Chapter 111

Council Split

Elena pushed aside the tent flaps and stepped into the command pavilion in which the rebellion's leadership had gathered around a table that groaned under the weight of maps, dispatches, and supply manifests. The stress within had nothing to do with the siege outside the canvas walls.

Lord Commander Thane slammed his fist on the table's surface, his leathery face flushed with outrage that stood out on his face like the seam of a brand that ran across his cheek. Across from him, Master Willem sat in hunched-up sitting posture of a man exercising complete self-control in the face of accusations challenging his very professionalism.

"Three days," Thane growled, his voice infused with the authority of one accustomed to orders being followed without question. "Three days we've been throwing soldiers against walls that don't budge. While supplies run short and spirits flag."

Willem's response was gritted out, the perfection of his engineer's training evident in every sentence