Klamath sighed. “I will send them along the road to the Repository. They will return, or they will not, as they choose. For the present, they can rest in better comfort. With us or without us, they will defend the Repository.”

He missed Crawl and Brighten. He had learned to trust them, as he had Trench and—more surprisingly—Solace. But he felt sure that King Bifalt’s need for fire and lightning was extreme.

Sub-Commander Hellick spent a moment longer scanning the hills. Then he gave a growl of approval. “Good, sir. Excellent. There we can hold off the infantry—and perhaps the cavalry as well—while our bullets last. Then we can withdraw under cover.”

Klamath sighed. Hellick’s view of the situation was too simple.

“Defend the Repository,” muttered the First Captain. His tone was thick with scorn.

Klamath turned his attention to Hegels. “Say it, First Captain. Tell us what is in your mind.”

Hegels glanced back up at the hillsides, then faced Klamath again. “Hellick is right,” he sneered. “There we can oppose the Great God’s infantry, and perhaps his cavalry. Until”—he snapped the word—“shining globes rain down on us. Then we will perish.”

Passions that the First Captain had kept to himself broke through his restraint. “If that”—he pointed at the foothills—“is the Repository’s idea of defense, it is nothing. Those Magisters intend to sacrifice us.

“What have they ever done to earn our blood? I say it is enough. We have crossed the whole of Belleger and the desert, exhausting ourselves, fighting and dying, for the Repository’s sake—and now they order us to give more? We have done enough.”

In his heart, Klamath agreed. The war had been like this from the start. Its cost was too high, and its necessity was an abstraction. The lives of his men could not be measured in books.

But the war would not end here. It would take everyone eventually.

He could have stopped Hegels then. He did not. The man had contained himself too long. If he did not release what he felt, it might break him.

Klamath rubbed his face, calmed himself. Carefully, he asked, “What do you suggest, First Captain?”

Without hesitation, Hegels declared, “We are wasted here. If we must give our lives, we should do so in a better cause.”

Hellick stared at his fellow Amikan. Rowt stood in shock. General Klamath ignored them.

“Then name it, sir.”

Hegels had his answer ready. “Amika. It has not been threatened yet. It will be.” He gathered force as he spoke. “It is poorly defended. It needs us. We should ride to the caravan bridge and take the Queen’s road south. Instead of dying for what we cannot save, we should fight for what remains. The future of Queen Estie’s realm.

“She will not thank us for abandoning her people.”