Page 79 of Silver & Smoke
‘The wisest warriors know when to break formation’
– The Warsword’s Way
TORJ COULD FEELher anguish through the soul bond, and it damn near destroyed him. Guilt festered alongside the poison in his veins as he swept his beeswax-covered cloth over his armour. He was failing Wren in every way imaginable. He had promised heralways,and yet he was dying. He had saidtogetherwith every fibre of his being, but he was leaving her on her own...
A tremor wracked his hand, and he dropped the cloth in the dirt, cursing under his breath—
‘Are you the Bear Slayer?’ a youthful voice asked from the flap of the armoury tent as he reached down to retrieve the scrap of fabric.
I was, he thought bitterly.
‘Who’s asking?’ He looked up to see three young shieldbearers standing before him, clutching their own armour.
The girl on the end elbowed the boy in the middle and pointed to the totem on his right arm, and the war hammer resting against the table a few feet away. ‘Itishim!’
The boy on the end shot them a mortified look.
‘What can I do for you, Thezmarrians?’ Torj asked, realizing that the trio reminded him of Cal, Kipp and Thea when they were as green as the grass beyond the camp.
‘Can you show us how to...’ the girl motioned to his armour, ‘do what you’re doing?’
He stared at them for a moment, and suddenly they seemed impossibly young,too youngto be marching off to war. They were in their late teens or early twenties, but the gulf between them and his battle-worn self seemed endless. Outside, he could hear the bustle of preparation, the shouts accompanying the training drills, the rattling wheels of the supply carts... Wren was out there too, likely elbow-deep in potions and cursing his name. Her calls through the bond had gone quiet, and he didn’t know if he was terrified or relieved by that.
‘Bear Slayer?’ one of the shieldbearers prompted, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
Yes, they reminded him of Cal, Kipp and Thea, alright, and it made his stomach drop. Part of him couldn’t believe they were back here, on the brink of another colossal fight for survival. The war would happen with or without him; the least he could do was show these poor shieldbearers how to tend to their armour.
He sighed and reached for a clean piece of material. ‘First, you need to wipe the leather thoroughly with a damp cloth to remove dirt, sweat and any mould,’ he began, amused by their rapt attention. ‘Do you know why you need to oil your armour?’
They shook their heads.
‘What the fuck is Esyllt teaching you back there?’ he muttered. ‘You need to oil your armour regularly to maintain its flexibility and stop it from cracking. You need to be able to move well in it – it shouldn’t restrict you in any way. If it cracks, it might leave you vulnerable, and it’s much harder to repair.’
‘What oil are you using?’ the girl asked. She was wearing herhair in a side braid, just like Thea, Torj noticed, and she was already mimicking his motions over the shoulder piece in her lap.
‘I’m using beeswax because it doesn’t have an odour, but you can use tallow, lanolin... I’d advise against fish oil,’ he told them.
As he demonstrated, more shieldbearers filled the tent, and he suddenly found himself giving the lesson Esyllt the weapons master had given him back at the fortress, decades ago.
‘Pay special attention to the creases where the leather flexes, and areas exposed to regular friction—’
‘What about the stitching and the buckles?’ someone called out.
‘Those too,’ he replied. ‘When you’re done, leave it to dry so the oil can fully penetrate. Somewhere out of direct sunlight.’
When he looked up next, he saw Dessa lingering by the entrance of the tent. The red-haired alchemist was pacing impatiently, and as soon as she noticed his attention, she motioned wildly for him to join her.
Leaving the shieldbearers to their own devices, he went to her. ‘What’s wrong, Dessa? Is it Wren? Is she alright?’
‘You’d know if you spoke to her,’ she said tersely.
It was like a punch to the gut. ‘I deserve that,’ he muttered, hanging his head.
‘Yes, you do,’ Dessa replied frankly. ‘But that’s not why I’m here.’
Torj realized he was grinding his teeth. ‘Whyareyou here?’
‘To give you time,’ Dessa told him.
