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I had thought Majer Vaclyn might have kept you informed, sir. He and his
captains haven t said much at all, except for Captain Kuertyl. He is the kind
who trades information the way the factors trade goods.
What has he said?
The officers and rankers are less than pleased with you. They feel that you
should have handled the problems with the miners with our forces.
How? We ve been trying for over a year. I was forbidden to create another
company. I was told I could not work with the council to create a local
militia. What choices did I have?
Dainyl had not been aware of what Herryf had suggested, but he wasn t
surprised that the marshal would have limited the forces under the majer s
direct or indirect control.
Sir? ventured Benjyr. I was asked to tell you something.
By whom?
I don t know. It was dark, and they approached me outside my brother s
house.
He was lying about that, Dainyl knew.
Herryf paused, then asked, What was this message of great import?
Some of the growers to the north think that the Cadmians are there to take
their lands.
How would they do that? Herryf shook his head. Some people will believe
anything.
Sir, they say that the Cadmians will keep searching until they find weapons
and rebels. Then whatever growers where they re found will be accused of
supporting the rebels and sent to the mines, and their lands put up for sale,
or maybe just turned over to the council. The colonel spent a lot of time with
the guilds and the director&
Herryf frowned. That doesn t make sense. Alectors don t care that much about
lands or trade. Why would they& ?
Sir, I didn t say it made sense. That s what some of them feel.
About that, Dainyl could sense, Benjyr was absolutely convinced.
I ll have to talk to Majer Vaclyn. He won t listen, but I ll have to talk to
him.
What about the colonel, sir?
There s no point in that, except to alert him. He d deny anything. If the
alectors aren t involved, he would say that they weren t. If they are, he ll
say the same.
Two more miners escaped yesterday, Benjyr said quietly.
How? There s an extra company of Cadmians guarding the mine road.
No one knows. They were missing when they were mustered to march back to
quarters. Every span of the mine was searched.
They must have been hiding somewhere, and then they escaped the stockade
after dark. Herryf glared at the captain. This sort of thing makes us look
incompetent, and it adds to the illusion that there is some sort of
overwhelming force against us.
But& sir& you reported&
I reported we needed an additional company of Cadmians to deal with the
escapees, and that, in time, unless we got a permanent addition to the
compound, the escaped miners would present a problem. I wish I d never made
the report. I was told told, mind you, Captain that I was reporting an
insurrection and to expect a full Cadmian battalion and a Myrmidon observer.
Behind his Talent-shield, Dainyl frowned. That was what he had been told by
the Highest, and he had conveyed that to Herryf in one fashion or another, but
Herryf seemed to be telling Benjyr the truth about what he had reported to the
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marshal or the submarshal.
Herryf stood. I need to walk around the compound, to be seen. You might as
well accompany me.
Yes, sir, replied the captain.
Dainyl waited until they had left before slipping out of the study and the
headquarters building.
32
From the saddle of the chestnut, as the company headed westward, Mykel glanced
across the ramshackle sheds and run-down holder s dwelling that served as a
base for the Fifteenth Company. They had spent almost a week patrolling in and
around Jyoha, without ever seeing a rebel or an escaped mine prisoner. That
might have been because Fourteenth Company and Dohark had captured the few
that were careless or less adept at avoiding the Cadmians.
Fifteenth Company had seen plenty of hoofprints, but neither the horses that
made them nor the men who rode those mounts. In following tracks and
patrolling the roads, they had lost two mounts to the poisoned stakes in the
concealed pits in various lanes and roads, and two troopers had been injured
when the mounts went down. Four others had been stung by nightwasps and had
turned up with fevers and welts the size of a man s hand.
I ll keep fourth and fifth squads with me, Mykel said to Bhoral, confirming
what he had told the senior squad leader earlier. After I talk with some of
the crafters in the village, we ll look at that lane that winds up toward the
ruins of the old sawmill.
Still don t understand that, replied Bhoral. They built the sawmill, and
the Myrmidons burned it down? Why would they do that?
That s one of the things I m going to try to find out.
He d already tried talking to some of the crafters and found out next to
nothing, but he d kept looking and listening, and now he was ready to try
again.
Short of the town, Bhoral and the first three squads split away, and Mykel and
his smaller contingent continued westward. The fields on each side of the lane
into Jyoha were filled with plants, supposedly all sunbeans. The beans were
actually oilseeds that, when pressed, provided a golden oil that was used for
lamps across Dramur. Some was shipped to Southgate as well, according to the
grower who had leased the run-down and near-abandoned holding to Third
Battalion. Mykel had seldom seen any workers in the fields, but the sunbeans
didn t seem to require much care, and that might have been why they had
displaced other crops.
The houses on the east side of Jyoha were one story and of mud brick, unlike
the cut-stone dwellings in Dramuria. The roofs were of faded red tiles. Some
houses had been plastered with stucco, then washed with pastel colors, mostly
blues and greens; but that had been sometime ago, for the wash had faded, and
the red showed through, giving the walls a pinkish tinge.
The three women doing wash by a well looked away as the Cadmians neared, and
another mother scurried out from a small one-room dwelling and scooped up a
bare-bottomed toddler and carted her back into the mud-brick hut, closing the
warped plank door firmly.
Several men stood on the dusty porch of the one tavern in Jyoha, whose doors
were closed. Two stared at Mykel. He looked back until they dropped their
eyes.
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