The Red Knight by K.T. Davies Page A

understand that he hadn’t intended any mischief by hiding his identity. He hoped the contrite smile he gave her would convey how sorry he was; it always worked on his mother.
    He was therefore disappointed to see that her face remained perfectly composed; untouched by emotion, as unreadable as stone.
     

Chapter Three
    T he 1st had been back at Trelanlith for a week. As the days passed, the Company slowly re-adjusted to peacetime duties. It wasn’t easy; the transition from battlefield to barracks took time. On this particular day, Alyda was struggling. Sunlight was pouring through her office window, drenching the room in syrupy, will-sapping warmth. She fought valiantly to muster some enthusiasm for going over the accounts with the Paymaster, but it was a losing battle. The air in her office was as thick as honey and when her vision wasn’t swimming, her gaze constantly drifted from the books to the window. Outside, knights were drilling on the parade ground, something she found infinitely more interesting than the ledgers spread before her. Malby cleared his throat. She looked round. The Paymaster was looking at her expectantly.
    “Sorry, Mal, what did you say?”
    Malby’s thin lips tightened. “I said, it would leave a balance of two hundred and seventy crowns, and eighty shillings rounded up. This doesn’t include the second quarter, when we were in Suvia. I’ve kept those accounts separate. Would you like to see them now or after we’ve been through these?”
    “Alas, it’ll have to be later—tomorrow in fact. I have to take one of the new knights out on the Chase now.”
    Malby pulled a face, but didn’t voice his displeasure. Like everyone else in the garrison, he knew who the new knight was. “Of course, Captain, but the sooner I have the final figures approved, the sooner I can send in the accounts. You know—”
    “—Saddles aren’t made for free, and every rivet and link must be paid for. Yes, I know Mal, I know. We’ll finish this first thing in the morning.”
    She knew that the Paymaster would prefer it if they didn’t do all that riding and fighting. It made the accounts untidy. Later that evening he’d no doubt air his grievances with his equally ill-used comrade, Surgeon Gedthis. They’d retire to the infirmary, as they did most nights, and put the world to rights over a glass of port or three—which, Alyda noted, had been accounted for as ‘ medicinal supplies’ .
    When Malby left, she took her sword from where it was hanging on the wall beneath the shrine to Sestrian and Ashania, the patron gods of Antia. Unlike the weapon, the shrine was thick with dust. She’d had the blade re-honed since Suvia, but she drew it out of habit and checked its edge. It gleamed, as clean and bright as the day she’d made Lieutenant, the day her parent’s had given it to her. It was a fine weapon, and had served her well since the Border Wars. Etched into the blade was an inscription that she didn’t need to read to remember: I serve the one, who serves the one, and neither shall be parted from the Other . Alyda rubbed her thumb over the incised words before sheathing the blade and going to meet the Prince.
     
    Lacgarde was leaning on the stable door, watching Talin from beneath the heavy slab of his brow as the Prince tacked up his horse. When he was done, the Company Standard Bearer grunted his approval. In the short time he’d been with the 1st, Talin had learnt that the knights had a specific way of doing just about everything, from saddling a horse, to buckling on a sword belt. There was the ordinary, inferior way, and then there was the Company way. The knights were ridiculously fastidious, but he couldn’t help but be impressed by their devotion to the Company they served. They ate, breathed, and slept the Company .
    Even though they’d only recently returned from campaign, the knights’ appetite for hard work and rigorous training was voracious. The contrast between the 5th and the