“Are you going to heal him?” Nothing asked. There was an odd tinge to the man’s voice, like he wasn’t sure which answer would make him happy.
Gabe stood and faced Nothing. “Not yet. He’s stable and given time, will heal on his own. I can’t do much yet, anyway.” He flexed the almost numb fingers on his left hand.
“I need to take him home.”
“Right now?”
Nothing shifted as if he had a sudden urge to run. “As soon as I can.”
“That won’t be until he’s woken, at least.” Which brought him back to Dina’s reason for keeping him asleep. If Gabe had any chance of finding out what it was, he’d have to wait until she was over whatever grief he’d caused her. He eyed Nothing. As imposing and impossible as he was, at least he was here. Maybe he could work on Nothing’s reason for not picking Rafe up and running home. “Have you eaten?”
“The Sacerdio shared some of her bread with me.”
“From this morning?” Gabe grunted and headed for the doors. “A growing boy like you needs more than that. I’ll get you something.”
He brought back stew, bread, a spicy sausage and a flagon of beer and barely set it down before Nothing was all over it.
“I guess dying really takes it out of you.” Gabe watched the food disappear at an alarming rate. “You should probably slow down. I’d hate to have to save you from choking.”
Nothing slowed down but the tray was clean in a remarkably short amount of time. He gulped down the beer, stopping before he devoured the mug as well.
“So, you’re the Immortal Soldier,” Gabe said.
Nothing burped, wiped his mouth and said, “After a thousand years of not dying, I guess I must be.”
“Wow. A thousand years. That’s... a really long time.”
“Longer than I care to think about.”
“And all that time you’ve been fighting for Ibarra. Well, that’s what the legends say, at least.”
Nothing glanced at him, a look of endless dark and unknowable depth. “Not all the time. Most of it, I’ve spent in a cell. Left alone to starve and go mad from thirst. They only let me out when they want something. Usually something that requires pain and death and involves a lot of blood.”
Gabe swallowed hard. “Harsh.”
Was that why the man lingered when he could probably commandeer the entire company to take the boy home? His dry tone would suggest starvation and imprisonment was just another day like any other, but Gabe wasn’t convinced. All the stories about the Immortal Soldier described an emotionless man who killed anyone standing in his way. Gabe supposed that might be true. Certainly the things he’d seen since he’d been in the Valley seemed to support the notion. The soldiers he saw over and over, the veterans who’d been here for the entire war, were changing. That distance Ismael had counselled him to find could be seen in those men and women. The grim faces, the blank eyes, the stern line of their lips as they went back to the front, to kill or be killed.
But Gabe saw the other side of them, as well. The side that only revealed itself within the walls of his hospital. Given a choice, he slept in the ward with the patients. It let him hear the quiet cries that only escaped in the dark, see the despair quickly shored up by bravado and training, touch a hand that couldn’t stop trembling. They weren’t emotionless soldiers, and neither was the man sitting beside him.
If the Immortal Soldier was so dedicated to obeying orders, would he have taken the time to help the remains of Aguila Company escape the Alarians? Would he have bothered to divert a killing blast just to save Rayen par Torin?
Gabe didn’t think so, and thus he didn’t think that man would want to go back to a cell where his slow, cruel near-death would be inevitable.
Was that why Dina kept the boy asleep? Had her keen perceptiveness shown her this side of Nothing? Her natural urge was to help and heal. It wasn’t so hard to think she would do anything to keep the man as safe and healthy as she could. What didn’t add up was that she would use the boy to do it.
And was that a twinge of jealousy at the thought of Dina going to such lengths to keep Nothing close by?
Whatever the reason, it seemed the man was going to be around for a while and probably deserved to be called something other than Nothing, or even ‘Immortal Soldier’.
“Got a name?” he asked.
Nothing was quiet for a while, then said, “David Exposito de Ciro.”
“Exposito. The Name given to orphans taken in by the church. They don’t do that anymore. No more Expositos in Delaluz.”
David grunted. “So I’ve been told.”
And since that seemed to be all the man was willing to say on the subject, Gabe moved on.
“I see you have your personal armoury and coat back.”
“I restocked from the armoury and Sacerdio Dina found the coat for me.” David displayed a roughly sewn-closed tear. “She made me patch it myself, though.”
Gabe couldn’t help it. He laughed at the image of Dina telling the Immortal Soldier what to do with his coat, then laughed harder at the thought of the Immortal Soldier wielding a needle and thread instead of a sword or gun. David was eyeing him with a mix of suspicion and worry when Kimotak came into the hospital with a dinner invitation for Gabe.
Perhaps worried about Gabe’s sanity, David assured him he would watch over Rafe while Gabe went to eat. Stomach rumbling, Gabe agreed.
At his hut, Kimotak’s mate, Udagi, pushed baby Kimagi into Gabe’s arms. The tall, beautiful native woman smiled, patted Gabe’s cheek and returned to stirring the pot over the fire. Kimagi, just under twelve months old, looked up at his pale-faced holder and screamed for his mother.
No matter how he tried, Gabe could not get Udagi to take the baby back. Laughing, Kimotak motioned for Gabe to sit by the fire.
“Take him.” Gabe offered the baby to Kimotak.
“Had him all day, ndargo. Your turn.”
Kimagi wriggled and cried and beat Gabe with tiny fists.
“I don’t know a lot about babies. Besides, your son really seems to hate me.”
“He not hate. Just show you who rules.”
“Are you even sure it’s yours? I think it’s part giant worm.”
Kimotak laughed and ignored his pleas to take Kimagi. It wasn’t long, though, before Udagi began serving up the food. She put the pot from the fire between them and handed each of them a bowl of large nuts. Content to take the baby back, she settled back to feed Kimagi.
Gabe thanked Udagi for the food, the only words of the native language he’d been able to master. Kimotak had been trying to teach him, but even though Gabe thought he was mimicking him perfectly, Kimotak would sigh and shake his head.
“This might be the last time we eat together,” Gabe said, scooping up a couple of fingers worth of mash from the bowl, following it with a nut, catapulted into his mouth.
Kimotak looked affronted. “You not like Udagi cooking?”
“Oh no, it’s not that.”
Mollified, Kimotak grinned and tossed a nut up into the air, catching it his mouth.
“What I meant was that we might be leaving soon. You have to have noticed the lack of wounded coming in, no smoke from the next valley, a general absence of tension.”
Kimotak smeared mash on his finger and offered it to Kimagi, who pulled a face and turned back to his mother. “Not mean threat gone.”
“Apparently it does. The Alarians have packed up and left this part of the Valley.”
Putting aside his food, Kimotak motioned for Gabe to do likewise. Then he leaned forward and put his ear to the ground. Gabe did so, watching the Valleyman for a hint of what he was supposed to hear.
“They come,” Kimotak said softly.
Gabe strained to hear something. He put a finger in his other ear and concentrated. All he heard was the thump of his own blood, like distant footsteps. Was that what Kimotak heard and thought it was someone approaching?
“Who’s coming?” he asked, sitting up.
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Kimotak stayed down, head pressed to the dirt, for a moment longer. When he sat up, he looked at Gabe sorrowfully.
“Your death.”
The mash moved sickly in Gabe’s stomach. Surely Kimotak didn’t mean that literally. The native had learned to speak the northern language impressively fast but perhaps he had picked the wrong word, or didn’t know how to convey what he meant. But there had been too many times in the past Kimotak had been right for Gabe to dismiss this out of hand.
“When will it get here?” he asked.
“Soon.”
“Have you told anyone about it?”
“Told you, ndargo.”
Panic began to grip Gabe’s chest. “No, I mean someone in charge. Captain Meraz or Lieutenant Olvera.”
Kimotak poked Gabe in the chest with a long finger. “Told you.”
“Me? But I’m no one. You need to tell the captain. Come on.” He jumped up, hauling on Kimotak’s arm. “You can come tell Meraz right now.”
The big man didn’t budge. “Cannot stop them.”
Gabe let him go. He didn’t know what to say or do.
Kimotak picked up a nut, offering it to Gabe. “Eat. Get strong. You need it soon.”
An explosion of bright light blossomed in the sky to the west. A moment later, the sound hit Gabe, a rolling, thunderous boom that knocked him off his feet. As if the sun was dawning in the wrong place, an orange glow surged up over the tops of the hills, filling the night sky and casting long, black shadows across the camp.
The alarm sounded, a rhythmic rise and fall Gabe hadn’t heard for several days. He sat on his arse, staring at the impossible sight, unable to rationalise it. The Alarians were gone. There was no one left to attack them.
Beside him, Kimotak popped the nut into his mouth and chewed.
Another explosion rocked the ground, a white-hot flare spearing up into the sky, falling apart in shattering splinters. The concussion hit Gabe before he could blink away the glare.
The camp woke up in a startled fury, people shouting and alarms blaring. Gabe turned to Kimotak, utterly dumbfounded.
“Soon,” was all Kimotak would say.
Chapter 17
Gabe left the puzzle of Kimotak behind, racing back to the centre of the camp. At the hospital, Dulce grabbed his arm and shouted, “With me, Mage.”
She took him to the command tent, shoved him inside and raced off, presumably to find someone else for the captain.
Meraz stood in the middle of the room, calm and commanding. Around her were the four other mages, her lieutenants and a couple of the sub-officers, none of them looking like they knew much of anything.
Ruben swallowed hard. “Captain, those explosions weren’t from cannon fire or oil-bombs. I would say they were the ammunition stores going up, but for them go that hard, that quick, it would have taken a Fire Mage. The mage would have had to stand in the very centre of the stores to set them off like that.” He shook his head. “They wouldn’t have survived the blast.”
Nodding as if she’d expected nothing less, Meraz said, “The only reason they would have done that was if the encampment was lost to the enemy. They’ve been overrun.”
“But they’d retreated,” Botello said, sounding like nothing more than a whining child.
“Not the most original strategy, I’ll grant you, but they pulled it off remarkably well.” Meraz turned to Suelo. “Any messages yet?”
The Earth Mage shook her head. “Though they could have been lost in the tremors from the explosions. I’ve sent a couple, but they both rebounded back off the tremors.”
“Engineer, are the...” Meraz looked around. “Where’s Engineer Chispa?”
“Here, ma’am,” Pio announced, out of breath as he all but fell in through the door.
“Are the land-yachts ready to go?”
“Yes, ma’am. Though they’ll only be able to get as far as the foothills. They won’t make it up the rough slopes.”
“Send them anyway, they can search for anyone who might have escaped. Send Engineers with them, Chispa, I don’t want any engine trouble delaying them.”
Pio saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”
About to leave, he was stopped by a sharp, “Engineer!” from Meraz.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“The supply dirigible that was here for repairs, is it suitable for flight?”
“No, ma’am. It’s engine is in about four different pieces and we released the gas from the balloon while we were working. It’ll take at least four hours to get it back running.”
“Leave it for now, then. We’ll revisit it when we have a better idea of what’s happening. Go.”
Pio went with a look of relief on his face. Meraz’s steady gaze found Vendaval.
“I want you up in the air, try to find out what’s happening in the encampment. Mage Rico, go to the main tower and wait for Mage Vendaval’s signals.”
The two mages left, Vendaval already gathering his magic so that the tent whoomped with the power of his launch the moment he was outside.
“Mage Suelo, I want you to keep trying to get a message through to the front. Go deep if you have to.”
Ofelia Suelo par Ibarra nodded and headed for the door.
“Mage, my office,” Meraz ordered, taking a dagger from her belt and handing it over. “Cut up the floor if you have to.”
Suelo took the dagger. “Ma’am.” Then she was gone into the inner office and sounds of canvas tearing reached back out to them.
Meraz took in her officers with a single look. “I want this camp tighter than a fish’s arsehole and I want it done yesterday. Go.”
Gabe dodged the tide of uniformed determination and within moments, was alone with the captain. She took a long, steadying breath, then turned to him.
“Have you recovered from yesterday’s effort?”
He clenched his left hand. The tingling of his magic was stronger. “I think so.”
“You better be. Until we have any information from the encampment, none of us can make any sort of judgements, but I would suggest you prepare for wounded, and lots of them.”
Gabe nodded, his stomach a knot of terrible anticipation. “Captain, I was with Kimotak just before the explosions. I think he knew something was going to happen.”
Meraz pierced him with her hard, blue eyes. “Do you think the Valleymen had a hand in what’s happening?”
“Luz, no! You know we can trust them. But you have to admit Kimotak’s known things in advance before. He heard the faulty engine on the troop carrier before the rest of us could see it.”
“Hearing a misfire in an engine is different to knowing the enemy were about to strike.”
“Possibly not. Kimotak said he could hear them coming through the ground.”
“Colonel Cabrera had all the tunnels closed after the ambush, but perhaps the Alarians dug through them and came up in the middle of the encampment.”
“No, Captain. He didn’t mean there.” Gabe pointed to the ground beneath them. “He meant here. They’re coming here.”
Meraz stared at him, then shook her head. “Nonsense. They couldn’t tunnel that far without earth magic. Even if they’d managed to come this far Mage Suelo would have detected them.”
Gabe trusted Kimotak but Meraz made sense.
“Go,” Meraz said to him gently. “Get ready for what might happen.”
Gabe was barely outside of the command tent when he caught sight of a dirigible coming in from the west, fast and low, preparing for a quick landing. Thinking wounded, Gabe raced for the front gates and reached it just in time to get a face full of swirling dust. He fought through it and skidded to a stop on the edge of the airfield.
Lieutenant Botello was there, shouting orders as he ran for the dirigible. A side door dropped down and several people staggered out, one of them collapsing to the ground, coughing.
“What word?” Botello yelled over the roar of the engine, grabbing one of the upright men. “Is it the Alarians?”
“They came out of the ground,” the man Botello held said. “Not just from our tunnels, but new ones as well. There were explosions of dirt and when it settled, there they were, coming out of the ground. Hundreds of them, all at once. The entire encampment is in enemy hands.” He sagged in the lieutenant’s hold, coughing.
Botello saw Gabe and said, “Mage, tend this man first. He needs to be able to report to Captain Meraz.”
“They all need to go to the hospital.”
“We need information first. Give this man what he needs to be able to report, now!”
Scowling, Gabe went to the soldier. His wounds weren’t severe, but as Gabe laid his left hand on the man’s chest, he felt the damage to his lungs from breathing the burning air and grit. It didn’t take a lot of magic to heal him enough to give him some respite and the energy needed to give a full report, but it felt draining all the same. Gabe’s reserves hadn’t fully recovered.
After a moment, the soldier began to breathe easier. He nodded his thanks to Gabe and stood on his own. Botello rushed him into the camp.
Gabe made sure the other men were on their way to the hospital, then went to the command tent.
“It was a coordinated assault,” the soldier was saying when Gabe entered. “The explosions in the ground happened all at once and within moments, there were hundreds of them in the encampment. They secured their entry points and then more of them began coming through. It was done so quickly we didn’t have time to send messengers to command. We were divided by the individual camps and they overran us easily, taking each camp and fortifying it as they went.”
“When did the ammunition dumps blow?” Meraz asked, pacing back and forth.
“I think Colonel Cabrera ordered it as soon it was clear what was happening, but it took some time to get the Fire Mages into the dumps. Perhaps an hour after the first assault.”
“How did you get out?”
“A supply dirigible in our camp. We were packing food stock into it when it happened. One of the tunnels opened up right beside me.” The soldier shuddered. “I wasn’t armed, so I ran. I tried to get to my barracks, so I could get my weapons, but they threw a grenade into the tents. I was thrown by it and must have blacked out. When I woke up, I was in the dirigible with Diego and Carlito. They’d escaped the barracks just as it exploded, found me and got us away.”
Dead Bones Page 24