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Bat and his people made a stand here. Crowley shook his head. When I found Bat, he was wandering
through the jungle looking for more of the enemy. After he ran out of bullets and his bayonet broke, he
went after them with his bare hands. He showed me the sites of three kills and said he forgot where the
others are.
Three fallen trees had been used to bridge the plant-rot foam. I crossed it and started up the steepest
part of the hill. In the dark loam, I could see impressions of enormous hooves. Superimposed over them,
I saw smallish clawed footprints and then a few larger and more slender footprints. Judging by size and
relative depth, whatever the creatures that lay rotting had been, formidable would have been an
understatement when applied to them.
Coming up over the lip of the hill, I saw a scene that explained to meCrowley s anger. Warfare is death
and destruction, but too often gets remembered in terms of a person s heroism in the face of brutal
chaos. Memorials are raised to the innocent dead, and heroes are remembered with ceremonies, but the
sheer cost in life that results from a war is difficult to quantify and so incomprehensible that memorializing
it defies even the most talented artisan.
Rotting plant-stuff the color of peppers long gone bad covered the compound like a lake of pea-soup
vomit. Big and little chunks of things floated in it like islands fighting off its destructive tide. Men waded
through it, dragging yet other men from the clinging gelatin with great sucking sounds. A quick check
determined whether the rescued man was alive or dead, and his status determined if he was placed on a
stretcher for immediate evacuation or left lying in a line with the other dead men.
The swampy miasma choked me and made my eyes water. Just looking at the battlefield, I could tell
how things had gone.Ryuhito s troops had advanced, been stopped and slowly driven back, but not
before inflicting incredible casualties among the defenders. Sharpened stakes stuck up out of the slime
and toppled piles of sandbags marked where defenses had once stood. And, between the stakes and the
fortifications, at the thickest part of the slime sea, four huge islands lay dead.
I recognized the Plutonians from the one visit I had made to their home dimension. At that time, they had
seemed incredibly big and powerful, but lying on their sides, their blood mixed with streaks of green
foam, they were pitiable. I had no doubt that their strength had won the day. I knew, from some of the
preliminary plans we had knocked about, that a half-dozen Plutonians were the minimum number we had
thought about using, which meant, at worst, we had suffered 66% fatalities.
Looking at the pile of human bodies, I knew that estimate might be light for creatures as fragile as me.
Do you have numbers?
Crowleynodded curtly. Plutonians: 100% casualties, 66% dead. Myrangeikki: 100% casualties, but it is
only a minor wound. Vetha is off in Plutonia tending the two injured Plutonians and expects them to
recover. Humans: 99.5% casualties, 70% fatalities. The remaining 30% require medical attention. The
Internal Defense Cadre troops came through the best; the fatalities are mostly our workers. The shadow
man opened his arms wide. I m the only person who did not get hurt.
You know better than buying into survivor s guilt.
Yes, dammit, I do know better than that. The shadow man folded his arms into the silhouette of his
chest. I know I survived because I have training and experience. I also know that I survived because the
Yidam and Will Raven both dealt with things that could have killed me. I owe them my life, and they re
dead. And now, with all this, there is no way to make their sacrifices count for anything.
I frowned. We can get more people, can t we? We have no need to abandon the plan, do we?
If you want to bring more people in here, you can count me out. Hal Garrett, his right arm in a sling,
limped over toward us. Rotfoam splatter streaked his pants and left sleeve. Some had even been
smeared across his forehead. He looked atCrowley . Have you told him yet?
Told me what?
The man of shadows shook his head. Seeing as how you were not around at the moment, I headed out
to try to kill Pygmalion. I know assassination is your bailiwick, but I ve been known to shoot straight. I
tried to enter Pygmalion s dimension, but I could not. I ve not surveyed the whole thing, but as nearly as I
can tell he s managed to armor his dimension so I can t get in.
I nodded. I am given to understand that Dark Lords can manage that trick in dimensions with
sympathetic resonances to their aspect.
Crowleylooked me over from toes to head and back again. That s an interesting piece of information.
He waited for me to volunteer the source of my comment, but I shook my head. There s something
wrong here.
Hal burst out with a disgusted laugh. Clearly nothing wrong with your reasoning capabilities.
That s enough, gentlemen! I looked fromCrowley to Hal and back again. What I m catching from
both of you is that somehow what happened here is my fault. You re both exhausted I can see it and
you know it. That s the only reason I m trying to ignore your comments.
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