Part 18 (2/2)
”Of course not,” Bo said bitterly, tugging at the backs of his gloves. ”Now, can we get moving?”
”Are you in a hurry?”
”No,” Bo said as he set off at a brisk pace down the canyon. ”Well,” he called over his shoulder, ”yes. A little.”
Taniel jogged to catch up. ”What is it?”
”Nothing at all. Can the girl get a move on?”
”Her name is Ka-poel.”
”Can little sister get a move on? I'm going to need some rest tonight and I would prefer to get it in the valley and not in this b.l.o.o.d.y canyon.”
”When's the last time you slept?”
Bo counted silently on his gloved fingers. ”Five days?”
”Pit, Bo, you-”
”That's not really important.”
”Then what is?”
”I may have left my new apprentice in a war zone. And I killed both my horses getting here in time to save you.”
”Wait, wait. You have an apprentice?”
”Very nice girl. The kind I could have set you up with. She has some peculiar powers, and I've grown quite fond of her. She's actually the one who figured out where you were. I wouldn't have left her, except...”
”Yes, yes. You were coming to save me.”
”Right.”
They continued on in silence for the better part of the afternoon. Taniel forced Bo to slow down so that Ka-poel could keep up, and they worked their way down the canyon. They finally stopped to rest an hour after the sun had left their canyon in shadow. Ka-poel dropped Kresimir's casket on the ground unceremoniously, making Bo wince.
”Tell me about this apprentice,” Taniel said as they made a meal of infantry rations.
Bo winced as if he had just cracked a tooth on a piece of hardtack. ”How do you people eat this stuff? Blech. My apprentice? Not much to tell, really. Another sorcery slinger. You know.”
”You said you were fond of her.”
”Did I?” Bo made a show of gnawing on the brick-hard biscuit.
”You slept with her already, didn't you? Isn't there some kind of code of conduct against that type of thing?”
Bo glowered first at Taniel, then rolled his eyes over to Ka-poel, who sat on the ground fiddling with a latch on her rucksack.
”Pole's not my apprentice!” Taniel protested.
Bo rolled his eyes. ”I haven't slept with Nila.”
”Oh, she has a name now, eh? And you expect me to believe you haven't taken her to bed?”
”... yet.”
”I see how it is.”
”And I don't think I will.”
”Now, that would shock me,” Taniel said.
”I'm serious. I like her too much. She's clever, resourceful. And she's going to be far stronger than I ever will.”
”Really?” Taniel was skeptical. Bo had once boasted that despite being the youngest Privileged in the Adran Cabal, he was one of the strongest. Tamas had confirmed that boast. For Bo to say something like this... ”You're intimidated by her?”
”No,” Bo said. ”Julene was intimidating. And I went to bed with her. Nila is just...”
”You're intimidated because she's a better person than you are.”
”Go to the pit,” Bo said.
Taniel scowled. He'd just caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye. His breath quickened, and he s.h.i.+fted slightly, trying to look to his left without being obvious about it.
”Well, don't go all silent suddenly,” Bo said. ”I didn't mean it.”
”Quiet.” Taniel reached inside his jacket and flicked the cap off of the powder horn. Bo saw the action and stiffened. He checked his gloves.
”What is it?” Bo hissed.
”I saw a flash of Adran blue. A uniform,” Taniel said. ”Farther down the canyon. About thirty yards.”
”Are you sure?”
Taniel reached out with his senses. ”Yes. I'm sure.” He stood up, and Bo quickly followed, spinning to look down the canyon.
A rock tumbled down from a ledge fifty feet above them, then another on the opposite side of the canyon. An infantryman's forage cap emerged, and Taniel could see the barrel of a rifle. Then another. Then another.
All around them, soldiers appeared on the canyon walls. Taniel stopped counting at twenty-five. ”The rest of the infantry company,” he said, ”the ones camped in the valley. Did you confront them, too?”
”I didn't know there were more,” Bo said. ”The camp I pa.s.sed had less than a dozen men in it.”
Taniel sensed Bo reaching into the Else, and felt sorcery leak into this world. A breeze-touched with sorcery-lapped around Taniel's legs and ruffled his jacket as a dozen more soldiers rounded the bend on the canyon floor, leveling their rifles. ”They have gunpowder,” he said. ”They'll have to come a little closer for me to detonate them.”
”No need for that,” Bo said.
”What do you mean?”
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