and the monk merely shrugged. Once again, the prince had known exactly where to strike.
"Gather a force and retake the place," said a disgusted Duke Kalas.
"Yes, my lord," the runner replied, and Kalas waved him away.
"Pray that Aydrian arrives soon," Kalas muttered to De'Unnero. "We are in sore need of a victory here, to ensure that the peasants do not start believing in the superiority of Prince Midalis. Though he wins no major victories!"
"He is gambling that he will need none," the monk replied.
Trumpets heralded the arrival of King Aydrian and his force of five thousand the next day. He wasted no time with formalities, or even in surveying the damage done so far to St.-Mere-Abelle, but went straight to the tent offered him as his audience hall, to meet with Father Abbot De'Unnero and Duke Kalas.
"You have heard of Olin's failure?" Aydrian snapped as soon as the pair walked in. He noted, too, that De'Unnero's eyes were not on him, but were on Sadye, and the monk seemed less than pleased to be looking upon her once more.
"Rumors have reached us, yes," Duke Kalas replied.
"They are all true, I assure you," said Aydrian. "Olin attacked my old companion, Brynn Dharielle, and her To-gai-ru kinfolk, and he was soundly thrashed. Of course, it helped Brynn's cause that Prince Midalis happened to sail into Jacintha harbor in support of her war with Olin."
"The prince has proven to be a thorn up and down the coast," Duke Kalas agreed. "Always does he seem to be striking wherever we are not."
"It's the witch with her gemstones," De'Unnero offered. "The witch you let walk out of Ursal."
The two men stared hard at each other, and Aydrian was the first to blink. Perhaps De'Unnero was right here, he knew. Perhaps, in his supreme confidence, he had erred in allowing his mother to walk free. Was she now using her soul stone to scout out the regions along the coast where Midalis could safely strike? Had she gone so far to the south as to recognize the situation in Jacintha, and then guide Prince Midalis to the side of Brynn? It seemed a bit of a stretch to Aydrian; there were great limitations to spirit-walking, after all. But still, something was obviously going on here.
"Behren and To-gai are no longer involved in our struggles," Aydrian explained to the two men. "I have signed a treaty with both Brynn Dharielle and the representative of Jacintha."
"If they hold to it," Duke Kalas murmured.
"Brynn Dharielle's word cannot be questioned," Aydrian countered. "She has agreed that To-gai will not go to war with Honce-the-Bear, and so they shall not. As for Behren, by all reports, the people there are too busy battling with each other to turn their eyes to the north."
"Then we need not fortify Entel, beyond a force that could repel Prince Midalis," Kalas reasoned.
"Entel is secure," Aydrian assured him. "Prince Midalis will not engage us fully at this time. His strategy is to strike where we are weakest and then to run away."
"He is trying to erode support for you among the people," De'Unnero reasoned. "He is trying to make sure that they understand his viability as their king."
"And to counter that, we need a more substantial victory than the prince could ever hope to gain," said Aydrian. He pointed straight out the door, across the fields to the distant gray-brown structure of St.-Mere-Abelle.
"We need to overrun St.-Mere-Abelle, and soon," he explained. "Once the abbey is ours, my armies will be free to fortify the coastline more completely. Where then will Prince Midalis strike?"
"The monastery is already isolated from him, my King," Duke Kalas said, his shoulders going back, chest puffing out as he reported the good news.
"St.-Mere-Abelle's docks are in ruin and any ships coming in will be under constant barrage from the cliffs, north and south. Our Palmaris warships huddle beneath the shadows of those batteries. Any attempt by Prince Midalis to come in will prove costly to him, I promise you."
"We have softened the defenses of the abbey, as well," De'Unnero added, and from the look Kalas shot him, Aydrian understood that the monk was speaking up to make sure that he was included in the dispensing of glory.
"The brothers within have been awakened every morning by the thunder of boulders and the smell of burning pitch."
Aydrian nodded, pleased by it all. He had little doubt that his army could overrun the abbey, especially with him there, neutralizing the magical response from the Abellicans