The biggest
problem I expected with the evacuation was one that came up every
time the Company picked up and moved out after having been settled
in one place for a long time. Roots had to be torn up. Ties had to
be severed. Men had to abandon the lives they had created for
themselves.
Some just would not go.
Some who did go would tell someone where they were headed.
The nominal strength of the Company was somewhat over two
hundred people, a third of whom did not live in Taglios at all but
maintained identities at scattered locations where they could aid
brothers who were traveling. Overall, it was very much like what
the Deceivers used to do. Partly that was intentional, because
those people had spent centuries finding the safest ways.
Early on, couriers went out carrying code words to all our
distant brothers to warn them that a time of trouble was coming.
Nobody would be told what was happening, only warned that something
was and that it was going to be big. Once that code word arrived,
it would already be too late to drop out of anything.
Behind the couriers, eventually, would come the majority of the
men, in driblets small enough not to attract attention, disguised a
dozen ways, departing Taglios in what I considered their order of
plausible risk. The last to leave town would be those with the
heaviest entanglements. All the men would pass through a series of
checkpoints and assembly points, each time being informed only of
an immediate destination. The key hope, though, was that
Soulcatcher would not begin to catch on until those who were going
to go were well away.
Those who refused to go would be excused—if they remained loyal
to the Company interests in the city. It would be useful to have a
few agents on hand after the Company appeared to have gone.
That, too, was something the Deceivers had done for
generations.
There would be flashy smoke shows. The demon Niassi would be
much more prevalent, putting a damper on Grey efficiency. The men
who stayed—I would not know who they were because I would be among
the first to leave—would be expected to undertake what was
supposed to look like a series of random assaults, break-ins and
acts of vandalism that later would begin to appear to be part of a
terror campaign meant to peak during the Druga Pavi. If
Soulcatcher took the bait, she would spend her time preparing to
ambush us there.
If not, every hour bought was an hour farther down the road my
brothers would be before the Protector realized that we had done
the unexpected again. And even then, I expected her to look in the
wrong places for a long time.
The biggest
problem I expected with the evacuation was one that came up every
time the Company picked up and moved out after having been settled
in one place for a long time. Roots had to be torn up. Ties had to
be severed. Men had to abandon the lives they had created for
themselves.
Some just would not go.
Some who did go would tell someone where they were headed.
The nominal strength of the Company was somewhat over two
hundred people, a third of whom did not live in Taglios at all but
maintained identities at scattered locations where they could aid
brothers who were traveling. Overall, it was very much like what
the Deceivers used to do. Partly that was intentional, because
those people had spent centuries finding the safest ways.
Early on, couriers went out carrying code words to all our
distant brothers to warn them that a time of trouble was coming.
Nobody would be told what was happening, only warned that something
was and that it was going to be big. Once that code word arrived,
it would already be too late to drop out of anything.
Behind the couriers, eventually, would come the majority of the
men, in driblets small enough not to attract attention, disguised a
dozen ways, departing Taglios in what I considered their order of
plausible risk. The last to leave town would be those with the
heaviest entanglements. All the men would pass through a series of
checkpoints and assembly points, each time being informed only of
an immediate destination. The key hope, though, was that
Soulcatcher would not begin to catch on until those who were going
to go were well away.
Those who refused to go would be excused—if they remained loyal
to the Company interests in the city. It would be useful to have a
few agents on hand after the Company appeared to have gone.
That, too, was something the Deceivers had done for
generations.
There would be flashy smoke shows. The demon Niassi would be
much more prevalent, putting a damper on Grey efficiency. The men
who stayed—I would not know who they were because I would be among
the first to leave—would be expected to undertake what was
supposed to look like a series of random assaults, break-ins and
acts of vandalism that later would begin to appear to be part of a
terror campaign meant to peak during the Druga Pavi. If
Soulcatcher took the bait, she would spend her time preparing to
ambush us there.
If not, every hour bought was an hour farther down the road my
brothers would be before the Protector realized that we had done
the unexpected again. And even then, I expected her to look in the
wrong places for a long time.