Princeps' Fury (Codex Alera 5)

"I am not one of his subordinates," Tavi replied.

Varg flicked his ears in acknowledgment. "No. You have declared your intention to replace him as a leader."

"In a manner of speaking," Tavi said, showing Varg his teeth in another smile, "that is precisely what I intend to do."

Lararl came to the rooftop alone.

Anag and several other apprehensive-looking Canim stood by while Lararl shut the door in their faces and turned to Varg. "My guards may be going deaf," the golden-furred Warmaster snarled. "Because only a fool or a madman would have spoken the words they brought to me."

Varg faced Lararl without any kind of movement.

Lararl stepped forward to stand directly in front of Varg, and the two Canim put their hands to their swords in precisely the same instant.

Silence reigned on the rooftop for a full minute, the sounds of the battle below rising and falling with the breeze, like some enormous, gruesome surf pounding upon a seashore.

"Give me one reason," Lararl snarled, "not to kill you here and now."

"I will give you three," Varg answered, and inclined the tip of his nose slightly toward the stone shelter the Alerans had crafted.

There was a vague sense of movement in the darkness within, then a slender-looking Cane clad in soft grey-and-black cloth glided silently out of the darkness. Immediately after, two more similarly clad, younger Canim flowed out behind the first, taking up a silent, passive stance on either side of the first.

Behind Tavi, Max hissed in a breath of surprise, and he did not need to look to see that Max's hand had gone to the hilt of his sword. "Bloody crows. Hunters."

Tavi suppressed his own startled reaction. He recognized the gear of the three Canim. The trio that had nearly gutted him during the war against Nasaug had been dressed identically.

Beside him, Kitai narrowed her eyes in suspicion, and Tavi felt the surge of surprise and... annoyance, he thought, as she spoke. "When did they slip in there?" She paused, and something faintly impressed entered her whisper. "How did they get up here at all?"

"They can't have been in there more than half an hour," Tavi murmured. "That was the last time one of us went inside to warm up."

"I saw and heard nothing." Kitai's eyes glittered, and her teeth showed in a quick smile. "That was well done."

Lararl eyed the three Hunters for a moment, then turned his attention back to Varg.

"Since the battle with your enemy seems to have clouded your vision," Varg said, "I will explain matters to you. It is possible for you to kill me. But you cannot be sure of stopping my Hunters from carrying word of such an act to Nasaug. Even if you do, Nasaug is my wisest student. He will very likely assume that you have killed me and react accordingly.

"If you can count, you will see that the Alerans are missing a member of their party. Doubtless, he has already returned to their Legions to report what you have done so far. It is my belief that they remain imprisoned largely as a matter of respect-which they have given, even when it has not been given to them." Varg showed his teeth. "Finally, it is possible that I kill you, in which case your people are left without a Warmaster.

"Nothing you do with that weapon," Varg concluded, "will help your people. It will leave them without a Warmaster-or it will create more enemies. Is that what you want for them, Lararl?"

The other Cane shivered, and Tavi could all but see the rage rolling off him.

Then Lararl let out an explosive snarl and turned to stalk several paces away.

Varg released the hilt of his weapon and glanced at Tavi.

Tavi raised his voice. "Your defenses are the most impressive I have ever seen, Warmaster," he said to Lararl.

The Canim glanced back at Tavi, his eyes angry, wary.

"But impressive or not, they are still fortifications. You can't move them, adjust them-and they are all positioned to prevent an enemy from entering your range at all. The highest wall in the world is useless if the enemy can march around it." Tavi took a slow breath. If he'd guessed correctly, his next words would show it. If he hadn't... well. At least he was armed. "How did the Vord bypass your defenses?"

Lararl's eyes narrowed still farther. "I did not say the Vord had done so."

"Those soldiers who arrived earlier were wounded by something," Tavi said. "If they'd been fighting my people, they never would have escaped on taurga. If they'd been fighting Varg's warriors, you would have sent someone to execute him or just let him rot on this rooftop. Instead, you sent Anag, whom we have reason to trust and respect. It was not a gesture of anger or retaliation." Tavi nodded out toward the battle. "The enemy are many. Once behind your defenses, it would take only a fraction of the forces out there to devastate your range."

Lararl said nothing. Tavi's mouth felt dry.

"Warmaster," Tavi said, "it seems clear to me that if you wish to protect your people, you need our help to do it."

Lararl bared his fangs. They were impressive. Tavi forced himself to keep his expression steady and blank. Then the golden Cane looked away. His ears twitched, almost imperceptibly, in assent.

Tavi let out a slow breath. It was harder to keep the relief from his face than it had been to disguise his apprehension.

After a stilted pause, Lararl spoke, biting off the words savagely. "My forces are stationed at the entry points to the range. The Vord tunneled under them. A large force is now among the estates and markets of the makers. Killing."

Varg rumbled, a sound of unmistakable hatred.

"More of them pour in by the hour," Lararl continued. "It will not be long before we are outnumbered in the rear areas as well as at the fortifications. Then..." He spread his hands and closed them together, as if squeezing the juice from a fruit.

"You need our help," Tavi said quietly.

"Help?" Lararl said. An almost-hysterical edge of frustration entered his voice. "Help? What could you do?" He drew his sword and jabbed it at the horde spreading over the plains below. "What could anyone do against that? We will fight. But there can be no victory. This is the end."

"That depends upon your definition of victory, Warmaster," Tavi said quietly.

"Shuar cannot be held," Lararl snarled.

"Is Shuar the land?" Tavi asked. "Is it the hills and stones and trees? Is Shuar the rivers, the walls, the towers?"

Lararl had turned to stare at Tavi intently.

"Or is it the people?" Tavi said quietly. "Your people, Warmaster."