Tanhkmet's plate armor and massive heater shield would've been obsolete in combat hundreds of years ago, if not for their conduction of his vis.
But such a vis indeed he wielded, and for it earned renown throughout the empire. And so as he led his company onward atop his sinewed draft bird, he rode then with that massive shield slung down onto his arm, ready at any moment to be brought forth and channel that power.
They were approaching one of the most distant hamlets of Atum-Ra's outskirts. They'd traveled through many similar villages over the last hours, those occasional interruptions to the stretches of savanna and farmland that otherwise surrounded the capital like patchwork. But as they drew nearer, Tanhkmet saw the village ahead seemed both the smallest and poorest of all they'd passed. Less than a dozen waterlogged farmhouses huddled together, as if for warmth, along the main road.
He glanced back over her shoulder. The halo of rookie's vis wavered above her forehead in the breeze, where she rode behind him. Far distant behind them all rose the high city walls of Atum-Ra, still visible even as far as they'd traveled. The young lieutenant's gaze narrowed, as she examined the town ahead herself.
Tanhkmet raised a fist, signalling for the company to halt. She rode up alongside him, all with her focus on the cluster of farmhouses unbroken.
"I'm sensing that the trail leads there, sir."
"How suspiciously?" Tanhkmet asked. "I'm not minutely familiar with the extent of your technique's capability. Do you mean the trail 'stops there,' or that it leads there, and then possibly beyond?"
Lieutenant Belisarion closed her eyes. Her halo flared brighter for a moment.
"There's a great deal I can discern with Aeto, sir," she said. "I'm fairly sure the trail leads to that village, and not elsewhere. It stops there."
"Fairly sure?"
"Sorry, sir. I'm certain the trail leads there."
Tanhkmet eyed her.
She seemed a straightforward mind, to put it kindly. But well-aware of the strengths of her talents and their limitations. He respected that. The confidence with which she'd navigated for them had been a pleasant surprise that morning, at least, assuming she truly was still on the trail of their quarry.
"Does it seem like they might've realized we were in pursuit?" Tanhkmet said. "Or do you just mean to say the trail suggests the sibyl might be somewhere in that town, without implying anything regarding its suspiciousness?"
"The second one. I couldn't say more, yet," said Belisarion. "But… look, sir. It's really a sorry little thing. Hardly even a village. And I haven't seen any movement at all, the whole time it's been in view."
"Yeah. Like a ghost town. Deserted," said lieutenant-commander Lycera, as her bird came to a stop on his other flank. "There was already a crowd forming before we arrived in every other village, this morning. Something's definitely not right."
"The recent flooding was bad. Maybe it hit them harder than most," he said.
"But villagers in a place like that don't have anywhere else to go," said Lycera. "Why don't we see anyone finishing those roof repairs, on that one, for example?"
He eyed the farmhouse to which she pointed. A canvas tarp was tied down over a gash in its roof, but sagged in the middle under the weight of pooled, murky water.
He shook his head.
"Well. Doesn't matter," he said. "Ambush or not, of course we'll go in expecting one. But if the trail ends there as you say, Lieutenant, then we really have just the one course of action. The rest of you will be dismounting and continuing into the village on foot behind me. Right down main street. Your vis at ease, soldier, "
"Aye sir," said Belisarion. The green flames of her crown and wolf faded, then vanished, for the first time since they'd set out.
Their otherwise-disciplined riding birds had been ornery and easy to agitate that morning, so a small detachment was assigned to stay behind at hitching posts driven into the ground beside the road. The rest of the company marched onward in loose formation, but ready and alert. Only Tanhkmet continued still mounted, but kept his bird at a slower stride to lead the column.
He called an order to halt once they'd arrived in the central area between the dwellings, hardly a 'square.' The troop stopped with practiced abruptness, shouldering their rifles. Tanhkmet reigned in his bird, pausing as quiet returned.
"Subjects of the Emperor!" he bellowed.
But his address failed to pierce the eerie stillness, unechoing and without reply, however loud he'd made it.
"It is believed that criminals have taken refuge in your town. To harbor them will be to share their punishment. Come forward, now, and be known as innocent!"
Not a soul stirred. The muddy roads remained empty. The farmhouses themselves still silent but for an occasional decrepit creak in the wind. He caught movement at the edge of his vision, but it was only the rookie adjusting the grip on her rifle once more.
If the town was not deserted, it was perfectly united in defiance of him.
"Criminals!" Tanhkmet boomed. "You endanger the good people of this settlement with your presence. Surrender yourselves now and spare them your violence!"
His reply from the town, still, was nothing at all.
"If you refuse to surrender yourselves willingly, then we are left with no choice!"
He motioned to Unjet and Lycera, and they set about directing their squads into positions around the square as he dismounted himself at last.
"It seems as though we're going to have to clear out each of these farmhouses room-to-room," he explained to a loose huddle of his lieutenants. "Does the trail suggest anything about any one of the buildings in particular, Belisarion?"
"There. That little one sir," she said, pointing to one of the smallest dwellings of the cluster, on the northernmost edge of the square. "Just a feeling I got, when we were coming up."
No hesitation, even if she hedged her answer, thought Tanhkmet. He liked that, too. And when he sized up that hovel himself, he noticed that one of the boarded-up windows didn't just seem thrashed by the recent storm. But rather, wrenched open, perhaps by hand, perhaps more recently. She'd probably picked up on that herself, at least by instinct.
"Very well. We'll search that one first, then. Unjet, I want your rifles watching the windows. Send three around the back, make sure no one leaves. Lycera, take up positions with the other squads keeping watch on the rest of the town. You know the signal. We don't want any surprises while we're split up. Junius, Krion, Belisarion, stay on me. Sidearms out for the indoors. Junius, have your soldiers ready to come in for backup if you hear fighting inside. But it looks cramped in there, so we'll start with just the four of us and keep things simple. Junius, Krion and I take point. Belisarion, you're to stay behind me no matter what. The safest place in an ambush will be right behind my shield. Got it?"
"Yes sir," said the rookie.
"Good. Besides that, be on the lookout for whatever we might be missing, if you can, with your vis. Anything of note, we'll pass to you for analysis, assuming the situation allows, to see if the trail picks up again any stronger. If we get really lucky, and find exactly what we're looking for, we'll pass the child to you while the three of us cover your retreat."
All nodded their understanding. Junius issued some more specific instructions to his squad, and those soldiers saw to their parts in Tanhkmet's plan with mechanical efficiency.
After no more than fifteen seconds of reorganization, overlapping fields of fire covered every angle of potential attack. Surveying the square one final time secured to his satisfaction, Tanhkmet turned back to the piteous hovel the rookie had indicated, and raised his massive shield to a low ready.