‘Uhm,’ Ludd began after a moment. ‘I’d request that Trooper Chass be taken into the supervision of the Commissariat for the time being.’
‘Your care, you mean?’ asked Rawne.
Ludd’s face became hard and unfriendly.
‘I was charged with the trooper’s welfare, given his particular circumstances. With his lifeward gone, there is the matter of his ongoing protection. I will stand as his guardian until–’
‘He’s part of E Company,’ said Dalin from the doorway. ‘What are you going to do? Transfer him? He can’t have a commissar personally watching over him, day and night. Or do you want him moved away from barracks quarters?’
‘I think I made it clear what I want, trooper,’ said Ludd.
‘No,’ said Criid. ‘He stays put. He stays in the ranks.’
‘That’s not your call, captain,’ said Ludd.
‘Chass came to us to learn to be a soldier,’ said Criid. ‘That’s what his mother wanted. That’s what his high-born house wanted. And that’s what Gaunt wants too. He’s not going to learn the ways of the Astra Militarum by being mollycoddled.’
‘I’m not talking about special treatment–’ Ludd began.
‘But you are,’ said Criid. ‘He stays put. He has a decent bond with Dalin. Dalin will look after him and bunk with him. Keep an eye on him. A less obtrusive eye than a commissar.’
Ludd glared at her with what looked like suppressed anger.
‘You’re only saying that because Dalin is your son. You wish to earn him favour in Gaunt’s eyes. It is entirely unsuitable.’
‘And you’re not trying to earn favour?’ asked Rawne.
‘I’m interested in… the boy’s welfare, major,’ Ludd snarled.
‘Enough,’ said Curth. ‘This trailer is small, and there are too many people in here already. Settle this or take it outside.’
She looked at Felyx.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I don’t mean to sound unfeeling. I’m very sorry for your loss.’
‘I didn’t say what I said because Dalin’s my son,’ said Criid quietly. ‘I said it because that’s what Maddalena wanted. When I got to her, she was still alive. Barely. I knew… I knew she wasn’t going to make it. She made me promise. She made me swear, that I would do the best for you.’
‘You?’ asked Ludd.
‘Not because Dalin’s my son, but because I am a mother,’ said Criid.
‘She… she was alive?’ whispered Felyx, staring at Criid.
‘For a moment,’ said Criid gently. ‘Just a moment or two. It was too late. She made me promise. She… she trusted me. Feth knows why. She made me promise.’
‘Well, that’s all well and good,’ said Ludd, ‘but–’
‘A soldier’s promise is a serious thing,’ said Rawne quietly. ‘Simple, but serious. Like a soldier’s funeral. Criid was asked, and she promised. We do it the way Criid says.’
‘Major, I object!’ cried Ludd.
‘Object all the feth you want, Ludd,’ said Rawne. ‘I’m senior commanding in this room. Throne, except for Gaunt, I’m senior commanding in this fething regiment. I’ve just given an order. That’s how things will go. Gaunt can overrule me if he likes, but you won’t, Ludd. You should know by now I have feth-all truck with directives from the Officio Prefectus. Which will be the end of me, in due course. But right now, we do it Criid’s way.’
‘I’ll take this to Hark,’ said Ludd, his face grim.
‘Knock yourself out,’ said Rawne.
Ludd looked at Felyx. There was a softness in his voice that surprised all of them.
‘Will you..?’ he started. ‘Are you all right with this? Will you be all right?’
Felyx looked back at him. It was quite clear he wasn’t, but he nodded anyway.
‘Dalin?’ said Rawne. ‘Take Trooper Chass, get him bunked in a room with you. Just the two of you. Shuffle sleeping arrangements if you have to. My authority.’
‘Yes, sir,’ said Dalin.
He stepped into the trailer to escort Felyx out. Rawne put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him in his tracks. He leaned forwards and whispered in Dalin’s ear.
‘Look after him, Dal. Eyes on him, you hear me? He’s in shock. And don’t let Meryn feth with him.’
‘Yes, sir. No, sir,’ Dalin said. He glanced at Criid, who nodded, and then led Felyx out into the rain.
After Rawne, Criid and Ludd had departed, Curth finished her clean up, and then turned to look at the death reports piled in her workspace.
Kolding had just sent the patched-up driver off with a bandage around his face.
‘Shall I finish the reports, doctor?’ he asked.
‘I can do it, Auden.’
‘You are tired, ma’am,’ he said. ‘Besides, death and paperwork are two of my specialties.’
She smiled, and nodded.
‘Thank you. I could do with some air at least.’
She stepped out of the trailer into the artificial glare of the yard. The rain had eased to a drizzle, and beyond the limits of the lamp rigs, the world was black and cold.
‘Finished for the day?’
She glanced around and saw Vaynom Blenner strolling up to join her.
‘Yes,’ she said.
‘A trying day,’ said Blenner. ‘You know what I always find is an efficacious cure for a trying day?’
‘In your medical opinion?’
‘I am a physician of life, Ana,’ he chuckled. ‘And in my experience, the trials that life spits at us are best deflected by a glass or two of liquid fortification. The Munitorum driver who conveyed me here today was most helpful in releasing a bottle of amasec into my care. If you’d like to join me?’
She looked out into the darkness. There was a faint radiance in the distance, the glow of the city, she presumed. Perhaps the lamps and flares of the Urdeshic Palace that overlooked them all.
‘No, thank you, Vaynom,’ she said. ‘I find, of late, I drink too much.’
‘Surely not,’ he smiled.
‘You should know, Vaynom. I do it all in your company.’
‘And we set the affairs of mankind to rights, two great philosophers together.’
‘No, Vaynom. There’s no philosophy in me either.’
He shrugged.
‘There are, of course, many other ways to unwind, Ana.’
She looked at him. He was startled by the hardness in her eyes.
‘You’re very persistent, Blenner. Very persistent. I think I was clear.’
‘Well, I certainly meant nothing by it, Doctor Curth.’
‘Vaynom, you mean nothing by anything, and everything by everything. I have appreciated your friendship these last few months. Truly, I never expected to find any kinship with a man like you.’
‘A man like–? You wound me, doctor.’
‘I have come to know you, Vaynom, and you certainly know yourself. You have a raucously uplifting soul, but there is always an agenda with you.’
‘Never!’ he protested.
‘Always,’ Curth said firmly. ‘You seek to serve yourself, in any way you can. To cushion your life against inconvenient hardship. When I spend time with you, I laugh, and I forget myself.’
‘How is that a bad thing?’
‘I forget that I serve others,’ she said. ‘I am medicae, Vaynom. It is my duty and my purpose. Always has been. I fear that if I dally with you too often, I will lose sight of that. I will begin to subscribe to your more self-interested way of living. I will end up serving myself, not others.’
‘Is that how you see me?’ he asked.
‘You know what you’re like,’ she replied. ‘It is not approbation. You are a man of distinguished qualities, if you’d only own them. In fact, I think the Imperium could be improved if there were more people like you. People who are able to find, against all odds, seams of joy and delight in this fething darkness.’