Page 85 of Of Blood and Fire
“No buts, Commander. You look ready to drop, quite frankly, and I can’t imagine our new king would be all that impressed if we let that happen.”
I half smiled. “Our new king is well aware of my stubborn nature.”
“Oh, no doubt, given you two were as thick as thieves when you were younger. Doesn’t moot my point, however. Come along, Commander. You can update me in the mess tent.”
Given little other choice, I spun and followed him back out onto the platform and around to another cave almost directly opposite the war room. The air was warm and rich with the scent of baking bread, and my stomach rumbled loudly. Thankfully, there was enough general noise in the room to cover the sound. Katter ordered two meals and then led me across to several tables separated from the general mess area. After motioning me to sit, he moved on to the nearby shamoke station, poured two cups, and handed me one before sitting down opposite.
“Right,” he said. “Update away.”
I did so as I all but gulped down the shamoke. It had been a very long day, and I desperately needed the mental and physical boost it provided. Maybe we needed to look into some means of carrying the stuff—it wasn’t like it had to be carried hot, as all of us were capable of heating it to whatever temperature we desired.
“What are the chances they’ll come back?” he asked once I’d finished.
I picked up my cup and went for a refill. “I really can’t say, as we have no idea what forces remain on Kinara?—”
“That’s something we can find out—I’ll shoot a message through to Esan and get them to get an update from Jacklyn. I’ll need to report your safe arrival here anyway.”
I nodded. Him reporting would at least save me the trouble. “There’s also no guarantee they haven’t got more boats headed this way.”
“Surely there has to be a finite number of the bastards. It makes no military sense to ship your entire military force here without leaving at least some behind to protect your lands and people.”
A kitchen hand approached with our meals—a thick fish stew by the smell of it, accompanied by slabs of bread—and placed it down in front of us. I thanked him, then tore off some bread and dipped it into the stew. It was delicious.
“Unfortunately,” I said, around mouthfuls, “they don’t appear to be playing by any military rules we’re aware of.”
He grunted. “Then I shall pray to Túxn that we have seen the last of these bastards.”
“Well, they won’t be coming from Ezu, Halcraft, or Zergon, so unless we’ve missed some bunkers up on the Helvede’s other arm?—”
“I can guarantee there’s not, but I will have a chat to Rudy and see what he can do about closing the port’s entrance.” Katter grimaced. “Won’t stop them deep anchoring, of course, but now that we’ve got an air witch with us, we can whip up some pretty bad storms to keep them offshore.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t already been doing that.”
He spooned up some stew. “Some here were of that mind, but with the numbers of soldiers camped down in Illistin’s remains, I feared any action on our part might push them to attack. They’ve been all but ignoring us, as long as we didn’t poke our heads out on their side of the island at night.”
Which once again pointed to the differences between our military thinking and theirs. “Why are you so sure there’s no more bunkers on the rest of the Helvede? It’s a damn big mountain range.”
“And it’s one we know intimately, and that plays to our advantage, despite their greater numbers. There were four bunkers positioned up here—five, if you count the one situated near the entrance, which we left alone—and we were able to destroy each one without any casualties on our side.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t mount a counterattack.”
“So were we.” He paused. “Do you head home in the morn? Or fly over Kinara?”
“The latter. It’s pointless leaving until we’ve done our best to rid—however temporarily—all the islands of the gilded scum.”
“They can’t have unlimited numbers—no raiding force ever has. Given the hole you left in their army today, I’m pretty sure they’ll consolidate what’s left and hit the mainland. That does appear to be their main goal.”
“If we were dealing with a regular invading force, I’d agree, but these bastards aren’t working through any known military rule book I’ve read.”
A smile touched his lips. “And have you actually read that many?”
“More than anyone should, soldier or not. My father was not having his daughter enlisting without a good background behind her.”
“Which explains why you’re such a good leader.”
A good leader wouldn’t have lost a drakkon, I wanted to say, and gulped down my shamoke to hide the welling grief. I might one day be able to get through a day without their threat, but that day was a long way yet in the future.
“Well,” he said into the brief silence, “given you leave in the morn, you should rest here the night.”
