Hale found them before first light.
Already dressed.
Already armed.
Vane understood before he spoke that something had changed during the night.
Not solved.
Changed.
Hale stopped beside the low planning table, looked once at the six of them, and said:
"I did the math wrong."
Ashe was awake immediately.
"The numbers?"
"No."
Hale crouched.
"The variables."
Mara's head lifted at that.
Hale pulled several stones toward himself and arranged them in the dirt.
"Yesterday, I calculated the rescue using what my people can do."
One stone.
"Fifteen fighters."
Another.
"A fortified garrison."
Several more.
"Patrols. Walls. Numbers."
He looked around the circle.
"That answer was correct."
Ashe frowned.
"You just said it was wrong."
"The answer was correct for the question I asked."
That quieted her.
Hale continued.
"My people cannot enter that garrison quietly enough."
He drew a line around the stones.
