were talking about. If they didnât ⦠Grus shook his head. Heâd made up his mind that they did. He wouldâhe had toâbelieve that until and unless it turned out not to be so.
Two soldiers with spades uncovered the doorway Vsevolod had buried. When it was mostly clear of dirt, one of them stooped and seized the heavy bronze ring mounted on the tarred timbers. Iron might have rusted to uselessness; not so, bronze. Grunting, the soldierâhe was a Chernagor, and immensely broad through the shouldersâpulled up the trap door. A deeper darkness appeared, a hole in the night. Calcarius vanished into it firstâvanished as though he had never been. Malk followed. Starlight glittered for an instant on the honed edge of his sword. Then the black swallowed him, too.
One by oneânow an Avornan, now a Chernagor, now a clump of one folk, now of the otherâthe warriors in the storming party disappeared into the tunnel. After what seemed a very short time, the last man was gone.
Grus found Hirundo and asked, âWe are ready to move when the signal comes and the gate opens?â
âOh, yes, Your Majesty,â the general answered. âAnd once we get inside Nishevatz, itâs ours. I donât care what Vasilko has in there. If his men canât use the walls to save themselves, weâll whip them.â
âGood. Thatâs what I wanted you to tell me.â Grus cocked his head toward the gate the attackers aimed to seize. âWe ought to hear the fight start pretty soon, eh?â
Hirundo nodded in the darkness. âIâd certainly think so, unless all the Chernagors in there are sleeping and there is no fight. Thatâd be nice, wouldnât it?â
âI wouldnât mind,â Grus said. âI wouldnât mind a bit.â
Whether he minded or not, he didnât believe that would happen. Prince Vasilko wasnâtâGrus hoped Vasilko wasnâtâexpecting attack through the secret passage. But the new master of Nishevatz did know the Avornan army was out there. The men who followed him needed to stay alert.
âHow long do you think our men will need to get through the tunnel?â Grus asked Hirundo.
âWell, I donât exactly know, Your Majesty, but I donât suppose it will take very long,â Hirundo replied. âIt canât stretch for more than a quarter of a mile.â
âNo, I wouldnât think so,â Grus agreed. He called to a servant. The man hurried off and returned with a cup of wine for him. He sipped and waited. His fingers drummed on his thigh. A quarter of a mileâeven a quarter of a mile in darkness absolute, through a tunnel shored up with planks with dirt sifting down between the planks and falling on the back of a soldierâs neck when he least expected it ⦠that was surely a matter of minutes, and only a few of them.
He waited. He would knowâthe whole army would knowâwhen the fighting inside the city started. Things might go wrong. If they did, the marauders might not carry the gate. But no one would be in any doubt about when things began.
Hirundo said, âWonât be long now.â Grus nodded. The general had thought along with him. That Hirundo often thought along with him was one reason they worked well together.
More time passed. Now Grus was the one who said, âCanât be long now,â and Hirundo the one who nodded. Grus got up and started to pace. It should have started already. He knew as much. He tried to convince himself he didnât.
âSomethingâs not right.â Hirundo spoke in a low voice, as though he wanted to be able to pretend heâd never said any such thing in case he happened to be mistaken.
King Grus nodded. He stopped pacing, stopped pretending. âPterocles!â he called, pitching his voice to carry.
âYes, Your Majesty?â The wizard hurried up to him. âWhat do you