Cadmians Choice (39 page)

In between those
arrangements, he had to observe and supervise the training of the new Cadmians,
as well as extra training for his own “replacement” companies.

He took a deep breath
and forced himself to concentrate on writing the dispatch before him, framing
each sentence carefully in his mind before writing it out. In a proper compound
he would have made a draft, but, for all that Hyalt lay outside the eastern
walls of the old garrison, he might as well have been in the field.

Finally, he looked at
the key sections and reread them carefully.

... Third Battalion
has maintained regular patrols and sent scouts into all areas that might harbor
irregulars or insurgents. To date, the battalion has not found any evidence of
camps or activity that would clearly suggest recent insurgency. In the course of
patrolling, Sixteenth Company was successful in discovering four brigands to
the southeast of Hyalt. All but one were killed in attempting to escape, and
the survivor was turned over to the town justicer. While Third Battalion will
continue to maintain a vigilant stance in the course of its patrolling,
training of the Hyalt companies, and rebuilding of the Cadmian compound, thus
far it appears as though the Myrmidons were extremely effective in dealing with
whatever insurgency previously existed, or in encouraging the insurgents to
leave the area for the present time.

The more serious
threat to the battalion has resulted from the need to protect the quarrymen.
Predators of types unknown locally or in other regions of Corus have attempted
to attack both quarry workers and Cadmians on three occasions. Local residents
have confirmed that these predators were of the same types dealt with by the
Myrmidons earlier....

Fortunately, on both
times when Mykel had not been present at the quarry, Rhystan or Fabrytal had
been, and their companies had been successful in killing the beasts without
additional Cadmian casualties.

... The most common
attacker resembles a large black mountain cougar, but it is far larger, a good
two yards in length. It is extremely swift. Concentrated rifle fire was
required to bring down the three beasts that have attempted to attack the
Cadmians on quarry duty. Once each was killed, within a fraction of a glass,
the carcass began to smolder, and then burst into flames. Only ashes were left.
The other predators were large birdlike creatures, purple-blue, with long beaks
that appeared crystalline. These appeared from nowhere to attack Seventeenth
Company as it patrolled northwest of Hyalt. If these creatures, which resemble
miniature pteridons, strike a Cadmian, the bird, the Cadmian, and his mount
burst into intense flame. In addition some appear to use something like a venom
on its beak. One Cadmian was slashed with the beak and died in less than a
quarter glass from the poison. ...

To date, losses to
the flying creatures total six Cadmians. There have been no casualties from the
attacks of the giant cats....

At the sound of
creaking cart wheels and axles, Mykel took a last look at the dispatch before
carefully folding it and slipping it into his uniform tunic. Then he set aside
his makeshift writing desk and stood to wait for Poeldyn.

The cart creaked to a
halt several yards short of Mykel. The swarthy craftmaster swung off the driver’s
seat of the cart, still holding the leads.

“Good afternoon,
Craftmaster.” Mykel stepped forward.

“Afternoon, Majer.
You know there was another one of those cat creatures at the quarry this
morning?”

“I had not heard
about this morning. I trust Fourteenth Company took care of it.”

“That they did. It
was a close thing, though. Makes it hard for the men to concentrate on the
work. They say the pay’s not enough for that.”

“I imagine some would
say that, Craftmaster.” Mykel found himself both surprised and inwardly amused
to hear himself using words his father had said more than once. “Still... they’re
getting close to what is paid in the quarries at Faitel, and I don’t know of
anyone else needing stones in Hyalt.”

“Pay doesn’t mean
much to a man with a stone bed and a coverlet of earth.”

“That’s true. We both
know that quarrying is hard work. That’s why the pay is high already. Several
men have had injuries from the work. But I don’t believe anyone has died, or
even been injured by the cats. You’re suggesting additional pay for something
that hasn’t happened.”

“You’re a hard man,
Majer.”

“I’m being fair,
Craftmaster. The Cadmians are taking the greater risks, and they get paid far
less for a day’s work. No one is compelling the quarrymen to work the stone. If
we weren’t building the new compound and protecting the quarrymen, they’d have
no work.”

The faintest hint of
a hard smile appeared at the corners of Poeldyn’s mouth. “Are you sure you
weren’t the son of a factor, Majer?”

“Eldest son of a
crafter. He’s a master tiler in Faitel.”

“I’ll trust to that
to make sure all remains fair.”

“I’ll do my best,
Craftmaster.” Mykel wasn’t promising anything, but he’d probably have to come
up with golds or something if anything serious did happen to one of the
quarrymen from an attack by a cat or one of the miniature pteridons—and he
needed to add that concern to his dispatch report to Colonel Herolt.

“I’ve the feeling you
just might, Majer.” Poeldyn nodded. “It’s going to be slow for the next few
days. The next course of stone has fractures, won’t be good for much besides
underground bracing of wall foundations....” Mykel listened intently.

Dainyl looked at the
stack of reports waiting for him, riffled through them, and set them back down
on the desk. After a moment, his eyes fell on the thin volume he had set on the
corner of the desk earlier—Views of the Highest. He picked it up and paged
through it, not quite idly, finally stopping at a section he recalled vaguely.
He smiled as he read.

When an alector or an
indigen offers a reason for action, or lack of action, or when an administrator
acts or sets forth a policy, the discerning alector must always ascertain the
structural rationale for such. The structural rationale is the prime and
accurate support for a decision or policy, and not usually the reason made
public. Anyone who acts, if pressed, will provide a reason for such action, and
the reason will invariably support the action, but a rationalization for public
attribution and scrutiny is usually not the structural rationale that prompted
the action or policy.

His lips curled at
the last line. Did anyone above him in the hierarchy ever lay out the true or
structural reason for action? Not often. With a snort, he closed the volume and
set it aside.

He still needed to go
through the reports. He decided to start with the thickest—that of the Cadmian
Mounted Rifle regiment. First, he looked at the summaries. Second Battalion was
still at Elcien rebuilding and retraining after extensive losses to the
grassland nomads. Third Battalion had reached Hyalt and had begun patrols
against potential insurgents, continued training the Hyalt Cadmian companies,
and had commenced the construction of a new Cadmian compound. Fourth Battalion
remained in Iron Stem and was maintaining order and fending off attacks by the
icewolves. Fifth Battalion continued operations out of Northport, dealing with
fractious Reillies.

There was also a
brief section pointing out that, if recruiting and training were begun for
replacements before battalions returned from deployments, that policy would
bring the various battalions up to full strength earlier and allow for greater
retraining before redeploying battalions. Dainyl decided to offer a cautious
note to the marshal on that point, suggesting that Colonel Herolt had a valid
concern.

Dainyl’s more direct
and personal concerns lay with Majer Mykel and Third Battalion. The longer
before anyone discovered the majer’s Talent, the happier—and less likely to be
blamed—Dainyl would be. He turned to the section of the report containing
greater detail about Third Battalion.

... Third Battalion,
Majer Mykel commanding, is currently deployed in Hyalt and has commenced
building of a new compound there while undertaking patrol actions, in
coordination with training the two Hyalt companies, to complete pacification of
the Hyalt area, as per the orders of the Marshal of Myrmidons. In addition to
dealing with brigands and seeking to prevent attacks by irregulars, Third
Battalion has reported several attacks by unidentified creatures. Six
fatalities have been incurred as of the latest report from Third Battalion....

Unidentified
creatures? Were they wild translations? In Hyalt? Dainyl turned to the pages
holding Majer Mykel’s more detailed report. His lips tightened as he read about
the giant black cats and the small pteridons.

They had to be wild
translations, and that confirmed what he had learned about a number of the
unreported translations from Ifryn going to Hyalt. But why Hyalt?

After a moment of
reflecting on Hyalt, he nodded. Hyalt had been one of the earlier Tables
established, and the Table and a number of facilities were actually built into
a large hill or small mountain—well away from the town itself.

Dainyl set the report
down on his desk and hurried back to the file room. Squad leader Doselt, the
administrative clerk, looked up from where he stood before an open file case.

“Sir?”

“I’d like to review
all the First Company reports from last summer to date. If you’d gather them
immediately.”

Doselt looked at the
submarshal. “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.”

“Thank you.” Dainyl
walked back to his study and sat down, thinking. Sulerya had indicated that the
recorder in Hyalt was sympathetic to Brekylt and, presumably, Duarch Samist,
and the presence of wild translations suggested strongly that the same was true
of the local regional alector.

Had Shastylt pulled
First Company’s second squad out of the Hyalt area because he knew that and
feared that they would be lost if they remained?

“Sir?” Doselt stood
in the study doorway with an armload of reports.

“Put them on the
desk. I’ll let you know when I’m finished.”

“Yes, sir.” The
Myrmidon placed the reports in two stacks and straightened. “This stack is
summer and fall. These here are harvest and winter. There aren’t any spring
reports in the files yet, sir.”

“Thank you. If you’d
close the door on the way out?”

“Yes, sir.”

Even before the door
closed, Dainyl reached for the first report in the summer stack.

A glass later, Dainyl
finished the last reports filed by Undercaptain Yuasylt and Captain Ghasylt.
There was no mention of strange creatures or wild translations— only accounts
of sniping by indigen and lander irregulars and several attempted ambushes by
what appeared to be wild Talents, one of which had killed Insorya, the most
junior member of second squad, but which had not injured her pteridon. The last
report from Captain Ghasylt about the Hyalt mission concluded that the wild
Talent had been killed when second squad spotted an ambush from the air and
attacked with all five pteridons and sky lances.

Dainyl rose. He
opened the study door carefully, because he was fuming, but walked carefully
down to the duty desk.

Undercaptain Chelysta
stood immediately as Dainyl approached. “Submarshal, sir?”

“I’d appreciate it if
you would find Captain Ghasylt and have him report to my study immediately. He
should be here somewhere. I saw him earlier.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.” Dainyl
turned and marched back to his study.

He had only gone
several steps when he overheard the messenger’s comment to Chelysta.

“... wouldn’t want to
be in the captain’s boots ...”

Dainyl took a deep
breath. He needed to calm down. Whatever had happened wasn’t likely to have
been Ghasylt’s doing.

Scarcely had Dainyl
reseated himself behind his desk when the captain appeared in the doorway of
the study.

“You wanted me, sir.”

“Please sit down.”
Dainyl kept his voice level.

Ghasylt did not meet
Dainyl’s eyes as he sat in the chair across from the submarshal.

“The latest report
from the Third Cadmian Battalion mentions that strange creatures have
reappeared, and that according to the locals, they seem similar to the ones
previously handled by the Myrmidons.”

Ghasylt did not look
up, nor speak.

“I didn’t recall
anything like that,” Dainyl said quietly. “There’s nothing in your reports, or
Yuasylt’s, about that.”

“No, sir. There’s
not.”

“Might I ask why?”

Ghasylt swallowed,
still not meeting Dainyl’s eyes. “The marshal told me not to report that. I
thought he’d told you.”

“It may have been an
oversight,” Dainyl said, striving once more to keep his voice level, “because I
was in Dramur at the time, but since I did not know, discovering that we still
have strange creatures in the area around Hyalt took me by surprise.”

“Yes, sir. I can see
that.” .

“Tell me about them,”
Dainyl said more calmly than he felt.

“Well, sir. One was
like a huge cat, except faster and all black. Another was sort of like a
sandox, except it had a triangular horn, and the last ones—those were the ones
that we saw most often—were like small wild pteridons. One of those was what
got Insorya.”

“I take it that
skylances were effective against all of them.”

“Yes, sir. Yuasylt
said that the hardest part was hitting them. They just went up in blue flame
then, though.”

“I know there aren’t
any records, but did Yuasylt say how many they encountered?”

‘There were something
like thirty of all kinds.”

“Were they all there
to begin with? Did the numbers lessen after the squad had been there a while?”