of failed duty. My burden of karma. Now I must die in this place, if necessary, to make amends. And a man committed to acceptance of death can accomplish much....”
Many eyes tilted groundward under his level gaze. No one doubted his sincerity. Thus fortified by their tacit understanding, Gonji continued:
“But those are the things which weigh against us, and I have not accounted the factors in our favor. We shall yet have unexpected help in our cause—”
“The Wallachians and Moldavians,” a man in the rear shouted, standing and raising a clenched fist. “They’ll come to our aid!”
“Quiet now!” Michael shouted, pushing free of Lydia’s helping hand and leaning on the crutch. “Gonji has the floor.”
He moved up to the table and turned to face the gathering.
“It’s all right,” Gonji objected. “Let him speak.”
“Ruman unity will see the territory freed of invaders,” the man added.
Gonji shook his head morosely. “Iye, the Ruman independence movement is still too disorganized, too concerned with internal problems. No effective leader has arisen who can command the loyalty of all the provinces. There is simply not enough time. This place has gone rotten for you. It crawls with greed and evil on every hand.”
“So what can we do?” Vlad Dobroczy hotly pleaded.
Gonji knew that he could delay the issue no longer. He clasped his hands behind his back and sighed as he paced around the table top.
“Evacuation,” he rasped in High German, the word echoing in half a dozen translations amid head-shaking and confused hand-waving.
“But—but I thought—” Aldo Monetto stammered. “You said that we’d have to abandon that idea after—” He weakly indicated the portal leading to the huge training chamber, wherein lay the torched carcass of the great worm.
“Hai,” Gonji agreed, “that’s true. We can no longer risk hiding the non-combatants down here for the duration. Not with the filthy sorcerer’s knowledge of the place.”
“So what then?”
“I mean that everyone must evacuate.” A hushing bled off their breaths as they stared, disbelieving what they had heard. “My friends, you must leave Vedun behind until it can be cleansed.”
“That’s lunacy!” someone cried.
“Leave our homes? Everything we’ve worked for all these years?”
“Flavio’s work of a lifetime?” Lydia spoke in unwonted dismay.
“For a time only, perhaps,” Gonji answered gently.
“Never!”
“We’ll not be driven from our homes!”
“What will we do?”
Gonji scowled. “Hey—is this the only world you can conceive? The only one you’ve ever planned for? A life of oppression and stoic acceptance of death, without raising a hand in your defense? You’ll do what you must, take up new lives elsewhere, if need be, until you can return to Vedun.”
“It’s madness! All of it.”
“How would we even escape? Klann will stop any mass movement of—”
“That’s only part of it,” Gonji snapped. “This isn’t to be a stampede of rabbits. The non-militant will be moved swiftly through the catacombs under heavy armed escort of married militiamen and brought out into both the valley and the northern hills. Those tunnels are fortified but unblocked. Meanwhile, up above, the bulk of the fighting men will be locking horns with Klann’s occupation troops, securing the city, and then defending against the reinforcements from the castle garrison, along with...whatever Mord raises against us. Once they’re engaged and thus preoccupied, we rush every wagon in the city—fortified as best they can be—rush them out the west gate under the rest of the family men. They’ll pick up the evacuated innocents along the way, then load them into the wagons and fly for safety in Austria. A good day’s ride ought to bring you into Hapsburg territory, where Klann will be loath to follow. In any case,” he sighed resolutely, “his command should be...considerably diminished by then. There’ll be no one to follow. I’ll see to that. We’ll see to that.” Gonji locked narrow-eyed gazes with Wilf.
“Ridiculous—!” came the derisive cries, once the translators had finished. Some stood as if to leave but were urged back into their seats by faithful bushi.
“What about the conscripts at the castle?” asked a farmer whose daughter had been taken as a servant.
“I was coming to that,” Gonji responded, strolling again. “You see we’re going to...take it back again....”
The simple confidence in the bold statement tore gasps from the onlookers. Gonji smiled thinly as he went on.
“Wilfred and I will lead a raiding party that will wrest Castle Lenska from those thieving bastards who’ve soiled it by their presence. We’ll free the hostages and the castle servantry, so that they may join you until it’s fit to return and restore Vedun. To fortify it against future incursions.”
“You keep speaking as if Vedun were a fortress, a military stronghold—” Milorad began fretfully.
“And so it is,” Gonji shot back, eyes gleaming. “So it must be, my diplomatic friend. There is no way to think now—fight or die.”
“How will you mount enough men to attack Castle Lenska?” Roric Amsgard thought aloud, the former military man shaking his head.
“It’s not the manpower, Roric, it’s the method,” Gonji replied. “You know that. Maybe we’ll turn some of Mord’s deceptive tricks against him. You see, I say this all with utmost confidence, because I want our traitor to tell Mord I’m coming for him. I want him to know that.”
He smiled calmly, eyes half-lidded as if he envisioned an oracle of certain victory. Softly, he continued: “You see, I know Mord’s power wanes. He grows weaker with each passing hour. His monsters die by the hands of puny men. Has any among you seen the wyvern trail its filth across your skies today? I thought not. I myself participated in his demise....”
A tremor of excitement and jostling. Whispers of awe.
Gonji spoke with quiet arrogance, wishing Mord to know it all, if indeed the traitor would be able to get word to him. It would be necessary for Mord to be enraged, his thinking unhinged, his plans out of focus as he concentrated all his hatred on Gonji.
But was the traitor among them now? Among those he most trusted and most distrusted?
Hai. The traitor was there. Somewhere. Pulsing with fear and wrath....
Wilf had stood as Gonji had mentioned his name. The young smith also now leaned against his table with arms folded.
“Can any of you doubt that we’ll accomplish what Gonji says?” Wilf contributed with a forced pride that caused the samurai to stifle a smile. How well Gonji appreciated the company of the valiant and loyal bushi of Vedun!
His
