Mercedes Lackey - Two-Edged Blade

Mercedes Lackey

Great Jaesel, Shallan said, her bright blue eyes widening in awe at the sight of what blocked the well-pounded trail, What in hell is that?

She must have unconsciously tightened her legs, because her high-strung gelding bucked, then bounced a little sideways, blundering into Hellsbane.

TroubleKero exerted immediate pressure on the reins, so the mare only laid her ears back, rather than reacting with the swift snap of teeth she would ordinarily have indulged in.

Shallan swore, made a fist and thumped her restive mount between his ears, and the fractious beast subsided. Once again the scouting party turned their collective attention toward the untidy sprawl of humanity across their path. Sprawl was definitely the operative term, Kero decided. There was a tangle of about twenty or thirty men, some standing, most in variations of fallen, all interlaced with ten-foot (thankfully) headless pikes.

Didnt the sergeant from Bornams Bastards say something about recruiting from the area last night? asked a male voice from right behind Kero. Gies, she identified automatically; of the twins, he had the deeper voice. I think so, replied his identically-swarthy brother, Tre, and she knew shed picked the right name for the right twin. The sergeant wasnt real optimistic.

Id say he had reason not to be, Shallan replied, shaking her ice-blonde head in disgust. And from the look of this, wed better detour before they get themselves sorted out and stand up. A few more of the men got themselves untangled from the rest and stood aside. Their sergeant wasnt shoutingmostly because, from the crimson color of his face, Kero reckoned that he was holding off a fit of apoplexy by will alone.

Aye to that, Kero said. She was nominally the head of this group, but only during the actual scouting foray, and they werent in the field at the moment. Lets take the back way.

The four scouts turned their horses heads and went back the way theyd come in, following the pounded-dirt track between hacked-off patches of scrubby brush. Behind them the sergeant finally regained his voice, and began using it.

The four Companies Menmelliths Council had hired for bandit eradication had bivouacked in a canyon, but not a blind one; there were at least four ways into the area that Kero knew of, and she had no doubt the twins knew a couple more. The back way, which was the other, nominally traveled, route in, took them over some rough ground, but their horses could handle it; they were all Shinain-bred.

A few furlongs along the scrub-lined dirt trail (which steady commerce over the past few days had pounded into the soil), the human track was bisected by a game trail that led off through the weather-beaten bushes and tired, stunted oaks. That back way was good for a goat or a mountain-deer, but not terribly attractive to humans afoot or humans with horses, which made it unlikely that theyd run into any more delays getting back to camp.

In fact, the back way was so quiet there was still wildlife living along it. Birds flew out of the trees as they passed, and a covey of quail watched from beneath the shelter of a thorn-bush. Gods, Shallan said, thumping her horse again as he shied at a rabbit bolting across their path. Gods. Green recruits. Thanks be to Saint Keshal that Lerryn wont put greenuns in the field.

Could be worse, Tre observed. Could be levied troops from Menmellith and Rethwellan out here.

Shallan groaned, but Kero shook her head. Menmellith, maybe, but not Rethwellan. Rethwellan wont even officially be our hire. Officially, theyve loaned the Council the cash to pay for us. Got that from a letter. She didnt say from whom. Everyone in the Skybolts knew about her friendship with Darenand knew equally well that she wouldnt trade on it. But she could, and would, pass along any information he happened to drop, whether by accident or design.

Oh? Shallan and the other two looked studiously indifferent, which told Kero they hadnt heard this particular tidbit of gossip. Whys that?

Simple enough. We all know that Karse is funding these banditsassuming they arent already part of the Karsite army. But outside of these Borders? Kero shrugged. Anyway, thats why its us, and why Rethwellans out of it. Were not official units of any army. Whatever we do, it cant cause a diplomatic incident. And if we happen to get carried away, and it turns out that the subsequent bodies were part of the Karsite army, well, Karse has violated the Code so many times that the Guild not only wouldnt fine the offenders, they might even be rewarded. Unofficially, of course.

Of course, Tre agreed brightly. Kero looked back over her shoulder. The identical smiles on both twins faces could only be described as bloodthirsty.

Or maybe it was just greed. It wasnt too often that a bonded Company had free rein to loot, but thats exactly what the Menmellith Counciltheir putative employershad given them. Not that Kero blamed them. Probably half of what was in the possession of the bandits had belonged to folk hereabouts first. If anybody got it, the locals would rather it was friends than enemies.

Rethwellan had granted Menmellith client-state status and semi-autonomy shortly after Daren had been born. Supposedly this was a kind of thanks-offering for the birth of a third son; in actuality, now that shed seen the state with her own eyes, Kero suspected that the King had seized on the first available excuse to liberate his land from a considerable drain on the royal coffers. Menmellith was mostly mountain, hellishly hard to travel in, constantly raided by Karsite bandits, and probably impossible to govern or tax effectively. Now it was governed by its own fractious, taciturn folk, served as a buffer between Karse and the lusher lands of Rethwellan, and the King need only hire the occasional merc Company to clean things out now and again, instead of being forced to keep a detachment of the army there on permanent duty.

Were fairly useless at the moment, you know, Shallan said, as her horse picked its way daintily across a dry streambed that formed part of the trail. Theyre just sending the scouting parties out to make sure everythings still where its supposed to be.

I know, Kero sighed. If there was one thing shed learned with the Skybolts, it was that warfare consisted mostly of waiting. Im not even supposed to report to anyone unless we do see something odd. I suppose it wouldnt be so damned bad if we could see something going on, but the bastards are not coming out of that canyon.

Cant say as I blame them, Gies said laconically. If Id got mself trapped in a blind canyon, wouldnt be comin out either. They cn hold us off long as the foodnwater last, an we just might get bored an go away.

Shallan laughed; not a sound of amusement, it was a particularly ugly laugh. Between them, the Wolflings and the Bastards are likely to make things real uncomfortable for them in there. Then when they pop out, well be waiting. And so will the Earthshakers.

Kero preferred not to think too much about that. It was going to cost the two Companies of foot quite a bit in blood to shake the bandits out of their lair. By contrast, the Company of heavy cavalry and the Skybolts skirmishers had it easy, if dull.

But when the bandits did emerge, theyd be like any desperate and cornered creatures, and Shallan was likely to get a bellyful of fighting.

But it wouldnt profit anyone to say that out loud, so Kero held her peace, and kept her eyes on the uncertain trail. The last thing she needed to do would be to lame Hellsbane.

Stand, Kero told Hellsbane. The gray stamped restlessly once more, but then obeyed with no other sign of rebellion. Kero tapped her right foreleg, and the war-steed lifted the massive hoof and set it in Keros waiting hands.