Now she brushed shoulders with the company officers. Sparker sensed her discomfort and took her aside for a briefing. ‘There’s no need for formalities. Treat senior officers with respect. But don’t be backwards in approaching them if you need advice.’

‘Thank you, sir.’

Each morning there were company officer meetings. Tactics were discussed. The state of each platoon, the regiment, the entire war. Minka soaked it all up. She was cautious of speaking at first, but it seemed that the other officers not only accepted her, but were keen to hear her opinion. While Tor Kharybdis had been a success, it hadn’t won the war. And there still remained the question of how to break Traitor Rock.

‘I don’t think it’s going the way Bendikt wanted. We’ve bled them, but not enough. Either that, or they’re more stubborn than he was expecting.’

‘We could attack Margrat,’ Lieutenant Petr suggested.

It made no sense to any of them. No. The attack had to come at Tor Tartarus.

‘But any attack there faces terrible bombardment from above. It would be very costly indeed.’

Colonel Sparker went round each person, asking how they would take Tor Tartarus.

When it was Minka’s turn she tried to appear calm and unhurried. ‘We could launch another amphibious assault at Ophio?’

‘Unlikely to succeed a second time,’ Sparker said.

Minka stared at the fortress. ‘So it’s Tor Tartarus.’ She remembered Markgraaf Hive. ‘Is there a way of going in with Termites?’

Sparker shook his head. ‘No. The island itself is volcanic but the archo-geologists state that the shoreward side is porous rock. Too soft for Termites. They’re likely to get swamped. Or drowned.’

Good, Minka thought. She had no love of Termites. ‘How long until Sanguinalia?’

‘Twenty days.’

‘So we need a knock-out blow. We can’t just bleed them to death.’

‘Yes. But how?’

No one had any breakthrough ideas, so the meeting dissolved without any resolution.

That evening Minka went back to the guard tower on the southern face of the Cadian camp. She scrambled up the ladder and pulled herself through the hatch at the top. Karni was on duty with Belus and Asko.

‘Look who’s come to say hello,’ Belus called out. He and Asko had clearly been playing cards. Both hands lay face down on the floor.

‘Maybe save the cards for later,’ she said. Minka was here to look at Crannog Mons. She had brought her field-auspex.

Across the water the steps of Tor Tartarus were visible. The massive fortress had been reduced to a ragged rockface of chewed rockcrete and exposed tunnel arches beneath. It looked more like a cliff of caves than a fortress. At the very top were the upper batteries, unloading a weight of fire into the Imperial trenches. She could see at least twenty Hydra platforms. Any aerial assault would be doomed. Valkyries were slow, for fliers, and there was no cover for them on the long sea crossing. They could try a Naval bombardment, of course, but mists would make an aerial landing fraught.