Breaking Ranks

Grant: Haunting the Night

I haunted the walls like a wraith, my dark thoughts keeping me company on this dark night, sword scabbard slapping against my thigh as I walked along the Port Wall. Guilt followed me. Gaspar had followed me into the Superintendent's Guard. Perhaps if I hadn't pushed for him to join... perhaps if he had become a certified logger like he had said—

Voices broke my thoughts and I blinked as I passed a silent spear-armed sentinel and saw two more figures just a few meters farther along. A solid thrum sounded and I saw that a woman was hefting a crossbow in the air beside another figure, almost spectral in the darkness.

"You winch it like so," the woman was saying as I approached. "Twist it back with this," she said, looking up as I came near. In the dim light of the night cycle I could barely make out her features, but her eyes stood out. They held no fear as she saw me.

"Who are you?" I growled. I had just gone on the latest round along the walls, examining all twenty-six recruits still in my company, a mix of newcomers and those who had run before. Well, we had all run in the end, those of us who still lived. Now we just stuck together out of a mix of shame, duty, and a distinct lack of options.

"Cass," she said, handing the crossbow over to another unfamiliar woman, who took it and brushed past me without explanation. I gritted my teeth and raised an eyebrow at Cass.

"Who told you to come up to the walls? Have you trained in that?"

Cass gave a sharp laugh. "Nobody told me anything. There's barbarians at the gates, ain't there? I'm not going to sit around and wait for them to break through. Anyway, I used to be a logger, before the raiders came. Always carried a crossbow with me and I figured I'd take my talents to the Port Wall since Salazar's men all but melted away."

"There's still a few of us left," I grunted. But we were too few, much too few, and I was still astonished at how quickly the Superintendent's army had disintegrated. A logger, though? Perhaps she would have known Gaspar if he'd gone into logging. More people should have known Gaspar. He was quite the gift.

"And I thank you for it," she said with a nod.

"Better get on out, though," I said with a wave into Sandstone. "You're not in my company. If the Superintendent wants you up here he'll send you with orders."

"What, that quaking old fool?" she asked, her challenging tone somehow disarming with her wry smile. A month ago a comment like that might have earned her a death sentence. But now it passed unnoticed. I hadn't even seen him since he'd sped away from the battle, nor had I been given any orders since then. Instead I'd met a few of the other levy commanders, common veterans like myself, and together we'd divided up the wall between us.

"Here I am and here I'll fight," Cass said with bitter pride. "I'm surprised, though. A veteran like you, never fought with a woman before?"

I twisted my mouth. "I fought with a woman plenty of times."

"Oh? And who won?"

I frowned again. "Those were the kind of fights that nobody wins."

A shout broke the silence and I turned to look. It came from somewhere inside Sandstone and soon came to an abrupt end. Crime, most likely, all the scum of Sandstone taking the chance to finish their feuds. With the new influx of deserters Sandstone was teeming with angry and panicked men, and the guards had been called up to the walls.

"Either way, I think I'll be safer here. Anyway, she said it'd be fine," she said with a nod, and I turned to face the approaching footsteps.

The Rune Reader was walking along the ramparts, serene as ever, her white robes standing out even in the dim night. She seemed a picture of holiness as she passed the silent watchmen, bolstered by the outlines of new arrivals I didn't recognize.