Chương 95: The Two Commanders

The man who came to arrest the Border Thief was carrying an empty bowl. He did not look for Kichan when he entered the shelter. He went first to the tent where the wounded human soldiers lay. He pulled back bandages to inspect wounds and pressed one finger against the soles of the shoes beneath the cots.

"How long have these been split?" A young soldier pulled back a shoe that exposed his toes.

"Three days."

"The supply sheet says you received new ones." The soldier could not answer. The man in worn armor also opened the pot beside them. He stirred the thin porridge once, then stepped out of the tent. Valkyrie dipped its fingertips into the water bowl of a feverish soldier. When the lukewarm water cooled, the soldier wrapped both hands around it. Kichan assumed the man was some kind of supply officer.

"If you haven't eaten, sit down." The man stopped.

"Do you know who I am?"

"No."

"And you would feed me?"

"You're holding a bowl." Kichan pushed a low crate toward him with one foot. After a moment's hesitation, the man sat on it. Argaon looked from the empty bowl to the soup left in the pot, then hid his own bowl behind his back. The leather at the man's shoulders was frayed. The metal plates at his elbows had been polished repeatedly over old sword marks. He wore almost no decoration, and dried mud clung to the edge of his cloak. Kichan served him soup.

Before taking the first spoonful, the man asked,"How many are you feeding?"

"A hundred and twelve yesterday."

"And today?"

"Seventeen more arrived."

"How many days of grain remain?"

"What we took from your wagon will last three." The man's spoon stopped. Kichan stirred the pot.

"Why? Was it yours?"

"It was meant for my soldiers."

"Are they short?" The man did not answer immediately. He looked once at the meat and pieces of mandragora in the soup, then moved his spoon again.

"There is no such thing as sufficient military provisions."

"How short are you?"

"Must I report our supply situation to a thief as well?"

"If you're short, I was going to raid another noble's storehouse." The man looked at Kichan. One corner of his mouth rose, then fell at once.

"Next time, my cavalry really will pursue you."

"They didn't this time."

"They must have taken the wrong road." The man finished the soup. He rinsed the empty bowl once with water, set it upside down, and rose.

"I have seen the evidence that your party did not poison the molly field." This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Of course not. Both sides drank the same water."

"Recognizing what is obvious requires a great deal of paper."

"What a waste of paper." The man pulled at the worn end of one glove.

"There are humans who covet the molly field. They supply grain to the villages behind my lines."

"So you can't stop them?"

"I am stopping their advance. I cannot stop them from wanting the field." Before leaving the shelter, the man set several thin grain sacks beside the kitchen. Kichan had thought they were empty, but they held dried beans and flatbread. Only after he had gone did Kichan ask Seria,"Who was that?" Seria was watching his retreating back beyond the stone wall.

"Marten, commander of the human army."

"Why does a commander carry his own bowl?"

"He inspects what his soldiers eat." Kichan looked at the empty pot.

"He didn't tell me his rank."

"You never asked."

"Why would I ask that while he was eating?" That afternoon, a human pursuit unit passed the shelter. Its lead rider stopped before Marten and asked which road Kichan's party had taken. Marten pointed toward the western forest.

"I saw their tracks there." The riders vanished in a cloud of dust. Kichan was returning from gathering herbs in the eastern marsh. His eyes met Marten's. The man said nothing. Kichan did not ask. He met Grad, commander of the demihuman army, the following day. Shouting rose at the edge of the marsh. Three warriors in leather armor were searching neutral trader Haven's wagon. A thick-horned man stood before them.

"Do not count harming captives and traders as military achievement." One warrior raised his head.

"He carries human goods."

"He bears a trade marker."

"Which means he is on the humans' side."

"That is a meaning you assigned." The thick-horned man took the warrior's sword and threw it to the ground.

"Return what you stole and repair the wagon wheel."

"Commander."

"If you want to be called brave, find an armed enemy." Kichan watched from the roadside, then quietly asked Seria,"That one too?"

"Yes."

"Can't commanders write it on their clothes?" Grad turned his head. His eyes passed over Kichan's wake-up rod, magic bag, and Valkyrie on his shoulder.

"The one who raided the human wagons."

"I raided your storehouse too."

"I saw the ledger."

"I took the oldest hides first."

"I saw that as well." Grad pointed to the people behind Kichan. A feverish human soldier leaned on Theor for support. Opposite him, a young demihuman child with long ears suffered the same symptoms on their mother's back. Batu pushed his nose between the two patients. After smelling the soldier's bandages and the child's sleeve, he sat heavily before Grad.

"I heard you used the same medicine on both."

"It was the same poison."

"Their races are different."

"The fever is the same." Kichan shook the medicine bottle.

"I put molly and mandragora together. They work better together than I expected." Grad's ear moved by the smallest amount.

"Do not say that before the tribal council."

"Why?"

"The explanation would take too long."

"What happened to the ones who raided human homes?"

"I took their weapons and sent them to the northern quarry."

"Then your side must hate you."

"They already do." Grad checked first the human soldier's forehead, then the demihuman child's fingertips. He did not ask for the medicine bottle.

"How much of the stolen medicine remains?"

"A little."

"And when it runs out?"

"I'll have to go get more." Grad closed his eyes, then opened them.

"Tell me before you do."

"You'll give it to me?"

"I would be saving my soldiers the time they would waste searching an empty storehouse." Haven came to the shelter that night. His wagon carried mandragora powder, dried meat, and two jars of oil.

"Who sent this?" When Kichan asked, Haven adjusted the reins.

"They said it was too good to leave until it spoiled."

"Who did?"

"I was told not to say." Kichan looked at the knots around the sacks. They were the same military knots he had seen in the demihuman storehouse. Dust sank its teeth into one. Kichan caught it by the tail and pulled it away.

"You didn't need to tell me." Several days later, word came that a demihuman recovery unit had departed to reclaim the hides and herbs Kichan had taken. The unit did not reach the empty storehouse until long after sunset. Riphiel laughed when she heard.

"Both commanders possess a remarkable talent for giving the wrong directions."

"Maybe they don't know the roads."

"The commanders?"

"People that high up don't usually walk them themselves." Seria showed Kichan two documents. Marten had used the report that the poison in the molly and mandragora fields came from old battle residue to delay movement along the front by three days. Grad had used the fact that the same antidote worked on wounded people from both sides to block the tribal council's demand for retaliation. Neither document named Kichan.

Instead, they recorded the number of children in the shelter, the number of wounded, and the area of the fields that had survived.

"They listen better than I expected." Kichan spoke. Theor studied the seals at the ends of the documents.

"Both men need one more day."

"To do what?"

"Find a reason not to move their armies." Kichan looked at the sack of beans Marten had left and the herbs Grad had sent. Both rested against the same kitchen wall.