Page 13 of The Winner's Kiss
Arin remembered Kestrel. “I think he enjoys being clever. I think he might be undercut by his own cunning, if we can catch him at it.”
“Those cliffs are monstrously high.”
“His Rangers are capable of it. If they scale the cliffs and come south while we’re dealing with the Valorians that have landed on the beach, they’ll flank us and squeeze us between them.”
Roshar made a dismissive noise.
Frustrated, Arin said, “Are you so proud that you think no one can outmaneuver you?”
“Are you so ready to make the general into some almighty being capable of anything just because he had your family slaughtered?”
Anger knocked the wind out of Arin. There was a hard silence.
Roshar rubbed his eyes, smearing the green paint that lined them. He sighed. “I didn’t mean—”
“Arin.” It was Sarsine. She was standing in the library doorway.
“Not now,” he told her.
“Someone’s here to see you.”
“Not now.”
“He says it’s important.”
“What is important?”
“His message.”
“Which is?”
“He won’t tell me. He wants to tell you himself.”
“I’m busy.”
“No, no,” said Roshar. “Go ahead, talk to him. We’re done anyway. I’ll inform the battalion leaders of my battle plan, and—”
“Wait. Sarsine, who is this person?”
“A Herrani groom who took care of horses at a way station in Valoria along the road that goes north to the tundra.”
“Does his message have anything to do with a Valorian military operation?”
“I asked him. He says no.”
“Does he have information on the general, his troops, or the emperor?”
“No, nothing like that. But—”
Arin turned away. “Later.”
She took a breath as if to argue, then seemed to change her mind. “I’ll put him in your old rooms. He’s traveled far to see you.”
“Well,” Roshar said cheerfully, rolling up the map he and Arin had argued over. “Every thing’s settled, then. What’s that beach called? Lerralen? We’ll set out for it tomorrow at dawn.”
Arin couldn’t sleep. He threw his windows open. He heard an owl hunting in the summer dark.
It was, of course, safer to send the majority of the eastern forces to the beach at Lerralen, with no soldiers held back to guard the cliffs. The beach was an ideal place for the Valorian army to land. The beach and its surrounding terrain were relatively flat and wide open—good for an invasion. The Dacrans, who didn’t know the land they were defending, wouldn’t have any height on the Valorians, and that would make repelling the invaders harder . . . which General Trajan would like. Roshar was prob ably right.
