K. J. Parker - The Two of Swords, Part 18

The repair to the bridge hadnt fallen to bits yet, so they had no trouble crossing the river, and the Great East was empty, so they flew along. Just as well. All her life, shed dreaded boredom; stuck in a coach again, with nothing to read and no one to talk to. Axio slept most of the time; like a lizard, she thought, when theres nothing to do he conserves energy. Musen stared out of the window or went over and over his pack of cards, sometimes muttering under his breath, sometimes staring at them as though there was one blindingly obvious fact he knew he was missing, but he couldnt figure out what it was. The Lodge had packed them all sorts of nice things to eat and drink. Musen was the cook, and every bite and sup she took terrified her, because of what shed nebulously planned to do to him, except that she didnt happen to have any poison with her, and noxious substances dont grow on trees, or at least they do, but you need to be able to identify them and know how to render them down. The only naturally occurring poison she knew enough about to be able to pick and use was a certain kind of green-capped mushroom, and that only grew in forests in the far South.

Stewed chicken with mushrooms, Musen announced sadly, pushing a bowl under her nose. Musen was a good cook, though he hated doing it. She tried picking out the bits of chicken, and wiping the sauce off when nobody was looking.

Axio snored; at night, not during the day. How he could sleep at all was a mystery to her, since hed spent the whole day away with the fairies. It was one of those irregular snores that you simply cant ignore. You just have to lie there listening to it in horrified fascination. At least it gave her a chance to keep an eye on Musen, though he slept like a log from the moment he closed his eyes until Axio kicked him awake at daybreak.

More news at the last way station before Rasch. As a result of the big battle (not the one theyd heard about; another one), Forza Belot had been relieved of his command, and was now under house arrest at his wifes villa in the Cleir mountains. The emperor had sent an embassy to his uncle in the East, with a view to establishing a framework and timescale for preliminary negotiations; meanwhile, all the men in Rasch over fourteen and under sixty-five, including foreign nationals and resident aliens, had been called up to guard the walls in the event of a siege. The city gates were closed to everything except supply convoys; so if you were planning on going there, youre out of luck, because they wont let you in.

Axio didnt seem particularly worried about that. He had a brief talk with Musen, which she wasnt allowed to join in; then Musen stole a horse and rode away, while they carried on in the coach as far as Beuda, the last village on the Great East that wasnt a suburb. Musen was waiting for them in the inn.

Any luck? Axio asked. Musen nodded, and led them to a derelict barn on the western edge. Inside it they found a large cart loaded with barrels. Apples, Musen said. It was all I could get.

Apples are fine, Axio replied. Splendid. Were now a supply convoy.

Just to be on the safe side they painted the cart white, with some distemper Musen had managed to steal from somewhere. Attention to detail, Axio explained; the last thing we need is to get arrested for stealing a cart. Also, he added, in a whisper that Musen couldve heard if he was stone deaf, it gives the boy something to do, keeps him out of mischief.

If this is Rasch stocking up for a siege, Axio said, theyre being damned casual about it.

She was forced to agree. Shed anticipated a long, crawling line of carts and wagons, shuffling along at walking pace all the way from the Tenth Milestone to the Gate. Instead, they shared the road with three farm wagons and a big army cart, which was empty. But she didnt think it was any lack of urgency on the city prefects part. More likely, there simply wasnt any food left to buy, because there were no farmers left to grow it, and no money to pay for it.

Florians Wall, which surrounds Rasch on three sides, is thirty feet high and ten feet thick, with guard towers every hundred yards and enfilading bastions every quarter-mile. The story goes that there was once a mountain overshadowing the city, where now theres a flat plain; Florian quarried the whole mountain to build the city wall, and still had to send out for more stone when the mountain had been used up. The story isnt true, because the walls are granite and basalt and Rasch is built on sandstone; that doesnt mean there isnt a flat plain somewhere else that was once a mountain, or a mountain range.