“I have fourteen months of training with sword, shield, and club, and nine years’ experience using them in service of the people of Dorsea. With these companions, Albern and Mag, I have fought and defeated vampires, and I would throw myself into the maw of a thousand worse horrors to protect the nine kingdoms.”
She fell to her knee right there in the slushy mud, and she bowed her head to Kun. “I decry the false pretender, Wojin, who now sits the throne, and all who swear fealty to him. I know of the Shades who threaten the nine kingdoms, and I pledge myself to their defeat. I have fought them already, and I will fight them again if given the opportunity, and I will not stop until their evil is driven from the land.
“If I may aid in your enemies’ defeat by the strength of my arm, it is yours. If I may bring you to victory by what courage I have, I pledge it. And if I can uphold the order of the nine kingdoms by either my life or my death, I give them both into your service, as I did when first I donned the red armor of my station.”
We all stood frozen. The air fell to silence. Some nearby militia had drifted closer as she spoke, and now everyone present stood in silent astonishment. Kun studied her. His perpetual smile had fallen away, and yet that did not worry me. I could tell he was impressed.
He dismounted, stepped forwards, and took Yue’s shoulder. Firmly, but not roughly, he pulled her to her feet.
“I accept your service, Yue of the family Baolan, and I count myself honored to do so,” he said. “If every soldier who marched for the High King were of your caliber, I do not doubt the war would be over within a month.”
His smile returned, and he looked at Mag and me over Yue’s shoulders.
“If all the two of you end up doing is bringing me her aid, I will consider myself well served, and more than compensated for losing our wager.”
I bowed. “Thank you, Captain.”
His gaze returned to Yue, and he arched an eyebrow. “Vampires? I shall need to hear that tale. But not now. I will summon you for counsel after supper, to hear this information you have on the Shades. Be ready.”
Yue saluted with a fist over her heart. “Yesser.”
He gave her a sharp nod and then turned to Zhen, who still stood close by. “That is enough of a march for today. Order the column to make camp for the night.”
So saying, he set off back to his Mystics. Yue turned to Mag and me, and she folded her arms under her chest.
“Well,” she said. “Now that I have saved you from trouble again, we should talk.”
“We should, but I would be remiss not to send for Dryleaf.” I turned to Chausiku, who stood close by. He and the rest of my squadron had observed all these proceedings with wide eyes, and more than a few of them with mouths hanging half-open. “Chausiku. Fetch Dryleaf from the train, if you would. He will want to be here.”
“Ser,” he said with a nod. For a moment longer, he stared at Yue, Mag, and me, but at last he set off, his tail of locs swinging behind him.
“Hallan,” I said. He snapped sharply to attention, beard bristling. “See that everyone gets themselves well situated. Keep the tent lines straight this time, and call for me if you need me.”
“Ser,” said Hallan with a nod. He turned to the rest of the unit. “You heard the sergeant! Line’em up nice, little ones, or I’ll have you digging latrines tonight.”
Mag turned to her squadron. “Dibu, Li, can you see to arrangements?”
“Of course, ser,” said Dibu with a nod. Li echoed him after a moment, and then slung her pack off her back, her wandering gaze momentarily fixed on Yue.
Yue was now looking at us with one brow cocked. “Sergeants, are you? A mark against my estimation of the captain, if he elevated you so.”
I laughed. “I am sure it will reassure you to know that we forced him into it. But dark below, Yue. What brought you here?”
“That is a bit of a tale,” said Yue. “As I recovered from my injuries in Lan Shui, I had time to think. When I became a constable, I did it to protect the kingdom. Now it seemed you were doing more for the safety of Dorsea than I was. That was an untenable thought. And by the time I had finished healing, Lan Shui had been quiet and peaceful for many weeks. Ashta, it turns out, is more than capable of dealing with day-to-day affairs. She had even hired a new constable to help her, and I felt … unnecessary. So I turned my command over to her and tried to follow you to Opara. But when I reached it, I learned that you had come, and then left, and then come and then left again.”
“Wait,” said Mag, holding up a hand. “Who told you all that?”
Yue shrugged again. “The Rangatira’s constables. A cousin of mine named Aroha serves there.”
I raised my brows. “Do all of your kin take the red leather?”
“Those who do not take the red cloak,” she said, glowering. “May I tell my story, or will you continue to interrupt me at every opportunity?”
“We make no promises,” said Mag.
Just at that moment, Dryleaf came hurrying up, his arm in Chausiku’s. At his heels came Oku, and as soon as the hound spotted Yue, he came bounding forwards with great leaps and barks. Yue looked down at him with a frown she could not quite maintain.
“You still have the mutt,” she said.
“Yue,” I said reproachfully.
“Oh, all right,” she said. She scratched him behind the ears as Dryleaf came hobbling forwards, his arms outstretched.
“Yue!” he cried. The moment Yue took his hands, he seized her around the neck and pulled her down for a hug. I saw tears shining in his eyes as he embraced her. “Dear, dear, dear girl. When young Chausiku here told me it was you, I hardly dared to believe him.”
“Hello, old man,” said Yue. She returned his hug, squeezing him mayhap a bit harder than she should have, what with his age. “I am glad to see you safe, but dismayed to find you still following these fools as they traipse across all the nine lands.”
“They have taken excellent care of me,” chuckled Dryleaf, wheezing slightly in her grip.
“Of course they have,” said Yue. “They know that if they let anything happen to you, I would flay the skin from their bodies.”
Dryleaf laughed aloud before pulling back and reaching up to cradle her face in his leathery hands. “But sky above and dark below, what brought you all this way?”
“I was just telling them,” said Yue. “But I do not mind repeating myself. It has been a long road, and conversation rare. Mayhap after a meal and a, er … a rest.” She glanced back at Mag and me.
“Of course,” I said. “I imagine you have a tent? If not, I am certain one can be provided. I think Kun rather likes you, after that speech.”
“Yes, that was impressive,” said Mag, smirking.
“I am sure it was,” put in Dryleaf. “You do not know Yue as I do. Her talents lie far beyond simple skill with a blade.”
“They do indeed,” said Yue. But she licked her lips nervously. “And speaking of which, there is something I would take care of, now that most of the important business has been seen to, and before we talk further, or before Kun summons me to his council. Before I lose my nerve, at any rate.”
That confused me, and I saw my expression mirrored in Mag and Dryleaf. “What is that?” I asked her.
Yue’s gaze flicked to me, and then away. “I made you an offer in Lan Shui, and you said you would take me up on it when next we met. Well, now we have met. So, shall you set up your tent, or shall I set up mine? It has been … a very long road.”
I do not mind telling you that I was struck utterly speechless for a moment. In wild desperation, I looked to Mag and Dryleaf. Though I am no prudish child of merchants, I doubted my cheeks had ever been so dark.
Mag raised an eyebrow. “Well? Go on, then. You know what to do, yes?”
Dryleaf patted me on the shoulder. “Be careful, my boy. Her injuries were severe, and she may still be recovering.”
I could only splutter and look up at Yue. Me be careful with her? She was a head tall
er and had to outweigh me by two stones, at least.
But then she reached out her hand towards me. And I saw her grow suddenly hesitant, timid—almost shy. There was a question in her eyes, and a fear of what my answer might be.
Well. I was not such an old man yet, and blood ran in my veins. And Yue was, as I have told you … a powerful woman.
I took her hand and led her to where Hallan was building my tent for me.
Of the rest of that evening I wish to say little, so let us resume the tale after some time had passed. After a while, Yue went to Kun’s council. When she returned, Mag and I learned that Kun had assigned her as sergeant to another squadron of soldiers in Tou’s company. But to our dismay, Yue would not tell us much of what else they had discussed, for Kun had commanded her to secrecy. All she would say to us was that the army would march west in the morning.
“West?” said Mag. “Why west?”
“Because that is where the Shades were going, as best I could tell,” said Yue.
“But there is nothing to the west,” said Mag. “Dorsea’s large cities are all to the south, and Feldemar’s to the north. These are wildlands.”
“I only know where they are heading,” said Yue, shrugging. “I know nothing more of their aims than you do.”
The next day, Kun turned his march away from the rising sun. And now that he had some definite idea of our enemy’s movements, he pushed his troops hard. We found ourselves on a forced march, and suddenly Mag’s and my experience with campaigning became invaluable.
A fighting force lives a very different life on the march than at home. Wise officers give their soldiers a routine, and wise soldiers follow it. Though it may sound silly, lives may be lost because of the smallest of forgotten details. A battle may turn because you did not build a tent line straight, which led to an injury in the night, which held up the march for an hour, which allowed your enemy to surprise you. Or you may arrive to battle exhausted because many in the camp were woken by the commotion of the night before.
There are also smaller tricks to make the journey easier for each soldier. On the first night of our westward march, I came upon Jian unloading her whole pack and laying out all its items.
“You would do better to save your effort,” I told her. “I doubt you will use half those things tonight, and then you will only have to pack them again in the morning.”
She paused, frowning down at her pack and pushing back her rakish hair. “But I did not bring much. It only takes a few moments.”
“A few moments now may seem trivial,” I told her. “But in the morning, you will be even more tired and sore than you are now. Then you will throw your things haphazardly into your pack, which will bounce on its straps all day, tiring you further.”
“Trust him, girl,” said Hallan, whose own tent was nearby. His fiery beard jumped as he pointed up at me. “He’s legged more leagues and fought more fights than even me, though he be younger.”
Jian shrugged. “Very well. I suppose I will listen to so very many years of experience.”
“Fair enough,” I said with a smirk. I went on down the line to inspect the rest of them, giving Hallan a nod of gratitude as I went. He waved it off with a smile and began to clean his new spectacles.
Mag and I impressed these little details upon our squadrons as best we could. I noticed that when we did, Tou listened attentively as he stroked his goatee. Before long, I caught him passing our words on to the other sergeants in our company. I suspect he even conferred with the other lieutenants and passed them the same information, for I soon noticed most of the army doing as we had instructed our squadrons.
A hard march through the day under Kun’s watchful eye and a tent shared with Yue at night. Life had taken on the routines of the mercenary days of my youth, and I found myself not displeased.
At the end of the day after Yue joined us, we made camp at the northern edge of the Carrweld Forest. Mag had been quiet throughout the day. I wondered if she was thinking of Shuiniu, the village where she had grown up. It was just there, just a little ways into the forest. As we had ridden throughout the day, I had kept an eye to the south. Whenever I saw a road or a hunting trail, I wondered if we could have followed it south until it reached Mag’s old home. We could not take the time to visit now, of course. Kun would never allow it, and we were on contract now—we were bound to remain with the army until our next stop in a town or city, on pain of punishment. Yet I was filled with a sudden desire to go to Shuiniu, to see the streets that Mag walked as a child, to visit the people who had known her when she was young.
“You are very quiet,” said Yue, driving such thoughts away. “What troubles you?”
We were sitting side by side as we ate our supper. Everyone had left us to eat alone, which I appreciated—I had been surrounded by bodies and shouting voices all day during the march. Now it was quite pleasant to take in a quiet moment with Yue’s comforting presence by my side. The evening was milder than they had been of late. Though the sky was dark with clouds, there was no rain, and we had found a log to give us a dry place to sit, free of the slushy snow that covered the ground.
“Oh, nothing very important,” I answered, glancing around to make sure Mag was not near. “That forest there is called the Carrweld. Mag grew up in a town there, and I wondered if she was homesick.”
Yue snorted. “Strange. It is hard to imagine her growing up anywhere. Something about that woman feels eternal, as though she sprang out of the ground full grown.”
I shook my head. “You exaggerate. But then, you are not the first to do so. Many people see her remarkable skill at fighting and ascribe all sorts of other wild notions to her. I suppose I have been guilty of it myself. Mayhap that was why I was so surprised, though I should not have been, to learn she had had a whole life before we ever met.”
“Of course she did,” said Yue. “We all do. You scarcely know anything about me in the time before we met, and I know precious little of you, aside from what happened to you in Northwood. Though I imagine you were a troublemaker even before then.”
That cast a dark pall over my mood, and Yue saw it. She frowned, leaning forwards to get a better look at me.
“What?” she said. “What is it?”
I had a sudden urge to avoid her gaze. “The battle of Northwood was a dark day,” I said. “But the time before it was hardly better. I had not thought of it in some time.”
Her brows rose. “It must have been bad for you to compare it to Northwood.”
“It was,” I said. “I lost—” I cut myself short. “It was,” I said finally.
Yue waited through a long moment of silence. Then she nudged me with her elbow. “You lost what? Your favorite dog?”
Oku’s head came up, but I ignored him. “No, nothing. I should not have said anything, least of all now.”
Despite my reticence, Yue seemed to hear much in my words. “Ah,” she said carefully, leaning back, her hands on the log. “You lost someone. Someone … special?”
I placed a hand on her knee and finally looked her in the eye. “Forget it,” I said. “I am enjoying myself now. There is no need to dwell on the past.”
“Albern, you are allowed to have had lovers before me,” she said. “I had many before you.”
“Of course you did. Of course we both did. But it hardly seems the thing to talk about now, does it?”
She shrugged. “And why not? If their memory lingers, I do not mind you speaking of them to me, if it helps.”
I sighed, reaching up to scratch at my stubble. I had not had a chance for a proper shave since we left Taitou. “Nothing lingers. It is fine. I have spent enough time thinking about him. I am ready to look ahead. Sky above, how can I complain? It is nothing like Mag in Northwood, losing the love of her—”
My words choked off. I tossed my head back and forth, failing to convince even myself that my mood was light. Yue, who did not seem fooled in the slightest, leaned closer and fixed me with her gaze. Again, I could not m
eet her eyes.
“Albern, whoever he was, you do yourself no favors by trying to convince me he was unimportant. I think you are trying to pretend for my benefit, but if so, you are a fool. Ours is not some moons-flying romance, you astonishingly foolish man. I am not looking for such a thing anyway. At least not now. Certainly not with someone who still holds a torch for their last lover.”
“Of course not,” I said. “I know that. You and I are simply … it is …”
“Enjoyable,” said Yue, with the slightest smirk. “So enjoy it. Let yourself feel what you must, and when that feeling is sorrow, take comfort in me.” She stuck her tongue in her cheek. “I plan to take comfort in you.”
I had just started to take a pull from my wineskin, and now I almost choked on it. “Sky above, Yue,” I gasped.
“There we are,” said Yue. “Now, come. I am tired after another long day’s march, and I want to get to sleep early.” She stood and reached down to pull me up. “But not too early.”
I sighed and let her lift me to my feet. “Fine,” I said. “But only for your sake. I will take no joy in this.”
“I am about to make you a liar,” she said, heading for the tent.
But before I followed her, something caught my eye. I looked to my left and saw Mag standing there. She was a little apart from Dryleaf and our squadrons, who were all clustered around a fire, listening to the old man tell a story. Nikau and Orla were there, the lovers distracted from business by whatever tale Dryleaf was spinning.
The Tales of the Wanderer Volume One: A Book of Underrealm (The Underrealm Volumes 4) Page 69