William W. Johnstone by Wind In The Ashes

can challenge it?” Wrong way to go, Ben, he cautioned. But it was too late; he had said it.
    She shook her head, not replying.
    “What is your name, girl?”
    “Lora.”
    “All right, Lora. How old are you?” “I … think I have eleven years.” Jesus God! Ben thought. Eleven years old and a warrior. “Your parents?” She shook her head. “Brothers, sisters?”
    “I … think I had some. But they’re dead, I’m sure.”
    “Lora, how would you like a job?”
    “A job? But I have a job.”
    “What?”
    “Fighting for you.”
    “Yes, well …” Ben cleared his throat and shifted his weight. Damn bad knee was beginning to ache. “I have another job for you. I’d like for you to be my aide.”
    “I don’t know what that means.”
    “Well, it would be a very important job. I wouldn’t ask just anyone to do it. You would assist me; be with me—most of the time,” he added. “Would you like that?”
    “Yes, General.”
    “Call me Ben.”
    She shook her head.
    “Well, we’ll … work on that part of it.” He stood up. Immediately his knee felt better. He held out his hand and Lora slipped her small, and very dirty, hand into it.
    Ben and Lora walked to Dan and Ike. “This is Lora.” Ben said. “She’s going to be my aide.”
    “Sure she can handle it?” Ike said straight-faced, looking at Ben. “That’s a high-falutin’ job.”
    “Oh, quite,” Dan said. “Very responsible position for one so young.”
    “I can do it,” Lora said, looking at Dan.
    Dan looked at the child. She sure looked familiar. Great Scott! Dan thought. This is the child that
assaulted me!
    Ike was looking off into the distance, scarcely able to keep his laughter locked up.
    “Don’t I know you?” Dan asked, kneeling down.
    “You might,” Lora said.
    “Yes,” Dan said. “I do believe we have met before.”
    “You still got that candy bar?” Lora asked. “No,” Dan said, ice in his voice. “I ate it.” “Good,” the girl replied. “Bad for your teeth anyway.”
    Dan stood up, drawing himself to his full height. “Impudent girl!”
    “Blow it out your ear,” Lora told him.
    Dan walked away, muttering.
    Ike walked away to a tree, leaning against it, laughing so hard he could not see.
    Sylvia walked up and looked first at Lora, then at Ben. “Who’s your friend, Ben?”
    “My new aide. Lora, this is Sylvia.”
    All the Rebels had been forced to harden their hearts toward the sights of the aftermath of total global war. Dan’s defense was a self-imposed coldness; but he ached just as much as the next person.
    “She, ah, needs a bath,” Ben said. “Would you see to that, Sylvia?”
    “Sure.” Sylvia put an arm around the child’s slender shoulders. “You’ll get used to Ben, Lora. His bark is worse than his bite.”
    Lora had no idea what she was talking about.
    “Speaking of
bites!”
Ike yelled, then burst into fits of laughter.
    Dan wheeled about. “How would you like a good thrashing, you …
dirigible!”
    Cecil walked up, catching the last part of it.
    “What in the world is going on, Ben?” Sylvia asked.
    “Oh, Dan just recalled a rather biting memory.” Then Ben started laughing.
    Sylvia walked away, shaking her head, leading Lora off to a bath and a change of clothing. “Men!” she said. “They are the strangest things.”
    Lora sneaked a peek back at Ben Raines. Funny, she thought, he doesn’t look like a god.
    But then, what do gods look like?

Thirteen
     
    Striganov and Hartline did a quick fly-by of the Big Lake area. It looked just as Striganov expected. Unchanged. But his soldier’s eyes could see a few things out of place. New gun emplacements; a truck that did not belong to his IPF teams.
    “Home,” he told the pilot. “We’ve seen enough.”
    “Green troops or not,” Hartline said. “It’s going to take a full battalion to dig them out of there.”
    “I want this to be a total defeat for Ben Raines,” Striganov said. “I want this to be humiliating for