“I know something of your history, Maestra.” Marshal Aualos broke in as if making a flanking movement to turn the tide of a skirmish. He had the breadth of a man gone stout with age but still packed with muscle, well prepared for soldiering. “Your mother was one of the best soldiers I ever served with. She was tall, like you, but heftier, very strong. Absolutely up to the mark in every way. But of course the Amazons always had to be better than the men just to prove they were fit for the task. Most folk in Europa say women ought not be engaged in war.”

“If a war is being fought, surely women are engaged whether they wish to be or not. The only difference is whether they can defend themselves.”

He smiled. “Spoken like your mother.”

His words pleased me. “Thank you. As it happens, I read the words in my father’s journals. The ones he wrote when he was collecting intelligence for his family in the service of the general’s first war.” I pressed my own boot atop Camjiata’s rather harder than I needed to. He did not flinch.

“We may hope the daughter will prove as valuable as the father.” Camjiata slid a glance at me that cut like a surgeon’s scalpel. “As it happens, I left the journals at the Hassi Barahal house, in Gadir, with Daniel’s next of kin. Yet some Hassi Barahals travel with the army, among my clerks and intelligencers. I’m sure my chief of intelligence will have some idea of how to make use of you.”

Frowning, I stared at my plate. The moment of choice was upon me. Did I admire Camjiata’s legal code more than I distrusted him? Did I stand with the radicals? Yes, I did.

I captured his gaze. “The Coalition army is camped outside Lutetia, under the command of Lord Marius of the Tarrant clan. A Roman army is marching north via Senones along the Liyonum Road, three legions in all plus a fourth already with the Coalition. Hard to see how you can defeat such an allied force.”