more powerful than half the Kez Cabal put together."
Doravir seemed doubtful. "Is she your wife?"
"No."
"Your fiancée?"
Taniel glanced at Ka-poel. Had he given this major that impression? "No."
"Does she have a rank?"
"No."
"Then she doesn't belong in the officers' mess. She can wait for you outside."
"She's my guest, Major."
"With all the crowds, General Ket has declared that only spouses may stay with officers at the mess. Too many men bringing their whores back to sleep with them."
Taniel felt his fingers creeping toward the pistol at his belt, but remembered the advice the colonel had given him earlier in the day. No, he couldn't do that here. He turned to Ka-poel. "Pole, will you marry me?"
Ka-poel gave one serious nod.
Pit. Taniel hoped she saw what he was playing at. He turned back to Doravir. "She's my fiancée." He glanced at the barkeep. "Get me a room."
Doravir snorted out her nose. "You're funny, Two-Shot. You can stay with me in my room. Frederik, give him a key."
"And my fiancée here?"
"She can stay in the closet." Doravir gave Ka-poel a mocking smile. That did not bode well.
Taniel took the glass of gin from the bar and drained it in one swallow. It almost knocked him clean off his feet. How long had it been since he'd drunk hard liquor? He blinked a few times, hoping his eyes weren't visibly watering. "I'll stay somewhere else, thank you."
"Good luck." Doravir snorted. "There's not an empty room within five miles of the front, and with Tamas gone, no one will put up with a mere captain shoving them out. You'll have to push a private from his tent."
Taniel took some pleasure in the annoyance in Doravir's voice. "I think I'll do that, then. Come on, Ka-poel."
Adamat was slapped awake with rough hands. He jerked forward, reaching for a cane that wasn't there, and groggily took stock of his surroundings.
He was in the back of a carriage with one other man – the same pickpocket who'd pistol-whipped him before taking him to the Proprietor's. The carriage wasn't moving. Outside, he could hear the general bustle of an evening crowd.
"Toak, was it?" Adamat asked.
The man nodded. He held a pistol in his right hand, hammer back, pointed at Adamat. "Get out."
"Where am I?"
"Quarter mile north of Elections Square," Toak said. "Get out."
Adamat climbed from the carriage and held his hand up to shade his eyes from the afternoon sun. As soon as he was off the running board, the carriage took off, disappearing down the street. Adamat rubbed his eyes and tried to get his mind working. He felt nauseous. What had they given him? Ah, yes. Ether. He'd be in a fog for hours yet.
He spent until just before dark at a nearby café, nursing a soda water to settle his stomach.
Why had the Proprietor offered him employment and then simply dumped him back on the street? A very strange way to act. The Proprietor was known for secrecy and efficiency. For keeping his promises and destroying his competition. He was not known for behaving strangely.
It had to be something Adamat had said.
Adamat blamed the ether when it took him well over an hour to realize the obvious.
The Proprietor had intended on paying him to go after Lord Vetas. But why pay a man to do something he already plans to do? Adamat shook his head. Stupid. On both his part and the Proprietor's. If Tamas was truly dead, Adamat would lose the few soldiers Tamas had granted him. Adamat couldn't take Lord Vetas alone.
Adamat knew where Lord Vetas was holing up. The house with the woman in the red dress. The house where he had seen the Eldaminse boy.
Now that he knew that, a frontal assault would be necessary. The same as they had done to rescue Adamat's family. Smash open the doors, take them by surprise. A man like Lord Vetas would have guards. What had the Proprietor said? At least sixty men and a Privileged.