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Koric
shrugged. “Company
orders,” he said. “I’m
the last to know. The spear
men are the first into battle, but the last to know,” quoted the
rookie. Koric
chortled. “You’re not
the first into battle, we are.” The
spearman looked at him as if he were week-old leftovers. “I do not call sending 150 scouts two by two to interrogate
cattle and old women battle.” Koric
put one hand on the man’s shoulder and the other on his knife strapped
to his waist, standard issue for a scout.
“If we don’t verify strategic points of conquest, you could
be riding into a meat grinder. Imagine
an ambush of thousands of knights hiding in the mountains as you pass. They are heavily armed and well trained.
They have nameless and terrible weapons.
They might even use some of the lost arts and,” he leaned close
to the spear man’s ear with a sneer, “they might even have tamed
Koraxes.” The
rookie spearman looked at Koric with fear in his eyes. “No one’s ever tamed a korax.” “Do
you know that for sure?” Koric
cocked his head to the side with a sly smirk and said quietly, “So try
to show a little respect.” The
rookie nodded quickly. The
cook returned with two bowls of vakla, one dry.
Koric took his and returned to Septic who was now asleep among
his drunken comrades. |
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Koric
kicked him. “Get up.” “Mmph.” Koric
kicked him again, “GET UP.” “What!” “I
brought you your vakla.” Koric
handed him the bowl and sat down next to him. Septic
propped himself up and stirred at the morsel with his little finger.
“Hey! It’s
dry!” Even in his stupor
he could tell. Koric
shrugged. “It’s all
they had. Eat it.” Septic
gnawed at the tender parts the best he could and smacked his parched
lips. He glanced at Koric
who was staring at the crowd. “Hey,
so do you think Araknik’s going to take command?” “You
mean over the old order? I
hope so. Did you see what happened when the carnasil attacked him?” “Yeah.”
Septic leaned over to him and whispered, “He’s using one of
the lost arts, I bet.” Koric
glared at him. “No
kidding. That’s what we
need.” “Here,”
said Septic handing him the bowl. “I
don’t want anymore.” He
leaned back and fell asleep. Koric
smiled to himself. He took
he leftovers and ate it greedily. That’s
how he liked it, dry.
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