Solemn nods from the soldiers, and then Shortnose set off at a lumbering run.
On all sides, the camp was breaking, tents dropping down, stakes rocked loose from the hard stony soil. Soldiers shouted, complained and bickered. The smell of spicy food from the kitchen tents wafted in the cool morning air. Closer by, two other squads were looking over, uneasy, bereft of answers. They’d slept sound, they said. Heard nothing.
Fiddler’s gaze drew back to the tent. Slashed to ribbons. Inside-what was left of inside-the cots bore rumpled bedding. But no blood. Fuck. Fuck and fire. His breath slowly hissed as he resumed studying the ground, seeking tracks, signs of a scuffle, anything. Nothing caught his eyes. Too scared to concentrate. Where in Hood’s name is Bottle?
Flashwit had come to him half a bell earlier. He’d barely crawled out from his tent to find her standing in front of him, a look of dread on her broad face.
‘They’re gone, Sergeant.’
‘What? Who’s gone?’
‘Their tent’s all cut up, but no bodies-’
‘Flashwit, what are you talking about? Whose tent? Who’s gone?’
‘Our sergeant and corporal. Gone.’
‘Gesler? Stormy?’
‘Their tent’s all cut up.’
Not cut up, he discovered, after following Flashwit back to the Fifth Squad’s camp. Slashed. The thick canvas was rent from all sides, with what must have been frenzied zeal. And of Gesler and Stormy there was no sign. Their weapons and armour were gone as well. And the heavies were in tents to either side-barely room to walk between them, and in the dark with all the guy ropes and stakes… no, this doesn’t make sense.
He turned to see Shortnose and Bottle jogging up to where stood Mayfly-who held out thick arms as if to bar their passage.
‘Let ’em through, Mayfly-but no one else. Not yet, anyway. Bottle, get over here.’
‘What’s this I hear about Gesler and Stormy deserting?’
Fiddler almost cuffed the man. Instead, he hissed, ‘Ain’t nobody’s deserted-but now that rumour’s on its way, isn’t it? Idiot.’
‘Sorry, Sergeant-it’s too damned early in the morning for me to be thinking straight.’
‘Better wake up fast,’ Fiddler snapped. He pointed at the tent. ‘Look for signs, all round it. Someone had to walk in to get that close. And if you find a single drop of blood let me know-but quietly, understood?’
Licking his lips as he eyed the ravaged tent, Bottle nodded, and then edged past his sergeant.
Fiddler unstrapped and drew off his helm. He wiped sweat from his brow. Glared across at the nearby squads. ‘Wake up your sergeants and all of you make sure we got a full cordon!’ The soldiers jumped. Fiddler knew that news of his sickness had gone through the ranks-he’d been down for days, stinking with fever. Standing close to Anomander Rake had been miserable enough, he recalled, but nothing compared to this. He didn’t need the Deck of Dragons to know what he knew. Besides, nowhere in the Deck would he find a card called the Consort of Darkness. At least, not that he knew of, though sometimes powers were of such magnitude, such insistence, that they could bleed the paint off a minor card and usurp it. Maybe that had happened with his Deck-but he wasn’t about to shuffle through for a look. In any case, his being down had scared people-damned unfair, but there it was, nothing Fiddler could do about it. And now that he was back on his feet, well, he could see far too much undisguised relief in too many eyes.
The older he got, he realized, the more sensitive his talent-if it could be called talent. He preferred curse.
Now Rake went and got himself killed. Unbelievable. Insane. Dragnipur is in pieces. Oh sure, Rake and Hood made sure most of the monsters chained within it were wiped out-nice deal, that. Chained souls and Hood’s own menagerie of scary malcontents, all fed into Chaos. ‘The dead will sleep, and sleep for evermore.’ Amen.
He clawed at his beard. Barely three days on foot again-he still felt wobbly-and now this. They’ve been snatched. Right out from the middle of a whole damned army. Gesler. Stormy. Why them? Oh don’t be obtuse, Fid. They were annealed in the Forge of Thyrllan. Ascendants both.
So think about that. Gesler-he can throw a punch heavy enough to stagger a god. Stormy can swing a sword through three bodies if he’s mad enough. But… not a drop of blood-
‘Found a drop of blood, Sergeant.’
Bottle was suddenly at his side, head lowered, voice barely a whisper.
‘Just one?’
‘Well, maybe two drops together. A dollop? It’s thick and it stinks.’