The Devil's Deuce (The Barrier War) (20 page)

That said, he removed the threat of his boot and reached
down to grasp the denarae’s forearm. He hauled the man easily to his feet and
made sure he was steady before removing his grasp.

“Now, to answer your question, you need me to command you
because otherwise you will flounder at the heels of human units digging
latrines and sharpening swords. If you don’t have proper leadership, you’ll be
placed in the front lines against insurmountable odds and left to be ground to
dust against unsympathetic walls, and no matter how good you
think
you
are, you
will
be ground to dust without me.

“I assume you came here not out of a deep and abiding love
for humanity, but because you understood the critical nature of the battle we
will soon face and its impact on every race. The men and women in that city
don’t give a damn about you or your lives, just that you defend
their
city at
your
expense. I, at least, care that you live, and that’s the
most you’ll ever get here. I have trained and been around men in combat most of
my life, and I say without false bravado that there is no one better able to
train and lead you than I. I will make you sweat here so you don’t bleed later.

“Some of you probably think you’re good soldiers already.
I’ll make you better. You may think you know how to sneak around and hide in
the night. I’ll make you quieter and more invisible. I understand most of you
already have some training with swords and other weapons. I’ll make you
deadlier.”

Gerard locked eyes with the bare-chested denarae until he
nodded slowly in acceptance.

“What’s your name?” Gerard asked flatly.

“Brican Dok,” he replied.

Danner turned toward Trebor in surprise.

“My cousin,”
Trebor kythed to Danner’s unasked question.
“He’s
the one I talked to, and he spread the word and gathered people here. He’s the
reason they’re here at all. Gerard scored more of a victory than he knew by
putting Brican in his place so quickly. He’s not quite so bad as this seems,
but he has little enough love for humans.”

Danner nodded to himself, then abruptly shifted his
attention back to Gerard as the Red paladin swung back astride his dakkan.

“If there are no more disputes, we’ll spend the rest of the
day organizing units and remaking this place into something resembling a
military camp instead of a God-awful mess.”

Life is not fair. People should be.

- Denarae Proverb

- 1 -

In an amazingly short period of time, the loose arrangement
of denarae tents became a war encampment that closely resembled a
semi-permanent settlement. Tents were organized according to interim platoons
and squads, space was cleared for unit formations, company buildings were
constructed, and trenches were dug and a palisade constructed around the
perimeter. The denarae worked faster and with more surety than most human
workers Danner had seen because they had no need of constant supervision. Not
only because they were dedicated to the training, but they all worked with the exact
same plan in mind ─ literally, for they had only to kythe into the mind
of whoever had planned a building or entrenchment to see exactly what was
required to complete it. When Gerard or one of the officers gave an order, the
denarae could read the thoughts between his words and ascertain exactly what it
was they were supposed to do. If one of them completed a task, there was no
standing around idly waiting for orders to be passed. Instead, they sent a
mental message and went to where they were needed.

At times Danner felt strange surrounded by men who
alternated their conversations between spoken words and mental thoughts. He
always had the feeling he was missing at least half of what was being said, and
it subconsciously put him on his guard. After the second day in the camp,
Trebor pulled Danner aside.

“Danner, you’re making them nervous and suspicious,” Trebor
said quietly.

“How so?”

“It’s your ability to block our kything,” Trebor explained.
“You’re a bit nervous and edgy, and that’s activating that mental shield of
yours. They may not be actively kything with you, but enough of them have
sensed that you’re occasionally unreadable, which not only makes them uneasy,
because it’s all but unheard of, it’s also making some of them wonder exactly
how you have such an ability and what you have to hide. That I know of, no
one’s deeply kythed of any of us and found the truth. So far.”

“I remember when you first told me about your ability, you
said it was considered rude to kythe people without their permission,” Danner
said.

“That’s true, and it’s about the only thing protecting you
so far. But it’s only a matter of time. San, you know they were actively
kything Gerard the moment we got to camp, propriety be damned,” Trebor said,
his voice slightly exasperated. “Eventually someone will get curious enough to
take a look in one of us, and probably soon after that everyone will know.”

“Can’t you tell when it becomes common knowledge? Can’t you
hear other people kything like you overhear a voice?”

Trebor sighed. “To some extent, yes. But if it’s a directed
thought, I’d have to be specifically concentrating on the people involved to
hear any of it. Eventually enough people would find out that they couldn’t keep
that knowledge a secret, but I’d be concerned about what might go on in the
time from when it’s first discovered until I hear about it.

“Not that I’m saying they’ll do anything or that you’re in
any sort of danger from them,” Trebor hastily assured him. “I’m just trying to
warn you that your secret is in danger of getting out. You once gave me advice
on how to deal with our friends and the secret of my lineage, I’m just
returning the favor.”

“Well, it’ll have to get out sometime,” Danner said, forcing
a shrug. “I’ll take your advice to heart, though, and I’ll try to relax. Maybe
we should run it by Gerard.”

Trebor nodded.

By the week’s end the temperature had steadily dropped, but
the camp was in proper order and even Gerard could find no fault in the
construction or layout of the denarae work. Danner and the others each had
command of a platoon, and they had appointed provisory squad leaders until they
had a better idea of the individual strengths and weaknesses of their new
soldiers. Platoons not actively engaged in camp construction projects were put
through their paces with endurance training, obstacle courses, gear
maintenance, and any number of other tasks that needed doing. Combat assessment
and training began almost immediately, as Gerard immediately pushed to get a
clear idea of the skills the denarae brought with them and what he’d have to
work to improve.

Sentry schedules based on squads had already been
established, and officers not on duty were given leave to visit the city. The
denarae were technically given leave as well, but given the current feelings of
the city toward their race, none of the demi-humans opted to leave the camp.
The first weekend Danner, Trebor, and Flasch were given two days leave for
Sabbatha, and the next weekend they would remain on duty while Michael, Marc,
and Garnet were given leave. The three friends took the buggy back into Nocka,
accompanied by Gerard on his dakkan. The Red paladin had business in the Prism
arranging for supplies and training equipment he wanted.

“Meet me at the Prism tonight two hours before midnight to help
me, then I’ll release you for the rest of your leave,” he told them as they
passed through the city gates. Sabor glared balefully at them as though
reinforcing his rider’s warning.

“Yes, sir.”

The sun was still high in the sky, but in the fading light
Danner could see heavy clouds moving closer to cut off its light. A bitterly
cold wind sprang up from nowhere and slashed across his unprotected arms.

“Marc said it’s going to snow soon,” Flasch said from the
back seat. “Probably this weekend if he was reading the weather signs right.
Winter’s almost here.”

“Lovely,” Trebor moaned. “Just what we need to work with.
Snow.”

“You’ll live,” Danner said, smiling.

“Yes, but snow means cold, and I’m rather attached to the
thought of staying warm and not worrying about my blood turning to ice,” Trebor
griped. “I grew up near Fest, which isn’t exactly known for its cold winters.”

“Look at it this way,” Flasch said, “if your fingers get
frostbitten and fall off, you can just heal yourself and reattach them.”

“Funny. Very funny.”

- 2 -

Danner parked the buggy in front of
Faldergash’s
house with a queasy tickling sensation in his stomach. It wasn’t uncomfortable,
it just felt strange. It wasn’t until Flasch spoke that Danner realized the
source of his unease.

“I wonder if Alicia’s here this weekend,” he said. “Marc
said she finally got a job at a bar somewhere around here.”

Danner’s stomach gave a little lurch, and he frowned.
Thinking about Alicia hadn’t given him butterflies in his stomach for a little
while now, and he’d sort of been enjoying his freedom from that particular
sensation. He’d been doing a lot of thinking during the nights after working
with the denarae, and he was fast coming to the conclusion that he was falling
in love with the olive-skinned barmaid. He readily admitted he’d been
infatuated with her from their first meeting, but this was something different.

“But I’ve never been in love before,” he muttered to
himself. “How should I know if I am now and it’s not just something else?”

“What, Danner?” Trebor asked.

“Nothing. Really.”

Clearing his thoughts lest something leap out at Trebor,
Danner clutched his blue cloak more tightly around him and walked up the steps
into
Faldergash’s
house.

“
Danno
!”

The hefty
halfling’s
high-pitched
voice gurgled loudly, filling the house with his exclamation.

“You should have told me you boys were coming in this
weekend,” Faldergash said, stumping quickly across the room and roughly
embracing Danner’s lower half. He gave quick pats to the other two, then
stepped back to stare up at them.

“It was short notice for us, too,
Fal
,”
Danner said by way of apology. He couldn’t keep his eyes from darting around
the room, but he saw no sign of Alicia.

“Gabby’s at the market picking up some more scrap metal for
us,” the gnome said. “She made a big pot of stew just in case, so if you’re
hungry, eat up. Alicia’s at work, but she’ll be off and back in a little over
an hour, I should say.”

Danner’s stomach grumbled at the mere mention of food, and
they all quickly seated themselves around the table with steaming bowls before
them. Faldergash poured a cup of lukewarm cahve for each of them, and soon the
coming winter outside was forgotten as their bodies filled with warm food.
Neither
Gabruella
nor Alicia had returned when they
were finished, so they did the dishes themselves and split up to amuse
themselves for the night.

Flasch sat down and began perusing a book Marc had given him
on the known history of demons and angels, and Trebor went upstairs to take a
nap before their late meeting with Gerard. Danner and Faldergash lounged on the
couches in the living room. Or rather, Faldergash lounged and Danner sat
slightly hunched over, his head in his hands, absorbed in his thoughts. After a
few minutes of silence, Faldergash snorted.

“Alright, Danner, out with it, boy,” he said.

“What?”

“You’ve been moping like a puppy since you walked in the
door. Out with it.”

“
Fal
,” Danner said, then
hesitated. “Have you ever been, um, had a girl… well, I mean a… Have you ever
had a girlfriend?” he finished at last.

The gnome stared at him without surprise.

“
Danno
, I’m not exactly a freshly
coiled spring, you know,” he said. “I’m well into my middle years, but I used
to be young. Thin, too. Of course I have.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

“Ah, now that’s a different question entirely,” Faldergash
said, a twinkle in his eyes. He stared past his bulbous nose with a bemused
expression, his lips twitching slightly. “Yes, Danner, I have.”

Danner was silent.

“When I was much younger and still had all my fingers, I
lived among my own people, and there was a beautiful young gnome who lived a
few houses down,” Faldergash said, no longer looking at Danner. His eyes were
focused in the past. “Her father was a mediocre inventor, but a genius at
manufacturing, so they were quite well off, and her parents were good friends
with mine. In the same sort of scenario you read in bad romance stories, our
parents decided to cement their friendship by having the two of us marry. This
decision, of course, was made when we were still waist-high and barely old
enough for our first wrench set.

“We grew up without knowing about these plans, and we were
good friends, even if she could be a bit infuriating at times. She didn’t care
a thing for fire or engines!” Faldergash said with a touch of asperity in his
voice. “She worked with frames for flying devices and with water tools, but I
liked her anyway. Oh, that girl knew how to turn a wrench, and she had a good,
steady hand.”

Danner choked back a laugh, not wanting to offend his
friend. Faldergash noticed some of his reaction, and the gnome coughed back in
his throat.

“Ahem, yes, well. Anyway, some ways into our friendship I
realized I was in love with her, but because we were so close, I knew she had
her eyes on another gnome, one of the lads who’d studied flying frames with
her. They’d been seeing each other in secret, because her father wasn’t fond of
the other lad. Then our parents announced their plans for our engagement, and
things came to a head.”
Faldergash’s
voice roughened,
and he sounded a bit more gruff than usual. “I think she knew how I felt, but
we both knew she didn’t return it, so I went to my father and asked that they
call it all off. I swore blind that I didn’t feel that way about her, and
eventually I persuaded both our families that it was for the best. A year
later, she eloped with her lover, and I’ve not seen her since.”