stopped him in time, reminding him that former closeness between them no longer existed.
‘Do I remember that?’ Isak said in a hollow voice, ‘yes, all too well.’ His face tightened and became resolved. ‘Just remember: I had reason for doing what I did.’
‘And Mihn shouldn’ve known better than to take a second crack at the other lands,’ Carel snapped. ‘Dyin’ in a fight ain’t the same as lettin’ some witch half-drown you — and there’s no one ready to go in after him that I can see.’
‘Mihn made his choice,’ Isak said stonily. ‘He thought the risk worth taking.’
‘For what, eh? You can’t tell me that, you can only guess!’ Carel shook his head. ‘Ah, lad, I’m sorry; it ain’t your fault your recklessness is rubbin’ off on others. Only to be expected from the Chosen, I guess.’
‘You’ve got the scar,’ Isak said abruptly, staring at his ripped shirt. ‘You’ve linked yourself to me.’
Carel nodded. ‘Whatever foolishness you’ve got planned, I’ll be right behind you from now on.’
‘You want to restrain me?’ Isak sounded incredulous.
‘No, lad, just clip you round the head from time to time, make sure you’ve really thought through whatever you’re planning to do next. Never was able to stop you from doing what you wanted, but I could make you think again sometimes. The more you stand there lookin’ like some tortured God, the more that might be in the interests o’ the whole Land.’
Isak looked down at his strange, mismatched hands. ‘God? No God ever looked like this.’
‘No mortal’s got skin that colour either, Isak,’ Carel said. ‘Vesna looks normal in comparison now.’
‘Maybe we need new Gods,’ Isak replied, abruptly crouching, and the dog immediately broke from Vesna’s grip and leaped forward to tuck itself under his white arm. Isak hugged the animal close with that one arm and rested his chin on its head. Carel noticed he kept his black arm well clear.
‘Maybe it’s time to change this old order a little,’ Isak murmured, ‘make Vesna and Legana our Gods instead.’
‘And that would be better? Vesna’s just a man, touched by Karkarn or not.’
Isak nodded distantly, his eyes still averted. ‘Maybe our Gods just need to do better, then.’
Carel forced himself to laugh. ‘Aye, well, if any man could chastise ’em, it’d be you.’
A ghastly smile crept onto Isak’s lips. ‘There’s another, but he’s feeling a bit ragged these days.’ He stood again, apparently having found strength in the dog’s presence. ‘So is this how our friendship worked?’
‘How’d you mean?’
‘I steal your tobacco; you lecture me about life.’
Carel hesitated, then smiled. ‘More or less, come to think of it. Oftentimes there’s beer involved somewhere too.’
The white-eye grinned, the gaps in his teeth adding to an already macabre expression. ‘Let’s do that then.’
CHAPTER 25
‘So this is the price of command?’ Amber asked.
Nai gave him a puzzled look. ‘Price?’
‘To hide at the back like a damned coward,’ the general clarified. His face was mostly hidden by his steel helm, but his stance was telling: taut, ready to charge.
Nai made a point of checking all around. ‘Nope, we don’t seem to have moved by mistake. Exactly what part of this is cowardly, General Amber?’
Amber loomed towards him, his hands in fists. ‘We’re at the back of an army, you fool!’ He looked at the ranks ahead of them. ‘The enemy’s the other side of that lot.’
‘But we’re still on foot, right?’ Nai looked down mournfully at the heavy boots he wore. ‘This might be my first battle, but I’m pretty sure cowardly would be to have horses so we could run away if it went bad — Ghenna’s teeth, in any other company I’d call that sensible!’
‘Any other company?’ asked Sergeant Menax at Amber’s side, a man nearly as tall as the general himself, if rather less inspiring. ‘Just what’re you sayin’ about us?’
Sergeant Menax had been given the job of leading Amber’s troop of bodyguards because the general had asked for the ugliest, evilest bastard sergeant in the whole army. For reasons Nai didn’t understand, sergeants who’d got away with every sort of vicious criminality ended up as highly valued in Menin armies — those failing to make the grade were generally hanged somewhere along the way.
‘You people are the most insanely death-obsessed madmen I’ve ever met,’ the former necromancer said. ‘Your interest in surviving any battle seems transitory at best, and at worst a secret shame you’re determined to make amends for.’
‘Eh?’
‘You’re all fucking idiots is what I’m saying.’
Amber raised a hand before Menax tried something stupid.
‘I’m a front-line officer. That’s where I should be when the fighting comes.’
‘You’re a general now,’ Nai countered, ‘which means you need to stay alive more than lead the charge. I’m guessing the king’ll use sarcasm at me if my first report says you died fighting in the line.’ The newest King’s Man pointed off to their left, where the small knot of undead soldiers stood unnaturally still and quiet. ‘Anyways, once they get stuck in, I’m pretty certain you’ll not keep clear.’
Amber turned to follow Nai’s gesture. The Legion of the Damned were less than a legion now; it was hard to count them accurately when they were standing in a formless mass, but he estimated some six hundred of the undead mercenaries remained. He could only communicate properly with them though Nai; the mage had some way of planting directions in their leader’s mind. Without that he’d be forced to resort to hand gestures — as if battlefield communication wasn’t hard enough at the best of times.
‘Having a horse is still cowardly,’ Menax repeated. ‘It ain’t the Menin way.’
‘Your armies have cavalry,’ Nai protested. ‘They’re over there!’
Menax sniffed. ‘And a bunch of fucking cowards the lot of ’em, chinless noble-born brats with no spine, savin’ yer presence, General, o’ course. Useless, the whole crew.’
‘What about Colonel Dassai’s troops? Our supporting legions are led by Narkang noblemen, but I hear they give good account of themselves.’
‘That’s easy when you’re trying to cause trouble, distract an army from its purpose. Might have t’let a wasp sting you before you c’n swat it.’
General Amber let out a heavy breath and the pointless conversation fell dead. They were waiting on a floodplain where a Devoted army had established camp thirty miles in from the Narkang border. Colonel Dassai was making a nuisance of himself as best he could, with half his Green Scarves occupying the high ground to the left while the rest busied themselves raiding the Devoted line. The cavalry had sparked a near-revolt within the Menin ranks, until wiser heads had prevailed. Amber had been careful to keep the Menin-hating colonel and the blue- tattooed elite cavalry away from his Menin infantry. Under General Daken, the Green Scarves had seen more fighting than any other legions during the Menin invasion, and neither side were showing much interest in forgiveness.
The bulk of Amber’s army was spread out ahead of them: his five heavy infantry legions were formed up in two lines, with a third of medium infantry. On the left flank the useless Menin cavalry waited; the Menin archers were on the right, where they could support the infantry, but would be able to withdraw easily without being massacred or disrupting the spear-wall.
In the sky wisps of thin cloud stretched like lace in the gusty wind. A flock of black birds turned above the plain, delighting in the surging wind as they readied for the feast Amber intended to provide. He could feel the wind on the back of his neck, bearing a promise of autumn.
Everywhere I see black birds, he said in the privacy of his mind. The call of crows wake me at dawn, ravens attend me at dusk. Are they the souls of those we’ve killed? A colder prickle went down his neck. Am I drawing them in my wake like I’m already marching up Ghain’s slope, the chains of sin around my neck? Or is Nai right and they’re the souls of those we’ve lost, come to guide us?
