“Good man,” Tavi said. He turned to the assembled century of men and raised his voice. “The Legions have a long tradition, boys. You march hard and fast and show up in places where no one expects you—and then you go to work.” He grinned. “And you do it all carrying a hundred pounds of gear made by whoever did it for the least coin—but every one of those slives gets paid better than you! It’s tradition!”

A growl of laughter went around the group of soldiers.

“This march,” Tavi said, “is different.”

He let silence sit over the men for a moment.

“In a moment, you’re going to go out and give the orders to move out. And you’re going to tell the men this: No packs. No tents. No blankets. No spare boots. They don’t matter anymore.”

The silence thickened.

“We have to move, fast and hard,” Tavi said. “There are millions of lives at stake, and the enemy knows where we are. So we’re not going to be here. We’re going to be in Calderon by tomorrow, a full day before we’re expected. And then we’re going to find the vord Queen and pay the bitch back for what she did tonight.”

Eighty men raised their voices in a sudden, furious roar of approval.

“Schultz will give you your assignments,” Tavi said. “Get it done.”

Another roar went up, and Schultz began striding down the ranks, striking each man lightly on his armored shoulder with his baton and issuing the name of an Aleran or Canim officer he was to contact. The men went sprinting into the dark, and within minutes trumpeters were sounding the signal to prepare to march.

“Sir,” Schultz said, after he’d sent the last of the men off, “we might make Calderon that fast. But the Canim can’t, sir, nor their beasts. There’s no way.”

Tavi showed the legionare his most Canish smile. “Faith, Schultz,” he said. “Where there’s a will, there is a way. And my will is for us all to be in Calderon by the sunrise after next.”

Schultz blinked. “Sir?”

“Get the rest of the ’Crows ready to move out, Schultz,” he said. “That’s your job. Getting all of us there? That’s mine.”

CHAPTER 46

CHAPTER 45

The vord came precisely when Invidia said they would. Sunrise was still four hours away, and once the moon had vanished behind the mountains to the south, the night turned as black as the inside of a coffin.