Kip became aware that someone was right behind him. He turned and saw Ironfist looming over him. "How long have you been there?" he asked.

"Long enough to protect you from your foolishness, if not long enough to stop it. I wasn't aware you had your family's knack for getting into trouble in the blink of an eye."

Oh, the blue wall had been Ironfist's. Was that twice over now that Kip owed his life to the huge Blackguard?

"Commander," Gavin said, "I need you to go speak with our spies. Crassos is rattled. He may run. Make sure the crews manning the cannons at the harbor's entrance are men who will obey the order to fire, if it comes to that. And that he doesn't plunder the treasury. I need to be able to pay our army."

Ironfist frowned. "I'd prefer not to leave Kip. I'm a Blackguard, Lord Prism, not a messenger. My duty is here."

Gavin said, "I can't do it. Kip can't do it. It needs doing. This is my fault for forbidding you to bring more Blackguards, but the point remains."

Commander Ironfist hesitated only one second more. "Very well, Lord Prism." He bowed and headed for the horses someone had brought for them.

When he had gone, there was a conspicuous silence. Dozens of workmen had seen what had happened, and humiliating the governor had clearly earned Gavin some goodwill, but no one appeared to want to come close either, lest Gavin was angry. Gavin rubbed his forehead. "You're probably wondering why we're going to fight a war for assholes like that governor," he said.

Actually, the thought hadn't occurred to Kip, but now that Gavin brought it up, it did seem odd.

"Because Rask Garadul had the stench of a fanatic, Kip. That's all. Hundreds, or if we're unlucky, thousands of people will die because I met Rask for a few minutes and I thought he was crazy." Gavin expelled a breath. "He wants this city, and honestly, he's got a right to it. If I could simply give this city back to Tyrea's people, I would. They deserve it. They-you-have paid too high of a price for a war in which they took the only side they could. If there were anyone else who would take over after we left, I'd do it, and damn the Spectrum. But with Rask in power… It's a little more complicated than that, of course, but that's why I'm here, and my presence is what will make this a near thing. If we left, Rask would march in unopposed, close the harbor before the Parians could land, and that would be pretty much the end of it. The Parians would be furious, but the profits here aren't so great that they want to march an army here. Eventually, Rask would offer an exclusive shipping contract on all the citrus from Garriston for a few years, and they'd take it. What do you think? Is it worth it?"

He's asking me like my opinion is worth something. Kip hadn't had that many adults care what he thought. "I think King Garadul should die and save us all this trouble."

Gavin laughed ruefully. "If only. Maybe Karris will work a miracle and do just that."

"You really miss her, don't you?" Kip asked before he could stop himself.

Gavin looked at Kip sharply. Then he looked away. Relented. After a minute, he expelled a long breath, and it was like Kip was watching Gavin's hope leak out of him. "That obvious, huh?" Gavin asked.

"You think they'll kill her?" Kip asked.

A number of emotions flitted over Gavin's face, settling in resignation, sorrow too deep for tears. "She'll live until Rask sees if I'll trade the city for her. Then he'll kill her. Either way."

No. No they won't, Kip thought. I swear it.

Chapter 65

The empty feeling in Kip's stomach didn't go away when they served lunch. Gavin and General Danavis-even though it was weird to think of him as General Danavis rather than Master Danavis, it was too weird for Kip to think of him as just Corvan-and even Liv were poring over the drawings and plans with architects and artists while they ate. Kip sat to one side, out of the way. He had no idea what they were doing, and space around the table was limited. He ate fresh oranges with gusto, and tore into the intriguing spiced fresh javelina. It tasted amazing, but even he couldn't keep his mind on food for long.

"I'd ask if you're serious," General Danavis was saying, "but you have that look."

"The problem isn't the drafting," Gavin said. "I can handle that much luxin easily-"

"Easily?" General Danavis interrupted, dubiously.

"Fine, not easily, but I can do it. The problem is the weight. I can't lift this much, much less throw it into place."

Liv cleared her throat gently, as if unsure she really wanted to intrude.

"Aliviana?" Gavin asked.

She colored. "Please, Liv." She brushed her hair back nervously. "How about this?" She drafted something onto the table. It was, of course, superviolet, and thus invisible to most people.

General Danavis scowled. Apparently, most people included him.

"Sorry, father," she said. "I can't control yellow enough to make models with it."

Kip tried to see what she'd drafted, but the table was obscured by bodies.

Gavin chuckled. "It looks ridiculous," he said, and Liv blanched. "But it'll work. Perfect. Fine. What do our architects think of the design?"

For a moment, Kip thought Gavin was being pretty rude. Obviously, General Danavis and everyone else around the table was curious about what Liv had designed. But this was Gavin as leader. All the rest of them didn't need to know, and there was work to be done. He understood the solution to the problem, and that was all that was necessary. On to the next problem.

Which is what I should be doing. Kip had finished lunch. He could now draft a little bit, and on purpose. He knew what he had to do.

"My Lord Prism, none of us has ever built a wall of this magnitude, or, or-or a wall at all, to tell the truth," a nervous architect said, "but these old drawings you've shown us of Rathcaeson are clearly flawed. Too much fantasy, not enough function."

"This empty desert doesn't have enough function," Gavin said sharply. "Tell me what we need to do to fix it. I need to start building now, today."

The architect blinked. Swallowed. "Uh, here." He drew a line with his finger. "This interior passage isn't wide enough. You're going to have men rushing back and forth in armor, with guns, cannons being rolled into position, or replaced for repair. This passage must be wide enough for men to run past each other and past carts or cannons."

"How wide?" Gavin demanded.

"I'd say, uh…" He held his fingers apart on the drawing.

"For Orholam's sake, write on it," Gavin said.

"Sir, those drawings are hundreds of years old, priceless relics of-" another man, perhaps an artist, protested.

"Priceless is being alive next week," Gavin snapped. "Continue."

Kip didn't know why he'd been so slow, but it only dawned on him now that Gavin was seriously planning on building a wall, here. Before King Garadul's army arrived. In four days.

Oh, maybe because it's impossible?

Of course, crossing the Cerulean Sea in a morning was impossible too.

But seriously, did Gavin mean to draft the entire thing by himself? Kip didn't know all that much about drafting and how much a drafter could safely use in a day, but the mere fact that the world wasn't bursting with luxin buildings and bridges and walls told him that it had to be incredibly difficult. In fact, the only luxin buildings he'd seen had been at the Chromeria, and he had to guess that the seven towers had been the product of a huge collaborative effort.

The architect, a squinting little man, after puffing out his cheeks a number of times, deep in thought, began drawing quickly. "The cutouts on these murder holes don't give sufficient range of fire. If you modify the top of the wall like this, scaling ladders won't be able to hook onto the wall-at least not as easily. A railing on the back, like so, will save more of your own men from falling off the wall than theirs. These areas on top of the wall need to be bigger so you can store more powder for the cannons. There's no place in these drawings for taking the wounded. I think you could incorporate that here. If you can set sleds like this right into the wall of the interior passage, it'll be easier to move materiel around. There are also no lantern hooks in this plan. Your wall will be entirely dark if you don't fix this. You'll need cranes here, here, and here to lift supplies."