Page 19 of The Infernal Battalion

“I don’t think I can just head directly for the core,” Winter said. “I’d never make it.”

“Agreed,” the Eldest said. “Even aside from the Beast, the journey will be extremely difficult. The false winter unleashed by the Black Priests has wreaked havoc.”

“And the tribes from north of the Bataria who came to fight the Vordanai are scattered across the whole region, preying on the peasants and one another.” The Ghost looked up at Winter. “You’re the strategist among us. I will defer to your judgment.”

“I think I need to get back to Vordan,” Winter said. “If I’m going to get to the core of the Beast”—​saying that was easier than saying Jane—“then I’m going to need help. Marcus and Raesinia will understand what’s at stake here. If the Beast is going to use Janus to raise an army, it’ll be a hell of a lot easier if we have one, too.”

“Taking too long is a risk,” the Ghost said. “The Beast’s power grows the longer we wait.”

“A necessary risk, I think,” the Eldest said. “I agree with Winter. But I do not think you can return to Vordan the way you came.”

Winter glared at the map. Janus’ army had followed the most direct route north, along the Pilgrim’s Road to Elysium. Trying to go back that way would lead through the center of the region devastated by the fighting and the weather, as well as being the most obvious possibility for the Beast to guard against. And even if I make it, Janus and his army will be on the Vordanai border, between me and home.

She nodded. “That leaves two options. East”—​she pointed off the edge of the map, beyond the mountains—“or northwest. East means taking the road to Mohkba and then south from there across the Sallonaik.”

“It would take months,” the Ghost said. “All the way to Mohkba, south to the lake, and then down the valley of the Velt. And Mohkba is hardly safer than going directly south.”

“That is where the Church fled,” the Eldest said. “And now that Janus has claimed the emperor’s throne, there may be fighting.”

Winter had been thinking along the same lines. “That leaves northwest. Down the valley of this river”—​she squinted to make out the tiny text—“the Gereia, until it joins the Bataria. Then down the Bataria to Dimiotsk on the coast, and hopefully to Vordan by ship.”

“The chaos may have spread in that direction as well,” the Ghost said. “And there’s no guarantee there will be a ship at Dimiotsk going in the right direction.”

“If not, I’ll try to convince one.” Winter shrugged. “I don’t like it much, but I think it’s my best chance of getting there alive.” She looked up at the Ghost. “Would you be able to make it over the border and head directly to Vordan?”

The steel mask tilted quizzically. “Probably. I can travel as sand on the wind. Not fast, but nearly invisible.”

“I want you to go south and find Raesinia and Marcus, then. They need to be warned what they’re up against. You helped them once before, so they should be willing to listen.”

“I should accompany you. You’re our best chance—”

“I’m not going to have a chance if Vordan falls before I get there,” Winter said. She gritted her teeth. “You called me the strategist here. One thing I know is that you always need a fallback plan. If I... don’t make it, then the Thousand Names are the only chance left. Someone else will need to read Infernivore and try to stop the Beast.”

“That would take time. And lives. Most who try to read a powerful naath will die in the attempt.”

“It’s better than nothing, which is what we’ll have if the Beast gets its hands on the Names,” Winter said. “Please.”

Slowly, the Ghost nodded, slit ​eyes dark and fathomless. “But you cannot plan to travel alone.”

“I suggest you speak to Alex,” the Eldest said. “I have no doubt she would wish to accompany you.”

“No,” Winter said. “I can’t ask her to do that. She barely made it out of Elysium alive.” And she’d had to kill her lover Maxwell after he’d been taken by the Beast. “She deserves to rest.”

“I think,” the Eldest said with the hint of a smile, “that you may find it difficult to stop her.”

*

“Obviously,” Alex said. “You need me.”

Winter hadn’t spoken to her since they’d parted at Elysium. She’d seen her a few times, standing at the edge of the field where Winter was working, just watching. It was a reunion Winter had known would come eventually, but she’d been hoping for a little more time to settle her mind.

“I don’t—​I’m not going to pretend that I wouldn’t be glad to have you along,” Winter said. “But the chance of anyone coming back from this is small. You’ve already done so much, I can’t ask you—”

“You don’t have to ask,” Alex said. She got up from her chair and started rooting around under her bed. “I’m volunteering.”

Winter hadn’t been to Alex’s room before. It was inside the Mountain itself, not in the cluster of huts in the valley. A pair of arrow slits let in some light, but a lamp was burning even in daylight. There wasn’t much to mark the room as lived-in, other than dirty laundry scattered across the floor and a few books stacked here and there.

Alex herself was seventeen, slim and pretty, with close-​cut dark hair and an expression that always seemed on the verge of mockery. Much of her past was still unknown to Winter—​she’d called herself the greatest thief in the world, and had apparently trained for that profession under a mentor before she’d been captured by the Priests of the Black. She and Abraham had broken out of their custody and fled to the Mountain, where they’d stayed until Alex had heard about Janus’ war against Elysium and come south to offer her services.