Part 2 (1/2)
Bo ran a hand through his ruddy hair and pulled on a pair of white gloves covered in archaic runes. ”Why?”
”Not sure,” Adamat said. ”I'll go check.” He hauled himself out of the carriage, glad to be out of close confines with the Privileged. Bo's elemental sorcery could kill Adamat, Oldrich, and the entire platoon of Adran soldiers that made up their escort in mere seconds. Adamat had watched Bo snap the neck of Manhouch's executioner with a flick of his wrist. For all of his charm, Bo was a cold-blooded killer. Adamat glanced back into the carriage once and then trudged up a slight incline toward where Sergeant Oldrich and several of his men conferred beside the road.
”Inspector,” Oldrich said with a nod. ”Where is the Privileged?”
”Better start calling him 'counselor,' ” Adamat said.
Oldrich snorted. ”All right. Where's the lawyer? We've run into something unexpected.”
”Oh?”
”There's an army just over that rise,” Oldrich said.
Adamat felt his heart leap into his throat. An army? Had the Kez finally broken through? Were they marching on Adopest?
”An Adran army,” Oldrich added.
Adamat's relief was short-lived. ”What are they doing here?” he asked. ”They're supposed to be in Surkov's Alley still. Have they been pushed back this far?”
”What's going on?” Bo arrived, stretching his arms behind his back. Adamat was reminded again just how young Bo was-not far into his twenties, at a guess. Certainly not yet thirty. Despite his youth, the Privileged had worry lines on his brow and an old man's eyes.
Adamat looked pointedly at Bo's gloves. ”You're supposed to be a lawyer,” Adamat said.
”I don't like going without my gloves,” Bo said, cracking his knuckles. ”Besides, no one will see. The army is still a ways off.”
”That's not quite true,” Oldrich said, jerking his head toward the rise in the road.
Nila had caught up to them. ”With me,” Bo said to her. They headed up to look at the army over the rise.
Oldrich watched them go. ”I don't trust them,” he said when they were out of earshot.
”We have to,” Adamat said.
”Why? Field Marshal Tamas has always got on without Privileged to hold his hand.”
”Tamas is a powder mage,” Adamat said. ”Neither you nor I have that benefit. And Bo is our backup. If this doesn't work-if General Ket won't come along quietly to face the law in Adopest-then we'll need Bo to get us out of whatever mess we make.”
Oldrich rubbed his temples with both hands. ”Pit. I can't believe I let you talk me into this.”
”You want justice, don't you? You want us to win this war?”
”Yes.”
”Then we need to arrest General Ket.”
Bo and Nila returned. Nila frowned to herself, while Bo seemed thoughtful.
”What do you think is going on over there?” Bo asked Oldrich. ”That camp should be dozens of miles to our south.”
”Could be anything,” Oldrich said. ”Could be the wounded from the front. Could be reinforcements. Could be that our boys were routed and they're retreating.”
Bo scratched his chin. He had removed his Privileged gloves. ”It's afternoon. If our boys were routed, then they'd be marching toward Adopest right now. I don't know what it is, but something is wrong. There's no more than six brigades in that camp. Too many for reinforcements, too few to be the whole army.”
”We should find out what's going on,” Adamat said.
”How?” Bo demanded. ”We will only know what's happening by riding into that camp. Which we have to do, by the way. If I want to save Taniel-pit, if he's even still alive-and if you want my help saving your son, then we're heading down there.”
Bo strode off toward the waiting carriage.
Nila remained, looking between Oldrich and Adamat.
”If this thing goes bad,” Oldrich said to Nila, ”will he back us up?”
Nila turned to watch Bo. ”I think so.”
”You 'think'?”
Nila shrugged. ”He might also burn his way through a few companies of soldiers and leave us in the wreckage.”
Oldrich asked, ”What did you say you do?”
”I'm Bo's-the counselor's-secretary,” Nila said.
”And before that?”
”I was a laundress.”
”Ah.”
They returned to the carriage and were soon moving again, heading over the hill, where the sight took Adamat's breath away. The Adran camp spread out across the plain in a sea of white tents. It seemed to move and wriggle, like an anthill viewed from above, thousands of soldiers and camp followers going about their day.
The carriage came to a stop once more a mile later as they reached the camp's pickets. Adamat heard one of the guards call out to Oldrich.
”Reinforcements?” a woman's voice asked.
”Eh? No, escorting a lawyer down here on the orders of the interim council.”
”A lawyer? What for?”
”No idea. I'm supposed to bring the lawyer down here and convene a meeting of the General Staff.”
Bo had his head near the window, listening intently to the conversation. He had pulled his Privileged gloves back on, though he held them below the window, and his fingers twitched ever so slightly.
”Well,” the guard said, her voice bored, ”that's going to be harder than you think.”
Oldrich groaned. ”What's happened this time?”
”Uh, well...” The guard cleared her throat, and what she said next was too low for Adamat to hear. Across from him, Nila had a look of concentration on her face.
Oldrich whistled in return. ”Thanks for the warning.” A moment later and the carriage rumbled on. Adamat cursed under his breath.