wealth of distaste. ‘This war must be hard on you to be away from your home, your family.’
‘No more than on any man,’ she said firmly.
‘You think that, do you?’
There was such disdain hanging in the air that she felt bound to argue with him, for the sake of herself and Angelline – and for all her sex. ‘Have I not served, Mr Lascari? Am I not a sergeant in the King’s army? Have I been of such little use since I came here?’
For a moment he was silent, just a shape in the dark, but then he made a little wheeze of a noise and she realized he was laughing. A flame lanced into life between them, spiralling and spitting between the fingers of his hand. ‘It has teeth, does it?’ His smile was lean and devoid of humanity, a dead man’s strained rictus. ‘It has killed a man or two, and now fancies itself a soldier.’
More a soldier than you. But she did not say it, in the end, biting down on the words. Lascari was dangerous and untouchable. Should he decide to turn his powers on her, there was none who had the rank to stop him.
‘I am glad to see you have fire,’ he told her. ‘It befits one of good name. We must look after our names and keep them shining.’ The burning hand inched closer as he examined her face. ‘You are not as pleasant-featured as I had thought. In fact you are almost plain,’ he observed.
Alice had said the same on more than one occasion, and it had stung. Now, from the lips of this man, it had no power to hurt her.
‘I have something for you,’ he said abruptly. ‘Since you had such recent dealings with them, I thought you would see the Denlander.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘No doubt. The colonel wishes news, and so Captain Pordevere and that painted creature’s scouts procured for him a Denlander. Some pioneer, no doubt, less lucky or skilled than the rest. We have him in the colonel’s rooms even now. Perhaps you would like to see him.’
‘Why would I want to?’ she asked him, and his smile grew wider and tauter.
‘To hear what he has to say. He is going to tell us his commander’s plans: when they will attack, and where. Where they camp. How best for us to attack his friends.’
‘I doubt he will say anything of the sort.’
The fire in his hands flared out towards her, making her stumble back, hands raised to her eyes. It twisted and clawed about his fingers, raking the air, hissing and crackling.
‘He will tell us anything and everything that we ask, and more, and more, until he can think of no more to say,’ said Lascari. ‘I thought you might like to come and watch. A wizard’s craft can be a beautiful thing.’
She stared at him, struck dumb by the lack of feeling with which he had said the words. She could only shake her head. She had no idea whether Justin Lascari was mad or just dutiful, but she wanted nothing more to do with him.
‘Ah, well,’ he said. ‘You will at least be able to mark the progress of our conversation, no doubt.’
She had cause to be glad later that she had drawn the night watch. Few of them were to get any sleep that night, or the next.
*
No man should scream so much, she thought. The human throat should not be capable of it, and yet the Denlander had shouted himself raw all last night, and all today as well. Those soldiers who had rejoiced most, when the man was brought in, looked haggard now, as though they themselves had been put to the question in his place. The shuttered windows of the colonel’s building flared red and orange and white, as Justin Lascari used his powers.
Evening now, and she found herself wishing for another night watch, because such enforced wakefulness should be put to use. Instead, she merely did the rounds, passing by each pale sentry with a few words of encouragement. Most already had one or two keeping them company, for the first time ever. She even found Caxton standing by one lantern, her long pale face set into its familiar unhappy lines.
‘I don’t recall your being on the roster for tonight, Ensign,’ Emily chided, and the other woman shrugged.
‘I don’t know how much more I can take, Sergeant,’ she said. ‘I mean, how long can a man last?’