Page 77 of The Infernal Battalion

“Gina is missing,” Vess snapped. “Qwor saw red lights on the hillside. They have found us.”

More sentries reached the camp, shouting, and the Haeta began to emerge from their tents. Many of them were half-​clothed or wearing nothing at all, but they picked up their spears regardless, strapping the quivers of spares across bare skin. Alex crawled out of her tent, with Abraham following.

Leti was nowhere in sight, and everyone was looking at Winter.

Saints and fucking martyrs. She could feel Vess’ stare on her back.

“Torches!” she shouted. “Get some light on the perimeter. Set them and then back off. They may have muskets—”

*

Leti emerged from her tent a few minutes later, still fighting her way into her furs, but it changed little. Instead of coming to Winter for orders, the Haeta looked to Leti, and Leti looked to Winter. Their little band hunkered down and braced for the onslaught of red-​eyed slaves of the Beast.

It never came. Once, Winter caught sight of a pair of crimson lights, shining in the darkness, but that was all. Minutes passed and then hours. She organized shifts, kept half the Haeta ready while the others got dressed and packed their tents. By dawn they were shivering and exhausted, but there was no option except to push on.

There was no sign of Gina, the girl who’d vanished. A band of Haeta found where at least two men had caught her, but they’d carried her deeper into the forest, with no sign of whether she was alive or dead. Leti wanted to go after her, and Winter had to take her aside.

“Gina’s gone,” she said, swallowing hard. Live up to her standards. But what does that mean? “Worse than gone. She’s one of them now.”

“One of them?” Leti’s eyes widened. “The red-​eyes?”

Winter nodded. “They are... a kind of demon. You know that. If they catch you and stare into your eyes, they can transform you into a demon, too. The same body, but the mind is gone.”

“That’s...” Leti looked like she wanted to be sick.

“I know.” Winter hesitated, then added, “They are a plague. I can’t say too much, but my companions and I are trying to stop them. We must reach the mouth of the Bataria.”

It would have been a ridiculous story, of course, if Leti hadn’t already seen Alex’s and Abraham’s supernatural powers. As it was, guilt flooded through Winter as she saw the girl’s expression change, her horror hardening into a sense of renewed purpose. It’s true, she told herself. We are trying to stop them, even if I haven’t filled in all the details. But she still felt like she was abusing Leti’s trust.

They slogged through the next day, following the bank of the river, where the forest was a little thinner. This land had clearly never been cultivated, which made Winter wonder just how far from civilization they were. She’d been in Murnsk long enough, though, to know the line between humanity and the wild could be abrupt, and she hoped and prayed they’d run into it sooner rather than later.

That night Winter directed the group to a rocky outcropping, where they could put their backs against something solid. Instead of lone sentries, they kept watch in shifts, staring at a perimeter of makeshift torches for signs of movement. They saw points of glowing red, now and then, well off in the dark beyond pistol range. The Beast was there, watching.

“It’s not strong enough to rush us,” Alex said quietly. “So it’s trying to wear us out, slow us down. It must have more bodies closing in.”

Winter nodded. Inwardly, she wanted to scream, to rush out and tear the things to shreds. Only it wouldn’t help. How can you fight something like this? It was too big a task, like trying to dig up a country with her bare hands. No matter how many bodies they killed, the Beast would only send more, a never-​ending flood spreading out across the world.

They struggled on through the next day, and the next, setting the pace as fast as Winter dared. Every moment they were stopped, she felt the jaws closing around her, the hidden tide of red-​eyed monsters getting closer. Leti had circulated her description of what the Beast could do, and as a result none of the Haeta complained when she asked them to walk longer or push harder. A few of the younger girls collapsed, and the others carried them. Abraham was practically a ghost at the end of every day, white-​faced and trembling, and Alex stuck close to his side, looking worried.

But no matter how far or how fast they went, the red lights were waiting for them in the darkness.

This can’t go on. It was a killing pace. One more day, she told herself. One more day. If we don’t reach some kind of civilization, we’ll have to risk a longer halt, recover some strength. Even the Beast’s bodies couldn’t run forever. They still tired, still wore out, even if they could ignore pain. One more day.

Then, on the fourth day, one of the scouts came back to report a curl of dark woodsmoke rising against the cloudy sky.

*

“They have ships,” Alex said.

“Boats,” Winter said, although she had to admit she wasn’t entirely sure of the difference.

Whatever they were, there were two of them tied up to a stone pier, bobbing in the fast current of the Bataria. They had one mast each, and locks for several sets of oars. Winter thought they looked like something between a ship’s longboat and a proper sailing vessel.

They were looking at a small fortress, presumably one of the Murnskai army garrisons Alex had mentioned. It had an outer palisade of logs strapped together, with a wooden wall walk and a pair of gates. Inside was one large stone building, grim and official-​looking, surrounded by a scatter of makeshift wooden shacks and lean-​tos. In addition to the smoke rising from the chimney of the central structure, several smaller fires contributed thin strings of gray.

The hillside they stood on was some distance away, and overgrown enough that Winter was reasonably certain they wouldn’t be spotted. Around the fortress, though, the forest had been cut back, leaving a clear field of fire.

Leti squinted, shading her eyes. “I see men on the walls.”