Eragos sat at a wooden table that was obviously designed for something other than entertaining the high-ups of Kenyon's leadership. With him there were three pieces of paper. The first, a map of the frontier defenses, had been here when he arrived. The second, a message from a scout, had passed into his hands along with the third sheet. A request for a meeting. Eragos studied the note again to make sure he had the measure of it. Most likely it had been measured four times over by the leadership of Kenyon. No telling what conclusions they'd already reached. Or what conclusions one was supposed to reach. It was all there. The sense of it didn't change from one read to another. He still didn't know what to make of it. Vargis apparently did not, either. Sitting tight-lipped and silent was the order of the day for him. Eragos didn't know why it was so important that he say something. But it was important. They had to reach a conclusion together, or they were lost.

( Maybe they already were. )

The mood could not have been more somber. Surrounded by the memory of the dead or wounded they'd passed on their way into the fort, neither of the White Riders was particularly cheerful or abrasive, as they might have been. It was easier for Eragos to dismiss the carnage than Vargis. Easier because the old man, for all his knowledge, had never seen war like this. Eragos grimaced sourly at the stained floor. His flambard was resting against the wall, but Eragos still had his falchion belted on. For many reasons. Not the least of which was Sarta's apparent lack of control. Since they'd come into the fort from that snowy field of death, with three of their own dead and two more wounded, Sarta had been in a rage. If there were ever a moment that the Kenyonites needed to make themselves scarce this was it. Sarta could not be dissuaded from the view that they'd been betrayed by disloyal elements in Kenyon's own government who wanted their vampire bitch-queen dead. Eragos had long given up trying to talk reason into the man. There was no use in it, and no profit besides.

( Vargis, on the other hand, had not learned. )