Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera #3)(197)

"Apologies," Nasaug then said to Tavi. "For the distraction."

"No offense was given," Tavi replied, his tone thoughtful. "You have little love for the ritualists."

"Your eyes can see the sun at midday, Captain," Nasaug replied. He studied the board a moment later, and said, "Your strategy was sound. You know much of us."

"Some," Tavi replied.

"It took courage and intelligence to attempt it. For this, you have earned respect." Nasaug looked up at Tavi for the first time since the game began. "But however much I may despise Sari and those like him, my duty is clear. Sari and his ritualists are few, but they have the faith of the maker caste." He tilted an ear in a vague gesture at the enormous number of raiders. "They may be fools to believe in the ritualists, but I will not turn upon the makers or desert them. I have studied your forces. You cannot stop us."

"Perhaps," Tavi said. "Perhaps not."

Nasaug bared his teeth again. "Your men are half-trained. Your officers were slain, your Knights far weaker than they should be. There is little help to be had from the Alerans of the city." He pushed a ludus Lord forward, beginning his own attack. "You have not seen our caste in battle, but for the probe this morning. You will not repulse us again, Aleran. Before tomorrow's sunset, it will be over."

Tavi frowned. Nasaug wasn't posturing. There was neither threat nor anger nor enjoyment in the tone of his voice. He was simply stating a fact, attaching no emotion to it, no menace. It was far more disturbing than anything else he could have said.

But Nasaug was a warrior Cane. If he was anything like Varg, his words were like blood-never loosed unless necessary. And then as little as possible. "I wonder why you bother to speak of it."

"To offer you an alternative. Retreat and leave the bridge sound. Take your warriors, your people, your young. I will give you two days to travel, in which I will make sure no forces are sent after you."

Tavi regarded the board for a silent moment and altered the position of a single piece. "Generous. Why offer it?"

"I do not say we will destroy you without loss, Captain. It will save lives of my warriors and your own."

"Until we fight again another day?"

"Yes."

Tavi shook his head. "I cannot give you the bridge. It is my duty to hold it or destroy it."

Nasaug nodded once. "Your gesture to allow us to take back our fallen was a generous one. Especially given how Sari dealt with you. For that, I offered you what I could." The Cane began moving his pieces in earnest, and the rapid exchange began. It took him only three moves to see what Tavi had done, and he stopped, staring at the board.

Tavi's reckless assault had been nothing of the kind. He had spent a great deal of time thinking about Ambassador Varg's stratagem in their last game together, and he had adapted it to his own strengths as a player. The sacrifice of some of his lesser pieces earlier in the game had given the greater pieces a far more dominant position, and within the next two moves he would control the skyboard completely and have the positioning and power he would need to strike down Nasaug's First Lord. His pieces would take terrible losses to do it, but Nasaug had seen the trap a bare move too late, and he could not possibly escape it.

"Things," Tavi said quietly, "are not always as they seem."

The last of the fallen Canim had been found and borne back to the Canim camp by their unarmed fellows. A grizzled Cane nodded to Nasaug in passing.

Nasaug stared at Tavi, then tilted his head very slightly to one side in acknowledgment of the defeat. "No. Which is why my warriors will not be the first to enter the town."