their ground until we can get the men up and in position.”
With Renly’s help, he finished shrugging into his mail hauberk. The helm was simpler, but he wondered for a moment whether he had time to don the breastplate. Selene’s face popped into his head for some reason. “Help me with the breastplate too,” he told Renly.
Arming took at least a quarter of an hour most days, but with Renly’s help and a few shortcuts he managed it in roughly ten minutes. It felt like an eternity, and all the while men ran in and out, shouting reports and waiting on his hastily considered commands.
It was surreal, but the urgency gave him little time to consider how strange it all felt.
“They managed to silence the pickets and overwhelm the bridge guard,” a young messenger reported, his excitement raising his voice to shouting level. “They’ve taken all three bridges and they’re bringing men across two of them in force.”
Will nodded. “Tell them to withdraw and hold the line. We have to give those who were sleeping time to arm.”
The young messenger was so full of adrenaline and anxiety that he started to argue, “But if we don’t take the bridges back…”
“Silence!” Will barked, and once again his magic inadvertently emphasized his voice, turning the command into a sound that shocked everyone in his immediate vicinity. “We don’t need the bridges. We need the men armed and ready.”
The messenger closed his mouth, stunned, then he turned and ran to deliver the message. Renly spoke hesitantly from Will’s side. “Sir, begging your pardon, but if we let them hold the bridges, they’ll be able to bring enough men over to put us in a perilous position. With the city walls at our backs, we won’t—”
Will cut him off. “I know. Are you finished with that buckle?”
He was, and Will left without continuing the conversation. Outside, the moonless night made everything worse. The darkness hung over them like a cloying blanket, smothering their senses and increasing everyone’s fear. No one thought they’d attack at night, he thought ruefully, which means we probably should have expected it. Will adjusted his vision, searching for the sweet spot that would allow him to see across long distances without blinding him when his eyes encountered a torch or lantern.
For once, having superior vision wasn’t such a big advantage. Beyond twenty yards, his vision was obscured by milling men, tents, and the general chaos of thousands trying to figure out where they should be. Ordinarily he wouldn’t have risked it, but the lack of light would hamper the enemy archers too, so Will cast the elemental travel-disk spell and lifted himself twenty feet into the air to get a better view.
With his height and vision, he had the best view, and what he saw was worse than he’d hoped. The Darrowans were slowly pushing the Terabinians farther back from the bridges. Although they’d attacked at night, it was still a hard fight for the Darrowans, for while the pickets had been weakly defended, the main body of William’s army had prepared a serious defense.
The main reason they were slowly being forced back was that two-thirds of their force was still getting dressed, but even that could be easily countered—if the bridges were brought down. The Patriarch’s forces were suffering just as many casualties as the Terabinians, but they were being constantly refreshed by new soldiers rushing across the bridges.
Will turned to look at Klendon. Eventually we’ll be pushed back into range of their bows and other weapons, but they have an even better option if they really want to punish us. He shook his head. He had to get in position—and quickly—otherwise the opportunity would be lost, if indeed it came at all.
He descended and found Renly. “If anything happens before I return, direct the messengers to Sub-Marshal Nerrow. He’ll be in charge until you hear from me again.”
The lieutenant’s eyes widened with fear. “Where will you be?”
“Hopefully at the center of hell itself.” Will reflex cast the camouflage spell and then adjusted his turyn in the peculiar way he had learned from Darla. Renly’s eyes struggled to focus on him for a second, and then they lost him completely. It must have looked almost as though he had vanished. Ignoring his assistant’s cries, Will walked deliberately toward his goal.
Now that he was in motion, his plan felt even more foolish. What if the enemy did what he expected, but they waited several hours before doing so? How would