Soulcatcher rose, donned his cloak. If only for the Limper, its been worth it, he said. He paused at the door, pierced me with his stare. You and Elmo and Raven. Drink a toast to me. Hear?

Then he was gone.

Elmo came in a minute later. We lifted Otto and started back to Meystrikt. My nerves were not worth a damn for a long time.

Chapter Four: WHISPER

Chapter Four: WHISPER

The engagement gave us the most gain for least effort of any I can remember. It was pure serendipity that went one hundred percent our way. It was a disaster for the Rebel.

We were in flight from the Salient, where the Ladys defenses had collapsed almost overnight. Running with us were five or six hundred regulars who had lost their units. For speeds sake, the Captain had chosen to cut straight through the Forest of Cloud to Lords, instead of following the longer southern road around.

A Rebel mainforce battalion was a day or two behind us. We could have turned and whipped them, but the Captain wanted to give them the slip instead. I liked his thinking. The fighting around Roses had been grim. Thousands had fallen. With so many extra bodies attaching themselves to the Company, I had been losing men for lack of time to treat them.

Our orders were to report to Nightcrawler at Lords. Soulcatcher thought Lords would be the target of the next

Rebel thrust. Tired as we were, we expected to see more bitter fighting before winter slowed the wars pace.

Croaker! Lookee here! Whitey came charging toward where I sat with the Captain and Silent and one or two others. He had a naked woman draped over his shoulder. She might have been attractive had she not been so thoroughly abused.

Not bad, Whitey. Not bad, I said, and went back to my journal. Behind Whitey the. whooping and screaming continued. The men were harvesting the fruits of victory.

Theyre barbarians, the Captain observed without rancor.

Got to let them cut loose sometimes, I reminded him. Better here than with the people of Lords.

The Captain agreed reluctantly. He just does not have much stomach for plunder and rape, much as they are part of our business. I think he is a secret romantic, at least when females are involved.

I tried to soften his mood. They asked for it, taking up arms.

Bleakly, he asked me, How long has this been going on, Croaker? Seems like forever, doesnt it? Can you even remember a time when you werent a soldier? Whats the point? Why are we even here? We keep winning battles, but the Lady is losing the war. Why dont they just call the whole thing off and go home?

He was partially right. Since Forsberg it has been one retreat after another, though we have done well. The Salient had been secure till Shapeshifter and the Limper got into the act.