The major climbed down from her horse and gestured to a pair of neatly dressed soldiers to join her.
Taniel watched the three of them approach. He took a bite of mutton and cheese, chewing slowly.
“Stand up, Captain,” the major said. When Taniel didn’t respond, she jerked her head to one of the soldiers. He bent to grab Taniel by the arm.
Taniel lifted the pistol from his lap and cocked back the hammer, pointing it at the soldier. “Bad idea, soldier.” Taniel almost cracked a smile at the looks on the faces of the major and colonel, but he doubted that would help his position.
“Uh, sir,” one of the soldiers said, “are you Taniel Two-Shot?”
“Yes,” Taniel said, “I am.”
“I used to be with the Seventh. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir, but it seems we’re supposed to arrest you.”
Taniel locked eyes with the major. “That’s not going to happen today.”
The major retreated for a moment and held a quiet conference with the colonel. A few moments later the colonel nodded and the major and the soldiers were dismissed.
Taniel returned to his lunch, only to find the colonel still sitting on his horse not ten feet away. The man rode a little closer. Taniel looked up. He wasn’t in the mood for this.
The colonel’s expression was still disapproving. “Captain, I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you. We’ve met before, but it was years ago. Your father was a great man.”
Taniel swallowed a mouthful of food. How was he supposed to answer that? “Yes, he was.”
“Captain, I should warn you. The field marshal was quite lenient with all his soldiers, especially his mages. With his death there’s been a shift in policy in that regard. I doubt the General Staff will make an exception for you, even with your reputation. Point a pistol at a ranking officer again and you’ll be–”
“Shot?” Taniel asked, not able to keep the smirk from his face.
The colonel scowled. “Hanged.”
“Thank you for the warning. Sir.”
The colonel nodded. “I’m glad to hear you’re on your feet again, Captain. We need you on the front.” He paused for a moment, as if waiting for Taniel to stand and salute him. He could have waited all day for that, as far as Taniel was concerned. After nearly a minute he turned his horse and was off at a canter.
Taniel couldn’t help but wonder why the colonel wasn’t on the front with the rest of the army.
“Pole,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea for you to come with me.”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“I’m serious, Pole. It’s a war zone. I know you’ve been in war before.” Pit, she’d been with him facing down the same Kez Grand Army just a couple months ago. He’d watched her butcher half the Kez royal cabal up on South Pike. “But I’ve felt… strange since you brought me back. I don’t know what I’ll do. I’d rather not get you killed.”
Taniel again remembered the blood on her hands when he awoke from the coma. He had seen dead soldiers, and a man he felt he should recognize lying on the ground unconscious. Ka-poel had tried to explain it with hand gestures. Taniel had surmised that she’d traded a life for his. Whose, he didn’t know, but the thought made him sick.
Ka-poel took the piece of cheese from his hand and tossed it in her mouth. That seemed like all the answer that Taniel was going to get.
“Oh well,” he said. “I had to try. It’ll be good to have you at my side.”
Ka-poel pursed her lips in a sly smile.
“My side, Ka-poel. I don’t–”
She put her finger to his lips, her smile widening.
“They won’t like you being with me,” Taniel said. “There are some women soldiers, and fraternization is strictly prohibited. It happens all the time, of course, but the officers like to keep up appearances. They might try to make you sleep in a different tent.”
Ka-poel spread her hands, questioning.
“What? Fraternization? You know. Men and women being… together. Intimately.”
She pointed between them, then made a flat, chopping motion with her hand. But we aren’t. The grin on her face made the motion appear mocking, like a child denying that they’d done something wrong when they’d been caught doing it.
It made Taniel’s heart beat faster, and he could feel his face go red. “All right, girl, we’re going now. Just after I piss.”
When he got back to the horse, he found her sitting in the saddle already, but toward the front, as if she expected him to sit behind her.
“Move back,” he said.
She ignored him. He pulled himself up into the saddle behind her, and to take the reins, he had to wrap his arms around her waist. She snuggled up against his chest and he flicked the reins with a sigh.
The number of people along the road increased as they got closer and closer to the front. In the last ten miles there were so many tents that they filled the entire valley from one side to the other. It seemed like a sea of people – soldiers, smiths, whores, cooks, laundresses, and merchants. He saw soldiers with the stripes of just about every brigade in Adro, including all of the Wings of Adom, Lady Winceslav’s mercenaries. By now she’d know that Tamas was dead. Taniel wondered if she’d pull her mercenaries out of the war.
The road seemed to disappear beneath the crowd, and Taniel knew they were just one good rainstorm away from it becoming a shit hole of mud. The Addown River cut through the whole thing, a dirty mess clogged with the waste of hundreds of thousands of people. There were barges moored here and there along the river – supply ships from Adopest, no doubt bringing food, weapons, and fresh recruits.
The tents gained some order as he finally reached the army proper. He didn’t think he’d ever look forward to straight lines and discipline again, but after having to push his way through the final few miles he was glad to leave the reserves and hangers-on behind him.
For most of the trip down the Alley the cannon fire had rumbled together like thunder in the distance. Now he could pick out individual blasts. The artillery crew were working full-time, it seemed. That didn’t surprise him; he’d seen the Kez Grand Army.
What did surprise him was the crack and spark of sorcery he noticed as he got closer. There were Privileged fighting on the front – on both sides. Most of the Kez Cabal had been wiped out at the Battle for South Pike or at Kresim Kurga by Ka-poel. And where had Adro gotten any Privileged?
It took some questioning, but Taniel was soon able to find the closest officers’ mess. It was mostly full of officers from the Third Brigade. He tossed his powder-keg pin on the bar.
“I need a room,” he said.
The barkeep eyed him suspiciously. “No rooms here, sir. All full up.”
“Kick someone out,” Taniel said. “I’m not sleeping in a tent in this mess.” Pit. He’d skin a man who tried to do something like that to him. But Taniel wasn’t about to leave Ka-poel anywhere in an army this size that didn’t have a locking door.
“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t do that.”
Taniel looked down at his powder-keg pin. “You see that, right?”
The barkeep slid the powder-mage pin back across the bar toward Taniel. “Look, ‘sir.’ There aren’t any powder mages left in the army. They’ve all been wiped out. So don’t try to pull one over on me.”
Taniel rocked back on his barstool. All of them? Gone? “What do you mean ‘wiped out’? How could they be wiped out?”
“They were with Field Marshal Tamas when he was lost behind the enemy lines.”
“There’s not a single Marked this side of Budwiel?”
“Not just this side of Budwiel. They’re dead.”
“Have you seen the bodies?” Taniel demanded. “Well, have you? Do you know anyone who has? Has there been recent news from Kez? I thought not. Now get me a drink, and have someone find out about getting me a room.”
The barkeep folded his arms across his dirty apron and didn’t move.
“Look,” Taniel said, “if I’m the last living powder mage north of Budwiel, then I’m a damned celebrity. There are Privilegeds out there who need to be killed. I’ll need a drink and eventually some sleep to be able to do that.”