March Upcountry

someone who’d been swimming in worse since he was a cub. The humans had assured him that the package was waterproof, so he lowered himself into the water, moving as carefully as if he were stalking an atul- grack.

The current caught him and swept him away from the low earthen bank. The water was warmer than the night, a soothing bath that washed away the stench of the city. He let the current swirl him like a bit of flotsam, keeping his head just above water and breathing through his nose while he kept an eye out for asleem. If he met one of those, the entire plan was forfeit . . . as was his life.

He approached the bridge quickly under the impetus of the current and ducked under to swim towards the bank. There was a danger in this—the danger of striking an underwater obstruction, as much as anything. But it was a calculated risk, for the guards might well be watching the water as much as the banks.

He surfaced carefully when his air ran out and found himself nearly to the bridge, with a guard directly above him, looking up the river. The guard was not, however, looking down, and the tribesman suppressed a grunt of laughter. These shit-sitters were as blind and stupid as basik.

He drove himself towards the edge, where the bridge’s foundation shelf was clearly evident in the reflected light of the lamps. He grabbed the rock and held himself still, head out of the water, letting his senses adjust to conditions under the bridge.

The chuckling water echoed oddly in the arches of the structure, gurgling and sucking air into their watery vortices. He heard the echoing footsteps of guards overhead and smaller night sounds—the hissing calls of feen and the chittering cracks of water slen.

Finally, when he was sure he had all the sounds cataloged, he began to lift himself out of the water. The movement was painfully slow, but it allowed all the water to run off his body, leaving nothing to drip-drop-drip and betray him by the out-of-place sound.

He crept up the rock to the junction of the bridge and its foundation. The humans had been careful in their instructions on this point: the package must be in contact with the bridge, but out of sight. He placed the box against the cool stones of the arch, and spread some of the wiry flir grass that thrived in the shadow to cover it. Then he began his slow progress back down the slope.

With any luck at all, there really would be a guide on the downstream side.

“That’s half the plan in place,” Roger said, and Pahner nodded.

“Now if we can just be in place for the other half.”

“About that—” Roger began, then paused as someone thumped on the door.

Despreaux stepped back with most of her squad, covering the door as Corporal Bebi jerked it opened.

The new commander of the Guard was revealed in the doorway, and looked at the leveled weapons evenly.

“I was sent by His Majesty. You are to write a message to your company. It will command them to follow my orders until you are reunited.”

Roger looked at Pahner, then back at the visitor.

“How long do you want to be the new commander?” the prince asked. “I can cut that tenure short, if you’d like.”

“If you kill me, another will take my place,” the commander said in indifferent tones. “And if your company isn’t given help in the battle, it will be wiped out. I’ll be in command of the support forces. If you anger me, I guarantee that you’ll have no soldiers left after the morrow.”

“Ah,” Roger said with a feral smile. “Nice to know we’re all on the same sheet of music.” He pulled a pad over, tapped on the interface for a moment, then threw it to the Mardukan. “Take that to them. It gives them all the orders they need.”

“Very well,” the Mardukan said, holding the pad upside down as he studied it. “Tomorrow morning, you will join my lord in observing our glorious battle.” He grunted evilly, the first expression he’d made other than contempt. “To Victory!”

“Yeah,” Roger said. “Whatever.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

The day dawned bright and almost clear. The lower layer of clouds had pulled away, leaving only the permanent thin upper layer, which actually raised the temperature a few degrees.

The human troops gathered in front of the visitors’ quarters, checking their gear, making sure their rucksacks rode well, and getting their mission faces on. The fight was looking to be short, sharp, and unpleasant. They were critically short of bead and grenade rounds and had no plasma rifles, so unless they got more support than they expected from the Marshadans, it would get down to hand-to-hand.

At least they had their swords, but they still didn’t have the proper shields to go with them, and without the shield wall, the superior individual training of the Pasule forces would weigh against the humans. All in all, it looked to be a bad day.

Julian was running a whetstone over the blade of his sword when his helmet radio came to life on the general frequency.

“Mornin’, Marines,” Roger’s voice said. “I thought you should understand something before we start the ball.

“I’m not going to get into my bitches about the way I was raised. We’ve all got complaints about our parents, and I’m no different from anyone else in that respect. But I want you to know that no matter how angry I was the other day, I love my mother, both as my mother and as my Empress.

“What happened was that I found out why we’re really here. Sure, there was an assassination attempt, and that was the final cause that put us here, on Marduk. But the reason we were on the cruise, the reason we were in an assault ship and not a carrier, had to do with a personal problem between me and my mother. One I didn’t even know existed.

“So I have a few things to apologize for. I’d like to apologize for causing any of you to wonder about my loyalty. We’re just going to have to get in out of the cold and let me discuss it with my mother to straighten that one out. And I want to apologize for not forcing my mother to have that talk with me before we left. We could all be in Imperial City having a beer right now, if I had. So, last, I’d like to apologize for getting you stuck in this goddamned situation with me. And I pledge, on my word as a MacClintock, to do everything in my power to get each and every one of you home.”

The prince paused, and Julian looked around at the company. Every Marine sat as still as he did himself, listening. It wasn’t often that you heard a member of the Imperial Family open up his heart . . . and it was even rarer to hear one apologize.

“Now, you’ve got some things to do today,” Roger went on after a moment. “And I’m not going to be there with you. But we all need to go home. We all need to get our asses back to Imperial City and have that beer together. Today, in my opinion, is the first step on the road home. So let’s get it done.

“Roger, out.”

The new commander of the Royal Guard walked over to the humans as they began to break out of their strange stasis.

“What are you doing?” he snapped. “Why have you stopped preparing? Get moving, you stupid basik!”

Lance Corporal Moseyev was closest to the spluttering Mardukan, and the Bravo Team Leader looked up at the native coldly.

“Shut your gob, asshole.” He turned to his team and gestured at the folded up plasma cannon. “Jeno, give Gronningen a hand with that.” He turned back to the Mardukan commander who had been spluttering at his back, and looked the taller native in the eye. “You can move out of our way, or you can die. Your choice.”