Chapter 43: The War Path

We all went back and forth on options and ideas for hours. The conversation only broke for lunch, and the Numbered rotated through duties. This way, someone was always keeping watch or doing patrol, but all of them contributed something to the conversation. While they were busy doing their job, the rest of us tried to figure out what to do.

Five and Six seemed surprised at my openness and willingness to admit when I was wrong, asking them for ideas outside of their fields of expertise. But One and Four made it work seamlessly. Specifically, One.

She facilitated all the discussions in such a way that by the time we had finished lunch, Five and Six were some of the most enthusiastic participants.

Despite all my misgivings and worries, we seemed to actually be having fun. Still, we made almost no progress in figuring out our way out of this conundrum that we had found ourselves in.

Even as I felt the frustration mounting, I couldn't help but grin at the open exchange of ideas that we were having. And some of the ideas were quite silly. At one point, the Six suggested throwing a feast and poisoning all our opposition. She seemed to find that very hilarious. And we honestly entertained the idea for nearly 20 minutes before giving up on it. Not on account of the impracticality of having everyone attend but the difficulty of organizing it in such a short time. Well, it could have been done back at our castle. Here, it wasn't genuinely an option.

The most fun part for me, though, was watching the Numbered come out of their shells. Four and One already knew that I now seemed to enjoy their thoughts and ideas. Four was still warming up to it, but One fully understood what was going on. Five and Six, though--this was new to them, for them to be valued based on their opinions rather than their skills. Well, they were certainly taking advantage of it.

As we neared preparing to head out for the day's vote, we still didn't have a perfect plan. Anything that was effective was deemed too drastic by me. Anything that I thought was a more measured response wasn't enough to move the needle according to one of the Numbered. Part of it was that I just didn't have a good enough idea of all the other groups' interdynamics.

So as we prepared to leave, it was with light hearts but great weariness that we made our way through the city in our carriage.

We weren't the first or the last group to enter, and I gave Doja a nod of acknowledgment as we came to stand near her and waited for the rest of the groups to come and join.

The Ihererins were the last to arrive, and the meeting went much the same way as last time. A few people were nominated, and I received five votes. The Nar representative, Gustav, unsurprisingly did not vote for us. The man seemed quite annoyed by something and rather stressed, looking at me nervously, but I didn't acknowledge him. No, I spent most of my effort watching the other groups. I noticed some interplay between the Shunul, Ihererin, and Nar, some sort of tension as if something was going wrong. It put me on edge, and as soon as we possibly could, we were out heading back.

One could feel my tension and had the same concerns. Four and Five dashed ahead out of the carriage, and we didn't stop at the same place. Instead, we went a little further into the city and went to a new location. After we settled in, Four and Five returned with the stuff that we'd left behind, and we set up in the new location just to throw off any nefarious plans.

The discussion continued around the dinner table, and I realized things would have to get drastic unless something changed soon. I began to entertain the more ridiculous ideas, most of them violent ones, even though I was still against them.

Not that I was against killing my rivals, but they were valuable leaders. They ran their organizations. Anyone who replaced them would take a while to vet and train, and it was time that I had neither interest in doing nor the time. There were bigger things going on that required my attention, on top of the fact that I was still learning so much about how this business worked.

***

Eventually, I leaned back in my chair, away from the plate of chocolate cream pie that I'd picked clean over two hours ago.

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"I don't think we're going to get there tonight," I said, meeting the eyes of each of my Numbered in turn. "I think it's best if we stay out for one more vote before we do anything too different. Maybe the others will recognize an impasse, and something else will happen. I don't want to necessarily be reacting, but I don't think we have any good options to be proactive, either. I don't want to act without all the information. And if we're going to take really drastic options, action... Well, our options won't be limited by the fact that a vote has been concluded as much as everyone is worried. I don't think even another faction winning the vote will potentially bar us from doing whatever we damn well please."

The reactions were mixed. Five accepted that at face value completely. Four and Six were rather hesitant, whereas One just looked thoughtful. Six, though, eventually nodded, but Four remained unconvinced.

"Four," I asked, prompting her to share her thoughts.

She looked up at me and shook her head. "I don't know if I can agree, but I don't have any good counterpoints. In the end, I suppose you're right. But it feels like we're missing something."

I nodded. "Well, I think we probably are. We're probably missing a lot of things, but they're not productive to think about at the moment. We don't have enough time to execute anything extremely complicated, and I don't want to shake things up too much."

Four nodded. "True."

I pushed my chair back and stood up. "Well, tomorrow is going to be a big day."

The numbers glanced at each other, silent forms of communication flickering between them before Five and Six walked over to me and I led them upstairs. Four followed close behind.

There is one left to do something Nnumber-related. Four stopped before entering our room and took a position where she leaned against the wall and dropped into a comfortable crouch. And by the door well, Five tugged on my arm eagerly, and Six followed, her arm linked in mine. Perhaps they had felt neglected, or maybe there was some dynamic here that I missed, but I had yet to take any of my Numbered at the same time. My heartbeat accelerated slightly, thinking of all the options I could have, especially with my two most excitable Numbered.

Six slunks behind Five and, with a few quick motions, dropped the red-haired beauties' dress to the ground. Five shivered with emotion, anything but cold as her eyes locked onto mine. As Six ran the tip of a very thin knife from her ear to the edge of her shoulder, a line of pale pink rose with the faintest of scratches along her neck. Six was just pulling out a bundle of cordage and silk rope when I heard a commotion outside the room. A quick couple of thumps and clashes of steel echoed before I heard Four's voice cry out in pain and warning.

I turned, the shadows already reacting to my emotions before I could give conscious direction to them or my body, and even before I laid eyes on it, the door exploded outwards in a shower of splinters. When I saw four on her knees, clutching a gash in her arm, two warriors with blades in each hand, covered in silk, wearing veils were on either side of her advancing. Someone at the bottom of the stairs held the crossbow as they were frantically reloading it.

In one of the splinters, I saw the crossbow bolt embedded in the door. Somehow, it had missed Four, or she had deflected it, but it clearly cost her as she rolled backward into the door, avoiding the strikes. I flashed forward, shadows seizing the hands of the two assailants, and my hands flashed out, disarming them and driving their own daggers through their throats without a moment's of hesitation.

Even as I ran, I noticed five sliding between my legs feet first. She slid into the air and down the stairs. I could only watch in awe as a small trail of flame flickered for a brief second on the stone stairs behind her as she bounced off the middle step halfway down, turning it into her slide into a somersault as she smashed her fist through the crossbow and into the face of the third assailant.

Six had gone to the window and watched, pulling the blinds.

"One," I yelled into the room.

I heard a call from downstairs. "Clear. Two down here. Both dead."

I looked around, five assassins, all dead. I turned and slammed my foot into the wall, blasting a hole in the wood, and swore loudly. "Didn't leave any alive."

Gaining control of my anger, I quickly dropped down in front of Four and pulled her fingers away from the cut on her arm. Inspected it, feeling light-headed. "Any other injuries?"

She shook her head slowly, her eyes not quite coming off of her feet. I didn't see any signs of poison. I sniffed it, and it smelled clean.

Quickly, I looked at the daggers, pulling a couple out of throats, and didn't see any signs of poison. Sighing in relief, I extended one hand, which Four took with her uninjured arm. I pulled her to her feet before picking her up gently and setting her on the bed a few paces down, cutting a strip off of the sheet. I quickly bound up her arm so that the bleeding would stop. She winced as I pulled the knot tight but otherwise showed no reaction.

One appeared at my side, a comforting hand resting on my shoulder. She reached out with her other hand to push aside four's hair and lifted her chin with one finger.

"You did good, Four," she whispered.

I barely heard her. My blood was rushing through my ears as I thought, examining the garb. It was obvious who had done this, but I needed to be sure. "One, the attackers. They were Shunul, right?"