Dark Obligations: Book One of the Phantom Badgers Read Free

recovered.
    Next to Axel sat Ser jeant Bridget Uldo, a slender, lively dark-haired young woman three years shy of thirty who had married Axel last spring. Another Company founder, Bridget was an Advocate (wandering priestess without specific church duties) to the goddess Hetarian, and the Company’s peacemaker and conscience. And Healer, quartermaster, and many other jobs as well, for the lithe young priestess had a knack for making herself useful in every situation.
    On Bridget’s far side was Serjeant Dmitri, a hulking red-haired slab of a man in his late thirties who looked like a professional soldier and in fact was one: born in Kerbia, the wild lands to the southeast, Dmitri had served in several noble guard companies before roving north to try soldiering in foreign lands. Proof of his accumulated expertise showed in the fact that the big Kerbian had been with the Company for less than two years and already held rank, proof positive of both competence and leadership. Even more extraordinary was that his rapid promotion had created no resentment in the ranks; anyone who saw Dmitri in combat came away with respect both for his individual fighting skills and his leadership abilities. Since Axel’s injury Durek had increasingly viewed the burly Human as his strong right arm when in the field. The serjeant sat and fingered the good-luck charms woven into his braided beard, watching and listening without expression.
    To Durek’s right sat Janna Maidenwalk, another founding Badger and the undisputed head of the inner circle. A year younger than Dmitri and easily his equal in individual combat, the tall woman whose thick red braid was just starting to show silver was a legend within the Badgers for her fighting prowess and fanatical beliefs. Before joining the Badgers, Janna had served for many years in the ranks of the Silver Eagles, the elite holy warriors of the temple to the god Beythar, and because of her exceptional service was allowed to retain the insignia and title of that respected body even after her retirement. She had left the Order, rumor said, because they hadn’t been sending her into enough combat to suit her. The woman’s handsome face was marred by a great jagged scar that twisted from above her left eye, across her flattened nose, and slid down her cheek to the right hinge of her jaw like a crippled snake, the legacy of a Black Dwarf’s axe north of the Ward some years ago. Janna was hardly a font of tactical advice but she could be counted on for bedrock-solid common sense and complete loyalty to the Company and its Captain.
    Robin Threadgill lounged in his seat next to Janna, a slender man whose neat beard partially hid a habitual frown. Robin held his unofficial position due to long service and as a sounding board for ideas: commonly nursing a generally gloomy disposition, Robin could be counted on to find reasons why not to do any given act, and to object to any suggested plan. Robin was also very nearly a founding Badger, for he had joined just weeks after its Founding, a veteran of the Imperial Legions who had been serving as a caravan guard on the fringes of the Empire.
    Gabriella sat on Robin’s left opposite Dmitri; her inclusion in this group was due primarily to her popularity with the rank and file of the Badgers, a vast wealth of experience, and three years of excellent service as the Company’s primary scout, a position now threatened by the recruitment of the Lanthrell Starr. Raised in a half-dozen servants’ quarters as her father moved from wealthy patron to wealthier patron, Gabriella had absorbed six languages and the customs to match, rounding this out with ten years of bodyguarding in her own right before joining the Badgers.
    Banging his mug on the table to kill the small talk, Durek called the meeting to order. “Listen up, we’ve business to discuss.” He studied each of the six Badgers in turn as he spoke. “Things have changed from the plans we’ve made, and we’re