"South of the Graypeak Mountains, north of the Northern Great Wall. Go much farther, though, and we'll probably enter the Empire."
"The border..."
The Imperial minister's eyes were hidden beneath the shadows of his thick brows. Annan, watching his reaction from the side, suddenly spoke up. "You didn't know?"
"Should I have?" the Minister of Military Affairs asked sharply.
His earlier bad temper had been directed at Annan. Now it was aimed at the Ratfolk who had dared to plot something behind his back.
Annan considered this. So the Empire knew nothing about it... That made things interesting.
For one thing, he could rule out the Chaos Cult, which was so thoroughly infiltrated it might as well have been a sieve.
"Minister, I'm sorry for summoning you so abruptly," Annan explained. "You've seen the situation. I stumbled across the Ratfolk's plans, but I was worried the Empire might already know and have taken action. I summoned you because I didn't want to disrupt an ally's plans."
The Imperial minister nodded, accepting his explanation.
Annan prepared to cast another spell. "Since the Empire didn't know, I'll send you back. Rest assured, I'll investigate the mousehole."
"I'm not going back," the Imperial minister flatly refused. "This is the Empire's business. We don't need an outsider interfering."
Annan told himself this was simply how Imperials said, "Thanks for the offer, but I'll handle it myself."
The Imperial minister was certainly eager for a fight, but Annan couldn't agree. If a high-ranking Imperial official followed him into a Rat Swarm and something happened, a good deed would turn into a disaster.
In response, the minister took off his coat, revealing an undershirt that did nothing to conceal his muscles. Several rows of buttons strained to hold it shut.
He rolled his wrists, his arms