The Bonehunters

The man started pointing at the horse's back'Idiot,' Pores said, 'give me those reins, no, those ones.'



'That's the Adjunct's-'



'Thought I recognized it.' He pulled the beast away then vaulted onto its back. Then set off onto the road. The foundling, Grub, was walking out from the camp, at one ankle that yipping mutt that looked like what a cow would regurgitate after eating a mohair rug. Ignoring them, Pores angled his mount eastward, and kicked it into a canter.



He could already put a name to the one in the lead: Captain Faradan Sort. And there was that High Mage, Quick Ben, and that scary assassin Kalam, and – gods below, but they're all – no, they weren't. Marines!



Damned marines!



He heard shouts from the camp behind him now, an alarm being raised outside the command tent.



Pores could not believe his own eyes. Survivors – from the firestorm – that was impossible. Granted, they look rough, half-dead in fact. Like Hood used 'em to clean out his hoary ears. There's Lostara Yil – well, she ain't as bad as the restLieutenant Pores reined in before Faradan Sort. 'Captain-'



'We need water,' she said, the words barely making it out between chapped, cracked and blistered lips.



Gods, they look awful. Pores wheeled his horse round, nearly slipping off the animal's back in the process. Righting himself, he rode back towards the camp.



****

As Keneb and Temul reached the main track, thirty paces from the command tent, they saw the Adjunct appear, and, a moment later, Blistig, and then T'amber. Soldiers were shouting something as yet incomprehensible from the eastern end of the camp.



The Adjunct turned towards her two approaching Fists. 'It seems my horse has gone missing.'



Keneb's brows rose. 'Thus the alarms? Adjunct-'



'No, Keneb. A troop has been spotted on the east road.'



'A troop? We're being attacked?'



'I do not think so. Well, accompany me, then. It seems we shall have to walk. And this will permit you, Fist Keneb, to explain the fiasco that occurred regarding the boarding of your company.'



'Adjunct?'



'I find your sudden incompetence unconvincing.'



He glanced across at her. There was the hint of an emotion, there on that plain, drawn visage. A hint, no more, not enough that he could identify it. 'Grub,' he said.



The Adjunct's brows rose. 'I believe you will need to elaborate on that, Fist Keneb.'



'He said we should take an extra day boarding, Adjunct.'



'And this child's advice, a barely literate, half-wild child at that, is sufficient justification for you to confound your Adjunct's instructions?'



'Not normally, no,' Keneb replied. 'It's difficult to explain… but he knows things. Things he shouldn't, I mean. He knew we were sailing west, for example. He knew our planned ports of call-'



'Hiding behind the command tent,' Blistig said.



'Have you ever seen the boy hide, Blistig? Ever?'



The man scowled. 'Must be he's good at it, then.'



'Adjunct, Grub said we needed to delay one day – or we would all die.



At sea. I am beginning to believe-'



She held up a gloved hand, the gesture sharp enough to silence him, and he saw that her eyes were narrowed now, fixed on what was aheadA rider, bareback, coming at full gallop.



'That's Kindly's lieutenant,' Blistig said.



When it became obvious that the man had no intention of slowing down, nor of changing course, everyone quickly moved to the sides of the road.



The lieutenant sketched a hasty salute, barely seen through the dust, as he plunged past, shouting something like: 'They need water!'



'And,' Blistig added, waving at clouds of dust as they all set out again, 'that was your horse, Adjunct.'



Keneb looked down the road, blinking to get the grit from his eyes.



Figures wavered into view. Indistinct… no, that was Faradan Sort… wasn't it? 'Your deserter is returning,' Blistig said. 'Stupid of her, really, since desertion is punishable by execution. But who are those people behind her? What are they carrying?'



The Adjunct halted suddenly, the motion almost a stagger.



Quick Ben. Kalam. More faces, covered in dust, so white they looked like ghosts – and so they are. What else could they be? Fiddler.



Gesler, Lostara Yil, Stormy – Keneb saw one familiar, impossible face after another. Sun-ravaged, stumbling, like creatures trapped in delirium. And in their arms, children, dull-eyed, shrunken…



The boy knows things… Grub…