by-side.
“Orders, of course,” she said brashly. “Your spy folks ‘offered’ me the privilege of delivering a message to you, and I decided to take it. I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again otherwise,” she reached into a satchel and pulled out a sturdy message tube, one without the official blue tape seal across the end, which she handed to him.
He looked at her inquiringly.
“I don’t know anything about what it says,” Vinetia replied. “I was as surprised as you are that they assigned me to bring the message to you. I thought I was going to ship out with the rest of the squad to Elmheng.”
“Why would you go to Elmheng?” he asked as he began to open the tube.
“Because,” Vinetia said. She looked at him, “You know,” she added, then studied his face. “You don’t know, do you?
“We lost a huge battle with the humans on the western edge of the forest, right about where your fire was. They brought some weapon that threw the fire far into the forest, behind the guards who were there to protect the fringe,” Vinetia explained. “There was a huge fire; it wiped out miles of forest. And virtually all our guards who were there to fight got trapped by the fire, cut off from escape.
“We lost hundreds of people,” she said softly. “We lost Lucretia,” she added after a pause, with tears in her eyes.
“How, how was Lucretia there?” Kestrel asked in horror, his own eyes watering.
“She volunteered to go on an exercise to Elmheng. She said it would be something different — you know how she was about wanting to try new things,” Vinetia told him. “And while she was there the humans approached the forest with their army, so all the guards in Elmheng and all the militia in the western forest were sent to face them.
“We don’t really know much else. There weren’t many survivors, so we don’t know the whole story. The humans burned a huge portion of the fire, they killed off virtually every defender we had in the west, and then they just withdrew. It doesn’t make much sense,” Vinetia told him.
“How did Lucretia die?” Kestrel asked, not really wanting to know gory details, but wanting, hoping, to learn that she died gloriously in battle, without pain.
“I don’t think they actually found her body. A lot of guards were burned to death, a lot were killed in battle, hacked to pieces, and some were taken prisoner and taken away,” the messenger answered.
Kestrel’s eyes wandered about the room, then came to rest on the paper in his hand. He looked down and started to read.
He looked up again just seconds later. “It says that I’m supposed to return to Center Trunk with you immediately and report to Colonel Silvan,” he told her, holding up the short, succinct report.
“That’s all? Report to Silvan? I came all the way up here just to bring you back?” she asked.
“My training isn’t finished,” Kestrel said.
“That must not matter,” Vinetia answered. “Maybe this war with the humans is involved. They may have some plan for you.
“Do you want to start this afternoon, or wait until tomorrow?” she asked him.
“I can leave any time. What about you?” he asked. “You just got here; do you want to rest this afternoon and start fresh tomorrow?”
“No, I want to get back. I want to get to the front and get revenge for Lucretia and everyone else we lost,” Vinetia said fiercely.
“I need to tell some folks I’ve been reassigned,” Kestrel thought out loud. “Would you like to wait in my quarters while I make the rounds to let my instructors know that I’m leaving?”
“Will I be able to wash up there?” Vinetia asked.
“Yes, absolutely,” Kestrel agreed. They stood and left the office.
“Belinda, I’ve received orders to return to Center Trunk,” Kestrel told the woman at the desk outside the commander’s office.
“Oh Kestrel! That’s unusual,” Belinda replied, a look of concern on her face. “I didn’t expect we’d lose you so soon.”
“Vinetia and I are going to return to the capital this afternoon. I’d like to tell the commander personally. Do you know where he is?”
“He’s either at the armory, or the depot, checking on supplies,” Belinda answered. “I’m going to miss you; we never really had a chance to get to know one another, did we?” she asked.
“No, I am sorry we didn’t,” Kestrel agreed sincerely.
“Will you return?” Belinda asked.
“I have no knowledge,” Kestrel shook his head. “I didn’t know I was coming here when I was assigned, and I didn’t expect these orders to go back to Center Trunk. They just keep me in the dark.”
“You two have a safe trip, and I’ll inform the commander if you don’t find him to tell him yourself,” she said, then stood and came around the desk to hug him, surprising him with the unexpected affection.
Together Kestrel and Vinetia left the office, and Kestrel took Vinetia to his lodging, leading her up to the top floor. “You’ve had a nice place here, haven’t you?” she asked as they entered the doorway and she looked around.
“So, have you been sleeping with the commander’s secretary?” she asked bluntly, surprising him with the directness of the question.
“No, I’ve hardly seen her. I met her the day I first arrived, and she was friendly, but then I didn’t see her again until today, and she was friendly again,” he explained.
Vinetia sat on Kestrel’s bed and started to remove her boots. “Well, maybe it was smart not to get involved in company politics, sleeping with her, but it sure looks to me like the door was open for you.” She stood and unbuckled her belt, letting her pants drop.
“I’m going to bathe. You can watch if you want to, or you can go make your reports,” she told him as he looked at her in surprise. “I expect I’ll be on the front lines in another fortnight or less, and there won’t be time or opportunity for modesty if we’re fighting, so that’s how I’m going to treat life from now on.”
“I’ll go now. I’ll be back,” Kestrel said, hastily backing out of his room as he saw Vinetia start to lift her blouse up over her head. He turned and ran down the stairs, then paused to clear his head of all the drama that cluttered it, and considered what to do next. He decided to try the armory first, to find Commander Casimo and possibly Arlen as well.
Neither of his hoped-for targets were at the armory, so he decided to go to the stables next, to meet Arlen there, and he was fortunate to find his teacher with his horse already saddled. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to come today,” Arlen said.
“I just got new orders to return to Center Trunk,” Kestrel said breathlessly after running to reach the stables quickly.
“Center Trunk?” Arlen looked at him quizzically. “Kestrel, what are you going to do in Center Trunk? They don’t have any trainers there, and you’re not ready to go out on a mission.
“Don’t get me wrong, you’re doing very well. You’re one of the best students I’ve had, and with just a few more weeks you’ll be ready. But you’re not ready to go out now,” Arlen said intensely, his hand holding onto Kestrel’s.
“I don’t know what my orders will be, or why they’re bringing me back to Center Trunk,” Kestrel said. He wondered how far he was from being ready in Arlen’s eyes; he felt that he had made great progress in the past several weeks, and was possibly able to compete with humans using their own weapons. “I’ll let them know what you said if they give me an assignment,” he assured Arlen.
“There’s been a human attack out west, past Elmheng,” Kestrel told Arlen. “The humans burned a lot of forest and killed a lot of our guards. You may see more students coming up here for training if this turns into a nasty war.”
Arlen’s eyes widened. “All the more reason for you to finish your training before you do anything stupid. We’re going to need well-trained agents — you come back here and finish up,” he squeezed Kestrel’s hand. “Now I suppose you’re going to tell me you won’t be cleaning out the stables your next turn either? This is tragic!”
Kestrel smiled at Arlen’s reversion to his typical comical persona. “If I come back here, I promise I’m taking my turn cleaning out the stables,” he pledged, then departed to go to the depot, hoping to find Casimo. The
