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You too, Tracker. One-Eye. You feel anything down there?"
"Nothing. Goblin has his sleeping spell ready. Their sentries will be snoring
when we touch down."
"Unless they aren't and raise the alarm," I muttered. Damn, but didn't I have
it for the dark side?
No problems. We grounded. Men poured over the side. They spread out as if this
part had been rehearsed. Parts may have been while I was sulking.
I could do nothing but what Elmo told me.
The early going reminded me of another barracks raid, long ago, south of the
Sea of Torments, ere we enlisted with the Lady. We had slaughtered the Urban
Cohorts of the Jewel City Beryl, our wizards keeping them snoozing while we
murdered them.
Not work I enjoy, I'll tell you. Most of them were just kids who enlisted for
want of something better to do. But they were the enemy, and we were making a
grand gesture. A grander gesture than I had supposed Darling could order, or
had in mind.
The sky began to lighten. Not one man of an entire regiment, save perhaps a
few AWOL for the night, survived. Out on the main parade of the compound,
which stood well outside Rust proper, Elmo and the Lieutenant began to yell.
Hurry, hurry. More to do. This squad to wreck the stellae of the Taken. That
squad to plunder regimental headquarters. Another to set out stuff to fire the
barracks buildings. Still another to search the Limper's quarters for
documents. Hurry, hurry. Got to get gone before the Taken return. Darling
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cannot distract them forever.
Somebody screwed up. Naturally. It always happens. Somebody fired one barracks
early. Smoke rose.
Over in Rust, we soon learned, there was another regiment. In minutes a
squadron of horse were galloping our way. And again, someone had screwed up.
The gates were not secured. Almost without warning the horsemen were among us.
Men shouted. Weapons clanged. Arrows flew. Horses shrieked. The Lady's men got
out, leaving half their number behind.
Now Elmo and the Lieutenant were in a hurry for sure. Those boys were going
for help.
While we were scattering the imperials the windwhale lifted off. Maybe half a
dozen men managed to scramble aboard. It rose just enough to clear the
rooftops, then headed south. There was not yet enough light to betray it.
You can imagine the cussing and shouting. Even Toadkiller Dog found the energy
to snarl. I slumped in defeat, dropped my butt onto a hitching rail, sat there
shaking my head. A few men sped arrows after the monster. It did not notice.
Tracker leaned on the rail beside me. I grumped, "You wouldn't think something
that big would be chicken." I mean, a windwhale can destroy a city.
"Do not impart motives to a creature you do not understand. You have to see
its reasoning."
"What?"
"Not reasoning. I don't know the right word." He reminded me of a
four-year-old struggling with a difficult concept. "It's outside the lands it
knows. Beyond bounds its enemies believe it can breech. It runs for fear it
will be seen and a secret betrayed. It has never worked with men. How can it
remember them in a desperate moment?"
He was right, probably. But at the moment I was more interested in him than in
his theory. That I would have stumbled across after I settled down. He made it
seem one huge and incredibly difficult piece of thinking.
I wondered about his mind. Was he just slightly more than a half-wit? Was his
Ravenlike act not a product of personality but of simpleness?
The Lieutenant stood on the parade ground, hands on hips, watching the
windwhale leave us in the enemy's palm. After a minute he shouted, "Officers!
Assemble!" After we gathered, he said, "We're in for it. As I see it, we have
one hope. That that big bastard gets in touch with the menhirs when it gets
back. And that they decide we're worth saving. So what we do is hold out till
nightfall. And hope."
One-Eye made an obscene noise. "I think we better run for it."
"Yeah? And let the imperials track us? We're how far from home? You think we
can make it with the Limper and his pals after us?"
"They'll be after us here."
"Maybe. And maybe they'll keep them busy out there. At least, if we're here,
they'll know where to find us. Elmo, survey the walls. See if we can hold
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them. Goblin, Silent, get those fires put out. The rest of you, clean out the
Taken's documents. Elmo! Post sentries. One-Eye. Your job is to figure out how
we can get help from Rust. Croaker, give him a hand. You know who we have
where. Come on. Move."
A good man, the Lieutenant. He kept his cool when, like all of us, what he
wanted to do was run in circles and scream.
We didn't have a chance, really. This was the end of it. Even if we held off
the troops from the city, there was Benefice and the Limper. Goblin, One-Eye,
and Silent would be of no value against them. The Lieutenant knew that, too.
He did not have them put their heads together to plot a surprise.
We could not get the fire controlled. The barracks had to burn itself out.
While I tended two wounded men the others made the compound as defensible as
thirty men could. Finished doctoring, I went poking through the Limper's
documents. I found nothing immediately interesting.
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