uncorking the wine.
Darius had finished speaking by the time it was already dark outside, and the bottle standing on the desk was almost empty. It seemed to him that the general had questioned him about every detail he had carelessly omitted from his report. Now all that remained was to wait for Leighter’s final reaction.
‘I’m trying to build a house of cards, and you’re shaking the table,’ the general finally said, emptying his glass in one gulp. ‘Whatever is happening in Bushtabhar must be resolved as soon as possible, Bleist. We cannot allow this to escalate into an international issue.’
‘Has anything happened whilst I was away from the capital?’ His superior’s reaction suggested that it wasn’t just the earl who’d been facing a fair few problems of late. It seemed a turbulent period had dawned for many places.
‘Asati has stirred,’ muttered the general. ‘Veletoun promised to grant the lands conquered in South America to the houses that render the greatest service in defending the new territories. That was three days ago, and yesterday the elven armies began moving eastwards.’
‘The Marshal went to Mortis as an observer for the signing of the ceasefire,’ Darius recalled.
‘Exactly… and at the same time, Wolczar started stirring up trouble along the Vistula,’ Leigher poured the remaining contents of the bottle into his goblet and stared into the dark wine.
‘War is unlikely to break out quite so soon,’ the colonel said, quickly sifting through his memory, trying to piece together various threads and rumours. ‘Neither side is ready for it.’
‘That’s what intelligence suggests too.’ The general shook his head. ‘I reckon both the elves and the vampires are ready for anything.’
‘In that case, we’ve got our work cut out for us.’ Darius could already picture the piles of paperwork he’d have to deal with on his return.
‘We do, but you still have your own task.’ His superior corrected him. ‘There’s no one else here today apart from me, so you’ll have to wait with the report for the Grand Master. The translation of the log will
