Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian Read Free Page B

“No,” Imelda declined. “I’ll have plenty of time to go over the reports. We don’t need to do it today.”
    “We’ll have plenty of time, you say?” Pember queried. “Don’t you think we’ll be sent out to pursue the lacertii? Even after taking a day for the army to recoup and reorganize, the cavalry could certainly catch them and harass them.”
    “I think we’ll let them go home; that’s my guess, anyway,” Imelda answered, hoping that Alec’s policy of sending Rosebay back to end the lacertii war would success. She had no ambivalence about the joy of pursuit of further war; since the cavalry was formed she’d wanted to experience battle. But the occupation of the hills along the river, followed by yesterday’s bloody engagement, had sated her appetite for the moment. She knew she wanted more adventure, but more immediately she wanted to rest.
    She saw the disappointment on Pember’s face. “How many injured do we have? May we go visit them?” Imelda asked to change the topic. Minutes later, Pember was leading the captain through a large tent with multiple cots in which wounded cavalry riders were being tended by several medics. Imelda knew many of the riders who were laid up with a variety of ailments. She recognized a cousin she had recruited from her home village, his leg heavily bandaged.
    “What happened, Iago?” she asked as she stood by his cot and laid a hand gently on his thigh. She remembered the lessons he had given her as a young girl, teaching her how to guide a horse with her knees while her hands were occupied. Iago had been an excellent rider, and she had deliberately set her cap for his participation when she had set out on her first recruitment ride. She feared to learn that his injury might prevent his further riding, when she knew that a healer like Alec could completely restore him.
    A tingle in her fingertips startled her, and she lifted her hand with a quick motion. Iago too looked surprised and stared at her for a moment. “Did you do something?” he questioned her.
    “I just reached over gently. Did I hurt you?” she asked, disturbed and slightly fearful that somehow she might have harmed her rider.
    “No. I don’t think you did any harm. It just felt like something,” he trailed off.
    “I’ll be back to see you sometime soon,” Imelda said with a smile of promise, and moved on through the tent, stopping to ask about several other riders who were no longer upon their horses. But even as she left the tent, she felt the ghost of the spark in her fingertips from when she had touched Iago. It had been something familiar; it had not caught her completely off-balance, and yet she couldn’t place the context that was right.
    “Where shall we go now?” Pember asked, eager to show off more of the cavalry assets.
    “Where are the ingenairii ?” Imelda asked. She wanted to go see Kinsey. She wanted to see many others as well, but she sensed a need to go speak to the Spiritual ingenaire who had blossomed so dramatically during the adventures of the past few days. More than anyone other than Alec, Kinsey seemed to have been most involved in the unending series of actions and mishaps that had transpired since the time of Rosebay’s capture. She would be most likely to understand what had happened.
    Pember was clearly disappointed that the captain wanted to leave the cavalry for some other agenda, but he dutifully led the way across camp. The two easily recognized when they passed an unmarked boundary and entered the small collection of hastily erected tents dedicated to the ingenairii who had gone to battle with Alec and Imelda in the riverside hills. The military neatness vanished, and voices were raised in loud conversations that penetrated the canvas tent walls, discussing a number of topics not related to battle or the campaign. Imelda listened for Kinsey’s voice, but could not locate it.
    “Let’s try in here,” she suggested after standing outside one tent full