Garris bowed and left just as Sier Halveric arrived, more flustered than Kieri had ever seen him.

“Sir King!”

“Sit down,” Kieri said. “Have some breakfast—”

“There’s no time,” Halveric said. “We must do something.”

“We must prepare for a long and difficult day,” Kieri said. “Eat, if you haven’t. I’m sending couriers to Aliam and to steadings between here and the river.”

“How long have you been awake?” Halveric asked, reaching for the bread.

“A turn of the glass, now. The taig woke me. When Aliam arrives, he will take command of all our forces, second only to me. I’d like you to see to provisioning, if you would.”

“Of course, Sir King … you are so calm; are you not worried?”

“Worried? Of course. Panicked, no. This is not my first war.”

He felt the northern edge of the taig flinch, as if from a blow; glancing at Orlith, he saw that the elf had felt it as clearly.

“Dry leaves and a wind from the north,” the elf said. He did not need to say more. Kieri could almost feel his own skin crisping in a blaze, as dry leaves ignited and blew through the air, lighting the dry wood of fallen limbs … but deeper in the forest, the burning leaves fell on snowdrifts and went out. “They picked an ill time to use fire,” the elf said. “Autumn before snow would be better …”

“That may have been their original plan,” Kieri said, “which we delayed, by intervening in the matter of their king. Let us ask the gods for more snow—or freezing rain.”

By dawn—a bitter, clear dawn, with north wind thrashing the trees—couriers were well on their way and Council members resident in Chaya were busy carrying out the tasks he had given them. Still he had heard nothing from the Lady, and Orlith, busy with the tasks Kieri had given him, merely shook his head when asked if she was aware of the taig.

“Will you take the field?” Sier Belvarin asked.

“Not now,” Kieri said. “Captain Talgan is a competent field commander for the Halveric troops—I’ve seen him in action—and I must trust my ranger and Royal Archer commanders are the same, though they lack Talgan’s experience. We should have couriers arriving this evening with reports.”

The rest of the day, Kieri worked through the plans he’d made, nudging his Council into faster action by anticipating their questions and confusion. He spent an hour at midday, walking through the streets of Chaya, where rumors were already causing some disturbances, encouraging people to come to their local council if they wanted to know more. “I’m going now to talk to them,” he said. “There’s nothing you can’t hear.”

Men and women crowded into the meeting hall; Kieri told them what he knew, what he didn’t know, and when he would know more.

“So far, the damage has not spread. It might—I do not know what this special fire is, that the Pargunese king told me about.”