‘I’m
not talking to you’ said Kath, stomping along.
Viola grinned. They were making good progress westward.
‘What are you doing now, then?’
Kath ignored her.
‘How could you be so sneaky? How could you
use Tillie against me? And how could you use that bloody trick again?’
‘Well – I learned it from the master of the
art’
Kath’s frown grew deeper.
‘Don’t drag Laurence into this – that was
different… completely different’
Viola stopped for a second
‘No it wasn’t and you know that. It’s exactly
the same and a fine example of perfect symmetry’
Kath sighed. She remembered all too clearly
travelling in the other direction, eastwards towards Melloreis, and how
Hardacre had persuaded their guide, Rem, that he had to keep helping them
because he had signed a sort of contract with Kath; that he had to help her for
friendship’s sake. Now it seemed that Viola was playing the same trick, this
time by telling Potentilla that such contracts existed and that Kath was bound
by one. It was all nonsense, but that was why she was still here, despite
everything that she’d said. The power of guilt and the hatred of letting anyone
down had defeated her just as surely as Hardacre had known it would defeat Rem
all those months before.
‘Shut up, Vee – just get on with being our
glorious leader’
Viola felt like saying ‘and you carry on
being our totally useless human’ but she kept her mouth shut. If she was to act
like a leader then she had to control her tongue. She only hoped that Kath
would pull herself out of this pool of resentment as soon as possible.
They were travelling along the wide grassy
road and, for the time being, Viola was enjoying her first command. Her squad were callow but fit and they’d
moved forward rapidly. The only thing that slowed them down was her foot, which
was still causing her to limp slightly.
Her idea was to try to replicate Rem’s
original route in reverse as far as possible and then try a more southerly
route as they got close to Portalis. She wanted them to hit the Wall fifty
miles or so further south of where Kath had crossed from west to east. After
that they might be able to track the wall up to the gate without being spotted
by any patrols. The only problem with this plan, in Viola’s mind anyway, was
that if they were attacked next to the wall then they might well be boxed in
and at a considerable disadvantage. The alternative, which Potentilla had
advocated enthusiastically, was to go straight for the gate and ‘just fight off
any hostile patrols’. Viola had said that she’d keep that in mind as an excellent plan B.
Elf patrols are light on their feet and can
often move freely through enemy territory. However, that is only when they are
very experienced and when they don’t have humans, or a Potentilla, with them.
The western elf was certainly much less clumsy and heavy in her footfalls than
Kath, but her enthusiasm for every possible positive action was the opposite of
the normal elven approach. Viola often thought that of Potentilla as a bouncy
dog surrounded by cautious cats.
They travelled along the wide road in the
twilight just before dusk and just after dawn, but would otherwise generally
move parallel to the track a few miles further south. Sedum knew his way around the scrubby dry
areas to the south of the road. Viola
had concluded that he was plodding but useful. He also knew which scrubland
plants were edible, so they could supplement their salted rations with some
slightly more flavoursome vegetables.
***
They
had five days of this uneventful travel. The landscape was dull, dry and
increasingly chilly. October had hardened into November, and the few scattered
trees that they occasionally saw were all beginning to succumb to winter. Their leaves were withering and browning and
this made the endless plain even more grey and dull. Morale began to droop a
little. Kath was still moody and withdrawn and the Ortian soldiers were wary
and nervous. That just left Potentilla who was sure to be upbeat at all times.
Five days of that, however, was enough to try anyone’s patience. In the end they just trudged along in
silence.
It was half-an-hour after they’d left their
night camp on that fifth day that Corporal Ajuga noticed the tracks of another
group. She had spotted them by the side of the road and beckoned Viola over to
look at them.
‘This is horse spoor’ she said, bending down
and pointing out some very vague hoof prints on the ground, ‘and fairly fresh I
would think’
She looked up at Viola and smiled.
‘I can still smell the horses’
Viola wasn’t entirely convinced about that, but
she did know that the corporal had some tracking skills and that she was a
trained rider. They walked a little
further along the path that Ajuga had identified and it did seem that there was
a trail.
‘Can you be sure that it’s a recent trail?’
Ajuga shrugged.
‘It depends what you mean by recent, ma’am.
Someone’s been through here in the last few days, I’d say’
‘So,
are they nearby?’ asked Kath. She looked around, remembering her earlier,
terrifying, experience of the Portalis elves. That time she had only had Rem to
look after her, but she had felt safer then. This made her feel slightly
guilty, as if even thinking that was letting Viola down.
‘Nearby? It’s hard to say’ said Viola.
She looked back down at the tracks and then
at Ajuga.
‘What do you think, Corporal?’
‘They might be close…’ Ajuga said,
falteringly.
‘They’ll be easy to see – being on horses’
suggested Potentilla.
‘That’s what I thought’ agreed Viola, ‘let’s
head for higher ground and see if we can find a place to look out for them’
‘And after that we’ll find a good place for a
surprise attack!’ said Potentilla.
Viola shook her head and Ajuga visibly
quailed.
‘No, Lieutenant. Let’s just see where they
are, if we can’
They
climbed up into the slightly more hilly ground to their west, with Sedum
hanging back with two soldiers to check that their trail hadn’t been followed.
They found an isolated oak growing straggly but tall on the edge of an
escarpment. Viola scrambled awkwardly up it: she had already proven to have by
far the best eyesight of anyone in the group. Kath knew this from earlier
experiences: she had no idea how Viola could see so far, but it was a very
useful skill.
Viola perched on the top of the tree and
peered out over the vista below her. It was a very clear day, with just a hint
of frost in the air. She could see as far as the horizon and at first she
thought the whole plain was empty.
However, then she saw that, indeed, there was a group of riders south of
them, partly occluded by a hillock. They were closer than she had originally
imagined. She waited and watched.
The group were getting nearer and now she
could see that there were only five or six horses and their riders. They seemed
to be dressed in some modified form of the east Visneorian uniform, with a
yellow sun motif on the front of their tunics. They were clearly sun god
worshippers – adherents to the strange religion instigated by Whitecloak. Now
that their god was gone, what would they do? Perhaps, eventually, they could be
brought back into the fold.
She wondered what they were attempting so far
south, and what sort of elves they were.
‘If only we could ask them’ she thought. She watched them for a few minutes as
they made their way back up the trail, obviously following the route that
Corporal Ajuga had just found. Then, with a lot of help from her concerned
squad, she clambered back down.
Once she was down, and had checked that she
had done no more serious damage to her foot, she called the squad together.
They gathered round, eager but nervy.
‘There’s a small party of Portalis elves
coming this way on horseback’ she explained.
There was a sharp intake of breath – they all
started whispering at once. Everyone except Potentilla looked to find their
packs and flee in an orderly fashion.
Viola gestured to them to stop.
‘No, wait’ she said, ‘I have another idea.
Extraordinary as it may seem, I think I have to agree with Lieutenant
Potentilla’
Kath dropped her pack and stared at Viola,
astonished. She never thought that she’d hear those unlikely and worrying
words. Viola smiled.
‘We’re going to set up an ambush’
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