In a strange kind of floating wonder, the near-euphoria of relief, exhaustion and plenty of admiration that certainly wasn’t innocent of sudden sexual desire-for a damned drunk-Fiddler found a table and moments later was joined by Gesler and Stormy, the latter arriving with a loaf of rye bread, a broached cask of ale and three dented pewter flagons with inscriptions on them.
‘Can almost read this,’ he said, squinting at the side of his cup. ‘Like old Ehrlii.’
‘Maker’s stamp?’ Gesler asked as he tore off a hunk of bread.
‘No. Maybe something like “Advocate of the Year”. Then a name. Could be Rizzin Purble. Or Wurble. Or Fizzin.’
‘Could be that’s the name of this village,’ Gesler suggested. ‘Fizzin Wurble.’
Stormy grunted, then nudged Fiddler. ‘Stop dreaming of her, Fid. She’s trouble and a lost cause too. Besides, it’s Urb who’s all dreamy ‘bout her and he looks too dangerous to mess with.’
Fiddler sighed. ‘Aye to all of that. It’s just been a long time, that’s all.’
‘We’ll get our rewards soon enough.’
He eyed Stormy for a moment, then glanced over to Gesler.
Who was scowling at his corporal. ‘You lost your mind, Stormy? The only rewards we’re going to reap are the crow feathers Hood hands out as we march through his gate. Sure, we’re drawing up here, gaining in strength as we do it, but those Edur on our trail will be doing the same, outnumbering us five, ten to one by the time we run out of open ground.’
Stormy waved a dismissive hand. ‘You do a count, Gesler? Look at Urb’s squad. At Hellian’s. Look at Fid’s and ours. We’re all damned near unscathed, given what we’ve been through. More living than dead in every squad here. So who’s to say the other squads aren’t in the same shape? We’re damn near at strength, and you couldn’t say that about the Letherii and the Edur, could you?’
‘There’s a whole lot more of them than us,’ Gesler pointed out as he collected the cask and began pouring the ale into the flagons.
‘Ain’t made that much difference, though. We bulled through that last ambush-’
‘And left the scene so cut up and bleeding a vole could’ve tracked us-’
‘Sharper scatter, is all-’
‘Mayfly’s back was a shredded mess-’
‘Armour took most of it-’
‘Armour she doesn’t have any more-’
‘You two are worse than married,’ Fiddler said, reaching for his ale.
‘All right,’ Koryk pronounced, ‘there’s no disagreement possible. Those bieckers of yours, Smiles, reek the worst of all. Worse than fingers, worse than ears, worse even than tongues. We’ve all voted. All us in the squad, and you’ve got to get rid of them.’
Smiles sneered. ‘You think I don’t know why you want me to toss ‘em, Koryk? It’s not the smell, oh no. It’s the sight of them, and the way that makes you squirm inside, makes your balls pull up and hide. That’s what this is all about. Pretty soon, none of us will be smelling much at all-everything’s drying out, wrinkling up-’
‘Enough,’ groaned Tarr.
Koryk glanced across at Bottle. The fool looked to be asleep, his face hanging slack. Well, fair enough. Without Bottle they’d never have come this far. Virtually unscathed at that. He tapped the finger bone strung round his neck-the bone from the pit outside what was left of Y’Ghatan. Always worth a touch or two with thoughts like those.
And he knew they were headed for trouble. They all knew, which was why they’d talk about anything else but that huge grisly beast crouched right there in the forefront of their thoughts. The one with dripping fangs and jagged talons and that smeared grin of knowing. Aye. He touched the bone again.
‘Come through not bad,’ Cuttle said, eyeing the other marines in the crowded main room. ‘Anybody here been thinking about how we’re going to besiege a city the size of Unta? We’re pretty much out of munitions-Fid’s got a cusser left and maybe I do, too, but that’s it. We can hardly try anything covert, since they know we’re coming-’
‘Magic, of course,’ Smiles said. ‘We’ll just walk right in.’
Koryk winced at this turn in the conversation. Besieging Letheras? And nobody standing ranks-deep in their way? Not likely. Besides, the Edur were pushing them right along, and where the marines ended up was not going to be a pleasure palace, now was it? Had Cuttle lost his mind? Or was this just his way of dealing with the death looming in all their minds?