I didn’t know where it came from, but I had a swatch of white cloth in my hand and I knelt down next her, pressing it over the lacerations. As I did so, I saw that her throat had also been cut and I felt the beginning of an endless despair. I did not give it thought at the time, but I was lucky that Leerfar was no longer in the room, else she would have added the First Cohort’s captain to her tally for the night.
“Fetch Corporal Grief!” I heard myself shout to the men crowding uncertainly in the room. I could have saved my words, for the corporal had already elbowed his way into the room. He pushed me aside without ceremony and examined our lady quickly. I noticed that he made no efforts at immediate treatment as he normally did when the wounds were at their most severe.
“She’s dead, Captain,” he whispered, telling me what I knew but had not yet been able to confront.
I stood up, slowly and dumbly as the shock of it came to me. I saw the same expression in Ploster’s face and in those of the other men. There was a thump at my feet and when I looked down, I saw that someone had thrown a severed hand there, which still clutched a rune-etched short sword. It was no consolation, but at least Footsore or Hurtle hadn’t died without giving their own response.
“What are we to do, Captain? What are we to do?” someone asked. Through the haze of loss I didn’t recognize the voice.
I shook my head. I didn’t know – I really didn’t know.
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Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Soldiers' Redemption (First Cohort Book 1) Page 34
