Page 56 of First Ritual
“One of your misleads is to pretend to do what we’re actually meant to do?” I asked, reading the second sub-mislead.
Twenty grins flashed my way.
“A mixture of truth and lies is the best defense,” Birch answered. “It leaves them guessing.”
“Vero is doing the same thing right now against you guys?”
“Not as well,” Huxley said. “But yes.”
Quiet laughter ran through their ranks. Did they realize Huxley wasn’t joking?
Birch spoke again. “We have our misleads. Now we decide on our ploys. How will we mislead Vero?”
A long list was formed and appeared next to the headings already glowing on the wall. I blew out a breath, quietly impressed by the complexity of their ploys, which ranged from small decoy gatherings at the locations to moving weaponry and charms around to create heavier-than-usual foot traffic to tailing specific Vero magus. They wanted their ploys to be just noticed in some areas and a lot noticed in other areas—like the staged fight outside Vero’s charm stores where the main move would later occur.
I said to the late-teen boy on my other side, “Isn’t staging a fight outside the charm stores super obvious?”
“Not when you sometimes stage a fight in the mission area, then don’t attack.”
I pursed my lips. I supposed. If I were Vero, I’d make sure everyone was prepared and just wait for the real attack.
“What will Wild be doing?” Birch said once the group had whittled down the brainstorm list to a handful of ploys.
I peered around the magus. “Why are Wild’s whereabouts important?”
Huxley smirked. “Some magus are watched very closely by the other side. Wild is one.”
“And Sven, Corentin, and yourself?” I guessed in a dry tone.
His smirk widened. “Amongst others. Novices make up the numbers to help hold territories, but proven are the knights and castles on the chess board that do most of the fighting to claim new territory.”
“What about the esteemed?” I asked Birch.
“The esteemed hold their own territories and have never been attacked,” he answered. “Each team needs to hold a certain number of territories before they can go for an entire quadrant. Neither side has ever had enough.”
Sounded like the esteemed had it good. My fingers would be fucking sore from all the quipu knots in my near future.
The rest of the meeting was made up of deciding where Wild would move to distract the other side. Wild this, Wild that. Then Huxley this and that. May, the female magus who I’d sat with at breakfast one time, was a proven too. I barely recognized any of the other proven names, but each of them had a role as a ploy.
This was a lot of brain work.
My stomach rumbled.
Birch thumped his staff and the writing on the wall pulled away and swirled in a mini-word-tornado before disappearing. “Our ploys are formed. We send these to attack and defense who will amend them based on the plans they’ve formed as we strategized. Fertim will reconvene tomorrow to go over the final strategy. Any questions, Bronte?”
Shit, he was talking to me. I pretended to think. My stomach rumbled again.
“Maybe you’d like to know if it’s lunchtime?” he asked drily.
Huxley snorted.
I would, but the esteemed’s question must’ve been rhetorical because he turned away to talk with the older woman beside him.
No sooner did magus begin to leave, than the cushy armchairs were banished in favor of heavy, studded furniture.
I strode out behind the young scribe.
Fingers wrapped around my upper arm. “We’re not going to lunch, Bronte.”