CHAPTER 19
Second watch had been easy, using a chant to stay awake. Lujo, Nolen and Butu had convinced each other no one would be able to find out. The problem came when they woke, exuberant and ready to go, somehow having slept better than even those squads who’d had no watches.
“Squad Tem-35 will have second watch for the rest of the trip!”
Sergeant Puro had lined them up in front of the platoon in full kit. Even Tak didn’t have a sympathetic look for Butu, who felt angry and ashamed at the same time. Zhek smirked from the side, but this time the punishment had not come from him.
“It’s not fair,” Butu heard Lujo mutter as they got back in line, and someone touched the bottom of his pack, forcing him to take a few steps forward or topple onto his face.
“No hard feelingth, mouthe,” Chewlip said when he stumbled back into line after an irritated bark from Puro.
During the day, keeping up was subconscious. Butu tried to think about magic and march as they wanted him to, but he still finished the day feeling only marginally exhausted. That night, the other sordenu in the platoon took it upon themselves to wake up members of Butu’s squad every hour or so. Even the ones who went to bed dragging their feet, like Jani.
Butu watched her doze off regularly during their watch. Blay came around a lot, as well, to wake her.
This is harder on her. She’s only a year older than I am. When did she fall, and why did she keep it a secret from me? How much of this is really our fault, and how much is because of Zhek’s project?
On top of this, at the end of the third day of marching, Philbe announced that scouts reported the well at the next camp had gone dry. They would need to carry enough water for two full days instead of one. Zhek passed on the command.
“Squad Tem-35, you are assigned to carry the extra ration of water for the platoon.”
A low whistle escaped Tak’s lips, and Butu resisted the urge to turn.
The squad absorbed this like hard earth soaking up rain. Retus comprehended it first and burst into tears. Blay quickly bent down and spoke sharply to him before Puro could speak.
“That’s not fair!” Nolen burst out of line. “We’re barely keeping up as it is! You have no idea what you’re doing to us!”
“This sordenu will carry water for the lieutenant, as well,” Puro said sternly, as Lujo and Phedam jerked him back to line. “You may fall out. Corporal, come see me when you have time.”
“Sorry, mouse,” Tak said as they fell out.
Butu sighed.
“Bein’ punished for using magic is one thing, we understand that. But this? It’s too much.” He nodded to Rarin, who scowled.
“Yeah.”
“It’s Zhek,” Butu blurted. “He’s making things way tougher for us. You saw him on the first day, making us lead the platoon.”
Tak shook his head. “All recruits get hazed on the first march, hey? But not by their lieutenant.” He snorted. “Good luck tomorrow.”
They disappeared to find their squad. Tirud looked at Butu.
“I think you’re right,” Tirud said. “But we can’t do anything about it.”
Butu and Tirud joined their own squad, in time to hear Nolen say murderously, “I hate him!” Butu assumed he was talking about Zhek, until Blay spoke, scratching his goatee.
“Sarge has a job to do. If a sordenu in his platoon questions orders, it’s part of Puro’s job to punish him for it. You can’t talk your way out of a direct order.”
Sometime during the day, they had climbed down a steep ridge covered in prickly pear cacti and leading into a kind of forest of the tall, multi-armed spires of the zahuara cacti. Rocks stuck up a lot here, but the sand grew thicker about the base of everything. Butu sat on one.
“But he’s making us work harder than everyone else,” Nolen objected. “It’s not fair.”
“Beyond being unfair, it doesn’t make any sense,” Phedam said. “Why single us out?”
Blay shrugged. “I’m afraid it is quite common for sordenu to give the newest recruits a tough time, especially if they’ve already been punished for using magic. The platoon punishment is next, remember.”
Phedam considered this for a moment. “Maybe you’re right, but something tells me there’s more to it than that.”
Butu glanced at Jani, whose downcast eyes were eloquent. She polished her sword intently.
Blay shrugged.
Nolen cleared his throat. “Whatever they throw at us, we’ll take. We have to. We’ll be rocks in their river, and ignore them.”
Phedam shook his head and frowned slightly, and Nolen frowned back.
Lujo spoke up. “One time, me and Bran made a bet to see who could carry the most rocks. So he went first, picking up boulder after boulder and stacking them on top of each other until he seemed to hold everything in town. I said, you’re impressive, Bran, and he said, I know, you can’t do better. I walked up to him, offering to shake his hand, and he did, and lost his balance so all the rocks fell.
“You know how I won, then? I picked up a handful of sand. He said, that’s not rocks. I said, yes, it is. Look at them closely. Sand,” he let some trail through his fingers, “is just worn-down rock. So I held countless rocks.”
“Does this mean anything?” Nolen asked.
“Well, maybe we should think of ourselves as water, not rocks. Rocks get broken down, but even a river that’s divided is just as strong.”
Butu watched Jani, and thought about the conversation he’d overheard in Gordney.
Maybe Zhek wants to convince her to give up on trying to be a sordenu. If she asks him to give her back her birthright, he can give her to the Kadrak as a potential bride for Aesh when we get where we’re going.
It made sense, really. They were here for training exercises with the Kadrak. Maybe the training exercises were just an excuse to deliver Jani to the Kadrak so they could take her to Mnemon.
But it will only work if they can convince her before we get to where the Kadrak are waiting for us.
Butu considered telling this to the rest of the squad but quickly dismissed it. Maybe they would stand with Jani, but they might help Zhek, instead. Why should they choose to suffer because of her? Whatever else Butu felt for Jani and in spite of Jusep’s threats, she was in his squad now.
And she’ll stay in it, too, if I have any say in it.