Gateways 07_ What Lay Beyond - Diane Carey [54]
Instead, she said, “It’s actually a good sign, believe it or not.”
“How’s that, exactly?”
“They wouldn’t have attacked the port directly if they had any intention of taking it. This was the final defiant act of a navy that knows it’s lost. A kind of “if I can’t have it, no one can’ gesture. This probably means the war’s going well for our side.”
“Your definition of ‘well’ differs from mine,” Tanhul said dryly.
There were no obvious piers available for docking half of them were damaged beyond usefulness, and the rest were occupied. The marina itself was a mass of chaotic activity, with small fires being put out and people coughing from the smoke.
Someone noticed them eventually, though, as a small rowboat approached the spot where Tanhul had dropped anchor. Kira recognized its occupant as the assistant dockmaster, Hiran. As he pulled up alongside the ship, Tanhul ordered a ladder lowered for him.
“Good to have you back, ma’am,” he said upon sighting Kira as he arrived on deck. Then he turned to Tanhul. “I’m sorry, Captain, but as you can see, we’re a bit shorthanded.”
“I’ve got wounded here.”
Hiran frowned. “Let me see what I can do. I might be able to get a few skiffs over to offload the worst of them.” He turned to Kira.
“Ma’am, you should know that General Torrna’s in his office. You might want to see him.”
Kira didn’t like the tone in Hiran’s voice. “Is he all right?”
“I really think you should see him, ma’am.” Hiran’s tone was more urgent. Kira also knew him well enough to know that he was unlikely to say anything else.
She accompanied him back on the rowboat to the marina. As Hiran stroked the oars, Kira asked, “What happened here?”
“Lerrit’s last stand, you could say, ma’am,” Hiran said, almost bitterly. “General Torrna pretty much beat them on the land. See, on his way back from Fort Tendro, he came across General Takmor’s regiment but Takmor’d been killed.”
Damn, Kira thought. She was one of the good ones. “I’d heard that she was the one who reclaimed Sempa Province.”
“Actually, that was General Torrna, ma’am. The general, see well, he just plowed on in and led them to victory. They were ready to call it quits, but he rallied ‘em, and they took Sempa back. Meantime, Admiral Inna came back here when she found out that the Lerrit Navy was gonna throw their whole armada at us.”
Kira looked at the smoky, ruined port. “Looks like they did.”
“Oh, the admiral, she threw back pretty good, too. Cost her her life, mind, but”
“Inna’s dead?”
Hiran nodded. “Just what we needed after everything else.”
“What everything else? Hiran, I’ve been laid up at Tendro, and obviously I haven’t been getting all the news.”
“Oh, ma’am, I’m sorry,” Hiran said in a sedate tone. “I guess you didn’t hear that Prefect Natlar was killed, too. See, same time the Lerrit Navy did their last stand here, the Lerrit Army did likewise in the capital. Didn’t work, of course thanks to the blockade, they were underfed, understaffed, and underarmed. We beat ‘em back mighty good, truth be told, but” He sighed. “Not without a cost, if you know what I mean.”
Kira shook her head. “So we won?”
“Yes, ma’am, if you can call this a victory.”
They arrived at the marina. Kira disembarked from the rowboat, and couldn’t help contrasting this with the last time she set foot on the dock. Then, the sun was shining, a stiff breeze was blowing, carrying the smell of fish and seawater, with the Korvale Ocean a sparkling green in contrast to the dull-but-solid brown of the dock’s wood. Now, the sun was obscured by billowing smoke, and the wind carried only the smell of that smoke, occasionally broken by the stench of blood and death.
Then she saw the bodies.
They were arranged in a row just past the marina in a ditch that hadn’t been there before. Many wore Perikian uniforms; many more wore Lerrit uniforms. A few though even a few were too many wore civilian clothing.
Nerys walked into the other chamber, Furel right behind her. Kira Taban’s body was laid out on the pallet. She had seen far too many dead bodies not to know one now.
Her father