The Hollow: At The Edge (27 page)

The group filed out of
the tent. Outside, the rain had degraded into a irritating drizzle,
but thunder still boomed close by.

“She’s not very nice,”
commented Mouse.

“I’m sure she’s all
warm and fuzzy once you get to know her,” said Brant. “You know,
like a bear. A perpetually angry, angry bear.”

Serrel looked about. It
was strange having so many of the Legion around after days in the
forest.

“Don’t just stand
around gawking, you lot,” said Caellix. “We’re safe at last.”

“To a degree,” said
Victor. “Vharaes could attack at any minute.”

“He’s not attacking
yet. Make the most of it. Find something warm to eat and someplace
dry to rest. Things are going to get exciting tomorrow
morning.”

“Just for a
change.”

“She’s right,” agreed
Jurgen. “Blackwood, Kincade, with me. We have a mission to prepare
for.”

“I guess I wasn’t that
tired afterall,” grumbled Annabella as she followed Jurgen
away.

Victor clapped Serrel
on the back. “Stay out of trouble, you two,” he told Serrel and
Mouse before walking off.

“You can say goodbye
before you go running off this time,” Mouse chided him.

Victor waved over his
shoulder without looking back.

“I’m going to make sure
Holly’s being taken care of,” said Brant.

Caellix nodded. “We’ll
be with the rest of the Hounds. I want to make sure they’re
behaving themselves.”

“I can keep my own
people in line without you, Sergeant,” Snow tutted.

“I’m sure you can,
Captain. But now I’m back, I want them to know that the holiday is
well and truly over. Come on, Fresh Meat.”

Serrel made to follow,
but found Mouse tugging at his sleeve. She nodded her head in the
opposite direction.

“Oh. Uh, Sergeant?”
Serrel tried. “There’s something I would like to take care of
first. Can I have a moment?”

Caellix sighed, like he
had asked some terribly unreasonable thing of her. “Don’t get lost.
I’m expecting you back with us before we move out.”

“Thank you,
Sergeant.”

He let Mouse lead him
off into the camp.

“Do you know where they
would be?” he asked.

“At this time of night,
where else?” replied Mouse. “Double rations.”

There was a large tent
which was acting as a makeshift kitchen. Several huge pots were
boiling over roaring fires. All around the tent, soldiers not on
duty were having their tea, hunkered under whatever shelter they
could find or put together. Clusters of hooded man and women were
huddled together, eating hot stew from wooden bowls, or warming
themselves around little fires, using whatever was available as
fuel.

Amidst the shouts and
low murmur of conversations, Serrel managed to hear a familiar
voice.

“You won again?”
someone said indignantly. “How is it that you always win?”

“He cheats,” stated
another, female voice.

“I never!” cried a
third voice innocently.

Serrel headed in the
direction of the voices, and found a ragged piece of cloth, no
doubt cut from a ruined tent, held up by four warstaves, one tied
at each corner. There were three people sitting on the ground
underneath out of the rain, three young men and a girl. They were
playing cards.

“You cheat. You always
cheat,” the girl said matter-of-factly. “That’s why we never play
for money.”

“That’s ‘cos you’re all
too cheap,” a smaller boy replied unperturbed. “We could play for
rations.”

“I already owe you
three days bloody rations!” complained the first boy.

“You ought to learn to
play better, Fancy Pants. You don’t see Edgar complaining.”

“You’re letting him
win.”

“You’re just a sore
loser, Justin,” shot back the last boy.

“Am I dealin’ then, or
are you lot gonna whinge some more?” asked the first boy.

“Just deal, you tricky
little git,” said the girl. “And take those cards out of your
sleeve!”

“What you on about? No
cards up my sleeve.”

Serrel said loudly, “I
can see the cards from over here, Tim. You’re not fooling
anyone.”

Greasy Tim paused in
mid-shuffle and glanced up at him. He grinned. “Wotcha, Serrel.
Where’d you come from?”

The other three peered
out from the shelter at him.

“Serrel!” the girl
squealed happily. In her mad dash to get out of the shelter she
nearly knocked it over, causing an eruption of complaints from the
three others.

Kaitlin Astral flung
her arms around Serrel and squeezed him hard enough to cause his
already beaten body serious pain.

“Ow, Kaitlin!”

“We were so worried!”
she told him.

“I wasn’t,” said Justin
Tremmel. “I knew you’d turn up sooner or later.”

“You said he was dead,”
pointed out Edgar Paum.

“I’m fine,” said
Serrel. “But can you let me go so I can breathe?”

“Sorry.” Kaitlin
released her hold, then spotted Mouse. “Mouse!” It was the smaller
girl’s turn to be violently embraced.

“Hello, Kaitlin,” Mouse
said stoically. “I missed you too.”

“I never said he was
dead,” insisted Justin.

“You did,” said Edgar.
“You said they were both probably dead, so there was no point in
worrying.”

“I am touched by your
concern, Justin,” said Serrel.

“I just-”

“Come on, you’re both
soaked,” fussed Kaitlin. “Get out of the rain. Have you eaten
anything? Justin, go get them some food.”

“Why do I have to-
OW!”

Kaitlin smacked him
hard in the arm as she ushered Serrel and Mouse undercover.
“Because I said so, Fancy Pants! Hurry up!”

Justin went off,
muttering under his breath and rubbing his arm. Under the
improvised shelter it was a tight squeeze for the five of them.

“Where you been then?”
asked Greasy Tim. “‘Aven’t seen you in ages. And Katey was going
off her nut when Mouse disappeared.”

“I did not,” said
Kaitlin sternly. “I was just concerned when I couldn’t find you
after... after that night. I tried to look, for both of you, but we
had to move on.”

“I got lost, and got
left behind,” said Mouse simply.

“I’m so sorry,
Mouse.”

“It’s not your fault.
And I managed to find Serrel.”

“Technically, I found
her,” said Serrel.

“He keeps getting into
so much trouble,” Mouse added.

“No more than you.”

“He fell off a
cliff.”

“You
fell
off a
cliff
?” Edgar repeated in horror.

Serrel opened his mouth
to reply, but couldn’t really come up with a counterargument.
“Well... the cliff kind of exploded. It wasn’t my fault.”

“That was the second
time. Apparently the first time he jumped off the cliff,” Mouse
went on.

“I had too,” Serrel
explained to the incredulous looks cast his way. “We all did. We
were being attacked by... Look, can we talk about something else?
What’s been happening with all of you?”

“Not much,” said Greasy
Tim. “We marched a lot. Elfs attacked us that time. You see the
elfs?”

“Yes. We saw the
elves.”

“Grotty buggers, ain’t
they? Just like Edgar told us. Boggles the mind it does.”

“None of you were hurt
in the attack?” Serrel asked. He looked around the cramped shelter.
“Where’s Bull?”

“He’s off somewhere,
diggin’ a hole or makin’ a catapult,” said Greasy Tim. “Them
soldiers boss him around like nobody’s business. Worse than Katey
they are.”

“I don’t boss people
around,” argued Kaitlin.

Evidence against this
reappeared in the form of Justin, who returned carrying two bowls
of stew.

“Anything else?” he
asked in a put upon voice. “Would you like the cheese platter,
perhaps?”

“We’re glad to see you
too, Justin,” Mouse told him, taking a bowl from him.

Justin fell into
sheepish silence. “Oh. Well. Not to say I wasn’t worried or
anything-”

“You weren’t,” said
Kaitlin and Edgar in unison.

“I was. I just didn’t
go on about it. Not like how you kept going on about Victor.”

“I never went on about
Victor,” said Kaitlin haughtily. “Not once.”

“Not at all,” agreed
Edgar quickly.

“Never mentioned him
once,” joined in Greasy Tim.

“We met Victor,” said
Mouse casually.

There was a slight
tensing of Kaitlin’s muscles. Her face took on an expression of
forced calm. “Really?” she asked simply.

“Yes. He was well.”

“Joined up with some
people even creepier than he was,” said Serrel.

“That’s good.”

There was a pointed
silence. Kaitlin fidgeted.

Mouse put her out of
her misery. “He asked about you.”

“Did... Did he now?”
Kaitlin said casually, then added, “Not that I wondered.”

“Oh yes. It was
practically the first thing he said.”

Kaitlin smirked
triumphantly. “Was it? Well then... Not that I’m curious even the
slightest bit but... Where is he now?”

“Off sharpening his
knives,” said Serrel.

“But I’m sure he’ll
come looking for you,” said Mouse.

“Maybe,” said Kaitlin
airily. “That’s up to him. I don’t mind one way or the other.”

“If he doesn’t,” said
Justin darkly. “I’m going to kill him myself. I can’t take much
more of this...”

“Not that Katey
mentions ol’ Vic much,” Greasy Tim said quickly.

“Not once. Not at all,”
joined in Edgar, shooting Justin a glare.

“It’s all right for you
two,” moaned Justin. “I have to work with her. Every bloody day
it’s-”

“So Serrel,” Kaitlin
interrupted loudly. “Have you heard what’s happening? No one seems
to know, and anyone who does know won’t tell us.”

“Basically,” explained
Serrel, “we’re going to take the city tomorrow, but first someone
has to go in first and destroy the elves’ secret weapon before they
use it on us.”

Edgar blanched.
“Really? That’s what the elves used on us? A secret weapon?”

“But we destroyed it,”
said Mouse proudly. “But someone says they have another. So Victor
and his strange friends are going to take care of it.”

“Victor is?” asked
Kaitlin.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be
there to keep him alive, won’t we, Serrel?”

“I guess so,” said
Serrel. “But don’t go around telling anyone about this.”

“Who’d we tell?” asked
Greasy Tim. “Bloody ‘ell, what ‘ave you lot got yourselves
into?”

“The same as you,”
Serrel replied. “Can any of you honestly say that this was what you
were expecting when you took the bronze?”

“To be honest, I’m not
sure I thought it through enough,” said Edgar. “I mean, yes, I knew
it would be violent, but this is just...” He was at a loss for
words.

“I just wanted to learn
how to weave,” said Kaitlin despondently. “Two years of service and
then off to the College of Arcania. I never imagined I would have
to actually... kill people.”

“You haven’t killed
anyone, Astral,” said Justin wearily.

“I might’ve done. I
don’t know where that fireball landed.”

“If it hit someone,
they probably deserved it,” Mouse said to make her feel better.

“Have you two even had
to... fight anyone?” Serrel asked gently.

“Oh, thank gods, no!”
said Kaitlin. “In support, we just have to cast shields.”

“And the occasional
fireball,” said Justin, “Which, trust me, came nowhere close to
hitting anyone.”

“I don’t think I could
even... do it,” said Kaitlin. “Kill someone, I mean. How would you
even... How could you bring yourself to do it?”

“You don’t think about
it,” said Mouse. “You just weave, and then they die.”

Kaitlin looked at her
in horror. “Oh, Mouse. Did you...?”

“A few times. It isn’t
that bad.”

“By a few,” put in
Serrel, “she means... What was the last count? Fifteen?”

“About that,” said
Mouse, with a hint of pride.

“You’ve killed...
fifteen...”

Kaitlin was having
trouble comprehending this. Mouse had always been a quiet little
thing, and Kaitlin, as the only other girl in the group, had tried
to be like an older sister to her during training, looking out for
her, and making sure she wasn’t picked on or treated unfairly. This
was like learning the little kitten she had been dutifully raising
had grown up to become a lioness, and one that ate people at
that.

“Are you... feeling all
right, Mouse?” she asked.

“All things considered,
I’m fine,” Mouse replied. “Seeing all of you again has made me feel
even better.”

“That’s reassuring,”
said Justin uncomfortably.

“Always wondered about
you, Mouse,” said Greasy Tim thoughtfully. “It’s always the quiet
ones. I mean, there were those sad gits you smacked the shit out of
that time. Always figured you had a mean streak. Good on you.”

“Tim!” Kaitlin
objected.

“Thank you, Timmy,”
said Mouse.

“You aren’t the only
one,” Greasy Tim went on. “You see Bull the other night? Went
mental he did. That dozy elf that attacked us, and Bull just went
right off, smackin’ ‘im about with his staff. You’d never ‘ave
thought it. Such a easy going bloke most of the time, but there he
was, really laying into that elffy bastard.”

“He killed him?” asked
Kaitlin.

“No. He was still
alive. I kicked ‘im in the fork to be sure. Bugger made some
groaning noises. That’s a lesson the twat won’t forget in a
hurry.”

“I think I may have
read somewhere about that sort of thing being against the rules of
conduct in war, Tim,” said Justin.

“There are rules in
war? Could ‘ave bloody fooled me. Worse than back ‘ome, this is. At
least no one ever tried to take a bite outta me in the city. Well,
‘cept ol’ Tosser Talbot. But, fair’s fair, I did stab ‘im a
bit.”

“Why?”

“With a name like
Tosser Talbot, why’d you think? He was a complete pillock, wasn’t
he? Don’t give me that look, Katey,” he said to Kaitlin on seeing
her expression. “It’s not like I stabbed ‘im in any meaningful way.
He had it comin’.”