Company Unknown 4 by M. Helbig

Author:M. Helbig [Helbig, M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

BESIEGE MY HEART

That the question-and-answer portion of our meeting was over became obvious as soon as the wrinkly little yellow man shook me awake. Breakfast time and even my morning whiz were also well past. It was five minutes into our march before it occurred to me that there weren’t any more summoned monsters either. Not being a morning person had gotten me in a lot of trouble before, though mostly of the prank kind. This one involved running. Lots of running. It was one of the times being a professional monster hunter worked to my advantage. I was so drilled into this practice that I didn’t even realize I was doing it.

My hope even for the limited clarity the previous evening had provided met only disappointment. To be fair, it’s kind of hard to stop and draw pictures in the ground while moving. If anyone could have managed it, though, it was him. Maintaining his image as a taciturn jackass of mystery was more important.

Where, why, what, and all the countless other questions that escaped from my panting lips would have to wait. We had somewhere to be and there wasn’t time for answers. Or it was more of him being cryptic for no reason. I didn’t have a choice, so my legs kept moving. If they hadn’t, no doubt he would have just dragged me anyway.

By the time I was about to break and try my hammer on him, he stopped. Could he sense what I was about to do, or had the sight of the Fahrkini army made him stop? As for all my other questions, I’d have to invent my own answer if I wanted one.

Despite our brisk pace, we arrived too late to save the Gaelkini who had been arrayed to oppose them. Though a nearly equal amount of bodies littered the ground on both sides, the Gaelkini were the ones in retreat. The blues were still disciplined and organized at least, but the Fahrkini were too great in number.

Where had they suddenly got so many, when Mask had assured me the army we’d fought last time represented most of their remaining forces? I had a feeling the answer was the person at their center. Why were some of the Fahrkini following someone who looked an awful lot like their mortal enemies? Sure, some with blue skin were already on their side, but not a lot. I hadn’t seen a single one of those in any kind of command position, let alone someone who’d recently joined up with them and was . . . Warham.

But then again, she’d had the same deficiencies in leadership, personality, decision making, and general competence back home, yet somehow she’d managed to assemble an army there too. Of course, most of that had been through her dad’s work and reputation, and she’d just taken over after his death—which was exactly what she’d done here.

“Who is next in line to take over their army?” I whispered to the Old Man.

He didn’t

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