CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Sartes had a plan. He reminded himself of that over and over as he started to make his way across the 23rd’s camp, slipping through the early evening activity of the place like a stranger. He had a plan for his escape. Now, he had to hope that it would work.
Repeating it should have made him feel better, but instead, it just reminded him of how big the stakes were. The punishment for a conscript trying to escape was death, without exception. The best-case scenario would be a quick sword thrust as he tried to get clear of the camp. The worst… they might make his fellow conscripts do it, beating Sartes to death to prove their loyalty. He had no doubt that they would do it. They would be too frightened to do anything else.
In some ways, Sartes’s plan was simple: he was g
