The frost between the proconsul and her
general had thawed somewhat after Gaius and Viola had returned, as the most
obvious excuses for friction had been removed. As Aurelian had promised,
however, there had been no kissing for a long time: it had become a habit that
neither of them liked but neither of them would give way on. Both of them
missed it a great deal, however.
There were still a lot of unanswered
question that neither of them really wanted to address. Now, though, that
Marthian feared another attack from the east, they really had to talk, and so
she had summoned him to her office. They sat opposite each other across the
desk.
‘Is it another attack from the
knights, do you think?’ asked Aurelian
Marthian had a map of the East rolled
open on her big mahogany table. She was staring closely at the bit labelled ‘Tlaxaca (formerly Eddorre)’.
‘What did you say, general?’
‘Is it von Eisen’s lot?’
‘The High Priestess wasn’t at all
clear. She is, if anything, even more obscure than Julia was. Also, she has
funny eyes’
‘Funny eyes? What do you mean?’
‘Oh nothing – she can’t control the
pattern of her eyes…ignore me’
Aurelian looked at her as if she was
mad, but his expression was entirely sympathetic.
‘What’s she like?’
‘Nothing like Julia – but then I
think the Lady has changed as well. Something has happened to her, but I can’t
get to the bottom of what it is’
‘She’s very weak – is that what it
is?’
Marthian shrugged.
‘It’s not just that… anyway, maybe
Aquilegia will be clearer next time…’
‘I don’t suppose it matters much
anyway – we can’t resist any kind of attack any more’
Marthian smiled at him. Her hand
brushed against his. Her voice was unusually gentle.
‘It is true, though, also, that we
have said that several times before, darling, and we are still here’
She paused and took his hand in hers.
Aurelian thought that she looked unusually determined.
‘And not all of the Lady’s prophesies
come true…’
Aurelian refused to cheer up,
although he was delighted to feel her touch again.
‘If the barbarians come back then
we’re finished and if the emperor comes back we’re also finished’
‘I’m afraid that’s true…’
‘So, anyway, if we do survive – what
exactly do we have to look forward to?’
Marthian looked intently at him for a second
and then leant across the table. She put her two palms on the side of his head.
‘There’ll still be this’ she said,
pulling his head forward so that their lips almost met. She waited a heartbeat
and then she kissed him, for a very long time.
***
‘This is a waste of time’ said Kath, ‘I have
no idea what the proconsul thinks we can do…the
whole thing is very clearly buggered: Marthian knows it, I know it and you
know it’
They were walking in front of the
partially rebuilt city walls – a jumble of ancient masonry, concrete and
scaffolding. The masons were still working hard but it was clear that most of
what they were doing was cosmetic. Soon the city would look almost as beautiful
as it had before, but with only a fraction of the defensive power.
Viola had no real idea how to respond
to Kath’s grumbles, but she had to say something.
‘She just wants you to see if there’s
anything that can be done to help fix the walls – you know that’
Potentilla was tagging along, mostly
because she had no real role now in the city. Sitting around and waiting really
didn’t suit her.
‘Is there, Kath?’ she asked eagerly
‘after all you’ve done some great stuff in the past… have a poke around with
your tool thingies…’
Kath sighed. She felt that she had
been bad at handling expectations here. The walls had been destroyed by outer
void creatures under the control of a god. What could she expect to do about it?
Viola looked down at the foundations of the
wall and shivered – there was still music down there, deep familiar music – and
she knew that only she could hear it. Why was that? How could she know how to
open the door to the bell tower? And at Adrial’s wall – how did she know how to
control those damn spheres? And above all else why on earth had Ophia chosen
her? It wasn’t as if the music was very
quiet – she only had to put her ear close to the ground and listen carefully
and there it was. She had no intention of telling anyone about it though – not yet.
‘Just
have a quick look, Kath’ she said, in Ethian, ‘just to keep the boss happy’
‘Do you
mean you?’ snapped back Kath, annoyed at this sudden use of human slang, ‘are you my “employer”’.
Viola frowned sourly and reverted back to
Visneorian.
‘Of course not… by “boss”I meant…Marthian…‘
She glared at Kath, and then stood very close
to her with her arms folded. Kath proceeded to take her tools out of her bag so
slowly that Potentilla got bored and wandered off to look at some cows.
Viola knew that once Kath began to examine
the wall carefully she would not be able to do a slap-dash job; she would have
to finish it. So, Kath took out her funnels and her gauges, her rulers and her
rods, and she investigated the whole of one section of the wall.
Two hours later she returned to where Viola
and Potentilla were having their lunch – picnicking on a green table cloth on
the short grass in front of the wall.
Potentilla looked up.
‘What’ve you found out, Kath?’
Kath sat down and took a cheese sandwich. She
made sure she had eaten several bites before she responded.
‘It’s
buggered’
Potentilla looked disappointed, but she soon
rallied.
‘But you can fix it, yes?’
‘Nope’
Viola reached out and took Kath’s
sandwich. Kath spluttered indignantly.
‘These are Imperial rations. I won’t allow
you any more until you give us some details of what you’ve found’
Kath sighed, and breathed in deeply. She
shook herself and then assumed her scholar’s voice.
‘The wall was built to have a network of
interstitial channels that clearly carried the magical energy around the
structure. The rays have completely destroyed that structure: all we can see
now is the remains of some pipes at the base of the walls. I have analysed – as
best I could with the crude techniques I have at hand – the structure of the
pipes and I have no idea what they are made of’
Viola handed back Kath’s sandwich and then
poured her a glass of wine, as extra encouragement. Kath gulped down both and then continued.
‘The
foundations are still intact, of course, as we suspected, and there seems to be
a reasonable reservoir of Dwarven Magic thaums down there. However, there’s
only one way to get the power back into the walls’
‘How?’ asked Potentilla, eagerly. Viola
waited, equally hopefully, for the answer.
Kath
paused for effect before continuing.
‘If you can persuade Quiena and half a dozen
or so dwarfs to come back and rebuild the bloody thing’
Kath poured herself another glass of wine and
picked up an apple.
‘Happy now?’ she asked
‘No’ replied Viola, frowning at her friend,
‘of course not’
Kath grinned and sunk her teeth into the
apple. She mumbled merrily through her full mouth.
‘Well, I did warn you’
No comments:
Post a Comment