Sabbanath - Book 1 of The Elements of Destiny

Chapter 5

Captain Taylor walked out from his garrison building squinting in the bright sunlight of the morning. The sun had been up an hour already and he was usually up before it but last night he had taken extra measures of whiskey before bed. It would be a while before he could taste the good stuff again. Preparations for their departure were in full swing. Under the supervision of Sergeant Friar, horses were being saddled and provisions were being tied on the 3 pack-horses they would be bringing with them. The Sergeant was an experienced campaigner who had served with the Captain on the mainland and also for a time here during the Noid wars. Both had suffered injuries and were offered the chance to go back to Kiryn but when this post became available they decided to apply. Back in Kiryn, considering their age, they would have most likely been discharged from active duty or given some monotonous guard posting with some green gilled officer just out of the academy ordering them around. A lot of the other soldiers were here for the same reason. Neither of the two men had family to speak of. The Captain himself had one sister but she had her own family to take care of her now. No, this was as good as they could hope for. To be honest, he thought it would be less stressful. The town was constantly in motion with new people always coming and going. It was home to but a small proportion of those that walked within its walls. This led to a lot of disturbances, fighting over jumping the queue, perceived unfair prices in a sale, looking at a man's wife or daughter the wrong way and even a man claiming the chicken he had bought was cursed and had run off with all his money during the night. At least once, if not twice everyday he got the call to break up a ruckus. His soldiers could deal with it but whenever he could he would lead the trip into town himself. If he was Captain he had to earn it and he didn't want to get into the habit of letting others do the work. Once that happened it was a slippery slope to retirement.

A farmer's cart led by 2 horses entered through the gates with Mr. Gretson and Mr. Juniper seated behind the driver. That was the cart from "The New World". The two men got off and gave instructions for how their luggage should be taken down. Mr. Juniper stopped Private Mellings and then the soldier turned to point in his direction. Captain Taylor, raised his hand in acknowledgement and began walking towards them.

He was glad that both gentlemen had decided to accompany him out to the homesteads. Put an enemy, right in front of him and he knew what he had to do. His rise through the ranks had been a combination of being a good fighter and the fact that he was alive while others who may have been more worthy were not. He had never been a good strategist and he felt that strategy might well be what was needed to catch whoever had been causing the trouble and by all accounts these two fellas had a few brain cells between them and some. When he had first gone out to the homesteads and met with John Rabbit, who was the unofficial leader of the families that had banded together for safety, he had ridden out to the ranches that had been attacked. He had found nothing there that gave him any clues that would prove definitively who was behind the attacks though he felt there must be something that perhaps he wasn't seeing. The problem was that the land was so vast and unless they stumbled across those they were looking for he didn't know what else they could do. They had ridden out in ever widening circles for a number of days before he had to leave empty handed, returning to Sabannath with John Rabbit's words still echoing in his head, "Hope me and mine will be alive to greet you next time, Captain." That was around three months ago and now as he was about to return he prayed that he would find them alive.

Val Juniper was a tall man, who bore himself confidently. He seemed to want to stand so straight that he was almost bending backwards. From what he had seen at the Governor's house with his hat off, Val had short dark brown hair, though it seemed to be waging a war with the grey hairs that were almost growing in equal measure. He had a receding hairline and also a bald patch at the top of his head. He was broad at the shoulders and looked strong, though he seemed to be losing the battle to keep his gut from protruding, the sign perhaps of a more luxurious lifestyle in recent times. He was well dressed in fashionable but comfortable trousers, shirt and jacket and of course his top hat which was a little more eccentric. He had liked what he had seen of him at the dinner. They were of a similar age and he had liked his honesty and his preference to cut straight to the point. He seemed to be a man who would let you know straight out how he felt about you and Captain Taylor respected that.