The pillars of creation

The emperor flicked his fingers in command. All the servants vanished. Jennsen wished she could go with them, go hide under her blanket and be a proper nobody again. Outside, thunder rumbled and occasional gusts of wind drove fits of rain against the tent. The candles and lamps set about the table lit the two men and the immediate area, but left the soft carpets and walls in near darkness.

Emperor Jagang glanced briefly at Jennsen before directing his inky gaze to Sebastian. "I intend to move in swiftly. Not with the whole army, as I believe they will expect, but with a small enough force of cavalry to be maneuverable, yet large enough to maintain control of the situation. Of course we will take a sizable contingent of the gifted."

In the span of those brief words, the mood had turned deadly serious. Jennsen sensed that she was silent witness to the pivotal moments of a momentous event. It was frightening to think of the lives that hung in the balance of the words these two men spoke.

Sebastian weighed the emperor's words for a time before speaking. "Do you have any idea how Aydindril wintered?"

Jagang shook his head. He pulled a chunk of lamb off the point of his knife and spoke as he chewed.

"The Mother Confessor is many things; stupid is not one of them. She would have known for a long time, by the direction of our push, by the movements she's observed, by the cities that have already fallen, the path we have chosen, by all the reports and information she would have gathered, that with spring I will move on Aydindril. I've given them a good long time to sweat as they ponder their fate. I suspect that by now they're all shaking in their boots, but I don't think she has the heart to flee."

"You think that Lord Rahl's wife is there?" Jennsen blurted out in astonishment. "In the city? The Mother Confessor herself T'

Both men paused and gazed at her. The tent was silent.

Jennsen shrank. "Forgive me for speaking."

The emperor grinned. "Why should I forgive you? You've just stuck a knife in the prize goose and called it true." With his blade, he gestured toward Sebastian. "You brought a special woman, a woman with a good head on her shoulders."

Sebastian rubbed Jermsen's back. "And a pretty head, at that."

Jagang's black eyes gleamed as he watched her. "Yes, indeed." His fingers blindly scooped olives from a glass bowl to the side. "So, Jennsen Rahl, what is your thinking about all this?"

Since she had already spoken, she couldn't now decline to answer. She gathered herself and considered the question.

"Whenever I was hiding from Lord Rahl, I would try not to do anything that would let him know where I was. I tried to do everything I could to keep him blind. Maybe that's what they are doing, too. Trying to keep you blind."

"That's what I was thinking," Sebastian said. "If they're terrified, they might try to eliminate any scout or patrol in order to make us think that they're more powerful than they are and to conceal any defensive plans."

"And keep at least some element of surprise on their side," Jennsen added.

"My thought, too," Jagang said. He grinned at Sebastian. "Small wonder you would bring me such a woman-she is a strategist, too." Jagang winked at Jermsen, then rang a bell to the side.

A woman, the one in the gray dress and tied-back gray and black hair, appeared at a distant opening. "Yes, Excellency?"

"Bring the young lady some fruits and sweetmeats."

As she bowed and left, the emperor turned serious again. "That's why I believe it best to take a smaller force than they are sure to expect, one able to maneuver quickly in response to what defenses they try to catch us up in. They may be able to overpower our small patrols, but not a sizable force of cavalry and gifted. If need be, we can always pour men into the city. After a winter of sitting on their behinds, they would be more than happy to be unleashed. But I'm reluctant to start out with what those in Aydindril are expecting."

Sebastian was idly poking a thick slab of roast beef with his knife as he considered. "She might be in the Confessors' Palace." He redirected his gaze to the emperor. "The Mother Confessor very well might have decided to make her stand at long last."

"I think so, too," Emperor Jagang said. Outside, the spring storm had picked up, the chill wind moaning among the tents.

Jennsen couldn't restrain herself. "You really think she will be there?" she asked both men. "You honestly think she would remain there when she knows you're coming with an enormous army?"

Jagang shrugged. "I can't be sure, of course, but I've battled her all the way up through the Midlands. In the past, she had options, choices, tough though they sometimes were. We drove her army into Aydindril just before winter, then sat at her doorstep. Now, she and her army have run out of choices, and, with the mountains all around, places to flee. Even she knows that a time comes when the choice you are given must be faced. I think this may be where she chooses to at last stand and fight."