Enough. Why venture into the meaning of it all? Elmo had struck paydirt. Raven and I went sifting for nuggets.

Goblin and One-Eye drifted in. Neither could read the northern script. They started to amuse themselves by sending sourceless shadows chasing one another around the walls. Raven gave them a nasty look. Their ceaseless clowning and bickering can be tiresome when you have something on your mind.

They looked at him, dropped the game, sat down quietly, almost like children admonished. Raven has that knack, that energy, that impact of personality, to make men, more dangerous than he, shudder in his cold dark wind.

The Captain arrived, accompanied by Elmo and Silent. Through the doorway I glimpsed several men hanging around. Funny the way they smell things shaping up.

What have you got, Croaker? the Captain asked.

I figured he had milked Elmo dry, so I got straight to the kicker. These orders. I tapped one of my stacks.

All these reports. I tapped another. Theyre all signed by Whisper. Were kicking up the veggies in Whispers private garden. My voice was up in the high squeak range.

For a while nobody said anything. Goblin made a few squeaky noises when Candy and the other sergeants rushed in. Finally, the Captain asked Raven, That right?

Raven nodded. Judging by the documents, shes been in and out since early spring.

The Captain folded his hands, began pacing. He looked like a tired old monk on his way to evening prayer.

Whisper is the best known of the Rebel generals. Her stubborn genius has held the eastern front together despite the best efforts of the Ten. She is also the most dangerous of the Circle of Eighteen. She is known for the thoroughness with which she plans campaigns. In a war which, too often, resembles armed chaos on both sides, her forces stand out for their tight organization, discipline, and clarity of purpose.

The Captain mused, Shes supposed to be commanding the Rebel army at Rust. Right? The struggle for Rust was three years old. Rumor had hundreds of square miles laid waste. During the winter past both sides had been reduced to eating their own dead to survive.

I nodded. The question was rhetorical. He was thinking out loud.

And Rust has been a killing ground for years. Whisper wont break. The Lady wont back off. But if Whisper is coming here, then the Circle has decided to let Rust fall.

I added, It means theyre shifting from an eastern to a northern strategy. The north remains the Ladys weak flank. The west is prostrate. The Ladys allies rule the sea to the south. The north has been ignored since the Empires frontiers reached the great forests above Forsberg, It is in the north that the Rebel has managed his most spectacular successes.