UNSHEATHED

Chapter Fifty Four

The day felt long, despite the early hour of sunset. Elena called a halt just before the sun's light faded, enough time for the earliest arrivals to set up their camp and post torches around the area for the others to see by once they arrived. If she had been weary at the beginning due to lost sleep, she was now long past exhaustion and heart sore as well.

Many soldiers had been detained. Twenty two were riding with security escorts, and five were under surveillance in the sick wagon due to injuries they had sustained during their capture. Another forty three were packed into the jail wagon. She was going to have to order another wagon converted tonight to make room.

Fifteen had died outright during their capture.

She wondered how many minds Korr could infect at a time. The seventy they had caught today who were still alive were presumably still influenced. She hoped it was possible her enemy might not have the capacity to make more people do his bidding than this.

Tomorrow they would have to repeat the search over the column to see if any more could be identified. They should also check the detainees to see if they were still influenced. She might rest easier after this if there were no new cases.

For now she would rest. Carsini, attentive as ever, had prepared a bed for her first, even before making her dinner. She smiled as he opened the tent flap and showed her the cot with a pile of blankets covering it.

"Shall I send everyone away, or are there certain people you wish to see if they call? And shall I wake you for dinner, or do you wish to sleep through the night?"

Elena sighed. She couldn't afford to sleep all night.

"Do not wake me unless it is an emergency, save the Prince, First Commander Alkema, and Commander Maranus and then, only as long as it is urgent. Wake me in two hours to eat." She would see how the rest of the evening went after that. At least she needed less rest than most.

Two hours passed as if only minutes. Carsini popped his head into the pavilion and called her softly. She was reluctant to leave her warm wrappings, but she steeled herself and rose, splashed some water on her face from a bowl and wrapped herself up in her cloak instead.

Outside the pavilion she could hear the sounds of the camp. She listened to hear if they were good sounds, comrades talking and jesting as they sat by the fire, or troubled sounds, such as bickering among the soldiers, jeering and perhaps even drunken shouts.

Carsini waited for her to sit and take her meal at a table by the fire pit. He stared at her, until she looked at him, then looked away.

"What is it, Carsini?" she asked.

"Um, well."

"Speak."

He took a breath. "How did you do that huge shield yesterday?"

Elena sat and sniffed at the steaming bowl in front of her.

"My mother is one of the Guardians. My father was Trillas."

The man stared for a long moment, unable to form words. Elena became impatient.

"You will speak of this to no one."

The man continued to stare.

"Carsini, I am flesh and blood, just as you are. This body is not some shell I have made to walk about the world with."

A real Guardian would be bodiless energy and would have done precisely that. "I may have some of the power of the Guardians, like the Hilliri do, but I can die, just as you can."

When she said this, though, she realized it might not be entirely true. She was still thinking like a Trillas.

The scent of her meal was beginning to make her stomach grumble. She tasted the meaty stew. It was good, and she smiled at Carsini to let him know her pleasure.