CRACK!
Her nose broke against my forehead. Vale stumbled, taking the cutlass with her as I released it, but I caught her by the throat before she could get out of reach.
She slashed at my ribs. The blade tore what was left of my shirt and scraped across skin, leaving a red line that faded before she could pull back for another swing.
"Not so sharp now," I muttered.
I dragged her towards me and hit her again. Blood ran over her mouth, and her free hand clamped around my wrist. Behind me, someone shouted my name and brought a baton down across my shoulders.
I barely moved. A second hit caught the back of my head while two more Marines grabbed my arms, trying to pull me away. I shook one loose and drove Vale backwards until her boots scraped trenches through the dirt.
She still had her cutlass. I felt it across my forearm, then against my neck, but it only made me tighten my grip.
"Come on, Captain. Where's the lecture now!?" I cackled.
Her mouth opened. I leaned closer, waiting for something I could get angry at, and got a choking sound instead.
I hit her anyway.
Her knees gave out. I went down with her, driving her into the dirt and keeping my hand around her throat. Someone caught my shoulder and hauled backwards. I shrugged him off, heard him fall, and bent over her again.
A rifle fired behind me. The impact jolted my back, but nothing went in. I could hear the Marine working at his weapon while Vale clawed at my wrist beneath me.
"Tell me about strength. You had plenty to say earlier!" I was still smiling when I said it.
The next headbutt left my ears ringing. I blinked blood out of my eyes and raised my head, feeling the ache spread across my forehead. A baton broke against my back, and half of it landed beside the cutlass Vale had finally dropped.
By the time I bent towards her again, the ringing had eased. The pressure behind my eyes faded with it, and the next impact barely hurt me at all.
"Oh," I breathed. "That's disgusting."
Even this. My body was letting me get better at even this.
Vale tried to turn her face away. I pulled her back, furious at the movement, at the torn uniform, at the afternoon she'd somehow turned into this.
"You had one job. Get me somewhere stronger. That was all I fucking wanted!"
She caught my wrist with both hands. Her fingers kept slipping, and I shook her until she stopped trying to pull me off. The Marines had stopped hitting me too. I noticed that much. One was backing away, dragging another by the collar. A man beside the broken weapon rack had both hands over his mouth.
Good. They could watch. They'd been happy enough standing around when it was Toma on his knees.
I hit her again, and somewhere after that I stopped smiling. I couldn't tell you exactly when. I remember breathing through my mouth. I remember her hands falling away from mine. I remember lifting my head and bringing it down long after she'd stopped trying to escape.
"Please stop!" one of the marines shouted.
The voice was close. I paused with my forehead above hers, waiting for her to move.
She didn't.
I loosened my grip. Vale lay beneath me with her face broken in, blood soaking into the dirt around her head. Her chest wasn't moving. When I took my hand away, it left a red print across her throat.
I stood slowly, wiping at my eyes with the heel of my hand. It made everything worse. My fingers were wet, and something was caught in my hair.
Nothing hurt. I checked without really meaning to, rolling my shoulder and swallowing, searching for the injuries that had been there minutes ago. Even my forehead felt fine.
A Marine near the wall was being sick. Another knelt beside a wounded man and kept glancing up at me while he tried to tie a bandage. I took a step, and the people in front of me moved back far enough to trip over the ones behind them.
Toma was still by the crates.
Mallor had his rifle in both hands, held low across his body. The boy peered around his sleeve as I approached, then flinched so hard his shoulder struck the wood behind him.
I stopped a few paces away.
"Hey. You got it now."
He stared at me. I tried to smile, and his grip tightened on the bundle.
"The medicine," I added. "For your sister. You can take it home."
His gaze went past me towards Vale, then snapped back when I shifted my weight. Mallor stepped further in front of him, keeping the rifle low.
I looked down at myself. There was barely enough of my shirt left to count as clothing, and most of the blood on me belonged to the woman lying behind us. I lowered the hand I'd started to reach out with.
"Mallor. Take him to his sister."
The sergeant watched me for a moment. "You'll let us through?"
"Sir, what do you think all this was for?"
His eyes flicked towards the body. I opened my mouth, then closed it again. Fair question, apparently. I rubbed my palm against my trousers and tried to find somewhere clean to put it.
"Just take him. Please."
Mallor slung his rifle over his shoulder and crouched beside Toma. "Come on, lad. Let's get you home."
The boy needed a moment before he would stand. When he did, he kept close to the crates, putting as much space between us as he could without climbing through the wood. He never let go of the medicine.
I'd expected him to be scared during the fighting. Obviously. There'd been bullets everywhere, and he'd watched my arm fall off. Now he wouldn't even walk past me until Mallor went first.
I stayed still and let them go around.
The sergeant stopped beside me once Toma was a few steps ahead. "She should never have given that order."
"I know."
"But what you did to her..."
I looked back at Vale. Her cutlass lay within reach. I remembered when she'd dropped it, though I couldn't have said how many times I'd hit her afterwards.
"Yeah," I said. "I know."
Mallor stood there a moment longer, then followed Toma towards the side gate. I turned back to the yard before I could see whether the kid looked over his shoulder.
Men straightened wherever I looked. A few still held weapons, but none aimed them at me.
"Put those down."
The nearest Marine dropped his sabre. Others followed, though an officer near the barracks kept his hand close to his holster.
I pointed at the main building. "Vale's office. Bring out her ledgers, the loose papers, all of it. There's a note under the one on her desk. I want that too."
The man I'd pointed at stared at me.
"Today would be nice."
"Yes, sir."
"Don't sir me."
"Yes, Voss."
Didn't love that either, but he was already moving. Three others went after him. I watched them disappear inside, then turned to the Marines beside the storehouse.
"Medicine next. Bring the stock out here, and the food she's been withholding. Someone find the quartermaster."
One of them glanced at the officer by the barracks. Several others did the same, waiting. A man near the wall sat down hard and buried his face in his hands.
"You heard him," Mallor said from near the gate.
The officer drew his pistol. "This is mutiny!"
Toma ducked behind the gatepost as Mallor pushed him back. I crossed the yard before the officer finished lining up the shot. It struck my shoulder and skipped away as I caught the pistol, pointing it down into the dirt.
He tried to wrench it free. I crushed the barrel between my fingers and punched him in the chest. He dropped at my feet, gasping, while I tossed the ruined weapon aside.
"Bad timing."
Two Marines ran for the far gate. I snatched up a fallen rifle and threw it across the yard. It hit the first behind the knees, folding him onto the dirt. A second rifle caught the other man's shoulder before he reached the latch.
He hit the gate with a noise that made several people wince. His helmet rolled back towards me.
"Anyone else got errands?"
Nobody answered. A few put their hands up, which worked for me. I was getting tired of repeating myself, and there were still crates of medicine locked away while people waited outside.
"Get the stores open. Now."
The quartermaster appeared in the doorway with a ring of keys. He held them out, but I pointed towards the lock and let him work it himself. His hands shook enough that he missed twice.
Mallor came over once the officer stopped trying to get up. Toma stayed just inside the side gate, where the sergeant could still see him. A couple of townspeople had gathered outside, peering past him into the yard.
Mallor looked at the officer curled around his chest, then at the men by the far gate. His hand rested on his rifle strap.
"The wounded need treatment."
"Then get them treated. I'm waiting on the ledgers."
He held my gaze for a moment before calling two Marines over. They moved quickly once he gave them something familiar to do, hauling the officer towards the infirmary. Others started checking the men I'd knocked down.
I leaned against a post and watched, keeping the office doorway in sight. An injured Marine pulled his legs out of my way even though I hadn't gone near him.
Mallor unslung his rifle, removed its ammunition and set it beside his cartridge pouch. Several men watched him do it. He waited until the ones by the stores had turned towards him as well.
"Enough. Put every weapon down."
He had a good voice for it. Rough enough to carry, familiar enough that people listened. The last few armed men lowered their weapons without looking at me for confirmation.
"Those who collected civilian protection fees, by the wall. Quartermaster, you too. Leave the keys with the men at the stores."
The quartermaster started to speak.
"You can give your account with the others. Move."
He went. A handful of men followed, some slowly enough that Mallor had to point at them before they'd take another step.
"Anyone who altered the store records will join them. The rest of you will wait by the centre line to give statements. That includes everyone who knew what was happening and kept quiet."
Mallor paused, looking towards the gate. More people had gathered there. Toma was still standing against the post, his bare feet close together, watching us.
"I'll be giving one myself," the sergeant said.
A Marine near the front jerked his chin at me. "You're taking orders from him now? He killed the captain."
"I can see that. Put your weapon down."
"Sergeant—"
"I'm taking responsibility too late. You can start doing the same."
The man looked around for support and found everyone waiting on him. He dropped his baton, then walked towards the centre line.
Huh. Good line.
…
End of Chapter!
Word Count - 1902