The twins shared a speaking look with Kirsty and she answered: “Putting all of the spells and groundwork in place for an area that large will likely take about a month.” Kirsty thought this over and tipped her hand back and forth. “Maybe less; it depends how much help we have setting it up.”
“How long does it take to feed the enemy false information?” Hendrix asked Troi.
“You have to be careful on that,” Troi warned and he was not speaking to just Hendrix. “You have to time it carefully. Early enough to give them time to respond to the news, but not early enough for them to really validate it. If I feed them a false report now, it will take two weeks maximum to reach the right ears. From there, it will take another week for them to verify it.”
“So we want to feed them the false intel no more than a week before they start moving,” Hendrix said aloud, more to himself than to anyone else.
“That sounds about right.” Tierone leaned forward on the table, bracing himself with his forearms. “Troi, you’re keeping tabs on the army’s development, I assume?”
“You assume correctly, Your Majesty.”
Tierone blinked, then smiled. “It still feels odd hearing myself addressed so. Alright. Then can we say we’ll leave this up to Troi’s discretion? Let him judge the right moment to start his campaign of misinformation, as Hendrix put it, and notify us when he’s done so.”
Hendrix looked ready to object to this, but Edvard cut him off before he could do so. “Hendrix, you’ve only been here a few days, so you likely don’t realize what bedlam this place can be. Troi sometimes spends two hours looking for me. We need to give our people the authority to move at their discretion. As long as they continue to update us so we know everyone’s progress, we’ll be fine.”
The prince still did not look sold, but a wary look at Ashlynn made him clamp his mouth shut. Instead, he changed the subject. “I’d like to start my campaign with Senn. Aside from it being nearby, I had a great deal of support the last time I was there, and I believe it will take very little to bring them over to our side.”
“I believe you will have minimal trouble there, Your Highness,” Troi seconded this with an encouraging nod. “I hear nothing but praise for you from that quarter. Also, if you can do so, then I can use them to our advantage. They will likely help us convince the army that the winter is mild.”
“It will be more convincing if the news comes from another source,” Ashlynn agreed. “I think—”
There was a harried knock at the door before a guard burst in. “Sherriff, Broden, we need you.”
Ashlynn gave him a weary look. “On a scale of one to ten, how bad?”
“Fifteen?” he offered, still wide around the eyes.
“Duty calls,” Broden noted, standing easily and pulling on his quiver as he moved. After being in Estole this long, reports like this from panicked guardsmen no longer worried him. They’d deal with it, whatever it was.
“Update me at dinner,” Ashlynn ordered her brothers—and likely Hendrix—even as she strode out the door.
“We’ll meet again after dinner!” Edvard commanded as they left. As the door swung shut behind them, Broden heard Edvard say, “See? I told you we can’t have a meeting for more than two hours before someone’s called away.”
Snorting, Broden stretched his legs out to keep up with Ashlynn. They likely had only managed those two hours because most of the city was hungover still from the night before. He privately wished Hendrix luck pulling off another meeting that long again.
Chapter Three
Troi cleared his throat and for some reason had a wary eye on Ash as he spoke. “Sire, if we’re speaking of the spy work that needs to be done, there is something I’d like to address.”
Edvard gave him an encouraging wave of the hand.
“I’ve been debating this for some time,” Troi hedged, still with that weather eye on Ash. Such behavior was unusual for him and it made Riana wonder just what he was going to say next that he expected Ash to react to. “I have a particular spy that is within the main Court at Iysh. He is, in fact, a dandy in the Court but privy to an amazing amount of information and is somewhat known as a double agent.”
“Somewhat?” Hendrix repeated, brows screwing up in confusion. “Clarify that, Master Troi.”
“He’s not officially a spy for Iysh, or on their payroll as such, but he gives them information as he comes across it, which he’s rewarded handsomely for. His information, of course, is always provided by us and we’re careful on what we give him. He’s one of my best double agents. My most reliable information comes from him and he is, in turn, excellent at feeding false intel to them. Zigzag is his codename.”
“Zigzag.” The nuance in Ash’s tone made it clear he didn’t think that was a very good spy name.
Troi gave him a brief, rare smile. “Because I never know which way the man will go. He’s completely loyal but terribly unpredictable in some ways.”
Ah, so the name was more of a description than anything? Riana found it amusing that a spy’s name wasn’t a name at all. Shouldn’t it be something bland and innocuous so that no one would question it? Or was the temptation for some creativity too much to resist?
“Zigzag has reported something that I think can be vitally useful if done right. My counter-part in Iysh relies heavily on his subordinates for information. The man holds his position because of his family connections and not on his ability. His name is Dunlap.”
Tierone held up a hand. “Wait, I know the family. Which Dunlap?”
“Greer Dunlap.”
It wasn’t quite an eye roll on Tierone’s part, but close. “Ah. Things are becoming clearer. Edvard, ever meet the man?”
“No, I don’t think I have. What’s he like, that you two are sneering so?”
“On the surface he’s everything a master spy and information gatherer should be.” Troi’s hands rose a little in illustration as he painted the picture. “He’s tall, has hawkish features that give him a striking look, with blue eyes and dark chestnut hair that’s in fashion right now. He has the best of everything—horses, carriages, house, clothes—and he married very well. It was family connections that got him in the department and his smooth-talking abilities that let him rise through the ranks. He actively hunts down people and talks to them, at pubs, at cafes, at dark street corners in the dead of night, and he’s responsible for almost half the information that Iysh shifts through every week. There’s not a spy in Iysh that doesn’t report to him on a semi-regular basis.”
“But…?” Edvard encouraged, anticipation rising.
“But in truth, the man’s an imbecile. He’s terrible at shifting truth from lies, believes anything that matches his preconceptions of events, and has a weakness for a certain type of informant.”
Riana felt like Troi had finally gotten back around to his main point. “What type?”
“The female type.” Troi was back to staring at Ash out of the corner of his eye. He looked ready to duck under the table, too. “Zigzag reported this to me right before our winter storm passed through. He reports to Dunlap on a regular basis himself and he has his own means of seeing how much Dunlap buys and how much he discounts. About half of what Zigzag tells him actually makes it into a report to his superior and is acted upon. However, Zigzag tried feeding the same information through one of his, ah, female companions, and Dunlap swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.”
“Interesting.” Hendrix had that look of extreme calculation on his face again. “Same exact information?”
“Almost verbatim, or so Zigzag says. He tested this two other times, using different women, and some of the older information from the week before. Same result. Dunlap doesn’t question a single word if it’s coming from a woman.”
“I believe this.” Kirsty actually rolled her eyes. “I’ve met the man myself on too many occasions to count. Dunlap’s got the worst blind spot when it comes to women. He’s been trained since toddlerhood to believe that they can do no wrong. It’s a mi
racle, really, that his wife is perfectly faithful to him, as he’d be the perfect husband to cheat on. He’d never suspect a thing.”
Hendrix liked this idea a great deal. Riana could tell because all of a sudden the prince had a hard time keeping his seat. He nearly vibrated. “Then, if we use a female spy to report the mild winter, and whatever else we need to, our chances of success…?”
“Double,” Troi stated firmly. “At least double. Which is why Zigzag’s observation is so invaluable. The problem that I have is this: who do I use? I didn’t have many female spies in the Iyshian Court to begin with, and what few I did have, I’ve had to pull some of them because of various problems. I don’t endanger my people unless I can help it. Three of them were on the verge of being compromised so I had to move them out. It doesn’t leave me with much manpower in the Court.”
“So you need to send in a new face.” Edvard’s eyes darted between Riana, Ash, and Troi, and the expression on his face was that of realization.
Although what he realized was beyond Riana. Unless…no, surely not.
Ash cottoned on at that moment and he left his chair so fast it went crashing back. Dark anger streaked across his face, eyes narrowed to slits as he stared at Troi. “No.”
Troi stood as well, almost pleading. “Ash, I need her.”
“No; curse you, no!”
“I need a woman I can trust, someone that knows every aspect of our plans and its variations, someone that has the ability to make judgment calls on the spot when the situation demands it. She needs to be stunningly beautiful so that it’s not questioned why she’s on Zigzag’s arm, and so she has an easier entrance to Dunlap’s company. I’m sorry to say that in this case, looks are just as important as brains. It’ll be safest if she is also a capable fighter, just in case things go pear-shaped, so that she can fight her way out. On top of all this, it has to be a face that no one in Iysh will recognize. Riana is literally the only woman that fits this description.”
Riana stared at Troi with the oddest mix of emotions swirling in her chest. Her? A spy? It was beyond flattering that Troi thought of her as stunning, too, but what was truly flattering was that he thought she had the talent and brains necessary to be a spy in the first place.
Ash moved so that he was nose to nose with the shorter man. “You are not sending my partner into the heart of Iysh without me. No, Troi.”
Troi desperately looked like he wanted to argue but didn’t quite dare with an angry wizard sparking off magic in front of him. The whole room, in fact, didn’t quite dare to take Ash on in this kind of mood. Ashlynn was one thing with her outbursts, but Ash? Mild-mannered Ash that never lost his temper? He was a different kettle of fish entirely.
Riana stared at the spymaster for a long moment. After nearly a year of being here, she recognized desperation when she saw it. Troi would never have asked this if he had another viable option. The truth was he pulled off miracles on a regular basis for them, but this was a war he was ill-equipped to fight. Iysh had more manpower, more resources, and more money to use in this game of espionage. Estole and Dahl combined couldn’t begin to compare. The only advantage they had was the man standing in front of them, the man that knew how to play this game and play it well.
Troi’s instincts and intelligence had not led Estole astray even once in the past. Riana didn’t think he was letting the situation overwhelm him now. If he was asking for her, then he needed her, and he knew that she could do the job. She could not let Ash’s fears cripple their efforts.
Taking in a breath, she braced for the argument that was coming.
“Troi,” she said quietly, and that single utterance sounded like a death knell in a graveyard.
The Master of Spies dared to look away from an angry wizard. “Yes, Miss Riana.”
“When do ye need me to go?”
There was an exhalation of relief and surprise from different people, but Ash reacted the strongest. He grabbed her wrist and hauled her out of the study, onto the balcony, and slammed the glass doors closed behind them. Whirling to her, she saw and felt every emotion boiling inside her wizard. He was angry, bewildered, determined but overall very, very afraid.
“What,” Ash ground out between clenched teeth, “do you think you’re doing? Don’t you realize how much danger you’ll be in?”
Early on in their partnership, Riana had learned that when Ash was upset like this, she needed to deal with emotions first. Arguing with words had no effect with Ash. So she didn’t answer that question but instead stepped forward, hugging him around the waist.
His hands closed around her shoulders even as he said, “Don’t do that. I hate it when you do that, you always make me look like an idiot for losing my temper.”
Even though he said all of that, he didn’t let go of her either. Riana hid a smile against his shoulder. “I feel yer fear, Ash.”
“Of course you do, that’s because there’s very good reason to be afraid, and you’re not going.”
“I feel yer fear but I canna let it govern me actions.” She lifted her head enough to meet his eyes, those clear blue eyes that were so stormy now. “If we do no’ take risks, we lose it all. We do no’ have enough means to fight as it is.”
He wanted to argue with her. Oh, he wanted to do that, she could feel the words boiling and roiling inside of him, itching to burst free. But he could sense her now as strongly as she did him and all he felt from Riana was resolve. Well, resolve mixed with anticipation. And that, more than anything, made him falter. “You’re actually looking forward to it.”
“Always found it a bit romantic, the darin’-do of spywork,” she admitted, trying to tamp down her inner child. “And the bit of spywork I did for Troi afore be quite fun.”
Growling a few choice words under his breath, Ash gave her a gentle shake. “When you look at me like that, and feel that way about it, you take the wind completely out of my sails. You know that, right? Don’t you have any sense of danger?”
“Why?” she asked him innocently. “If I go, ye be going with me.”
That really made him swear and he yanked the doors open, stomping into the room ahead of her. To the room at large he announced, “My good sense and judgment has been overturned.”
That made Edvard and Tierone both laugh. Ash shook a finger at them. “Don’t add fuel to the fire. I’m mad enough about this as it is, but she wants to do it, and there’s too many reasons why she should. Troi, I’m going in with her.”
“I would never think of separating you,” Troi soothed. It might have been placating on his part but there was something in his tone that suggested he was going to use Ash to the full extent possible. “In fact, I think we can use your bond to our advantage. But we’ll discuss the details of this later. Riana, you asked when I need you to go? The answer is, not immediately. It’ll take us some time to set this up, as I need to create a new identity for the pair of you. I’ll let you know when we start to get close and you need to prepare to go.”
Riana nodded agreement, her face straight, even though she was elated by the whole prospect.
“We will need to work on your speech first, make you sound more like an Iyshian lady,” Troi added, “which we can start on today.”
“You do need to give us a timeline,” Ash warned the spymaster. “I have a wall to help build at the very least before I can go.”
“The wall might not take precedence,” Troi hedged with a sideways glance at the two kings and prince. “I must have a spy in place if we are to pull all of this off.”
“Ash, sit,” Edvard urged. “Tell us what needs to happen before we can get the wall up. We’ll plan accordingly from there.”
Troi had stressed to Riana that they would have little time here in Estole before she needed to leave for the palace. After all, there was a delicate sense of timing in all of this. Estole was famous for having a certain pattern in its winter—it always snowed right before or after the All Winter’s Festival and then there was a blazing cold period for
several weeks, dry and without a snowflake in sight, before true winter hit.
And they had to have an Iyshian army here before true winter hit. That meant, at most, they had a month and a half to work in. That wasn’t much time at all. In fact, considering all that needed to happen, Riana wasn’t sure how they’d manage to get it all done without sacrificing things. Like meals. And sleep.
With the logistics whirling in her head, she left the meeting and went straight for the one person she knew would have the time to teach her—Bria. Her friend had caught a bad cold and was currently in bed, suffering through the worst of it. Riana popped her head into Bria’s room.
“You awake?”
Bria looked up from the book in her hands. She was curled up in the bed with at least three blankets wrapped around her, red nosed and sniffly, hair in a very messy knot at the top of her head. “I am. Visiting?”
“No’ exactly,” Riana denied and made herself at home in the chair next to the bed. She didn’t dare get any closer than this and even it might be too close. “I need help.”
“Certainly, with what?” Bria set the book aside, seemingly happy for some other diversion.
“Well…” Riana rubbed her palms together, not quite sure how to broach this. “Troi asked me to be a spy.”
Bria’s lips parted, first in surprise, then with indignation. “Why do you get to be a spy and I don’t?”
And this was why the two of them were friends. Riana grinned and drawled, “Yer face be known, dear heart.”
Pouting, Bria huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Not my fault I’m related to two dukes. Now kings.”
“Or betrothed to a prince,” Riana couldn’t resist adding.
Huffing a tendril of hair off her face, Bria dismissed this and dropped the pout. “You really get to be a spy? Where?”
“Iysh’s palace.”
Bria let out a soundless whistle. “Wow. How’d you get that past Ash?”
“He be going with me.”
“Ah, this makes more sense now. I didn’t think he’d let you go into that place without him. Well, what do you need from me? Etiquette lessons?”
Arrows of Revolution (Kingmakers Book 3) Page 3
