Tikaya dropped the cube and stepped back. In her haste, she almost tripped over her snowshoes again. Rias’s lips flattened, and he rubbed the fingers of his glove together, as if he could wipe off any taint from the cube.
“ It’s not the same thing, though,” Bocrest said. “The bodies on campus were horribly mutilated, and these birds barely look dead. Maybe our people at the fort are fine.”
“ Those are carrion birds,” Rias said.
Tikaya swallowed with grim understanding. “Not as bright as the wolves then, eh?”
“ It seems not.”
“ What are you talking about?” Bocrest asked.
“ We’re just guessing at this point,” Rias said, “but it’s possible our people are dead by the means you’re familiar with, and the poison was toxic enough that even the carrion beasts that tried to feed off them died.”
Bocrest scowled at the dead bird. “Oh.”
“ Will it still be toxic if we get close?” Tikaya asked. “That cube wasn’t covered by snow, so this couldn’t have happened that many days ago.”
“ I don’t know,” Rias said. “It depends on whether we’re looking at an area denial weapon or something short-lived, designed simply to kill.” He faced Bocrest. “The scouting party. How far ahead are they?”
Bocrest’s face froze, and a long moment passed before he said, “They’ll be there by now.”
Tikaya’s gut twisted. Agarik. She had not even had a chance to apologize to him. She prayed it wasn’t too late.
CHAPTER 11
The walled army fort squatted in the foothills, small and insignificant compared to the towering white mountains plunging it into shadow. Tikaya stamped her feet to keep warm and wondered if she was crazy for wanting to travel the last half mile to the gate. No soldiers manned the massive guns perched atop the ramparts, nor did any smoke waft from the chimneys inside. Rias’s guess that everyone was dead seemed likely, but perhaps whatever weapon had done it waited within those walls. And such a weapon might be inscribed with language clues like those on the Wolfhump artifact. Now that she had made a little progress, the prospect of more tantalized her.
Rias meandered across the foothills, pausing to pick up something here and there. More of those cubes, she feared, not sure whether they were safe to touch or not. He carried a small notepad and scribbled something in it whenever he found one. He still wore his shackles, and two guards trailed dutifully behind him. Did Bocrest not know they were superfluous at this point? Rias had shown no interest in escaping since he learned what was at stake.
She hoped that loyalty to the empire would not result in his death. Or hers. She would much prefer to see him strolling on one of her island’s beaches, picking up agates and sand dollars instead of vials that might have housed lethal poison. And in this vision, she saw him with less clothing on. She grinned. Or none. She thought of the scar that bisected his eyebrow and wondered what other battle wounds stamped his olive skin. He had filled out since she first saw him in rags in his cell, and she imagined broad shoulders and powerful muscles beneath that parka.
A guilty pang ended her thoughts. She believed Parkonis would have wanted her to go on and find love again-though not with a Turgonian, no matter how academically inclined-so it was not that. It was that she had never daydreamed about him with his shirt off. Parkonis had been boyishly cute with freckles and a mop of red- blond curls, but not the type to inspire women’s fantasies. Of course, she was hardly the type to inspire men’s fantasies. She hated to dwell on it, but feared she would not be able to compete with others if she and Rias survived to return to a world where she was no longer the only woman for hundreds of miles.
Snow crunched behind her.
A pair of privates approached, and she braced herself for insults or crude comments. Acne scarred one’s face, and neither appeared older than twenty, though like most of the men here they were taller than she and no doubt dangerous.
“ Ma’am, we’re, ah…” The speaker glanced at his comrade, who gave an encouraging nod. “We’re having rations.”
Er, what did that have to do with her? “Yes?”
Behind them, marines sat in groups of four or five and shared lunch while the officers conferred in a cluster. More than one man snoozed against his rucksack, oblivious to the frosty environs.
“ You could join our mess if you wanted.” The speaker nodded to a knot of young men busy chatting, laughing, and stuffing crackers into their mouths. One waved. “We’ve got extra tooth dullers and-”
“ Tooth, what?” Tikaya asked.
“ Tooth dullers. You know, hardtack. It’s right awful stuff, but Private Ankars has some taffy his mum gave him-his mum always posts him the best sweets-and anyway if you wanted you could come share with us.”
“ Oh, I…” After so much hostility from the marines, this kindness stunned her. The privates must know some of what had happened with the device, that she and Rias had been the ones to render it innocuous. “Thank you. It’s considerate of you to invite me.”
Rias strode their direction, brow wrinkled. The privates blanched when they spotted him.
“ You’re welcome any time, ma’am.” The speaker waved to Tikaya, and he and his comrade scurried away.
“ They bothering you?” Rias asked.
“ No. They invited me to lunch.”
“ Ah?” His brow smoothed and a smile plucked at his lips. “That’s an improvement.”
“ Yes.” She nodded toward the pockets of men. “It’s amazing they can sleep and laugh in the face of death and inexplicable alien horrors.” As soon as she said it, she blushed. What about her? Fantasizing about Rias on a beach a few minutes earlier?
“ That’s a trait shared by soldiers everywhere. The officers handle the worrying.” The grimness returned to his expression, and he held out his hand. A glass cube identical to the first rested on the palm. “I’ve found several now. The radial pattern and the distance from Fort Deadend implies…” He sighed. “I better see what’s inside before jumping to conclusions.”
“ Are we going in?”
“ Yes, good news there. The scouts are alive. The lookout has a spyglass and spotted them moving around inside.”
Tikaya exhaled with relief. “Good.”
Rias nodded. “Though you might want to wait until later for lunch.”
“ Why? Are there better rations inside?” Even as she finished the question, the meaning of his comment washed over her. They anticipated more dead bodies, right. She waved a glove to let him know she understood.
“ Fort Deadend isn’t known for its cuisine, no, but if I can escape Bocrest’s guards, maybe we can share a meal?” He arched his eyebrows.
And another, less abbreviated, kiss? She smiled at the thought but couldn’t resist the urge to tease him. “I don’t know… Those privates over there have taffy. Can you top that?”
“ Ah, perhaps not.” His expression grew wistful. “I fear I am a man with few resources these days.”
She patted his arm. “You’ll have to regale me with stories then. Such as why this place is called Fort Deadend. Are there more reasons than the obvious?”
“ Not really. You’ve generally pissed in some general’s tea cup if you get stationed out here. There’s a pass through the mountains south of here, and the theoretical purpose of the installation is to guard against invasion from the north. But the route is as hospitable as an avalanche, so the likelihood of someone marching an army through it is close to nil. There’s a lot of gold in the hills, though, and foreigners trespass to set up mining operations. Patrols watch for that, and I imagine the fort commander has orders to keep an eye on the canyon where the tunnels were discovered as well.”
