Warlord

'Captain?'

The duty squad's corporal came in, drew to attention, and saluted. 'Captain, we'z got summat strange here. Woman out here, says sommat of bandits, says you know 'er man. Speak strange-like, she does, cannat tell snout from arse of it, beggin' yer pardon, ser, Lady.' Which was not to be wondered at; the noncom's own Descotter brogue was thick as tar, and the local peasant dialect was radically different.

Raj stood, glad that whatever-it-was had come up before the drinking seriously started, because if he had ever been in a mood to get fighting-drunk, this was the time. Then a woman stumbled in between two troopers. Grey-haired, as her fallen headscarf showed, wrinkled face fallen in on a near toothless mouth, body like a shapeless bag of potatoes under a good wool skirt with some stitching on the hem and a dirt-grey linen blouse. Probably about forty. .

'Justyc, mlud,' she gabbled; between the dialect and her toothlessness and the sweating exhaustion that left her panting, he caught about one word in three. 'Hep uz.' Hands work-gnarled and covered in cracked callus reached out as she knelt.

'Stop,' he said. 'Nod yes or no. Your man came here yesterday?' Yes. 'Bandits have attacked your farm, and you think they're still there?' Yes. 'Can you guide us.' Yes. 'Were the men who attacked your holding in uniforms?' He splayed fingers towards his own blue tunic. If it's that Bufford parish bastard M'lewis I'll hang him from a tall tree- The woman looked doubtfully at him, more doubtfully still at Stanson in his whites, then shook her head.

'All right,' Raj said. He straightened, fastening his jacket and picking the webbing belt with his saber and pistol from the back of his chair. 'I'll take-'

'Me for one,' Gerrin Staenbridge said. Foley stood as well, then Kaltin and Evrard Gruder, and several of the others he had invited.

Stanson laughed, turning so that he did not notice how for once that evening Suzette did not echo him. 'Well, this is just like one of the old songs,' he said. 'The hero and his loyal companions off to slay the monster and rescue. .' his gaze fell to the sobbing peasant woman, with an expression more suitable for a man scraping something off his boot as he went indoors'. . the beautiful lady.' He made a moue. 'Actually, I'd think it was more a matter for the parish constables, but I'd be glad to come along?' He pushed back his chair and half-stood.

'No, enjoy your dessert,' Raj said, watching dispassionately as the man sank back into his chair and reached for his wineglass.

'And do save us some of the compote,' Gerrin said with a toothy grin, scooping up a finger load and eating it. 'It's so hard to get fresh ingredients out here, don't you know?'

Stanson covered a yawn with the back of his hand. 'Certainly,' he said, and reached for a dried fig from the bowl, across Merta's bosom. He ignored her, glancing over at Suzette. 'There'll still be one lovely lady here; we shall sing songs and gossip until dawn, awaiting your return.'

Raj's last sight of the tent was Merta looking pure hatred at them both.

* * *

The air outside had turned cooler and drier; they were a hundred meters up from the flood plain of the Hemmar, and the increased altitude was more than compensating for the lower latitude as they headed south. The moons shone on the Oxheads to the south, making their peaks gleam like silver or salt, up in the high knot where they united with the Coast Range. The passes would be chilly, high tumbled rock, and then they would be down into the baking plains of the border Counties, foothills smoothing down into sparse pasture and then out into the erg of the deep desert, where nothing grew except around the salt lakes or the rivers of the east. Down where the riders of the Colony were waiting for them.

Someone led a dog in out of the darkness; it was da Cruz, the lamplight slick on the keloid lumpiness of his facial scars.

'Thought yer mought be needin' me, ser,' he said.

'A positive plague of volunteering, eh, loyal companions?' Kaltin Gruder said softly, with a chuckle under it.

Raj slapped his gauntlets into his hand. 'Five minutes, gentlemen,' he said. 'Evrard,' he continued, and the younger Gruder straightened, 'turn out your platoon. . twenty-seven rifles, isn't it?'

'Twenty-five, sir: two men down with the flux.'

'By all means. The rest of you, sabers and sidearms, please.' He paused. 'Oh, Foley.' The young man drew himself up, bristling-ready to defend his right to come along. 'Get yourself something with a little more stopping power, eh?' He nodded toward the 8mm pistol at the boy's belt.

'I've got just the thing,' Foley replied.

They all paused for a moment, and then turned as Raj drew on his gloves. 'Gentlemen?' A check. 'Thank you.'

* * *

The dogs' feet padded through the night at a loping trot beneath the stars and the moons, thudding and crunching softly on the crushed rock surface; the chink and rattle of equipment was louder, but still not enough to break the peace of the night. Dew was beginning to settle, bringing out the spicy scents of the crops and trees, the spoiled-honey scent of native vegetation. The peasant woman perched on his saddlebow stank, too, a hard dry scent like an ox that has been working in the sun, no more unpleasant than any soldier who had been in the field for a week or two; it was the things that crawled across from her clothing and bit that were a nuisance. Her shoulders were still shaking with an occasional hiccupping sob, and he patted her back absently.

'Hier,' she said, pointing.

The main military highway turned eastwards, and a local track continued south of east, bordered by eucalyptus that filled the night with their sharp medicinal smell. The track was graded dirt, just wagon-wide, but well-kept, arrowing off into the rustling darkness. Raj flung up a hand.

'Yo!' da Cruz's voice was pitched low, and the column came to a halt.

'How far?'

He listened to the woman's breathy gabble for a moment, cursing inwardly. She had apparently never heard of kilometers, and judged all distances by the time they took to walk; the campground the soldiers had been using was as far as she had ever travelled, and everything beyond was 'foreign parts,' the land of legends and monsters.

'Ah, ser,' a voice said.

Raj handed the peasant woman down and turned in the saddle. It was Trooper Antin M'lewis, holding himself straight in the saddle and looking blankly ahead.

'What the fuck are you doing here, soldier?' Raj asked.

'Gettin' my rum ration unstopped, ser,' the man answered; his face was pure regulation, but. . 'Thought the Messer Captain might needs me, seein' as I knows this ground.'

You have to give him credit for effrontery, Raj thought. 'Tell me,' he added, and gave a gesture of reassurance to the woman, who had recognized M'lewis and shrunk back.

'Draws a dirt map, ser?'

Raj gestured to da Cruz, and a whispered order to dismount brought men and dogs crouching; it was not a dark night, and they did not want to be noticed before they struck. M'lewis flattened a stretch of soil and sketched with his ringer.

'Ser, 'tis no more than half a klick up thisshere laneways,' he said, with quick efficiency. 'Farmstead scattered out, loik they does hereabouts.' In Descott, an isolated dwelling was built around a courtyard and walled. 'Barn by the road; house back mebbe ten meters, sheds n' whatnot, chickenhouse, a well, kitchen-garden. Road turns just before, go quiet 'n yer doesn't get seen 'till yer right up their arse.'

'Good, very good,' Raj said. 'Hmmm, we need someone to scout it.'

'I's yer man, ser,' M'lewis said cheerfully. They stood, and their eyes met for a long moment. The trooper's grin died away for an instant.

'Good man,' Raj said. 'See to it, then. We'll be-' he nodded to his right '-about five hundred meters that way.'

M'lewis nodded. To Raj's surprise, he did not go for the rifle in its scabbard by his saddle; instead, he stripped off jacket and boots, hung them on his saddlebow with his saber-belt. He was wearing a black cotton shirt, not the off-grey most men bought; the kerchief he took out and tied around his head was the same color. For