CHAPTER 20
The first water break the next day was a welcome relief. Butu couldn’t tell if his strength was growing, but he had no problem serving himself and helping Lujo, who gulped at the water between panting breaths while grinning at him. Everything they drank made their loads a little lighter.
Jani looked much worse off. Her face was ashen, and deep grooves marked her wrists where she had tried to hold some of the water’s weight off her shoulders.
If the adults are telling the truth about magic, no wonder she’s having such a hard time.
Based on the annoyed stares of the other sordenu, Butu already suspected he’d blatantly used magic again. The other young sordenu had the same benefit. Blay and Tirud had their adult strength. Jani hadn’t had enough time to get as strong as the other sordenu, and yet she lacked the advantage of a child’s magic, so she struggled to keep up.
“Jani,” Butu whispered, leaning toward her. “Let me carry some of your load.”
“I don’t need your help.” She was too tired for her voice to carry any venom.
“I know what Zhek is doing and why.”
She stiffened, then, and nearly fell over. He grabbed her arm.
“Look, I’m sorry about before,” he whispered. “You’re my squadmate, now, and you’re going to stay my squadmate.”
She looked at him like he was an oncoming rockslide. “I’m getting all of you in trouble just being here. Why do you want to help me?”
“I know you, Jani. Any help I give you now you’ll repay a hundred times over later.”
“I’m not weak,” she said firmly, but her eyes told him she wasn’t so sure.
Butu bent close to her ear so only she could hear him. “You’re not, but you’ve got no magic left like we do. If I can avoid thinking about it, I think I can carry any weight they make me carry.” He squeezed her arm when she tried to protest. “I can’t help it. I’m too weak to do it with body alone.”
“It could fail you at any moment.”
He grinned. “Wouldn’t that be piss in their well — the rest of the squad crushed under abuse while the sordenu they’re trying to convince to quit keeps marching.”
That convinced her. Butu’s pack was soon too heavy even for him to lift without her help. Then the sergeants called them to resume formation, and Butu focused on the marching chants, letting the world blur into a nimbus of pain too far away to really hurt him.
“Look at the mouthe,” Chewlip said behind him.
“What mouse?” Tak said. “I just see three days worth of water!”
Butu’s pack got lighter, and then lighter again, and then, after a grunt from Rarin, lighter a third time. Tirud looked back over his shoulder at them, then grabbed another ration off Butu. Butu grimaced inwardly.
I’m trying to help Jani, and they’re only helping me. Why didn’t they try to help her?
Captain Philbe called the halt for lunch, and then surprisingly, ordered the company to make camp for the night. The sordenu began digging trenches in the stony ground around the camp. Zhek sent Butu’s squad to their tents to sleep. The sordenu would not march any farther today, and their squad would have the second watch, as usual.
Butu laid his bedroll on the rocky ground under the canvas of the tent and sprawled onto it. He thought it might take some time to sleep with all the noise of the camp, but his eyes closed almost immediately.
“Do you still want to try to keep using magic secretly?” Lujo asked suddenly.
Butu snapped awake, disoriented. How long have I been asleep?
It was still light, and from the sounds around the camp, it had probably only been a few minutes.
“Yes,” he answered.
“I’ve already talked to Nolen. He’s in.” Lujo went on, but Butu was already asleep.
He woke in the dark as the heat of the day drained away into the chill of the desert night. They were the only squad on watch, so as soon as Butu was sure the sergeants and officers were asleep, he turned to Nolen and Lujo, who shared one of the three watch fires with him.
“Ready?”
Nolen looked nervous but nodded.
Lujo held out an eating knife from his ration box. “It’s no good for hide-and-seek, but there are still some things we can practice.”
“What about Phedam and Retus?” Butu asked, feeling guilty he hadn’t thought of it before.
Nolen shook his head sadly. “If we get in trouble, I don’t want Phedam involved.”
“And Retus said no,” Lujo said. “Come on. You want to take first watch, Nolen?”
They all knew what he meant. When they practiced magic, someone had to make sure none of the other sordenu caught them, and that meant looking alert in case anyone checked on them.
Nolen nodded after a second’s hesitation, then stood up and looked alert.
Butu took the knife and chanted, eyes closed. “Steel is sand and sand is steel. This knife has tasted its last meal. Sand is steel and steel is sand. Blade will bend against my hand.” He had to chant it several times before the knife bent. He and Lujo shared a grin as he handed the knife to his friend.
“The desert cold will make you shiver, and steel looks like a flowing river. The desert heat will burn your skin, but by that time this game I’ll win.”
Lujo repeated the chant a second time, and Butu tried not to blink as he watched the knife. The blade didn’t bend. It simply changed. One moment its blade was bent in on itself, and the next, it was nearly straight except for a gentle ripple like the path of a tiny metal stream. Lujo opened his eyes and looked at the knife, grinning.
“I’ll watch next,” he said. “Butu could use some more practice. Show him how it’s done, Nolen.”
Nolen took the knife and held it up to the firelight. He didn’t close his eyes as he chanted.
“Crescents, rivers, shining stars. Blade is mine that once was ours. Cacti, snakes, and blazing sun. Show them that this game I’ve won.”
He repeated the chant a dozen times with no change, and then the blade snapped straight. Nolen held it out to Butu, who held it up to the fire. Carved into one side of the blade were two crescent moons and a sky of night stars overlooking the banks of a river. The other side showed a desert by day, complete with three kinds of cacti and several snakes.
“It looks like it belongs to an officer,” Butu said, grinning. “Can you do mine?”
Nolen grinned back.
Butu sensed movement near one of the officers’ tents. He tapped Nolen and Lujo as he walked around the fire. They said nothing, but the knife vanished up Lujo’s sleeve. The shadow came only a few yards closer before Butu identified it.
“Zhek.” he whispered.
They saluted as the lieutenant came within the fire’s light. Zhek returned the salute half-heartedly. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else, tonight.
Butu looked more closely. Has he been crying?
“Butu, collect the rest of your squad and bring them here. I need to speak to all of you. And no shouting ‘Yes, sir,’ either. Just do what I say.”
Butu saluted in silence and went to find Blay. He sat at the second watchfire with Jani, and Butu could sense Retus nearby.
“Blay,” he said, quietly, from the edge of the firelight.
Jani stiffened and stood up quickly. “Why have you left your post, Butu?”
“Sorry. Zhek wants to speak to us all.” Butu said it loud enough for Retus to hear, and the shepherd came closer.
“While we’re on watch?” Retus asked, unbelieving. “What if someone attacks while we’re away from our post?”
“Zhek’s our lieutenant. We do what he says. No questions,” Blay said in severe tones.
Of course, whatever this is about, Blay already knows about it.
“I’ll tell the others,” Butu said, leaving them.
“Isn’t that dereliction of duty?” Phedam asked, putting away a bag Butu knew to contain marbles.
“It’s an order from our commanding officer,” Butu said. “B
lay’s already gone to him.”
Tirud frowned thoughtfully but nodded.
The squad formed a ragged circle around the first watchfire. Zhek made no comment. In fact, he looked around as if to make sure no one was watching or listening to them.
“We are sending an important delegation to the Nankek’s main camp at Tranugal,” Zhek announced exactly loud enough to be barely heard. “This is a secret mission, and requires the utmost security. Even our Kadrak allies must not learn of it. Therefore, we may not use the main road to Tranugal, which would go through the oasis at Pophir. We will need to pass directly through the shanjin.”
“Shanubu,” Retus murmured, forgetting himself for a moment.
Blay shot him a warning look.
Zhek either didn’t notice the outburst or didn’t care. “Squad Tem-35 will scout ahead to make sure the envoy has no trouble. You’ll also identify and mark as many water sources as you can find as you travel. The escort will have horses, and horses need a lot of water. I’ve seen you work.” He gave Tirud a tiny smile that vanished as quickly as it showed. “And I have every confidence that you will not lead us astray.”
“When do we leave, sir?” Blay asked.
Zhek’s perusal of them had stopped on Jani, who deliberately avoided meeting his eyes. His gaze flicked to Blay and then back again.
“Tonight. Now. Don’t return for your gear. You’ll find several camels tethered at the eastern edge of the camp. They’ve already been provisioned. Take them. Dismissed.”
They saluted. Distracted, he saluted them back. Butu hung back, stepping up to Zhek after the squad had departed.
“You don’t want Jani to go, do you, Zhek?” he said, gently.
The kluntra’s son looked down at Butu and banished the uncertainty and pain from his expression.
“This is your fault,” Zhek said angrily, “and you’ll regret it.”
“She made the decision,” Butu said, stepping away a little bit. He sensed Tirud, not so far away, but just out of firelight. “I’ll protect her as best as I can.”
Zhek gave a dismissive snort as he turned and left. Butu watched him go for a minute. He caught up to Tirud and passed him wordlessly.
“Remind me to check our waterskins when we get to the camels,” Nolen said when they were well out of Zhek’s hearing. “I want to make sure they’re not filled with sand.”
Butu snorted. At the southern edge of camp, the rest of the squad waited. They marched out with little optimism for the tough road ahead.
“You’re sure you can lead us there?” Blay asked when Tirud caught up to them.
Tirud shrugged. “Assuming we survive, yes.”
Nobody laughed. The shanjin was a desert so inhospitable that even in a nation of deserts, it was a wilderness. Its name meant “fire sands,” though that was only half true. While the temperature soared daily among its shadeless dunes, it was as cold by night as it was hot by day. The sand of the shanjin was fine and dry, so even a slight breeze created clouds of dust. Sandstorms were not uncommon. Halfway to the horizon, mirages — illusions of water or landscapes — blanketed everything beyond in a cloak the color of a desperate traveler’s hope.
Lizards, snakes, scorpions and other poisonous creatures made the shanjin their home, eating each other as often as the unsuspecting rodent that ventured in. More terrifying, though, were the Clanless — nomadic outlaws who preyed on lost travelers and on each other. The tallest dunes in the area, nearly mountains, concealed the contents of the valleys on their far sides. A traveler could stand on a high dune within a mile of a nomadic camp without seeing it — a fact the Clanless used to their advantage.
“It must be nice to have sordenu who are so loyal they don’t question your orders,” Nolen muttered as they unhitched the camels. “We should have gotten some explanation of all this.”
“The most important part of what he said is that this is a secret,” Blay said.
“You think the whole trip out here was planned just to let us slip out in the middle of the night like deserters?” Butu asked.
“Not likely,” Phedam said. “The Ahjea and Kadrak drill together quite regularly.”
“I don’t think we’ll have time to think too hard about our orders once the sun comes up,” Nolen said. “We’ll be lucky if we can find enough water to keep us alive in the shanjin, much less enough for everyone.”
“I don’t get it,” Butu said, stopping in his tracks. “Why send the least experienced sordenu squad on a scouting mission? This whole thing smells like last month’s mutton.”
“Keep marching,” Blay ordered.
“Do you want to explain it, Blay, or should I?” Tirud asked breezily, as if he didn’t care one way or another.
Blay stopped, turning to everyone. They all stopped and spread out themselves, to see everyone.
“Our squad is an experiment,” Blay explained. “Most of you are freshly fallen, so you still have your magic, and Tirud knows the way to our destination.”
“What about Jani?” Lujo asked with his usual lack of tact.
They all looked at her, though Butu looked away quickly, not wanting to make her any more nervous than she already was.
“I gave up my birthright as the kluntra’s niece to become a sordenu,” she said. “Zhek wanted me to give up my new life and beg to come back to the family.”
“He ordered Puro to give the squad a hard time,” Blay said. “The sergeant wasn’t your enemy there. Neither, by the way, is the lieutenant. You brought enough trouble on us by using magic.” He hesitated. “Though, of course, Tem-35 must use magic on this mission.”