The army was on the move.
I was out on the balcony. I'd got in the habit of going out there and the guards had gotten used to it. They still rushed out but not with the same air of expectation. It irritated them. It hurt but I didn't care anymore. They always waited till I went in, and I guess they went back to their other duties as soon as I was out of sight. Maybe just waiting for me to trigger the alarm, who knew? Who cared?
The sweat was evaporating in a cool breeze, chilling me. I was in hell. I needed a drink and there was none.
It had taken a while before I noticed the army. The guards were entertaining me well enough for a minute or so. Then I looked up to take in the view, and there they were, silent from this distance, slowly drifting away from me, thirty thousand or more men passing before the town. I looked to the right, found the head of the march after a moment. They were heading south, heading off to another battle. Heading for the Kingdom of Wherrel and whoever was coming north to meet them. I wondered what had happened to Orthand. Was he still alive? Was his army still in the field or had it been crushed already? Were his mages in captivity here? Or were they elsewhere? Or still fighting? I shrugged. It didn't matter to me right now and there was no sense speculating. I looked left.
For a second I didn't know what I was seeing, then I did. Another army was coming up behind them, easily as many men again. The north had risen. Who knew how far the unrest spread? There were more tribes to the east, and the kingdom of Rancik to the west. That kingdom had been free of our influence for the last century or so but we were on good terms as these things are measured. We had an ambassador there and they had one in the city. There was trading, peaceful borders. Our roads ran through their country and onward to others in the north west. There were no problems, but I wondered if the Necromancers' ambitions of subversion ran so far that they had Turned the king, or his barons to ferment civil war. Who knew what they were capable of?
Sapphire had killed Alendi spies in our army. He knew of the Necromancers, or had rumors of their doings; I now believed that they had been Necromancer spies, Alendi under the influence of Kukran Epthel or his kind. And how many where there? I'd said nothing exists in a vacuum but still had no clue how many Necromancers there were. I guessed not so many. If you dilute your knowledge amongst too many there is bound to be dissent. They ruled by fear and intimidation. They did not need to be many. I shrugged it off; I doubted Kukran would tell me, even if I had the opportunity to ask. But the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Sometime I would have to cross the mountains and take a look about Battling Plain and track them down to the last man. If I could get out of here alive.
It was too cold to stay on the balcony. I was shivering, though I knew not all of that was due to the cold. I needed a drink like I had never needed anything in my life. I went back inside and paced the room.
I had taken to going outside several times a day and the guards hated me. Which was good.
I paced around the room, giving them enough time to relax, then went back through the ward. The pain was good. I liked it. It took my mind off the rest of it for a moment or two. I watched the guards stroll casually outside, less of them, and look up at me. I grinned. Shrugged. Looked at the view. Watched the army leave. At least we wouldn't have an army on our doorstep any more, leaving maybe only a thousand or two to worry about. Much better. I began to shiver uncontrollably. It would be impossible for me to express how desperately I wanted a drink. I would have killed for one.
I staggered back into the room and climbed in to the bed clumsily, wrapping myself in the eiderdown and shivering, suddenly drenched in sweat though I was freezing cold. I was going to crack, I knew it. Any time now. The next person who offered me a drink could have my soul. Everything had become disjointed. Time had stopped meaning anything to me. I knew that the shivers would stop, the sweat dry, the nausea would pass, I'd feel a little better, but it didn't matter, the moment stretched into an eternity of need.
It would never go away until I had a drink.