Tavi rode at the head of the column the rest of the way to the engagement. Moving down the causeway, it took them a little more than an hour to make the trip, and his mouth was dry the whole time, no matter how many times he drank from his water flask. Scouts and outriders reported infrequent contact with the enemy. They wouldn’t have been able to see much—the host was still riding veiled beneath Master Marok’s misty cloud. Of course, the reverse also held true. It was difficult for the host to see out. They had to rely heavily upon their scouts to be their eyes and ears.

They turned off the causeway to cover the last three or four miles to Aricholt upon a nonfurycrafted road. In the darkness, the ride was an eerie one. Vord cries drifted up and down the valley. Garrison was only another half an hour or so away upon the causeway, but that was plenty of distance to muffle all but the most piercing cries of the vord, who must have been laying siege to the place. The distant crackles and booms of firecraftings came through clearly, though. From the sound of it, there were still plenty of Citizens standing up to the vord—either that, or the idea he’d shared with his uncle by letter, about the mules and the fire-spheres, had actually paid off. If that was true, he’d be a little startled, he’d admit. He never thought that one would work out.

A scout from the Free Aleran appeared out of the mist ahead of them, riding his horse back at an easy lope. He pulled up next to the command group and saluted Tavi.

“Report.”

“Sir, the steadholt is up ahead. It’s covered in the croach and...” He shook his head. “The reserves you talked about are there.”

“Asleep?”

“Maybe,” the man said. “They weren’t moving.”

Tavi looked over his shoulder at Fidelias, and said, “Signal the halt. Quietly.”

Fidelias nodded. Signals were passed by hand gesture and lowered voice back down the column.

“I want to see this for myself,” Tavi said. “Everyone else, remain here.”

“I am going,” Kitai said.

Tavi eyed her. He had no desire whatsoever to expose her—expose them—to danger, but he gave in to the inevitable on the lesser risk. “Fine. But we’re only going up to look, and we’re doing it under sound, sight, and earth veils.”

Kitai shrugged her shoulders. “As you would, Aleran.”

They rode out together, and Tavi pulled up a windcrafted veil around them as they did. Without being told, Kitai managed the crafting that would hide the sounds of their passing and another that would make the earth more pliable beneath the hooves of their mounts, greatly reducing the amount of vibration they sent through the earth as they walked, in an effort to avoid detection by enemy earthcrafters who might be standing sentry duty.