the near term."
"You could make it hurt," Sinja suggested. "Men don't fight as well
newly gelded."
Nlaati frowned deeply, his fingers moving on their own, as if tracing
numbers in the air.
"Do what you can," Otah said. "If you think a change will make the
binding less likely to work, don't do it. We need an andat-any andat.
The details aren't important."
"Could we pretend?" Liat asked. "Dress someone as an andat, and send
them out with Maati. How would the Galts know it wasn't true?"
"The costume would have to involve not breathing," Cehmai said. Liat
looked crestfallen.
"Kiyan," Otah said. "Can we arm the people we have?"
"We can improvise something," his wife said. "If we put men in the
towers, we can rain stones and arrows on them. It would make it hard for
them to keep to the streets. And if we block the stairways and keep the
platforms locked at the top, it would be hard work to get them out."
"Until the cold kills them," Sinja said. ""There's not enough coal in
the ground to keep those towers warm enough to live in."
"They can survive a few days," Otah said. "We'll see to it."
"We can also block off the entrances to the tunnels," Liat said. "Hide
the ventilation shafts and fill as many of the minor ways down as we can
find with stones. It would be easier, wouldn't it, if there were only
one or two places that we needed to defend?"
"There's another option," Sinja said. "I don't like to mention it, but
... If you surrender, Balasar-cha will kill Otah and Eiah and Danat.
Cehmai and Maati. The Khai Cetani and his family too, if they're here.
He'll burn the hooks. But he'd accept surrender from the utkhaiem after
that. It's a dozen or so people. There's no way to do this that kills
fewer."
Otah felt himself rock hack. A terrible weight seemed to fall on his
shoulders. He wouldn't. Of course he would not. He would let every man
and woman in the city die before he offered up his children to be
slaughtered, but it meant that every one that died in the next few days
would be doubly upon his conscience. Every life that ended here, ended
because he had refused to he a sacrifice. He swallowed to loosen the
knot in his throat and took a pose that dismissed the subject.
"I had to say it," Sinja said, apologizing with his tone.
"You didn't say my name," Kiyan said. Her eyes turned to Sinja's. "Why
didn't you say my name?"
"Well, assuming that you don't all opt for slaughter, there is one other
thing we have in our favor," Sinja said. ""They sent me here to betray
you. Kiyan's safety was my asking price. They expect a report from me
when they arrive. If I give them had information, we may he able to trap
some of them. Thin their forces. It won't win the battle, but it could
help."
Otah raised his hand, and the mercenary stopped. Kiyan was the one who
took a querying pose, and it was to Kiyan that he answered.
"The general. Balasar-cha. He doesn't want a bloody battle. He wants it