Chapter 29

On her third day in Goltay, Galva meets Pol and Segunth-General Samera dom Vinescu in Samera’s commandeered house, noting an implied intimacy between them. Under a bright Ashers moon, Pol frames the talk as informal but reveals the real purpose: advance notice that Galva’s lanza will be sent to stop goblin raiders attacking farmers headed to the city.

Pol explains that after the army retook Goltay and found no sign of goblin “dives,” townspeople and refugees are returning. Some seek to reclaim homes and reopen businesses, creating a surge of claims that clerks process in the open, even as rain forces them to cover records. Enforcement is severe: gallows stand by the lines, with bodies marked for desertion, murder, rape, godsmilk-taking, and fraud.

Many arrivals are destitute refugees with no claims. The Pragmatist, balancing starvation against supply, establishes a middle path: only those who work will be fed. Fit refugees are assigned to cut timber in Arlasque Woods and help fortify Goltay with hoardings, temporary walls, and stakes for the moat, to satisfy royal expectations of defense.

This plan hinges on steady deliveries from surrounding farms. Because raiders are already frightening farmers off the roads, Pol orders Galva’s swift lanza to hunt and destroy the goblins before food stops coming. The mission will also test whether corvids can again terrify the “biters,” a tactical edge that could secure Goltay’s lifeline.

Galva accepts the necessity and risk, recognizing that their survival—and the city’s—depends on safeguarding the supply routes. She leaves resolved: they will take the fight to the goblins so the army and the swelling refugee population can eat.