" Didn’t Azmus say Galdran promised the Court our heads on poles after two days?”
“So Debegri swore,” Bran said, smiling a little.
“That means we’ve held out all these weeks despite the enormous odds against us, and word of this has to be reaching the rest of the kingdom. Maybe those eastern Counts will decide to join us--and some of the other grass-backed vacillators as well,” I finished stoutly.
Bran grinned. “Maybe so,” he said. “And you’re right. The higher Shevraeth drives us, the more familiar the territory. If we plan aright, we can lead them on a fine shadow chase and pick them off as they run. Maybe more traps…”
Khesot’s lips compressed, and I shivered again. “More traps? You’ve already put out a dozen. Bran, I really hate those things.”
Branaric winced, then he shook his head, his jaw tightening. “This is war. Baron Debegri was the first to start using arrows, despite the Code of War, and now Shevraeth has got us cut off from our own castle--and our supplies. We have to use every weapon to hand, and if that means planting traps for their unwary feet, so be it.”
I sighed. “It is so…dishonorable. We have outlawed the use of traps against animals for over a century. And what if the Hill Folk stumble onto one?”
“I told you last week,” Bran said, “my first command to those placing the traps is to lay sprigs of stingflower somewhere nearby. The Hill Folk won’t miss those. Their noses will warn them to tread lightly long before their eyes will.”
“We are also using arrows,” I reminded him. “So that’s two stains on our honor.”
“But we are vastly outnumbered. Some say thirty to one.”
I looked up at Khesot. “What think you?”
The old man puffed his pipe alight. The red glow in the bowl looked warm and welcome as pungent smoke drifted through the tent. Then he lowered the pipe and said, “I don’t like them, either. But I like less the thought that this Marquis is playing with us, and anytime he wishes he could send his force against us and smash us in one run. He has to know pretty well where we are.”
“At least you can make certain you keep mapping those traps, so our folk don’t stumble into them,” I said, giving in.
“That I promise. They’ll be marked within a day of being set,” Branaric said.
Neither Branaric nor Khesot displayed any triumph as Branaric reached for and carefully picked up the woven tube holding our precious map. Branaric’s face was always easy to read--as easy as my own--and though Khesot was better at hiding his emotions, he wasn’t perfect. They did not like using the traps, either, but had hardened themselves to the necessity.
I sighed. Another effect of the war. I’ve been raised to this almost my entire life. Why does my spirit fight so against it?
I thrust away the nagging worries, and the dissatisfactions, and my own physical discomfort, as Bran’s patient fingers spread out my map on the rug between us. I focused on its neatly drawn hills and forests, dimly lit by the glowglobe, and tried hard to clear my mind of any thoughts save planning our next action.
But it was difficult. I was worried about our single glowglobe, whose power was diminishing. With our supplies nearly gone and our funds even lower, we no longer had access to the magic wares of the west, so there was no way to obtain new glowglobes.
Khesot was looking not at the map but at us, his old eyes sad.
I winced, knowing what he’d say if asked: that he had not been trained for his position any more than nature had suited Bran and me for war.
But there was no other choice. "

― Sherwood Smith , Crown Duel (Crown & Court, #1)