The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) - R.F. Kuang Page 0,107

instead. We’re calling this the Anvil, because they keep slamming up against us and we’ve got nowhere to run. I’m sure they’ll be making their final push any day now; they know we’re nearly out of supplies.”

“I’m shocked you made it to the mountains at all.” Kitay looked up from the maps. “How on earth did you hold them off this long?”

“It’s their artillery’s fault,” Venka said. “They keep shooting themselves in the feet. Literally. Nezha’s got his army outfitted with new Hesperian technology, but they don’t know how to use it, and I guess they moved out before they were properly trained, so half the time they try to hit us they blow themselves up in the process.”

No wonder Nezha had sounded so rattled when complaining about force integration. Rin couldn’t help but grin.

“Something funny?” Venka asked.

“Nothing,” Rin said. “It’s just—remember that night on the tower, how Nezha kept bragging about how Hesperian technology was going to win the Empire for us?”

“Yes, they’ve had growing pains,” Venka said drily. “Unfortunately, a misfired cannonball hurts just as bad.”

Kitay held up a map and tapped at an arrow snaking south. “Is this how you were going to get them out? A hard press by the southern border?”

“That’s what Souji’s planning,” Venka said. “It seemed like our best bet. Nezha doesn’t have his own men on that border; it’s under the domain of the new Ox Warlord. Bai Lin. There are massive tungsten deposits on the Monkey Province side of the border, and Gurubai’s offered to mine it for him if he’ll carve us an escape corridor.”

“That won’t work,” Kitay said.

Venka gave him an exasperated look. “We’ve been planning this for weeks.”

“Sure, but I know Bai Lin. He used to come over to our estate in Sinegard to play wikki with my parents all the time. The man hasn’t got a backbone—Father used to call him the Empire’s greatest brownnoser. There’s no way he’ll risk pissing Vaisra off. He’ll let Nezha decimate you and send laborers in to mine the tungsten himself.”

“Fine.” Venka jutted her chin out. “You come up with something better, then.”

Kitay tapped a northern point on the blockade. “We have to go through the old mining tunnels. They’ll bring us out onto the other side of the Baolei range.”

“We’ve tried those tunnels,” Venka said. “They’re blocked up.”

“Then we’ll blow a hole through the entrance,” Kitay said.

Venka looked doubtful. “You’d need a lot of firepower.”

“Oh dear,” Rin drawled. “I wonder how we’ll manage that.”

Venka snorted. “None of the cave tunnels here lead to the mines. We’d still have to get through the dead zone, which is at least a mile long. Nezha’s got half his infantry stationed right outside. We’re working with two-thirds the numbers we had at Tikany, and we don’t have an air defense. This can’t work.”

“It’ll work,” Kitay said. “We’ve got allies.”

“Who?” Venka perked up. “How many?”

“Two,” Rin said.

“You assholes—”

“Rin brought the Trifecta,” Kitay clarified.

Venka squinted at them. “What, like the shadow puppets?”

“The original Trifecta,” Rin said. “Two of them, at least. The Empress. Master Jiang. They’re the Vipress and the Gatekeeper.”

“Are you telling me,” Venka said slowly, “that Lore Master Jiang, the man who kept a drug garden at Sinegard, is going to single-handedly spring us out of this blockade?”

Kitay scratched his chin. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“He’s only the most powerful shaman in Nikan,” Rin said. “I mean, so we think. Word’s still out on the Dragon Emperor.”

Venka looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A vein twitched beneath her left eye. “The last time I saw Jiang he was trying to snip my hair off with garden shears.”

“He’s about the same now,” Rin said. “But he can summon beasts that can wipe out entire platoons in seconds, if history is anything to go by, so we’ve got a bit more to work with.”

“I don’t—I just—you know what? Fine. Sure. This might as well be happening.” Venka dragged her palms down her face and groaned. “Fucking hell, Rin. I wish you’d gotten here just a few days earlier. You picked a dreadful time to show up.”

“Why’s that?” Rin asked.

“Vaisra’s making his tour to inspect the troops tomorrow.”

“Tour?” Kitay repeated. “Vaisra doesn’t command?”

“No, Nezha’s in command. Vaisra stays behind at Arlong, rules over his new kingdom, and plays nice with the Hesperians.”

Of course, Rin thought. Why would she have expected otherwise? Vaisra had fought the civil war from his throne room in Arlong, sending Rin out like an obedient hunting dog while he sat back