Chapter sixteen

West of the Great Wall

 

There was a huge row when Potentilla got back to camp. She calmly described what had happened and, after a brief pause, everyone began talking at once. She was rather taken aback to find that when the hubbub had died down, the general consensus was that everything was her fault. This seemed very unfair.

After they’d allocated the blame, the party considered what to do next. They split into two factions, with Potentilla on one side, everyone else on the other. This also seemed amazingly unfair.

Maxilius was adamant.

‘We’ve lost two people – it’s time to call it a day. I’m not risking any more of my squad’

Fred nodded, ‘sad – but just one of those things’

Potentilla glared at Fred and then shouted at him.

‘How can you say that about Kath? She’s your colleague!’

Fred glared back.

‘Anyway, it’s your bloody fault’ 

‘I helped her’ said Potentilla.

Maxilius looked on, astonished.

‘You killed her. And – you disobeyed orders’

‘I did not…’ responded Potentilla, ‘…kill her, I mean. Although, yes, I did disobey orders’ 

‘From where I sit, she looks dead enough… ’ said Fred. ‘…Unfortunately’, he added almost as an afterthought.

‘She’s not dead!’ Potentilla insisted, ‘I helped her through the Wall, and now I’m going to find her and help her to get to Melloreis’

‘How?’ asked Maxilius

‘Yes – how?’ echoed Fred. 

‘You can’t get through the Wall, now’ said Maxilius

‘And she has the key’ pointed out Fred

Potentilla planted her feet firmly in the ground and spread her arms wide.

‘We’ll walk round’

The whole group laughed, except for Fred, who sat stony faced on the ground.

Maxilius made an unmistakeable universal gesture involving moving his index finger in a circular motion and the side of his head.

‘We have no idea how far we’d have to walk, or where to go if we did get to the end of the Wall. That’s not a workable plan’ 

Potentilla folded her arms and glared at the entire group.

‘Yes, it is, and I’m going to try it even if I have to do it on my own. Kath needs our help – I don’t understand why we’re wasting time having this conversation’

Maxilius nodded to his two largest guards. They moved purposefully towards Potentilla. Maxilius barked at her.

‘You’re not going anywhere, soldier. I’m giving you a direct order to follow me back to Visnea. This operation is over’.

Potentilla drew her sword. The two burly guards hesitated, about ten feet away from her, and looked to Maxilius for guidance.

‘Private Potentilla! Lay down your arms’ he ordered, ‘guards – use whatever force is necessary’

The guards hesitated. This gave Potentilla enough time to dart away and up on to a boulder.

‘Don’t you dare!’ she shouted.

Fred stood up.

‘This is nonsense’ he yelled, ‘you’ll just end up hurting yourselves’

Maxilius looked over to Potentilla and then at Fred.

‘Draw your swords, guards’

The guards’ hands moved very gradually to their scabbards. Fred lumbered equally slowly towards Potentilla. He climbed on to the boulder, plonked himself in front of her, and folded his arms. All that was visible of Potentilla was the tip of her sword.

‘This is a farce’ he growled. 

The guards froze.  The others started to murmur among themselves.

‘Do as I said. Draw your swords!’ roared Maxilius. His face was as red as a strawberry.

The guards advanced on the boulder.

‘Don’t you bloody dare!’ shouted Fred, pressing himself right up against Potentilla so that she couldn’t move and so that the guards couldn’t get to her.

The guards began to circle the boulder tentatively, poking at the pair on top of it. Potentilla avoided the jabs easily, but Fred was larger and not at all agile. He stared down at a very small spot of blood that had appeared on his tunic.  He bent over and Potentilla was able to move away from him.

‘I’m an Ethian citizen!’ he yelped, ‘you cannot do this!’

Potentilla was laughing loudly as she danced around the boulder. She looked rather like a deranged little imp and the effect was both bizarre and slightly eerie. The murmuring of the remaining guards increased and they all began to back away.

Maxilius turned to watch his group and realised that this had all gone too far. A murdered Ethian scholar might mean war.

‘Stop, stop!’ he shouted lifting up his hands.

Potentilla came back behind Fred, holding her nose and making a mock-disgusted face. She was still laughing.

‘Well done, Fred’ she laughed, ‘you’re so big and brave!’

 She gave him a huge hug and kissed him on his forehead.

Fred still stood on the boulder with his arms still folded. He’d never been angrier or more embarrassed.

‘You lot bugger off’ he snarled, in Ethian, ‘I’m going with her’. He jabbed a finger in Potentilla’s direction.

After a brief period of mutual glaring Maxilius gestured to the guards to move behind him and they slowly retreated to the camp, keeping their eye all the time on their bizarre adversaries. They picked up their backpacks and tents and retreated in good order, unwounded but curiously traumatised. They left Potentilla’s and Fred’s bags behind.

On the way home, which was uneventful, Maxilius and his troops invented a neat new version of events. This   emphasised how things had escalated beyond their control, and how, despite their best efforts, both scholars and one brave soldier had been lost.  ‘Such is the fate of untrained civilians in the wilderness’, they all sadly affirmed.

When they got back to Visnea there was an official investigation. It lasted three months and concentrated particularly on the fate of their agent, Lucius. The verdict was that the guards were ‘mildly culpable’. Maxilius was demoted, briefly, before he left the army and got a job as an inn keeper. The others were docked half their pay for six weeks. However, after that the whole thing was pretty much forgotten.