“Reporting for duty,” he said.

“Excellent,” Arcolin said. “I’ve just hired a second captain, who’ll be going north with you. He’s gone to fetch his things from his lodgings. He has his own mount, but no spare; you’ll need to visit the horse yards tomorrow and find a mount and spare for yourself. Our limit for officers’ mounts is twelve natas. Right now, I need someone to check with the quartermaster—how close are we to being ready to march? Sergeant Devlin, this is Captain Arneson; introduce him to the quartermaster, answer his questions, and so on.”

“Yes, sir,” Devlin said. He turned to Arneson. “Captain, this way, sir.”

The next day, Arcolin watched his newly hired captains as they carried out task after task he gave them. Arneson, sent to the horse market, came back with three horses—two for himself and a spare for Versin. All three were exactly the kind of sound, useful mounts Arcolin would have chosen for the long ride north. Arneson had had them freshly shod, as well. Versin, sent to market to obtain travel clothes and supplies, returned with a reasonable selection. Burek, chosen to stay with Arcolin in Aarenis, spent the entire day with the sergeants and the troops, supervising drill in a field outside the city. Around noon, one of the troops came to the inn to report that Stammel thought the young captain would do.

“What did you think?” Arcolin asked.

“He’s got a funny accent, but he knows his business, sir. Stammel asked him to set us a tactical problem, and he got us working with one of the Free Pikes cohorts. Says we’ll do another this afternoon.”

“Excellent,” Arcolin said. “Tell him that I’d like him back here for supper with the other captains before full dark.” He spent the afternoon writing letters to Cracolnya, the prince in Vérella, and Kieri Phelan.

He wondered where the Halverics were; he’d been here three days and heard nothing of them. Had Aliam retired? Then he remembered that Halveric came from Lyonya. Of course he had stayed north, to attend his protégé’s coronation. Arcolin let himself imagine, for a few moments, what that might be like. How would elves crown a king? Or would it be just the humans? Nobody had ever explained how that worked, the joint rule of a kingdom, and he could not figure it out. He wished he could be there to see Kieri crowned … but he was better here. The Company—his Company—needed him.

At supper that night, Arcolin ate with his three new captains. Versin and Arneson had met; Arneson had accepted the additional clothes Versin bought for the journey with the air of a man who knew he had been given charity and knew also he must accept it graciously. He’d changed to a clean shirt and trousers for dinner.

Arcolin kept the table talk to business; time enough for them to share personal matters later. “You two head north tomorrow,” he said to Arneson and Versin. “I’ve written you a safe-passage through Tsaia on the trade road. Ordinarily you’d travel with a northbound caravan, but I need you in the north sooner than that. You’ll have to stop in Vérella at least one night; I’m sure the Council will want a report from you on the south. They know I was planning to hire replacement captains here; they’ll probably be watching for you. Don’t get drawn into political discussions; even if you know something about Tsaian nobility, best not to show it.”