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.Did you want to see him? The arrow took him where the neckjoins the shoulder.He didn t suffer, Rogue.He looks merely surprised.Tradition said he should go there, pay his respects, but at that momentRogan could not do it. Tomorrow, he promised. Morgan?She seemed almost tranced.She and Talesyn were intent on the land-pirates banner.Tristan had propped it between a stool and a chair, andcame quietly to Rogan s side. The landlord says he has space for ourofficers, so long as we don t mind doubling up.The riggers are working.The column will be under cover in an hour.The horses are fed and shel-tered already, and stablemen from Corry are rubbing them down.There sa room for us at the top of the stairs.It s the size of a cupboard, but we llhave it to ourselves. Fine. Rogan leaned down toward him. Find one of the Gustavs anyone from the chieftain s house  and make sure they know they canexpect the first wagonload of wounded from Huyuk tomorrow.Ask if theyneed supplies, and if they do, find out from Shevan where the goods aremost likely to come from, and make up orders to send a dispatch riderthere at first light.Bring me the orders as soon as you ve made them up,and I ll endorse them.And Tristan? Tris was turning away, hurrying towork.Rogan dropped a kiss off-center of his mouth. Thank you. You ve nothing to thank me for, Tristan said quietly. Not yet.Letme do my job, Rogue, like everyone else here. He gave Morgan andTalesyn a look of concern. Best take care of them.They need you.They had lost two kinsmen in a day, and the burden was never easy tobear.Morgan was mesmerized by the Eisweg in battle colors, as if theywere the vindication for the Halloran blood that had been spilled.Her222voice was a rough monotone as she repeated what Rogan had said, like alitany. You took the standard, Barbansen was there, he died.TheEisweg in won t soon be back.Not this season, not next.As Tristan left to find a Gustav, Rogan sank down onto the footstoolby the hearth. You have it, he told Morgan. It s Bardolf who worries menow.He ll make his move on Althea before long.Have you had word fromhome? Not an hour before you rode in, Talesyn said tiredly, cradling thebandaged arm against him. Will you eat? Let me find you some food, andI ll tell you what I know.The food was less simple than rough, and the landlord apologizedrepeatedly.There was not enough in Corry to offer fine fare, and no timefor the cooks to be fancy.Rogan could not have cared less.Outside theshabby, ramshackle walls of the town, the cavalry was under canvas,eating pumpkin soup, baked turnips and black bread, and grateful for anyhot food.The officers and nobility would eat a little better and sleep undera roof, but no one in Corry would enjoy much comfort, let alone luxury,before the repairs were made.A stick of bread, a mug of cabbage and rabbit soup and a dish of treaclepudding were fetched for him, and he ate as if it were wild pork andsalmon.Tristan reappeared as he cleaned the mug and turned his attentionto the dish, and Talesyn fetched the same again.Between bites, too ravenous to wait, Tristan said,  They have twowitch women, three surgeons, a midwife who knows how to set brokenbones and clean wounds, and an herbalist who s never treated battlefieldwounds, but who knows the medicines.Two shamans are coming in fromparts of Eschar I ve never even heard of.The wounded who came downwith Talesyn are well cared for.No more could be done for them, suppos-ing we could cast a spell and whisk them to Althea. It s the people who make a hovel into a palace, and purgatory intoparadise, Rogan said philosophically. I like Corry.I ve always liked it.Will the chieftain see us tonight? She said she will, Tristan said through a mouthful of food,  at yourown pleasure, Colonel Dahl.As Lyn Gustav had said, the whole town was muddy, dilapidated.Itneeded years worth of repairs which could never be done with the landpi-rates constantly sniping at the walls of the frontier steadings.There wasnever money or manpower left over for painting and plastering.Even now, with Corry heavily damaged, the work would have to waituntil the Battle of Althea had been fought and won.Rogan would notpermit a thought of defeat.The Corrymen had been risking their lives toguard the frontier for more years than anyone knew.The Thered in owedthem a debt, and Althea would pay it.The chieftain of the Gustav clan of the Shamal in was an old woman223by the name of Jacquetta.She was blind in one eye, but the other saw moreclearly than any young man s two eyes.Rogan had always liked her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]