Legion Read Free

me,’ Bronzi said.
    ‘We may,’ agreed one of the aides.
    ‘I’m still the best field officer you’ve got.’
    Honen frowned. ‘There’s some truth in that. Don’t be nosey, Hurtado. You’ll be told what you need to know soon enough.’
    ‘A specialist?’
    Honen shot a questioning glance sidelong at her aides. She reached out to them with her ’cept too. They all looked away, recoiling from the touch of the scolding ’cept, concentrating on other things. ‘Someone’s been talking,’ Honen announced.
    ‘A specialist, then?’ Bronzi pressed.
    ‘As I said,’ Honen answered, turning her attention back to him.
    ‘Yeah, yeah, I know,’ said Bronzi, rattling his water bottles together as he gestured. ‘I’ll know when I know.’
    ‘Get your men settled,’ she told him, and turned to go.
    ‘Are the Dancers in?’ he asked.
    ‘The Dancers?’
    ‘They should be in by now. Peto owes me a payout on a wager. Are they here yet?’
    Her eyes narrowed. ‘No, Hurtado, not yet. We’re expecting them soon.’
    ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘then I request permission to take a foray team out, on a ramble, to find out what’s keeping them.’
    ‘Your loyalty to your friend does you credit, Hurtado, but permission is not granted.’
    ‘It’ll be dark soon.’
    ‘It will. That’s why I don’t want you rambling around out there.’
    Bronzi nodded.
    ‘Are we clear on that? No clever or ingenious misinterpretations of that order forming in your mind this time?’
    Bronzi shook his head. As if.
    ‘There’d better not be. Goodnight, hetman.’
    ‘Goodnight, uxor.’
    Honen clicked away on her heels, sending out a command with her ’cept. Her aides paused for a moment, scowling at Bronzi, and then followed her.
    ‘Yeah, stare at me all you like, you blonde bitches,’ Bronzi murmured.
    He padded back to the billet. ‘Tche?’
    ‘Yes, het?’
    ‘Get a foray team up and ready in ten minutes.’ Tche sighed at him. ‘Is this sanctioned, het?’ he asked.
    ‘Absolutely. The uxor told me personally that she doesn’t want some fug-fingered ramble blundering around out there, so tell the boys it’s going to have to be sharp and professional, which will make a change for them.’
    ‘Not a ramble?’
    ‘I never ramble. Sharp, Tche, and professional. Got it?’
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    Bronzi pulled on his boots and redressed his weapon belt. He realised he needed to take a leak. ‘Five minutes,’ he told the bashaw.
    He found the latrine, a stinking cement pit down the hall, unbuckled his armour and sighed as his bladder emptied. Nearby, men were showering in the communal air baths, and he could hear singing from one of the other troop billets.
    ‘You’ll stay put tonight,’ said a voice from behind him.
    Bronzi tensed. The voice was quiet and hard, small yet powerful, like the super-gravity coal of a dead sun.
    ‘I think I’ll finish what I’m doing, actually,’ he replied, deliberately not looking around, and deliberately keeping a tone of levity in his voice.
    ‘You will stay put tonight. No fun and games. No bending the rules. Are we clear?’
    Bronzi buckled up, and turned.
    The specialist stood behind him. Bronzi slowly adjusted his stance until he was looking up at the man’s face. Terra, he was huge, a monster of a man. The specialist’s features were hidden in the shadows of his dust shawl.
    ‘Is that a threat?’ Bronzi asked.
    ‘Does someone like me need to threaten someone like you?’ the specialist replied.
    Bronzi narrowed his eyes. He was a lot of things, but timid wasn’t one of them. ‘Come on then, if you want some.’
    The specialist chuckled. ‘I really admire your balls, hetman.’
    ‘They were only out because I was taking a leak,’ said Bronzi.
    ‘Bronzi, right? I’ve heard about you. More barefaced cheek in you than all the arses in the Imperial Army.’
    Bronzi couldn’t help but grin, though his pulse was racing. ‘I could mess you up, son, I really could.’
    ‘You could