Red Tower News

"Pashtuk is going to give you khartang. Between clearing the garden and handling the Satomen, you've done more for them than their own hunters. There'll be a ceremony after the rest arrive from Bitter Spring, so everyone will see you recognized as an honored defender of the garden. Please don't make me lecture you on the importance of showing up at the ceremony and doing a good job."

"I get it, Anisca. They can't treat us like any old outsiders after a public ceremony. You've done well. I'll do my part, too."

"Oh," she looked surprised. Disappointed, even. "I always had to harry Estevan into compliance. I used to threaten him with vegetables when he was little."

"If you like, I can show more resistance. But you'll have a hard time finding anything to threaten me with. I like vegetables."

"Oh, I didn't threaten to make him eat them. I threw them at him. He hated that more than anything." Her expression was one of her mischievous ones, pulled from her toolbox and deployed to good effect. She hadn't disliked her brother, but if she were tasked with making the wayward prince behave, she would get some enjoyment from it.

Taylor laughed at a vision of young Francisca hunting down her younger brother with an armload of carrots and potatoes. Maybe Vanni had it rougher than Taylor realized, having Francisca for a sister.

"But that's not all. Saluja will do the same when their garden is cleared — Saluja's full circle will have to agree, but according to the hands I've talked to it won't be a problem. That's khartang from two gardens. When Darkmaw is dead, more will follow. And that puts you in line for Pasha when Kashmar attacks, which everyone says they will."

"They will," Taylor assured her. "Let's get the disciples in here. Alice, would you?"

When she opened the door, a stream of disciples and Lector James entered, filling the small room. Anisca got the admin link working in conference mode and mounted it on a sounding board so they could talk to Red Tower.

Taylor addressed the local disciples first: Mahzad, Khali, Darius, Hypha, who were all Nexus-trained, and a converted healer from Lavradio named Iris, who had come into exile with them. "When the Calique are at their weakest, Kashmar usually attacks. This time, they'll be egged on by Enclave who wants to use them to get rid of us. So, let's start preparing the battlefield now. Darius, take your cadre north with the caravan tomorrow. Offer healing to Bitter Spring, but be sure to receive compensation. They'll only let Iris touch them, but you might get some mending work. When the caravan comes back south, I want you to go north to Satoma. Investigate and report. Depending on what you find, I'll probably have you seal the wells so Kashmar can't use them. On the return trip, there are some areas I want you to survey.

"Mahzad, how are the challenges coming?"

"Fine." He waved away any concerns. "We've all declined to rise to their insults, on the grounds the contests would be unfair, and let them fight Sparrow in our place. He's undefeated of course, and the hunters are all impressed." As the smallest person among all the disciples and their bulwarks, Sparrow was seen as the easiest person to challenge. He was one of the more skilled bulwarks and with enhancements added, he was practically invulnerable to normal men.

"Lector James," Taylor turned to the shirtless, tattooed man lounging against the wall, "I'd like you to introduce our Calique friends to the Nexus version of Capture The Flag. Thrash them thoroughly, and then mix the teams on the next night. Let them see the difference between fighting against disciples versus fighting with them."

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"I'll be sure to whet their appetites for strength, Eldest Brother."

"Let's hear from Red Tower."

"Mataba here. We sent Brother Montague to Sand Castle with a dozen fragments. He's a good all-rounder, and his team is tight. They'll reach the city late tonight, so you have that to look forward to.

"The Gallian force is on their last legs. We tried to parlay with them, but Commander Urban was awful. No surprise there. We removed him yesterday, and the crusaders look ready to give up today. How do you want to handle them?"

"Wait a day, then give them water and point the way home. Make it easy for them to go back to Gallia. If they're completely determined, we can let the desert have them and finish off whatever's left once they're within sight of the tower. If it gets that far we can keep a few alive to tell about it. What else?"

Sister Leila's voice came cheerily from the sounding board. "The Nexus services are popular here in Hyskos. I can make as many sounding boards as people want, but keeping them running is a challenge. We don't have enough of the cheap spirit beads for everyone. Even if we did, there aren't enough people to charge them."

There was a round of agreement that the services could be expanded if the power supply problem could be solved. Nexus had too few disciples to be everywhere, which meant turning to Enclave healers with good spirit control and bad feelings for Enclave. It was a problem without any quick solutions. Nexus could deploy more disciples and recruit more turncoat healers, but it was going to take time.

"We've received the new students from Hyskos," said Rector Mika, "all solid talents, and they know how to read, which is a nice surprise. With the Gallian healers added in, we're nearing twice the number of disciples Enclave has."

"You can subtract Katerina from Enclave's numbers," reported Ma'Tocha, "we recovered the final fragment last night." It was new information for most of those present, and a brief cheer went up. No more bonfires of the innocent. "We learned Katerina was behind the whole operation. We have two more talents for Nexus, plus Harrence if he decides to join. I can meet Darius in Satoma to hand over people and goods if he'll be there for a couple of days."

"I need you here, Sister. I want Calique trained to maneuver and fight in coordinated groups, and you're the only disciple who has commanded anything like an army. We have to start sweating them now. Thalia's cadre will take your place in Dace."

"As you command, Eldest Brother."

"What else from Red Tower?"

"We're set for food and water," continued the Rector, "but everything else is running thin. We're low on mobeen, have very little cloth for desert wear, and no more paper at all. Some of the students can make paper, but it's not the best use of their time. And you can forget running forges for making tirun scale. We need a train of supplies. Three would be better."

"Mobeen won't be a problem when Ma'Tocha's caravan arrives. After this meeting give Anisca a prioritized list of the rest. We might be able to do something about the shortages."

The meeting broke up except for Rector Mika and his list, which Anisca dutifully copied out onto a slate.

"The palace is next," Taylor reminded her. "Ready?"

"Just a moment." Anisca was using her 'pretend not to be excited' face. It made Taylor wonder what the point was of having all those faces if people close to her could identify them so easily. Or maybe that was the point — to put a line between who was close and who wasn't. While Taylor pondered the utility of an expression wardrobe, Anisca swapped the link for one that would talk to the royals of Lavradio.

How long had it been since she had talked to her kin? Five weeks or more. Ever since they left Lavradio in exile, time had moved in fits and starts, with days that felt like weeks, divided by weeks of days numbingly the same. They were into summer's second quarter, the seasons in Tenobre were quite long, and Kashmar would not attack until mid-autumn at the soonest, when their harvest was mostly secure. Sometimes Kashmar waited until mid-winter, when half the desert's population was in Sand Castle and the gardens' defenses thin. It looked like a lot of time, but that time would suddenly run out one day.

All of those concerns were for another meeting. For this one, Nexus had a list of things they needed and a somewhat friendly country that, Taylor was positive, wanted things from him. He reached out a finger, charged the link with mana, and activated it.