Igniting Darkness (Courting Darkness Duology #2) - Robin LaFevers Page 0,139

“But you can’t mean for our success to rest on the few hundred men we can scrape up from my holdings.”

Beast pushes away from the maps. “It will give Rohan several more fronts on which he must fight, spreading their numbers even thinner.”

“Plus,” Duval adds, “it will be a major thorn in his side, poking at him to know who is behind it.”

“Not only that.” Aeva speaks for the first time. “But the Arduinnites will join us.”

“You can count on the charbonnerie as well.” Lazare turns to spit, thinks better of it, then simply clears his throat. “We’re not happy about France thinking we’re their country now, but we’ll be damned if this knob thinks he can come in here and undo everything we fought for.”

“What can his endgame possibly be?” I wonder.

Duval looks at me. “He has always believed he had a greater right to the duchy than my sister. I think he has decided now is the time to press that claim.”

“You mean, he’ll fight for his own interests, but not his liege’s when she needed him?”

“Precisely.”

As he continues to look at the map, Marshal Rieux shakes his head, not in disagreement, but uncertainty. “The odds are not in our favor.”

“By our estimations, Rohan can have no more than six thousand men,” Beast reminds him.

The news we have brought of his sister, and her precarious position, has only hardened Duval’s resolve. “Brittany has a long history of overcoming superior numbers with smaller forces,” he reminds the marshal. “Besides, they’re the only odds we’ve got.”

 Chapter 77

Genevieve

The siege broken, Ismae and Duval leave for Rennes the next morning with half of Marshal Rieux’s forces, using the south postern gate to avoid Rohan’s decamping troops. Duval believes that the city garrison is loyal to the queen and needs only a spark of encouragement and a few extra hands to retake the city from Rohan’s control. The rest of us move south. We give wide berth to Châteaubriant—a holding of Françoise de Dinan, the queen’s former governess and a traitor besides. That she was once Count d’Albret’s lover also ensures she will never be an ally of ours.

At Marshal Rieux’s holding in Ancenis, our maneuver proves successful once more. Relieving the siege there goes off swiftly and smoothly as planned. Rieux’s garrison is greatly heartened by their liege and, I think, Beast. Next, we travel to Nantes, but it is a Rohan stronghold, so we skirt it and strike out for Rochefort-en-Terre, another of the marshal’s holdings, this one with a garrison of over seven hundred troops.

By the time we arrive, we are a much larger party. And while it is good to have the presence of solid troops at our backs, they are incapable of moving as silently. Fortunately, we time it so we arrive two days before Rieux’s main force, giving us a chance to do our deeds well before Rohan’s troops are aware of our presence.

As before, cloaked by the darkness of night, the four of us slip into camp to foul the powder. Just as before, we are able to evade the sleeping men—eight of them this time—to reach the wagon. I listen for any change in their breathing patterns, but hear only the faint rustle of the night—the call of an owl, followed by the faint scream of some small prey. I pry off the corks of the two barrels Lazare has set before me, empty the wineskins of water into them, and shove the corks back in. I grow faster each time—we all do—and am ready to go while Lazare is still pissing into the last keg.

When he finally jumps down off the wagon, I grab his arm. “You cannot mean to do that every time.” My voice is pitched so low that it makes less noise than the soft night air blowing in from the river. “It takes too long. And it is dim-witted besides.”

Lazare pulls his arm away, but slowly. “Someday I’m going to give you a lesson on gunpowder. Piss and wine make it more potent. As it turns out, I’m full of both.”

“But this is the enemy’s powder. Not ours.”

“It will be once Rieux and his troops get here. They’ll confiscate it, spread it out to dry, and it will be good as new.” He winks. “Only better.”

I roll my eyes, pull the shadows more firmly around me, then hurry to catch up to Sybella and Aeva, who have taken the lead. It is a good thing Lazare brings such a unique