“Do we untie them first, Top?” Laena asked.
“Dis, why would you want to do that?” said Froggie. He glanced over the battlefield until he saw Lucky Castus, the leader of First Squad.
“Hey Lucky!” he called. Froggie’s throat was back in service; like its owner, it recovered quick if it got a bit of rest and some wine. “Get your boys together and we’ll go visiting. Verruca, you’re in charge here till we get back. Set up some kinda chain of command for what’s left of the locals, all right?”
“Where are you going, Centurion Froggie?” Slats asked. All four arms were wrapped around his chest again.
“I’m going to go finish this business, Slats,” Froggie said. “Want to come along?”
The administrator’s body didn’t move. His head swivelled, then swiveled back. “You are going to the dimensional portal,” he said. “That is so?”
“That is so,” Froggie said. Castus had his boys lined up. Caepio was using a broken javelin as a crutch. He’d have to stay, but they’d still be nine swords counting Froggie. That was plenty for the job.
“Yes, Centurion Froggie,” Slats said. “I will come along. And we will finish the business!”
* * *
Glabrio led and Froggie was at the end of the line, since they were the two who knew the way. Froggie guessed the squad sounded like a drove of cattle—hobnails, shields clanking against cuirasses, and every couple of strides a man tripping on a root and swearing like a, well, a trooper. Slats said the folks inside the portal couldn’t see or hear till it opened; that had better be true.
The administrator walked right in front of Froggie, making just as good time as the troopers. The bug’s legs were plenty strong enough for his thin frame, and he seemed to see better than a man in this shadowed forest.
“We’re getting close, now,” Froggie said, as much to remind himself as to encourage Slats. Froggie’d come back mentally after the battle, but his body was still weaker than it’d been this morning. “It’ll be right over the next rise.”
Slats swivelled to look over his shoulders. He kept on walking and didn’t stumble. Did he have eyes someplace besides the ones on the front of his face?
“I am still surprised that our rivals found it worth the expense of a dimensional portal,” Slats said. “Though of course that is the only way they could carry out their regulation-breaking activities. The product must be of remarkable value.”
“The Commander seems to think so,” Froggie said. “If `thinks’ is the right word for the state he’s in.”
“Yes,” Slats said. His words came eerily to Froggie’s ears through the administrator’s translator and directly to Froggie’s mind, he guessed because of the lavaliere he’d taken from the barb. “The mercenary leader said the dose Three-Spire gives the Commander is a dangerously heavy one. It saps the user of all will, but our rivals were concerned that only slightly more would be fatal. The Commander’s death would require a replacement and cause them problems.”
Froggie caressed the hilt of his well-used sword. “They’ll learn about problems,” he said quietly.
Word came down the line over the shoulder of each trooper in turn. Froggie already knew what it was. “We’ve arrived, Slats,” he said.
Lucky lined the squad up to face the spike of rock. Everybody had his sword drawn. Froggie took the key out of his pouch and handed it to the administrator.
“Open it when I tell you, Slats,” he said. “Not before.”
Now that the troopers’ clattering equipment didn’t mask it, the night was bright with animal sounds: chirps, peeps, and a thoom, thoom, that could almost have been a bullfrog sounding from a bog in the Sabine Hills. Froggie missed being able to wander around in the countryside at night the way he had as a kid . . . but Hercules! that was asking to get chopped in a place the legion had just conquered. Since the Guild bought him, Froggie was only going to see places just before or just after the legion had smashed the local king or chief or priestess.
“All right, boys,” Froggie said. His breathing was under control and his body ready now. His sword was the only one still sheathed. “When Glabrio and me was here before it was just a guy in a blue suit—he’s not our Commander, don’t worry—”