The Betrayed Read Online Free PDF

occasional men-at-arms mustered by the local lords.
    Since, they had both established academies for officers in the big cities, built series of massive strongholds along the borders, and paid silver to young men to enlist and become men of war for life, training and fighting even when no war loomed.
    Absurdly, the massive buildup of forces had brought an end to real wars and turned them into scuffles and skirmishes that came and went like summer drizzles. The two nations had yet to blood their huge arsenals in a real, total war. Mali was afraid that too many people yearned to see it happen.
    Still, she was glad for the tense standstill. With every passing hour, more Eracian regulars and chance conscripts arrived, beefing up her forces. The Baran regiment was still a few days off. In the meantime, she had three full regiments under her command, although almost a third were convicts and peasants. The enemy outnumbered her three to one, but most of the Caytorean forces were spread further to the east. At the very least, she could face the regiment from Astar on roughly equal terms.
    If it came to that, she could move at any moment, two days to cross into Caytor and officially start a war, march another two or three days to the border with the Territories, and strike at the enemy from behind. Or, she could advance south, cross into the holy land, then veer and slice into the enemy’s right flank. She could save a whole day this way, while provoking an unprecedented scandal of her own. The Territories were sacred.
    But she was reluctant to try anything. She needed to know what her counterpart, some general or such she had not yet heard of, intended to do. Why had he crossed into the Territories in the first place? It appeared, for the first time in ages, that Caytor did not seem intent to wage war on her traditional neighbor. And that worried her more than anything. What kind of a scheme was the enemy brewing?
    “Thank you. Go rest for a while.” She dismissed the scout.
    The man saluted and walked out of the tent. Mali beckoned her officers closer. It was time to debate.

    Adam watched the scout leave. He pretended to shovel shit while his eyes drank in every detail. He had seen tens of scouts come and go in the last two days. Something serious was afoot.
    Indeed, two weeks sharp from his redemption, they had left the garrison and marched south and east, moving at a relatively brisk pace. Most of the convicts were too weak to follow the regulars, despite the brief training. Adam had counted another fifty or so deaths during the short march toward the border.
    Now, camped a stone’s throw away from the ridge of hills that marked the official border between Eracia and the holy land, they simply waited. It had been several days.
    Adam appreciated the respite. His officers seemed as preoccupied as everyone else, allowing him to indulge in the mind-numbing routine of shit-shuffling without additional humiliation. After a few tense weeks of focused hardship, they had been given some unintentional slack. As long as they performed their mucking duties well, they were left in peace, earning a couple of golden extra hours when they could merely pretend to work. Their shifts were less strictly regulated.
    The former prostitute believed it was the effect of the march. Away from civilization and the sharp walls of barracks discipline, men naturally slid into semichaos. Order had significantly eroded since leaving the garrison. Adam wondered if he could somehow exploit the situation to his advantage. On the other hand, he was more alert than usual. He knew that bored soldiers could be quite a lot of trouble, and without anyone to rein them in, they could become really dangerous. And he could not think of a juicier target than the lot of former subhuman criminals he belonged to.
    As if his very thoughts were a self-fulfilling prophecy, he saw a staggering, drunk soldier enter his field of view, walking toward him. Adam checked his little