This Battle Lord's Quest by Linda Mooney Page A

eastern boundary.” He wiped his hands on his pants.
“It’s time we got past that. I’d always believed we were missing out on a good
opportunity by not coming in this direction.”
    Vashayn broke in. “Fortune, look around you.
Listen! Do you hear anything? No! There’s no game out here. At least, nothing
but the small stuff.”
    “What are you suggesting, Vashayn? That we go back
tomorrow?”
    “We agreed to two days out,” Paxton reminded the
Mutah hunter. “It may take a while for us to find the bigger animals.”
    Vashayn groused. “Okay. So say we keep pushing
onward for another day, and we find more of nothing. Are you going to suggest
we try a third day?” He aimed the question directly at Fortune, but Atty chose
to answer it.
    “If we don’t find anything after tomorrow, we’re
heading back to the compound, just like we agreed.   But my gut tells me there’s more out here. There’s bigger game to
be had. We just have to be patient.” She stared at Vashayn. “You remember what
patience is, right, Vashayn?”
    The Mutah warrior glared at her, and for a brief
moment the tension between them hung like a black blanket suspended in the air.
    Renken took the opportunity to stand and
dramatically stretch as he loudly yawned. “Ohh, heavens, I’m tired. It’s been a
while since I’ve done this much hiking through brush. If there’s nothing out
here more dangerous than maniacal rodents, how does everyone feel about only
one of us taking sentry duty, and everyone donating an hour or two?” He nodded
in Fortune’s direction. “Unless you feel we need more eyes.”
    Fortune agreed. “I don’t sense any danger. Unless
someone else feels differently, one sentry doing a two hour shift sounds
reasonable.”
    “I’ll take first shift,” Klodon offered.
    “Great. Wake me when you’re done,” Meesel told him.
Grabbing his bedroll from his knapsack, he proceeded to open it near the
campfire and lie down.
    Atty set her bedroll away from the others. As they
had during the day, Renken and Paxton braced her with their own sleeping bags.
She watched her Second getting comfortable, when she remembered what she wanted
to ask him.
    “Hey, Warren?” she whispered.
    He rolled over to face her. “Yes?”
    “Earlier, when Fortune said he was in charge of
this expedition, you looked happy to hear it, even though a few of the others
expected me to lead. I was curious about your reaction.”
    The man snorted. “Atty, for all your talents, you
have personality traits that make anyone stand up and gird themselves for
battle.”
    “What’s that suppose to mean?” She didn’t know if
she should be offended or not, despite his teasing tone.
    “He means, if you had been leading, there’s no
telling what you would have us do,” Renken volunteered from behind her.
    “He’s right,” Paxton continued in a low voice.
“You’re a free spirit, Atty. You’re not leadership material. I’m not saying
you’re not a good Battle Lady. Hell, you’re legendary. But commanding a group
of hunters and soldiers is not one of your strong points.”
    “What about the time I led everyone to rescue Yulen
from the Bloods?”
    “You weren’t in charge then, either, Atty,” Renken
pointed out. “You were too immersed in keeping yourself focused on getting us
to him.”
    “I don’t know if I should feel insulted.” Although
she personally wasn’t put off by their comments, it did bother her to hear
their opinions, as truthful as they were.
    There was a movement at her back, and Renken peeked
over her shoulder. “Let’s put it this way, Atty. Your most formidable attribute
is thinking on your feet and reacting. If you were forced to consider about all
the tactical possibilities during an actual battle, and then had to send out
orders to everyone, you’d flounder. If you were yourself, you’d already be in
the thick of the fight.”
    “A squad of nine men isn’t an army,” she countered.
    Paxton quickly disagreed.