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Daine winced. “I see your point.”
“You’ve made your friends helpless, just like bandits made you helpless when they killed your family. Of course the animals fight you.” Onua sighed. “We have no choice in being hunted—not animals, not humans. That’s how the world is. The choice we do have is to take it—or fight. Why don’t you show them how not to get killed, and let them decide?” She studied her nails and added, “I’ll be honest with you. We need all the help we can get.”
Daine went to the window, fingering her badger’s claw. I know what she means, she realized. They’ll start with the catapults in the morning and smash our walls. Then they’ll come take Thayet and the children if they’re alive. And the rest—Thom, the twins, Gimpy and Cloud and Mangle . . .
There’s got to be something my friends can do to help.
Suddenly she remembered a talk she’d heard Buri give the trainees. “If your numbers are small—a Rider Group, say—it’s idiotic to attack face-on when the enemy has superior numbers. But, enemies are only men, and men scare easy. Use booby traps: snares, pits covered with branches, pebbles strewn across the road to cripple them and their mounts. Foul their water sources. Sneak into camp and ruin their food, if you can. Keep up a racket all night so nobody gets any rest, and you’ve got the sentries shooting at ghosts. Do they buy or steal food from the locals? Make sure the food they get their mitts on is moldy, stale, or wet.
“An enemy that’s tired, ill fed, and scared is an enemy who’s half beat.”
We could do that, Daine thought now. If the soldiers here on land are crippled, Thayet and everybody else might be able to fight their way through and escape before the ships get their warriors to the castle.
Closing her eyes, she opened her mind to the extent of her range. The countless animals in the woods around Pirate’s Swoop began to clamor. They wanted her to release them. They wanted to tear, and gnaw, and leap—
Quiet! she yelled.
They obeyed.
She reached first for minks, weasels, and martens—clever, small animals with sharp claws and teeth. They were quick to grasp the images of leather wrappings, rope, and bowstrings. They must not be seen, she said over and over, with all her will behind it; they mustn’t be caught. She pressed the image of bows, knives, and swords into their minds, until they knew to run or hide if they saw a human with a weapon in his hand.
Bears, wild boars, and woodchucks went after supplies, once she’d made them promise to run at any signs of human attack. She left them pulling apart sacks and boxes of grain, cheese, salted meat, and vegetables. Shrews and voles offered to take care of the tea and coffee supplies. If there was an edible or drinkable scrap in the camp by morning, she would be surprised.
Foxes she asked to free the picketed horses and mules. Once she had explained things, the strangers’ mounts were happy to leave their masters and run for the woods. Some of the enemy’s mules, once they were freed, came back to give water barrels a kick or a roll downhill. Owls and bats volunteered to keep the guards busy. Sentry after sentry had the unpleasant experience of an owl dropping on him silently from above, or of a bat flying directly into his face. Raccoons walked away with arrows and knives. Wolves howled on the fringes of the camp, to be answered by wildcats of all sizes.
Gods go with all of you, she thought sadly, and broke off the contact.
The room was empty. Surprisingly, it hadn’t taken long to muster her army at all: the candle that marked the time had burned down one hour’s mark and half of another. I guess it’s easier to get them to do what they want than it is keeping them from doing it, she thought.
Please Goddess, don’t let my friends be hurt.
She put on the clean clothes that lay on the cot, and let herself out.
Numair was right down the hall, in a room filled with books. The skin around his face was slack and gray; his nose thrust out like the prow of a sinking ship. His crisp mane was matted with sweat, his face drenched with it. Checking the water jug on the table beside him, she saw it was empty. She went back and brought her own water to him. This time, when she came in, his eyes were open. They were dull and tired.
“Thanks,” he whispered as she poured water for him. His hands shook when she gave him the tankard.
“Wait.” She supported his head and shoulders, steadying his grip on the tankard with her free hand. “You’re still keeping those dampeners off?”
He nodded as he drank, and gasped when he was done.
It hurt to talk casually when he looked half-dead. You won’t help him if you turn into a baby, she told herself sternly. “Can I get you some food?”
“I’ll just throw up.” He smiled. “How do you like your first siege?”
“That’s very funny,” she told him sourly. I’m so glad you’ve hung on to your sense of humor. Only think how scared I’d be if you hadn’t.”
He closed his eyes and smiled. “That’s my magelet.”
“Can’t you let up awhile?”
He shook his head. “The healers. They’re still going. Daine—this afternoon. You said the dragon can think? It’s educated?”
“She. She’s educated. Even the griffins are like my animals, with all that’s in their heads jumbled together higgledy-piggledy. Not her. She’s read things in scrolls—I saw them in her mind.”
“Amazing,” he whispered. “I’d heard stories—just never believed them.”
“What stories?”
“They’re mages. Well, we saw that. She came right up on us. Even you didn’t hear her until she was close. And she vanished. Do you hear her now?”
Daine listened, hard. “No, sir. But like you said—I didn’t hear her until the last.” She pulled off his boots and put a cushion under his feet. More cushions went behind his head. She noticed that he still clung to the toy Thom had put in his hand. “There’s got to be something else I can try. I let the land animals go. They’ll do some damage. There’s not enough creatures on the ships to work with, though. It’s mostly rats out there. I can’t work with rats. I’ve tried, but they don’t even want to listen to me.”
“Whales? Ask them to swim up under the barges—capsize them. The catapults are the biggest danger. Then the red robes on the galleys.”
She thought it over. “If whales’re out there, I can’t hear ’em. They’re not in range.” She chewed on a thumbnail until he knocked her hand away. “I’m fair tired too. The dragon sucked me almost dry.” This time she didn’t even get the thumbnail to her mouth before he grabbed her wrist. “Pity I can’t reach the sea. If there’s a cold spot in
the cellars—”
“Find George. He’ll figure out a way to get you to the water.”
She saw another danger. “What if the mages on the ships catch me?”
“It’s a risk, but you stand a better chance than anyone with the Gift. Only a very few can detect wild magic. It’s a skill mages in Carthak are discouraged from acquiring. Remember, they think it’s old wives’ tales. If someone out there could sense it, he’d have a difficult time convincing the others. If you’re detected, you can escape among the seals and sea lions.” He sighed. “I know it’s dangerous, and I hate to drive you this way, but—we need a miracle. I’m hoping you can come up with one.”
She got up. “Wish me luck.” She hesitated, then kissed his cheek.
He gave her a feeble hug. “Luck, magelet.”
Daine looked down the length of rock at the castle’s rear. George and Evin stood by with ropes and a sling. “You sent folk down this way before?”
“It’s a better ride than it looks,” the baron assured her. “They won’t see you from the water, because you’re goin’ down a rock chimney. When you return, just get in the sling and give the rope three big tugs”— he showed her what he meant—“and three little tugs. I’ll have someone I trust on watch here for you. Got it?”
She nodded and fitted herself into the rope sling between the two men. “Good thing I grew up in the mountains and I’m not afraid of heights,” she said with false cheerfulness, easing herself out over the edge of the wall. “I told you this is a long shot, didn’t I?”
“Several times,” the baron assured her. “Don’t worry, I’m expert in long shots, youngling. Been takin’ them all my life.”
“What will you do for light?” asked Evin.
She looked at him in surprise. “I don’t need any. There’s the moon, after all. And I see well in the dark.”
George nodded. “Try to be topside when the fun starts in the mornin’.”
She smiled up at him. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
