And soon."
Balasar felt the sinking of dread in his belly, and strangely also a
kind of peace. Ile wouldn't have thought there was any part of him that
was still held hack, and yet that one small fact-the poets lived and
planned and Would recapture one of the andat now if they could-took away
any choice he might still have had. He looked at the map, his mind
sifting through strategies like a tiles player shuffling chits of bone.
"'T'here are men in the towers," Balasar said.
"Yes, sir," Sinja said. ""They'll have stones and arrows to drop. You
won't be able to use the streets near them, but the range isn't good,
and they won't be able to aim from so far up. Go a street or two over
and keep by the w+alls, and we'll he safe. There won't he much
resistance above ground. 'T'heir hope is to keep you at hay long enough
for the cold to do their work for them."
't'hree forces, Balasar thought. One to clear out the houses and trading
shops on the south, another to push in toward the forges and the
metalworkers, a third to take the palaces. He wouldn't take the steam
wagons-he'd learned that much from Coal-so horsemen would be important
for the approach, though they might he less useful if the fighting moved
inside structures as it likely would. And they'd be near useless once
they were underground. Archers wouldn't have much effect. "There were
few long, clear open spaces in the city. But despite what Sinja said,
Balasar expected there would he some fighting on the surface, so enough
archers were mixed with the foot troops to fire back at anyone harassing
them from the windows and snow doors of the passing buildings.
"Thank you, Sinja-cha," Balasar said. "I know how much doing this must
have cost you."
"It needed doing," Sinja said, and Balasar smiled.
"I won't insist that you watch this happen. You can stay at the camp or
ride North and Join Eustin."
"North?"
"I Ie's taken it to guard. In case someone tries to slip away during the
battle."
"That's a good thought," Sinja said, his tone somewhat rueful. "If it's
all the same, I'd like to ride with Eustin-cha. I know he hasn't always
thought well of me, and if anything does go wrong, I'd like to he where
he can see I wasn't the one doing it."
"A pretty thought," Balasar said, chuckling.
"You're going to win," Sinja said. It was a simple statement, but there
was a weight behind it. A regret that soldiers often had in the face of
loss, and only rarely in victory.
"You thought of changing sides," Balasar said. "While you were there,
with all the people you know. In your old home. It was hard not to stand
by them."
""That's true," Sinja said.
"It wouldn't have changed things. One more sword-even yourswouldn't have
changed the way this battle falls."
"'That's why I came back," Sinja said.
"I'm glad you did," Balasar said. "I've been proud to ride with you."