The Talented Read online

  The man had probably thought Adrienne would be easy prey in her sotted condition. She snorted at the thought. There was not enough alcohol in all of Samaro to make that true.

  “Lieutenant?” Jeral asked curiously.

  “Go back to the barracks, Rosch,” Adrienne advised as she absently finished her ale. “I don’t want you tired for tomorrow’s training.”

  Jeral looked around the tavern, probably for someone worth spending time with, then shrugged and headed out as Adrienne had told him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  As Adrienne soon found out, her responsibilities as a lieutenant were not limited to training the Yearlings. On top of training the young and often fractious recruits, Adrienne also had to divide the duties of the soldiers under her command and administer discipline when necessary.

  As a lieutenant, her opinion was asked for more frequently and given more weight by her superiors and the other lieutenants than it had been when she was merely a private. Even more surprisingly, people came to Adrienne for answers and advice, something that had rarely happened in the past thirteen years, even once she had been old enough and experienced enough to offer such advice.

  The responsibilities of being a lieutenant kept her busy, and the job was more difficult than Adrienne had expected, but there were benefits as well. When she had call to interact with Lieutenant Nissen, he no longer tried to intimidate her or make veiled threats. She no longer worried about what would happen if she found herself alone with him. He no longer had any power over her, and there was immense satisfaction in that.

  Altogether, being a lieutenant sat well with Adrienne, and as she watched Jeral handily dispatch one of her newest recruits, she was pleased with what she was accomplishing at the camp. Nine months ago, Adrienne had been furious after what she had witnessed when sparring with Jeral for the first time. Now that same young man was helping to train others, and was one of the main reasons Adrienne had been promoted to lieutenant.

  “Lieutenant Rydaeg? Captain Garrett wishes to see you,” a young man who probably had to shave no more than twice a week interrupted her observation to tell her.

  Adrienne smiled. “Thank you, Kyle.” Unlike the recruits, who were as green as their ages suggested, Kyle’s age was deceiving. He had come to Kyrog at the age of eleven, and five years later Adrienne was employing him and his considerable skills in the training of her recruits on a regular basis. Like Adrienne, Kyle’s abilities were often underestimated, to the detriment of his opponents. He was fast, and he was ruthless. More than one recruit had had to be helped from the training ground after a match with Kyle.

  Another recruit was stepping up to face Jeral, who had broken a sweat when fighting his last opponent but was nowhere near his limit, and she was about to issue instructions to the pair when Kyle cleared his throat. “The captain said I was to bring you back straight away,” Kyle said apologetically.

  Adrienne had wondered momentarily why Kyle was doing a job most typically left to messengers, but she realized that Captain Garrett knew her well enough to know that she would be less likely to ignore a soldier with a message than one of the pages usually used as messengers. She studied Kyle and saw a hint of amusement in his dark eyes.

  She suppressed a sigh. “Very well,” she said to Kyle. In a louder voice, she addressed the recruits. “Break for one hour,” Adrienne told them. That should give her more than enough time to discuss whatever the captain had in mind.

  Now that she was a lieutenant, it seemed that she was always meeting with the captain about something or other. He usually managed to arrange the appointments for times when Adrienne wasn’t busy, but as Captain Garrett was much busier than she, his convenience was more important than hers.

  “Yes sir, Lieutenant,” was the general chorus as the men scattered. Only Jeral and one of the more experienced Yearlings remained, content to spend their free hour training. Adrienne nodded her approval of their decision before heading to the captain’s office, thinking that although not all of the Yearlings had Jeral’s promise, there were a few that she thought would make exceptional soldiers, and the rest would be more than passable with proper training.

  The page had been waiting impatiently for Adrienne to arrive, and he announced Adrienne’s arrival at once, all but pushing her into the small room that was the captain’s office. The room had never seemed big enough, considering the importance of the man who inhabited it, but it seemed even smaller now that the captain was not the only other person in the office. He sat behind his desk, as was customary, but there were two unknown men occupying the chairs across from him.

  The larger of the men wore a sword low on his left hip, but Adrienne dismissed the idea of him being a proper soldier immediately. He was in his middle years if he was a day, but looked and held himself less like a seasoned soldier than even her rawest recruits. At best he was a merchant’s guard.

  The other man was more interesting to Adrienne. Dressed simply, he appeared unarmed and utterly nonthreatening. He was short and rather rotund, slouched in his chair with his hands clasped over his stomach. He was balding, and a beard of tight black curls decorated his round face. He did not look wealthy or important, and Adrienne’s curiosity was aroused by the necessity of a guard for such an unassuming man. Perhaps he had come here bearing some news important enough to need guarding. Or perhaps he was just afraid to travel the plains of Samaro alone. Many were, with good reason, but one ill-trained guard was unlikely to be of much use if they ran into trouble.

  “Lieutenant Rydaeg reporting, sir,” Adrienne said with a quick salute, making all appearances of ignoring the men, though she was aware of every move they made.

  “What’s this?” the large man with the sword demanded. “Captain, we came here to Kyrog seeking your best soldier and you give us this-this slip of a girl!” The man looked about to fly into a rage, something Adrienne could relate to. Adrienne was not a slip of a girl by any stretch of the imagination, standing at attention as she was—wearing her well-used swa’il and a sword on her hip—she was every inch a soldier.

  Captain Garrett merely quirked an eyebrow at the man’s words. “You told me you were on an important mission,” the captain said, clearly for Adrienne’s benefit, “and that you had come to Kyrog for the best soldier available. You then gave me a list of qualifications, which are mutually exclusive in most people. You wanted a skilled, intelligent soldier with the capability and drive to learn new things. You preferred a soldier of rank, but it was necessary that the soldier also be young.”

  “If you had no one here who could fit the specifications, you could have told us and saved us time.” The guard’s fists clenched into balls and his dark face was turning an interesting shade of purple, much like a bruise, as his temper peaked. “This farce is disgraceful for a man of authority!”

  Adrienne thought briefly of stepping up to defend Captain Garrett, but she knew that he would disapprove. And she was interested in seeing how the man would react to the insult.

  “We do have one person who fits the specifications of the ideal soldier you asked for,” Captain Garrett said, his voice turning from genial to icy. “Lieutenant Rydaeg is an exceptional soldier and officer. She is highly skilled in multiple areas of combat as well as tactics. She is naturally intelligent and has the all too rare ability of being able to think on her feet.”

  “Rare in soldiers, maybe,” the guard said. “That doesn’t mean—”

  Captain Garrett cut him off. “Lieutenant Rydaeg is innovative and always working toward improvement, and has recently been charged with instructing all of the new recruits and is doing a remarkable job of it.” Captain Garrett’s voice did not warm, but it flowed with smooth assurance and the conviction that what he was saying was absolutely true. “Even without the condition that the soldier be young, I would have considered Rydaeg as a candidate.”

  “A likely story,” the guard scoffed. “I think it more likely you wish to unload this aberrant female soldier on us.”

&
nbsp; Adrienne ground her teeth together.

  The other man, who until this point had remained silent, waved his pudgy hands and gave his guard a placating look. “Perhaps you are being rash, Ilso. This lieutenant might be a capable soldier.” His eyes swept over Adrienne, and she had no doubt they were taking in her long black hair and short, curvy body more than the way she wore her sword or how she held herself ready to fight or defend at any second. “It is not totally unheard of for women to be soldiers.”

  The man named Ilso crossed his arms in front of him and snorted rudely. “Perhaps not, but if Kyrog is all that it’s cracked up to be, they should be able to offer more than a mere woman.”

  Captain Garrett must have seen the fire burning in Adrienne’s dark eyes, for he made a small gesture cautioning her to contain herself. “If you would like, you can arrange to test Lieutenant Rydaeg’s abilities yourself,” the captain said. “However, I promise that you will not find her lacking in skill, and as your mission seems important and time precious, I hope that my vouching for her will suffice.”

  Ilso seemed about to argue, but the other man stopped him once more. “It was my friend here,” he said with a gesture to Ilso, “who advised me to come to Kyrog, and to you, Captain, to find the soldier I seek,” he said. “Unlike Ilso, I embrace the unexpected in finding the recommended soldier for our purpose to be a woman.”

  He turned to Adrienne. “Can you be ready to leave in an hour?”

  “No,” Adrienne said, earning surprised stares from everyone in the room.

  “Lieutenant…” Captain Garrett said in a rising tone of warning.

  “You see! Not just a female, but an insubordinate one as well,” Ilso snapped.

  “I’m not declining to go on this ‘mission’ of yours,” Adrienne said, though she wondered just what the mission would involve. “However, I have responsibilities here, and preparations to make before I depart. The earliest I can be ready is tomorrow morning.” Even then, she would have to work hard to see that the training of the recruits was maintained at the high standard she had set.

  “Rydaeg, I am sure we can manage without you,” Captain Garrett told her. The expression on his dark face revealed his displeasure, though no one who did not know him well could have read it.

  Adrienne stood even more at attention, pulling her shoulders back and holding her chin high. “With all due respect, sir, I believe that the transition in training the Yearlings will go more smoothly and yield better results if I am allowed to choose and meet with my replacement before I leave.”

  “This upstart is the soldier you are saddling us with?” Ilso asked. “If she can’t even follow orders—”

  “Lieutenant Rydaeg has no problem following orders,” Captain Garrett said, “and this matter is none of your business. You may take Lieutenant Rydaeg with you tomorrow morning, or not at all.”

  Ilso jerked his head in acknowledgement, and the other man bowed out with smiles and thank-yous as they exited the room. Finally, it was just Captain Garrett and Adrienne left.

  “Captain, what is the mission?” Adrienne asked for the first time. If the captain told her to go, she would go, regardless of what the mission entailed, but she hoped it was something worthwhile if she had to leave Kyrog in the company of a misogynist like Ilso.

  “Have a seat, Adrienne, if I may call you that.”

  “Of course,” Adrienne said, for once actually taking his advice and sitting down, though it was an uneasy feeling. She fingered the cord of her necklace, running her thumb over the pendant. The use of her first name had unnerved her.

  “They would not give me the details of their mission,” Captain Garrett said. “Tam, the scholar, is in charge, although Ilso seems to be the only one with any experience with soldiers.”

  Adrienne’s hand dropped into her lap and she let out a breath of air that was almost a laugh. “If you could call it experience.” It had been obvious by Ilso’s total disregard for her and the captain that, whatever Tam believed, the guard was no more familiar with soldiers than he was with the sword he wore so awkwardly at his hip.

  Captain Garrett inclined his head. “I believe this is a civilian mission, Adrienne, but they hinted that whatever they are planning would help the war efforts against Almet.”

  Adrienne’s focus sharpened at that information. “What have civilians to do with the war, Captain?” The role of civilians in war was typically restricted to three things: supporting the soldiers, hampering the soldiers, or dying at the hands of enemy soldiers. In Adrienne’s opinion, they were good for little else when it came to war.

  “I do not know, Adrienne.” He tapped an envelope on his desk, one with a broken wax seal that was still unmistakably the seal of the king. “I must trust that King Burin has a plan, even if he is unwilling to share it.” He smiled, and his gray eyes were kind. “If you wish, you may call me Luis, as you are temporarily relieved from duty now that you have accepted the civilian mission.”

  Adrienne felt strangely bereft as his meaning became clear. She was no longer a soldier, at least not for as long as this mission lasted. A major component of her life since the age of four was now gone, and she clung to the idea that it was only temporary. “I would prefer to stick with Captain,” Adrienne said. “I’m a soldier at heart, if not currently in practice.”

  “As you wish,” Captain Garrett said. “Now tell me about your plans to keep the recruits’ training on track. We don’t have much time.”

  ••••••

  “You can’t leave,” Ricco said for what must have been the tenth time in as many minutes.

  “I have to,” Adrienne said, frustrated that she had to explain her decision yet again.

  “No, you don’t. Blood and flaming death, Adrienne, Captain Garrett didn’t order you to go!”

  “Ricco,” Adrienne said with fraying patience, “listen to me. I have to do this.” Leaving Kyrog, the place that had been her home for the past thirteen years, was hard enough. Leaving Ricco, the only true friend Adrienne could remember having, would be even more difficult. Her hand rose to the leather cord around her neck, comforted by the presence of the necklace. The cord was worn, but still tough. It was no weak silver chain, easy to snap, it was good and solid and real.

  “You can’t leave me in charge of them,” Ricco said. She thought she saw desperation in her friend’s eyes, and the look tugged the edges of her mouth into a reluctant smile.

  The “them” Ricco referred to were the Yearlings. Although he was not a lieutenant, when Adrienne had suggested that Ricco replace her in training the Yearlings, the captain had agreed with her choice. “You know more about their training than anyone,” Adrienne told him. “You were the obvious choice.”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it,” Ricco said. “You just want me to be miserable while you’re gone.”

  The tension that had filled the room since Adrienne had informed her friend that she was leaving the next day disappeared at the ring of Adrienne’s laughter. “You enjoyed working with Rosch and me,” Adrienne said once she had regained control of herself. “You enjoy working with the two recruits assigned to you now.”

  “Yeah, but only because you’re in charge,” Ricco said. “All I have to do is show up and do what you say.”

  Adrienne knew that Ricco had never asked for the responsibility, but she also knew Ricco would do it well, because it would be the last thing she asked of him before leaving.

  “You’ll have help,” she assured him. “The other soldiers already in the program will help you, and Captain Garrett said he would talk to Mylig so that you can get some pointers in training if you need them.”

  “Pointers! I’m going to need more than pointers, Ade. I’ve never done this before.”

  Adrienne saw real concern in her friend’s brown eyes. His dark face was etched with the same worries, and she had a sudden urge to hug him.

  She didn’t.

  “I’m assigning Rosch to you,” Adrienne said, her tone belying n
one of the more tender emotions she was feeling. “He’s the most advanced of the Yearlings, and he’ll be able to tell you what steps I’ve gone through with him.”

  “Shit,” Ricco said. “Flaming Abyss, Adrienne, why do you have to go?”

  For the first time, Adrienne saw that it was not only training the Yearlings he was worried about. He looked more tired than angry now, and Adrienne’s heart squeezed painfully. “You don’t have to worry about me,” she said. “It’s not as though I’m going to Almet.”

  “You don’t know where you’re going,” Ricco argued. “And you’re going there alone.”

  “I’m sorry.” Her voice was hardly more than a whisper. “But this is something I must do. You’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t want to be fine,” Ricco said, crossing his massive arms. His lips formed into an expression that on anyone else would have undeniably been called a pout.

  Such a childish expression on her fierce-looking friend was an interesting sight, and one that at any other time would warrant merciless teasing, but Adrienne had too much to do before she left tomorrow to become distracted. “I need you to do this for me, Ricco. I’ve put a lot of time and effort into coming up with a program to train the Yearlings, and you’re the only one I trust to run it right.”

  “To run it like you would, you mean.”

  Adrienne smiled. “Yes.”

  Ricco uncrossed his arms and huffed out a disgusted breath. “Fine, I’ll do it, but you better hurry back.”

  Adrienne wished she could say that she would. She didn’t know where she was going or what she would be doing. There was too much mystery surrounding the mission, and even though she would be undertaking it as a civilian, not an active duty soldier, she knew as surely as Ricco did that every time a soldier left the training camp there was a chance she might never come back.

  She hoped that was not the case this time.

  “I’ll do my best. I don’t want to give you too much time to mess up my recruits.”