Brian McClellan: The Face in the Window

Taniel squeezed his trigger, felling the soldier with a shot to the heart.

He spun toward the other two, flipping his pistol around to take it by the barrel, feeling the heat burn his palm. He had half a second to decide whether to ignite their powder, killing them both and risking their prisoner, or to cross the space and attack. He’d have to duck past their bayonets and use his only weapon-the butt of the spent pistol.

The water beneath the soldiers erupted. The savage girl came up swinging, her hair whipping about as she hamstrung one soldier with her machete, slit the other’s belly, then returned to the first to cut his throat.

The action had taken half a heart-beat, faster than Taniel could follow, and both men were down.

He and the girl dragged the bodies onto the hummock.

The savage prisoner hadn’t flinched during the short, brutal fight, even leaping on the soldier Taniel had shot to finish him off with his bare hands. His eyes flicked over the three bodies with disdain, and Taniel guessed he was used to killing.

“I am Milgi, of the Stillwater tribe,” the male savage said, his voice deep, his Adran barely intelligible.

“I’m Taniel. Captain with the Fatrastan militia. And powder mage.” He added the last bit to give his words more weight, but wondered as he clasped hands with the savage whether they even knew what a powder mage was. He clasped hands with the savage.

The girl had already set about stripping the bodies of anything useful. Milgi stayed off the hummock, knee-deep in the water, and Taniel thought he saw a bit of fear in his eyes when he looked at the girl.

“Were you the one who was supposed to meet us in Gladeside?” Taniel asked.

“Yes. Your company arrived early, and the Kez--” Milgi paused to spit on one of the bodies-- “caught up to you before we did.”

“Did anyone else make it out?” Taniel asked.

“Most of the company. My brothers are leading them to our village as we speak.”

Taniel let out a sigh of relief.

Milgi went on. “I was looking for you when these three caught me unawares. It was…”

“Embarrassing?”

“Yes.”

The girl found one of the soldier’s powder horns. She popped it open, checking the powder, then resealed it and tossed it to Taniel.

Taniel caught it with one hand. “Can you take me to them?”

“I can,” Milgi said.

“Excellent. Let’s get going before we run into another patrol.”

Taniel took the best of the three muskets and fixed the bayonet. He preferred rifles-they were more accurate at the range that made powder mages so deadly, and the straighter he shot, the less work he had to do to float the bullet. The musket would have to do, though.

They left the bodies to be discovered by the Kez, if the swamp dragons didn’t get them first. “Fear,” Milgi had said, when Taniel wanted to hide them. “Doubt. The swamp frightens them already. This will make it worse.”

The girl ranged ahead of them as they picked their way through the swamp, wriggling her hand at them to indicate a snake or swamp dragon to avoid.

“What’s her name?” Taniel asked Milgi, pointing toward the girl. Milgi had been watching her for some time, and there was a hint of wariness in his eyes.

“Ka-poel.”

“Strange name. Strange girl.”

“Truthfully, I did not expect to find you with--” Milgi lowered his voice. “ Her .”

“I thought she was one of you?”

Milgi’s next words were slow, hesitant. “She is. And isn’t. She has no place in our tribe. A foreigner, from across the narrow sea far to the west. But she is a Bone-eye, and we cannot shun her.”

“A Dynize?” Taniel asked.

“Yes.”

No one knew much about the Dynize, save that they were a great empire west of Fatrasta, and that their borders had been closed to foreigners for decades. The savages of Fatrasta were their distant cousins-their looks and their languages similar but as different as Kez and Adro.

Taniel noted that the girl had half-turned her head toward them while she moved quietly through the swamp. She’d been listening.

“Can she speak?”

“No.”

Taniel felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find Milgi had stopped. “She’s not to be trusted,” he said.

“She saved my life. More than once already, and the day’s still young.” Taniel’s wit faded when he noticed Milgi didn’t catch the humor in his words.

“Not to be trusted,” Milgi said again, before heading on.

Taniel hurried to catch up with him. “Do you know anything about the Kez companies that attacked us?”

“Only what your major told us this morning, when we found your men. Five companies. Over a thousand muskets, and one Privileged.”

“Major Bertreau survived? I’m glad to hear that. Is your village deep enough in the swamp to hide us, if they decide to come looking?”

Milgi scowled. “From the men? Yes. Further in the basin, the water is deep and the hummocks are few. It would take a thousand men years of searching to find us.” He paused. “But when I was captured, I pretended I did not know their tongue and listened to the soldiers speak to each other. They said that their Privileged was going to burn her way through the basin.”

Taniel felt a coldness in his gut.

“I’m sure they won’t find us,” Milgi said, waving his hand as if to dispel the fear.

Taniel knew Privileged sorcery. He knew what they were capable of. His father had told stories about some of the strongest cabal heads from the Nine-men who could slaughter thousands with a casual gesture.

He’d felt that Privileged’s power last night when she attacked the company. Not as strong as a cabal head, but no pretender, either. She could lift the earth, burn the trees, and part the water, giving her men safe conduct through the swamp and finding the militia and savages no matter where they were hiding.

“We have to go back,” Taniel said.

Milgi stopped and stared at him.

“Are the Kez camped in Gladeside?” Taniel asked.

“Yes,” Milgi said, “but we can’t go back. They won’t find us deep in the swamp. Nothing to do against a Privileged but hide.”

“I’m a powder mage.” Taniel didn’t feel so well. His side ached, his head was light from little food, and his feet hurt. He hadn’t been dry since last night, and the idea of being anywhere near that Privileged scared the piss out of him.

But if he didn’t go back, his militia company and their savage allies would die.

“Privileged.” Milgi wagged his finger under Taniel’s nose as if Taniel were a slow child. “You don’t have a Privileged, and you can’t fight them.”

“Powder mages,” Taniel said, repeating what his father had reiterated over the years, “were made for one thing: killing Privileged.” He forced the words out, wondering if he still believed them. Sitting in a barracks, listening to his father’s stories, it had been easy enough to think he could kill a Privileged. But with nothing between him and their sorcery but a mile of space and single bullet, he wasn’t feeling so confident.

Milgi seemed torn. He looked the way they were going, then back the way they had come. “No,” he said firmly. “There is no shame in hiding from a Privileged. We can’t fight them.”

Taniel began heading back. “I’m going.”

“Then you go alone. You’ll never find your way.”

Taniel attempted to get his bearings, but Milgi was right. It was easy to get turned around in this swamp. He didn’t know the terrain, and he didn’t know how to spot swamp dragons and snappers hiding in the water.

“Ka-poel!” he shouted, startled to find the girl already at his side. “Ka-poel. Can you lead me back to Gladeside?”