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when you swore that you d be true, but now my heart is filled with rue, for
loving a man inconstant as the dew&
The round-faced man in a severe blue tunic turned from the singer to his
companion, a sharp-featured and white-haired trader, whose fingers tapped on
the oiled wood of the tabletop in time to the rhythm of the gitar. The older
trader appeared not to notice.
Finally, the man in blue spoke, his voice low. Tarolt& you said those men were
reliable.
They were, answered Tarolt. The white-haired trader s lips drew into a brief
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and cruel smile. They
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died on the task. A pity& but at times matters take a course of their own. You
should know that, Halanat.
One man and they failed? Four of them? Halanat s eyes traveled to the
shapely singer for a moment before returning to rest on Tarolt. And it has
taken you nearly a month to discover what occurred?
They attempted an attack in the dark. They were killed and eaten by
sandwolves. I do imagine that the sandwolves left very little. They are not
wasteful by nature. Or so I am told.
Eaten, anyway. Who is to say that he did not kill them and leave them for the
sandwolves?
That may be, pointed out Tarolt, but there were no bullets found, and their
wallets were not touched, nor their weapons, nor their mounts. All were found
and returned by one of the local herders, a neighbor of the captain s. The
herders are most honest about that sort of matter, you understand.
He could have used a sabre. They stick together, those herders.
That could be, but there were witnesses that claim they were killed by
sandwolves. The pale-faced
Tarolt smiled the cold smile once more.
Nothing has been lost. They are dead.
Except for the captain.
But even if he did kill them, he would not know why they were there. Or who
had sent them. And, should he be bright enough to guess, he will certainly see
the more obvious possibilities& the action against him might even persuade him
not to be so supportive of the colonel. Or not to follow his grandsire and
that old fool Kustyl so blindly. He might even come to see that the alliance
is most necessary, and that will only lead to weakness among these Coreans.
Tarolt tapped his fingers briskly again. He has no evidence, and there is no
one who would believe a mercenary renegade, and even less would anyone
understand what is truly at stake.
Those who serve him know better.
But few others. Very few. We will continue to do what we can to erode the
colonel s position.
What of the captain? Are we to
We will let others do what they can, now. If they fail, then we will see.
And Weslyn?
Without the colonel, he stands alone. He will do as the Council wishes, and
they will do as we wish.
Halanat nodded in agreement.
Both men returned their scrutiny to the singer.
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Nearly a week had passedsince Alucius had dispatched two troopers with his
message to Colonel
Clyon. The clouds had broken, and the sun had poured out warmth on the River
Vedra valley. The wind had continued to blow out of the south.
Alucius stood outside the headquarters building in the mild air, waiting for
Bakka, the first squad scout.
The courtyard of the outpost was dusty, because there had been little snow to
melt within the walls.
Outside the outpost, the streets of Emal were shallow rivers of mud, as was
the river road.
The troopers of fifth squad were taking a break from the blade drills, a break
given after Alucius had seen Bakka ride into the courtyard. Most of them stood
in the sunlight, breathing heavily from their one-on-one drills with covered
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sabres.
The scout emerged from the stable, glanced around before catching sight of
Alucius, then headed toward his captain.
I m sorry, sir, but it took a time to brush all the mud off my mount.
That s fine, replied Alucius. I imagine there was a great amount of mud.
Yes, sir.
What did you find? asked Alucius. Besides mud?
Bakka glanced down at the dusty clay of the courtyard for a moment, then at
the captain. There weren t any signs of anything, sir. I looked over the
riverbanks good, like you said, but I didn t see any signs of rafts or boats,
or anyone watering loads of mounts. No wagons tracks, or hoofprints along the
shoulders of the road. No new tracks around the place where you ambushed the
raiders. I rode around
Tuuler. That s where it was the muddiest
What was the mud like there? asked Alucius.
Bakka grinned sheepishly. Well, sir. I was thinking that it might be because
they d had riders. I was real careful. Even checked the back lanes. Reason it
was so muddy was because someone had left open the gate on one of the
irrigation ditches and when the water started to rise&
Alucius laughed. Then he frowned. Could that have been a way to cover tracks?
He shook his head. He doubted that even the most adventurous trooper leader or
any brigand would go to that trouble. One of the problems with being a captain
was a growing suspicion of everything.
The other aspect of being captain that Alucius hated was not being able to do
his own scouting. As captain, he could no longer scout, not out alone by
himself, where he was most effective, and he had no one who was anywhere near
as good as he was. So often he felt almost blind in relying on his scouts,
even as he did his best to coach them.
Sir?
I d wondered& never mind. Alucius offered his captain s professional smile.
Thank you, Bakka.
Report what you told me to your squad leader. Carry on.
Yes, sir. Bakka nodded and turned.
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Alucius looked out over the walls toward the silver-green sky to the east and
the faint hazy clouds that suggested that the warming would continue for at
least another day. Then he turned at looked northward at the towering ramparts
of the Aerlal Plateau.
Although he had his own ideas, he still had no firm answers or proof as to why
anyone would want to raid Tuuler or even create the impression of using Tuuler
as a staging base. Nor did he have any response from Colonel Clyon, and he
wasn t sure which bothered him more.
He turned and walked back toward the center of the courtyard, nodding toward
Sawyn. Fifth squad!
Break s over. We ll go to two on one, now.
At least, Alucius reflected, he d keep sharpening his company s weapons
skills.
16
Borlan, Lanachrona
The majer in the blue-and-cream uniformknocked on the door, then straightened
his tunic nervously.
Come on in, Ebuin. The captain-colonel was sitting behind a dark oak table
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