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The children’s heads popped from the weeds like groundhog heads. They watched
the approaching soldiers. The boy whispered, “Must be a thousand of them.” The column stretched back and back. The dust it raised drifted up the face of a far
hill. The creak and jangle of harness grew ever louder.
The day was hot. The children were sweating. Their thoughts lingered on a nearby
brook and a dip in a pool they had found there. But they had been set to watch
the road. Rumor said the Lady meant to break the renascent Rebel movement in
And here her soldiers came. Closer now. Grim, hard-looking men. Veterans. Easily
old enough to have helped create the disaster which had befallen the Rebel six
years ago, claiming, among a quarter million men, their father.
“It’s them!” the boy gasped. Fear and awe filled his voice. Grudging admiration edged it. “That’s the Black Company.”
The girl was no student of the enemy. “How do you know?”
The boy indicated a bear of a man on a big roan. He had silvery hair. His
bearing said he was accustomed to command. “That’s the one they call the
Captain. The little black one beside him would be the wizard called One-Eye. See
That’s how you tell. The ones behind them must be Elmo and the Lieutenant.”
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