The Autumn Republic

“Thanks,” Taniel said, looping the strap over his shoulder. Privileged didn’t like black powder. They had allergies to the stuff that made battlefields a nightmare. “Really, Bo. I wish I could repay you.”

“You didn’t shoot me in the head when your dad told you to. I figured it was my turn to do something nice for you.” Bo sat up and jerked a thumb toward the infantry. “We should go. I’ve given them a stern talking-to. They’ll finish their work and bring the bodies back to Adopest.”

“A stern talking-to? You threatened them? I can’t get four squads of soldiers to listen to me when I threaten them.”

“You can’t pull their veins out of their bodies inch by inch. And if any run, they’ll spend the rest of their lives wondering if I’m around the next corner.” He barked a laugh. “Best punishment I can think of, really.”

“Ah.”

Bo’s gaze shifted to Ka-poel. “Good to see you again, little sister. Taniel knocked you up yet?”

“You bastard!” Taniel swung halfheartedly for Bo, who stepped deftly out of the way.

“Oh, don’t give me that. I knew you were in love with her that day you came for me on South Pike. Little sister, what have you got… oh dear Kresimir above!” Bo backpedaled suddenly, leaping away from Ka-poel with agility Taniel wouldn’t have credited him with.

“What’s wrong?” Taniel asked.

Bo cowered behind a boulder. He poked his head out from behind it after a few moments. “What the pit is in that box on her back?”

How would Taniel explain this to Bo? There was no possible way he could understand. He opened his mouth, only for Ka-poel to speed through a series of hand motions, pointing at Bo and then touching her finger to her throat, then back to him.

Bo licked his lips while he watched her go through the motions again. “What I just said?”

Ka-poel nodded.

“ ‘What have you got…’?”

Ka-poel made a get on with it motion.

“ ‘Oh dear Kresimir above’?” Bo said.

Ka-poel nodded again.

“ ‘Kresimir above’?” Bo confirmed.

One more nod.

“You’ve got Kresimir in that box?”

Ka-poel gave him a tight smile. To Taniel’s shock, it looked as if Bo believed her. Hesitantly, the Privileged worked his way out from behind the boulder. He was pale in the face, and he kept Taniel between himself and Ka-poel as he rejoined them.

“I could have fixed you up with a nice girl,” Bo said. “A girl from east Adopest. Someone who doesn’t go around keeping gods in boxes.”

Taniel took Ka-poel’s hand. “Not my type.”

“Of course not,” Bo said bitterly, tugging at the backs of his gloves. “Now, can we get moving?”

“Are you in a hurry?”

“No,” Bo said as he set off at a brisk pace down the canyon. “Well,” he called over his shoulder, “yes. A little.”

Taniel jogged to catch up. “What is it?”

“Nothing at all. Can the girl get a move on?”

“Her name is Ka-poel.”

“Can little sister get a move on? I’m going to need some rest tonight and I would prefer to get it in the valley and not in this bloody canyon.”

“When’s the last time you slept?”

Bo counted silently on his gloved fingers. “Five days?”

“Pit, Bo, you-”

“That’s not really important.”

“Then what is?”

“I may have left my new apprentice in a war zone. And I killed both my horses getting here in time to save you.”

“Wait, wait. You have an apprentice?”

“Very nice girl. The kind I could have set you up with. She has some peculiar powers, and I’ve grown quite fond of her. She’s actually the one who figured out where you were. I wouldn’t have left her, except…”

“Yes, yes. You were coming to save me.”

“Right.”

They continued on in silence for the better part of the afternoon. Taniel forced Bo to slow down so that Ka-poel could keep up, and they worked their way down the canyon. They finally stopped to rest an hour after the sun had left their canyon in shadow. Ka-poel dropped Kresimir’s casket on the ground unceremoniously, making Bo wince.

“Tell me about this apprentice,” Taniel said as they made a meal of infantry rations.

Bo winced as if he had just cracked a tooth on a piece of hardtack. “How do you people eat this stuff? Blech. My apprentice? Not much to tell, really. Another sorcery slinger. You know.”

“You said you were fond of her.”

“Did I?” Bo made a show of gnawing on the brick-hard biscuit.

“You slept with her already, didn’t you? Isn’t there some kind of code of conduct against that type of thing?”

Bo glowered first at Taniel, then rolled his eyes over to Ka-poel, who sat on the ground fiddling with a latch on her rucksack.

“Pole’s not my apprentice!” Taniel protested.

Bo rolled his eyes. “I haven’t slept with Nila.”

“Oh, she has a name now, eh? And you expect me to believe you haven’t taken her to bed?”

“… yet.”

“I see how it is.”

“And I don’t think I will.”

“Now, that would shock me,” Taniel said.

“I’m serious. I like her too much. She’s clever, resourceful. And she’s going to be far stronger than I ever will.”