webcrawl/APGTE/Book-2/tex/Ch-054.md.tex

\hypertarget{chapter-42-flaw}{%
\section{Chapter 42: Flaw}\label{chapter-42-flaw}}

\begin{quote}
\emph{``Sometimes you can't make an omelette without breaking a few
eggs, executing the hens who laid them on trumped up charges and setting
the most rebellious henhouse on fire as an example to the others.''}

-- Dread Empress Maleficent II
\end{quote}

Behind me the Fifteenth formed into a battering ram.

Cohorts repositioned smoothly as Juniper's orders were relayed, forming
a long broad column with myself and the Gallowborne at the head of it.
The Procerans and the devils still suffered the occasional shot from
Pickler's engines but the mercenaries had largely been allowed to flee.
I'd had a hard conversation on the subject with the Hellhound mere
moments ago -- she'd been of the opinion that Nauk's kabili should sweep
through them so we'd have fewer to fight inside the walls, where my
legion would be constrained by the size of the streets. She'd given in,
though, when I'd pointed out one important fact: Heiress was after
something inside the walls. She would not have burned so many bridges
otherwise, resigned a commission handed to her by the Black Knight
himself and summoned an godsdamned actual host of devils. This was no
longer a siege, it was a race -- and I'd need every soldier inside with
me.

Since then, what felt like too long had passed. Barika's execution had
cooled my blood somewhat, but the fury had been replaced by
restlessness. More than once I'd considered just taking the Gallowborne
and going in without the rest of the Fifteenth, but it was just too much
of a risk. The kind I couldn't afford, not with heroes on the prowl and
Heiress just one fig leaf away from open rebellion against the Tower.
Masego was still hunched over his scrying trinket, eyeing the unfolding
battle inside the walls.

``I thought we couldn't scry behind the city walls,'' I said.

``The devils disrupted the wards,'' Apprentice replied. ``I can have a
look anywhere short of the Ducal Palace itself. And the lake. That place
is swimming in so much holy power I doubt either of us could even eat
the fish from it.''

``How's it looking for the defenders?'' Hakram gravelled.

``Their commander set up concentric rings of defences inside the city,''
the bespectacled mage said. ``The walls are lost, but in their retreat
they set on fire all the houses behind them. It appears to be slowing
the devils down and the soldiers are gathering on the first ring for
another stand.''

``The Lone Swordsman?'' I asked.

``I found him twice,'' Masego said. ``At the moment he appears to be
single-handedly holding an avenue against the devils.''

``Keep an eye on him,'' I ordered. ``We'll be headed in his direction as
soon as we've established a beachhead.''

Apprentice replied with a gesture that was half-agreement half-dismissal
of the conversation, eyes still peeled on his instrument. Behind us the
horns finally sounded, signalling it was time to begin the advance. Like
a great beast coming to wake, the Fifteenth began to march. I set Zombie
to a trot and the Gallowborne followed. From the corner of my eye I saw
Hakram gently remind Apprentice that he was supposed to be walking,
jolting him out of his thoughts. I couldn't tell exactly where it had
begun, though I thought it might have been the middle of the column. One
voice started, then hundreds joined in and the avalanche swept over the
entire legion. My soldiers were singing.

``He was a prince and a handsome lad

On a pretty white horse, all iron-clad

His lance was silver but his heart gold

A peerless champion, or so we're told

Oh! The Lord of the Silver Spears!''

Most of my legionaries were terrible singers, though with that many
voices in chorus it was hard to even tell. I cast a look at Hakram, who
was whistling the tune and trying not to grin.

``So he cornered us on a muddy hill

His knights were up and eager to kill

But he said halt! We need not fight!

Only the she-witch will die tonight!

Oh! The Lord of the Silver Spears!''

Well, at least they were moving. The tune had been set to the cadence of
a legionary's quick march, because of course it had. We got in range of
bowshot from the walls fast enough, but there was no one left to shoot
at us. All the defenders had retreated. That showed foresight on the
part of the commander on the other side: they'd been given orders in
case the walls were breached.

``He rode up to us and rang his horn

Called out the Boss with all his scorn

Then sat there idle, proud as all Hells

Waiting while she bid her farewells

Oh! The Lord of the Silver Spears!''

The river barges were no longer smoking but they were messy terrain to
go through. The Gallowborne had to break formation around what had once
been a prow, shields up and casting wary looks ahead. Hakram's axe --
he'd changed weapons after Marchford, and proved deadlier with this one
than he'd ever been with the last -- had been in hand since we'd started
moving. Once in a while he nudged Masego in the right direction with it,
since the Soninke still refused to look away from his instrument.

``So we shot him, right through the throat

So much for that armour and all the gloat

So learn the lesson from that sad day --

Fuck with the Fifteenth and you'll pay

Oh! Poor Lord of the Silver Spears!''

I snorted. Well, that was one lesson to derive from Three Hills. If
singing what was essentially trash-talk as they marched kept my legion's
morale up, I wasn't going to mess with the formula. The Gallowborne
formed a wedge as we approached the gates, slowing down. Said gates had
been propped up where they were supposed to stand, but even from my
saddle I could see there was nothing holding them there but their
weight.

``Adjutant,'' I said.

The tall orc laughed and moved forward, my personal guard splitting
around him. Holstering his axe in the loop of leather he used to hold
it, Hakram brought up his tower shield and hunched his shoulders. I felt
his Name flare up and squinted in his direction. To my senses his Name
felt like something steady and large, almost like stone. It was strange
that I could get even that much from him -- I never had from Apprentice
and Heiress, or even Black. He bullrushed almost faster than I could
follow with the naked eye, shield impacting the metal gates with a sound
like bell ringing. A heartbeat later the whole thing toppled, falling to
the ground in a cloud of dust. Almost instantly arrows fell all round
him, a pair sliding off his shield with a metallic clatter. He
backpedalled and the Gallowborne formed a ring of shields around him.
Through the smoke and dust on the other side, I could see burning
buildings and a handful of archers already retreating.

One lingered to try to take a potshot at me, but one of my guards popped
out from behind the shields and placed a bolt in his chest. The man
fell, likely dead, and that was enough to make the others flee outright.
Scouts, I decided. Placed here to tell William when we'd be crossing the
gates. Were they still under the impression that Heiress and I were
working together? They couldn't be, not after Pickler had turned the
ballistas on the mercenaries. It might not matter to them at all, I
thought. As far as the heroes were concerned any force but their own
managing to hold the city was a disaster.

``Forward,'' I ordered. ``Secure the area.''

The Gallowborne sprang into movement as the first legionaries began
catching up to us. Hune's regulars, with sappers behind them. Juniper
wanted to establish at least basic fortifications around the gates in
case we had to defend the chokepoint from the devils. So far it looked
like our taking of the entrance wouldn't be contested, but I doubted
that would last. The way I saw it, the defenders had two problems at the
moment. First, they had to hammer back the devils. Otherwise they'd
rampage across the city and kill anyone they could get their hands on.
Second, they couldn't allow the Fifteenth to dig in past the gates. If
we did there was no getting us out: urban warfare was not a specialty of
the Legions of Terror, but we had the professional soldiers and the
munitions to force our way in one city block at a time. The moment
Juniper had a solid beachhead it was all downhill for them. Zombie took
me past my personal guard and into the plaza behind the gates, leaving
them scrambling to catch up.

From the corner of my eye I saw movement around a rooftop and instantly
brought up my shield. It was a devil. One of the winged creatures I'd
glimpsed earlier, looking like a hairy dwarf gargoyle with claws and bat
wings. The devil sat there on top of a burning roof, apparently not
inconvenienced by the smoke and flames.

``Devil,'' I called out. ``Get ready for a wave.''

Captain Farrier bellowed orders and the Gallowborne tightened formation.
I remained on my horse, calmly studying the devil as Hakram strode to my
side.

``It's not attacking,'' I said.

The tall orc made a thoughtful sound. ``Waiting for reinforcements?''

``Heiress will be trying to push deeper into the city, not hit as we
enter,'' I said. ``Otherwise she'll overextend right in front of the
Lone Swordsman.''

Something that was not likely to end well for her. If Masego was to be
believed, the hero was turning any street he was in into a one-man meat
grinder. If he ever ran out of devils to kill, he'd be going on the
offensive for sure.

``She could be looking through its eyes,'' Hakram suggested.

More likely. No need to allow that to continue any longer.

``Farrier,'' I yelled. ``Crossbows on the devil.''

Before fifteen heartbeats had passed the creature was trying and failing
to duck under shots, shrieking as its leg was nailed to the thatch.
\emph{It's not fighting back at all}, I frowned. Masego arrived at my
side, finally bothering to look up from his scrying. I leaned to the
side in my saddle.

``Can you capture it?'' I asked.

He raised an eyebrow and flicked his wrist upwards, muttering a few
words. Panes of blue light formed a pyramid around the devil, neatly
imprisoning it. Another flick of the wrist and the pyramid was ripped
off the roof, skidding against the ground as it was pulled in our
direction. Half a dozen crossbows were trained on the imprisoned
creature before it had even finished moving. Getting down from my horse,
I ignored the protests of my guards and walked to the devil. I knelt in
front of it.

``Apprentice,'' I said. ``Open the panel in front of me.''

Immediately everyone but Masego began protesting, but I gestured for
them to shut the Hells up.

``It's not going to fight me,'' I said.

The panel flickered out of existence and I leaned forward, pointing a
finger at the devil. It shrunk back, screaming in dismay.

``It \emph{can't} fight me,'' I said.

Apprentice knelt at my side, speaking in the arcane tongue. He clicked
his tongue disapprovingly.

``Only nine layers of binding,'' he said. ``Sloppy work, even by
mass-summoning standards.''

Nine lines of runes made of light formed in the air in front of him. The
dark-skinned mage ran a finger down them, stopping at the eighth line.

``They can't attack anyone part of the Legions,'' he said, sounding
surprised. ``If they touch a legionary they have to just\ldots{} stop
moving.''

I closed my eyes, letting out a breathless laugh.

``Of course they can't,'' I said. ``The angle Heiress will work after
this is that she was trying to make sure the angel wouldn't have anyone
to convert, in case I failed. She was just covering all the bases like a
good Imperial citizen.''

Hakram let out a sharp breath. I hadn't even realized he was standing
behind me.

``If she wants to pretend that, her devils can't kill legionaries,'' he
said. ``Otherwise she was getting in the way of a Tower-sanctioned
military operation.''

``Well now,'' I murmured. ``Doesn't that just \emph{change} things?''

I grinned, slow and mean and showing too much teeth for it to be
friendly. It looked like I wasn't the one getting hampered by politics,
for once.

``Hakram,'' I said, rising to my feet. ``Send a runner to Commander
Hune. The moment we have enough troops in the city I want her forces to
swing east in force and flank the devils. They are to slaughter any
hellspawn they see and engage the defenders only if attacked.''

Adjutant saluted and immediately got to it. I offered a hand to
Apprentice, hoisting him up.

``You still have a general idea where the Lone Swordsman is?'' I asked.

``He moved further east,'' Masego replied, ``but I can find him. Is that
where we're headed?''

``As soon as Hakram is back we're moving out,'' I said.

``You take me to such interesting places, Catherine,'' Apprentice spoke
drily. ``What's next, a church full of demons that is also on fire?''

I shrugged. ``Day's still young.''

---

We hugged the wall on our path east, as much to run into devils as to
avoid running into rebels. A single company of regulars and we still
must have killed twenty of the creatures on our way through: the
Gallowborne realized early that if you ran in their direction they just
backed away without fighting, making them really easy to corner.
Jackalheads and ironhooks, mostly, but one of the lieutenants was a deft
hand with a crossbow and brought down a couple of the already-nicknamed
monkeybats. Time was hard to estimate in a city on fire, which was
unfortunate given how often I seemed to run into those. Twice we ran
into small crews of scouts, but they retreated without fighting.
Couldn't really blame them: not a lot of people would want to scrap with
a company of hardened veterans led by three Named. The further east we
got, the thicker the crowd of devils became. They started fleeing at the
sight of us, which was irritating but could be worked to our advantage.
If we cleared wherever we stepped just by being there, we could take the
pressure off the defenders.

It would be a fine line to walk. I didn't want William and his troops to
get off too easy or they'd give the Fifteenth trouble later, but if they
collapsed now we were all in trouble. I'd had an idea, when I'd realized
how Heiress' devils were bound, that might neuter them savagely. I
needed to be in the right place for it to work, though, and that place
was the thick of the fight. Where all the enemy soldiers were. That was
not, I reflected, ideal. On the other hand, if I didn't start
improvising now this whole battle was fucked. Even worse, there was no
telling where Heiress currently was: Apprentice could find no trace of
her when he scried, and I still had no godsdamned idea what she was
actually after. I couldn't help but think that the devils were another
distraction, something for me to get stuck in while she had free hand to
accomplish\ldots{} whatever it was she'd set out to accomplish.
\emph{But I can't take care of that until I'm done with William.}

If the Lone Swordsman burst onto the scene while I was dealing with
Heiress, I was pretty much dead. All the contingencies I had for him
involved a degree of controlled conditions, which was half the reason
Masego would not be leaving my side for the rest of this battle. The
best outcome I could hope for with the heroes was a truce until the
devils were out of play, but that seemed\ldots{} unlikely. Not opening
an additional front on each other might be more feasible, but if Heiress
was already past their lines I'd have to pursue -- and somehow I doubted
they'd just clap me on the back and let me through. That could get
messy. Weeping Heavens, my life was a series of progressively worse
messes. I'd been kind of hoping the worseness would eventually reach a
plateau of awful and stop, but so far that height was nowhere in sight.
\emph{Anyhow, I need to survive today to witness that shining ray of
hope}, I thought darkly. I slowed Zombie's gait with a twist of will,
the Gallowborne following suit around me. I'd had an itch between my
shoulders blades for a while now, one I'd first believed to be the
result of sweat and rough clothes. But it wasn't going away.

``Hold your fire,'' I told my guards. ``Thief, come the Hells out. Let's
have a chat.''

There was a long moment of silence afterwards and I almost began to
think I'd read too much into this. I hadn't, though: the short-haired
woman strolled out of a nearby alley, hands casually in her pockets. No
weapons in sight, but considering she'd thrown two dozen boats at the
field earlier that meant less than nothing. She was smiling, but it
didn't reach her eyes.

``I love talking,'' Thief said. ``It allows me to ask all sorts of
questions, like `why the fuck did you summon a bunch of devils, you
unholy twit?'\,''

``Wasn't me,'' I said. ``We're clearing them out wherever we can.''

``If they're not on your side,'' Thief said, narrowing her eyes, ``why
aren't they attacking you?''

``It's complicated,'' I replied, ``Long story short, Heiress is running
a scheme.''

``Well that makes it all better then,'' the heroine said with an
unpleasant smile. `` Does that mean we're friends now? Wanna hold hands,
maybe braid my hair?''

``Heiress wouldn't have had the excuse to pull something like this if
you assholes weren't summoning a brainwashing angel,'' I retorted
sharply.

There were limits to how civil I was willing to be with these people,
and the kind of incivility I was willing to take from them.

``Desperate times,'' Thief said, face turning blank. ``What do you want,
Foundling?''

``I want to talk with William.''

``Not sure he'll be all that interested in talking,'' the heroine said.

``That'll be my problem to deal with,'' I replied.

Thief mulled over that for a moment, then shrugged.

``No skin off my back if he puts you down, I suppose. Follow me,'' she
said. ``Last I heard he was on the hunt for your little friend.''

I frowned. ``Heiress?''

``That's the one,'' Thief agreed. ``They should be playing the `who's
losing an arm' game by now.''

The heroine leaned forward.

``Here's a hint: the answer is usually `\emph{not him'}.''