Брайан Макклеллан - Sins of Empire

Styke tried to sit up, but he was tackled back to the ground by Celine, who wrapped her arms around his neck and pinned him, squeezing until her face turned red. Styke put one arm around her, squeezing back, before picking her up by the back of her trousers and depositing her on his chest. “You survived the fight,” he observed.

“I did!” Celine said. “Sunin let me kill a man.”

Styke sat up, sending Celine tumbling to the grass. “What?” he asked flatly.

Celine righted herself, then nodded emphatically. “I held the lance and everything. I put it through his freckled cheek and watched his brains come out the other side. It was gross.”

Styke got to his feet, ignoring Ibana’s chortle, and searched around for Sunin. He didn’t have to look far. She was a stone’s throw away, tending to her horse. “What the pit, Sunin!” he shouted. “You took her into battle? You let her kill someone?”

“She has to learn to fight someday,” Sunin said over her shoulder, not bothering to turn around.

“Yeah, when she doesn’t need help holding a lance. Damn it, Sunin, you were supposed to keep her safe.”

“I had men to kill. Besides, she’s safe, isn’t she?”

Styke growled, looking at Ibana, who was now bent over, shaking with laughter. Styke lifted a foot and planted it on her shoulder, shoving her backward. She fell into the grass laughing, face red. When he turned back to Celine she was staring at him with her chin lifted, like she was expecting something.

“You,” he said, pointing a finger at the little girl, “I’m not happy with you. You shouldn’t be killin’ anyone, not at your age.”

“Yes,” Celine replied haughtily. “Well, I did, and you can’t undo that. I’m a hero now.”

“By whose standard?”

“Yours! I killed a man during wartime. You told me that makes you a hero. I wanted to be one, and now I am.”

Ibana, now lying with her limbs splayed in a gasping heap, let out a barking laugh. “She’s got you there, Benjamin.”

“Damn it, I –” Styke cut himself off. He gritted his teeth, wondering what her dad would have done to punish her for something like this. Probably buy her a pint and take her to a drug den, the stupid git. Styke leaned over, searching through the grass for one of the tiny red wildflowers that were common this time of year. He plucked it, tying the stem in a knot, then deposited it behind her ear. “All right,” he said quietly. “You’re a hero. But don’t you go into battle again, you promise?”

Celine stared at her feet glumly.

“And no taking pointers from that old witch over there. Sunin can’t even hold a lance straight anymore. I’ll teach you to fight myself – by the time I’m done with you, you’ll be able to gut someone twice your size without breaking a sweat.” Celine looked up, beaming, and angled her head toward him to show off the flower. Styke surprised himself by leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. “Now go kick Sunin in the shins really hard for me.”

She ran off, and Styke glanced at Ibana to find her staring at him, a strange smile on her face. The moment he turned his head it disappeared, and she climbed to her feet with all trace of laughter gone. “I suppose this is gonna be like it was back during the war, isn’t it? I go do all the work, and you lounge around waiting for the next battle?”

“That was the plan.”

Ibana rolled her eyes. “What is the next battle?”

“Not sure,” Styke said, considering. “We’ll stick with Lady Flint. She needs good cavalry, and she pays well.”

“Rumor has it she tried to arrest Lindet right before the Dynize attacked.”

Styke had heard that rumor as well. It made hitching his horse to her wagon a riskier move, and removed the protection she’d originally promised against the Blackhats. But it also made him like her twice as much. “Then she definitely needs more cavalry, and the lancers might get to kill some Blackhats after all.” He frowned, recalling the ships still anchored out beyond the breakers and the piles of dead being burned all around the city. “The Dynize don’t have just one army,” he said quietly. “I don’t give a shit about this godstone thing, but they’ve invaded my country, and that pisses me off. They’ll be back, and I intend on being there to punch them in the face.”

“You don’t think Flint’s going to just up and off to the Nine?” Ibana asked.

“I don’t,” Styke said. “Even if she finds an open port at a nearby city with enough ships to transport her men… no, I think she’s found something she’s not willing to budge on. That obelisk.” He lifted his head, looking east to where the godstone still lay where it had fallen during the Dynize attack. “Something about it, and the fact that both Lindet and the Dynize want it so badly, sets her off. We’ll stay with her for now.” He was suddenly tired, feeling the weight of a battle on his shoulders, and he gave a brief thought for the dead left behind.

“Are you Colonel Styke?”

Styke raised his eyes to find a man on foot, wearing the sharp, clean uniform of a Blackhat with a Silver Rose pinned to his chest. He definitely wasn’t one of the men who’d gone into battle with them yesterday. Styke reached behind him, touching the handle of the knife at his belt. “I am.”

“Message for you,” the Blackhat said, handing over a sealed note. The paper was blank, the wax seal without distinguishing marks. Styke sniffed at the paper, smelling the faintest hint of sorcery. He broke the seal with his thumb and read the contents.

Brother, I understand you have survived the battle. I give you my congratulations and my thanks. The nation owes you and the Riflejacks a great debt. One which, unfortunately, will never be paid. Lady Flint has decided we are enemies, and therefore will have to be removed.

The Dynize will not stop – another fleet, as big as the one that attacked Landfall, has dropped their soldiers about eighty miles south of the city. I beg that you abandon Flint and ride to find me in Redstone. I have summoned my armies back from the frontier and instituted a conscription. We will crush these Dynize invaders and take back what is ours before something worse can come of this.

If you see Fidelis Jes, do not kill him. I have use for you both.

It was signed with a simple “S.”

Sister.

Styke rolled the paper between his thumb and forefinger thoughtfully, then started when it suddenly burst into flames. Within moments the letter was consumed by a sorcerous fire.

“What just happened?” Ibana asked.

Styke brushed the ashes off his fingertips and sniffed them. “A ward,” he said. “Likely triggered to burn the message within a few minutes of my breaking the seal.”

“What did it say?”

Styke ignored her, looking at a black smudge of ash on his palm. “Will you take a return message?” he asked the Blackhat.

“Yes, sir. The lady expects it.”

“Good. Ibana, fetch this nice young man the sack you have tied to your saddle.”

“So you’re saying this isn’t over?” Michel asked.

Styke shook his big head and spread his hands. “According to Lindet, there’s a whole other army headed this way. We have less than a week.”

Michel stood on the plain south of Landfall, just a few hundred yards from the remains of the land-barge. The big wagon had been struck by errant sorcery during the battle – lightning that almost fried Michel where he stood, and destroyed enough of the big wheels that it wouldn’t be going anywhere without being entirely rebuilt.