Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3) (27 page)

“Gone for now,”
Garnet said gratefully. He twisted around so he could see her and suddenly
found himself staring straight at her bosom. He turned a bright crimson color
and stood up, looking down at her, but this brought him face-to-face and uncomfortably
close to Kala. Still, he didn’t step back right away. He found himself looking
at her pale eyes until she broke the look and turned away.

“Make sure you
rest, or the headaches will come back,” Kala said over her shoulder as she
walked quickly away.

Truth is more than just reality.

- Paulus jo’Veredrin,

“Everything Worth Knowing”
(769 AM)

- 1 -

The joint
expedition wound slowly through the mountains, making progress despite the
occasional symptoms of altitude sickness. Racial tensions were somewhat
strained at one point when a human paladin made an ill-advised joke within
earshot of an elf from Siran’s company. The two quarreled and even came to
blows, but Flasch had denarae from Shadow Company on the scene within minutes
and they broke up the fight before it became a full-fledged brawl. Several
elves and humans gave the denarae dour looks, but by then Garet, Garnet, and
Siran were all on the scene, and no one was willing to risk a confrontation
with the three commanders looking on.

After that, the
races were even more wrapped up in their isolation. Even the four elven
paladins were greeted somewhat frostily when they were among their human
companions. The six dwarven paladins in their group had little difficulty, but
they were among the most vocal in their comments about their “pointy-eared”
companions.

Kala talked with
Michael and Danner, who both agreed to spar against her. Michael was the better
swordsman of the two – and in unarmed combat, he was reported to be second to
none, even Garnet – but Danner was unbelievably fast, and what he lacked in
skill and style he more than made up with reflexes that bordered on inhuman.
Given the rumors and hints she’d heard about his heritage, she wondered if he
hadn’t actually crossed that boundary. Since the end of the war, the officers
of Shadow Company had spent time almost every day improving their swordsmanship
in addition to training and coordinating their individual platoons, so they’d
each progressed notably since their days as trainees, or so Kala had gathered
from conversations with Brican.

She had not, as
yet, sparred against Garnet, and while she told herself many reasons why she
hadn’t sought him out yet, there really didn’t seem to be anything keeping her
from doing so.

By the end of
the next Sabbatha, with enough practice and attention to style, Kala had
managed to defeat Danner despite his speed, and she could now best Michael in
the majority of their matches. Several of the denarae in the Yellow paladin’s
platoon hooted and jeered good-naturedly the first time he’d been defeated, but
Michael took it in stride and challenged any of them to do better. The comments
ceased abruptly after Kala sent a dozen of them back to the sidelines nursing bleeding
knuckles – they used only the wooden bowkurs used by both Shadow Company and
the paladins during their training, so bruises and battered hands were the
worst of their injuries.

Both men told
her she would have a much harder time trying to defeat their commander, though,
a boast Kala could hardly credit. Each was of master-caliber in their own
right, and she had defeated them only after considerable hardship and study of
their fighting techniques. How could any man be so much better than both of them?

Privately, Kala
admitted to herself that she didn’t
want
them to be wrong. Garnet had
somehow gained a place in her mind as a towering figure of respect, skill, and
strength – and not just the physical sort – and she felt that if she
did
defeat him, he would somehow be lessened. It came as a great shock to her when
she realized that she didn’t want him lessened at all; she wanted him to
maintain the larger-than-life status that had somehow been imparted to her just
by being around the men in his company.

On the following
Duday, after Mikal announced they were within a day or two of the Binding, Kala
decided she’d had enough of her own evasions. She went in search of Garnet.

As the
expedition ground to a halt for its midday rest, the Shadow Company commander
left with a group of denarae from Red and Yellow platoons. Kala saw Siran,
Hoil, Birch, and even the angel Mikal break off to accompany the group, and she
followed in their wake as well.

On her way out
of the camp, she made sure Trames was in good company. Her charge was sitting
with Flasch and a dejected-looking Danner, and apparently the old man was
trying to cheer up the Blue paladin and having very little success. Even Flasch
looked a little subdued, which Kala found interesting. The little man had such
a vibrant personality, she wondered what could bring him so low.

Her curiosity
was nothing compared to her determination, however, so she left the day-camp
and set off in search Garnet and the others.

- 2 -

Danner sighed.

Flasch sighed.

Trames laughed.

“Isn’t this a
lovely day?” he asked gaily.

“Trames,” Flasch
said in a pained voice, “the sky is overcast gray, the air is getting downright
chilly, and my nose is telling me in no uncertain terms that there’s some sort of
pollen in the air that doesn’t agree with me.” Flasch sneezed. “How is this
possibly a lovely day?”

Trames looked
slightly downcast for a moment, then he smiled.

“The hidden sun
creates a soft glow of light that’s quite pleasant, really,” he said, “the pollen
means that the wildlife here is healthy and vibrant, and the chilly air reminds
me of winter, one of my favorite seasons.”

Flasch grunted,
but couldn’t help smiling.

“What are your
other favorite seasons, out of curiosity?” he asked.

“Spring, summer,
and autumn,” Trames answered.

Even Danner
laughed slightly.

“I even found
another waterfall to bathe in tonight,” Trames added happily.

“A waterfall?”
The Blue paladin shuddered. “Trames, at this altitude, it’s got to feel like
ice water. How do you stand that?”

“It’s only cold
for the first few seconds,” he replied with a shrug. “After that, it’s quite
invigorating.”

“Is there
anything you don’t enjoy, Trames?” Danner asked, looking up at the grim sky.

“Ugly things,”
the old man said with a shrug.

“Like spiders
and things?” Flasch asked.

Trames shook his
head. “Physical things are always beautiful, if you know how to look at them,
but some ideas and feelings are just ugly, no way around it.”

Flasch sighed
again.

“Always
beautiful, eh?” he said. “So if
everything’s
beautiful, the physical
beauty of one thing over another doesn’t really mean much to you, does it?”

Trames shook his
head.

“So what am I
missing?” the Violet paladin asked of no one in particular. “What’s the point
of physical beauty? Why dress yourself up and wear makeup and jewels? How is it
someone so much more plain won’t leave my thoughts?”

Danner was
fairly certain his friend wasn’t really aware of what he was saying. He was
convinced he knew the source of Flasch’s dilemma, if not the actual struggle he
was going through.

Trames studied
Flasch with a cocked head, and he reminded Danner of a curious puppy he’d once
seen hanging around the Prism’s chapterhouse in Nocka. The young canine tilted
its head every time it saw someone new, as if considering the best way to
approach them asking for food.

Finally, Trames
straightened his head and broke into one of his little sing-song ditties for
which he’d become quite famous around the company.

What once
was pretty now is dull,

now that
I’ve seen beauty full.

What once
was nice now seems uncouth,

now that I
have seen a truth.

“Thanks for
that, Trames,” Flasch said with a touch of sarcasm. “I’m sure if I ever have a
life crisis, you’ll have a song to help me out that makes absolutely no sense.”

“You know,”
Trames replied without so much as a droop in his pleasant smile, “if you go
through life assuming every cat you meet is actually a dog, sooner or later you
won’t know when you’re right.”

With that,
Trames stood and wandered off, leaving the two men staring after him with twin
expressions of perplexity.

Before either of
them could say anything however, Marc approached them and squatted down in the
space Trames had so recently vacated.

“Flasch, can I
talk to Danner alone for a minute,” he asked.

“Sure thing,”
Flasch replied. He stood and brushed off his trousers, then walked off in the
same direction Trames had gone. Deeta appeared at his side, and he absently
acknowledged her presence as she linked her arm with his.

“What’s up,
Marc?” Danner asked. He had a sinking feeling he already knew what his friend
wanted to talk about, and he was certain Marc wouldn’t like the answer.

“We’ve been
friends for what, better part of a year now?” Marc asked. “And you’ve been
seeing my sister for most of that.”

Danner nodded.

“And now she’s…
um… she’s pregnant,” Marc said in a rush, “and I don’t mean to put this
indelicately, but she’s not married, and neither are you. I mean, I know I’m
not exactly living in what some would call a pure situation myself, but… well,
it’s different with Alicia. She’s my sister.”

Marc looked
earnestly at Danner.

“Do you see
where I’m going with this?” he asked.

“I think so,”
Danner replied.

“So what’s the
deal here?” Marc asked. “I hope to God the two of you have talked about this by
now. I’ve held my peace since we all found out, waiting for the two of you to
work it out and make some sort of announcement, but we’re getting close to the
Binding now, and we’ll be leaving all the women and our support crew behind. I
don’t mean to sound like an over-protective brother, but…”

“But you’re
going to anyway,” Danner said with a smile.

“Damn it, I’m
serious,” Marc said, scowling. “I think I know how you feel about her, and I
honestly couldn’t ask for anyone better for my sister. But you wouldn’t be the
first good man to back out of a situation like this and leave a woman with her
honor smeared and a fatherless child on her hands. I have to know what your
intentions are, Danner. It’s not that I doubt you, it’s just… well, she’s my
sister,” he repeated.

Danner sighed
and reached out a hand. Marc clasped it firmly, and the two men locked eyes.

“Marc, I love
Alicia like I’ve never dreamed possible, and as soon as I heard about her
condition, I rushed to her side and asked her to be my wife,” Danner said. “Not
because I felt I had to because it was the right thing, but because I knew I
wanted
to, and this felt maybe like God’s way of telling me to get a move on.”

“And?” Marc
said, his voice excited.

“She turned me
down flat.”

“She what?!?”
Marc shouted. Their hands separated as he shot to his feet. Marc flushed as
they both felt dozens of eyes turn their way, and he sat back down sheepishly.

“She said no,”
Danner said with a chuckle. “Believe me, my reaction was pretty much the same
as yours.”

“But why?” Marc
asked. “I know she feels the same way you do.”

“So do I, which
was the only thing that got me through her initial refusal,” Danner said
ruefully. “I think she’s been around Moreen too much.”

“What’s your
uncle got to do with this?” Marc asked, immediately seeing to the heart of
Danner’s statement.

“Moreen and
Birch had been in love for years, well, decades, really, but they’ve never
gotten married because of Birch’s conflicting loyalty and devotion to the
Prism,” Danner explained. “He’s never been able to commit his entire heart to
Moreen, and apparently he’s not willing to give her anything less. Moreen, in
turn, has stood by and watched him wrestle with his love and faith, and Alicia
said it has torn Moreen apart watching the man she loves go through that.”

“And she’s
worried you’ll have the same conflict,” Marc said, frowning.

Danner nodded.
“Honestly, I can’t tell her she’s wrong, either, at least not where this war is
concerned. I personally don’t feel there’s any conflict at all, but then I’m not
the one who turned down my proposal. She told me that when this war is over –
assuming we win, of course – she’ll marry me the first day I come home, but not
until the life and future of our child is secure.”

Marc stared at
Danner.

“How does that
make sense?” he asked.

“I guess it
makes sense if you’re a woman,” Danner said with a shrug. “They use an entirely
different method of logic than men do.”

“Logic is logic,
Danner,” Marc disagreed.

“To you and me,
yes,” Danner replied, smiling, “but we’re both men. Women think in terms far
more complicated and involve emotions and intuition, whereas we simple,
rock-hearted men rely on cold-hard facts and reasoning. I’m not entirely sure
how, but they both seem to work just as well.”

“That’s heresy,”
Marc said, and they both laughed heartily.

Their laughter
fell silent and Danner stared seriously at his friend.

“Are we good?”
he asked.

Marc nodded.
“Yeah, we’re good.”

They clasped
hands again and used their shared grip to help each other to their feet.

“Let’s go get
drunk or something,” Marc said. “Do you realize I’m going to be an uncle?”

“No less scary
than me being a father, or my dad being a grandpa,” Danner said with a laugh.