Chapter eighty-five

Rebuilding Ortia

 

The walk back to Ortia, which was normally a three day march, took five days. It was uneventful, but they were slowed by Viola’s foot and by John’s fatigue. They approached the city with considerable trepidation and their fears seemed to be confirmed when they saw the ruined walls in the distance. After that they proceeded with caution, following Rem’s scouting instructions, but soon they saw that the patrols were all elven and they revealed themselves.

They had expected to have some problems with Rem again, but to their surprise all that they got were some wary glances.  Rem’s fears were put on hold, but he still demanded that he should be in the middle of the party. Hardacre thought that the soldiers that they’d met were all too worn out to really know who they were, although they were all relieved to see Viola. She, too, of course, was delighted to be home, although shocked by the devastation. 

They said nothing much at all said about what had happened in Melloreis until they found Marthian. By then she had returned her headquarters to the Palace. Everything was still a mess but was being cleaned up quickly and efficiently.

 

Marthian wasn’t expecting them. Gaius led them to the door of her office, where she was giving out instructions to a large group of master masons, master carpenters and master plumbers.

Gaius walked in and waited patiently until she noticed him. The she dismissed the gaggle of eager constructors, who left the room all talking at once. Marthian put her hands over her ears and grinned at Gaius.

‘How’s the general?’ she asked

Gaius was desperate to bring in the waiting group but was also well trained in etiquette.

‘He is improving daily’ he said, ‘he is at his headquarters now’

Marthian smiled and then made a mock grimace.

‘That means that I’ll have to give you back soon. Perhaps I can pull rank and steal you?’

‘I don’t think you’ll need to, ma’am; not when I show you your visitors ‘

She sighed.

‘More visitors? I think that I’ll have to take a break soon. I know an awful lot about bricks and lintels now and I may have to walk it off’

Gaius smiled politely and shook his head.

‘No’ he spluttered, the words spilling out, ‘it’s Captain Viola, the Ethian scholar, the Hybitor Envoy and that Tlaxacan who isn’t a Tlaxacan, and two other people who I don’t know. I think one of them is the Hybitor leader. The other one is an archer from the west!’

Marthian said nothing but frantically waved her hands to indicate that Gaius should let them in. They shuffled in a little sheepishly.

Marthian shot up from her chair and made straight for Viola. She gave her a huge hug. Viola shuffled to avoid having her bad foot squashed once again.

Marthian disengaged and stepped back to have a look at them all. They were a very odd group indeed. She didn’t really know where to start. She nodded at Hardacre, Kath and at Rem.

The human whom she didn’t recognise stepped forward and bowed.

‘Greetings Proconsul Marthian – I am delighted to meet you at last!’

Marthian, remembering her Ethian manners, shook his hand.

‘Mr Ismay, I presume. This is an honour’

John laughed.

‘Only a very small one’ he said, ‘possibly too small to be worth mentioning’

They stood awkwardly for a second or two and then Viola started talking.

‘We killed him, Proconsul’ she jabbered, ‘well, with Quiena’s help and Fred and the Bell and John’s spells and Rem’s healing, and the elephant…’

‘Shhh’ said Marthian kindly, ‘everyone needs to learn to talk more slowly…’

 And so they all sat down and told the Proconsul almost everything that had happened in great detail and everyone tried to speak clearly and avoid speaking too fast. It took a long time because the elves tended to speak in Visneorian and the humans and Rem in Ethian, and then sometimes some of the listeners didn’t understand what was beings said, so there were quite a lot of competing translations, but finally a picture emerged.

Two things were left out. John did not explain about Helios or what had happened there and Rem made no mention of his conversation with Whitecloak. The first omission was out of prudence, the second because Rem had no memory of that conversation at all. 

Viola watched Marthian in action thinking that she looked tired and dishevelled but full of an intense energy that she hadn’t seen in her before. Her transformation was impressive, but she wondered whether she’d ever see the old Marthian again, pruning her purple roses in the garden. 

Eventually, after Marthian had had lunch brought to them the conversation inevitably turned to Ortia.

‘How is the city?’ asked John

Marthian frowned.

‘It has survived, as you have seen, but there are some serious problems. The army has been reduced by about half, with a lot of injured, some permanently.  And you’ve seen the wall – that’s a very long term project’

‘What about the Lady?’ asked Viola.

Marthian’s face fell even further.

‘We don’t know. Julia has locked all the doors and refuses to communicate with anyone. We fear the worst’

‘Is there any signs of her influence?’ asked Viola, her dark face grave.

Marthian shook her head.

‘We may lose her. And I’m not sure what we will do without her’

‘I’d really like to be able to say that there’s something that I can do’ said John, ‘but I’m completely out of my depth with spiritual things. Just ask Laurence’

Hardacre nodded with unexpected enthusiasm.

Marthian smiled wanly.

‘You’ve done enough, President Ismay. You have bigger things to worry about, I’m sure’

‘Bigger, maybe, Proconsul,’ said John, ‘but certainly no more important’

‘We’ll just wait and see, and…’ Marthian hesitated, ‘pray, if that is your way…’

They all nodded and murmured agreement except for Rem, who seemed to be miles away.

Marthian turned to Potentilla, who she hadn’t had time to address formally.

‘Citizen Potentilla’ she said, ‘we are honoured to have you here too. Did you know that you the first Imperial representative for more than nine-hundred years?’

Potentilla’s grin turned into a smile so huge that it looked for a second as if her lips would take off.

‘Really!’ she exclaimed, ‘that’s fantastic! It’s been a lot of fun getting here’

Marthian was momentarily stunned. She couldn’t help noticing Kath rolling her eyes exaggeratedly.

‘Fun…’ Marthian murmured, ‘that’s… good. I hope that you will stay long enough for us to have a detailed conversation about what’s going on in the west’

Potentilla looked even more pleased, and nodded vigorously.

‘I’d love to!’ she said, ‘Ortia looks like such a fabulous place’

Marthian thought of the broken walls and the leaking water mains and decided to move rapidly on.

‘Rem’ she said, turning to the plains-dweller who now seemed to have refocused on the conversation, ‘I hope that your reception has been better this time’

Rem thought about this carefully.

‘It too early to say’ he said, ‘but no-one has arrested me yet’

 ‘Good’ said Marthian, choosing to treat that as a joke, ‘I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen’

‘I think better of elves, though’ Rem said more courteously, ‘Viola and Potentilla are brave and clever’

He considered what he’d said for a second, and then continued in a spirit of total honesty.

‘Well, Viola is clever. And Potentilla is definitely very brave…’ his voice trailed off

There was some extremely quiet sniggering, which Potentilla either didn’t notice or didn’t understand.

‘Thank you, Rem’ said Viola and Potentilla simultaneously.

‘We call him ‘Master Healer’ – as a mark of respect’ said Hardacre, softly.  

‘Yes, thank you for everything…  Master Healer’ said Marthian, ‘we owe you, as we owe all your companions our lives and the life of our city. Every one of you is forever welcome in our lands’

Marthian had hardly noticed Hardacre up to this point, as he had let John and, in fact, everyone else, speak for the group.  She wondered why this was, given how resourceful a person he had proven himself to be. Now he seemed happy to be eclipsed by his master. She addressed him directly.

‘Envoy Hardacre – our debt of gratitude to you needs to be combined with a confession. I kept you here when I knew that you had pressing needs at home, and I did it for purely political reasons. I hope you’ll accept my personal apology for my mischievousness’

Hardacre’s face registered a flicker of a smile and he nodded slightly.

‘An apology is completely unnecessary. You were only keeping me from my domestic duties, and, I must be honest, I would have done the same thing in your circumstances. Let us wipe the slate clean and say that there is no debt on either side’

‘Yes’ said Marthian happily, ‘let’s start again with renewed good will and renewed hope!’

‘Of course’ replied Hardacre, ‘there is always hope, as we have seen’

Marthian looked at her guests and realised that they all needed to stop and rest.

‘I think we have all had enough for now’ she said, ‘and so I will get Gaius to take you to the guest quarters, which some of you will remember, perhaps without much affection.’ She looked apologetically at Rem, Kath and Hardacre.

‘I can guarantee a better rest this time. And we will talk again soon – there is a lot still to uncover’

Marthian looked over at Viola, forgetting for just a second what her intelligence officer had just gone through.

‘And next time I will get Viola to take notes’

‘Yes, ma’am’ Viola sighed, ‘of course’  

They were exhausted now and imagining the pleasures of baths, proper food and soft beds. They had got up to leave gratefully when Potentilla suddenly smacked the side of her head with the palm of her hand.

‘Oh no!’ she said, ‘How could I be so silly? I have something to give you, proconsul and I’d completely forgotten about it’

Everyone stopped in their tracks. Marthian looked at Potentilla quizzically.

‘What?’

‘When we set off from Visnea we were all given something to hand over to the proconsul in Ortia, if we found one. We were to only give it if we were in charge at the time. I never thought I’d need to use it because I was about the last in the chain of command, but it’s seems like now, I am in charge – sort of – being the only one left’

She paused to rummage around in her cloak pockets. This took a long time. 

‘Where did I put it?’ she asked herself, checking and rechecking her pockets. Finally she pulled something out and handed it across to Marthian. Potentilla grinned.

‘It’s a letter from the Emperor’