Dust of Dreams

Keneb over.
    ‘Fist. Our camp security seems to have been breached.’
    ‘They are truly missing, Adjunct?’
    She nodded.
    ‘I cannot see how anyone managed to penetrate this deep into our camp,’ Keneb said. ‘Unless they were our own—but then, where are the bodies? I don’t understand this, Adjunct.’
    ‘The High Mage suggests the attacker was a Shi’gal K’Chain Che’Malle.’
    ‘A what?’
    ‘Sometimes,’ Quick Ben said, ‘those ones grow wings. They’re the Matron’s own assassins, Fist. And one dropped down out of the night and stole them both.’
    ‘To do what with them? Eat them? Why did neither man make a sound?’
    ‘They were selected,’ said the High Mage, ‘and no, I have no idea why.’
    Keneb struggled to make sense of all this. He glanced at Fiddler. The sergeant looked miserable.
Well, nothing new there.
‘Gesler and Stormy,’ he slowly ventured, ‘were anything but average marines.’
    ‘As close to ascendants,’ said Quick Ben, ‘as anyone in this army.’
    ‘Will this winged assassin come back for more of us?’ Keneb asked, offering the question to any one of the five soldiers standing opposite him.
    Fiddler grunted. ‘Damn, that’s the first time the question’s come up—you got a point. Why stop with just them?’
    ‘The problem is,’ said Quick Ben, ‘we have no idea what the Che’Malle want with Gesler and Stormy.’
    ‘And no real way to find out,’ added Bottle.
    ‘I see,’ said Keneb. ‘Well, how can we defend against such future attacks? High Mage?’
    ‘I’ll see what I can think up, Fist.’
    ‘One squad member with a crossbow stays awake at all times at night,’ said Keneb. ‘Maybe that won’t help, but it’s a start. Adjunct, if the soldiers beginthinking people can go missing at any time and we can do nothing about it, we’ll end up facing a mutiny.’
    ‘You are correct, Fist. I will see to it that the order goes out.’ She turned. ‘Captain Yil, ride to the Letherii camp and report our losses—you need hold nothing back from Commander Brys Beddict. Include in your report our conjectures.’
    As Lostara made to leave, Quick Ben said, ‘Captain, be sure that Atri-Ceda Aranict is present.’
    She nodded and then departed.
    The Adjunct stepped close to Keneb. ‘Fist. We have suffered a wound here. It may prove deeper and more serious than any of us presently believe. You may be assured that I will do all that is in my power to find and retrieve Gesler and Stormy—but understand, we must continue the march. We must hold this army together.’
    ‘Aye, Adjunct. To that end, we have another problem. He was just here, in fact.’
    She held his gaze. ‘I am aware of that, Fist. I am also aware of the additional burdens you have been forced to carry as a consequence. I will deal with this matter shortly. In the meantime, we need to make certain that the rumour of Gesler and Stormy deserting is laid to rest. The truth is unpleasant enough in its own right that none will think us dissembling. Summon your officers, Fist.’ She then turned to her High Mage. ‘Do what you can to protect us.’
    ‘I will, Adjunct.’
    ‘And find them, Quick Ben.’
    ‘Again, whatever I can do, I will do it.’
    ‘We cannot lose any more veterans.’
    She did not need to add that without them the chains of this army would snap at the first moment of trouble.
Even now, one more gust of ill wind could do us all in.
    Gesler and Stormy, you damned idiots. Probably tossing dice in that rank tent you shared—or stitching a solid wall down the middle to close another spat. As bad as brothers, you two were. And now you’re gone and there’s a huge hole in my company of marines, one I can’t hope to see filled.
    The Adjunct and the High Mage had left. Fiddler and Bottle drew close to their Fist.
    ‘Fire, sir.’
    Keneb frowned at Fiddler. ‘Excuse me?’
    ‘It’s the fire. The one they went through. Thinking on it, I doubt that winged lizard will be back. I can’t be sure, but my feeling is we’ve seen the last of it. And the last of them.’
    ‘You said this to the Adjunct?’
    ‘Just a feeling, sir. I’m sending Bottle out tonight, to see what he can find.’
    Bottle looked thrilled at the prospect.
    ‘Let me know what he discovers, Sergeant. Immediately—don’t wait until morning. I’m not sleeping anyway.’
    ‘I know the feeling, sir. As soon as we get something, then.’
    ‘Good. Go on, now. I’ll see to dispersing Gesler’s