Page 10 of The Sorcerer's Alpha
“You have my gratitude,” Sycamore said. The image of Poplar’s hand filled the bowl as he splashed the water to send Sycamore away.
Sycamore offered the bowl of clear water to the horses. Rhododendron wasn’t interested, but Marut’s black stallion drank it down gladly. Sycamore untied them both and led them back down the canyon. He found Marut not far away, perched on a small boulder at one side of the passage, arms folded around his knees. He was looking in Sycamore’s direction already as Sycamore brought the horses around the bend.
“You had success?” Marut asked.
“Yes. It didn’t take long.”
Marut rose to his feet. “All right. Let’s return.” His fingers brushed against Sycamore’s as he took the stallion’s reins, and his eyes snapped to Sycamore’s and just as quickly away.
Sycamore scrubbed his hand against his trousers as he turned away to mount Rhododendron. The scouts would be off again soon, he imagined, and then this trouble would be over.
* * *
Nothing happenedthat day or overnight. The patrol hadn’t been folded into the watch rotation because it was assumed they would leave soon, but Marut woke in the night and got up to sit outside for a while anyway and breathe in the night air. The soldiers on watch raised their hands at him in greeting, and he signaled back. All was quiet in the world. After some time, he returned to his tent and slept again until morning.
He went to find Keerti that morning, to ask him what their orders were, but Keerti had been told nothing, or at least claimed he had been told nothing.
“I understand that you’re about to chew your own leg off,” Keerti said. “Take your team and go for a perimeter ride if you’d like. I’ll tell you as soon as we’re given leave to ride out.”
Marut didn’t want to go for a perimeter ride; he wanted to be gone for good. He hated to be in camp with so many people around. The scouts knew how he was and for the most part spared him any attempts to make conversation, but to the foot soldiers he was merely another warm body, and three separate people had tried to ask him questions about their journey. Marut wanted to converse with no one but his own team, and even then he was happier to listen to them converse with each other.
He walked along the canyon again simply to enjoy the quiet. Birds flew overhead. The gray sky was low and flat as a pewter plate, but the rain held. He passed the wizard’s tent on his way back into the valley and the wizard lowered the book he was reading and said, “All right?”
Marut shrugged. Nothing was wrong. Only he couldn’t shake the sense of something on the horizon, as if a storm was about to blow in.
“I feel it, too,” the wizard said. “That we’re waiting.”
“For orders,” Marut said.
“Not for that. I think you know what I mean.”
Marut said nothing. The wizard went back to his book. Marut stood there for another moment before continuing on.
No one else on his team seemed unnerved. Bored and restless, yes, and annoyed that they hadn’t been given new orders, but otherwise contently engaged in their usual camp pursuits of embroidery, gear repair, and gossip. Marut worked on his carvings, his own favored pastime. He cleaned Bunny’s tack with excruciating care, using a needle to pick dirt from between the stitches, and listened to Agasti tell the story of the monkey queen’s journey to Paravata, where she battled the daughter of the Wind. Agasti had begun training as a bard before he joined the scouts, and he knew most of the verses and only occasionally inserted something that Marut thought wasn’t quite right. The day passed, somehow, and night lowered at last like a thick blanket being laid down onto a bed.
He woke from a dead sleep to the sound of distant shouting.
“Pack your things,” he said to Jyoti, stirring in her own bedding. “I’m going to get the wizard.”
“You think—all right,” she said, and Marut pushed open the tent flap and crawled out into the night.
The commotion was coming from the opposite end of the valley. He wasn’t the only person roused by the noise; all around him, heads were emerging from tents. He spotted Chandran coming out of his own tent and called, “Wake the others. We’re going.” Chandran made a gesture of acknowledgment, and Marut went on.
He tore open the flap of the wizard’s tent. The wizard was sound asleep and didn’t stir until Marut seized his ankle and shook. He gave a quiet gasp, then said, “What is it.”
“We need to leave. Gather your things and pack your tent. I’ll saddle your horse.”
“All right,” the wizard said, and threw off his blankets.
Marut backed out of his tent. More people were up now, tossing saddles on their horses. The scouts worked efficiently and in near silence in the flickering firelight, communicating largely with hand gestures. At the outskirts of the patrol’s section of the camp, foot soldiers were running in all directions as officers shouted orders. Farther away, heavy cavalry saddled their horses and donned their leather armor. The shouting that had first woken Marut was joined now with the faint sounds of steel clashing.
Jyoti had pulled the leather from the frame of their tent, giving Marut ready access. He rolled and tied his blankets and gathered the saddle pad underneath that he used as a cushion on the hard ground. All of his other belongings were already packed in his saddlebags. Someone had loosed Bunny from where Marut had tied him and he came walking up, ears pricked; he knew something was happening and was ready to go.
“I’ll need your sharp eyes tonight, small one,” Marut said, slinging the pad over Bunny’s back and tugging it into place. His hands were steady despite his racing heart. This was no time to panic or rush.
He found Rhododendron still tied near the wizard’s tent. The wizard had set her tack and his saddlebags nearby. He was busy with disassembling his tent and nodded at Marut as he approached with Bunny. Marut would have thought no less of the wizard if he were panicking, but he couldn’t deny he was relieved to see these signs of at least outward calm.
Keerti approached at a jog as Marut slipped the halter onto Rhododendron’s head. He lifted the wizard’s saddlebags and slung them over Rhododendron’s back. “The camp is under attack. We’re to help fend them off.”