Council War - There Will Be Dragons - Council War - There will be Dragons Part 56
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Council War - There will be Dragons Part 56

The chant was taken up by others, including the cavalry in the corner and the minstrel shook her head.

"Fie on you soldiers!" she shouted with a laugh. "You're always calling for Cambreadth. I'll give you your Cambreadth!" With that she waved to the band and they started the song, but the lyrics were different than Herzer remembered. He knew the song well; it was practically the anthem of the Blood Lords and they sang it on every march. But this one was so different he began laughing and couldn't stop.

"Rambo Frog travels by the moon, Meets with Mr Red Raccoon- Soon they're joined by Tortoise & Hare, To make sure the animals all play fair- A fight's broke out near the water hole, The natives have all lost control- Froggy's boys come from on high, 'HOW MANY OF YOU CAN CATCH A FLY?' ".

When it got to the part where the frog was attacking the heron, Herzer was laughing so hard he had a hard time staying on the bench.

"Boy definitely needs to get out more," Deann laughed.

Herzer didn't realize that the first mug of beer was done until he was halfway through the second.

And since the two beers had gotten together, they decided they needed some friends. As the evening went on it got a bit blurrier right up until both the groups were singing "Yellow Ribbon" and one of the cavalry troopers was suddenly shouting at Cruz.

"It'scavalry trooper you idiot!" the drunken trooper yelled, coming over to their table.

"It's legionnaire you pencil-necked horse-lover!" Cruz said, standing up.

"Yellow is the color ofcavalry, you slope-browed moron!" the apparently suicidal trooper said. He was at least a head shorter than Cruz and at least twenty kilos lighter.

"Hey, hey, hey," Herzer said mildly, standing up and putting his hands on their chests to separate them. "Yel-low," he enunciated carefully, "is the col-or of the cav-al-ry, Cruj." Then he turned to the, yeah, pencil-necked cavalry trooper. "On the other han', the song is tradit . . . tradeee . . . of'en sung with udder symbo . . . udder stuff," he finished.

"Get away from me you cowardly fisk," the trooper said.

"What did you say?" Herzer asked, dangerously.

"You cut andran on Doctor Ghorbani," the trooper sneered just before the fist crashed into his face.

Herzer didn't really remember most of the next minute or so. Later he had a clear view of Kane's face flashing past his eyes, apparently propelled through the air when trying to stop him and the cry of "BLOOD LORDS" from behind him. But the next thing he actually was aware of was a small, lithe body pressed into his back and holding his face to the floor with an absolutely unbreakable, and tremendously powerful, wrestling hold.

"No more drinks foryou, Triari Herzer," Estrelle said calmly.

"Yes, ma'am," Herzer replied. The homunculus had his legs pinned in some sort of a scissors hold, his face braced into the floor and both of his arms twisted behind his back. And when he tried to writhe out she gave just enough of a twist for him to realize that she was only letting him have both shoulders stay together because she was programmed to reduce necessary harm. "I'll be good."

"Let him up, Estrelle," Herzer heard The Gunny say in his most Gunny voice.

Estrelle unwound herself and lifted his well-over-a-hundred-kilos weight as if he were a feather.

"What happened here?" Gunny asked."It was entirely my fault," Herzer said, miserably.

"There were words exchanged, Gunnery Sergeant Rutherford," Kane said, waving his hand as if to dismiss the incident. "One of my troopers made, quite loudly, a rather unfounded accusation. And Herzer took . . . violent exception to it."

"How is he?" the Gunny asked. "The trooper, that is."

"Well," Kane replied, rubbing a bruise that was starting to purple on his forehead, "we'll all live. But I think we might have to consider giving the cavalry and the Blood Lords different nights off."

"Herzer, did you lay hand on Cavalry Master Kane?" Gunny asked, coldly.

"I'm . . . not sure, Gunny," Herzer admitted.

"It was all a bit blurry to me as well," Kane said quickly. "I'd really suggest that bygones be bygones. Hot words, a few . . . clashes. They're soldiers, Gunny."

"No, my troops areBlood Lords, and they fight who Itell them to fight," Gunny said. "Herzer, return to the barracks. You are confined to quarters until I decide how this will be handled. You can consider yourself stripped of acting triari status. You are dismissed."

Herzer was lying in his bunk with his fingers interlaced behind his head when the other Blood Lords stumbled into the decuri bay.

"This is a fisking disgrace!" Deann said angrily. "That arrogant horse-fisker needed to be punched out. We can sing any damned thing we want!"

"I didn't hear what he said," Cruz said. "What the hell made you so angry; you practically punched him across the room. What a sweet sight, by the way."

"He said that I had cut and run on Doctor Ghorbani when she was raped," Herzer said, simply.

"WHAT?" Deann screamed. "When he gets out of the infirmary I'm going to kill him!"

"Deann," Herzer said quietly, "there's only one problem."

"What?!"

"It's true," he replied and rolled over on his side.

Kane came into Edmund's office when summoned and looked around at the others. Besides Edmund, who was behind the desk with a stony expression on his face, there were Gunny Rutherford and Daneh Ghorbani now swollen with child.

"Kane," Edmund said, gesturing at the couch next to Gunny. "Would you mind telling me, your side of the events last night. All of it, please."

"One of my troopers apparently tried to pick a fight with the Blood Lords over them changing the lyrics to a song," Kane said. "I was getting ready to drag him off when Herzer intervened and tried to separate them. The trooper, Trooper McIerran, then accused Herzer of having 'cut and run' when . . ."

"When I was raped," Daneh said, rubbing her stomach.

"Yes. At that point, Herzer punched him. Hard."

"His jaw is broken in multiple places," Daneh said. "I've tried to put it back together but he's never going to be much of a talker again. Fortunately, I might add," she said, spitefully.

Kane's face worked and he shrugged. "McIerran has . . . never been one of my best troops. The problem is that he was thrown across our table when Herzer hit him and a couple of my other troops took exception to the action, whether it was the blow or the drinks spilled everywhere. And then Herzer was going after McIerran as if to kill him. So we attempted to . . . intercede. Two of my other troopers and a couple of militiamen are . . ."

"Down for at least a few days," Daneh sighed and shifted positions. "Herzer is . . ."

"Herzer is the question we have to address," Edmund said pinching the bridge of his nose. "The problem is, according to Daneh, the accusation is true. Something she had so far failed to make clear,"

he added, stonily."True and . . . not how it sounds," Daneh sighed. "He was with McCanoc's band, but from what I have been able to glean they weren't doing anything wrong up until then. They were just . . . surviving. It was a confusing time. He was lost like most of the rest of us and he knew McCanoc and . . . Aggh!" she threw up her arms. "Youknow what that time was like! I shouldn't have to explain it!"

"Go on," Edmund said, quietly.

"Some of McCanoc's men caught me and brought the rest, including Herzer. He told McCanoc I was a friend of his and McCanoc's answer was, more or less, that that was good, he could go first."

"Ouch," Kane said, shaking his head.

"McCanoc had drawn his sword. Herzer was unarmed and outnumbered. If he'd tried to fight he would have died and it wouldn't havechanged anything!" Daneh snarled then winced as the baby made a sudden motion. "This ismy honor andmy body that we are talking about and if anyone should be angry,"

she added, looking pointedly at Edmund, "it should beme ."

"And you're not?" Kane asked, surprised.

"Herzer was mypatient, " she said with a sigh. "Before the Fall. I put a lot of work in him. I would prefer not to see it wasted." She paused and sighed again. "What other feelings I have beyond that are mine ."

"Did Trooper McIerran actually have information about this?" Edmund asked.

"Well, he's not talking very well," Kane admitted. "But he indicated that, no, it was a shot in the dark. I've . . . heard the rumors too." He shook his head and shrugged. "Herzer has become popular in the community. He's well known to some of the major members of the community and his actions at the roundup are already legendary. Including his . . . somewhat intense heroism. That has caused a degree of envy. Some of the sequence of events are known about your . . . attack, doctor. Notthis sequence but that Herzer was there even before anyone else."

"Rachel," Daneh said, pursing her lips.

"Probably, but notgenerally, " Kane corrected. "Rachel to some friend to another friend all getting mixed into rumor. A nice juicy rumor to pull down somebody who just comes across as too Simon Pure to be true. A rumor which, unfortunately, now appears to be true."

"Gunny, effects on the Blood Lords," Edmund said with a sigh.

"Bad. Herzer's one of their natural leaders. They're not sure how to handle him now. Being a hero is what they're all about. 'Fight until you die and drop.' He ran. He's a coward in their eyes. They're very black and white about that. On the other hand, he's one of them. More now that he's not triari. They're rallying around him, but you can tell they're uneasy about doing it. We've had two more fights in the last two days."

"What'syour take?" Edmund asked. "Where are you, Miles?"

Gunny thought about it for a moment then shook his head. "How many, Doctor?"

"Eight," she said neutrally.

"Armed?"

"One with a bow, McCanoc with a sword and a couple of other daggers."

"Maybe,maybe I could have fought my way out of that," Gunny said. "And kept you alive and unraped doing it. Herzer, no way. Not then. Probably not now. One day, sure even against McCanoc.

He made the tactical decision to retreat and leave you behind. Sometimes, you have to cut your losses.

When he came back, he was armed, wasn't he?"

"Yes," she said, softly, kneading her stomach.

"He was probably dreading coming back and finding you with your throat cut. Ifhe has nightmares, that is probably them. And if he had, I don't think he'd be alive now, but most of them would be dead as well. He doesn't have an ounce of quit in him. He'll do. I can handle the Blood Lords. I'm not to sure how he's going to take it, though."

"He's liable to kill himself being the hero, is the answer," Edmund replied, gritting his teeth until therest could hear them squeak.

"Edmund, forgive him," Daneh ordered sharply.

"I will," Edmund replied. "Just do me the favor to give me a little time. All right?"

"All right," she said, unhappily.

"People will be down on him, though," Edmund said. "That's natural. I'd watched people build him up even when he didn't mean it to happen. Now they're going to drag him down."

"I'll work on that," Daneh said determinedly. "I'll bring it up in the next session. And the Ladies will let it Be Known that coming down on Herzer doesn't work."

"Rachel," Edmund said.

"Family," Daneh said, nodding at the others.

"Okay, if that's it . . ."

"Not . . . quite," Kane said unhappily. "You know how you wanted me to send a patrol down valley?"

"Yes?" Edmund said. There had been a report from a pack trader that a "large force" was seen moving north near Rowana. The target could be either Raven's Mill or Washan. The patrol had been sent out to see if it was Washan and another was due to head down the valley to see what was happening there.

"Well, my 'patrol' is in the hospital. The rest of the riders are out patrolling south of Resan. I've only got three left hale, and myself. I'd rather be here for when the others get back. And I don't want to send three out by themselves. Besides, they're all . . . pretty inexperienced."

"Shit," Edmund said, shaking his head. He thought about it a moment longer then cursed. "Ah, hell."

"Yeah," Kane replied. "You just got to the part I got to a while ago."

"Herzer," Gunny grunted.

"He can stay on a horse better than most of my riders," Kane said. "Way better than the three I've got left. I mean, it's him, me or Edmund."

"I can ride," Gunny said. "I can even fight on horseback."

"No," Edmund said. "For the same reason Kane and I can't go. That pack trader said there were a bunch of them and he thought it was only part of the force. If this is the force that hit Resan, I don't want either of you off on a patrol, much less cut down on one."

"And you're thinking of sendingHerzer ?" Daneh asked.

"He's disposable," Edmund said brutally. "At least, more so than any of the three of us, or you for example."

"So you're thinking of sending him out on patrol with three cavalrymen when he's just put the rest of their squad in the hospital?" she asked. "You're out of your mind."

"Well, they won't give him any guff," Kane snorted. "Not to his face."

"Herzer's . . ." Daneh stopped and shook her head. "He's . . . more vulnerable to stuff behind his back than to his face. And how do you know one of them won't slip a knife in his ribs when he's asleep?"

"Oh, come on, Daneh," Kane said angrily. "They're notthat mad. They're more contemptuous than mad. Getting him out of town is a benefit for that matter. It will let things settle down, give people something else to gossip about."

"How long?" Edmund asked.

"Two weeks," Kane replied. "Straight down the west valley then back up the east. Spare horse with fodder apiece."

"Do it," Talbot said.

"Edmund!"

"This discussion is over," he replied, coldly.

"I'll inform him," Gunny said, getting up. "Edmund, Kane, Mistress Ghorbani," he nodded then leftthe room followed by Kane.