“You’re not going to live there?” Slats said in desperate hope. His triangular head moved back and forth in quick jerks, the way a human might have done with his eyes alone. “I thought . . .”
Froggie had left Verruca to deal with the fort because he was more worried about the way the temple had been constructed. The wall was well begun already. The ground cover here didn’t bind the soil the way grass did, so the squads were trading off on the task of weaving brush into rough baskets to hold dirt.
This sort of construction would keep out prying eyes better than a stockade. Besides, when the troopers had time in a day or two to wet and tamp the soil, the result’d be as good as a turf wall.
The men had stripped off their helmets and body armor, but they still wore their sword belts. Four fully-equipped troopers guarded the gear of the others in the center of the rising fort. No point in taking chances.
“But the female barbarians?” Slats said. “They have remained, against the Commander’s clear orders.”
“Huh!” Froggie said. “I guess you’re right. Who’d have thought it?”
Most of the girls were helping with the work, but a pair were coming back from the stream with buckets of water for the evening meal. They waved gaily to Froggie. Queenie came out from behind the barrier that protected the fort’s gateway and walked over.
“But they must leave,” Slats said in frightened animation. “You must order them to leave!”
“Oh, I did,” Froggie said. He’d said the words to Queenie, true enough. He’d sooner not tell a lie if he could avoid it, and a long career in the army had taught him lots of ways to avoid it. “Maybe you should try yourself, Slats.”
The administrator rotated his head toward the approaching girl. Froggie patted Slats on the back and said, “Go ahead. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”
And maybe pigs would fly. The troopers had seen stranger things since they’d been bought by the Guild.
Slats’ translator blurted a demand that was so full of apologies you’d have thought he was talking to the Commander. Slats really didn’t like saying things the listener might not want to hear.
“Go fuck tree, bug-man,” Queenie said in cheerful pidgin. “We stay.”
“I guess they can camp out in the fort,” Froggie said. “Since it’s built, after all.”
“But—” said Slats. “They’re supposed to go—”
The village chief spoke to Queenie. She’d known to be politic when Three-Spire was here with the Commander, but the local hick got out less than ten words when Queenie lit into him.
Queenie didn’t kick the barb in the balls, but she did everything short of that. He bobbed and fluttered his arms up and down. Other girls called raucous support, and half a dozen of the nearest troopers rested their hands on their swordhilts as they smiled and watched.
Slats turned to Froggie. “She says—” he began.
Queenie whirled toward the centurion and administrator. “We no need him shitpot village!” she cried. “We stay out here, take care boss-man and great warriors like always!”
The village chief skittered back when Queenie let him go, but the captain of his guards caught him by the arm and pushed him forward again. Froggie stepped between the chief and Queenie.
“Slats,” he said without looking around, “to make sure that none of the girls leave their quarters at night, I’m going to station an outpost here during the four watches.”
“An outpost?” Slats said. Froggie could hear the administrator’s limbs rubbing against the slick, copper-colored robe he wore.
“Just two men,” Froggie said reassuringly. “Tell the chief that if he’s got problems with Guild personnel and their slaves using waste ground outside his village, he’d better keep them to himself.”
The administrator’s lavaliere began chirping away in rapid barb. Froggie looked the head of the axemen in the eye and said, “And by the way, Slats. I don’t guess the girls’ll have any trouble with the local barbs . . . but you might let the chief know that we were the first troops through the breach when the capital fell. If there is any trouble, we won’t stop killing while there’s one barb alive here. And we’ll burn the houses down over their bodies.”