Fallen Ward (Deepwoods Saga Book 3) (5 page)

That must be a powerful spyglass to manage that. It was nearly sixty spans from here to Goldschmidt.

Ryu Jin Ho frowned as he said, “Land this flat is going to make our jobs harder. It will be difficult to approach Goldschmidt without being seen.”

“Which is why Wolf thought of using paths, no doubt.” Grae had that expression on his face that suggested he was doing calculations on some level. “How many men should we assume we must transport?”

Ryu Jin Ho shook his head as he corrected, “You tell me that. How many men can you transport at once?”

“I’m not entirely sure right now.” That was Grae-speak for: he had an idea, but couldn’t give precise figures.

Rune took that as his cue and sank down onto his haunches. With one hand, he rummaged into his belt pouch, drawing by feel alone the tool he needed.

The first two months of learning pathmaking had been all about the patterns, how to calculate for weight and distance, and what areas were considered un-crossable because of the various landmarks. But after that, Rune had been taught that in order to do pathmaking, there were quite a few tools involved. Glass vials for testing water composition and soil, small spades to help firmly plant stones into the ground, measuring tape, and pruning shears, to start. He’d had Beirly help him create a pouch that would hold all of it and prevent things from being jumbled or damaged. They’d had to refine the design as he kept adding tools, but it let him draw things out without having to open the pouch and dump it onto the ground to find something.

For now, he drew his spade, a glass vial, and another vial of treated paper strips. With efficient movements, he dug up a little of the ground, dumped it into the glass vial, then put a strip of paper inside before putting the stop on and shaking it hard next to his ear. With it properly mixed, he lowered it again and took out the strip. Middling blue in color. Hmm.

“Looks like you’re right, Grae. There’s power here, but not enough for a coral pattern.”

Grae sighed but didn’t look surprised. “The ground hasn’t changed since I built a path here nine years ago, then. Sometimes it does, when it’s this close to the sea. We really are limited to the evergreen pattern, or possibly something smaller.”

Ryu Jin Ho looked at the paper in Rune’s hand with curiosity. “What does that color mean?”

“The paper measures the richness of the soil,” Grae explained, his tone slipping into ‘teacher’ mode. “The more vibrant a color of blue, the richer the soil is. A desert, for instance, will produce so light a blue as to be almost white. A rainforest will produce a deep, vibrant blue. This color that you see means that the soil has some fertility to it, but not enough to support complex pathways.”

“And the paper? Where does it come from?”

“Oh, that? It’s pre-treated with a chemical base that I create myself. I know some Pathmakers that actually carry a vial of the chemical itself and they use it directly on the soil, but I learned early on that those vials tend to leak in my bag. The paper strips are much easier to transport.”

Rune could not, after a mere six months of learning, do the calculations necessary in his head like his master could. He carried around several sheets of paper and a stubby pencil so that he could write them out. As Grae explained things to Ryu Jin Ho, he sat cross-legged on the ground, leaning forward so he could write out numbers at high speed.

“Grae, what’s the water level here?”

“Six, last I checked.”

That low? Well, granted, they were using canal water. That didn’t have the same power as water coming in off the high seas. Frowning, he factored that into the equation and kept going.

Grae, proving that he could not only converse but also keep an eye on his student, interrupted himself once to correct Rune, “No, we’re sixty-two spans exactly from the outer wall.” Rune obligingly crossed out his guess of sixty that he had written and kept going. In the end, he reached the same conclusion that Grae had. The evergreen pattern was the only one they could use and still transport more than a hundred men at a time. Finished, he handed the sheet up to Grae.

“—we never measure from city gate to city gate, as that tends to cause problems.” Grae continued to explain as he took the sheet from Rune and looked it over. “Gate guards are never happy when they have a sudden influx of people at their gate, and it’s dangerous besides; dropping a load of people off into a section that you know is populated can cause serious accidents. We always measure at least ten feet out away from the wall and use that as our city marker. Rune, excellent work, as always. This is correct. Ryu Jin Ho-zhi, I’m afraid I was right in my guess. We must use the evergreen pattern, and there is no way that I can carry more than three hundred and fifty men at a time. The soil and water levels here simply won’t permit more than that.”

Ryu Jin Ho nodded, not entirely happily. “But how close can we get?”

“With a few minor adjustments, within five feet of the walls. I can’t get you closer than that without running the risk of dropping people smack into the wall.”

Rune’s mind was briefly distracted by the mental image of people colliding head first into Goldschmidt’s walls like a bird impacting against a glass window. While entertaining, Grae was likely right. It wouldn’t be the best option.

“Five feet. Yes, that should be close enough.” Ryu Jin Ho lifted his glass again to peer towards Goldschmidt. “Seven hundred men in total, if you and Rune-gui both take a group in.”

“Can’t we borrow Jay Fowler from Winziane again?” Rune asked. It might be a stupid question, but the man had already come up once to help them transport people. Rune didn’t see why they couldn’t borrow the man again.

From the startled blink that Grae gave, it seemed to Rune he’d forgotten the other Pathmaker. “Oh. It’s true, he might be willing to help again.”

Ryu Jin Ho looked excited about this possibility, in a restrained way. “Is he a good fighter, this man?”

“Decent, I think.” Rune hadn’t seen the man in action, of course, but the way he moved suggested he could probably handle himself in a one-on-one fight.

“But I would suggest having someone dedicated to protecting him,” Grae cautioned. “We have too few Pathmakers in this world as it is. We can’t risk losing one.”

“We’ll take precautions,” Ryu Jin Ho promised. “But if he is willing to help us, that means we can get all able-bodied fighters into Goldschmidt at more or less the same time. And if we can do that…”

“It gives us better odds of winning,” Rune finished.

Ryu Jin Ho inclined his head soberly. “It does indeed.”

Siobhan was not able to find Wolf before the meeting reconvened. Where he had been, or what he was doing, seemed to be a mystery among the guild. She had spent most of her time detailing for Hyun Woo and Darrens everything she knew about the canal, which (because of Grae) was a great deal. They’d also conferred with Beirly, wanting to know exactly how much material and time it would take to dam it up. Because it looked as if they would need his expertise, she had Beirly join them for the meeting, and he sat next to her at the table.

Everyone trickled in by twos and threes, Wolf being the last to sit at the table. She expected him to be angry, depressed, or some mix of the two but instead he seemed only resigned. Odd. Wolf was not known to recover that quickly after he’d fought with her. Had someone taken him aside and given him a talking to, like Markl had her? Whoever had done so did a splendid job, judging from the result. Perhaps it wouldn’t be quite the chore for her to settle things with him after all.

Darrens didn’t ask her or Wolf outright if they’d settled things but his eyes held the question as he looked between the two of them. When neither of them jumped out of their seats and started yelling, his shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Well. I hope the past two hours have been productive for everyone. Where do we stand?”

Hyun Woo cleared his throat. “Guildmaster, if I may?”

“Please do. You’re in charge of this, after all.”

With an inclination of the head, Hyun Woo took control of the meeting and turned to the table at large. “First, Grae-gui, on the matter of paths. What are your findings?”

“We can only use the evergreen pattern,” Grae answered. His tone suggested he was making an effort to be more audible this time. (Trying to set a good example for his student, perhaps?) “According to our calculations, we can take up to three hundred and fifty men. I can get you within five feet of the walls.”

“Rune-xian suggested that perhaps we can borrow Pathmaker Jay Fowler once more from Winziane?” Ryu Jin Ho added hopefully. “If so, we can take over one thousand directly to the walls.”

Everyone turned to Markl, as he was the closest link to Guildmaster Hammon. He spread his palms up in a shrug. “I believe my father will have no problem letting us borrow the man again. We will have to guarantee his safety, though. Jay Fowler is the only Pathmaker that Winziane has.”

“I personally will guarantee his safety,” Gaurav Hasur promised.

Hyun Woo perked up noticeably at this. “Excellent. This will make things much easier.”

“Hyun Woo-zhi,” Rune spoke up, “I’m not sure if you know this, but we don’t have this path already built.”

Hyun Woo had been about to say something else, but at Rune’s words, he visibly started and said instead, “We don’t? But we were using paths to transport people out of the city, were we not?”

“We have a sunflower pattern built outside the city,” Rune explained. “It’s a different pathway. We can only transport up to one hundred people with it. In order for our plans to work, we’ll have to build the evergreen pathway.”

Hyun Woo stroked his beard thoughtfully before asking Grae and Rune together, “How long will that take?”

Rune looked to Grae, who had more experience in building paths, for the answer. Grae offered, “With the help of a dozen people gathering stones, and Rune building alongside me, I think we can get it done in a little over a week.”

“Oh, is that all?” Hyun Woo relaxed back into his chair. He’d apparently thought that pathmaking would take months or something along those lines. “Then we will gather a dedicated team to help you. Start after this meeting.”

“Of course,” Rune and Grae said in near unison.

Siobhan hid a smile. She’d noticed that Rune seemed to be picking up some of Grae’s habits and mannerisms. The more time they spent together, the more noticeable it became. She wasn’t sure if it was a conscious choice on Rune’s part, or if it was just a side effect of them being around each other so much. It might be a mix of the two. Rune seemed to have a small case of hero worship where Grae was concerned.

Hyun Woo clasped his hands together in open satisfaction. “I am pleased. This means that my plan will work.”

“Plan?” Darrens asked hopefully.

“Forgive me, Darrens-zhi, I will detail it in a moment. Before I do so, I must ask one other question. You have an accurate head count of how many fighters are fit to go into Goldschmidt?”

“Sixteen hundred and fifty-three, or so our doctors and enforcers report.”

The strategist nodded, unsurprised. “Approximately the number I estimated. Very good. Now, to my plan. Siobhan-jia, Tran-gui, I will be sending your groups in together.”

Siobhan hadn’t expected that. Before, Hyun Woo had acted as if he would send her in advance of everyone else. “Together?”

“You will be in charge of different groups,” Hyun Woo responded, his tone careful. Afraid of stepping on her pride as Wolf had done earlier, and thereby setting her off? “But yes, you will go together. I have no way of anticipating how quickly the enemy will react when their water source is cut off. They are not, after all, attached to Goldschmidt. They do not know it well. Since it is not their home, they might choose to quickly abandon it when their only fresh water source is lost.”

A good point and not one that Siobhan had thought of. Siobhan had this sneaking suspicion that Hyun Woo had altered his plan so that she wouldn’t be going with just her own group. He was perhaps making allowances to help one of his students. Then again, perhaps not. He had a perfectly sound, strategic reason for two groups going in at once.