* * *
AFTER he sat, Tam said, “Grigor has the greater number of men whereas Priest has zealots. If he orders them to come and die, they’ll do so without protest.”
Jael nodded. “Priest will supply the shock troops. He’ll attempt to wear us down. It will be imperative to defend, as every loss will impact morale.”
“You think there’s such a thing as morale in a place like this?” Tam eyed him as if he represented a question to which there was no answer.
“In Queensland, yes. It’s better than Munya or Entropy or—”
“I take your point. And yes, it is. Dred tries to run this place like a city. A city where all the citizens are right bastards, but she keeps the torture and bloodshed to a minimum.”
“Is it better than it was under Artan?” He didn’t even know why he was asking.
Tam surprised him by answering, “Much. I was his spymaster first, but Artan was too like Grigor. No ability to plan, he only cared to take or own. There were food shortages. The hydroponics garden stopped producing, and Artan’s solution was more blood sport.”
“Why?” Jael asked.
“Because he knew we’d end up with less mouths to feed.”
“Is that when you decided to dispose of him?”
Amusement flickered in the other man’s dark eyes. “Is that what you think? I took care of Artan quietly, then deposited Dred on the throne to give the men someone prettier to serve?”
Put like that, it did sound offensive. Not only to Tameron—because it implied he couldn’t lead men himself—but to Dred, as it suggested she lacked the wherewithal to seize power on her own. He suspected neither implication was true.
“Then tell me what really happened.”
“I think it best that we focus on battle plans. It’s too good a story for me to deprive Dred the pleasure of telling you herself.”
For some reason, that sounded ominous. Jael pretended he didn’t detect the faint burr of ambivalence coming from the other man. Maybe Tam thought he posed some threat to their arrangement or wanted to stretch the triangle to a quadrilateral. That couldn’t be further from the truth. So few things had been his alone that he could never share a woman, even if she were his for only an hour.
“Fair enough.”
For the next half hour, they discussed the probable progression of the attacks and devised strategies to counter that wouldn’t end in a massive outlay of resources or in a pile of Queenslander corpses. It felt odd to play such a role, but he didn’t mind. In a way, it was nice to feel like he was fighting for his home ground.
He didn’t mean to stay, of course.
As soon as they dealt with this situation, he’d evaluate the ship and figure out a way to force himself back on one of the automated transports. If I have to smash one of the Peacemaker units with my bare hands, then that’s how it’ll be. He was shamed by his inability to flee the Bug planet. Mostly, that came from the absolute isolation. He hadn’t left his cell in turns. The food was delivered once a day, and the bars were too strong for him to break. He’d tried tunneling out, but after he dug through the floor, he ran into a rock face so strong, it would’ve taken a diamond drill to cut it. If the Conglomerate hadn’t extradited him, he would’ve died there.
However long it took.
“Those are good ideas,” Tam said, seeming surprised.
“You thought I was just a pretty face?”
“No. Rather that you were conning Dred.”
“Give me more credit than that,” the woman said as she entered, Einar behind. Another man followed; Jael recognized Ike, the old man with eyes that missed nothing.
“Sorry,” Tam said. “I should’ve known you only took him up because you saw real potential.”
Jael cocked a brow. “Must you make me sound like a stray pet?”
“Don’t let it bruise your ego. But Tam’s right; I’d have let you come to Queensland, but you wouldn’t be in on the planning if you weren’t a cut above.” By her expression, she meant nothing against the men currently wandering her domain, handling patrols, playing cards in the hall, sleeping and taking up space.
“So it’s a full council meeting,” Ike said then. He dropped onto Dred’s bed as if they had done this before, away from prying eyes.
“Tell me what you saw, just before the attack,” Dred demanded of the old man.
Quietly, Ike summarized the assault: how Priest’s hunting party came in the west corridor, fighting like madmen. There had been casualties, Jael knew, but he wasn’t sure how many dead or wounded. That wasn’t his purview anyway. In Perdition, it would be hard to find anyone who could be pressed to play medic. Most men inside preferred cutting people up to stitching their wounds.
“The men rallied well,” Einar offered. “Considering how Priest’s people are, I’m pleased with how quick we killed them.”
Dred nodded at that, still looking at Ike. “Did anyone look nervous . . . or expectant? Did anyone take cover a little too soon?”
Tam copped to her line of thought at once. “You think we have a traitor?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences. We set out for Entropy, and while we’re gone, Priest strikes? Someone sent word, I think.”
“How?” Einar asked, scowling. “The three of you were in the ducts. Comm systems have been down for years . . . and Mungo’s using half the electronics to keep his Kitchen-mates in service.”
Dred tapped her fingers lightly against one thigh, just above her thin leather boots. “That is . . . an excellent question.”
11
Rolling the Bones
Twenty casualties. Dred shook back her braids, trying to seem unconcerned. After the meeting, Tam had provided the preliminary head count—and they couldn’t afford the losses. While Silence was a deadly killer, she didn’t have the largest army. The lunatic was too fond of death, Dred supposed.
I won’t lose this war in pieces. We’ll regroup.
Because it needed to be done, Dred spent hours tending the wounded. Some required triage, and they had to be put down. Trying to keep them alive required resources, and she’d gotten good at knowing a lost cause when she saw one: gray skin, pale and clammy to the touch, blood gurgling in the lungs. Those were all signs that a man wouldn’t last. When she found one like that, she called Einar.
He made an efficient executioner. She’d never asked him if he minded, only if he was willing. But she’d read him the first time she requested it of him, and there was only gray. He wouldn’t be one of her lieutenants if he took pleasure in it, but for the big man, it was only another job. Which made her wonder about his past, but she didn’t break the code to ask.