Nadal ob Insame frowned at the parchment in his paw, utter discontent written all over his face—and yet no anger directed at any individual creature. Which, given Nadal's normal termperament, was actually all the more troubling.
At length, the weasel laid the page aside and gazed with some calculation out the window of the tower. One word escaped his lips.
Kaliban and Thadius Roth were the only other beasts in the room; of the two of them, the rat spoke up. Seems alf decent t' me, at least. Iff'n you don't mind my thoughts, o' course. See, there's been beasts sayin' they've seen that loony Enigma creature about, an' you know wot that means. She only ever shows up when summat is brewin', an' that's clearer than wot she's ever said.
I told her to get out of the area, Nadal stated. Even if she'd made an effort to assist us, she just gets in the way. The weasel gritted his teeth. But do continue.
Kaliban nodded. So she's about, an' I figgered that takin' a look about the area wouldn't hurt. So Holdsclaw an' I went—with yer pardon now—an' there's definnily an army on the way.
Nadal twisted the tip of his beard around a claw. And why does that warrant evacuation?
The towers. Kaliban shrugged. If they were occupied an' attacked an' they fell...
My towers will not fall. Until this point, Thadius Roth had been silent, but now the fox spoke with practically threatening undertones. That is not an issue. My towers cannot fall.
Your towers? Kaliban was surprised at this claim, fully expecting a rebuttal against Roth from Nadal.
Roth continued. I designed these towers to be stable, so that they would not fall. They have already done quite well against wind and weather, you see. For them to fall, they would have to be hit high up or otherwise cut off—and the supports weakened for more than half of the perimeter at that. There is no means to create such damage. My towers cannot fall.
Even Nadal was distinctly surprised to hear so much at once from the architect fox. Excellent. But, he again regarded the military rat, you say attack is imminent?
They're not goin' away without confrontation, that's fer sure, Kaliban confirmed.
There followed an extended silence, during which Nadal stared out the window and formulated plans, Kaliban shuffled in a nervous blur about his most important correspondence yet, and Roth stood in firm and almost defiant reaction to the mention of potentially losing his masterwork towers.
Fitting of his position, Nadal broke the silence. The command shall evacuate. My most important aides will come with me. If the fight comes here, we can lose as many soldiers as needed, but the head must not be severed. The army will stay in the towers, and nobeast will tell them this plan. My entourage and I will slip out to the foothill caves to the northeast of here. The towers are visible from there, but no enemy could find a beast hiding in those caves. The weasel's tone was calm, but his eyes did indicate some of the ill feeling of worry.
Kaliban nodded, then queried, Who's gonna control the troops in the time we're all out there?
You lead the troops, Nadal reminded Kaliban. You are part of the troops. You stay here.
The rat stood, clearly disappointed, frightened of being in immediate command yet still expendable, and definitely desiring a safe hideout in the caves.
There will be a courier, Nadal explained, then motioned Roth to follow him out.