For now, she simply trudged on until the sun became too hot, and then she rested, and in the evening she trudged on again, looking always for a sign of the rails ahead of her, like the cut or rise of the railside bankings. But the rugged, scrubby terrain went on endlessly, punctuated only by knots of trees wherever water had gathered beneath the earth, or the ravaged plots of ploughed farmland when the ground became fertile enough. She found no buildings that had not been systematically sacked and burned, which told her she was still too near to the Wasp camp, wherever it was, for comfort.
Towards dusk, she found a stream that had cut a channel through the land, capable of hiding her from enemy eyes. It was cooler, too, and edged with green that was a welcome change from the drylands that extended between h.e.l.leron and the woods of Etheryon. Its course ran too straight to be natural, and the land either side was flat and had obviously once known the plough, but she could not tell how long ago, or whose hands had refashioned the soil here.
She was still heading along the channel when she heard something buzz overhead like a very fast-moving insect. There had been a knife amongst Totho"s gifts and she seized it in her hand, trying to crouch into some kind of martial position, but she could see no one, certainly n.o.body in black and gold armour.
She was just thinking that perhaps it was an insect after all, when something struck the side of her head in a blaze of pain and she dropped face-first into the stream.
When Che recovered, she found her wrists and ankles bound with strips of cloth torn from her own clothing not the uniform tunic she still wore, but her real clothes that had been in the sack, and were now spread out with the rest of its contents around an almost smokeless fire. A low, wide tent had been pitched beside a pool that the stream flowed into, and then out of, on its artificial course.
Some bandit or wanderer, she guessed. I can promise a reward. I can probably make them be reasonable. I can promise a reward. I can probably make them be reasonable.
And then she heard a footstep and turned, and almost cried out in dismay, for he was a Wasp not in uniform, but a Wasp with a scarred face, in a long leather coat, coming with a string of fish in one hand and eyeing her speculatively.
It had been something as commonplace as a slingshot that had brought her down, a stone aimed at her from the undergrowth.
His name was Gaved and he was obviously no ordinary Wasp as Che was used to them. No uniform and no rank, and he had all the marks of a loner about him. When she eventually questioned him about what he did, he told her he hunted men and women for a living.
"And now I"ve caught you," he said, "a nice, plump deserter. Well, it"s about time my luck changed. I was robbed by a b.a.s.t.a.r.d Spider-kinden and I"m still on his trail, but I reckon I can now make some pocket money by returning you to your masters."
"If it"s money you want, if you get me to Collegium . . ."
"Girl, I"ve just come from Collegium. I"m not even sure it"s still standing by now."
"It is, the . . ."
"And anyway anyway," he said, speaking over her, "I"ve got no wish to retrace my steps, not with my Spider friend still out there hoping to claim my share of the loot. So, if it"s all right with you I"ll just hand you in and go about my business."
"They"ll kill me."
"They"ll whip you, certainly," he said unsympathetically. "Maybe they"ll kill you too, if they want to make an example, but probably you"ll just get a whipping, an Auxillian abandoning her post. Why not tell them you got lost?"
"I"m not a deserter," she protested. "I"m not an Auxillian." She fell silent, knowing that whatever she said could only make her position worse. The same understanding was in his eyes, too.
"I"m sorry," he said, with a shrug. "A man"s got to make a living, and it"s not easy sometimes."
He had taken her into his tent, come nightfall, with the fire left to burn itself out by the opening, and she had a.s.sumed he would take advantage of her. Instead he just made sure she was tied too tight to escape, and then lay down at whatever distance from her the tent would allow. She realized that in some perverse feeling of concern he had brought her inside to keep her warm.
"Please," she addressed his back. "I promise you more money than the Wasps will pay. Just take me to Sarn. Sarn can"t be too far out of your way."
"Don"t make me gag you," was his only reply.
Gaved woke with the dawn, as he always did. It was good to be travelling alone and in the wilds. It had been fun going along with Phin for a time, but in the end other people tended to crowd him.
And yet here I am, so self-sufficient I"m doing the Empire"s work still. The cursed Spider, Scylis, had seen right through his vaunted independence, and he could do without some mercenary telling him things he already knew.
He remembered his last sight of Phin, sprawled dead with a nailbow shot straight through her. She had deserved better than that, but then so did most people who died.
The girl was awake and staring at him and obviously about to start pleading for her life again. That would only depress him. "I"m going out to water the place," he told her, "but I"ll be watching, and if you make a move it won"t be a stone this time, but a sting, you understand?"
She nodded, and he went outside into the growing sunlight, smiling to greet it, as he always did. Then the smile slipped and he growled, "Who in the wastes are all of you?"
Che watched the Wasp re-enter, with an odd expression on his face. He had a small knife in one hand, and she opened her mouth to scream, but he said, just above a whisper, "Now I"m going to cut you free. No sudden moves, all right?"
The knife sawed through the bonds at her ankles, and then at her wrists, and a moment later he backed out of the tent again, and she saw a flash of reflected sunlight as he cast the knife point-first into the ground.
She crawled cautiously out after him and saw that they were not alone, that there were at least a dozen other people crouching or standing around the tent. They had swords and bows and crossbows, and they came from all kinden, and they distinctly had the look of the bandit about them.
"Well," Gaved said. "I suppose she"s yours now."
"Don"t move, Wasp. We"ve not done with you," said one of the bandits and a moment later Che was running forward, throwing herself into his arms with a cry of joy, because under the grime and the tarnished cuira.s.s and the rough clothing was none other than Prince Salme Dien, who she thought she would never see again.
"Salma! How can you be here? How can it be you?"
"I had some help in finding you," he replied, embracing her gently, and glanced back towards one of his own people who was m.u.f.fled in a cloak. Then the hood was pushed back to reveal that the face beneath was bright and rainbow-hued.
"You found her?"
"And then she found me," Salma confirmed. He looked at Gaved the Wasp. "Did this man hurt you?"
Gaved visibly tensed, knowing that her answer would seal his fate.
"No," she said. "Nothing like that at all."
"Then pack up your tent, Master Wasp. You"re coming with us." He turned again to his followers. "Phalmes?"
A tough-looking Mynan stepped forwards. "Yes, chief?"
"We"re heading back for camp, and then I want a messenger sent to Collegium."
Che then thought about the plans that Totho had given her, the plans still concealed inside her tunic.
The war was far from over.
About the Author.
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, before heading off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind, possibly excepting his son.
Catch up with Adrian at www.shadowsoftheapt.com for further information about both himself and the insect-kinden, together with bonus material including short stories and artwork. for further information about both himself and the insect-kinden, together with bonus material including short stories and artwork.