Galtic. There's been footmen from the fourth legion following him for
days now. At first it was just mocking, and I didn't think it worth con„
cern.
"You have names? Proof that they did this?"
"They're bragging about it, sir," Sinja said.
Sinja looked down at the wounded man. The boy looked up at him. The dark
eyes were calm, perhaps defiant. Balasar sighed and knelt beside the low
cot.
"Coya-cha?" he said in the boy's own language. "I want you to rest. I'll
see the men who did this disciplined."
The wounded hands took a pose that declined the offer.
"It isn't a favor to you," Balasar said. "My men don't treat one another
this way. As long as you march with me, you are my soldier, whatever
tongues you speak. I'll be sure they understand it's my wrath they're
feeling, and not yours."
"Your dead men are the problem, sir," Sinja said, switching the
conversation back to Galtic.
The medic coughed once, then discreetly stepped to the far side of the
tent. Balasar folded his hands and nodded to Sinja that he should
continue. The mercenary sucked his teeth and spat.
"Your men are angry. Having those shrouds along is like putting a burr
under their saddles. They're calling my men things they didn't when this
campaign began. And they act as if it were harmless and in fun, but it
isn't."
"I'll see your men aren't attacked again, Sinja. You have my word on it."
"It's not just that, sir. You're sowing anger. Yes, it keeps them
traveling faster, and I respect that. But once we reach tldun and
tJtani, they're going to have their blood up. It's easier for ten
thousand soldiers to defeat a hundred thousand tradesmen if the
tradesmen don't think defeat means being beaten to death for sport. And
a had sack can burn in resentments that last for lifetimes. All respect,
those cities are as good as taken, and we both know it. There's no call
to make this worse than it has to be."
"I should be careful?" Balasar said. "Move slowly, and let the cities
fall gently?"
"YOU said before you wanted this done clean."
"Yes. Before. I said that before."
""They're going to be your cities," Sinja said doggedly as a man
swimming against the tide. ""There's more to think about than how to
capture them. It's my guess Gait's going to be ruling these places for a
long time. The less the people have to forget, the easier that rule's
going to he."
"I don't care about holding them," Balasar said. "There are too many to
guard, and once the rest of the world scents blood, it's going to he
chaos anyway. This war isn't about finding ways for the High Council to
appoint more mayors."
"Sir?"
"We are carrying the dead because they are my dead." Balasar kept his
voice calm, his manner matter-of-fact. The trembling in his hands was