The Destiny of the Dead (The Song of the Tears Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

smiling.
‘I’m standing with you, Nish, and if it comes to it I’ll fall with you. I’ve
had a good life – for the most part – and a long one, and it would
be a blessing to die while I still have my health and my looks.’
    ‘I never thought of you as vain,’ he said absently, waiting
for the enemy to move.
    ‘I’m human. Who would be old and feeble when vigorous youth
and beauty were on offer, even for a few days – ah, here he comes.’
    The air-sled came zooming down the ridge, then lifted and
shot above the tops of the trees before curving in an elegant arc around the
clearing. General Klarm stood mid-centre, legs spread and cloak flapping.
    ‘He appears to be enjoying the ride,’ said Nish.
    ‘Klarm has command of the marvel of flight. And with the
tears, he has only to wish for something and he can have it. Who would not
enjoy that?’
    The question sounded like a test, and Nish did not reply.
The air-sled side-slipped towards the troops at the pointy end of the clearing
and hovered soundlessly in the heavy air. Klarm raised his hand and the teeming
rain stopped.
    ‘Can he even control the weather?’ said Gi breathlessly. Few
Gendrigoreans knew anything about mancery and they were superstitious about it.
    ‘For a moment, evidently,’ said Tulitine, ‘though if he
holds back the rain now, later it must fall all the harder. Weather is driven
by forces beyond our understanding, and if one changes it there is always a
consequence. And a cost.’
    ‘Come back into the line where we can defend you, Nish,’
called Hoshi, the apprentice potter. ‘Don’t make it easy for them.’
    His Gendrigorean troops never called him surr, only Nish.
He’d been irritated by their lack of discipline at first, until he appreciated
that it was just the way they were. He moved back through the archers and the
wavering line of spears, eyeing the enemy. ‘They’re covering their bodies well
with those oval shields. We’re not going to take many down.’
    ‘We could aim for their heads,’ said Gi, raising her bow.
    ‘Not at this range.’
    ‘The legs, then. It’s a tough man who can fight with an
arrow through the leg.’
    ‘They’re tough,’ said Nish. ‘Archers, take aim.’
    His hundred and fifty archers drew back their bowstrings.
The enemy army lifted their spears.
    ‘Advance,’ Klarm said softly, yet his amplified voice came
clearly to every part of the clearing. ‘Cut Cryl-Nish Hlar and Maelys Nifferlin
out. Leave no …’ His voice faltered; he had been a decent man, at heart, and
clearly still had trouble with his orders, but Klarm had sworn to the
God-Emperor and would follow orders to the letter. ‘Leave no one else
standing.’
    A shaft of sunlight broke through the churning clouds,
illuminating the caduceus and the mud-caked militia surrounding it, and the
sodden ground steamed. Nish scratched his backside. He hadn’t washed since
Boobelar’s treacherous attack several days ago, and he itched all over.
    The Imperial troops took a step, then another. No one spoke;
the clearing was silent save for the keening of the caduceus. The hairs on the
back of Nish’s neck lifted, then fell.
    ‘Nish!’ said Gi. ‘I’ve had an idea.’ She put her mouth to
his ear.
    Nish studied the line of the enemy, then nodded. ‘Well done!
Why didn’t I think of that?’ He lowered his voice, ‘Archers, turn halfway to
your right and take aim at the body of the enemy you are then facing. Pass the
word around.’
    The archers turned and, instead of aiming at the soldier
directly opposite, each took a bead on a man forty-five degrees around the oval
ring, for the soldiers’ small shields did not protect them from arrows slanting
in from the side. It was a fundamental weakness of Klarm’s encircling position.
He should have formed two lines and crushed the militia between them.
    ‘Fire!’
    The archers let loose a ragged volley, smoothly reached for
their second arrows and nocked them as Nish counted five