‘There’s but one keg,’ the barkeep said, shrugging. ‘If you don’t like what I serve, you can always leave.’
The other soldier grunted a laugh. ‘Aye, we could. Not saying we will, though.’
Farmhands at a nearby table were pushing back their chairs. Brothers, Serap decided, four in all. Burly, too poor to drink enough to get drunk, they now stirred, disgruntled as bears.
The barkeep set two tankards down and asked for payment, but neither soldier offered up any coins. They collected their tankards and drank.
The four brothers now stood, and the scrape of chairs brought the two soldiers around. Both men were smiling as they reached for their swords.
‘Want to play, then?’ the first soldier asked, drawing his blade.
On seeing the weapon, the brothers hesitated at their table. None carried weapons of any sort.
Serap rose, stepped out from the gloom. When the soldiers saw her, their expressions went flat. She approached them.
‘Sir,’ the second soldier said. ‘It wasn’t going anywhere.’
‘Oh but it was,’ Serap replied. ‘It was going right where you wanted it to go. How many are waiting outside?’
The man started, and then offered her a lopsided grin. ‘There’s been rumours, sir, of Deniers, hanging out in the town. Spies.’
The first soldier added, ‘Had a squad-mate get stabbed nearby, sir, just the other night. He never saw who jumped him. We’re fishing for knives, that’s all.’
‘Hebla got himself stuck by a fellow soldier,’ Serap said. ‘The man cheats at knuckles, a game none of the locals can afford to play with Legion soldiers. What company are you two in?’
‘Ninth, sir, in Hallyd Bahann’s Silvers.’
‘His Silvers.’ Serap smiled. ‘How Hallyd likes his pompous nicknames.’
The second soldier said, ‘We’ll be sure to let our captain know how you feel about them nicknames, sir.’
‘Is that a prick of the blade, soldier? Well then, when you do tell Hallyd, be sure to hang around, in case your mention reminds him of when I laughed outright in his face. Silvers, Golds! Why not shave your heads and call yourself Pearls? Or, for the more useless ones in your company, the Shiny Rocks? Well, I’m afraid my laughter snapped his temper, the poor man. Easily done, of course, as you will find.’
She watched them, noting how both men struggled to work out how they might respond to her. The prospect of violence was not far away. After all, if this officer had insulted their commander, might they not earn Hallyd’s backing should that officer’s blood be spilled? Indeed, had she not just provoked them, calling into question their company’s honour?
When the first soldier adjusted the grip of his sword, Serap smiled and stepped close to him, one hand reaching up as if to caress the side of his face. Seeing his confusion, her smile broadened, even as she drove her knee up and into his crotch.
Whatever crunched there sent the man to the filthy floor like a dropped sack of turnips.
Serap was already turning, sending her left elbow into the face of the second soldier, breaking his nose. The rush of pleasure she felt as the man’s head snapped back was almost alarming. In a flash, she realized that her own fury had been building for some time, seeking an outlet – any outlet.
She was now moving back, to acquire the proper distance. A kick with the side of her boot, at a downward angle, to strike the brokennosed soldier’s left leg, just below the knee, yielded another satisfying pop. Howling, the man collapsed.
The tavern door was shoved open and three more soldiers rushed in. Serap faced them.
‘Stand down!’ She pointed to the foremost soldier, a woman she thought she recognized, although the name escaped her. ‘Collect up your squad-mates, corporal. Drawing a sword on an officer of the Legion is a capital offence – disarm this one here and place him under arrest. I am off to have a word with your captain, as it seems he is losing control of his Silvers.’
The corporal’s eyes were wide, and then she said, ‘Yes, sir. Our apologies, sir. There was word of insurgents in this tavern-’
‘A reason to pick a fight with the locals, you mean. I have not yet decided how many of you will end up charged. I suppose it depends on what you do next, corporal, doesn’t it?’
The three newcomers were quick in carrying off their fallen comrades.
When they were gone, Serap selected a coin from her purse and set it on the bartop. ‘For their ales,’ she said, before striding over to where stood the four young brothers. ‘Listen to me, you fools. When two soldiers come in wearing swords, you leave them be. Understand? First off, they’re not on their own. Second, they’re thirsty for blood. Am I making myself clear?’
Nods answered her.
‘Good, now sit down and order a round – the tab is mine.’ She then returned to her table.
Settled into the shadows once more, Serap waited for her bloodlust to pass. The silence had things to say about that, but she was in no mood to pay attention to it, right now. Alas, it was persistent. It is afflicting us all, this growing anger, and how it so easily answers all that ails us, all that haunts us, and all that frightens us.
I wanted a fight as much as they did.
Oh, banner of white, you came in with such a swagger, I wanted to see it stained red. If only to make a point.
Now, if only I could work out what that point was, we could close out the night and be done with it.
* * *
‘It was awful,’ the man said. ‘I – I can’t get it out of my skull, that’s all.’ And he leaned forward where he sat on her cot, hiding his face in his hands.
Renarr studied him for a moment, and then moved to her trunk. ‘I have some wine here,’ she said, flipping back the lid and reaching inside.
‘Gives me a headache,’ the man said behind his hands.
‘Then remove your clothing, and we can forget this world for a time.’
‘No.’
‘Soldier, what do you want from me?’
His hands dropped away from his face, but he refused to meet her eyes. ‘Around the campfire, with people you fight beside – people you fight for, in fact – well, you’d think we could talk about anything. But it’s not so.’
Renarr poured herself a goblet of wine, settled the trunk’s lid back down and sat upon it. ‘Even words aren’t free,’ she said.
‘I know. I’ll pay you … for your time. If that’s acceptable.’
She considered his offer. ‘I’m not your mother,’ she said. ‘Nor your wife. When I spoke of escaping this world for a time, I meant it as much for me as for you. But I suppose my side of the bargain rarely occurs to any of you, does it? After all, you pay to answer your needs, not the whore’s.’ She waved a hand as he made to rise from the cot. ‘You need not go. What your coin buys from me is mostly up to you. That is the point I was trying to make. But I was also warning you – I have no special wisdom, no worthy advice. I cannot light your path, soldier.’
‘Then what can you do?’
‘I can listen. For the coin. As I said, you are paying for what you need.’
He shot her a look, and she could not but see his youth, his child’s eyes so terribly trapped in a man’s body and a soldier’s armour. ‘You’re a cold one, aren’t you?’
‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘I suppose I am.’
‘It may be what I need,’ he said, looking upon the floor of the tent, his hands now clasped together but restless. ‘Hard judgement. Righteous condemnation.’
She sipped the wine. It was on the turn. ‘High words,’ she said, ‘for a soldier.’
‘There were three boys in the forest camp. Young, not one taller than my hip. We were three squads. Fourth, Seventh, Second. Well, when we were done with the mother, some of the men – they went for the boys, too. Those boys … it wasn’t me who cut their throats, when it was done, but I wish it had been. I wish the mercy had been mine to offer them.’ He was trembling now, his entire body, making the cot creak. The words had rushed out, and she could see in his eyes that there was no going back. ‘I didn’t touch them, those boys. I could never have done anything like that. But now, all the time, they’re with me. The looks on their faces when we … when we did what we did to the mother. And then, the shock when we turned on them, too. Blank faces, like dolls …’