The Pillars of Creation Read Free Page A

soldiers dangerous? I mean, do they bother folks? Folks just traveling through?”
    Her gaze fled his questioning eyes. “I—I don’t know. I guess they could be.”
    She feared to say too much, but she wouldn’t want him to end up in trouble because she said too little.
    “What do you suppose a lone soldier was doing way out here? Soldiers aren’t often alone.”
    “I don’t know. Why do you suppose a simple woman would know more about soldiering than a man of the world who travels about? Don’t you have any ideas of your own? Maybe he was just on his way home, for a visit, or something. Maybe he was thinking about a girl back home, and so he wasn’t paying attention like he should have been. Maybe that’s why he slipped and fell.”
    He rubbed his neck again, as if he were in pain.
    “I’m sorry. I guess I’m not making much sense. I’m a little tired. Maybe I’m not thinking clearly. Maybe I was only concerned for you.”
    “For me? What do you mean?”
    “I mean that soldiers belong to units of one sort or another. Other soldiers know them and know where they’re supposed to be. Soldiers don’t just go off alone when they want to. They aren’t like some lone trapper who could vanish and no one would know.”
    “Or some lone traveler?”
    An easy grin softened his expression. “Or some lone traveler.” The grin withered. “The point is, other soldiers will likely look for him. If they come upon his body, here, they’ll bring in troops to prevent anyone from leaving the area. Once they gather anyone they can find, they’ll start asking questions.
    “From what I’ve heard about D’Haran soldiers, they know how to ask questions. They’ll want to know every detail about every person they question.”
    Jennsen’s middle cramped in sick, churning consternation. The last thing in the world she wanted was D’Haran soldiers asking questions of her or her mother. This dead soldier could end up being the death of them.
    “But what are the chances—”
    “I’m only saying that I’d not like to have this fellow’s friends come along and decide that someone has to pay for his death. They might not see it as an accident. Soldiers get stirred up by the death of a comrade, even if it was an accident. You and I are the only two around. I’d not like to have a bunch of soldiers discover him and decide to blame us.”
    “You mean, even if it was an accident, they might seize an innocent person and blame them for it?”
    “I don’t know, but in my experience that’s the way soldiers are. When they’re angry they find someone to blame.”
    “But they can’t blame us. You weren’t even here, and I was only going to tend my fishing lines.”
    He planted an elbow on his knee and leaned over the dead man toward her. “And this soldier, going about his business for the great D’Haran Empire, saw a beautiful young woman strutting along and was so distracted by her that he slipped and fell.”
    “I wasn’t ‘strutting’!”
    “I don’t mean to suggest you were. I only meant to show you how people can find blame when they decide they want to.”
    She’d not thought of that. They were D’Haran soldiers. Such behavior would hardly be out of the question.
    The rest of what he’d said registered in her mind. Jennsen had never before had a man call her beautiful. It flustered her, coming so unexpectedly and out of place, as it did, in the middle of such a worry. Since she didn’t have any idea how to react to the compliment, and since there were so many more important thoughts commanding her emotions, she ignored it.
    “If they find him,” the man said, “then, at the least, they’re going to collect anyone around and question them long and hard.”
    All the ugly implications were becoming all too real. The day of doom was suddenly looming near.
    “What do you think we should do?”
    He thought it over a moment. “Well, if they do come by, but don’t find him, then they won’t have any