One man pointed with his elbow, indicating Shai. 'Found somewhat, you did.'
'Waste of time bringing this big dumb ox with us,' said the one called Twist.
A man holding an axe sniggered. 'Look at those arms and shoulders! Whew! Bet he can chop wood! Save me the trouble.'
'There was others with him, including an ordinand we killt,' said the sergeant, 'but I don't know how many or where they come from or why they was there. That's why we captured him and brung him back, you sorry fools. For your lack of thinking of it, is why I am sergeant and you will always be walking in my dust.'
A few men spat.
But the man the sergeant had scolded merely laughed. 'Got him a ring, doesn't he? I like that belt buckle, too. Very fancy.'
'They're mine,' said the sergeant. 'Finder's rights.'
'What about me?' demanded Twist.
'You can have his good-quality sandals, eh?'
Shai weighed his chances, and did not struggle as they stripped off his ring and belt, his sandals and good tunic. A mewling cry whispered from the trees, maybe a trick of his ears, but it made him terribly uneasy. He kept his mouth shut and his eyes open as they prodded him away from the campfire and into the shelter of a brake of lush ferns. A man sat on a stool under the curving
fronds, braiding the hair of a girl seated on the ground with her head bowed.
'Who is this?' the man asked without looking up.
The sergeant said, 'We found him on the battlefield you sent us to search, lord. We killed an ordinand. There were others that eluded us. You know how spies plague us.'
The girl did not look up. The man did.
His was an unremarkable face, middle-aged and stout, not a man you would look at twice. He wore a cloak whose color Shai could not distinguish against the leaves. His hair was bound into a single long braid that fell almost to his waist, tied off around what Shai was sure was a finger bone.
Shai repressed a shudder as he regarded the cloaked man, awaiting the ugly verdict on his fate. He was afraid to die, but after all, what could he do about it now? Maybe he would use a few of the tricks Tohon had taught him, and at least take a few down before they slit his throat and punctured his belly.
Looking startled, the man dropped the girl's unfinished braid. 'You're veiled to my sight. Yet you wear no cloak.'
'Eh?' Shai took a step back, into the prodding point of a spear. He eased forward off the pain.
The man cocked his head, as dogs did sometimes, trying to figure out a thing they could not comprehend. 'He must be simpleminded, Sergeant. He's got nothing in his head.'
'He's an outlander.'
'That shouldn't matter.' The clipped arrogance of the cloaked man's tone made you want to answer. 'Who are you? What are you doing here?'
'Eh, eh,' said Shai, grunting to give himself time to think, cutting up his timing to make each word awkward. If they throw you rope, you're damned if you don't grab it. 'Eh, ver. The master calls me Shai. I can chop wood.'
The men behind him chortled.
The cloaked man grasped the fraying end of the girl's braid, although he seemed not to notice that she flinched. His attention shifted to her hair as suddenly as it had fixed on Shai before. 'Best we take him to the lord commander, to explain this mystery. He should be easy to keep in line. We'll move at dawn.'
They walked him back to camp, shoved him to the darkest corner of the encampment where other soldiers stood guard over many captives.
'Try to escape, and we kill you,' said Twist congenially as Shai maneuvered among bodies huddled on the ground, not wanting to trip. There were at least thirty, and they were small.
They were children.
Most curled around others, sleeping or pretending to sleep. One boy watched as Shai found a patch of ground and sank down. He wrapped his arms around bent knees and laid his head against his legs, hoping he could doze, but sleep did not come. For a while it drizzled, and even though it was a warm rain, he shuddered. The mewling nagged on and on until, at length, a soldier kicked through.
'Shut up! Shut up! Who's making that cursed sound?'
The man reached into a bundle of shivering children and yanked a girl up by her braids, a little thing, not more than twelve or thirteen. She was sniveling, her shoulders bowing like the ferns as she folded forward to beg for forgiveness.
'Eihi! I can't take that sound!' He plunged his sword into her belly.
She screamed. Shai leaped to his feet as the children who had been huddling with her scrambled away like so many insects scattering from a disturbed nest. The soldier stuck her a second time, and a third, all done so quickly that Shai barely had time to take a step as her shrieks turned the air cold. A hand grasped Shai's ankle. He looked down into the dark face of the watchful boy.
'They'll just kill you, too,' the boy whispered. 'Sit down.'
It had been too late already when the first thrust cut into her abdomen. The stink of entrails filled the air, and Shai coughed, retching, as the boy's hand clutched more tightly.
'Sit down, ver. You can't help her.'
Her screaming twisted into a rising and falling moan as the pain tore into her and her life leaked out. The soldier slit her throat and let her go, stepping back from the gush of blood. Shai fell to his knees.
Merciful One! Give me refuge!
He mouthed the words, but uttered no sound. Not one of the
captives made a noise as the girl died. Rain hissed in the leaves and wind rattled through the branches, almost drowning out her last hoarse gasp.
In night, the spirit rises like luminescent pale smoke out of lifeless flesh, twisting in confusion as the girl reached first here and then there toward those who could not see her. Even in death, she mewled, as though she had had her tongue cut out and could form no speaking sound. Her ghost drifted in the damp night wind, and then she saw him seeing her. He ducked his head, but her ghost sailed over and began to pluck at his sleeve to get his attention, although obviously her fingers had no substance with which to grasp.
A hush stilled the camp. Soldiers coughed and shuffled as a tangible presence moved among them.
'The stink offends me.'
'Yes, lord. We'll move the corpse away at once, lord.'
'Here, now.' A man moved up beside Shai as captives shrank away. The hem of a long cloak brushed his right arm. 'Look up.'
Shai swallowed, hard to do with that choking knot in his throat, and slowly raised his head as he remembered all those awful family evenings when arguments had raged around the dining chamber while he kept his face empty and his mouth closed. The ghost was patting his hair, tugging at the unraveling topknot.
'Do you see her?' His gaze bent on Shai as though to dig deep into his heart, but Father Mei's rages were twice as frightening, and this man didn't look strong enough to have any force if he backhanded Shai. If they meant to kill him with a sword or spear, there was nothing he could do but run and be ready for arrows to take him in the back, but even if they chose to beat him it wouldn't be worse than what his older brothers had done to toughen him up. Even Hari had slapped him around to try to stop him sitting in dull silence while the others teased him. Be a man. Speak up for yourself. He'd gotten used to their ridicule.
'Eh, Master?' he said as stupidly as he could. 'I'm cold. I'm hungry.'
The cloaked man studied him and the ghost a moment longer, then turned away. 'Get that stink away from camp.'
'Up, you! Get rid of the body'
A whip descended on Shai's shoulders, and he yelped just because he was so surprised. But he shuffled over to the corpse as the captives scooted away. The smell gagged him, harder by far than the slash of a whip to suffer easily. Her limbs fell every which way as he grabbed her under the armpits. His hands became smeary with the blood that coated her chest. His feet pressed into moist, warm nubs and rubbery leavings that squelched as his feet shifted to gain purchase. He dragged her backward. A trio of soldiers hustled up to guard him as a thorn-
