They
buried Ajuga following exact Imperial protocols but proceeding as rapidly as
they could. Viola said a few hurried words in the traditional way. After that
they buried the dead Portalian far more quickly and without any fuss. It seemed
clear that the Portalis elves had attacked Ajuga and Kath without warning or
mercy, and that was disturbing. Next time the odds would probably be a lot less
favourable.
Lieutenant Sedum had his arm hastily
stabilised in a makeshift sling and then the party moved on. They struck north
to hit the main road and travelled as fast as they could west. It would surely
take a day or two for their ambush to be reported and the further they were
away from their last known position the better.
In any case the captured Portalian elf was slowing them down considerably.
Their prisoner was awake, but still very
groggy and had to be dragged along, mostly by Potentilla, who was much stronger
than she looked. Viola had had the Portalian gagged to start with, an order
that was readily obeyed but which caused disquiet among her troops: under normal
conditions this would be a scandalous way to treat a fellow elf. Kath, though,
was very satisfied that their captive was quiet. She felt certain that these
northern elves were implacable enemies, and very dangerous ones.
They moved along the road until twilight. At
that point Sedum, seriously discomforted by his wounded arm, struggled to find
them a place to camp. He was obviously extremely fatigued and had lost a lot of
blood. They had no choice but to camp in a small hollow only a few hundred yards
from the road. Viola arranged a series of watches and then gathered her troops
together. The wind blew through their exposed position, but they feared to
build a fire, here, in the open. It would be a very cold night.
Captain Viola stood in the middle of the
party, with the light rapidly fading. She felt sickened by more killing but she
felt the taste of fighting on her tongue even more keenly; a chaotic mixture of
flavours, mostly sour, but also, even more concerning, some almost sweet. Was
it wrong that she felt so pleased inside, that she savoured the thrill of the
contest? She had never been very good at anything – and now she had found an
art for which she clearly had some unusual skill, and it turned out to be
something that she had thought that she despised.
But combat didn’t only mean the death of your
enemies; it also meant destruction for your compatriots, your comrades and
those who you commanded. This was a much harder truth to face.
They were all waiting for her to speak. She
shook herself out of her reverie: she still had a job to do.
‘It is clear that our enemies are aggressive
and extremely hostile’ said Viola, addressing the group, ‘it is also clear that
I underestimated the difficulty of the ambush’
She waited for a second, judging the
expressions around the circle. She saw no point in pretending that she hadn’t
made a mistake. They looked dispirited but not yet resentful (except for Kath,
of course, who had looked resentful for all of the last five days). She felt
that it was safe to carry on.
‘However, we were successful in our main aim –
to capture a Portalian soldier and we will interrogate her as soon as possible.
The price that we paid for our success is, of course, unacceptable, but this is
a military expedition and so we all knew that there would be risks involved’
There was a murmur, which Viola assumed was
acceptance of this truth. It was fortunate for her that so many soldiers had
been lost in the siege – perhaps one more seemed just a natural extension of
those casualties.
‘So, we are an elf down and I need to find
someone to take up Corporal Ajuga’s responsibilities’
Viola scanned round her troops in the fading
light, and finally gestured towards an even younger elf than Ajuga. This was
theatre, of course. She had already decided several hours before who she would
appoint and cleared it with Lieutenant Sedum.
‘Craetegus, step forward’
He took two steady steps towards his Captain
and bowed.
‘If you are willing I would like to make you
Lieutenant Sedum’s deputy’
Craetegus looked slightly taken aback, but
Viola put this down to innate politeness. She had to admit that politeness
wasn’t the main trait she was looking for in a non-commissioned officer, but
she still admired his good breeding.
‘If it falls to me to take up that position
then I am very happy to comply’ he said, softly.
Viola walked over and put her hand on his
shoulder. He smiled and stood up straight. His eyes shone proudly.
‘Then I am happy to say, in the name of the
Emperor, that you now have the rank of corporal in the Imperial Visneorian
Army. May you serve us proudly!’
Viola searched inside her bag for the two
patches of cloth with an acanthus leaf that needed to be sewn on the new
corporal’s jacket. She handed Craetegus the epaulets.
The squad cheered the new promotion very
quietly. Light had almost completely gone.
‘Try and get some sleep’ commanded Viola,
‘and I’ll talk to our prisoner’
Viola,
Potentilla and Craetegus stood over the captive. Sedum was already asleep.
Viola hated the sight of a fellow elf gagged and bound, but the other two
seemed to think this was fine – they were just doing their job.
Viola indicated to Craetegus that he should
take off her gag. He untied it roughly, and as he did Potentilla put her finger
to her lips and hissed ‘shush’ loudly. Viola could help but shake her head.
The prisoner looked up with terrified eyes –
it didn’t look like she would make much noise.
Viola bent over her, frowning. She didn’t
want to do this, but she had no choice – the capture had come at a heavy cost,
so she better prove that it had been worth it.
‘I am Captain Viola, from the East Visneorian
army’ she said, calmly, ‘you have been arrested as a deserter. Do you
understand what I’m saying?’
The prisoner nodded, her face blotchy and
streaked with dirt.
‘What is your name?’
‘Luxia’ she whispered, so quietly that it was
only the shape of her moving lips that allowed Viola to understand her,
‘Private Luxia. I’m from Portalis’
Except for the blazing sun on the front of
her tunic, she looked just like the younger members of her own squad. She even
spoke like one of them, with a clear eastern Visneorian accent. That they
should be fighting seemed ridiculous, almost tragic. Most tragic, though, was
the idea that this elf could have ever worshipped Whitecloak, the godlike-being
who had been Ortia’s direst enemy.
‘What were you doing so far south?’
‘A patrol’ Luxia stammered, ‘we were just on
a normal patrol’
‘Why were you patrolling?’
‘We were looking out for plains monsters’
Viola knew exactly what this meant.
‘You mean plains-dwellers?’
Luxia looked confused. She screwed up her
eyes, as she concentrated on every question. Potentilla had drawn her sword
during the last exchange and it was clear that Luxia now feared for her life.
‘The things that crawl around the plain –
like perverted kinaam – we try to
destroy as many as we can’
Viola looked around to see if Kath had heard
this, but she couldn’t see her in the last dull glow of twilight. She hoped
that her human friend was asleep. The she took a deep breath.
‘That is an evil thing that you do, private,
and against Imperial law. The plains-dwellers are not kinaam, they are free and
noble allies of the Visneorian Empire. What you propose to do, and I assume
have done many times before, is murder’
Potentilla took a step towards Luxia. At
first Viola thought this was because she was moving closer to threaten the
prisoner, but in fact it was Kath who had pushed her, as she barged through to
confront Luxia.
‘Yes’ she said, her voice trembling ‘you are
clearly a murderer. How could you hunt down those people – those trackers and
healers? How could you?’
Viola thought immediately of Rem, their
friend, who had helped them so much before, even in Melloreis, when he had not
wanted to be there at all. For a moment her blood felt cold in her veins, and
she was tempted to just end this pathetic assassin’s life now, kill this
creature who clearly knew nothing but hatred and bigotry.
‘The God told us to do it, and we so feared
the God’ whimpered Luxia. Her eyes flitted round as if someone would strike her
for this blasphemy,
‘And loved Him too…’ she added, her voice
trailing off in uncertainty.
Kath swallowed hard.
‘Well, he is dead and I killed him’ she
shouted at the captive, ‘did you hear that – I killed him!’
Luxia looked bewildered.
‘How…?’ she said, in a dry whisper, ‘how can
that be?’
Viola nodded at Craetegus and he gently led
Kath away. She seemed to have said all that she could stand to say, anyway, and
was now trembling and weeping.
‘It is true’ said Viola.
‘Your God is dead’ Potentilla added, nodding
savagely, and prodding her sword ever closer.
Viola wondered about this. Surely Luxia knew
that Whitecloak had gone? Maybe not, though – this response was clearly one of
shock and renewed fear. Perhaps this was a secret that was being kept by the
leaders of the city, one that might have a devastating effect if revealed to
the masses.
Luxia shut her eyes tight and shuddered. She
began to chant something incomprehensible over and over to herself under her
breath.
Viola wondered what on earth she was going to
do with this rather pathetic being. She felt certain that they could get
nothing more useful out of her and they couldn’t drag her along very much
further. But she might still be very useful. She put her face very close to
Luxia’s and spoke to her.
‘I am minded to let you go, private, despite
your desertion and your confession of, at the very least, attempted murder’
Potentilla dropped her sword in shock. This
would have looked less than terrifying to the prisoner if she hadn’t had her
eyes so tightly shut. Viola shook her head and shot Potentilla a look of
disapproval. Potentilla knelt down very slowly to pick up her weapon.
‘As I said: I am minded to let you go so that
you can pass on this message - the ones who destroyed your God are travelling
in your lands, and that any who challenge them will die’
Viola lifted her sword and placed it, very
carefully, at Luxia’s throat.
‘We are on the Emperor’s business and none
shall stand against us. Soon his gaze will fall on your miserable, apostate
city. Look carefully to your allegiances then, for you will have to choose
between a dead god and a living, judging, ruler. Choose wisely and you may be
forgiven. Choose foolishly you and your city will be expurgated from history.
So, go now, do not look back, and do not stop running until you are home and
can tell all of these tidings’
Viola stared across at Potentilla, who had
now resumed a more useful pose.
‘Lieutenant, take this sad misguided wretch
and send her on her way’
Potentilla moved forward eagerly, and pulled
her up by the back of her collar.
‘With pleasure ma’am’ said Potentilla,
smiling broadly. She frogmarched Luxia away into the night.
It was completely dark now. Viola stood in
her black circle, cold and shivery. She wondered, despite everything that she’d
ever been told, whether elves might not be just as bad as humans after all.
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