Of Bone and Thunder (16 page)

A slyt burst through the vegetation and stumbled into the ravine. Carny had no time to aim—he just pointed at the torso and fired.

Listowk's hand slapped his crossbow just as the bolt left. Carny saw the bolt take the slyt in the ribs and then go down.

“Hold your fire! Druid's fucking nuts,
hold your fire
!” LC Listowk shouted.

Carny stared at the fallen slyt lying just three feet away from him. All he could see was a jumble of red-tinged shadows on the ground, but he could tell it was a female. Her long black hair was spread out on the ground around her head like a pool of ink.

“They're not shooting back, LC,” Wraith said.

“Damn right!” the Weasel said, his voice high and shaky. “Fuckin' cowards, didn't expect to find us up here, did you? Got what they deserved!”

Listowk didn't answer. He grabbed another signal star from his quiver and violently snapped the tip off across one of his greaves. The signal star burst into light as he held it up like a torch.

At least five slyts lay dead in the immediate area of the ravine. Three were definitely women. A fourth was a boy of maybe seven. A bolt had ripped through his stomach, spilling his innards onto the ground. Must have been the one the Weasel was shouting about.

“Nice shooting, Weasel,” Carny said. “You'll get a medal for sure.”

The Weasel stood frozen in place, staring down at the boy.

“Stow it,” Listowk said. He moved toward the boy and nudged him with the toe of his boot. He'd seen men with their organs hanging out of their bodies still have the strength to shoot a bolt. He checked the other slyts spread around the ravine. None of them moved.

Carny looked at the one he'd shot. His bolt had gone right through her chest and out her back, leaving a hole big enough to put his fist through. The gleam of white bone showed where a rib had splintered. His eyes traveled across her body to where a small burlap sack hung from her shoulder. Small red berries lay spilled on the ground.

“They were gathering fruit?” Carny said, not willing to believe what he saw. “Who the fuck gathers fruit at night?”

The screaming and shouting around them changed into a chorus of anguished wails. The tone and pitch of the cries were now unmistakable. The mountain was filled with slyt women.

“Maybe we should go out and help the wounded,” Big Hog said. “I think I shot at least two, maybe more.”

“No,” Listowk said, grounding the signal star and reloading his crossbow with a regular bolt.

“LC, it's women and children,” Big Hog continued. “The LOKAM says—”

Listowk rounded on Big Hog with a clenched fist. “Fuck the LOKAM. You're not in a Holy Grove out here. The only rules that matter are the ones that keep us alive. Wraith!”

“LC,” Wraith said.

“You and Carny cover the path. We don't know what else is out there. Don't let any of them near you. You understand me? The shield will have seen and heard this, and if they send a patrol down, I don't want anyone shooting anyone by mistake. Same goes for the beach. Druid knows what Weel will do. Keep your eyes peeled.”

Carny started to object, but the look on Listowk's face made him hold his tongue. He took one last look at the slyt he'd shot and then followed after Lingletti back toward the path. He expected to see slyt women screaming and shouting curses at him, but already their cries were fading.

Wraith held up his fist when they got to the end of the ravine. Carny
ignored it, stepping around him and onto the path. He looked up toward the shield. Two dark shapes lay in front of them. They could have been logs, or some kind of animal, but he knew. He turned and looked down toward the beach. Three more.

He cocked his head, listening, but the sounds of carnage and its aftermath were little more than echoes. Bells rang down on the beach. Carny imagined Weel would be thrilled, thinking he finally had a battle to sink his teeth into.

“You done being a target?” Wraith whispered.

Carny shrugged and walked back off the path and into the jungle. “Women, Wraith, we were shooting women. And that kid. What the fuck?”

“Better them than me,” Wraith said. He sounded bored.

Carny tried to find Wraith's face among the leaves. “You can't believe that. We just slaughtered a bunch of peasants out picking berries.”

“Welcome to the Lux,” Wraith said.

Carny realized the soldier wasn't even looking at him, but was instead staring up at the trees across the path. Carny started to turn, but Wraith hissed, and Carny froze. Whatever was out there, he had his back to it. The nape of his neck was completely exposed. He'd pried off the chain mail curtain and thrown it away. He tried to look out of the corner of his eye, but without turning his head, he couldn't see where Lingletti was looking.

“Keep talking,” Wraith said, “make some more noise.” Wraith had his small bow in his hand and an arrow notched.

“What is it?” Carny asked in a whisper.

Wraith drew back his arm in a slow, fluid motion and fired. Carny dove for the ground, curling himself up into a ball. He heard the whine of the string and then the thwack of the arrow hitting something solid. A moment later a branch cracked and something heavy fell through the vegetation and landed on the jungle floor.

“Slyts?” Listowk asked, appearing out of the darkness.

Carny quickly sat up and grabbed his crossbow. “Wraith using me as bloody bait.”

Wraith pointed across the path. Listowk moved past Carny and crept out onto the path. He moved into the jungle on the other side and disappeared from sight. Carny looked down at his crossbow and realized his bolt
had come loose and slotted it back in place. When he looked up again, Listowk was stepping back onto the path. He was holding something in his left hand. As he walked across the path, Carny was able to make it out. A sheaf of papers in a leather wrap.

“Left eye?” Wraith asked.

Listowk pointed to the left side of the bridge of his nose just below his eye.

“I thought I pulled it,” Wraith said, turning back to keep watch.

“It was a scout, maybe a spy,” Listowk said to Carny's unasked question. “Found this on his body.” He held out the sheaf of papers.

Carny leaned forward and squinted. What he saw made his stomach knot. “There's Weel's command post. And the shield on the summit. Druid's balls . . . we only set up there tonight.”

“Well, it seems they've been watching us,” Listowk said. The admiration in his voice was unmistakable.

“What the hell do we do now?” Carny asked, looking around the jungle with a newfound fear. How many other slyts were aiming arrows at him right now?

Listowk rolled up the papers in their leather sheet and tied the thong before slipping it into his aketon. “We get better. And we do it fast.”

Carny spent the rest of the night in a miserable, suffocating sweat. Everything in his bowels turned liquid, but he was terrified to step farther into the jungle to relieve himself. There was no way he was exposing his buttocks with slyts all over. Wraith, however, threatened to cut his throat if he dared do that near him, so in the end Carny crawled a few feet away and took the most terrifying shit of his life.

The morning sun brought salvation. Weel appeared on the path, with what looked like half of the Seventh Phalanx in tow. Carny would have laughed if he could have remembered how. There was more silver braid and polished bronze and steel gathered than there was at the Royal Mint.

“Report,” Commander Weel said, stopping when he reached the ravine. He seemed surprised to see members of Sinte's shield this far down the mountain.

“LC Listowk, outpost commander, sir. We engaged what we believed
were slyts infiltrating and massing for an attack against the shield on the mountain. It appears, however, that the majority of them were peasants out picking fruit.”

“The majority?” Weel asked. He wasn't yelling, but the disappointment on his face was obvious.

“One of my men shot a slyt scout hiding in a tree. He had this on him,” Listowk said, handing over the sheaf of paper.

Weel undid the thong and glanced at the papers, flipping through each one until there were no more. When he looked up again, he was smiling. “How many enemy?”

“Just the one scout that we—”

“Do you know that the other slyts weren't scouting as well?”

Listowk looked confused. “Sir, as far as I can tell they were women and children, I—”

“Morning, Commander! Red Shield leader Sinte reporting!”

Carny turned, startled to see Sinte marching down the path toward them. He was alone.
Fucking lunatic.

“Congratulations, Shield Leader. You repelled a sizable enemy force last night,” Weel said. He leaned forward slightly as he spoke, and Carny caught the implication. They all did.

Sinte nodded. “Yes, sir. I sent out this outpost in anticipation of a slyt attack. Figured the sneaky bastards would have a go and sure enough, they did.” He turned to Listowk as if noticing him for the first time. “LC Listowk, how many fatalities?”

Listowk looked from Sinte to Weel and then back to Sinte. “Eleven women, three children, and one enemy scout.”

Sinte blinked once. “Then that would be fifteen enemy killed, sir, with only one fatality to report on our side.”

Carny shared a look with Listowk. One of theirs?

“What happened?” Weel asked.

Sinte shook his head. “Soldier out taking a piss. Must have stumbled upon the slyts. We found his body this morning.”

“Who was it?” Listowk asked.

Sinte pursed his lips, obviously annoyed at the interruption, but he kept his cool. “Vooford.”

“Good man, Vooford?” Weel asked, his eyes scanning over the bodies of the slyts laid out on the path.

“He was a soldier, sir, doing his duty. Nothing more,” Sinte said.

“Good, good. Well, it's a shame of course, but all in all, fifteen for one are odds I'll take all day. SL, see to it that the bodies are burned up here. No need to drag them down to the beach. But pull out the scout that was carrying this,” he said, holding up the papers. “I think it'll be instructive for the new arrivals to see what we're dealing with.”

“Very good, sir,” Sinte said. “Anything else?”

Weel was already turning away when he paused and turned back. “Actually, yes. I was planning on taking them up to the top myself, but seeing as there's no danger anymore, I'll let you handle it. The mules are here. I want the top of that mountain clear of every tree, branch, and plant by nightfall. Is that understood?”

“It will be done,” Sinte said.

“And have them widen this path, too. It's damn confining. I'll have some mules assigned to that detail. No wonder the slyts could sneak around up here.” And with that Weel turned and disappeared back down the path, his coterie of staff officers closing ranks behind him.

“Are you fuc—” Carny started to say, but Listowk gave him a fierce glare and Carny shut his mouth.

“This ravine looks as good a place as any,” Sinte said, walking down the path until he stood just a yard away from Listowk. “Clear the brush, get a fire going, and get rid of the bodies.”

“You mean the women and children?” Listowk asked.

Sinte stepped closer. “All I see are fifteen slyts no longer able to put an arrow through your skull.” He stepped back and looked at the rest of the patrol. “After weeks of fucking around up here, you finally did something right. Don't screw it up now.”

“So, Vooford,” Listowk said, looking down at the ground before raising his gaze.

“He was stupid and didn't listen to orders,” Sinte said.

Carny watched the two men closely. There was an entirely separate conversation going on here that he couldn't hear.

“How'd he get it?” Listowk asked.

“Arrows,” Sinte said. He turned on his heel and marched back up the path.

Carny watched him go, wondering just what he'd missed. Wraith moved up beside him.

“Not one of them was carrying a bow, LC, not even the scout,” Wraith said.

“Then I guess the one that tarped Vooford got away, didn't he?” Listowk said, looking at each of them in turn.

Big Hog scuffed the dirt with the toe of his boot before looking up and giving Listowk a shrug. “Sounds right,” he said. “Place is crawling with slyts. Hiding around every damn tree. I'm just looking to earn my rack and get back to the farm.”

“Sure, LC, whatever you say,” the Weasel said. His eyes were unfocused and seemed to be staring at something no one else could see.

Wraith simply nodded.

Listowk turned his gaze on Carny.
Fuck, fuck, fuck
.

Listowk reached into his haversack and pulled something out. He tossed it to Carny, who caught it and knew immediately what it was: snow.

“That's that,” Listowk said, staring at Carny a moment longer before looking away. “You all heard Sinte. Let's get these bodies burned and get the hell out of here.”

The sound of heavy thudding on the path turned everyone's head toward the beach.

“Sweet Sacred Tree, finally we got us some mules,” Big Hog said.

Carny turned to look. A single officer was slowly climbing up the path with ten of the toughest, burliest mules Carny had ever seen in tow.

“Pioneer Commander Mallowry Tiffanger, Eighteenth Pioneer Support Group,” the disheveled, ambling officer said when he finally made it to the ravine. The armpits of his aketon were stained with sweat and his face looked ashen. He tipped back his helm with one hand and dragged an arm of his long-sleeved tunic across his forehead.

“Lead Crossbowman Listowk, Red Shield, Second Javelin,” Listowk said, saluting. “I understand you'll be helping us burn a few bodies.”

Tiffanger stood up a little straighter. He glanced around and Carny could imagine the man wondering what the hell he'd gotten into.