by Auryn Hadley
"And Devil Dogs?" Sal persisted.
"They're good," Arctic said. "Twenty-five men, two squads. Alpha is offense, bravo is defense, but they can change roles if necessary."
"They're almost iliri good, Sal," Blaec told her. "I've known their leader a long time. He was in the Blades about eight years ago."
"So, we're just waiting?" she asked.
"I think so," Arctic said, his eyes distant, tracking nothing as he tried to work out all the strategic angles. "I can't think of anything else."
Sal kicked her feet again, thinking hard.
"LT," Cyno grumbled somehow sounding amused, "can ya na make her stop that?"
Blaec looked up, meeting his eyes. "Distracted?"
He nodded, a devious grin taking over his face. "Ya can na see her legs from there."
"Guys!" Zep said, laughing. "There's enough tension in this room without the three of you adding to it."
Sal's mind was elsewhere as the men talked around her. Her thoughts roamed across a map in her head, thinking about the routes from Terric to Anglia.
"Where are they coming through the mountains?" she asked, interrupting them again.
"There's a small pass just north of the Escean Pass, called the Nigal Way. That's the southern one. The Devil Dogs' load is going through the Belil Pass, and the joint load through the Idiptu Ridge," Blaec told her.
"I need a map," Sal said, sitting up.
"Ok?" Shift asked, passing one from the stack of documents the Blades had shuffled through earlier.
Sal grabbed the map as she slid to the floor beside Blaec, unrolling it. She snarled a bit when it tried to curl back up. Seeing her intensity, Cyno crawled forward to hold it in place. Her finger traced the lines from Dorton, Anglia's capital, through the passes. She paused and looked again, shifting the map, her ears twitching as her mind whirled.
"What is it, kitten?" Cyno asked.
"Blaec?" Sal looked to her commander. "You sure this is coming from Terric?"
"He's claiming it," Blaec said, looking over her shoulder.
"But you can't be sure it's coming from Terric, right?"
"Where else would it come from?" he asked her.
When Sal looked around, she found all of their faces staring at her intently. She smiled like a pleased animal and pointed. "It's all coming from around the Huracan River. Wherever they are getting the steel, it's in Escea."
The men gasped and leaned closer to the map, but Blaec stared at her intently. "What are we missing, Sal?"
She shook her head and looked back at the map, her ears drooping at her lack of knowledge. Her eyes darted from the river to Anglia, seeking something out of place, something they'd overlooked. Back and forth her eyes flicked, and no one spoke.
"What is he doing?" she whispered.
"Don't worry about that," Blaec told her, softly. "What would you do? How would you ensure that this works?"
Her head tilted slightly as she stalked the knowledge hiding before her. She turned the map, then turned it back, and bit her lip. No one spoke. Slowly, she looked at Blaec.
"Where's the fourth load and why didn't Toth tell you about it?"
"You sure?"
She nodded. "These two," and she marked the northern shipments, "are the distraction. I won't be shocked if they aren't even truly steel. The southern load, notice how far off course it is?"
The men nodded, a few smiling proudly at her.
"We're supposed to focus on the two easy hits in Unav and ignore the one sneaking through our own backyard, but the numbers don't add up. Something this important needs redundancy. I'd send the last load after the others, through a different pass, hitting land we already assume has been cleared."
"Where?"
"Echo Gap." Sal stabbed a finger at the pass. "It'll be elites, the ore will be on mules, and they'll be there about four days after the rest, moving fast to beat the autumn snows."
"Tilso," Zep said softly, "get the horses shod."
"Yeah." Tilso glanced up to Risk, concern in his eyes. "That's rough up there."
"You sure, Sal?" Blaec asked.
She shook her head. "No, but there's nothing else. There has to be another load, it's the only way it makes sense. I mean, they could hit the Sarabda Notch, but," she trailed her finger on the map. "They'd hit Issevi, Syhar, and Zaqala. All the others pass by the major cities. They wouldn't want to get close to other humans, not with that much wealth on them! It has to be somewhere, and that's the only place it could work."
Blaec nodded, staring at the map. "Ok. Razor, get us mountain gear. We'll need to spread supplies across the horses, Tilso. I don't want to run with mules."
"I can do that," Tilso said.
"Zep, run a check on the known Terran elites. Skirmishers, well-mounted, fast-moving."
"Got it. Probably a bit reckless, too," Zep said, glancing proudly at Sal.
"We've got four days, men. Cyno and Shift, when you check the border tonight, keep your eyes open. The rest of you, feel out the elites. Someone knows something, and isn't saying shit."
"Blaec?" Sal asked. "I don't know what our humans are doing. I can't make sense of it."
"I know," he told her. "That's why I didn't ask. They're setting us up to fail, love. We just have to stay ahead of them. You worry about the Empire, I'll take care of the politics."
"Ok, men," Arctic said. "Tonight, we need to give the recruits a chance to seek us out. We want them to be a part of the family, not just a body to throw at the enemy. While you're doing that, take every chance you can to feel out the elites. Every chance." He glanced around. "I want to know who has our back and who's painting a target on it."
"And," Blaec added, "Shift and Cyno won't be with us tonight. Reports of Terrans on the border. We're moving soon, men. Be ready."
Chapter 16
The Prin military compound was near bursting with the number of soldiers. The mess hall was crowded, and it spilled out into the courtyard. In the hot evening air, men had either abandoned their shirts or left them hanging open, and the smell of humans was overpowering.
Sal entered the mess and made her way to the alcohol counter. She grabbed a clean glass from the shelf and twisted bottles, reading the labels, looking for something that wouldn't intoxicate her too quickly.
"I wouldn't be too picky," a woman's voice said over her shoulder.
She was dressed in grey, goldish-orange piping along the seam of her pants. Like Sal, she was wearing nothing more than the standard tank, hers in the Devil Dogs' colors. Unlike Sal, her skin was a dark bronze. The woman reached up to the shelf above and began turning the bottles.
"Whatcha lookin' for?" she asked, smiling at Sal.
"Mead, or something fruit based," Sal said, watching her intently.
She pushed a few more bottles around. "How's sugarcane?"
Sal nodded and the woman passed her a bottle of rum. "Thanks," Sal said, letting her confusion tint her voice.
"Hey, not many of us in the elites, we gotta stick together."
"Iliri?" Sal asked as she filled her glass. The elite's skin was way too dark to have much iliran ancestry.
"No, women. Rayna Mel, Devil Dogs."
"Salryc Luxx, Black Blades."
"Ah, heard about you," Rayna said. "Didn't know you were iliri. Shoulda guessed from the name, though."
Sal's eyebrows nearly crawled up to meet her ears. "I figured that's the first thing anyone would have heard."
"Nah, not from Pig. He told one of the guys to stop comparing himself to Cyno and start basing his efficacy on your record." She shrugged it away.
Sal capped the bottle and shoved it back on the shelf. Rayna grinned and tucked it behind a few others. "They can drink swill and be fine. Rumor has it you all drink the wrong thing and you're ripping someone apart."
"Falling down drunk is more like it," Sal told her.
"Gotcha." Rayna looked at Sal for a moment, then leaned closer. "You got a minute? I think we need to talk."
Sal n
odded, her guard up, and whispered a thought to Zep. Rayna tilted her head toward the door. With her glass in hand, Sal followed her into the courtyard. The strange woman headed right to the stairs leading up to the officer's wing and sat on the edge, making room for Sal beside her.
"Ok," Sal said. "We're as alone as it's going to get in this place. What do you want?"
"I heard a story," Rayna said, taking a sip of her own drink. "Something about an all-iliri unit not getting the best intel."
"Hazard of the species." Sal shrugged it off.
"Story says there's another load. Also said it's Echo Gap, Imperial Paradox, twenty-five strong, and moving fast."
Sal ducked her head to hide her grin, and added, "About four days out. Metal's coming from the Huracan River area, avoiding major cities."
"Nice," Rayna said. "Whichever one of you figured that out deserves a raise."
"I think Blaec already has me at the top of my pay scale."
Rayna glanced at her quickly. "Watch that," she warned. "He's LT. They're waiting for you to fuck up."
Sal nodded, realizing her slip. "Thanks for the heads-up on the unit."
"Yeah. Watch Azure, too. Dogs are with ya. Pig's made it clear that if anyone has a problem with the Blades, they need to request a transfer. Guess he and LT were pretty close back in the day."
"Still are," Sal said. "Otherwise he wouldn't have ordered you to tell the first one of us you found." Sal stood and looked at Rayna pointedly, before turning to leave.
"How'd you know that?"
Sal paused. "Scent of a human male, tone of voice is carrying a low burr, and," Sal cocked her head, glancing into Rayna's eyes, "you got to the point way too fast."
Rayna laughed and sucked at her drink again. "Point. I was kinda expecting to run into one of your guys, actually."
"Pig should've known better," a deep voice said above them.
Sal smiled. "You're moving lightly," she told Zep.
"There's twenty centimeters of resin with my name on it if I don't." He looked at Sal, then turned to the woman she was with. "Evening, Lieutenant Mel."
"Sergeant Zepyr," Rayna said formally, her eyes roaming across his body.
"Excuse me, I need to speak to the Second Officer," he said, motioning for Sal to follow him. Get what you need?
Yep, just confirms what we knew though. And looks like we have at least one unit in our corner.
Good. There's a group of Azure headed this way, didn't want the two of you alone. He shrugged.
I can still take care of myself, Zep, Sal said, glaring up at him.
Yeah, I know. We still work as a team, and your partner's out.
She nodded. I'm still on orders, Zep. I need to feel out Azure as well.
Zep grabbed her shoulder and pulled her around. "You fucking sliced his arm open. It was supposed to be a friendly spar," he hissed at her. Go with it.
"Friendly?" Sal asked, shocked, her mind spinning as her ears flicked, turning to the sound of three men walking behind them. "After he backhanded me, that's friendly?" I'm on the same page?
Doing good. "Yeah. Full contact, or didn't you catch that?"
"Oh, I caught it," Sal snarled to hide her grin. "Just expected him to move faster."
"Problem?" a man asked, walking closer.
"No," Zep told him, glaring.
"We're fine," Sal added.
"Careful," a second laughed. "I hear they'll turn on you." He looked over Sal, making it clear who he meant.
She lifted her chin and met his eyes. "Dream on." Inhaling deeply, she caught nothing but the scent of fear and disgust from them. "Sergeant?" Sal asked Zep, motioning for him to follow her as she stormed away from the men. They're terrified of me, she thought to Zep. I'd rather not be too far from the crowd with the way they smell.
Gotcha. You armed?
Yes.
Ok, I'll put this to rest with a quick stop by LT. Make sure we didn't make even more rumors.
Sal nodded and pushed back into the mess hall. Besides, she needed to top up her drink anyway. While Zep headed over to make a rather impressive display of asking LT about full contact, Sal rummaged in the bottles and refilled her rum. They were one for one, with two more units to check.
I'm stepping outside, she told Zep, then made her way through the press of bodies into the cooler night air.
Torches flickered around the entrance to the mess and Sal leaned casually in the light of one, sipping at her drink. A couple of recruits walked by, nodding at her politely before pushing into the mess hall. She hated being around humans like this. Too many of them in one place dulled her senses.
"Lonely?" a man asked, leaning beside her but keeping a respectful distance.
"Not really," she mumbled under her breath, glancing over.
He wore casual clothing, making it impossible to determine his unit. His faded pants looked like they had once been blue and he used one side of his white shirt to fan at his bare chest.
"Forgot how much I hate summers in Prin," he said.
Sal just nodded, saying nothing, and sipped at her drink.
He tried again, "Blades still required to learn mounted combat?"
"Yeah," Sal told him. "We're typically mounted skirmishers, so it kinda makes sense."
"Thought it was infiltration and extraction," he teased, smiling.
"They go together. What do you think happens after we extract?"
"Fair point."
Silence hung between them awkwardly, and Sal thought about heading back in, but dreaded the thought of so many humans pressing against her. Another crowd of soldiers walked up, laughing as they passed, and she decided talking to this man was better than facing that. She sighed and closed her eyes, wishing she could just retreat to her rooms, or Blaec's, or Cyno's. Anywhere but where she was.
She felt someone lean next to her, and pushed down the growl as she opened her eyes, turning to find Calon smiling over her.
"So, how'd I do this morning?" he asked.
"Don't ask me that," Sal warned him. "You'll get scores the same as everyone else."
He lifted a glass and gulped at it, a bit of beer sloshing from the side. Sal rolled her eyes. Ok, Zep. I hate humans. It's official.
Yeah, just gimme a sec.
"So," Calon tried again. "If I sleep with ya, does it get me in?"
"No," Sal told him, disgusted. "Not to mention that it wouldn't happen."
"Heard you're fucking half the Blades," he slurred, leaning toward her. "I just figured maybe that's the trick."
Sal reached behind her and checked her dagger, shifting away from him. "Typically, recruits try to impress us, not insult us," she said.
"C'mon," he begged, staggering as he tried to follow her. "What's my score, honey?"
"Go sleep it off, soldier," Sal snapped, making to leave, but Calon grabbed her and shoved her back against the wall.
She dropped her drink and slid a hand behind her, hearing glass shatter. In the back of her head, she knew Zep was coming, but the man on Calon's other side was faster. He pulled the recruit off with an arm around his throat and held him tightly, his dagger tapping gently on the man's ribs.
"Do not ever treat an elite like that. Some of us won't give you a second chance, boy," he hissed in the man's ear.
"Fuck," Calon gasped, holding his hands away from him. "I just wanted to know my damned scores."
The man shoved him away, toward the courtyard, and waved his resin dagger toward the barracks. "The lady said to go sleep it off. I highly suggest you listen to her. Got it?"
"Yeah, fuck. Yeah," Calon muttered, staggering toward his quarters. He glanced back and shook his head, but continued out of sight.
"Thank you," Sal said, flicking her eyes to the Black Blade now hovering just inside the door. I'm fine. Don't make a scene.
How's he smell?, Zep asked.
She took a breath. Annoyed. Nothing else, just annoyed and a little disgusted, but there's no hate or fear.
Ok, demon, but I'
ll stick close. Don't trust any of these Aces.
Sal almost laughed, but from the soldier's tone, her new friend wouldn't understand.
"You armed?" he asked her.
She moved her hand from behind her leg and the steel knife caught the light. "Yeah."
He nodded. "Blaz Eason, 112th."
"Salryc Luxx, Black Blades."
"Yeah, we all know who you are. Sorry. Shoulda let you handle that yourself. Just pissed me off a bit."
Sal shook her head. "No, that actually works out. I offer a blade and rumors that I've gone feral start up."
"No shit?"
"No shit," she said, shrugging. "Hazard of the species." She seemed to be saying that a lot.
He laughed and sheathed his dagger, nodding at her words. "You did kinda rub our face in it, you know. Fucking right in front of us all these years, and then the Lieutenant has a bad day and screams it at the generals."
"Major. He got promoted."
"Right. Gonna take a while to get used to that. 'Bout time though. Did he really snarl at them?"
She shifted closer to Blaz to keep her voice down. "Dunno, I wasn't there."
"No? Figured you'd all want to be there to see that shit."
"Nah, had a little issue at the same time. Black Widows ambushed two of ours."
"Right, I forgot," he said. "That end up ok?"
"Yeah." Sal giggled. "We cleaned them up. I have some teen up in Yager's Crossing with a crush on me now, but that's about it."
Blaz turned his head and leaned forward, peeking in the door. "Hey, Lorenz," he called. "Grab me a bottle."
"Sure," a man inside the mess hall called back through the open doorway. "Of what?"
He looked over at Sal and raised an eyebrow. "Would you like to share? Promise my intentions are simply to catch a bit of breeze."
"Sure. So long as it's rum or mead."
"Rum!" he yelled back. "And an extra glass?"
"Can do, boss."
"Boss?" she asked.
Blaz shrugged. "Second Officer of the 112th. I kinda forgot to mention that part."
"Sir." She smiled over to him, acknowledging that he most likely outranked her.
"What-fucking-ever. I'll be saluting you soon enough. We all know the ranks in the Blades don't mean shit."