My hopes soared. I hadn't dared believe that she still cared about me, but here she was about to say so. If I hadn't felt the harsh surface of the foamed 'crete against my back, I would have been sure I was dreaming.

I knew it was hard for her; it was hard for me. Love, real love, wasn't one of the emotions commonly experienced by someone raised in a sibko. At least not love for people outside the sib group. We were both wandering in strange territory. She took a deep breath and seemed to consider what she was about to say. Her eyes fluttered to me, then away again. She shuddered, clearly wracked by the intensity of her emotions. Her back stiffened as she gathered her control before speaking.

"You're loyal, Brian, but you know what the Dragoons mean, what the forms mean. I knew that if you were still with the Wolf, Alpin's claim to the succession couldn't be right. Your being out here told me immediately that either the Wolf had been tricked or this whole thing was a trick of his own. Either way, I knew where I'd have to stand."

I saw at once what an idiot I was. She hadn't meant her comments personally. She'd left, hadn't she? Without a word. I'd been a fool to think I might have stayed in her thoughts as she had stayed in mine. She'd sent no communiques—but then, neither had I. She had never considered us to be more than warriors sharing what warriors shared. I gathered together the shards of my ego and tried to put on a good face. Too bitterly, I said, "So you came back for the Wolf."

"Of course. Did you think I'd have done anything else?"

There was a strange tone in her voice. She seemed to need reassurance that she had made the right decision. What did I know? She was a warrior and I was a lovesick boy too addled by hormones to know a convenient affair from something else. The ClannerS were right, I decided, with sudden conviction. Emotions had no place in a warrior. When I made no answer, she said, "I'm back now."

"But you left."

Her eyes clouded and she swallowed hard. "I had to."

What kind of an answer was that? Of course she did, orders were orders. "I thought that I—" She hushed me with a quick touch to my lips.

"It wasn't you, Brian. It was me." Her words didn't make sense to me and I must have looked as stupid as I felt. She laughed nervously, then said, "I was afraid, Brian."

I couldn't imagine her frightened of anything. "Of what?"

"I thought you were sympat, like a sib. But you weren't like my sibs and I didn't understand what that meant. When I was with you, I felt different. Strange. It scared me and I didn't know what to do. I thought at first it was because you were the first outside my sibko and that I was just confused by the outside world. I thought that once I'd seen more and done more, I'd be able to handle it. But I don't know, Brian." She stared away into the sky. "Look, meeting you in the field told me one thing. When we're just Dragoon officers, I can deal with it. I can let the uniforms take the strain. Here in person, it's different."

I hung my head. I wasn't going to let my fantasies gain control again. "I understand."

"No, you don't." Her strong fingers touched me under the chin. Yielding to their pressure, I raised my head until I met her gaze. "Brian, I'm still scared."

I didn't know what to say and I knew I looked like an idiot.

"What are we going to do?"

We?My resolve was blasted and my mind was a whirlwind. Fortunately, my body had an answer. I put my arms around her. She was soft and warm and she melted into my embrace.

"I'm sorry if I pushed you too hard," I babbled.

She laughed. The sound was strained, strangled, and muffled against my chest, but delightful. "You know, for a bright boy you can be really slow."

"Do I get a second chance?"

"How many do you want?"

"I don't expect to need more than one."

"Look, it's yours if you want it."

"I do."

She pulled back just a little. "Maybe it's a bit premature to get to that line."

I flushed when I figured out what she meant. I hadn't thought about the vows that were sealed with that expression, and I was appalled and thrilled to realize that she had. "I guess we should talk about it for at least five minutes," I said teasingly.

"At least." She laughed. Then, her expression went suddenly serious. "This may not be the best time to talk about this kind of thing. There'll be fighting soon."

There didn't have to be. Despite the tension that came with the absence of combat, I found the lack encouraging. It might mean that we wouldn't have to fight our former friends. I knew the Colonel held similar hopes because we had been working out evacuation plans, along with the contingency plans for combat. "The Colonel won't start anything."

"He already has. The challenge started when he didn't lie down and die before the usurpers' assassins. They can't let him live."

I knew she was right and I held her tighter. For the first time in my life, I wasn't sure that I wanted to be a warrior.

45

By the time Dechan Fraser arrived on the other side of the mountain, the perimeter of the landing zone had been secured by Fancher's Beta Regiment. Beta had met no resistance, but that was expected. Jaime Wolf's forces were too small to cover more than a fraction of the continent's area.

The first of Wolf's forces arrived as Dechan was supervising the unloading of his new unit's tech-support equipment. Norm Carter had the routine down, so Dechan was really just looking on to see that nothing was disrupted when he went haring off to the command trailer. He almost missed all the action.

A lance of light hovertanks had come into the valley, apparently without knowing what they were heading into. Moving at cruising speed, they were easy targets for the 'Mechs of Beta's Second Battalion, who were on guard in that sector. Half the hovercraft brewed up in the first volley. The other two reacted quickly and turned to run at flank speed. A third vehicle was crippled before it had covered a hundred meters. Ten seconds later, the lance commander reported a kill on the last hovercraft. The schismatics never got off a shot.

What they did get off was a screech transmission from the crippled scout craft.

"Kill it!" Alpin's face was red. "They'll know where we are!"

Fancher gave the orders to smoke the crippled craft.

Alpin watched the holotank display avidly until the blinking light that represented the craft went dark.

"We'll have to move up the schedule," he said. "Fancher, put out your scouts. I want Lee's Iota Battalion in the slot behind the recon screen and Fraser's Kappa Battalion in line behind them. I want one company from each of Beta's battalions to remain at the base as guards, the rest will be reserve for the advance. We move out as soon as tactical can feed the maps to the 'Mechs."

Dechan thought the move hasty, but he knew better than to say anything. Corley Lee, commander of Iota, grinned at him and said, "Going huntin'." He whistled as he walked out of the trailer.

Stepping over to Fancher, Dechan asked. "Are there estimates of the local forces?"

"Not really." She shrugged. "Should be just Home Guard. Armor and infantry. He'll be keeping the good stuff back until he knows where we're coming from."

"Are the other regiments in?"

She eyed him suspiciously. "It's not like you need to know."

"My butt's on the line, too," he said calmly. "I don't want to find it hanging in the breeze."