The raids began that night. No-one knew
exactly where they came from, but the methods were always the same: to pick off
an elf at the edge of the camp, and slit their throats. Beside each body a
crude slogan was daubed on the ground in blood. They said things like ‘go home scum’ or ‘our land, so leave’. The
troops’ response to this was a mixture of disbelief and terror. Most of them
refused to accept that the raiding parties could be elves, but Viola knew that
it had to be the Portalians.
They could do nothing more except
hold the Wall and wait for the Emperor. By now it was mid-December and the wind
raced across the wide plain and cut through them. They huddled together more
and more and hoped: every noise that they heard from the west was interpreted
as the coming of the relief force.
Viola, Kath and Potentilla spent most
of their time inside the Wall. Viola had become obsessed with the idea that
there was a scar or a rent where the sphere had been obliterated. She spent a
long time sitting and staring into the air where she imagined the hole might
be, or walking around it squinting or closing one eye. Kath sat and brooded
about home, examined parts of the Wall’s workings, or ventured out to talk to
some of the archers who were on watch. Potentilla, on the other hand, wanted to
be outside, moving on, taking the fight to the enemy, but she stayed loyally
inside with her superior officer, wondering what it was that Viola thought she
was seeing.
It took the Emperor three days to arrive with
the rest of the army – a long enough time for morale in the vanguard to be
sapped considerably. However, he came with a substantial force –more than sixty
thousand bodies. They swept through the Wall and relieved the troops at the
front who were stood down and told to return home. They were all very pleased
to go.
The Emperor was delighted with Viola
and her team. He spoke to them several times about the workings of the Wall and
got a scribe to take copious notes. Viola tried on several occasions to explain
about the possible rift inside the Wall, but Pallatian, being an eminently
practical person, didn’t seem inclined to worry about something that he
couldn’t see. He was more worried about how to open and close the wall: his
command words still didn’t work without Viola’s gestures and so he spent some
time learning them from her. At no point did he ask her how she knew them,
which spooked her a little. Another thing was that she caught an element of
wariness about the way that he spoke to her, which contrasted strongly with the
very assertive manner that he had with all of his other subjects.
The chief military commanders of the
expeditionary force: the Emperor, General Titanius, Colonel Valerian and
another group leader, Colonel Cato, had a council of war, in the Emperor’s
tent, which had been pitched directly in front of the Wall. Viola was allowed to attend as an observer,
and to answer questions. None of the other commanders seemed to be as wary of
her as Pallatian was, and that put Viola’s mind somewhat at ease. She didn’t
mind getting praise for her achievements, but all this Ophia stuff, was,
frankly, just a bit creepy.
Titanius was very concerned about the
threat from the flank from Portalis. It was his strongly worded opinion that
they could not make progress eastwards until that threat was countered. After a
long discussion the others agreed, and the decision was made to split the force
into three – a northern group of thirty thousand elves to attack Portalis, a
southern group of ten thousand troops to hold the Wall, and an eastern group of
twenty thousand to advance slowly to Ortia and chase off any knights who were
in the area, or, if that proved impossible hold a position in front of Ortia
and show that the Emperor had returned. As
part of this plan Viola asked permission to go ahead in a small advance guard,
to check the lie of the land and Pallatian agreed readily. Viola thought that
however pleased Pallatian may have been with her he recent work he now seemed
very relieved to see her go.
Just before they left, however, the Emperor
came to talk to them. They were standing by the Imperial carriage that was,
hopefully, going to carry them off to Ortia at top speed. The Emperor accepted
their bows and salutes and then assumed a casual tone, which, whatever his
intention, put none of them at their ease.
‘You’re quite a team!’ he said,
jovially, ‘and a wonderful example of international co-operation’
‘Not intentionally’ murmured Kath, not wanting
anyone to hear. Unfortunately it seemed that Pallatian had excellent hearing. He
turned to her and smiled.
‘Well, sometimes serendipity is best,
isn’t it, Dr Fielding’ he purred,’ By the way, I thought we had arranged for
you to go home. Has someone been remiss?’
Viola glared at Kath and made a face
indicating that she should try to behave. Kath felt a bit picked on – he really
hadn’t been meant to hear what she’d said.
‘No, your majesty’ explained Viola, ‘I
have asked Dr Fielding to accompany me back to Ortia. There are some other
Dwarven Magic problems that we’d like her to look at’
Pallatian nodded; this explanation
seemed to satisfy him.
‘Yes, it would make sense to look at
the city wall in Ortia again. I hear that it has been rendered inoperative’
Kath nodded non-committedly. She was sure that
there was nothing that she could do save the city wall. The Emperor waited
politely for a second or so and then turned to Viola.
‘Major – I have some documents that I
would like you to give to the Proconsul. They are mostly legal papers relating
to the change in government in Ortia. I will get one of my clerks to pass them
over to you before you leave’
‘Thank you, sir’ Viola muttered
flatly.
‘Thank you’ said Pallatian, ‘I fully expect to see you in a position of
some authority in Proconsul Antonius’s new government, I really do. They really
are such exciting times, aren’t they?’
‘Yes, sir’ Viola mumbled, attempting
a smile.
‘Well done, everyone’ the Emperor
said, preparing to end the conversation, ‘you’re an example to all of us and
especially all elven womenfolk throughout the Empire…’
Viola could see Kath tense with
irritation, and the last thing she wanted was any conversation about gender,
race, politics or any combination of the three. Also, she had one more thing
that she really felt she had to say to the Emperor and so she used this
potentially awkward moment to say it.
‘Your majesty’ she said, ‘could I beg
your patience for a second more?’
Pallatian stopped in his tracks and
rather gracefully swung round to face Viola again. He smiled a smile that said ‘I’m
always happy to make time for you’, but his eyes were already looking to his
rank and file of beautiful soldiers, all ready to march on to war.
‘What is it, major?’
‘I think that you should get some mages from the university to look at
the space where the sphere disappeared… I worry that it is now some sort of
area of dimensional weakness’
The Emperor frowned slightly but
otherwise kept his up mask of hearty good cheer.
‘What makes you think that?’ he asked
‘I just have a feeling about it – it
doesn’t look right to me’ answered Viola,
Pallatian stared at her oddly again,
as if she were some unusual animal that he was trying to identify. Viola felt
like he was mentally undressing her, but in a way that suggested analysis
rather than lust.
‘You seem to have a lot of
intuitions, major’ he murmured, narrowing his eyes, ‘one wonders exactly where
they come from…’
Viola felt very vulnerable and could
only shake her head and hope for his gaze to leave her. She had no answer other than the unspoken one
– that they all came from Ophia – but she had no idea why she should be
receiving them.
‘I will make sure that we investigate
it fully’ he said, finally looking away, and, then, after a few additional bland
pleasantries, he left them.
They were indescribably relieved when
he finally moved on and excited about the prospect of returning home. But they
all knew the bitter truth of what lay in their immediate future – that they
were taking orders for Marthian’s political execution back with them to Ortia.
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