“You have to be if we’re to succeed.”

Spud-Bar’s emotions finally threaten to froth over. “I delivered your damn message!”

“Quietly, please,” Evie calmly reminds the armorist.

“I delivered it,” Spud-Bar reiterates, wrangling their self under control. “You said it would be a simple thing. It didn’t feel simple.”

“You returned unharmed and without any further incident, didn’t you?”

Spud-Bar sighs. “Yes.”

“And I thank you. I trusted you because you’re worthy of trust, and strong enough to act in its service. I need those qualities now more than ever.”

“Why?”

“We can’t defeat the Legion and the Skrain on the open field.”

“You’ll turn no more Savages to your cause, I tell you. Executing the Elders would’ve been warning enough. Laython is offering gold now, and battles taken away from the required hundred for every rogue Savage ear or nose claimed by a Legionnaire before the Skrain take the field tomorrow. He’s convinced the whole camp that they can win their freedom and walk away from the Legion rich at the end of a single battle.”

“There have to be Savages here who are smarter than that,” Evie insists. “You are. I am. I know there are others.”

“And if there are? What would you have me do, Evie? Or whatever your true name is? Are you and your new friends going to raze the whole garrison? Do you even have any siege weapons between you?”

“No,” Evie admits. “We can’t attack the garrison. We have to face the Skrain on the open field tomorrow.”

“The whisper from the Skrain scouts is you’ve less than a thousand fighters. Is that true?”

Evie hesitates, then slowly nods. “Close enough to only be slightly untrue.”

Spud-Bar’s every muscle seems to tense at once. It’s clear the armorist wants to scream their frustration and anger in Evie’s face, but the dire circumstance surrounding Evie’s presence precludes Spud-Bar drawing any attention to them.

“You’re mad,” the armorist hisses at her. “If you were ever in possession of your senses, they’ve abandoned you altogether!”

Evie’s expression hardens. “Lariat, Mother Manai, and the others saw fit to join me. They believed in my plans, and they believe in what we’re doing.”

“They’re mad, too!” Spud-Bar maintains. “And their madness got the rest of their ilk killed!”

“Laython and the Skrain did that, not us!”

Spud-Bar turns away from her, frantically moving their gaze around the wagon, searching for any eyes aimed at them and finding none.

“I’m not asking you to lead an uprising here, Spud-Bar. I’m not asking you to risk instigating a slaughter within these walls.”

“Then what are you asking of me? What now?”