Summer was fading into autumn when Sister Dunsin came to Lynn, catching her as she was about to go into a meditation cell.
“Imprinter. Some information has come my way that I think you should be made aware of.”
The large Sister squeezed into the small room after Lynn and shut the door. Lynn had a nasty sinking feeling in her stomach. The things Sister Dunsin thought she should be aware of were rarely things that aided her peace of mind.
Dunsin launched into her lecture. “The justice of the Goddess will not be denied. In our weakness we might attempt to hide from her will, but she will not suffer to see her laws flouted. I will not have my commands ignored, for in them I show my greatest care for you. They are for your protection rather than my glory.” The Sister finished with a quote.
Lynn tried to look suitably thoughtful, but it was a rather general start and might well lead into anything. Until she knew where Dunsin was heading, the wisest course was to say the minimum possible, and so Lynn meekly mumbled, “Yes, Sister.”
“I have just received news that serves to demonstrate the truth of all I have told you. Perhaps now you will pay more attention. The Goddess can see into every heart, and will judge us all accordingly. The justice of this world is flawed, but the justice of the Goddess is inescapable.”
“Indeed, Sister.”
“I have brought the written evidence with me, in case you think I have in some way invented facts or augmented the truth to serve my own purposes.”
“I would never accuse you of falsehood,” Lynn said at once. And neither would she. The Sisters might have their own strange ideas about what constituted the truth, but they never knowingly lied.
“It is a communication between the Ranger Command at Fort Krowe and the central military administration here in Landfall. The letter has been passed to me for reasons that will become clear when you read it, although it will have to be returned to the records office once we are finished. In it, we can clearly see the judgment of the Goddess. She has exacted her revenge for the sins committed against her divine will.”
Dunsin held out a sheet of paper. Confusion and rising dread made Lynn hesitate for a second before she took the letter and spread it flat, twisting the paper slightly to the light so she might read. At the top was a red wax seal authenticating the dispatch, but Lynn hardly registered the details. Her eyes fixed on the few short lines of writing.
Ranger Command regrets to inform all those concerned that, while on active duty pursuing bandits in the western mountains, Ranger Kimberly Ramon of the 23rd Squadron has been killed. Please make all necessary arrangements for the standard death-in-action payment to be made to her next of kin.
Part Two
On the Trail of Bandits
Chapter Eleven—A Job the Sisters Want Doing
No paths led through the mountains this far west. The line of mounted soldiers had to pick their way forward as best they could, over moorlands blanketed in spiky, knee-high grass and through wooded valleys where the tangle of branches forced them to dismount and hack a way through, leading the horses on foot. July was blazing into August, summer reaching its height, hot and dry. The grass was parched yellow. The wind picked up a choking haze of dust that left the skin feeling gritty within minutes. Leaves on trees sagged limp, waiting for the relief of autumn rain, but still the mountain peaks high above glittered white with their caps of snow.
Evening was drawing near as the company traveled up a long, narrow valley beside the banks of a slow-moving river winding sinuously through the woodland. Stumpy trees overhung the water on both sides, less dense than in some other parts, but still making for difficult progress. At last, the head of the column reached a broad open tract set in a loop of the river, the largest patch of green grass they had encountered for days. Virtually the whole line was out in the open when the rider in the lead turned to confer briefly with the woman at her side. A subordinate who took her instructions wheeled her horse around and shouted, “Company, halt! Pitch camp. Officers report for briefing in an hour.”
The effect of the order rippled down the line. Horses turned left and right, women slipped out of the saddle, packs were pulled down and opened, and the disciplined column drifted apart like a plume of smoke in a soft breeze, slowly spreading across the width of the open space. The motion appeared haphazard to a first glance, but patterns did emerge, most noticeable was the separation of the Guards in red and gold from the smaller, less conspicuous section of Rangers.
This latter group was definitely in the minority, outnumbered three to one. Their numbers seemed even less significant once they dispersed into the cover of trees on the edge of the clearing. The horses were unsaddled at the point where the valley walls began to rise, before being sent to graze on the green beside the river. The Guards, though, were preparing to bivouac on the open grass, on land lying a couple of meters below the site the Rangers had chosen.
Lieutenant Coppelli oversaw the setting of the Rangers’ camp, although the experienced women needed little instruction, merely the detailing of a few unfortunates to the less popular tasks. She spared a cheery glance for the Guards, who were clearly far less happy with outdoor living. Their ineptitude had provided hours of amusement for the Rangers during the first days on the trail and could still raise a smile. Then she turned back, scanning the women moving under the trees until she finally spotted the person she wanted, standing shovel in hand, about to start digging the fire pit for cooking.
“Private Ramon. Leave that. Someone else can do it. I want you to come with me.”
Kim paused for a moment, looking pensively at the shovel before stabbing it into the ground and walking over to join the lieutenant. The pair climbed the steep side of the valley in silence, not speaking until they stood on an outcrop of rock high above the campsite by the river where they could peer down on the activity: the grooming of horses, the setting out of bedding, the erection of Major Rozek’s tent, and the first plumes of smoke from cooking fires.
At last Kim spoke. “You don’t have to keep shielding me from heavy duties. My back was completely healed weeks ago.”
“Yes...well. You have to allow me something for feeling guilty since I’m lieutenant and you’re not. And anyway, I did have valid reasons for bringing you up here. You’ve got the best eye for trouble in the squadron. What do you make of the campsite?”
Kim laughed softly. “It’s not the spot I’d have chosen.”
“Same here, and I suspect the major is already starting to question her decision.” A cheerful glint lit Chip’s eyes as she looked down on the half-assembled tent. “She probably thought the Goddess had especially cleared a little picnic site for her and never stopped to think that the absence of trees might mean the ground was waterlogged. The sun has dried off the surface for now, but it will seep up at night. I’m afraid her girls are going to be soaked by morning.”
“It was really mean of us to lay claim to the high ground without warning them.” Despite the words, Kim’s voice held not a trace of guilt.
Chip matched her grin before asking in more business-like tones, “Aside from the damp, what do you make of it defensively?”
“Pretty poor. Anyone could creep close through the undergrowth. The Guards will make wonderful targets out in the open, with their nice red tunics. Bandits could polish off a few and then slip away again. And you can work that out as easily as me.”
“But what would you do about it?”
Kim studied the valley thoughtfully. “Apart from move? I’d put sentries there, there, there and there.” Her finger pointed out the locations. “It would cover the most likely spots for archers, though it’s nowhere close to attack-proof. In order to achieve that, you’d have to put the entire squadron on sentry duty, and we’d all be done in by morning.”
Chip pulled a wry grin. “I always sleep best with the knowledge I could be murdered in my bed.”
“Assuming there are actually some bandits out here,” Kim said skeptically.
“You have doubts?”
“Don’t you?”
“Well...” Chip’s face wrinkled. “I know something doesn’t hang right. I mean, when have they ever sent Guards after a bunch of outlaws? And there’s nearly a hundred of them, plus our squadron, but you never get more than a dozen outlaws in a gang. I’d love to know what Captain LeCoup would say about it.”
“Probably something unrepeatable.”
LeCoup’s presence was missed. The squadron captain had finally been promoted out of field duty. She was now at Fort Krowe, pushing the new admissions to the Rangers through their basic training. It was a fair bet the raw recruits were already cursing her name, but in years to come would praise her memory when the lessons they learned from LeCoup saved their lives.
The captain’s promotion was years overdue, and there was no surprise in Chip getting the vacant post of lieutenant. More disconcerting was that the 23rd Squadron had been sent into the field without a new captain. Chip was the only senior Ranger officer. The squadron had been tagged on as auxiliaries to the Guards for their unconventional mission, supposedly hunting a band of extremely dangerous outlaws. But when had border security become the concern of the Guards? The question was one that all the Rangers were asking.
Kim had a few others. She faced Chip. “What I don’t understand is, why are we here?”
“So the Guards don’t get lost,” Chip suggested.
“Oh, that’s undoubtedly why they wanted a few Rangers along. But why out here? We’ve been heading due west through the wildlands for nearly three weeks. There aren’t going to be bandits this far from the homelands. There is no one for them to steal from.”
“They might have set up a base out here. Somewhere to hide between raids.”
Kim shook her head. “It’s too far to lug all the food they’d need for a long stay. It’s been tight rations for us, and we’re going to have to turn around in a little more than a week if we don’t want to run out of food before we get back.” It was an undeniable point, even though the Rangers had been able to stretch out the supplies with their knowledge of edible plants.
“Hopefully, that means our goal isn’t too far off. The major knows exactly where we’re going, so they ought to have worked out the provisions.” Chip’s tone was not quite as confident as her words.
Kim’s expression grew even more perplexed. “And that’s another question. Where did she get her map?”
“The Goddess only knows. I’d love to study it in more detail, but she’s only let me have brief glimpses when she thinks she might be lost and wants my opinion.”
“You haven’t been able to work out anything from it?”
“It’s just a simple drawing of the quickest way to get somewhere. But what that place is...” Chip shrugged. “I would say your guess is as good as mine, except it is usually better. So what do you think?”
Kim pursed her lips while her eyes stared down on the campsite. “I think there’s a job the Sisters want doing out here, but they don’t trust the Rangers to do it. Rozek is some Sister’s favorite officer. Lynn thought she was in the pocket of one faction or the other. That’s why the major has been trusted with this mission. She probably knows a lot of what there is to know, but she’s keeping it to herself. Even the Guards are in the dark, and that’s what worries me most of all. I think that when we find out what this job is we won’t like it, but they’re not planning on letting us know until we’re not in a position to think of other options.”
Chip’s face was grim. “Maybe. But what worries me most is that Rozek particularly asked for the 23rd Squadron to accompany her troops. And I don’t think it was because of fond memories of us. I’ve seen her watching you sometimes. She can’t forgive you for the fact you’re still breathing.” Chip reached out and grabbed her friend’s arm. “But just you keep doing it. And that’s an order.”
Kim grinned. “Yes, ma’am. But I had sort of been intending that anyway.” She matched Chip’s grasp on the forearm. “Come on, let’s go back and see how dinner is going.”
Together the two women in green and gray headed down the hillside.
*
No attacks came during the night, and the next morning, the company continued on their way. The Guards with despondent faces and wet clothes; the Rangers with partially successful attempts to avoid looking smug. The walls on either side got closer and higher and eventually, in midmorning, the valley ended abruptly at a sheer face of white limestone where the lazy river emerged from a long, thin opening at the bottom.
Major Rozek called a halt and consulted her map, at last grudgingly requesting Chip’s advice. After a short discussion, the company backtracked a couple of kilometers to where a rockslide provided a steep yet passable route out of the valley. At the top they found a wide, rolling moor, virtually treeless, burned yellow by the summer. A gentle breeze stirred the grasses in a dry rustling. Overhead, the thinnest sheet of high cloud did little to hide the glare of the sun. Due west, a line of distant mountains lifted their heads against the hazy sky. One had a distinctive double peak. Rozek spent some time looking between her map and the mountain before leading the column in a straight line toward it.
A short while later, the column passed a gaping hole in the ground, a long gash at the bottom of a steep, crater-like depression. From the black depths thundered the rushing of water. The hole was where the roof of a cavern had crumbled away and the unsupported earth slid in. Obviously, the river disappeared into a sinkhole somewhere ahead and then flowed underground along caves eroded into the limestone, until it re-emerged at the foot of the cliff they had seen. But from the sound, the river bore little resemblance to the placid waterway they had camped by the night before. Now squeezed into tunnels through the rock, its booming roar reverberated from the chasm.
The mounted women kept well back from the treacherous-looking edge and carried on across the moor. Half a kilometer farther, they passed a second hole, and then a third—a string of strange pockmarks in the otherwise even surface of the moorland that marked the path of the underground river.
At noon, they had a lengthy break to rest the horses and take lunch, a chance to talk and stretch out the cricks from hours in the saddle, and then the company went on. But it was not long before the major called another halt. The head of the column had come across yet another hole, bigger than any of the others, a full twenty meters long. From the grassy plane of the moor, steep slopes of loose gravel plunged down on either side to the ragged gash in the bedrock.
The Rangers had been riding in the middle of the column, but word arrived quickly that the major wished to speak with Lieutenant Coppelli. She spurred her horse forward and to the place where Rozek and the other Guard officers were peering into the crater.
“You wanted me, ma’am?” Chip asked as she dismounted.
“Yes, Lieutenant. There is something down there by the edge. I want you to send one of your women, Private Ramon, down to retrieve it.”
Chip craned her neck to look over the edge. Some artifact, possibly made of leather, was half buried near the opening in the rock, and ten meters of loose footing at an angle of nearly 45 degrees had to be crossed before one could get to it. “But, ma’am, it’s—” She did not have the chance to finish.
“That’s an order,” Rozek snapped.
“Yes, ma’am.” Chip bit back anything else she might say and faced down the line. “Private Ramon, come here. And bring a rope with you.”
“We haven’t got time to waste pussyfooting about with ropes,” Rozek said harshly.
Chip spun back, speechless with disbelief, but at last found her voice. “I will not order one of my women to risk her neck like that.”
“Then you will find yourself removed from your post and one of my officers put in your place.”
Kim arrived in time to hear the major’s threat. She slipped down from her horse and walked forward, eyebrows raised in query. “Ma’am?”
“The major wants you to go down without a safety
rope and collect something she’s seen beside the chasm’s edge. But I won’t ask you to do it.” Chip, in her outrage, did not bother keeping her voice low enough to prevent others from hearing.
“No. I’m going to order you to.” Rozek’s voice snapped out sharply from behind her.
Kim’s eyes flitted between the assembled officers and then down to the fissure, evaluating the situation. She met her friend’s eyes and spoke softly. “It’s all right, Chip. I’ll go very carefully.”
“She wants you to fall.”
“I know. I’ll try to disappoint her. But you dare not let Rozek displace you. If I’m right, things are going to get very nasty soon, and the lives of the whole squadron might depend on having a competent officer in charge. And it won’t help me anyway. If I don’t do what she says, she’ll hold a field court-martial and string me up for disobeying an order while on active duty.”
“In these circumstances? She’d have hell to pay when the report goes back to Fort Krowe.”
“The Sisters won’t be upset to hear of my death. Rozek might receive a public reprimand, but she’ll also get a private commendation. And we both know which is more useful to a Guardswoman’s career.”
A range of emotions battled for control of Chip’s face, but in the end, all she said was, “It’s your choice, but take care.”
“I will. Just try and get the squadron back intact.”
Kim stepped to the crumbling edge of the crater and looked down. She removed her spurs and sword belt, then turned around and carefully lowered herself onto the unstable slope. A small trickle of loose stones bounced down to the edge of the fissure and plummeted over, but Kim managed to get enough purchase using toes, knees, and fingers to stop herself from following.
The Temple at Landfall Page 12