For most the
winter passed slowly. They complained of
it being painfully boring but Greza had actually enjoyed it. Except the cold. She could have done without freezing every
night on guard duty. But she had learned so much from her fellow
soldiers and officers and she had read several books, each one a treasure of
knowledge.
But now that
spring was starting to show, it was time to leave. Rumors about where they were going and who
they were fighting differed depending on who one asked and everyone asked
everyone.
The simple truth
was that no one knew and if they did it was buried in the sea of rumors.
Everyday they did
inventory, counting flints, balls, powder, spare parts for the guns, oil,
boots, gloves and everything else they’d be bringing with them. All training ceases as every unit inventoried
what they had and began assembling individuals’ specific kits.
Burana was
cleaning the matchlock she’d be taking with her as her assigned gun. Greza was cleaning the scabbard of her battle
knife so the blade wouldn’t rust in the sheath.
“I hope we go
south. I’d like to go somewhere warm by
the ocean. I’ve never seen the ocean,”
Burana said.
“Me neither.”
The ocean sounded
beautiful. Every description she had
ever read made her want to see it more than ever. Orks were from the south so she wondered if
she’d be able to take the heat better than she handled the cold.
The only place she
didn’t want to go is back to her masters’ homeland. She didn’t want their scorn. She didn’t want them trying to get her
back. She didn’t want revenge. She just wanted to never see them again.
“I heard the
ocean’s only fifty miles to the west of us,” Greza said.
She knew it from
the maps she liked to study. Maps
contained such stories apart from their ascetic beauty.
“But I heard
they’re cold and rocky. No one wants to
go to them,” Burana said.
She thought they
sounded lovely, but she answered with a shrug.
“My mother said
she’d been to the ocean when she was a little girl. She always talked about,” Burana said.
Mother never
talked about her life before she was captured as a slave. From what little she could remember mother
had lived in a swamp with her tribe of Orks.
It didn’t sound very pleasant.
She finished
cleaning her weapons and laid everything she’d been issued on her bunk. It was a lot of stuff.
“And to think,
we’re going to be issued more stuff,” Burana said. “Don’t worry though. Each squad will have a pack mule. Hey, you want to share a tent?”
Greza nodded. There was no one else she’d want to share
with. Burana accepted her faith and her
history. That was quite remarkable.
“Great. We’ll be battle companions. I watch your back, you watch mine. That doesn’t just go for the battlefield you
know. If I get into a fight, you got to
jump in and help.”
“Try not to get
into fights.”
Burana laughed.
“Of course not,
but just in case, you know?”
Greza nodded.
Now that she was
finished with her personal inventory, for today, she went up to the library to
decide on which books to bring on campaign.
She had a waterproof bag just for this occasion.
One book would
obviously be the scriptures. Two read throughs was not enough.
She got to the
library and began looking through the shelves.
She didn’t want to take anything that looked valuable or
irreplaceable.
As she was
searching through the history section she heard someone else come in. She had always been the only one in the
library.
Greza peered
around the shelf to peek at who had entered.
It was Duke
Verin. He was wearing a fur coat and was
thumbing through a book. He wore no hat
and his stubbled head was recognizable from miles away.
He looked so sad
for some reason.
But then the
thought of actually meeting him made her duck back. What would she say to a duke? She had never spoken to a nobleman
before. Except Erinad, but he was
eccentric and unique in every way.
Maybe she could
sneak out without being noticed.
“Alethia? That you?”
Duke Verin asked.
Oh, no.
She tried to think
of what to do. If she ran for it, he
might see her and order her to stop and then she’d look suspicious because she
ran. If she stayed, she would have to
speak to him and she didn’t even know how to speak to a Duke. She had been ordered by Dukes, barons and
even a prince, but never had she spoken back except to say “yes, lord,” or “no,
lord.”
“Who are
you?” Duke Verin asked right beside her.
She jumped and
almost tripped backwards.
“Duke Verin, I…”
He held up his
gloved hand.
“Relax,
soldier. What’s your name?”
“Greza, sir…I
mean, Duke.”
“Greza,” he said
as if thinking about the name. He leaned
on the book case and scratched his chin.
“An Ork name, but I can’t remember what it means.”
“I didn’t know it
had a meaning, my Duke.”
That was stupid of
her to say. Now he was going to think
she was a dumb brute like everyone else.
What normal person didn’t know the meaning of their own name?
“It does and one
I’ve heard before. I’ll remember it
eventually. So, you came to my library
to read?”
His library? Was this not open for everyone?
Fear struck her
like a wave. She couldn’t be accused of
theft. It would ruin her. Her reputation would be destroyed. No one would trust her and she’d be kicked
out of the Company.
“Yes, my
Duke. I came to read,” she managed to
get out.
“What are you
reading?”
“Paths of Light,
my Duke,” she blurted out before thinking.
He raised an
eyebrow.
“A dead religion’s
book? What for?”
“It’s not dead, my
Duke. I believe in it.”
She knew saying
such a thing would make her look like an idiot.
She wanted to run away and hide.
He smiled and then
looked around.
“I’m afraid this
library doesn’t get used as much as I’d like.
It seems soldiers would prefer to gamble and drink.”
“I don’t drink or
gamble, my Duke.”
“Because you’re
busy reading.”
“It’s against my
faith.”
“I see. You’re from the Empire. I can tell by your accent. You came a long way, Greza. I hope we don’t disappoint you.”
With that he gave
a slight nod and left.
She stood there,
wondering how big of an idiot she had looked.
No comments:
Post a Comment