Chapter 68: Attack Strategy

Chapter 68: Attack Strategy

Sebastien

Month 12, Day 26, Saturday 11:30 p.m.

Sebastien quickly reported what little she and Damien had found throughout the week and the events of that evening. “I missed Tanya’s meeting with the Morrows. Unless they have some other stealthy way to communicate with her, she must have met with one of them on the way. If you get me a map, I might be able to estimate the path she took based on her angle from my location, but I’m not even sure how long she was gone from the University before Damien warned me. In the worst case, it could have been almost an hour.”

“This is good,” Oliver said, moving to pull a rolled-up map from one of his cabinets. “Actually, very good.”

She stared at him.

“Not that you lost track of the girl. I’m talking about the secret meeting. I’ve wanted to get an eye into a place like that since I came to this city. You can vouch for a Verdant Stag member to join!”

She shook her head. “The rules state you must have been a member for at least six months and have brought a certain amount of value to the group before you can recommend new members.”

He was visibly disappointed, but said, “Well, next time, make note of what people offer and need, and let me know. There might be some good business opportunities for the Verdant Stag. I’ll give you a couple gold for each meeting.”

“Five gold,” she offered immediately.

“Ridiculous. Three gold.”

“For something that could get me caught and sent to jail in my female form? Your false identity papers aren’t enough to keep me safe from that. Four gold. You’ll be saving a lot more than that by avoiding the magic tax, even after the arbiter’s fees.”

“Fine. Four gold, but only for any meetings that provide valuable supplies or information.”

She glared at him, but conceded. It wasn’t a lot at the kind of scale she was now working with, but every little bit helped.

He laid out the map and turned to her expectantly.

Based on her memory of her own location and Tanya’s changing angle relative to her, Sebastien estimated a large swath of the city that the other girl could have accessed.

“You’ve just pointed out the majority of Morrow territory,” Oliver said. “Not exactly revelatory.”

Sebastien clenched her jaw until her teeth creaked, holding back her frustration. “I’ll do better next time.”

Oliver hesitated, staring at the map, then said, “There might not be a next time.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m planning a joint attack on the Morrows with the Nightmare Pack. We’re going to oust them and take over their territory.”

Sebastien took a sharp breath.

“The student liaison is a good source of information, but any of the Morrows’ leaders should be, too. If I can question them, spying on her outside the University might not be as critical. Once the Morrows are defeated, it’s even possible her whole operation will fall apart.”

“Eliminating the Morrows altogether... Hah!” Sebastien let out a single, breathy laugh. “It’s definitely the most direct way to deal with your problems, but I hadn’t thought it was an actual possibility. I’m assuming you’ve got a plan? And enough manpower? Are you just going to be going after the leadership, or the lower-ranking members as well?”

“Not only will we be neutralizing their leadership, but we also plan to take out lieutenants and capture the most critical resource points and trade stations. That way, even if someone slips through our grasp and wants to mount a counterattack, they won’t have the resources to do so.” he said, growing more excited the longer he spoke. He stood and returned to his desk, motioning for her to follow him. “The Nightmare Pack are dedicating a lot of their resources to this venture, which is how we’re able to do this. Not just manpower and weapons, but their authority and reputation also. Without them, even if we did manage to take out the Morrow leadership, it would be difficult to hold their territory against rebellion and other gangs. Our current plan is to initiate joint strikes on several different points of interest at once.”

“Look,” he said, pushing piles of paper and other clutter to the side to reveal a large map covered in different-colored notations and scribbled comments. “This is going to be the largest offensive the Morrows have ever dealt with. We’re hitting eleven different major assets at the same time, and six minor ones. No plan survives contact with the enemy, of course, but we’ve tried to make the strategy as shatter-proof as possible.”

Even the amount of surveillance work that must have gone into developing this plan was impressive. “You’re pouring a lot of resources into this.”

“I have to, or they’ll keep bleeding me dry. It’s either expand or die. You know that as well as anyone. I’m putting everything I can into this, because it has to work.”

“Are you sure you can trust the Nightmare Pack not to turn on you once the Morrows are finished? They’re much bigger than the Stags, aren’t they?”

“Lord Lynwood and I made a vow of nonaggression for the next five years, so I trust them as much as that’s worth, as long as he remains their leader. Beyond that, though, they became especially accommodating after their visit with you. I don’t think they have any intention of suddenly turning on us.”

They cared for the boy Millennium quite a lot, apparently. They might need her help again if the current spell stopped working as he grew older.

Oliver paid for her carriage back to the University. It was a nice one that even had a shielded brazier of coals within to keep the riders warm.

The dorms were dark and mostly silent. It was well past curfew, but Damien was still awake, sitting up on his bed and waiting for her to return. He hopped up as soon as he saw her and motioned for her to follow him from the room.

With a sigh, she trudged after him into the bathrooms, where he checked every stall before turning around to say, “I don’t know how she slipped away. We looked for her as soon as we realized, and I broke the bracelet as soon as I knew we weren’t going to find her immediately.”

Sebastien nodded tiredly. “You did fine. She’s slippery, but I found her.”

“What happened? She’s been back for a couple hours already. Was she meeting with whoever Professor Munchworth was talking about? What were you doing?”

Sebastien considered simply telling him he didn’t have the right to know before he’d proved himself, but was certain this would require more effort than making up a simple lie, as Damien was sure to argue. “She met with someone. I’m not sure who. I couldn’t see their face. She traded some of the gold for beast cores. If she did anything else, it was before I caught up to her.”

“Beast cores? Why would she want those?”

Sebastien shrugged. “To trade or to use. You can make guesses as easily as I can.”

Damien had more questions, but she brushed them off. “I don’t know, Damien, and even if I did, that doesn’t mean I would tell you. You’ve got a long way to go before your curiosity entitles you to information.” ‘And if I have my way, it never will,’ she added silently.

She slept well, for once, and in the morning went to the library, trailing behind Tanya and Newton.

Tanya headed up the stairs for the second floor, but Sebastien called Newton’s name as the young man moved to follow her.

Newton walked with her, putting a few meters between them and the stairs. “Is everything okay?” he asked, his voice lowered. “Is this about me losing track of T—”

She shook her head, cutting him off. “It’s fine. This isn’t about her. I was wondering if I could ask you a favor.”

Newton nodded, raising his eyebrows as he waited for her to continue.

“I need the recipe for Humphries’ adapting solution. But it’s on the second floor. I was wondering if you could bring me this book so I could copy it?” she asked, handing him a slip with the potion reference’s location.

“Umm, sure, I can do that. Why do you need it, if I can ask?”

She’d already thought what to say, just in case he asked. “I met a young girl whose mother is an Apprentice under a sorcerer. The girl has a blood disorder that requires constant visits to a healer, and...well, her mother is struggling to pay for treatment. I happened to hear her pleading with the healer while the girl waited outside.”

“Oh,” Newton murmured.

Sebastien nodded. “This won’t fix the problem, but it’s a lot cheaper than healing spells, and her mother should be strong enough to brew it. Maybe it’ll help them get back on their feet.”

Newton’s grip on the piece of paper tightened, and he hurried off to the second floor with a sharp nod.

When he returned, Sebastien copied the recipe onto a couple loose sheets of paper. The potion was difficult and power-intensive, and some of the components were relatively expensive, but she could brew it—if only in very small batches. Flipping a few pages, she also found the modified piercing spell that would let someone funnel the solution directly into a patient’s veins, overcoming the natural defensive barrier of their skin.

‘That would work for blood transfusions, too.’ It was just another example of how the delineations between acceptable and unacceptable magic were so arbitrary.

“Thank you,” she said, handing the book back to Newton.

“No need for thanks. I wish there were more people like you out there,” he said with a soft, knowing smile.

She shuffled awkwardly. “Err, how’s your father?”

“His lungs rattle with every breath,” Newton said, his smile turning strained. “But we found a healer who’s willing to take payments, and there are a couple of people who might be willing to lend us some gold.”

Sebastien wondered if this healer and lender were both from the Verdant Stag, but couldn’t just ask. “Let me know if I can help,” she said. “I know a couple people with enough coin that they probably wouldn’t mind lending some to you.”

“Thank you, Sebastien, but really, you’ve already done more than enough to help me.”

She shook her head. “Not really. I’ve pointed some opportunity your way, and that’s it. You’re the one who’s helping yourself.”

He rolled his eyes at her, but his smile had lost its strain as he left, returning to the second floor to keep a subtle watch over Tanya.

Sebastien folded up the recipe for Humphries’ adapting solution and put it in her pocket. She held her fingers over the pocket, a feverish rush of determination warming them. ‘I will not let anyone else die the same way as Jameson, at the least.’