Ao at a time like this.”
Molak and Ao have three children. Prax is the god of war and therefore favored by soldiers. Xank, the second child, is god of death, and therefore cursed by pretty much everyone. Lavi, the last of the three original children, is known as the goddess of love and peace. She is always at odds with her two brothers, even to the point of pitting them against each other, since her domain contradicts everything Xank and Prax stand for. However, their feuds never prevented them from sleeping together since most of the lesser gods—too many to name—descended from those three.
“Gal, you always have a bad feeling. And you’ve made it through each one just fine. Take off the pendants or I will.”
He started muttering prayers of forgiveness to the gods as he did so. I bit my tongue so not to make things worse.
“Don’t forget the ones on your wrists and the one at your belt too.”
“But—”
I narrowed my eyes in a way that said the discussion was over.
“Fine,” he muttered. “But if I die because I didn’t have my charms with me, it’s going to be on you.”
“Just get it done and hurry up.”
I walked away at a brisk pace to catch up with the rest of my unit. I shook my head thinking of Gal’s last words.
If any of my men died, regardless of the reason, it would be on me.
The joy of command.
CHAPTER 2
We made it out of camp quickly, moving east as we entered a small bog that smelled about as awful as the latrine I accused Hamath of taking mud from. The terrain was far from ideal, but it provided us the most cover while we worked ourselves behind enemy lines. If the mosquitoes in camp resembled small birds, they were the size of eagles in the swamp.
Hamath took point. He had the best eyes in the group, especially at night.
We turned north, then east, and finally northeast. Balak’s orders never specified how bad the ground truly was along our assigned path. The worse it got, the more the cynic in me wondered if that omission had been intentional to avoid any complaining from me while in his presence.
In several instances, we waded through thigh-deep, tepid water covered in duckweed, no small task while wearing light armor and the rest of our gear.
That armor saved my rear when I reached out for a protruding stump only to find a coiled snake the color of midnight resting atop it. It struck my gauntlet before I could pull back.
Dekar sliced the snake in half on the recoil quicker than I could bring my sword around. He gave me a look to ask if I was all right. I nodded, trying not to appear shaken. It’d be a cursed thing to survive all I had been through only to die from a snake bite.
Gal cleared his throat. “You know, Sarge, I had a charm that warded off snakes back at camp, but you made me remove it.”
“Well, why don’t you go back and get it now,” I said flippantly.
“Seriously? I can?”
I gave him a look. “No, I’m not serious. We don’t have time for that.”
He grumbled. “Then why say it?”
“Sarcasm, Gal,” said Ira, slapping him on the shoulder. “It’s high time you learn it.”
Gal scowled, then dropped his head in frustration.
When the water shallowed to ankle-deep, our boots made popping noises in the muck. Not much we could do to avoid the racket and still reach our destination on time. Still, we tried.
Eventually we hit some drier parts, and I forced an increase in pace to make up distance. We arrived when we should have, according to Ava’s communications with the other units’ mages. Balak wanted us all to coordinate our first attack as closely as possible. After the initial assault, it would be every unit for itself.
I called for a quick rest near several cypress trees with low hanging branches covered in moss. After only the few miles of ground we covered, my legs felt like jelly from struggling through the muck. While we waited for the last of the units to reach their position, everyone reapplied the mud that had washed off their legs in the water.
I looked over to Ava who had her eyes closed.
“Talk to me,” I said in a low voice.
“The last unit just checked in.”
“Bout time,” Ira muttered.
“What do you want me to tell everyone?” she asked.
Even though the other unit leaders and I shared the same rank,