It rained. No one expected rain.
It was a fine, cold rain that fell slowly and wet everything to the bone. He washed the blood from the wall. It washed the mud off everyone's faces.
No one spoke. No one moved. They waited for the second wave.
An hour passed. Two. Three.
The sun passed noon. Still nothing.
This is the worst. Fighting is easy. Waiting to fight is what breaks you. Everyone there was already ready to die. And now they had to sit in the mud between the bodies and wait.
Jian fell asleep leaning against a dead soldier. No one woke him up. Dona Mara was sitting on a rock sharpening her scissors. Mina counted arrows three times. Kelser tried to clean his sword. He gave up after ten minutes. The blood no longer comes out.
"They don't come," Jian said suddenly. He had woken up. "If they were going to come, they would have already come."
No one answered. Everyone was thinking the same thing.
And then they saw him.
A man alone. Walking from the hill. Without armor. No sword. No soldiers. Alone. Wearing a simple gray robe.
Everyone stood up suddenly. One hundred and fifty bows were pointed at it. Nobody shot. No one knew what to do.
He walked slowly all the way to the gate. He stopped ten steps from the wall. He looked up.
And he smiled.
"Hello Kelser," he shouted. His voice was calm, and he cut through the rain like a knife. "Can we talk?"
Kelser felt his blood boil.
"Tian," he growled.
He jumped over the wall. It fell on the other side. He walked until he was five steps away from him. All the bows were still pointed at Tian's head. He didn't even look at them.
"Have you come to surrender?" Kelser said. His hand was on the sword.
Tian laughed. It was a calm laugh, without malice.
"I could have killed you all at three in the morning while you were sleeping," he said. "I didn't come to fight."
"So what did you come to do?"
"I came to say I didn't."
Kelser stopped.
"What did you not do?"
"The poison." Tian shook his head. "I didn't put poison in the water. It wasn't me."
Silence.
Kelser laughed. It was an ugly, angry sound.
"And I have to believe you? Twelve thousand men at my door. And you come here to tell me that you're the good guy?"
"Why would I use poison?" Tian said. He was still calm. He didn't raise his voice even once. "If I wanted to kill everyone in this city, I would have done it in ten minutes. I don't need dead fungus. I don't need pumps in the sewer. I don't need no tricks."
He stopped. Kelser looked straight in the eye.
"You know I'm telling the truth."
And worst of all. Kelser knew. He felt it deep in his stomach. He knew. All this time he thought Tian was the kind of man who used poison. And he wasn't. Tian was the kind of man who knocks on your door and challenges you to fight you in the face.
"Tem alguem mais", Tian disse. "Alguem que quer que nos dois lutemos até a morte. Alguem que quer que eu destrua essa cidade, e que voce me mate, e que os dois nos morramos no final."
Ele estendeu a mão. Tinha um pedaço de pergaminho enrolado. Kelser pegou. Ele abriu.
Era o simbolo. O circulo com o ponto no meio. O mesmo que eles acharam na mesa de Tomas. O mesmo que eles acharam no laboratorio no esgoto.
"Eu achei esse na tenda do meu general ontem a noite", Tian disse. "Eles tem pessoas no meu exercito também. Eles tem pessoas em todo lugar."
Kelser olhou para o simbolo. As mãos dele começaram a tremer.
"Quem é?", ele sussurrou.
"Eu não sei", Tian disse. "Mas eles são muito mais velhos do que nos dois. Muito mais forte. E nos dois somos apenas peças no tabuleiro deles."
Ele deu um passo para tras.
"Eu vou retirar o meu exercito", ele disse. "Eu não vou atacar. Não por agora."
"E depois?", Kelser disse.
"Depois nos vamos encontrar quem é esse. E depois nos dois vamos lutar. Como devia ser. Sem truques. Sem veneno. Só nos dois."
Ele virou para ir embora. Parou por um segundo. Não olhou para tras.
"E Kelser. Cuidado com as pessoas que voce confia. Eles não estão só no meu lado."
E ele foi embora. Caminhou devagar de volta para a colina. Sozinho. Ninguem atirou uma flecha. Ninguem se moveu. Ninguem nem sequer gritou.
Kelser ficou ali parado na chuva. Olhando o pergaminho na sua mão.
Jian pulou do outro lado da muralha. Mina e Dona Mara vieram atras.
"Que merda foi aquilo?", Jian disse. A voz dele estava alta. Ele estava assustado. "O que ele disse? Ele esta mentindo não é?"
Ninguem respondeu.
Ninguem sabia.
Dois minutos depois um batedor veio correndo da colina. Ele parou ofegante.
"They're leaving," he shouted. "Everyone. They are dismantling the tents. They're leaving."
Silence.
Everyone was waiting for the party. The scream. The celebration. They won. The enemy was gone.
No one screamed. No one smiled.
Everyone just stood there in the rain. Feeling cold. Feeling empty. And for the first time in a long time, no one had the slightest idea of what was going to happen tomorrow.
Kelser looked up. The rain fell on his face.
He had not won anything.
He had just discovered that he didn't even know who the enemy was.