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"Let's clean up before dinner," the General pulled me away. I nodded and went with him.
Chapter 5
"Do you remember when you offered to sneak into the enemy camp and do some spying?" I listened as the general washed himself in a bucket of water a Regular had brought to the tent. I nodded. I'd get my own bucket, as soon as the General was done.
"I'd like for you to do some spying tonight, after everyone else is bedded down. Head for the trenches first and then sneak into their camp from there, if you can. Just remember, I'll punish you myself if you get caught."
"I understand, sir," I nodded.
Using a bucket to wash and cold water to do it isn't the best way to take a bath, but it could have been worse. I had soap tucked inside my duffle, and I managed to get my hair clean, combed out and braided before we went off to dinner. Meals were a definite improvement with the new crew in the cooking tents. The High Commander came over to our table, too, and ate with the General while pointedly ignoring me. That was fine; I thought he was a shithead anyway, and I'd killed his star mercenary. He could be grumpy if he wanted.
"How long until we reach the town?" he asked around a mouthful of food. Yeah, not only was he a shithead, he had bad manners, too.
"Two days; we lost time with the wet ground and the wagons getting stuck and moving slowly," the General answered. "We should have been there, or close, already."
"What will we find there?" The High Commander asked. I decided I was going to call him HC, for short.
"It is a large, bustling village, surrounded by farmland and herds," the General replied.
"No vineyards?"
"No, the soil isn't good for that," the General dipped into his bowl of stew.
"We need wine for a ceremony," the HC complained.
"They'll have some there, but I warn you, it may have been made by the enemy."
"I don’t care where it comes from, only that it's available," the HC grumbled. Well, he wasn't getting a star or a happy face on his homework today.
I waited until just after lights out to make my sojourn away from the tent, heading toward the trenches, just as I'd been told. They smelled awful. I took a quick turn around them, making sure nobody else was there to notice I didn't use them, and on the way back I slipped between Blade and Grip's tents, turning to mist in the process. It only took a few seconds to get to The Red Hand camp. I buzzed into the HC's tent while he was talking with two of his Captains.
"We'll find some excuse to hole up in that town until our messengers return with the Pelipu's directive on the matter," HC tapped a cylindrical case, which was nearly four inches in diameter and probably sixteen inches in length. "I know what my feelings are on the matter, but I won't act until I receive his orders."
"What about the others?" One of the Captains asked.
"The Pelipu will tell us what to do. Go to bed; we have an early ride in the morning."
The General was still up and waiting for me when I returned. I told him what I heard and saw. He seemed surprised that I'd seen the cylindrical case. "That's their holy writ—at least part of it," he sighed. "They'll make an excuse to stay in Windle until their messengers arrive. I can't say I like the sound of this, but what else can we do? Right now they hold the money purse and it will do us no good to go on without them."
I wanted to ask him what his true feelings were on all this, but I held off. There wasn't any reason why he should tell me anything of the sort.
"What sort of ceremony requires wine?" I asked instead. "I know little about this religion."
"They use wine in many, so there's no way to tell for sure," the General replied. "Go to bed, Liss. We have an early morning ahead of us."
Since I couldn't sleep anyway, I left my body behind and went to energy, traveling far away under twinkling stars. I slept easier, once I returned.
* * *
"We're still a good three weeks away, and it looks like rain again," Solis rode up next to the General the following morning, with Warn right behind him.
"You may not have to worry about the rain," the General said, and proceeded to tell Solis what I'd overheard the evening before.
"We'll have to quarter the bulk of the army on the northeastern edge, I think," Solis said thoughtfully. "Windle is where the ground starts to rise at the foot of the mountains. It'll be a steady climb once we get past it."
* * *
"Where is the Raona?" Roff walked beside Flavio after the Council meeting. Aurelius and Garde had come to handle it in Lissa's absence. Flavio studied his youngest vampire child and wondered what to tell him.
"Child, she had something important to do. She should be back in three weeks or so," Flavio sighed. "Her mates did not receive any notification of her absence."
"Is that why Gavin seems so angry?"
"More than likely," Flavio nodded at Roff's observation. "He is not angry with you." Gavin and Tony had begun to teach Roff how to fight. Flavio felt it necessary after Roff’s wounding.
"Is he angry with Lissa?"
"In a way. He worries about her. He wants to keep her safe always, and she sometimes prevents him from protecting her as he wants."
"Is she in danger?" Roff was worried now and his wings tightened against his back.
"No more than usual, I think," Flavio soothed Roff. "Lissa has talents that the rest of us lack."
"We're having a security meeting tonight," Tony walked up beside them.
"May I come?" Roff asked.
"You may come, but you may not speak of what you hear," Flavio placed compulsion. Roff nodded in silent acceptance.
* * *
"Brenten, you've been moping around since the ball," Wylend glanced at his son. Griffin had a standing invitation to have breakfast with his father, and usually took advantage of it. Griffin studied his father's face. They looked very much alike, he and his father. "I'm sure Lissa will be fine—I understand she holds a great deal of power, although she seldom uses any of it," Wylend added.
"It's what she is," Griffin sighed. "She doesn't Look, because she doesn't want to pry most of the time. She refuses to push anyone unless they are committing a great wrong. There are times when she should speak up and she doesn't. And times when she should remain silent, and she doesn't."
"If you had raised her, perhaps you could have taught her those things."
"I wasn't allowed. Considering what happened after, perhaps it's for the best."
