City of Ruin - Mark Charan Newton [94]
A soldier collapsed screaming, but the other two – including the newly promoted Tiendi – managed to force the creature back, then hack it down. A moment later Brynd himself stepped forward to assess the situation. The fallen soldier was severely injured in his shoulder, a deep wound that would take time to recover from, even an enhanced Night Guard.
Offshore hovered a boat carrying what looked like several rumel and possibly another Okun, and it was retreating, slowly moving away from the vessels packing the harbour. A swing around a rock and it was gone.
Brynd assessed the situation: twenty-three dead soldiers. Two civilian casualties. Ten dead Okun.
Scouts had returned reporting no sign of further attacks, so he ordered a garuda to patrol the shore in confirmation. He demanded dense patrolling of the area from now on, and for garudas to find that missing boat.
Brynd turned to his soldiers. ‘This was a feint. I think they wanted to observe our response. They’ve little knowledge of us, like we’ve little knowledge of them.’
‘They were happy to sacrifice ten of their own then,’ Nelum agreed. ‘Annoyingly they left no survivors to inform us about their fighting methods or reveal how they got here without being seen. And why use a boat? I would have thought if they were basically crustacean-based then . . .’
‘Perhaps their body armour is too heavy,’ Brynd suggested, suddenly aware of how cold it was becoming. Dragoons and Night Guard milled around in the aftermath, clearing bodies from the harbour, then loading them on carts. More civilians had gathered, but were held back by Dragoons, and one woman wearing a headscarf started wailing loudly as she realized her husband had been killed.
There may well be a lot more grieving widows soon.
Brynd turned and sought out Lupus, who was busy helping with the removal of the Okun. ‘Private, a quick word.’
‘Sir.’
They stood away from the hubbub, under the shelter of a boarded-up rope store. ‘I wanted to give you my personal thanks for what you did earlier.’
Lupus nodded. ‘I hope you didn’t object to being followed – Nelum saw you leave and just wanted to check you were safe, what with the disappearances.’
‘Did he now? Well we discovered tonight that it’s a fine line between being a soldier and being a thug. We must keep disciplined, and you two kept me that way. You both have my deepest thanks for your act.’
‘I would rather you killed the bastard, of course,’ Lupus replied. ‘Sir, I heard those accusations in the iren . . . the things he said . . .’
Had Nelum said anything? ‘I was only taunting him. You have to rise above these things, and find mental weaknesses in their armour. He was deeply unstable. I think it was because of my skin-tone, originally. People often take umbrage to my whiteness.’
‘Sir, even if those things were true, I want you to know . . . I’d still follow your command.’
‘Such open-mindedness is admirable, private. But not necessary in this case.’
Lupus fell back in line with the others, who waited for the next command. Up above, the second moon came out, and both Bohr and Astrid offered their illumination of damaged Port Nostalgia. Brynd was acutely aware that this was only the beginning.
TWENTY-SIX
As he headed for the church, Nelum noticed Private Lupus shuffle away from the barracks with his face half hidden under his hood.
‘Out late tonight, private?’
‘Lieutenant, I, uh . . . I’m heading out on a quick patrol . . . Well, actually it’s personal business – and the commander sanctioned it.’
Nelum nodded and watched the private continue on his way through the snow-filled streets. The number of patrols had increased recently, equipped with hand-held bells to warn against further attacks.
Nelum had known Lupus for a few years, and reckoned he seemed rather disturbed of late. Rumour had it that he was seeing some woman, an old flame living in the city, and Nelum didn’t mind that, so long as it didn’t interfere with his professional work. Though it seemed a damn silly time to