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approximately when they’ll hit, but exactly who will be doing the hitting and what spot they’ve chosen is still Clero’s secret. He’s not taking any chances on a leak.”
    “You’d better tell me everything you know,” Dameron said with a frustrated look on his face. “It may still be possible to do something.”
    “There’s very little to it,” the thin voice answered. “Clero knows Bellna will be leaving for the capital soon, and has arranged it so that she never gets there. It would be harder for him if Havro planned on using his own men as an escort, but his own men are too deep in that fight on his western border. Grigon tells us that mercenaries have been hired, and you know what mercenaries are like.”
    “Only too well,” Dameron muttered, then turned his head to the big man who stood not far from him.
    “Valdon, how many men can we put together to be mercenaries if Havro’s bunch turn out to be useless or bought?”

    “None.” The big man called Valdon shrugged. “All of you do. I don’t expect to lose, but if I do, the turn is all Natha escapade in post 9’s territory. With the number of barbarians in that area, pulling.
    them out quickly is just about impossible. And forget about Leandor even before you ask. He’s Healed, but he’s nowhere ready to go back – if we ever intend seeing him again. But neither of you has heard the latest from the capital. Sardrin’s message came in a little while ago.”
    “This time it had better be good news,” Dameron said, suddenly looking more alert. “Is it anything we can use?”
    “Only if you’d like Bellna to have a King’s Escort,” Valdon answered with a grin. “King Naro has sent the Escort to deliver the dowry gifts and collect his son’s bride, and there are two hundred of them.
    Can you see Clero attacking a King’s Escort of two hundred fighters?”
    “Easily,” came the miniature voice of Eavamon from the console, putting a damper on the pleased grins Dameron and Valdon were showing. “He’d need two or three times their number in attackers, but the game’s worth it to him. When is the Escort due?”
    “In a little less than a local week,” Valdon supplied, exchanging looks with Dameron. “Sardrin would have told us about them as soon as they left, but King Naro insisted that his most trusted advisers join him in the pre-nuptial religious ceremonies that are expected of him.
    Sardrin thinks Naro wants him to come up with a way out of the need for ceremonies like that, and after going through one himself he’s more than willing. Why did you ask about the Escort’s ETA?”
    “I was hoping they might be so close that Clero would not have the time to find the number of men he needed,” Eavamon answered, his sigh so clear it should have caused a flicker in the orange light.
    “Unfortunately that’s more than enough time, especially if he has relay riders watching the capital, which I’m sure he does. He’ll know they’re coming and he’ll be prepared.”
    “He may know they’re coming, but if he doesn’t care about them he won’t be prepared,” Dameron said, the words slow and thoughtful.
    “Is that supposed to mean something?” the invisible Eavamon asked while Valdon gave Dameron a look that said the same thing.
    “It means that Clero won’t care about the Escort if he thinks Bellna has already left with mercenaries,” Dameron said, his face and voice both announcing his grin. “He’ll be too busy chasing the mercenary group to care about an Escort that miraculously missed them.”
    “With a decoy!” the Eavamon voice crowed, enjoying the idea as much as Dameron. “A decoy ought to be easy to arrange!”
    “Not as easy as all that,” Valdon said, taking his turn at wet-blanket throwing. “Don’t forget about the Natha gatherings in 9’s territory. How are we supposed to reach a suitable decoy?”
    “You can’t tell me every female fighter we have is in on that,”
    Dameron protested, an edge of