Soldiers Live

42

The Nether Taglian Territories: After Battle

The Captain herself reached the scene of the fighting just an hour after its end. She stomped around. She nagged the survivors with questions. Most of the rangers had survived but only two had managed without suffering serious wounds. Sleepy interrogated prisoners even more emphatically. The cavalrymen had retained sense enough to capture a few Taglians who offered to surrender, presuming they would continue to cooperate to save their skins.

None of the prisoners knew anything about the Daughter of Night. None even knew that name.

The Captain's prowling took her near Narayan Singh. She kicked the old cripple. "Hellspawn." She turned, bellowed, "Why didn't we know about this ambush ahead of time?"

Some bold soul told her the truth. "The Unknown Shadows probably did know. But nobody asked them. Tobo is the only one who knows how to talk to them the way it takes to get them to do the kind of spying you want."

Sleepy growled. She kicked Narayan Singh again. She paced. "What do we know about this fort?"

Blade came forward. He would save the others. Sleepy's wrath fell less heavily upon him. Usually. Some thought she was a little afraid of Blade. In fact, she was just not sure of him, though he had been around longer than she had. Like Swan and Sahra, he was not actually a sworn brother of the Company. But he was always there and always involved.

Blade said, "The old Captain established it. It was a remount station for the first courier post. The wall got added because the natives kept trying to steal the horses. Soulcatcher eventually expanded the fort and garrison during the Kiaulune wars because she wanted a stronger presence here in case her enemies tried to sneak north this way. Assuming she did here the way she did everywhere else, she forgot the place as soon as the fighting was over. The garrison might be a hundred fifty or two hundred. Plus hangers-on."

"Pretty big gang for out here."

"It's a big territory. And half of them are out of business now."

"What're the fortifications like?"

"I've never been there. I hear they're barely good enough to stop horse thieves. Which means not real impressive. Some kind of rock wall, since that's the available material around here. I've heard there's a ditch that was never completed. Didn't you come this way when you ran south? Didn't you see it?"

"We took a trail west of here. The old trade road. We avoided the courier routes."

"You might send some cavalry to surround the place before they can move the girl out."

Sleepy mused, "It's probably too late to stop them yelling for help."

Blade said, "I don't think you need to worry about sneaking. By now Soulcatcher's got the whole Taglian empire alerted."

Sleepy grunted. Then she sent for cavalry officers. And after she sent them off she visited Runmust and Iqbal. Those two had been close friends for two decades. She asked Iqbal's wife, Suruvhija, "What did the surgeon say?"

"They'll recover. They're Shadar. They're strong men. They fought well. God will watch over them."

Sleepy glanced at Sahra, who was helping tend the wounded. Sahra nodded, meaning Suruvhija was not just wishful thinking.

"I'll include them in my prayers as well." Sleepy squeezed Suruvhija's shoulder reassuringly, thinking the woman was too perfect to be real. At least as men saw wives. But she was Shadar, too, and she believed, and the roles of all members of the family were clearly defined by her religion.

Sleepy took time to talk to Iqbal's children, too. They were bearing up bravely. As they would, for they were good Shadar, too, despite the strange lands and societies they had seen.

When she was around Iqbal's children, Sleepy sometimes even vaguely regretted having abandoned the woman's role. But that never lasted more than a few seconds.

"Blade. Pass the word. I want the whole gang up to this fort before sunset. If that's possible. Once they see some numbers I'm sure they'll give up."

Blade told her, "You know you have to stop before long. The animals need time to graze and recover. And we have a tail of stragglers that has to stretch all the way back to Charandaprash."

People got hurt or sick or just could not keep up. It irked Sleepy but it was a fact of life. Her strength was down maybe a thousand men already. That would worsen rapidly if she continued to drive hard.

"When they get here the most worn-out ones can take over as our garrison." That was a tactic as old as soldiering.

She would not admit it but she needed a rest herself. She could not imagine when she would get one, though.