Rastrian Bacht was watching me. He knew something was wrong, maybe from the worried look on my companion's face. He stood with his hands ostentatiously away from his weapons and then began to move forward as I did. I watched his face as we closed the distance between us. Puzzled but hiding it, wary but relaxed. By his dress and armor he was not a man of the city. The short sword at his side was curved with the blade on the inside of the curve, a chopping weapon, not the straight blades or sabers we favor. His dark hair was bound back with a leather thong and he wore no helmet and carried no shield. I could see the others were more or less the same, no two identical. They were foreign mercenaries for certain. We stopped walking at a comfortable distance, close enough so that we didn't have to raise our voices.
“That is not the password I have, Rastrian Bacht.”
He didn't look too concerned. “I guessed something was wrong. This is the twelfth, isn't it?”
“I think we can agree on that.”
“So yesterday's password was Thistle.”
I didn't concede the point. “The fact remains that your password is incorrect, so I can't let you pass right now, Rastrian Bacht. Still, I'm guessing there has just been a cock-up here and that you are expected, so let's you and me go down to the main army and you can present yourself to Tulian Verrans; if he knows you, all well and good.”
“There's quite a force gathering at your back.”
“I can see your men starting to pay attention. Best reassure them or this could get ugly.”
He turned at once and called to his men. “Stand easy, lads!” He turned back to me. “Your turn.”
I turned and saw that thirty riders were bunched at the top of the rise, with more arriving even as I watched. I raised my hand and waved them back.
“Coming?”
He grinned. “Surely. But let's each go talk to our men first, eh? Like you said. This could get ugly.”
I agreed. “Embarrassing at the least.”
Without another word we walked away from each other. My back itched all the way back to where my man was waiting with my horse. Rastrian Bacht had a spring steel crossbow on his back. And as soon as I'd seen it I'd looked for others and seen that all of his men carried similar weapons. I was sure that Gatren Teciba Orans had given me the wrong password. I was also sure that he had done so deliberately. Still, I could be wrong. I could get a quarrel in the back any moment. It wasn't a comfortable feeling. My man was watching the crossbowmen intently.
“Relax,” I told him as I swung into the saddle.
“Ours, sir?”
“Pretty sure of it. I'll need your horse in a moment.”
We rode back to the main group, most of which had dropped back out of sight. Yebratt and the rest of my unit were waiting in a single line, ready to react either way. Someone else was with him, one of the commanders whose name I had not caught. I berated myself for that. I should know and I didn't. He sat his mount to one side, observing the crossbowmen but didn't acknowledge me, so for the moment I ignored him.
“Problem?” Yebratt said.
“Wrong password. I'm taking their captain in to meet the commander and sort it out. I think they are ours. But keep an eye. I'll get some of them,” I gestured down slope to the hundred or so cavalry who were now gathered there, “to get out and scout, just in case. You stay put and watch them.” I'd pitched my voice so that the commander could hear what I had in mind, and was watching him as I spoke. He glanced at me and nodded when I was done, informed me that he would take care of the scouts, then turned his mount and rode back down the slope. So, Tulian would know what was going on before I got there. I hoped he approved. I was going to catch shit any way it turned out but worse if I made what he considered an error in the meantime.
I took the spare mount back with me to meet Rastrian Bacht at the mid point, watching his men as I did so. They were pretty much the same as before, but conversation had stopped and they were all looking my way now. He came alone, mounted without a word, and we rode side by side back toward my men.
“You don't carry tower shields,” I commented, making it a question.
“I requested that Tulian Dural Verrans buy enough for my men and bring them with the baggage train. It's a pain to carry them on foot, you understand.” He had used Tul's full name again, making it clear that he knew exactly who he was.
I imagined carrying a tower shield and guessed it would be a pain. “And you traveled cross country because…?”
He grinned at me. “Best route from where we were. Pretty good calculation, eh?”
I thought about it. Actually it was, depending on where they had come from. I would, now I thought about it, have expected them to hit the road either ahead or behind us. I thought about it some more. “You have a sorcerer with you.”
“Shaman, he calls himself. From the south.”
We passed through my men and over the ridge. Things had changed. The equestes had split into two groups, now each a hundred strong, and were well to the left and right of the place where we crossed the ridge and headed down toward the army. Another cavalry unit of maybe twenty men was making its way out from the main body. The army had stopped and formed up either side of the road facing both ways, ready for anything. It was an impressive sight, the men as still as statues, the light breeze moving the grasses around them and the occasional shadow of a cloud passing over them contrasting with their own lack of movement. We made our way down the slope at no great speed. I didn't want anyone getting edgy, best to keep things slow and smooth. The small group of equestes changed their line a little and I could see the commander's banner among them. Thinking things through as I rode, I knew my reputation was going to suffer. I'd got the password wrong and there were only two people who knew I had been fed the wrong information. His word against mine. I hadn't realized our first meeting, where I had almost invited him to duel, had stuck in his craw that much; but I should have. We are a prickly lot, our personal and family honor and dignity precious commodities. There was still a chance I was wrong but I doubted it. I was bloody furious and he would pay, but I held that at arm's length. Be professional and do the job. Take the lumps. State the case and leave it.
I pulled rein when we had closed with the commander's troop and they did the same, spreading around us. Gatren Teciba Orans was with the commander, his face too carefully neutral. I found myself facing Tul and went for it.
“Sir, this is Rastrian Bacht, captain of a company of crossbowmen whom he claims are here at your request. There is some confusion over the password and I felt it better to be safe than sorry.”
Tul took this in calmly, nothing showing on his face. “The confusion over the password?”
“Your aide gave me the password Strawberries at this mornings staff meeting. Rastrian Bacht gave the password as Raspberries.”
Tul turned to his aide. “Is this true?”
“No, sir. I gave the correct password. Raspberries. Sumto must have misheard me, or misremembered.”
“Well?”
“I would thank your aide to use my rank when speaking of me and there is nothing wrong with my hearing or my memory, sir.”
I could see him decide to let it drop. “I will speak with both of you about this in camp this evening.” He turned his attention to the crossbowman. “Rastrian, well met. Bring your men in. Sumto, go with him and keep them for now.”
Gatren's eyes and mouth opened in surprise as though he were about to protest but caught himself in time. I was right, he'd lied to set me up for a fall and he was going to pay. For just a moment I watched the anger on his face, but not directly, I didn't want anyone to see that I was pleased by his reaction, then I saluted and obeyed my orders. Ha!
I could not suppress my grin of joy as I rode away, Rastrian at my side.
Behind me Tul was issuing commands and his staff broke up to obey, riders heading off in various directions at fair speed.
“So, commander, what's got you happy? Pleased to be my boss?”
“Pleased enough,” I said. “How many are you exactly and what is your command structure?”
I listened attentively as he told me. In brief I gave him back the same information he'd just given me and
