All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 170: Marching Orders

Arthur looked back as he led the army out of the gates. As much as he was excited to be several days ahead of schedule, it wasn't really so simple. Empirically this was the best outcome; they would clear the threat as fast as they could to limit the spread of the undead. But he had hoped to do so much more for the city.

Even though it would objectively be the wrong choice, some part of him wanted to stay for a little bit and help Caleb rebuild. There was a certain amount of responsibility that he felt for them. He had been in charge of their defense, and to some extent, any damage was his fault. After years of campaigning, Arthur knew that it wasn't entirely true. But the thought always hung around the back of his mind when he left behind particularly devastated defenses.

Most of the time, the defenders of a city had to ride off as soon as they could, so it was a feeling he had gotten used to. That didn't make it go away. He had to believe they would be fine. The most vulnerable population had been sent to a more secure location. That would allow the ones left to rebuild without worry. Most things were set up for winter, but he expected it to be a harsh year. There were still possibly many years of recovery ahead for the city of Caleb.

That the gates were repaired completely was a huge boon. It would make the city far more secure than a more flimsy and temporary barrier. Sure, there was still tons of work to be done inside, but they should be safe; unless Arthur failed in his mission, of course. Then nothing was really safe.

Refocusing, Arthur followed the scout into the forest, and they soon came across the trail of a large group of undead that was several days old. When the repairs were in progress, no one had been idle. The scouts had been working non-stop since the saving of the city to find their enemies. According to their leader, they still could have used more time to be certain they were accurate.

It would have to do. Outriders were checking for any breakaway paths, but so far, none had been reported. It was too early to say where their quarry was actually running away, but Arthur had a sinking feeling that they weren't going to try and hide in a cave in the mountains. No, his gut told him that they were not in for a pretty sight when they finally caught up.

Pushing the concerns he could do nothing about to the back of his mind, Arthur ran a practiced eye over the column of troops. Something was wrong. Not that they weren't making good time, but in the middle of the line, the soldiers were moving differently.

Looking more closely, he was able to tell why. The men in the rear section of the column were moving with a stiffness that was normally reserved for the parade ground. Each step was perfectly in time, and each footfall was synchronized. "What are those idiots doing?"

Arthur pulled his horse off to the side and waited for the column to go past him. Soon enough, the commander riding alongside the marching men pulled up next to him. As Arthur started forward again, he noticed that his horse's hoof beats perfectly lined up with the other officer's.

"Uh, sir? What's going on?" The lieutenant asked him.

"I was coming to ask you that," Arthur frowned, now thoroughly puzzled.

"This isn't a parade mount, I don't know what's gotten into her. I've never seen her walk in step with another horse before." The young officer said.

"Does that have something to do with why your men are also marching in parade formation?"

The lieutenant's eyes widened, and he looked closer at his men. After a few seconds, he hollered at one of his sergeants, who came running over. "Yes sir?"

"Why are the men marching in step?"

"In step sir?"

"Yes you heard me. Why are they marching in step? Look at them!"

The sergeant turned and stared at the men walking in lockstep for several seconds. "So they are, sir. Huh. I hadn't noticed that."

Before things could get any more ridiculous, Arthur decided to step in. "It doesn't seem that this is the only group with this same issue."

Calling it an "issue" was a bit of a stretch, but he remembered how much more tiring marching was when done for show. But then again, if they hadn't noticed, maybe it was not as big of a problem as he had imagined. Looking around, it didn't take long for him to find the likely cause of the disturbance.

Dancing around the feet of the marching soldiers was a small black disc. Wherever it passed, the footprints vanished from the path below, but somehow, no one noticed it.

Arthur considered whether this was really an issue. Probably not. If the soldiers didn't notice the extra stain of marching in parade steps, then he wasn't going to do anything about it.

Both the lieutenant and the sergeant were looking at him expectantly. "You know what, just ignore it for now. If people start getting tired or it causes other issues, let me know."

The sergeant snapped a salute before falling in perfectly with the marching men. Arthur made to ride away but held back at the last minute when he noticed that the lieutenant looked like he had something he wanted to say. "Spit it out lad."

"It's the god isn't it?" the young officer asked nervously.

"Likely." Arthur said.

"Is that… okay? Are we going to be okay?" An undercurrent of worry, just short of fear, worked its way through the lieutenant's words.

Arthur bit back a generic reassurance and really thought about his answer. "I believe we will be better than fine. Void so far has done nothing but help us."

He paused for a second. "That's not to say that it's safe. Anything that powerful has inherent risks. A human with that power would be deadly. Even the simplest mistakes would be fatal. We can only hope that a god has more control. We don't really understand Void and I doubt we ever will…"

Realizing that he was arguing against his own point, Arthur paused to recollect his thoughts. "When it comes down to it, we are at Void's mercy, no matter what. We should do our best to avoid its wrath and learn more about it. Treat it with respect and we should be okay. If it proves erratic or harmful we will distance ourselves. But for now, we need its help."

Worry didn't leave the man's eyes. Seeing that his words hadn't been the least bit soothing, Arthur reached over and clasped the young man's shoulder. "We work with what we have, son."

—-

I was having a blast cleaning up after the soldiers. It was a rare time when a mess this big was necessary, and there was no way for the humans to efficiently clean up after themselves either. Not that I resented cleaning up after humans. That was my purpose, after all. Even if the scope of the mandate had somewhat broadened as of late.

It was just that some messes were easily avoidable, and cleanliness was a virtue. When it wasn't the humans making the mess, though? That was when I really got irritated. The fluff balls back at home were one thing, right on the edge, in my opinion. They were pets, though, so they still fell under the umbrella of human purview. But when it was some invaders or mess makers, that was when it was unforgivable.

The wind was sort of a mess maker, but I couldn't really hate the wind. It was neutral. It cleaned things up almost as much as it created new messes.

These humans weren't nearly so bad compared to some of the messes lately. I almost had trouble calling it a mess. It was really just disturbed dirt. But I had long ago learned my lesson about trying to remove dirt altogether. Holes could only really get so deep before they were a mess in and of themselves.

But even though dirt was by definition dirty, it could still be arranged in a more orderly manner. So as the army passed, I pushed the loose dirt back into the depressions, and I sucked the dust from the air before it got too far out of reach.

I couldn't put everything back to how it was exactly, but in my opinion, I was doing better. What had been an uneven path that weaved its way through the trees became something else entirely.

Where there had been random small holes that might've caused stumbles, there was now hard-packed earth smoothed into shape. I didn't make some of the major improvements I had been considering, though. I still needed to keep up with the humans, and cutting, shaping, layering, and fitting stone was too much for me right now to keep up with the soldiers.

I also wasn't about to start a major logging operation. I could have, but that seemed wasteful. Since the column swerved back and forth as it was, I would be widening the path substantially. It was hard to strike a balance between leaving things untouched and making them perfect.

As I was now, I held no illusions that I could fix everything, even if I wanted to. So it was best to pick my battles. Though I obviously had no issues with fixing the trails of the soldiers.

Of all the humans that were not my humans, these were among my favorites. They kept themselves tidy, everything had its place, and they even organized themselves in clear structures. I could appreciate that. But even the way they walked was pleasant; each step was clean, each swing of the arms precise. Maybe they could be an inspiration for some of the people back at the castle.

I happily spent all day in the back, but eventually, the day ended. The soldiers started to set up camp by the side of the road. Even now, I was impressed with the order in which things got done. At first, it seemed a bit chaotic, but that was only until I found the pattern. Once everything was all set up, it was truly a beauty to behold, to see such order arise from chaos.

Eventually, I realized that I had been rudely staring for some while and shook myself. Tomorrow, I would be more helpful.

Not sure what to do with myself, I left the soldiers to their meals. There were only a few people unoccupied by the general revelry after the long march. One of them was in a larger tent at the center of the encampment.

I found Arthur in a camp chair before a small desk reading something. As I trundled under the tent flap, I beeped a greeting. Arthur flinched a little before meeting me with his eyes. "Hello, Lord Void."

I returned his formalities and considered carrying on, but I didn't think we would be able to hold a fluid conversation yet. He didn't seem like the talkative guard I had met back in the castle, who could talk without my input fairly easily.

After a second of my silence, he just went back to his papers. Hovering up, I set myself down on a small shelf next to him so I could watch too. He gave me a look but just shrugged and went back to reading. I followed along as we dove through pages of numbers and small reports. Really, it was fascinating. This must be the key to how they were able to operate so efficiently.

As we kept going, I was a little bit confused. There was a slight flaw in the pattern of these numbers; it was very slight, just here and there, but still. The numbers didn't line up.