Vant barked an order. A muscular crewman stepped forward, unfurling a leather whip.
'Six for a start, I think,' the captain decided.
The whip cracked across Spurral's back. She felt indescribable pain, but was damned if she was going to cry out. The next lash was for Kalgeck. Agony racked his body, but he followed her lead and kept silent.
They were beaten alternately, with lingering pauses between the blows, until each had received six strokes. Neither made a sound throughout. Trickles of blood ran from their lips from their clenching their teeth so hard.
Somebody doused their gore-clotted backs with buckets of seawater. The salt stung like fire. Then they were left there, still tied, as examples to the rest as they filed past on the way to their labours.
At length, Kalgeck whispered, ' That… mutiny.'
' What… about it? ' Spurral managed.
'How do we… start?'
The Wolverines finished work on the boats during the night. They were up again as soon as the sun rose, lugging the vessels down to the water's edge and loading provisions. The day was already warm.
The band was fatigued, and tempers were still taut, particularly in the case of Haskeer and Jup. Given the tensions, Stryke had the additional problem of carefully choosing who went on which boat. He decided that Jup, Dallog and himself would represent the officers on one of them, along with Pepperdyne as a sort of unofficial master. He thought it best to have Standeven along too, so he could keep an eye on him. The second boat had Haskeer and Coilla aboard, with the latter put in charge. Haskeer didn't like a corporal being given primacy over a sergeant, but Stryke couldn't risk Haskeer's being in command when he was in such a volatile mood. Stryke did take a chance by including Wheam on the second boat, however, in the hope that Haskeer wouldn't find that too provoking. The tyros were just about evenly distributed between the two craft, as were the Wolverine privates. Turns would be taken at the rowing, and at operating the rudders.
The trio of dwarf children, Grunnsa, Heeg and Retlarg, were also up with the dawn, if they had slept at all. When the final preparations were being made, they shyly approached Stryke and Coilla.
It was Grunnsa, the oldest, who came right out with, 'Can we go with you?'
'No,' Stryke told him. 'Sorry.'
The children chorused their disappointment.
'It'd be too risky,' Coilla explained patiently. 'Besides, you're needed here to lend a hand getting things back in shape after the raid.'
'Will you see our parents?' Retlarg said.
'I don't know,' Stryke admitted. 'But if we do, I promise we'll help them if we can.'
Heeg put a question they'd rather he hadn't. 'When will you be back?'
Stryke and Coilla knew that for good reasons or ill, they might never return.
Coilla softened the blow. 'It could be soon. So look out for us, won't you?' She felt bad giving them what could well be a fruitless task, but didn't want to dash their hopes completely.
'Thanks for your help,' Stryke told them. 'We couldn't have done this without you.'
Grunnsa beamed. 'Truly?'
''Course.' He brandished the chart. 'How else would we know where to go?'
'Time for us to get on,' Coilla announced. 'And you three should be getting back to your duties.'
The kids puffed their chests at the implication of their importance and ran back up the beach shouting.
'Talking about the chart,' Coilla said as she watched them go, 'how do we know these Gatherers are heading for their base? Maybe they've gone straight to whoever they want to sell the islanders to.'
'It's all we've got to go on. If they're not there, we'll be waiting when they get back.'
'That won't be much use to Spurral.'
'I know. But like I said, we've no other option.'
Before they left, Dallog performed a short ceremony invoking the Tetrad, commonly referred to as the Square, the four principal orc deities. He called upon Aik, Zeenoth, Neaphetar and Wystendel to favour their voyage and keep their blades keen. It wasn't something the band normally did, except before major engagements. But Stryke had given permission for morale's sake, and because he thought they could use all the help going.
As Dallog recited the simple ritual, the band veterans remembered Alfray, his fallen predecessor, who had always undertaken the same duty. A very few, Haskeer among them, wore expressions that showed they considered the comparison an unfavourable one.
When it was done, Stryke ordered everybody to board the boats. It looked as though all the islanders had gathered, the elder at their forefront, to watch the warband depart. They took in the scene in complete silence.
Stryke stood at the bow of his vessel. Almost without thinking, he patted his pouch containing the instrumentalities.
Then the oars cut into the foaming water and they set off.
18
The young officer who brought Jennesta the news had been part of the retinue that accompanied her from Peczan. So he knew her temper, and dreaded her reaction.
When he presented himself at her tent in the makeshift camp near the coast in Acurial she was alone. At least as far as other living beings were concerned. As usual, several of her undead bodyguards were present, shuffling vacantly in the background.
'What do you want?' she asked languidly as he entered. She didn't bother looking up.
He bowed. 'M'lady, I've word of the hunt for the Wolverines you ordered.' She said nothing so he ploughed on. 'I regret having to tell you that they… got away.' He braced himself for the storm.
But she was calm. 'How?'
'That's what's extraordinary, my lady. We had them in sight, in the woods. Then they… somehow they… vanished. Or not quite vanished. They… I have no words to describe it, m'lady.'
She didn't seem surprised. 'Then don't try. It's obviously beyond you.'
'There's more, ma'am, if it pleases you.'
'We'll have to see, won't we? What is it?'
'Ours wasn't the only force out there. There was some other group. Small, but possessing powerful magic. They seemed to be after the orc band, too, ma'am. And once the orcs… went, we were anxious this group might have turned their magic on us.'
'How was this group made up?'
'That's another strange thing, ma'am.'
'It has been an unsettling night for you, hasn't it, Major?'
'We didn't get too close a look at them, my lady, but many of the men swear they weren't human. Not like orcs or — ' He was about to say you, and thanked the gods he checked himself. 'Not like orcs. These were many different kinds of creatures, unlike anything we've ever seen before.'
'If you're to thrive in my service you'll learn to take strange things in your stride. Is that all?'
He was surprised, if not shocked, that she took what seemed to him bad news so evenly. 'We've also had reports that bands of liberated… that's to say rebellious orcs are roaming this area. We're not in the most secure of positions, ma'am.'
'We won't be here long.'
'What are your orders, my lady?'
'My intention is to follow them.'
'My lady?'
'The band of orcs. The Wolverines.'
He was baffled. 'Begging your pardon, my lady, but… how? By ship?'
'No, you fool. There never was a ship expected. And no vessel could follow where they went.'
'Then, my lady, how…?'
'I have the means. Though I warn you that you might find the journey a little… exhilarating. What's the
