Now hollow fires burn out to black,
And lights are guttering low:
Square your shoulders, lift your pack,
And leave your friends and go.—Alfred Edward Housman
It was a clear night. Andy-Andy lying still beside him, Karl stared up at the dome of stars.
Downslope from them, halfway between them and the palisade wall, little Aeia huddled in her blankets, asleep at last. It had been a rocky night for the girl, filled with bad dreams and loud screams.
If there is a hell, Orhmyst, you are surely there.
"Andy," he whispered.
"Yes?"
He quirked a smile. She hadn't been sleeping either.
"I've got to leave, for a while."
She sucked air through her teeth, then rolled over on her side, facing him. She stroked his forehead with gentle fingers. "I know. You're worried about Pandathaway."
"Not worried: terrified. If I stay here too long, I'm not just endangering myself." He patted her barely distended belly. "There's others involved, too."
"Like Karl, Junior?" She grinned at him.
"Even if it is a boy, we're not naming him after me. With a mother as pretty as you, he'll have enough of an Oedipus problem without saddling him with his father's name. Besides, it's probably a girl."
"It will be a boy, Karl." Her face grew somber. "We women know about these things."
"Bullshit." He snorted. "I think we know each other a bit too well for you to give me that sort of nonsense."
"We do know about these things," she said, shrugging, "and we're right about, oh, fifty percent of the time."
"Funny. Very funny. But you're changing the subject. Or trying to."
"I'm starting to get fat, is that it? You're going to run off and find some sixteen-year-old—"
"Shh." He put a finger to her lips. "Shh. Not even in jest. Please."
A long pause. "How long will you be gone?"
"Don't know for sure. Six months, at a minimum. Maybe closer to a year."
"When?" she asked, her voice a low whisper.
'Twere best done quickly. "In a day or two, I think. It won't take long to pack. I don't know if you've noticed, but Chak's getting itchy."
"And so are you."
There was more truth in that than he cared to admit. "No, it's not that. But this vacation has gone on long enough; it's time to get back to work."
She rolled onto her back and stared up at the sky, her head pillowed on her hands. "Slicing up people. Some work."
"Slicing up slavers. Or, if you want to be more accurate, my work is murdering slavers. But it isn't the words that matter, Andrea. You know that." Please, Andy, don't ever let the blood come between us. Please.
She sighed deeply, and then closed her eyes. She lay quietly for so long that Karl began to wonder if she had fallen back asleep. "Who are you taking with you?"
"Well, Chak, for one. He's seen more of the Eren regions than any of the rest of us, and he's pretty handy with a sword." Besides, he rankles at taking orders from anyone except me. I'm not leaving a time bomb behind. "I'd like to take Ellegon, but he's just too conspicuous." And he's also the most deadly being I know. He stays here, and keeps an eye on my wife and unborn child.
*I am honored, of course. But I will miss you, Karl. Don't do something stupid and get yourself killed. Please?*
Just as a favor to you.
*Thanks.*
"Who else?" she asked, a decided edge to her voice.
"Well, I can't take Walter, not this time; somebody's got to run the farm." And if I did take him along, I'd never know whether it was because I wanted him along, or because I didn't trust both of you enough to leave him here. "I think I'll invite Ahira to come along; he'll want to go. He's just as good in a fight as I am—"
*Better.*
"—and he's got a fine strategical sense. His darksight might come in handy; it's even better than Ellegon's."
"How's he going to take your being in charge, Karl?"
"Huh? Who said anything about—"
"As Walter would say, think it through. You've always thought he was too conservative, too eager to avoid a fight. So you're going to let him be in charge when you're going out looking for trouble?"
He snorted. "We'll work it out. What we're doing is too important to let who's-in-charge games screw it up. And . . ."
"And? I don't recall your mentioning my name."
He snorted. "Don't be silly."
"Silly?"
"This isn't a time for reflex pseudo-feminism. We're going to be gone for six months, at least. If you think I'm going to let a woman at term bounce along on the back of a horse, try thinking again. Case closed; you stay here, where it's safe."
"Always the diplomat, Karl." She dismissed the issue with a wave of her hand. "But I guess you're right. It's just going to be you, Chak, and Ahira?"
"Can't expect any of the new people to do any good in a fight. The best is Fialt, and he wouldn't last ten seconds against a real swordsman. On the other hand, he's trying hard to learn. If he wants in, he's got it. Chton, Kirah, Ihryk, and he are happy here, or I'd escort them somewhere safe. Tennetty, though . . ."
"Tennetty wouldn't be happy anywhere."
"Exactly. But she's hot to kill some slavers. I can't say as I blame her; she can come along if she wants to. Which she will."
"Is that all?" She frowned. "It sounds like an awfully small group."
"It is. But I think it's the best one, for now." I may as well get it over with. "There's one more person we're taking along, Andy."
"Karl, you are not taking Aeia."
"We're taking her home." He shrugged. "Might as well swing through Melawei. The hunting should be good; there've been slaving raids all along that coast." Mainly by sea, according to Chak; to the best of his knowledge, Orhmyst had been the only slaver to try the difficult overland route to Melawei.
Question: How does one take on a slaver's ship?
*Answer: very carefully. Do you have any more stupid questions?*
No.
"No!" Andy-Andy said, echoing his response to Ellegon. "You can't. She's getting used to being around us; she'll adjust. I'll take care of her."
"We're not her family, Andrea. She's been through hell. You should know that, better than I do; let's let her grow up in her own country, with her own people."
Andy-Andy sat up, angrily pulling the blankets around her. "What good did they do her? Tell me. Her people let her get caught by slavers, raped. Karl, you can't take her back to them. I won't let you."
He tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged his arm away.
"Shall we leave it up to her?" he asked.
"She's too young to decide. She needs someone to take care of her." She looked away from him, toward where Aeia slept.
"Like you?"
"Yess," she hissed, "like me. Don't you think I'm good enough to take care of her? Don't you?"
He shook his head. "No, I don't."
Her head spun around. "You bastard." Tears filled her eyes.
"Andy, it's not that there's anything wrong with you. The thing of it is this: She's a little girl. Somewhere, she has family. And they probably miss her as much as she misses them."
She sneered. "Just as our families back home will be missing us? You didn't seem so worried about that."
"Different case. For one thing, we're adults; we have to make our own decisions. For another, with the time differential between here and home, the fact that we're gone hasn't even been noticed yet; at home, we've only been gone a few hours.
"But, again, you're dodging the issue. Think about this: If someone stole little whatever-her-name-is from you, you'd want her back." He laid a palm on her belly. "Wouldn't you? Or would you think that some stranger could take better care of her?"
She didn't answer for a long time.
Then: "Leave it alone, Karl. You're right, as usual. Bastard." She daubed at her eyes with a corner of the blanket. "But it's going to be a boy." Gathering her robes about her, she rose and walked down the slope toward where Aeia lay sleeping. She seated herself beside the girl and took one of Aeia's small hands in both of hers.
And sat there, watching her, until the night fled, and the sun sat above the treetops.