Part 26 (2/2)

'Well,' the general said. 'Well.' His smile returned, still not touching his eyes. 'My apology stands. Ready yourselves, Blader. Take what weapons and handlers you see fit, and I'll be bringing troops from the next beach along to guard your charges. Report back by sundown.'

'Yes, General.' Sol saluted, but the general was already turning away.

'While you're away, the first Engine will be established where you stand,' the general said over his shoulder. 'Time to get on with things.'

Easier just to shoot him in the back of the head, Sol thought. His pistol was heavy on his belt. Dreaming of violence and blood, he watched his b.a.s.t.a.r.d general stride along the beach. 'f.u.c.k you, General,' Sol whispered. When he turned around, Gallan was already approaching.

'That looked fun,' Gallan said.

'Delightful,' Sol said. 'Get the Blade together. Briefing at breakfast, then we're moving out.'

Gallan raised his eyebrows, but Sol turned away. He looked at the covered Engines and the rackers' tent. Weird things, both. Much as he hated to agree with what General Cove had said, he'd be glad to leave them behind.

Sol and the forty-nine Spike soldiers of his Blade ate breakfast together, and it was an animated affair. Not raucous, because they were in enemy territory, and any trained soldiers knew to keep their noise low. But there was an excitement bubbling through them all now that they were aware of what the day would bring. The landing had been achieved successfully and without any casualties, but now the Spike were itching to move on. And, perhaps, for a fight.

Half a Blade had already been drafted in from the next beach to take over their positions, and as they gathered after breakfast Sol saw the displeasure on some of the other soldiers' faces. Eight of them settled around the Engines, leaving a comfortable distance between them, the devices and their priests. Several more stationed themselves around the rackers' tent. Its canvas flapped, and sometimes Sol saw a waft of something rising from the tent's vents. Once, walking past, he had heard chuckling inside.

His Blade checked each other's weapons, ensured their equipment was tied and packed properly around their bodies to avoid noise, shouldered packs containing food, water, sleeping and cooking supplies, and ammunition, and the four handlers they were taking with them ensured their charges were properly prepared for movement. They were taking two sparkhawks, a nest of ving wasps and one of the lyons, its fire-glands still plugged but calming drugs obviously fading from its system. Each time it exhaled it growled, glaring left and right. Its handler, Tamma, kept a prod stick in her hand at all times a any misbehaving from the lyon and she would poke it with the stick, firing a steam-fuelled pellet into its stomach that would incapacitate it until she could bring it back under control. Sol had once seen the prod stick used on a person when two Spike fought to settle a long-term quarrel, and the woman had been blown almost in half. Such an effect showed how fearsome the lyons were.

He was as glad as any to leave the beach. Betraying his unconventional approach to leaders.h.i.+p, he led his own Blade from the sands and over the dunes, Gallan by his side. He knew that General Cove would be frowning upon such a brazen display of rule-breaking a Bladers were instructed to remain close to the centre of their Blade in case of attack, not near the front where the danger was greatest a but Sol was a leader, not a politician. Since the moment he had been promoted nine years before, he had vowed that he would never expect his soldiers to undertake something he was not prepared to do himself. Him leading improved morale, and maintained respect amongst his soldiers.

It was their eyes he felt upon him as they pushed inland, not the weakened gaze of the ageing general.

The sand dunes quickly gave way to rocky, hazardous terrain. Sol ordered his troops to spread out and advance in three lines, and Gallan took the line to his left. They communicated via hand signals, never drifting far apart enough to lose touch. Moving silently, cautiously, Sol issued the command that they should ready their weapons.

A rustling, and a few subtle clicks as weapons were unclipped, unsheathed or hefted.

Perhaps three miles inland, Gallan whistled once. They halted. On a rocky slope above Gallan's line a shape stared down upon them.

Tamma was close behind Sol, the lyon calm by her side. 'Slayer,' she said.

'By the G.o.ds,' Sol said. 'Heard about them. Never thought I'd see one.' He signalled to the lines to his left and right to hold back.

'Ugly b.a.s.t.a.r.d,' Tamma said, and Sol chuckled.

The slayer stood and watched, offering no indication as to its intention. Sol considered ordering it taken down a his archers could undoubtedly strike it from this distance. But he'd heard the rumours about where these things were birthed, and how, and he feared that a chestful of arrows would simply p.i.s.s it off.

'Lyon?' Tamma suggested.

'I think subtlety is the better move,' Sol said. 'It's under the Ald's employ, after all.'

'Yes, but they're ...'

'I know,' Sol said. 'Not quite alive. Not quite dead.' He considered for a moment, then signalled for Gallan to take several Spike to confront the slayer.

The Blade spread out slightly where they waited, and Sol watched nervously as Gallan and five others worked their way around the foot of the rocky outcropping. They parted into two teams and climbed in different areas, presenting separate targets should the slayer choose to attack. But it barely seemed to notice their approach.

'If it even moves the wrong way, riflemen and archers,' Sol commanded. 'And then the lyon.' The slayer's stillness was troubling him, and, as Gallan drew closer, Sol's sense of doom increased.

Tamma attended the lyon, removing the plugs from its fire-vents and loosening the collar with which she controlled it. It growled deep within its chest, and Sol was convinced he felt the growl through his feet, rather than heard it.

'It must know they're there now,' Tamma said.

'It knows.'

Gallan approached and halted a few steps from the slayer, hand on his sword, knees slightly bent. A fighting stance. From this far away Sol could not hear what was said, but the slayer's head dropped and it went to its knees. It seemed to slump down, like a candle melting under intense heat, until it was little more than a low mound on the rock's upper surface.

Gallan turned and waved at Sol, one single hand signal that conveyed that all was well.

'Move on,' Sol said, waving forward. As one, the soldiers moved out.

It took a while for Gallan and the others to descend the crag and catch up. When they did, Sol slipped from his line and trotted through high bracken to where Gallan had rejoined the head of his own troop.

'What happened?' Sol asked.

Gallan looked troubled. It did not suit him. 'I've never been in the presence of anything like it,' he said. 'Have you ever ...?'

Sol shook his head.

'It was in mourning,' Gallan said. 'I could smell the sadness coming from it.'

'Sadness over what?'

'It said its mate was killed by a G.o.d.' Gallan shrugged as they walked on, and Sol moved back to his line without another word.

It began to snow again. The terrain rose steadily inland, and they could see the hillsides before them glistening white. The dividing line between clear skies and snow-laden pa.s.sed without them noticing, and soon they were trudging through an ever-deepening layer. They were equipped for such weather, and most soldiers in Sol's Blade had spent at least a year training in the Harcra.s.syan Mountains.

The snowfall remained relatively light, so that although the going was tougher, visibility was still good. As they climbed to the top of one gentle slope, they could see across a wide valley to another, though the valley floor itself was obscured by a low mist.

'Almost noon,' Gallan said. 'How long do we head inland?'

'Until we make contact,' Sol said. They shared Gallan's water canteen. Sol wished for something warm.

'I thought the General suggested we return today?'

'And if we return with news of nothing but snow?' Sol asked. Leki is out there somewhere, he thought, hating the idea of her corpse cooled enough to allow snow to settle in her open eyes.

There was an awkward silence, broken only by Gallan s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g the top back on his bottle. 'The chance of just running into her is remote,' he said at last. 'Even if she's heading south to meet us, it's a long coast and the landscape is wild.'

'I know that,' Sol said. 'I know.'

They descended into the valley, sending four soldiers ahead to probe the mist s.h.i.+elding the valley floor from view. They returned at intervals to report the way across safe, and when the Blade reached the shallow river and saw what surrounded it, the source of the mist became apparent. The rents in the land seemed new a fresh rocks lay shattered across the landscape, some of them so recent that they were not yet covered with snow a and ice-cold mist rose from within. Several Spike ventured too close and fell back, their skin and flesh frozen by contact with gus.h.i.+ng mist-geysers. They were treated and patched, and Sol led his soldiers towards the river.

There was a single stone bridge, in a bad state of repair and with its span holed in several places.

'The water will be too cold to touch,' Sol said.

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