Page 58 of The Infernal Battalion

“I’m not sure,” Alex said. “It sounds like there’s a hell of a lot of them.”

“It’s a big forest,” Winter said uneasily. She didn’t know much about wolves. Almost all her time in the wilderness had been spent in the company of marching armies, where wildlife usually wasn’t much of a concern.

“The thing is,” Alex said, “I haven’t heard any up until now.”

Winter frowned. “Maybe they’ve just been keeping quiet.”

“Maybe.” Alex shook her head. “Mention it to Leti? Just to ease my mind.”

“I will.”

“Thanks.”

Alex lay back down. Winter undressed in the dark and slipped under her own blanket. The thick wool the Mountain people had provided warmed up quickly, and she pulled it tighter with a contented sigh. Her legs burned, but her stomach was full, and for a moment she felt almost calm. Maybe it’s being in a proper camp again. There’s something about knowing there are people all around you.

“I really am sorry,” Alex said quietly.

“I forgive you,” Winter said. “Honestly. Just go to sleep.”

Outside, the howls went on.

*

They saw the first of the wolves the next day, just a glimpse of a long gray body through a break in the decaying undergrowth. Winter, walking near the front of the column, pointed in time for the Haeta nearby to catch a glimpse of it.

“I heard them howling last night,” Winter said to Leti. “I didn’t realize they were so close.”

“Howls at night are very hard to place,” Leti said. “But don’t let them worry you. Wolves will not attack humans. Most likely they follow us hoping to make a meal of our leavings.”

Winter nodded. The flash of gray was gone, and she couldn’t see any others. I think we have more to fear from the Beast than from anything that lives in these woods. She shook her head, looking back over the marching column, and trudged on.

Sometime later, her curiosity finally got the better of her. “Leti, can I ask you something about your people?”

“Of course.”

Leti had taken to spending most of her time beside Winter on the march. Winter had noticed Leti didn’t talk much to her fellow Haeta, who were otherwise constantly chattering in their own tongue. She wondered if it was a social dynamic she didn’t understand, or simply the difficulty of being the one in charge. I certainly know how that feels.

“When your girls go to their tents for the night, they... hmm.” Winter’s Murnskai vocabulary wasn’t really up to this particular challenge, at least while remaining polite. I suppose I could always ask Abraham. “They, ah, touch one another?”

“Of course, if they are lovers.” Leti cocked her head, frowning. “It is different in the south?”

“Sort of. I mean. Most women don’t take... other women as lovers.”

“It is expected for members of a warhost to take lovers among their century,” Leti said. “It is the same among the men. It increases their tenacity in battle.”

“What happens to them when they get home?”

Leti shrugged. “Most leave such things in the wilds where they belong. Warriors of the second line can expect to have their husbands presented to them soon after their blooding, when they become full adults.”

“I... see.”

Winter had never been able to guess what lay in store for herself beyond the end of the war. At times—​many times—​she’d despaired seeing the end of the war at all, told herself that it wasn’t even worth thinking about. She and Cyte had pointedly never talked about it, about what might happen once peace finally returned and the rules of civilized society rolled over the Girls’ Own like a tide.

It felt like an indulgence to even consider it now. After all, even the Steel Ghost said I probably won’t survive using Infernivore on the Beast, assuming by some miracle I make it that far. But, Winter thought, she was owed a little self-​indulgence.

I’m sure Raesinia would help us. It wasn’t like Winter had any profession, outside the army. Surely the queen could find me a sinecure, though. And then...

She couldn’t even picture the “and then.” Her mind rebelled. She’d been taking her life one day—​one hour—​at a time for so long that she couldn’t imagine what it would be like without danger. When she could assume today would be more or less the same as yesterday and tomorrow. Settle down? Raise children? That was what people did, as far as she knew, but...