by Jo Zebedee
Silom’s snoring woke Kare, familiar enough that it took a moment to realise there were other, less known, sounds: running water, someone turning over in their bed, a bird screeching. What the hell? Kare opened his eyes and took in the austere room, very different from the cluttered room he’d shared with Silom for years. Sleep dropped away, and the memory of the day before came back. He fought not to groan: the army?
Better get on with it. He got up, lifting the fatigues he’d been issued, and walked to the shower room. It was cold, really cold, and he turned the water as hot as it would go before jumping in. A quick wash and hand rubbed across his chin to decide if he needed to shave– it’d do another day, he reckoned– and he got dressed. The trousers– jungle greens, as far as he could tell– were too big for his thin waist, and he had to clinch the belt as tight as it would go, but the t-shirt was a good fit, and the jacket, when he put it on, had a satisfying weight across his shoulders. He caught sight of himself in the mirror and paused for a moment. Actually, he looked the part; maybe soldiering wouldn’t be that bad.
The dorm was stirring, some soldiers taking showers, some pulling on their fatigues. He followed Silom to the mess, and swallowed a jolt of envy as Silom turned to another recruit and started to chat. Silom was more practiced, that was all; he wasn’t the one who’d had to keep people away for years. He smiled, knowing he was feeling sorry for himself, and took his food to one of the tables, ignoring the shadow of a little girl at the door. He hoped that stopped soon.
Silom sat opposite him. “Chang’s been telling me all about Major le Payne. Tight on discipline, apparently.”
“Eevan le Payne?” Things were just getting better by the moment.
Silom gave his cousin a long stare. “Something I should know about? Before we start in his army.”
“Not really. I wouldn’t have said there was a lot of love lost between us, though.”
“Meaning?”
Oh, hell, it had to come out some time. Kare put his spoon down. “We had a fight once, and I knocked him over.”
“You knocked him over?”
“I used my psyche.” Kare looked down, trying to remember the details of what had happened, but it was hidden under years of more vivid childhood memories. “I scared him, I think. I was five and pretty angry, and wanted to teach him a lesson– he’d told me my dad was crazy.”
“He had a point.”
“Maybe. Anyway, Dad came in, told me he could feel me from one end of the base to the other. He dragged me away by my ear– literally, by my ear– and that was the last time I saw Eevan le Payne.”
Silom shook his head, looking resigned. “Not the best start, then.”
“No. But I’m sure he’s over it by now.” Kare finished his coffee and set the cup down. The rest of the recruits had started to leave. “Let’s go, find out what’s ahead.”
They got to the barracks and waited on their beds as the other recruits left for the practice ground. A few minutes later, just as the quiet had started to grow uncomfortable, they heard the sound of footsteps approaching. A tall lad, younger than them, came into the room, his steps jaunty. Emanating from him was a sense of mischief, a belief he was smarter than anyone.
“Bugger me,” he said, his face a mask of amazement. “It is you.” He held his hand out to Kare. “But when did you go blond?”
Kare frowned, trying to place the youth, but nothing occurred. He shook the hand proffered. “And you’re...?”
“Lichio.” The lad smirked. “Le Payne.”
The penny dropped. The little brother of the le Payne family, the pain who’d followed his sister Sonly everywhere and constantly asked if he could play with her and Karia.
“Nice to meet you again,” said Kare. He nudged Silom. “This is my cousin. Silom.”
“I know.” Lichio shook hands with Silom, too, managing not to look too discomfited when his hand was enclosed in Silom’s. “Nice to meet you, too.” He held his hand up, open-palmed, as if a tour guide. “And this is my dorm. I’m your mentor during your basic training.”
“Which means?” asked Silom. His face was hard to read, his emotions less so; he wasn’t impressed by their new friend.
“Well, now, what does it mean?” Suddenly Lichio looked serious, like he had some substance behind him. His eyes were sharp. “It means I’m the only person in this barracks on your side. You’d do best to remember that.”
The sound of more footsteps approached, these ones heavier, slower.
“Stand,” said Lichio, and his voice carried a crisp command, surprising Kare; the Banned started its people early, it would seem. He got to his feet, as did Silom. Lichio shook his head. “To attention. My brother wants to meet and greet you himself. And you don’t want to give him a reason to dislike you. Not right away.”
A tall man, almost as tall as Silom, dressed in a formal military uniform, stepped into the room. Kare found himself straightening, his hands clasped behind his back, and he tried to hide his surprise; he hadn’t expected Eevan to look so like Darwin. A colder Darwin, with darker eyes, but there was no mistaking the resemblance.
“It’s been a long time, Kare.” Eevan’s words were flat, unfriendly. It seemed twelve years hadn’t taken away the memory of their fight. Damn.
“It has. Everything’s changed.”
“I don’t normally take time to allocate new recruits myself, but given your... history, I thought I would afford you the courtesy.”
“Thank you, Eevan,” Kare said.
“Thank you, sir.” Eevan’s dark eyes challenged Kare to oppose him.
“Thank you, sir.”
Eevan jerked his head at his brother. “You’re dismissed, Lichio. Take Dester with you.”
“Sir.” With a quick, hooded, look to Kare, the younger man saluted and left. Silom followed, his narrowed eyes carrying a warning. Kare gave the smallest of nods; don’t piss Eevan off. He knew.
Their footsteps died away and Eevan’s face changed, became nastier somehow. He guarded his emotions well, though– he’d had some training in dealing with Empaths, evidently.
“Varnon,” he said. “I remember you from the past. Any special talents you have must not be used on active duty unless ordered by your commander. Clear?”
Abundantly so. Kare stayed at attention, feeling strangely exposed before the older man’s glare. “Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed.”
Kare left, back straight, and fought the urge to look back. Not use his psyche? Eevan may as well have asked him to stop breathing.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Hours later– he had no idea how many, the day had become one long, exhausting ordeal– Kare leaned forward, his hands on his knees, breathing hard. He swallowed against a wave of nausea, determined not to throw up again, and glanced at the obstacle course ahead.
Silom, beside him, laughed. “There’s no way you can do that. I’m just about keeping up, and I’ve been working at the yard for three years.”
Kare straightened, the muscles across his back and legs cramping. Briefly, he wondered what Stitt would say if he lay down and refused to get up again. He glanced at the drill captain and she gave him a mocking smile. She looked as immaculate as when she’d started the day, with her uniform still in place and her hair coiled into a tight bun.
“I’ll do it,” he said.
The whistle blew and the first pair of soldiers set off. A couple of minutes later the next followed. Kare stepped forward, and waited for Captain Stitt to give the okay to go. All credit to her; anyone who made him work this hard deserved respect. Lichio le Payne stood beside her, his arms crossed and a small, unreadable smile on his face. At the next whistle Kare and Silom set off.
Kare ran, overtaking Silom, his slighter build making him quicker over the flat. Reaching the first low hurdle he jumped, but his legs had doubled in weight over the day, and he clipped the final one. Bollocks. He put his hands out, sure he was going down, but managed to get one foot planted. Somehow, he stayed upr
ight.
Ahead, Silom swarmed up the tall wooden wall, using one of two ropes. Taking a deep breath, Kare ran to the wall, took hold of the rope and leant back, looping it round his foot like he’d been shown. He hadn’t got it right, and slipped back, yelling as the rope pulled through his hands.
“Get on with it! You’re not on holiday!”
Stitt’s voice seared through him. He straightened, glaring at the wall. He could do this. He had to. He ran at the wall, this time locking his foot, and hoisted himself up until his arms could pull him up the last bit. He shook with exertion as he struggled to get over the lip of the wall.
“Come on, your ass is hanging out, it’s not pretty!”
It wasn’t funny; he was trying as hard as he could. Anger washed over him and he pulled himself onto the top of the wall. He paused, taking a deep breath, blowing it out so hard that it lifted his fringe from his eyes– he could see why the army guys all had crops– and jumped down. He landed, hard, the impact jarring the breath from him. Still, he’d got this far; now for the rest.
He stopped. The row of bars in front of him was easily seven feet from the ground. Silom was nearly across, his hands moving in a rhythm, making it look easy. Kare’s breath burned his chest. He didn’t know how he would even manage the jump onto them.
“Varnon, we want to get to the mess today. Move!” shouted Stitt. He glanced at her, and decided he didn’t respect her: he hated her. “Move, or I’ll keep you here all night!”
He ran, jumped, and grabbed the first bar, already struggling. His left hand slipped off, making him gasp at the jolt and he had to grit his teeth to bring it back up. Below, he heard muted laughter. He couldn’t give up and face them. His hands started to slip, sweaty from the run, and he kicked his legs, desperate not to fall off.
“Come on, you can do it!” shouted a different voice– le Payne, he guessed.
He swung his legs, trying to get enough momentum to shift one hand onto the next bar. He let go with his right, missed, and knew he was going to fall. Instinctively, he snapped the air beneath into something more solid, so he could hold on. Hell, if he wanted to, he could have walked on it. He grasped the next bar and remembered Eevan le Payne’s order. He hesitated, his arms still burning. Fuck it, they have to catch me.
He moved along, keeping the air beneath him a little denser than it should be. He dropped off the end and saw Silom climbing out of the waist deep water ahead. He jumped into the water, pushing it to the side, splashing through it, instead of wading. He got out, making sure he’d brought the level up, so that he sloshed as Silom had, and ran to the climbing wall. He scaled it easily, his psyche supporting him, and for a moment thought he might overtake Silom. He didn’t, quite, and had to wait at the top for Silom to go down the zip wire.
Kare put his hands in the supporting loops. “Go!” said the soldier beside him, and he jumped into empty space, hurtling down, grinning as he did. He landed in a small pool of water at the bottom.
He took his hands from the sling and straightened up, his muscles protesting. He’d done it. He looked back over the course, smiling. He’d sleep like the dead tonight, he reckoned. Captain Stitt walked across, slapped Silom on the shoulder and said something that made him smile and nod. She walked to Kare, and her eyes narrowed. Her smile fell away. She touched her head and then his temple, and he sensed just the tiniest bit of power, insignificant in comparison to his own. But enough to have sensed his. He closed his eyes as realisation clicked into place: a captain in charge of a basic training squad?
“My office,” she said. “I’ll deal with your cheating there.”
Her voice was loud, designed to carry. Kare opened his eyes, and fought not to wince at her disdainful stare. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Come on,” said Lichio. His face twisted into some sort of sympathy. “I’ll show you where to go.”
As they walked away, the other recruits watched in silence. Kare’s face burned with shame and he limped from a cramp in his leg. They crossed the field, passed a group of recruits running circuits, and went into the barracks.
“Cheating won’t have helped your popularity,” said Lichio. “Neither will ignoring the major’s orders.” He paused just slightly too long. “You might want to be more careful.”
He opened the door to Stitt’s office, and Kare went in and waited. He stood with his hands clenched behind him, and every muscle and joint in his body ached. His hands slipped and he wiped them on his trousers. At the sound of footsteps he replaced them, drew his shoulders back and stood to attention. Stitt swept past and sat at her desk.
“Major le Payne issued you one order,” she said.
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Remind me, so I can rule out stupidity?”
“I wasn’t to use my powers, ma'am.”
“Which means not only did you cheat, you also disobeyed orders. Was it because you didn’t care or you thought you were too smart?”
Kare hesitated, not sure what to say.
“Answer me, Private.”
“I made a mistake, ma'am,” Kare said, his teeth gritted.
She glared at him. “You didn’t answer my question.” He shook his head slightly, and she raised her voice, just a little. “Now.”
“I thought I was too clever,” he said, closing his eyes against her disdain. He opened them a moment later, and she stared at him until sweat broke out across his forehead. She knew what he was thinking, he was sure of it. Was this how he made others feel, when he picked up on their thoughts? If so, he couldn’t entirely blame them for finding it odd. The silence stretched until he had to speak to break it.
“I– ”
“Be quiet.” He closed his mouth and Stitt went on, “I have a whole squad of recruits who are working hard to complete their training without resorting to shortcuts.”
“I’m sorry, ma'am.”
“I’m glad you are– you can remind yourself of that while you take care of my shit work, and I have a lot of shit work. Consider yourself on that duty for the next two weeks. And I don’t want to see you here again. Clear?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Dismissed.”
Kare saluted and walked out of the room, his head held as high as he was able. Outside, Lichio stood with a bucket and a rag. Kare looked at him, stupidly. Lichio handed them to Kare.
“Come on,” said Lichio. He led Kare to the gymnasium, and pointed at the floor. It wasn’t just big– it was filthy. How had it got so dirty? A platoon of soldiers, just back from the practice field, crossed it.
“It’s to be cleaned until it shines. When it’s done, come and get me.”
Kare looked at the rag in his hand, and took in the size of the floor. He walked to the furthest corner, his steps echoing, got down on his hands and knees and started cleaning. He heard more footsteps and looked up to see his squad walking through.
“Enjoying yourself, Varnon?” shouted one of them, and there was a general rumble of laughter. Stitt entered the room behind them and he put his head down. He looked around briefly as they left and saw Silom staring back at him.
“Asshole,” Silom mouthed.
I know.
He had no idea how late it was when he finally rocked back and threw his cloth into the dirty water beside him. He’d never been so tired in his life. All he wanted to do was sleep. He heard voices behind him, but didn’t turn, couldn’t turn, his muscles were so sore. Stitt and Eevan passed him and walked across the wide floor, leaving muddy footprints on it. He waited until they’d left, and blinked, his eyes dry and grainy.
He got up and walked to the utility room, where he emptied the dirty water and refilled the bucket. He returned to the gym, knelt, and silently washed away the dirty footprints. His eyes closed at least twice, but he kept going until he’d finished. He straightened. If he had to wash it again, they’d find him asleep there in the morning. He heard footsteps and waited, resigned.
“How are you doing?” Silom knelt beside him.
“If you put one foot on that floor, I think I might kill you,” said Kare, his words slow and sluggish.
Silom looked over the wide expanse. “Did you eat?”
“Lichio sent something.” He couldn’t remember what it had been, only that he’d eaten it.
“Come on, then,” said Silom, but Kare shook his head.
“I have to get Lichio to check it. You go up.”
“I’ll wait. You look like you might collapse.”
Kare got up, emptied the water and went to the office. He knocked on the door and waited until Lichio responded. He didn’t dare lean against the doorframe in case he fell asleep.
“Done?”
“Yes.”
Lichio walked to the gym and looked at the floor. Kare waited, hoping he would say it was okay and wouldn’t make him do it again. Lichio took his time, rubbing his chin, ratcheting up Kare’s tension, before he turned to Kare and nodded. “Dismissed.”
Silom jerked his head at the stairs and Kare climbed ahead of him. When he reached the dorm, he walked to his bed and lay down, his feet still in their boots, hanging off the side. He didn’t have any memories that night. Instead, he slept.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Sonly sat on a patch of cleared grass just outside the base. Behind her the perimeter wall marked the edge of the dense jungle that, as ever, threatened to encroach. Her eyes scanned past the grey, utilitarian base and medical wing until she picked out the barracks and its practice ground. From here, the soldiers looked tiny, like ants.
One of them would be Kare Varnon, doing his basic training. She hadn’t met him yet, but she wanted to. She wanted to know how much he’d changed. His arrival had brought back memories of Karia and had made the grief she’d felt at the time real again.
Everyone else, when they talked about his arrival, thought only about how they could use it to further the Banned’s cause. None of them seemed to remember that a little girl had been forced from the Banned to her death. Instead, the focus was on how unreliable Ealyn had been, how he’d brought the Empress’ attention onto the base, and whether they should keep Kare in the Banned now.
