Alector's Choice (27 page)

Under high and hazy
clouds, roughly one glass after noon on Octdi, Mykel entered the west gate of
the Cadmian compound at Dramuria. He carried little in his saddlebags except
the copies of his letters and reports, including a brief summary of Septi’s
attack by the two escaped miners, but without any mention of the soarer. Those
he was not about to leave in the mine quarters, not when he was reporting to the
majer. Beside him rode Alendyr, the second squad leader, with the rest of the
squad following.

“It’ll be good to
have a solid meal,” Alendyr said in a low voice. “Too bad we can’t stay for the
night and sleep in a decent bunk.”

“If we stay, Majer
Vaclyn might find us something else to do,” Mykel pointed out.

“That could be, sir.
Patrolling the area around the mine hasn’t been that bad. The growers and those
folk in Jyoha were a lot worse.”

Mykel reined up
outside the stable and turned to Alendyr once more. “After the men deal with
their mounts, any who need replacement equipment should take care of that. They
can have the freedom of the compound until half a glass after the evening meal.
That’s when we ride out, back to the mine compound.”

Alendyr laughed. “One
good meal, anyway.”

“It’s the best we can
do.” Mykel shrugged and dismounted.

After he’d seen to
the chestnut and arranged for some ad-ditional fodder for all the mounts in the
squad, Mykel walked toward the officers’ quarters, wondering what other captains
were in Dramuria, or whether he was the only one reporting weekly to the majer.
Carrying a soft leather case that held his reports, Mykel was still a good ten
yards from the quarters when Dohark stepped out of the shadows cast by the
building. The older captain glanced in the direction of the Headquarters
building, then gestured to Mykel.

“You look like
there’s trouble,” Mykel observed as he neared the other captain.

“I don’t know what
you did, Mykel,” Dohark began, “but the majer’s looking for you. You’re
supposed to see him as soon as you get here. He’s fingering those frigging
knives of his, and he’s got that look in his eye, like when you bailed him out
with the Reillies by disobeying his stupid orders. He’s so upset that he didn’t
even ream me out for getting here early.”

“Did he say why?”

“No. He’s got some of
Kuertyl’s squads locked away, under quarantine, but I haven’t seen Kuertyl
himself. I didn’t want to ask.”

Mykel frowned. He
could understand Dohark’s reluctance to probe when the majer was in one of his
moods. Kuertyl and Thirteenth Company were supposed to be in Jyoha. Had
something happened there? Or had some other seltyr attacked? Or had Rachyla
escaped?

“Are all of us
captains supposed to report here on Octdi afternoon?” asked Mykel, still trying
to figure out what he’d done to upset the majer.

“I’d thought so, but
I haven’t seen Rhystan yet. Heransyr came in just a bit ago.” Dohark shook his
head. “Bad idea, having us all report on the same day.”

Vaclyn was having
more and more bad ideas, far more than in dealing with the Reillies on the last
deployment, and Mykel and the other captains had been concerned then. “I
suppose I should go see him.”

“Don’t get him any
madder than he is.”

Mykel laughed
harshly. “Just seeing me upsets him.”

“What did you do to
him?”

The younger captain
shook his head. “I haven’t done anything different. If anything, I’ve tried to
avoid upsetting him.”

“Agree to
everything.”

Mykel nodded. He
wasn’t about to argue with Dohark, but he had been agreeing with the majer—except
when it was going to get his men killed for no reason at all, and even then, he
hadn’t disobeyed any direct orders. Case in hand, he walked swiftly to the
headquarters building.

Jiosyr was sitting at
a small table outside the major’s study. “Majer said you were to wait here,
sir. He’s with Captain Heransyr, sir.”

Mykel nodded.

He tried not to pace,
but still found himself walking back and forth, back and forth. A good glass
passed before the study door opened, and Heransyr stepped out.

The dapper captain’s
eyes slid away from Mykel, and the smile he offered was weak, almost sickly.
“Good day, Mykel.”

“Good day, Heransyr.
I hope things are going well for you and Seventeenth Company.”

“That they are.”
Heransyr nodded and hurried away.

Behind him, Mykel
heard Jiosyr close the door, leaving him alone in the corridor outside the
study. The door remained closed only for a fraction of a glass before Jiosyr
emerged.

“You can go in now,
sir.” The senior squad leader stepped aside, holding the study door. He avoided
looking at Mykel. After Mykel entered the study, Jiosyr closed the door behind
him.

Vaclyn had been
pacing, but he turned at Mykel’s entrance. His face flushed.

“You asked for me as
soon as we arrived, sir.” Mykel waited.

Vaclyn did not speak.
He glared silently at Mykel.

Mykel could do
nothing but remain silent.

“I’d like to know
what you did up in Jyoha, Captain.”

“I did exactly what
you ordered me to do, sir, and I reported what I did. You told me to round up
the Codebreakers. I surrounded them, and they refused to surrender. They said
that they’d rather die than go to the mines or go back. They attacked us. We
wiped most of them out. We lost two men, had several wounded. We returned here,
as you had suggested. I reported what happened, and you ordered us to mine
duty.”

“Do you know what
happened?” Vaclyn’s right hand dropped to the hilt of the throwing knife at his
belt, his fingers touching it lightly.

“What happened where,
sir?”

“In Jyoha, of course.
Are you deliberately trying to seem stupid, Captain?”

“No, sir.”

“Then why are you
asking such inane questions?

“Majer, sir… I don’t
understand. When I reported the roaming riders in Jyoha, I had deep concerns
about trying to capture them. I wrote you those concerns. You sent back a
dispatch ordering me to capture them or kill them if they resisted. Fifteenth
Company followed your orders. The results were devastating. That was why I
chose to withdraw, as you may recall.”

“Captain… you were
close to insubordinate.”

Mykel waited.

“Before Thirteenth Company
reached Jyoha, they were ambushed. Even children attacked them. They used
arrows and crossbows and makeshift catapults. They dug huge hidden pits across
the road. They threw gourds filled with flam-wg oil. This was your doing,
Captain. You abandoned Jyoha and let this occur, and you misled me.”

“How badly was
Thirteenth Company—”

“Captain Kuertyl was
killed almost immediately. Less than two full squads remain. They returned to
Dramuria last night.”

Vaclyn pulled his
hand away from the throwing dagger, as if he had wanted to draw it and fling it
at Mykel. “Beyond that, I also learned that you have been visiting the seltyr’s
daughter—and that you did not request my permission.”

“I was attempting to
find out more about the rifles—”

“You cannot be trusted,
Captain. You have consistently ignored my orders and put your company into
danger. You seem to consider yourself above the commands of your superiors.”

“Sir…”

“Consider yourself
confined to the compound, Captain. I will be recommending your court-martial
for insubordination and for incompetence. I had warned you.” Vaclyn’s left hand
dropped back to the hilt of one of his pair of throwing daggers.

Mykel studied the
majer. “I would like to request that you reconsider that, sir.”

“Reconsider? Who are
you to tell me? You are an insolent junior captain who has consistently refused
to follow orders. Your men are unruly and don’t follow your orders. When you do
follow orders, you change them to suit yourself. Get out of here! If you aren’t
in quarters within moments, you’ll face additional charges.”

“Yes, sir.” Mykel
bowed and stepped back.

Then he opened the
door and departed, not looking back as he left the headquarters building. Anger
welled up inside him. Vaclyn was not only being unreasonable. His decisions
were bound to lead to some sort of disaster within months, if not days. Mykel
didn’t have that long. He had no doubts about how his actions would be written
up in the report to Colonel Herolt in Elcien—or to Colonel Dainyl, if the
Myrmidon colonel even saw the report. Still, a Myrmi-don colonel outranked a
Cadmian colonel, and Mykel doubted that he had anything to lose, not the way
matters were turning out.

He swallowed, then
crossed the courtyard to the senior officers’ quarters, where he climbed the steps
to the second level and the open balcony fronting the four doors for the senior
officers’ quarters. Mykel knocked on the first door. There was no answer. He
moved to the second door and knocked again.

“Yes?” The Myrmidon
colonel’s voice was deep, resonant

“Captain Mykel of the
Cadmians to see you, sir.”

There was a pause.
Then the door opened.

Tall as he was
compared to most Cadmian officers, Mykel found himself looking up at the
colonel. He swallowed and spoke, “This is highly irregular, Colonel, but I
don’t know how else to keep matters from getting worse.”

“Could you explain,
Captain? You might as well come in.” The alector stepped back.

Mykel closed the door
and stood waiting, but the colonel neither seated himself nor asked Mykel to do
so, but merely looked at the Cadmian officer.

Mykel moistened his
lips, then began. “This is a difficult situation, sir. I was ordered to report
to Majer Vaclyn this afternoon, every Octdi afternoon…” He went on to explain
the series of events, beginning with the discovery of the rifle and continuing
through the majer’s reaction to the trial of Polynt and the latest happenings
in Jyoha—and the majer’s reaction and the threat of a court-martial. “… because
I worried about the situation in Jyoha, I had made copies of my report and the
majer’s orders.” Mykel extended the sheets of paper.

The colonel took them
without speaking and read through them slowly.

Mykel stood there,
shifting his weight from one booted foot to the other, unable to read or sense
any feeling from the Myrmidon officer.

Finally, the colonel
looked up. “I appreciate your diligence, Captain, and your concerns. You will
remain here in the compound while I look more into these matters. So will the
squad you brought with you.”

“Yes, sir.” Mykel
bowed, then stepped back toward the door, letting himself out.

From the senior
officers’ quarters he headed to the quartermaster’s building, hoping to find
Alendyr. The squad leader was there, talking with a squad leader from
Seventeenth Company. Both men broke off their conversation abruptly as they saw
Mykel.

“We may be staying
here tonight, Alendyr. I will be, and the squad will be as well. I’ll be in the
officers’ quarters, and, if you’ll check with me tomorrow, we should know
more.”

“Yes, sir.”

As Mykel walked away,
he caught a few words.

“… too bad… sticks up
for you…”

“… good time to be a
squad leader, not a captain…”

Mykel had his doubts
about it being a good time for either. When he reached the junior officer’s
quarters, he found two rooms on the ground floor empty. He took the one least
dusty. There he put the leather case on the desk and sat down in the single
chair. He hadn’t brought much gear, as he had expected to ride back to the mine
camp before dark.

Now what was he going
to do?

The majer had been so
upset that he hadn’t even asked about recent events, but Mykel hadn’t wanted to
bring those up because Vaclyn would have just turned them against him. And, in
fact, Mykel had ignored or evaded the intent of the majer’s orders. According
to discipline and the Code, it didn’t seem to matter that the orders were
generally unwise, or worse.

Mykel stood and
walked around the small room, then seated himself again. i

Would the Myrmidon
colonel do anything? Or would he just support Majer Vaclyn. For all of Colonel
Dainyl’s calm words, Mykel had no idea what the senior officer would do.

Thrap. At the knock
on the door, Mykel got up. “Yes?”

“Sir?”

“Who is it?”

“Jiosyr, sir.”

What did the majer’s
senior squad leader want with him? Mykel walked tiredly to the door. He eased
it open, little more than barely ajar. “Yes, Jiosyr?”

“Alendyr’s been hurt,
sir. One of your rankers took a knife to him. I thought you ought to know. He’s
over in the infirmary. He’s hurt pretty badly.”

“Frig!” That was all
Mykel needed. How had something like that happened? Alendyr was a good squad
leader.

He hurried out of the
quarters and around the corner into the long shadow on the east end of the
building. He halted abruptly, realizing that Jiosyr had not followed him and
that another figure waited in the shadows—Majer Vaclyn.

Vaclyn was smiling
coldly. “I believe you were ordered immediately to quarters, Captain, and to
remain within them.”

“My squad leader’s
been hurt—” Mykel doubted that, but it was a better excuse than outright
disobedience.

“A likely tale—like
all your others.” Vaclyn’s smile widened. “Captain, you have been most
insubordinate. You even tried to go around the chain of command. Now, you seem
to be trying to escape. We can’t have that.”

Mykel waited until
the last moment, then tried to jump to one side, but Vaclyn had anticipated
that, and the throwing dagger knifed into his left shoulder.

Mykel tried to regain
his balance.

“You’re quick,
Captain, but not quick enough.”

“No!” snapped a deep
voice, seemingly out of nowhere.