Breaking Ranks

Grant: Valor Under Fire

I let out a low groan as I patrolled the walls. The ground was slick, both with the dew of early morning and the remnants of the blood from yesterday's assault. My bones felt it this morning, and my cuts didn't help. I had scrapes all over, a gash on the side of my head, and a wicked long cut along my right thigh that still throbbed as I walked. That would need some watching.

The walls were a mess and I stopped my patrol as I came across a bundle leaning between two turrets. With the losses we had sustained I had been given a longer sector to cover, and I hadn't even realized I had made my way over to the very same section of walls where my small band had stood our ground. The bundle was that logger—Cass, was it?—though it seemed her mace and crossbow had been taken some time ago. She had fought well, and deserved much better than this. A proper burial, at least.

But life never really goes the way you expect so there's little reason for death to keep to a higher standard. And so I hauled Cass's stiff corpse up, braced my legs, and tossed her off the wall to join the corpses of the enemy outside. Eventually, one side or another would have to clear out that whole area, before the rot of death could spread.

"Sorry," I muttered down to her. And then I resumed my patrol. Before long I saw the boy approaching from another section of walls. He looked bone-weary, even young that he was. As we came close I noticed he was hefting Cass's heavy crossbow.

"Morning, lad," I said gruffly at the boy. I ceased my patrol, giving my throbbing leg a chance to rest. "Aren't you supposed to be getting some sleep?" I had given orders for the bulk of the survivors to rest up. There were just a few of us patrolling the walls now, watching the distant enemy line for any sign of another assault.

"I've got a message for you, Foreman," he said, handing a scroll to me. I held it in my hand for a while, blinking down at it. After a moment I unfurled the scroll and stared at the black marks as if it made any sort of sense to me. I lowered the scroll sheepishly.

"I don't suppose you can read," I said to the boy. It didn't seem likely, a boy in the slums like that, but he reached for the scroll and stared at it for a while.

"The Superintendent congratulates you for your success in holding the wall. He will be awarding you the Order of Vuh..." he squinted, "Valor after the battle. He also—" the boy paused and gave me a curious look. I realized now that I had let out a girlish gasp, and I breathed in slowly.

"The Order of Valor? By the Twelve... read on, boy, read on."

"Superintendent Salazar also requests your presence in his personal guard once again. Your mo..." he sounded it out a moment. "Moral lapse will be forgiven." He kept his face blank even as he looked at me. "So you're leaving us. Congratulations."

I was beaming now, and I even bent down to give the boy a big squeeze. Oh, if the guardsmen could see me now, the grumpy old goat in such great cheer! I straightened and brushed something out of my eye. I gave a cough, but the boy was staring out across the lines now.

"Well. I suppose I will have to make prepara—"

"By the Twelve, is that..." the boy's voice halted. "Fire?" he squeaked. I looked over just as the first flaming missile streaked by overhead.