Belly of the Beast by Warren Thomas (story books for 5 year olds txt) 📕

a tactic to make their enemies wary. In all my years as a mercenary, I’ve never seen magic prove decisive in a major battle.”

            “Blood and muscle wins wars,” Armin said.

            For six hours the zombies came at them in wave after wave of humanity. Most never got across the moat. Though there were hundreds of makeshift bridges, they proved quite willing and capable of swimming if there wasn’t a bridge convenient when they reached the shore. But they never tried to protect themselves from the defenders arrows, hot oil, and thrown stones. By midday the newest zombie arrivals could walk halfway across the moat on the backs of the dead.

            “I haven’t seen such carnage since the Temple War,” Quinn said.

            By late afternoon the priests called off her zombie army and had a black pavilion erected well out of catapult range of the city walls. The priests filed inside once it was ready, making Tane wonder aloud at what they were doing.

            “War council, most likely,” Joelle said. “Their zombies aren’t proving too efficient in storming our walls.”

            Soon a sergeant of the City Guard came by looking for survivors of the previous day’s battle. She ordered them to form up with others below the walls. From there they were marched through the refugee-packed streets to a complex of fortresslike buildings – the Royal Army’s headquarters. There they found Raven sitting in a cobbled courtyard with other “walking wounded,” cradling her head in both hands.

            “Raven!” Quinn cried, breaking ranks to hurry to her side. The sergeant marching them barked an order for everyone else to hold fast, then glared murderously at Quinn. Tane grinned fiercely. Except for Corporal Pendar, their squad was alive and back together again. “You’re all right! Sweet Mother, how I was worried when they took you away!”

            Raven smiled weakly, submissively enduring his embrace before dropping back to the ground quietly. Tane became worried. She should’ve been taunting the half-elf shamelessly.

            “You’re not well,” Quinn said. “I’ll get Joelle to look at you.”

            “No. Please. I’ve had enough magic pushed into my brain to last a lifetime,” she said, clutching his arm to stop him from leaving. He dropped down to sit beside her, letting her lean against him. “I’m just a little weak, that’s all. But I feel better seeing you and the others alive.”

            The sergeant walked over and looked down on them a moment. Tane was afraid Quinn was in trouble, but then the sergeant shrugged and walked back.

            “You boys and girls are here for debriefing,” the sergeant said. “You make sure you tell us everything, no matter how unimportant it seems to you now. If we’re going to win this war, then we need good military intelligence on the zombies. Now, stake out a spot and wait your turn to be debriefed.”

            Tane and the Vikon made their way to Quinn and Raven. They sat together, with Quinn telling her what happened after the battle. Surprisingly, she showed no emotions about Sergeant Gareth’s capture and fiery death. Tane had half-expected her to be terribly relieved, since she had lost their wager.

            “Oh, I have something for you,” Tane said, pulling Tasheba from under his belt.

            Raven snatched it from his hands, tears welling up.

            “I thought her lost,” she whispered, turning to Tane with grateful eyes. Before he knew what was happening, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Thank you. Anything you want, just ask.”

            Tane felt his face burning under everyone else’s bemused looks. Quinn seemed especially smug at Tane’s distress.

            “How long have you been awake?” Tane asked her, eager to change the subject.

            “About two hours,” she said, releasing him with a strange look in her eyes. Then she seemed to push her thoughts aside and shrugged. “They spent a good hour watching me to see if I would keel over, then sent me over here.”

            “Who healed you?” Armin asked as she tied Tasheba’s scabbard across her back. “Mages or priests?”

            “A priestess of Sharel. I think,” Raven said. “At least she was the first person I saw when I woke up.”

            “For free!” Tane said in mock shock, which brought a smile to her face.

            “Well... My purse is missing,” she said with mock thoughtfulness. She cut a predatory glance at Quinn, saying, “But since the priestess wasn’t from the temple of Ashtar, I hadn’t given it much thought. You don’t think she stole it, do you?”

            Quinn’s groan brought a low chuckle from her, and then she grimaced and started rubbing her temples.

            “Have you been debriefed?” Joelle said.

            “Yes,” she said. “They weren’t too pleased with my lack of information.” She snorted contemptuously. “Craven bastards couldn’t muster the backbone to march into battle themselves, and then have the audacity to get snotty when a common foot soldier can’t give them exact numbers and such. Ignorant, base-born, whore-sons.”

            “Typical,” Quinn said. “I’ve soldiered for over three hundred years, and in all that time officers haven’t changed one wit.”

            Raven said, “Well that just proves they’re inbred as well as being ignorant, base-born bunch of – ”

            “We get the point,” Joelle interrupted.

            “No you don’t. Wait until you’ve been debriefed,” Raven said. “You might not be as kind as I’m being.”

            A group of ten men exited a nearby door. They all looked spooked, nervously glancing around. The men looked to be as hard-bitten as any Tane had ever seen, and for them to react like that to the debriefing left him nervous as well. The sergeant escorting them out picked out ten more to follow him inside.

            Taking a deep breath and settling down for a long wait, Tane strangely found he’d rather be atop the walls fighting off the zombies than face the officers debriefing them. From the grim looks on the men and women around him, he wasn’t alone in that.

Chapter 37

            The debriefing proved short, but intense. Tane left wondering just what