Harmonics by P. E. Padilla

Author:P. E. Padilla [Padilla, P. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0BTKL7YRS
Goodreads: 106902648
Publisher: Oliver Heber Books
Published: 2023-01-30T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 34

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Chisin Ling asked Nicole as she handed her some tea.

“Yes, I am. Thank you. And thank you for saving me. I thought I was dead.”

“I’m sorry it was so close. I should have been guarding you the whole time, not trying to engage the intruders like that.”

“You saved me,” Nicole said. “That’s all that matters to me.”

She looked around at the shambles that had been their camp. It would be daylight soon and she would be able to see better, but they had built the fire up so that it was very bright, allowing her to see more than she felt she wanted to. All told, six of the soldiers had been killed, four men and two women. There had been over twenty of the attackers, though they would probably never know the exact number because some had escaped. They were the same men who had made the fire Marr had scouted earlier, she was sure.

The only reason their losses weren’t greater was that the soldiers were more experienced. They had been trained and were simply better warriors compared to the bandits. Pirates, she should probably call them, since they traveled by boat. Of those left in Nicole’s party, probably half of them were injured. Thankfully, none of the injuries were life-threatening, though traveling through the forest with no medicine or modern technology might make them so.

“The fire was a ruse,” Marr said, limping up toward where Nicole was talking to the captain. “They used it to lure me there and then tracked me back here. It’s my fault that we were attacked. I’m sorry, Captain.”

“Hant Marr,” Chisin snapped. “Don’t act like one of your children. It was not your fault. I don’t want to hear another word. Is that clear?”

“Yes ma’am,” Marr said, snapping to attention.

“Good. Do you have a total for me yet?”

“Twenty-two dead, Captain. I think there were probably five or six more that escaped. Do you want us to hunt them down?”

Chisin Ling pondered the question for a moment and then shook her head. “No. They won’t bother us again. We’ll have to try to find their boats when it’s light out. We may be able to use them to reduce our travel time. See to it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Hant Marr said again. He saluted, fist to heart, turned, and walked off, favoring his left leg.

As it turned out, they found only one of the boats. The survivors had taken the other one and apparently didn’t have enough men to take both. The party found the burned-out husk of the second boat, useless for anything other than using the pieces to make charcoal drawings on rocks. It looked as if they would be continuing their trek on land.

The day after the attack was a partial travel day. The captain wanted to take it easy to see what toll the soldiers’ injuries would take. As Nicole sat resting with three full hours of daylight still left, Chisin Ling came to her holding some sort of leather parcel.

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