Rise of a Valkyrie

Part 60

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As she stared glumly into her morning hot chocolate, Kayla tried to divine some hidden truths in the milky swirls. The liquid stared back silently, mocking her desperation. She wondered if tea leaves might be better—they certainly couldn't be as useless as she had been to the hunt.

Urtiga dropped her tray down onto the table next to her. She had piled her plate high with sausages, bacon and eggs, together with a pint of orange juice. The kitchen of the roadside guesthouse was well supplied—it had to be, since it served the many truck drivers who plied the Lanstead roads. Kayla watched incredulously as the woman wolfed it all down.

"How are you so hungry?" she asked.

Urtiga paused to swallow her last mouthful. "You'd better not be feeling sorry for yourself," she said sternly.

"I just don't feel like eating."

"Get over it. Rangers stay positive and don't risk compromising their fitness by going hungry."

Kayla couldn't argue with that, so she went to fetch herself a somewhat less stacked plate of food. The kitchen lady smiled rosily at her as she shoveled greasy portions onto her plate.

"Cheer up, love," she said. "It might never happen." It was a common expression amongst the colonists, a reminder that fate could be as kind as it was cruel.

"Yes, ma'am." Kayla nodded, trying her best to put on a believable smile. When she returned to the table, she saw that Zhang and Christie had arrived, and were already deep in discussion over unfolded maps.

"I take it back. I'm an idiot," Kayla said, as she dropped her tray. "We shouldn't waste more time on this."

"Kayla's always had a penchant for melodrama," Christie explained to the others.

Urtiga nodded. "I decided to follow this lead, because it was a good one, and I will decide when we give it up."

"We've been to more than twenty guesthouses and truck stops, and not a single person remembers anything about Helvetic soldiers wandering around," Kayla objected.

"We've only gotten through forty percent of the search area," Zhang said. "A few dry holes are to be expected."

"Yes, but... news spreads so easily here," Kayla insisted. "We should have heard something by now." She searched for the words to try and help her comrades understand the wildfire nature of Calderan gossip, but came up empty.

"Give it a rest already," Urtiga said firmly. "This is intelligence work; it's long and boring and takes a while to get any kind of positive return. We're going to keep at this for another week, so you really need to get past the negativity."

Kayla said nothing, watching morosely as they planned the route they would take for the day. They had been working for two weeks, stopping at various public places where the local farmers would be expected to trade news. They usually posed as a survey team scouting unexploited land, and let Kayla do the talking, since she knew the mannerisms and phrases that would help them keep a low profile. At some point in the conversation, she would let slip her disdain for Rackeye and claim she had heard rumors of Helvetic military in the area. So far, this had only been met with sympathetic, but otherwise blank, stares.

"Lots of strange people pass through these areas," farmers would respond. "Explorers, prospectors, migrants—never seen Helvets, though. They prefer to keep to themselves, shut up in their city."

Kayla was beginning to despair, fearing that they would return empty-handed to the safe house, where she would be seen as a fool.

As the others discussed routes, a trio of drivers at a nearby table glanced over at them. It was not unusual for the team to draw male attention, but the men looked concerned—hostile even. Eventually, one of them pushed back his chair and walked over, drawing himself up to his full height and glaring angrily at them.