Rhystan started to say something, then closed his mouth.

"He was really angry," Mykel admitted. "He said I was to blame for Kuertyl's death." He took the mug of ale that the server set on the table,looking at it, but not drinking.

"He was. Didn't he order you to attack all those rebels in Jyoha?" asked Dohark.

"They were poor debtors, not rebels, and they didn't have many weapons, but he insisted that I bring them in. They didn't want to go to the mines." Mykel sipped the ale, wishing it were hot cider. "We had to kill them or let a lot of troopers get killed or wounded."

"Kuertyl's dead?" asked Rhystan.

"Jyoha-the whole town went up in arms. They made jars of flaming oil, and dug pits in the roads," Heransyr explained. "With poisoned stakes."

The orderly slipped a platter in front of Mykel. Breakfast was fried fish and greasy potatoes, with stale bread. He took a mouthful and corrected himself-soggy and greasy potatoes. He broke the bread one-handed, and crumbs sprayed across the table.

Heransyr turned back to Mykel. "Why do you think everyone's mad at us?"

Mykel took another swallow of ale before replying. "In Corus, the mainland part, most people want to do things the way the Duarches want.

Here, nobody wants to do that. So there's no one who likes why we're here, and everyone's against us. When we were in Jyoha, we saw the ruins of a sawmill..." He went on to explain what he had learned.

"Sawmill seems harmless enough," said Rhystan. "Folks need planks and timbers."

"The Duarches don't do things without a reason," Heran-syr said.

"Majer Vaclyn didn't, either." Dohark laughed, then stood. "I need to check my squad. Hope we can head back today, not that I'm all that happy looking for smugglers who won't show up so long as we're there."

Within moments, Heransyr and Rhystan rose as well, leaving Mykel to finish the last of his breakfast by himself.

Later, as Mykel walked out of the mess, he wondered about whatHeransyr had said. The Duarches hadn't wanted a sawmill, and they did want the guano mine working. He'd also recalled someone talking about a swamp that had been drained. Dohark-he'd mentioned a cousin and something about the alectors not liking growing plants being cut down.

Was that why most buildings were of brick and stone? Was the guano so important that an entire battalion had been sent to Dramur-with a Myrmidon colonel to watch? But why?

"Captain Mykel! Sir?"

Mykel turned his head quickly, then tried not to wince at the jolt that went down his arm.

A Cadmian ranker was hurrying toward him. "Sir, Colonel Dainyl is looking for you."

"Lead the way." Mykel was not looking forward to seeing the colonel.

The duty squad leader in the foyer took a long look as Mykel and his escort passed, but said nothing.

The door to the study that had been Majer Herryf's was open. Mykel stepped in, and the ranker closed it. Colonel Dainyl sat on the desk, his long legs almost touching the stone floor.

"Sir?"

"How is your shoulder this morning?" Dainyl's deep voice seemed hoarse, and there was a redness around his eyes.

Mykel sensed that the alector was less than pleased to be in the study.

But then, the word was that he was the acting submarshal for all the Myrmidons, and he was now handling a position that should have been held by a much more junior officer-a Cadmian officer at that.

"It stings a bit," Mykel replied.

"You were lucky. Please have a seat. The chairs here are somewhat too cramped for me." Dainyl offered a grin. "From what I saw, the majer was very good with his knives."

"Yes, sir. I was lucky you were nearby.""You still won't be going anywhere for another day or so. It could be longer. I sent a messenger to your senior squad leader saying that you would be here for several days and for him to continue the patrols you had set up."

"Thank you, sir." Mykel should have thought of that himself. He would have, he told himself, if he'd been thinking, and that meant that he'd been hurt worse than he was admitting.

"Why was Majer Vaclyn so angry with you?"

How was he supposed to answer that? Mykel refrained from taking a deep breath or sighing. "Majer Vaclyn thought anyone who disagreed with him was his enemy, even the captains under him. Most of us preferred to find ways to get the task done without sacrificing men unnecessarily. He got upset with me when I used a flank attack against a fortified Reillie redoubt rather than a frontal charge. I suggested that it wasn't wise to try to capture the forty fugitives in Jyoha. He sent me written orders insisting that I do so-" Mykel broke off. "I'm sorry. I told you that yesterday. He wanted us to stop the sniping at our patrols, but when we killed the snipers, he complained that we should have captured them."

"Did you know that Fifteenth Company has been the most effective company in Third Battalion?" asked the colonel.

"We've killed more people," Mykel admitted. "I'm not sure that's always effective. The majer didn't give me any choice. It seems to me that the more people you kill, the more there are that want to kill you. It's different when you're fighting other armed forces all in a body." He gave the faintest headshake. "Don't know why that should be, but people see it that way."

"They do," agreed Dainyl. "You didn't want to bring in the woman, did you?"

"That's not quite true," Mykel said. "When I found the rifle in her cart, I realized that she hadn't known it was there, but she didn't want to let me know that. I didn't see any point in taking her in then. That would have just alerted her father, and made everyone mad. The majer was very displeased. He told me that a Codebreaker was a Codebreaker."

The colonel merely nodded.What was the alector after? Mykel couldn't tell, and that bothered him, because he usually had some idea what people wanted, whether he agreed with them or not.

"Was Majer Vaclyn always so indifferent to the opinions of his captains?"

That was another possible trap. Mykel considered the implications before answering. "He didn't get so angry in the past campaigns if a captain found another way to get the task done. He'd tell us we were lucky that it worked out, or he wouldn't say anything at all."

"The majer was less flexible here in Dramur?"

'That might be one way of putting it, sir."

"Why was he so angry with you in particular, Captain?"

"I really don't think he was, sir. I mean, he was angry at me, but it could have been any of the captains. Fifteenth Company just happened to be in places where things happened. If it had been Fourteenth Company, he would have been mad at Captain Dohark."

Again, the colonel nodded. "I understand that Captain Dohark is the most senior of the captains. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir. Dohark, Rhystan, then Heransyr and me. Her-ansyr and I made captain at the same time. He might be senior, or I might."

"Have you seen any officers among the rebels?"

Mykel frowned. "No, sir, not that I know. That's the miners, the ones in gray. The rebels who were formed by the seltyr, they had squad leaders and captains."

"You've captured a number of rifles. Did the ones that the escaped miners had all have numbers? Did you notice?"

"I'd have to check my reports, sir, to be certain, but I'm pretty sure that all of the rifles the miners had were numbered."

"How many snipers were there at any one time...""Why have you often been the point man in chasing - down rebels..."

"Have you heard any captives talking about either the Cadmians or the Myrmidons..."

The questions went on and on.

Then, the colonel stood, towering over Mykel and the desk where he had been sitting. "Thank you, Captain. You've been most helpful. I think you and your squad should remain here until Londi. If your shoulder is healing well, you could return to your company." He smiled. "You will have to let others do the scrambling through the rocks, if it proves necessary."

"Yes, sir." Mykel rose, carefully. "Thank you, sir."

As he walked back toward the barracks to convey the news to Alendyr-second squad would certainly like a few nights on decent beds and solid food-Mykel had to admit to himself that the colonel was no one's fool. He'd as much as told Mykel that there were two different revolts going on and that the majer had changed his behavior since coming to Dramur.

Mykel should have picked those up himself, and he hadn't.

55.

Mykel slept better on Novdi night, but when the pain subsided and he inadvertently moved or tried to turn over, the resurgence of agony jolted him awake. Even though Decdi was a full end day, he woke with the sun. A cold and raw wind-chill for Dramur-seeped through windows and shutters designed for a climate that seldom saw real chill. After swinging his feet onto the cold stone floor, Mykel finally eased himself erect. He dressed and washed awkwardly, trying to avoid moving the arm below the injured shoulder.

The courtyard outside the officers' quarters was empty, and so silent that all he heard was the low moan of the wind and the echo of his boots on the paving stones as he walked toward the officers' mess. He hoped he wasn't too early to get something, but he could always come back if the cooks weren't ready.

When he walked into the mess, the only one there, besides one cook andthe orderly server, was Colonel Dainyl. The Myrmidon looked to have finished the last of his breakfast.

"Good morning, Captain," offered the alector, standing as he spoke.

"Good morning, sir."

"Are you feeling better this morning?"

"Some," Mykel admitted.

"You need another day of rest. See me first thing after breakfast tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

With a polite smile, the colonel departed.

Mykel eased into a chair at one of the tables, very gingerly.

"Is he always this early?" Mykel asked the orderly who appeared with a mug of ale.

"Earlier most days, sir."

Mykel wondered if alectors even slept.

Breakfast was egg toast, fried apple bananas, and some sort of fried fish that, thankfully, was white beneath the thick batter-and tasteless. Then, the egg toast was tasteless as well. The bananas were the most edible part of the meal. Mykel ate slowly. There was no reason to hurry. Even so, no other officers had appeared by the time he left.

His next stop was the barracks, where he found Alendyr.

A good glass later, after going over the supplies the company could use and tasking the squad leader with trying to obtain them, Mykel made his way to the officer's cell where Rachyla was confined.

"You need to talk to her?" asked the shorter guard of the two. "I don't know..."

Mykel's eyes hardened. "Do you want to take it up with Colonel Dainyl?""Ah... you've spoken to the colonel?"

"This morning, in fact." That was true enough, even if it hadn't been about Rachyla.

"He's here?"

"He was at the mess before dawn," Mykel said. "I'll be meeting with him again later."

"I suppose it's all right."

Mykel stood back as one guard unlocked the door, and the other held his rifle ready. After the bolts were slid back, Mykel stepped inside.

Rachyla looked up from the stool before the desk, on which sat a tray with a half-eaten breakfast-the same egg toast and fried fish Mykel had eaten, with the smallest morsel of fried apple banana at one side. Like Mykel, she had apparently found the apple bananas the best part.

"You. I'd thought they might be coming to reclaim what passes for breakfast." Her eyes narrowed as she took in the sling and harness.

"It's filling." Mykel stood well back from Rachyla, who wore the same trousers and shirt he had seen before. But then, from what hung from the pegs on the wall, she appeared to have but three changes of clothing. That was more than he had at the moment.

"I see you had some difficulty. I'd like to say I'm sorry, but that would be less truthful."

"You were right," Mykel said.

Rachyla looked puzzled. Her eyes centered on the bulki-ness of his tunic over the wound dressings, the sling, and doubtless the paleness of his face.

"What was I right about, Captain?"

"About being betrayed. Majer Vaclyn tried to kill me."

"He did not succeed, I see."

"Colonel Dainyl-I think you called him the evil one- he stopped him.

The majer used his second throwing knife on the colonel. It bounced offhis tunic, and the colonel turned him into cinders with his light-cutter."

"The knife... it went through your shoulder?"

"It didn't do too much damage." Mykel offered a rueful smile.

"It did more than you admit. Why are you here?"

"Because you said I would be betrayed. How did you know?"

Rachyla did not answer, although she did not lower her eyes and continued to look at him directly. Finally, she spoke. "It is always that way.