Siege (The Warrior Chronicles, 5) (8 page)

M
arc patted
down his sleeping fur, trying to make it so nothing could crawl in when he wasn’t around. He glanced up at the sky, mapping out the stars to make sure he knew which direction he faced. It would look bad if he wandered around the camp in utter confusion—he was part of the
experienced
group now. He’d been through a few battles, and he knew what to expect. He was supposed to look out for the first-timers.

Or so Sanders had said. Marc was under no misconceptions that he could help.

His foot cracked a twig as he made his way to the main eating area. He flinched and then paused, staring at the huge pools of inky black ahead of him, hoping no one popped out with a sword and a manic smile. The sentries had mental ability, but you just never knew. Someone could get through. Weirder things had happened.

The broken twig crackled as he shifted his weight to look behind, and he flinched again. Shanti would punch him in the head if she heard him. He was supposed to be better at this.

Seeing no movement, he continued ahead through the brittle grass. Shapes to his right caught his eye, a small group of people sitting in a cluster. He glanced up at the moonless sky, and then tweaked his direction. More shapes moved away left. A horse huffed. Continuing on, he ducked into the trees and immediately put out his hand to feel his way. Visibility was so poor that he had no idea how other people got around. Some passed him at a normal walk, wandering by like it was broad daylight.

He felt something soft and warm slide across his leg. He jumped and stepped away. His foot caught the edge of a stone and rolled, sending his body pitching to the side. Arms out wide, he windmilled and then staggered, grunting as his chest met someone else’s.

That someone was a woman. With round, full breasts.

A fist caught him just below the ribs, offsetting the tingling in his body.

“Sorry!” he wheezed, clutching his side and staggering away.

“What is your problem?” Ruisa hissed.

“I can’t very well
see,
can I?” He looked around his feet. “Those big cats are around, aren’t they?”

“The Captain and S’am are in the officers’ area talking over tomorrow.”

Marc stared at her face, waiting for more. He didn’t get any. “So?”

“So the cats usually stick around the Captain and S’am, which are right over there.” Her shadowed hand went out to the right.

“Ah.” He straightened out his uniform. “They make me nervous. They’re like ghosts.”

“Me too.” She turned and started away. He followed, hoping it was in the direction of food.

The murmur of voices rose up from those sitting in clusters. The wild grass thinned out, making it easier to step through without being able to see. He threaded his way around a group and then turned sideways to avoid the thinner frame of what was probably a Shadow or Shumas.

Finally they reached a large circle of people sitting in the darkness. Judging by the lack of a line or any larger men, this wasn’t where he thought he’d been heading.

“I thought you were going to get food?” Marc glanced up at the sky and then looked out to the right. Why he bothered was anyone’s guess. He couldn’t tell what was out there any more than he could tell what was in the other direction.

“The Captain had the women’s rations separated, and apparently lumped the Honor Guard in. We brought it here.” Ruisa sighed and dropped to the ground. “I’d thought we’d get the preferential treatment a little longer.”

“You don’t deserve it.” That sounded like Rachie’s voice. The speaker shifted on the other side of the large circle.

Marc shuffled in next to Ruisa, hoping the hulking frame that looked like Xavier didn’t have his fingers resting on the ground. If Marc accidentally sat on them, he’d surely get a punch. Coming from Xavier, that wouldn’t feel great. His ribs still hurt.

“Do you need to be right on top of me?” Xavier huffed before backing out of the circle a little, making more room for Marc.

“Here.” Ruisa crawled forward to the center of the circle, and then came back with dried meat, bread, and cheese. “This is what we’ve got.”

Marc would have eaten a raw fish he was so hungry. He tore a chunk out of the lump of bread.

“I overheard Sanders talking,” Ruisa said, crossing her legs and leaning her forearms on her knees. “He said their defenses seem minimal and there aren’t that many on the inside. That they probably sent everyone to attack our city.”

“They didn’t attack—they just kind of…camped out.” That sounded like Gracas.

“Whatever. You know what I mean.” Ruisa huffed. “Sanders didn’t think the Graygual thought they’d be attacked. The ones here, I mean. I don’t know what was going on with the ones in our lands.”

“That guy Kallon.” That feminine rasp sounded like Maggie. “He said it would be better to go quickly so we didn’t have all night to stew in fear. That it would be bad for the inexperienced to wait.”

A great many shadows around the large circle shifted. Feet scraped against the ground and heads ducked. Maggie had hit on the worry that a great many were clearly feeling.

“You didn’t have the Captain when you were trapped in the city,” Xavier said in a firm voice, “so you wouldn’t know that he is an excellent leader. Even S’am is impressed with him, and she’s rarely impressed with anyone. She led Kallon, and she lets the Captain lead her into battle. So that should tell you where Kallon ranks in all of this.”

“The Captain is going to
squash
him when they fight.” Gracas shifted, but for a different reason than the women.

Marc rolled his eyes and ripped off another mouthful of meat.

“But…what he said made sense,” Alena said in a slightly shaking voice.

“Nah.” Xavier waved the thought away, ramming Marc with his big shoulder. The guy didn’t know how much room he took up. “They need time to plan. Once they have that, they tell all the officers, and then
they
tell us. So each group is banded together with directions. We’ll get some sleep, refresh, and then we’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

“I don’t know how much I’ll sleep,” one of the women said.

“Even so, you’ll be with experienced warriors,” Ruisa said. “I was scared at first, but Xavier is right about the Captain. And Shanti is always monitoring everyone—us especially. Between the two of them, it works out.”

Xavier shifted again, jarring Marc’s elbow. Scowling, he scooted back as Xavier said, “Every time I get anxious about what’s to come, I think of what the Captain says sometimes: Overcoming fear is the best way to gain confidence. Skirting fear is the fastest way to a hollow bravado. And he’s right.”

Someone blew out their breath. Stillness settled, slow and heavy, expectation so thick it was palpable. Marc finished off his dinner, savored to the last and not quite enough. “I remember my first battle,” Xavier said, bracing his forearms on his knees. “It wasn’t even much of a battle. Not the part I had. It was when the Mugdock attacked and S’am told us to guard our family and friends. I was terrified.”

“I’m always terrified,” Marc admitted. There was no sense in denying it—everyone knew that fact.

“But S’am saw us through,” Xavier continued. “The Captain led the defense, his commanders did their job, and we picked up the slack. We all worked together, and everything worked out. Put your faith and your life in their hands, do what they tell you, and they’ll bring us out.”

“S’am will pull a win out of her ass, don’t you worry,” Rachie said. “She’s gone through some serious shit, and made it out. The woman is a miracle worker.”

“We’ll watch your back,” Gracas said, all bravado.

“They’ll watch ours, actually,” Xavier said. “They’re the archers. They have a longer reach.”

“But…you know…”

Movement around their circle interrupted Gracas’ struggle for the right words. Shapes darted, graceful and silent, skirting by their number. A long shape in a hand announced the brandishing of steel.

“What’s happening?” Xavier said, standing.

One of the shapes slowed in its jog. A woman—possibly Mela—said, “All of you get into the trees. Stick together. Our perimeter has been breached.”

“How many?” Leilius asked, but Mela was already moving away.

Marc felt a jolt of adrenaline. Before he even made the decision, he had a knife in his hand and was clutching Ruisa’s shoulder. She shrugged him off before Xavier’s hand covered Marc’s shoulder and started pushing.

“With me, everyone,” Xavier said.

The circle collapsed toward Xavier like paper crumpling.

“What do we do?” Gracas asked Xavier when they slithered around two tree trunks and stopped in the undergrowth.

“Get the more experienced people on the outside of this group,” Xavier said in a hush. “We have no idea how many there are. The mental people can feel the intruders, but that doesn’t mean they can get to all of them in time. Especially if they are fighting with Inkna.”

Marc shoved someone out of the way and stepped forward, his grip too tight on his knife. Trying not to fall into shallow breathing that would make him eventually black out, he focused on the sounds surrounding them, currently drowned out with talking.

“There can’t be that many,” Gracas said. “Or they would be louder, right? This can’t be an attack.”

“It can if they are like the Hunter’s men,” a woman said. “Those guys didn’t say much. They just killed.”

“In the middle of the night?” Rachie said in disbelief.

“Maybe we should shut up so they don’t realize we’re here.” Marc’s words scratched against his too-tight throat. A bead of sweat ran down his temple.

The chatter died away, leaving the utter silence of a nearly black night. Marc widened his eyes, trying to take in more light to see through the black. It was a fruitless effort. The press of silence suffocated him and made it hard to breathe. His hand shook a little; he was more afraid of the unknown than of a shape running at him.

A shout sounded to the distant right, followed by an agonized scream.

Marc flinched and pressed into those around him. The group moved and shifted as the scream rattled off into silence. Into death.

Silence drifted back in like a fog. Ragged breathing sounded behind him. Someone was about to hyperventilate in panic.

Marc slowly worked backward, careful not to make any sound. He picked up his feet slowly, letting them hover in the air before gingerly setting them down. His heart hammered against his ribs and a pulsing rush blared in his ears.

Someone moved out of the way, but didn’t ask him what he was doing. He felt another body shift before he was standing next to a woman with a heaving chest. Her hands held a shaking bow in front of her, terror clearly drowning out her thought. She was very dangerous at that moment.

Marc let the calm of his profession settle over him. She needed help, and it was his job to give it.

“Hey,” he whispered. “I’m going to put my hand on your arm. Are you ready?”

He wouldn’t have been able to see her nod even if she gave it. The outline of her head was lost to the darkness of the trunk behind her.

“I’m reaching over,” Marc said, his words almost coming out like a melodic hum. He’d learned that from Rohnan. “I will touch you now.”

Her flinch almost made him jerk away, violent as it was. She clutched her bow harder into her chest, crushing his hand.

“We have you surrounded,” Marc said in that same melodic voice. “The Shadow and Shumas are out there, tracking these people down. And if all else fails, those cats are out there, hunting. You are safe with us. Just stick with us, and you’ll be fine.”

He desperately wanted to believe the words he was saying.

The ragged breathing slowed a fraction. Her arms relaxed just a little.

“Now, I want you to drop that bow—just for now.” He winced as the wood and her skin pinched him. Dropping the bow didn’t seem to be an option. “Okay, hang on to the bow. No problem. Just don’t try to shoot it. You might hit one of our people.”

Her body shook. Probably a nod, because he didn’t hear any sounds of crying.

“You’re going to be fine. We’ll take care of you.”

She shook again. Definitely a nod. Her breathing had slowed even more, now not nearly as ragged. Hopefully, she was calming down enough to at least be able to think straight.

“I’m going to go back to the front and kill anyone that comes, okay?”

He wanted to believe that, too.

Another shake.

“So just hang tight.” He took his hand back as another shout trumpeted in the night. A bright glow lit up a halo of orange to the right, drawing Marc’s eyes like a moth. Shadows danced and swayed, distorted at their distance. Yells and the ringing of metal made everyone draw in closer.

“We need to move away from that,” Xavier said, looking in the opposite direction of the fire. “We’ll be silhouetted against that flame.”

“But if we’re near the flame, we can see a little,” Maggie said, nocking an arrow.

“Not if they come from the other direction,” Alena said in a shaky voice. “Xavier is right. We should—”

“Women, Xavier is in command. This is not a debate. Shut up and do as he says.” Ruisa moved toward Xavier. That instruction worked because it came from a woman, Marc had no doubt.

Silence rained down. Followed by a strange awareness that niggled at Marc’s senses.

Xavier moved ahead, having everyone follow like a line of ducklings. Except for Marc. Something wasn’t right.

Pressure pushed on his chest. His heart started to hammer.

Something definitely wasn’t right.

The sound of metal clashing echoed through the trees before a man cried out.

“Why don’t they just use their mental power?” one of the women asked.

“I don’t know,” someone answered.

Marc felt a hand on his back. “Go.”

“Shhhh!”
Marc stuck out his elbow, pushing the woman away so he could turn. His eyes trained on a spot of black amid a sea of darkness. Something waited out there, in the night. Something dangerous. He would bet his life on it.

Marc closed his eyes, cutting off the desire to see. He let his other senses fill in the gaps, doing exactly as S’am taught him.