“Didn’t you see the dead ones? The empty poles waiting? How will you save them?”

“I can’t walk away from the one who is in front of me.”

His glance was shadowed by night, but she felt its brooding force. “They’ll feed on you. That’s what they do.”

“These poor souls feed on you?”

“No. The ones who control us. They feed on us, who are their slaves.”

“Are they demons?”

“Maybe. If you turn around now, you might be free of them a while longer.”

“No.” She wiped her brow, still wet from the rains. “To run is to be their slave. I’m going to fight. All I ask is that you stay out of my way, and don’t betray me.”

“Don’t trust me,” he said. “I’m not like you.”

“You’re the only ally I have.”

Looking at each other, they both laughed.

At length, she wiped away a tear. Within the strange shimmering gleam off the road, she watched his face, his wry smile, his habitual shrug as of a man who has trained himself to let water run where it may, making no effort to shield himself from the downpour.

“Don’t make me like you too much,” he said, “because it will end in grief.”

“Will it? That’s up to you.”

38

The soldiers who had captured Shai had set up camp north of West Track, in woodland cover. It was dusk by the time the patrol reached a clearing with canvas shelters and one campfire. Men came to stare as the others tramped in.

“Make more noise, and you’ll bring one of Horn’s patrols down on us, you great cursed ass.”

“More important, did you find anything?”

“Field was picked over,” said the sergeant. “Not a cursed thing worth carrying.”

One man pointed with his elbow, indicating Shai. “Found somewhat, you did.”

“Waste of time bringing this big dumb ox with us,” said the one called Twist.

A man holding an axe sniggered. “Look at those arms and shoulders! Whew! Bet he can chop wood! Save me the trouble.”

“There was others with him, including an ordinand we killt,” said the sergeant, “but I don’t know how many or where they come from or why they was there. That’s why we captured him and brung him back, you sorry fools. For your lack of thinking of it, is why I am sergeant and you will always be walking in my dust.”

A few men spat.

But the man the sergeant had scolded merely laughed. “Got him a ring, doesn’t he? I like that belt buckle, too. Very fancy.”

“They’re mine,” said the sergeant. “Finder’s rights.”

“What about me?” demanded Twist.

“You can have his good-quality sandals, eh?”

Shai weighed his chances, and did not struggle as they stripped off his ring and belt, his sandals and good tunic. A mewling cry whispered from the trees, maybe a trick of his ears, but it made him terribly uneasy. He kept his mouth shut and his eyes open as they prodded him away from the campfire and into the shelter of a brake of lush ferns. A man sat on a stool under the curving fronds, braiding the hair of a girl seated on the ground with her head bowed.