Dark Obligations: Book One of the Phantom Badgers (2 page)

“
I
think it’s a vulgar display and a slatternly costume,” Starr observed primly. “You would never catch
me
flaunting my bosoms like that.”

“You have to have ‘em to flaunt ‘em.” Gabriella Zanetti teased the short Lanthrell from where she was carving saplings into stakes, causing Starr to blush furiously, all the more because it w
as true: the slender Lanthrell, while hardly flat, was nevertheless quite modest compared to the knife fighter’s robust build. Gabriella was the daughter of a Navian bodyguard and a dark skinned Ruwen dancing girl and had received the best of the mixed races, being a tall, graceful woman with walnut skin, slightly slanted amber eyes, and a glossy mane of ebony hair that waved and curled naturally. The dark-skinned knife fighter, pared down to whipcord muscle by the summer’s hard campaigning, was well-muscled and voluptuously built.

Starr thrust her nose
into the air and stalked past as Gabriella chuckled and returned to her work. Durek stomped through the mud and reflected that nothing could be as difficult as managing such a diverse band.

The council of war was convened an hour after the evening meal in the big tent which normally served as a dining hall. The Phantom Badgers possessed a two-tiered command structure: firstly, there were ranking members, the Captain, Lieutenant, and two Serjeants; secondly was a loose grouping of senior or especially trained Badgers who acted in leadership capacities as needed, and who were usually referred to as the Company’s inner circle. Both tiers were present at the table tonight to be briefed on the turn of events and to offer their advice should the Captain request it.

Durek
sat at the head of the rough trestle table; to his left was Lieutenant Axel Uldo, a handsome man of middle height whose black hair was already shot with silver even though he had just turned thirty. The Lieutenant had had both legs badly shattered in combat the year before, and would not return to field duty for quite some time. Axel was one of the founders of the company and would serve as the castellan for Oramere until he fully recovered.

Next to Axel sat Ser
jeant Bridget Uldo, a slender, lively dark-haired young woman three years shy of thirty who had married Axel last spring. Another Company founder, Bridget was an Advocate (wandering priestess without specific church duties) to the goddess Hetarian, and the Company’s peacemaker and conscience. And Healer, quartermaster, and many other jobs as well, for the lithe young priestess had a knack for making herself useful in every situation.

On
Bridget’s far side was Serjeant Dmitri, a hulking red-haired slab of a man in his late thirties who looked like a professional soldier and in fact was one: born in Kerbia, the wild lands to the southeast, Dmitri had served in several noble guard companies before roving north to try soldiering in foreign lands. Proof of his accumulated expertise showed in the fact that the big Kerbian had been with the Company for less than two years and already held rank, proof positive of both competence and leadership. Even more extraordinary was that his rapid promotion had created no resentment in the ranks; anyone who saw Dmitri in combat came away with respect both for his individual fighting skills and his leadership abilities. Since Axel’s injury Durek had increasingly viewed the burly Human as his strong right arm when in the field. The serjeant sat and fingered the good-luck charms woven into his braided beard, watching and listening without expression.

To
Durek’s right sat Janna Maidenwalk, another founding Badger and the undisputed head of the inner circle. A year younger than Dmitri and easily his equal in individual combat, the tall woman whose thick red braid was just starting to show silver was a legend within the Badgers for her fighting prowess and fanatical beliefs. Before joining the Badgers, Janna had served for many years in the ranks of the Silver Eagles, the elite holy warriors of the temple to the god Beythar, and because of her exceptional service was allowed to retain the insignia and title of that respected body even after her retirement. She had left the Order, rumor said, because they hadn’t been sending her into enough combat to suit her. The woman’s handsome face was marred by a great jagged scar that twisted from above her left eye, across her flattened nose, and slid down her cheek to the right hinge of her jaw like a crippled snake, the legacy of a Black Dwarf’s axe north of the Ward some years ago. Janna was hardly a font of tactical advice but she could be counted on for bedrock-solid common sense and complete loyalty to the Company and its Captain.

Robin Threadgill lounged in his seat next to
Janna, a slender man whose neat beard partially hid a habitual frown. Robin held his unofficial position due to long service and as a sounding board for ideas: commonly nursing a generally gloomy disposition, Robin could be counted on to find reasons why not to do any given act, and to object to any suggested plan. Robin was also very nearly a founding Badger, for he had joined just weeks after its Founding, a veteran of the Imperial Legions who had been serving as a caravan guard on the fringes of the Empire.

Gabriella sat on Robin’s left opposite
Dmitri; her inclusion in this group was due primarily to her popularity with the rank and file of the Badgers, a vast wealth of experience, and three years of excellent service as the Company’s primary scout, a position now threatened by the recruitment of the Lanthrell Starr. Raised in a half-dozen servants’ quarters as her father moved from wealthy patron to wealthier patron, Gabriella had absorbed six languages and the customs to match, rounding this out with ten years of bodyguarding in her own right before joining the Badgers.

Banging
his mug on the table to kill the small talk, Durek called the meeting to order. “Listen up, we’ve business to discuss.” He studied each of the six Badgers in turn as he spoke. “Things have changed from the plans we’ve made, and we’re going to have to adapt damn quickly to stay ahead of the game.” That had their attention.

“Helvin and his company
will be done in just a few weeks’ time, likely a month and a few days. That means they’ll want their payment before long, or at least double payment to wait for the tiles until spring. That is an annoyance, but we could work around it. What is worse is we have received an envoy from the wizard Bluefire.”

“If you have to receive bad news, than an envoy like Bluefire’s is the best medium I could imagine to carry it,” Rob
in laughed. A concurring grunt from Dmitri and a covert wink from Axel seconded his observation. Gabriella sneered openly, and Bridget’s sniff was audible.

“Whatever,”
Durek wondered for the thousandth time at the Human predisposition to look at life from the perspective of sex. “At any rate, the Wizard has taken upon himself to order an immediate raid into
Gradrek Heleth
for the purpose of recovering a set of books that a previous expedition into the hold discovered, acquired, and then lost.”

“
What is so damned urgent about getting those books right away?” Gabriella irritably swirled the wine in her glass. “Doesn't that bastard know what time of year it is?”

“Bluefire gives us
one
order, and then we’re even,” Axel smiled ruefully at the dark knife fighter. “We owe him from two years ago when he got the White Necromancer off our backs, at least temporarily. The wizard is nearly as dangerous as the liche, and a damn sight closer, so we can't afford to renig. As for why it has to be right away, apparently others are looking for the volumes as well.”

“Speaking of the White Necromancer, we’re going to
have to do something about that bastard one of these days,” Bridget observed grimly. “It moves slow, but sooner or later it’s going to come for us.”

“Sooner rather than later, if we keep running afoul of its plans,”
Durek nodded. “This summer’s incident did us no good, wiping out one of the liche’s own pet necromancers going about Eight knows what sort of dark errands. And how we are going to deal with an Undead spellcaster who never leaves that pile of ruins in the Wastes is sometime I spend a lot of time worrying about. But those are concerns for later. For now we concern ourselves with a raid into
Gradrek Heleth
. We cannot afford to alienate Bluefire, nor sully our reputation for honoring our contracts. After all, we’ve seen winter campaigns before.”

“Not north of the Ward, we haven't,” Robin observed sourly, the prospect of such an action wiping out the good humor brought on by the speculations about the envoy.

“The snow hasn’t fallen yet,” Bridget pointed out. “If we move fast it may be possible to be southbound before the real winter weather hits.”

“And until th
e snow is on the Wastes to stay the Orcs will be resting up and reorganizing,” Dmitri observed. “There will a few weeks where the chances of encountering a war party will be lower than any other time of the year, excepting the spring mud.”

“That’s the way I see it,”
Durek nodded. “Decisive action, hit hard and run with the loot: practically our trademark. We’ll lay out the plan tonight, prepare tomorrow, ride the day after.”

“Fast action,”
Dmitri nodded. “No point in waiting. Are we going to get the tiles while we’re there?”

“Yes,
no point in making two runs into that death-pit. What I’m planning is a precision raid using a portion of the Company, as too many troops will just slow us down.”

“The troops are pretty worn down after the summer,” Robin observed. “This won’t be a quick operation, or an easy one.”

“Volunteers only,” Durek studied the swordsman thoughtfully. “Handpicked volunteers, only the best.”

“We’ve thirty under the standard
at the moment,” Bridget mused. “How many were you thinking of?”

“Twelve: ten to enter
Gradrek Heleth
and two to guard the mounts outside. That will leave Axel enough Badgers to accomplish what we need done while the raiders are gone.”

“Now for the meat of the matter: which twelve?” Gabriella had produced a long-toothed comb and was absently running it through her
hair.

“For the outside pair we’ll use Gottri and Kurt,”
Durek began.

“Gottri and Kurt?” Robin repeated, a sneer stamped on his face. “Gottri’s thick as a stump, and Kurt’s a crybaby, one foot out of the Company.”

“Perfect for the mission,” Axel answered for his Captain. “Gottri’s a Dwarf, so very little in the mountains will escape his notice, and both Gottri and Kurt are not aggressive, they’ll avoid trouble if at all possible which is exactly what we need for the mount guards.”

Robin thought about that. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“For the ten going inside, I plan to lead myself, with Bridget as my second-in-command; Dmitri, you will stay with Axel.”

“I woul
d rather you take him and leave Bridget - she’s prettier,” Axel interjected, raising a few smiles.

“
Bridget’s a Healer and has some spellweaving,” Durek explained patiently; his word was law on all matters, but he was far too canny a commander to force an issue when there was time to explain. “We’ll take Arian Thyben as a second Healer, Kroh Blackhand for his Dwarven knowledge and his fighting prowess, the new Lanthrell, Starr, to get a better measure of her scouting abilities, and Janna, Robin, Gabriella, Trellan Northwind, and Nuilia Leandra-Klaun as a fighting-line.” The Captain eyed those named for the mission. “Do any of you wish to decline this mission?”

“You’re laying heavily on veterans for this one,” Robin observed sourly. “If we take a beating we’ll lose the heart of the Company.”

“We risk that every campaign,” Durek shrugged. “That is the nature of our profession. I believe that the Phantoms Badgers shall persevere through this trial as a Company, however many of us die as individuals.”

“Now there’s a cheerful thought,” Gabriella
laughed. “Pretty words, Captain, dark but very pretty, just like me. Now tell us how we’re going to pull this off.”

Dawn saw the Badger camp seething with activity as the Company prepared for the raid. The various members of the raid who had not been at the council of war were contacted, advised of the risks and importance, and polled as to whether they would agree to go; all agreed, however reluctantly some individuals were. Those who were not included on the raid worked just as hard as those chosen as the effort of mounting such an effort called upon the full resources of the Badgers, especially as the force was to depart the very next day.

After a summer of
campaigning equipment and weapons were worn and needed maintenance, repair, or replacing; some of the unit’s mounts were too tired to undertake such a trip and had to be exchanged, while others needed new shoes or repaired tack. There was the problem of assembling enough supplies to support the unit in the trip, plus the equipment necessary to accomplish the mission, and then determining the best way of transporting it all across the many miles between Oramere and
Gradrek Heleth
. Durek had outlined a general concept for the trip and the raid itself and these concepts had to be developed into a plan and the details resolved, all within the narrow confines of a single all day.

By afternoon the logistics of the raid had been worked out and the preparations were nearly complete; each member of the raid had had his or her equipment and weapons checked, repaired or replaced as necessary, their mounts inspected, and the two light carts carefully
gone over and packed with exacting care. When all that could be done had been, the raiders gathered in the mess tent to go over the plan for the raid.