Part Twenty

       Now where the heck...of course! In the rear.
       Hideoshi huffed as he turned to seek Sergeant Degmah, only to see the squat figure waddling towards him.
        "Been doin' good here," began Degmah, spluttering snow from his moustache. "Now, we need to halt. Won't do the higher-ups any good if we get lost in this blizzard-nor us."
        Of course he had to add  "us!"  groaned Hideoshi.
       Yet he couldn't help sighing with a weary joy, more conscious of the misery that had just ceased than the pleasure it now experienced. His extremities had stopped shivering and were merely stiff, cold mechanical things. Right there, he wanted to shut his eyes and fade into warmth and slumber. But the men must be halted first.
       Plodding from one group to the next, Hideoshi commanded each to halt, all the men to weary to respond with more than a nod before huddling together in circles in the snow. Noticing his brother Takashi and Nevsky in one of these huddles, he plopped down next to them. Takashi turned, the corners of his eyes and mouth crinkled just a little.
       "Got to be a sergeant for a day, eh?"
       "Yeah, guess so. Ain't all that great."
       "Guess we're gonna wait this one out then."
       "Yeah. War's a lot of waitin' around."
       Nevsky sat up straighter, but did not look at either Hideoshi or Takashi when he spoke.
       "Yeah. But we don't wait around forever."

Part Nineteen

       Sure enough, Sergeant Degmah was wading quickly to the rear of the column, not even glancing back. Hideoshi huffed.
      Of course I'm to lead-as if I knew where that blasted city was! 
       He scanned the column, noting the chattiness of the soldiers as they hurried to stay close to each other. Few looked out to the white plains and dark plateaus beyond.
      They're the new ones alright. Too lively-and not alert.  
      Several clusters were forming, each around a lively and seemingly confident individual.  Hideoshi groaned.
       I'll deal with this...
       He thrust himself through one of these clusters to the center, strode up to the leader, and drew his finger first across his lips, then across his neck, narrowing his eyes as his jaw muscles stiffened. The soldier, seeing the dazed faces of his comrades, became somber.
     "That's right!"  Hideoshi nodded. " It's the real deal-act like it."
       He went to each group, using the same tactic to great effect. The chattering died down, leaving the whistling blizzard and crunching snow as the only sounds.
       Now I've got to ask Sergeant Degmah where in the blazes I-he that is, if he'd only....never mind-where I'm supposed to be leading these men. Wonder if he'd take to me calling myself Sergeant?       

Part Eighteen

       Hideoshi sloughed through the snowdrifts until he was wading beside Sergeant Degmah, tilting his head down to keep the snowflakes from blinding him. Puffing white breath into the snow flurry, Sergeant Degmah coughed.
        "Are the men alright?"
        "They're fine, I suppose."
        The sergeant squinted.
        "Suppose. Alright. Do you suppose you could
lead the main body of Third Company once we attack Kolov?"
        Hideoshi barely shook himself awake.
       "Well, you're gonna. I'll be directing things from the rear."
                 Of course he is!
Shoving his hands deeper under his armpits, Hideoshi huffed as he ploughed on through the snow, the blizzard without melting into a flurry of images within.
               "Degmah, help us catch the sheep!" Cried two boys as they darted across the alpine meadow.
"I'm counting the sheep so that our papas can know how many we can take to market."
       "You just don't wanna help!"
       "Counting sheep is helping, Hideoshi!"...
...Hideoshi spat.
       Of all people, he had to be my sergeant?

Part Seventeen

        As Hideoshi's eyelids drooped, his attention turned from Nevsky to forcing himself to stay awake, tossing his head and pinching his arms. But as a frigid burst shot through the passageway, his eyes widened, and his folded arms contracted.
       He glanced at Takashi, shivering, then at Nevsky. Still the same oblivious stare.
      He's right. We're probably gonna die-on a stupid mission.
      The blackness of the passageway faded to dark greyness flecked with white as the Third Company sunk into the snowdrifts outside. Behind, a sheer cliff. Before, whirling snow in the grey night.
      Great. All we've got to do is find a big, black thing in a blizzard at night.
      "Hideoshi!" Called Galen, shoving through soldiers until he caught sight of Hideoshi, "Sergeant Degmah wants you at the front of the column, since you're more experienced."
       Of course.
       "Sure thing, Galen."
       As he plodded forward through the snow, he took another look at Takashi and Nevsky. Takashi's eyes darted about as he rubbed his elbows, but Nevsky's eyes never moved as he tramped.
       Why do I even care?
       
      
      

Part Sixteen

Hideoshi tapped Nevsky on the shoulder, causing him to jolt.
"You scared me!" He hissed.
"Didn't mean to. Look at the walls."
Nevsky looked absently, then with attention, at the wall of the passageway.
"I see now," he whispered. "Some of the paint's chipped and flaking, though."
"Probably the dampness did that," replied Hideoshi.
"We've been tramping for hours!" Galen interjected.
For a long while the passageway led the Third Company steadily downwards, neither levelling out flat nor diverting in any other direction. Suddenly, out of the darkness the shape of a vast door, outlined by flickering torchlight stood gaping before them. The ground beneath their feet just as abruptly levelled out, transitioning from stairs to a smooth stone floor.
"Follow me," said Illari, whose shrill voice faintly resonated throughout the passageway, as he tiptoed through the door, bearing a lighted torch in his hand.
When Hideoshi and his companions passed through the door, they gasped. The room behind the door was vast, with a vaulted ceiling supported by colums arching far above their heads. Gigantic paintings of an ancient battle outlined in gold and silver were on the four walls of the room. Three vaulted doors stood before and beside the company.
"Boy! Which way!" Shouted the officers and the sergeants at Illari, who was gazing with upturned head at the magnificence surrounding him.
Illari started, then dashed towards the door on the left, his bare feet pattering across the stone floor. The members of the Third Company followed, many frustrated with the length of time they had travelled through the passages, to say nothing of their mission itself.
"I don't understand why," Galen muttered as he shuffled alongside Hideoshi, "why those Fairies said they want to fight evil, then they turn right around and say 'Oh, we'll just care for the sick and wounded'. Sound like inconsistent wimps that don't know what they're up to me."
"I'm not sure about that, but why didn't any Fairies go on this mission with us?" Takashi asked, glancing at his older brother. After several moments of silence, he turned to Nevsky, asking, "What do you think?"
Neither looking to the right or to the left, his eyes glazed in a blank stare, Nevsky said, "What of it?"
"What do you mean, 'What of it'? Do you want to get killed on a stupid, useless, wasteful mission?"
"We're all going to die anyway-I don't see why it should matter how."
Nevsky stiffened his jaw and his face paled, but no other reaction occurred as they tramped through the passageway.
"Why did I ever bother helping him?" Hideoshi pondered. "Now he's just as bad as if I'd done nothing. Nothing! He's hopeless!"
He took a quick glance through the corner of his eye at Nevsky. Nevsky marched as though oblivious to all, as though he were nothing more than a mere walking machine. At once revulsion, frustration, and pity seized Hideoshi at once, each attempting to dominate his will.
"What should I do?" His mind said.

Part Fifteen

"Sir," said Hideoshi, straitened himself as he addressed Sergeant Degmah, "we're on our way."
"Why the halt?" Sergeant Degmah demanded, folding his arms as he glared at Hideoshi.
"This boy knows another way down to the bottom of the plateau, sir."
"But he's a Valashian! Might be a trap!"
"Most of the soldiers here can't climb down a cliff, even if ordered to, sir."
"What of it? It's orders!" Said Sergeant Degmah. But lowering his eyes, he muttered to himself, "I don't enjoy thinking about that climb myself."
He raised his eyes to Hideoshi again, pulled at his beard, then ordered loudly," Halt, everyone! Wait for further instruction!"
After announcing this, Sergeant Degmah trudged off towards the tower in the center of Valash.
"I'm freezing! Why didn't you tell us about this other way back inside, Illari?" Galen moaned while stomping his feet and rubbing his hands.
Hideoshi looked around him. Most of the soldiers of the Third Company were moving about in a futile attempt to warm themselves while chatting, including his brother Takashi. Nevsky, however, stood still and aloof. His arms were folded tightly, his pale lips were pressed together firmly, and his glazed eyes stared into nothingness. Only his brown hair fluttered feebly in the icy wind.
"What's up with him now?" Thought Hideoshi.
"Nevsky!" Called out Hideoshi. But Nevsky remained unmoved, frozen as ice, without even the slightest flicker of an eye.
"Nevsky!"
No response.
Suddenly, Hideoshi understood, as clearly and sharply in his mind as an icicle is clear and sharp, Nevsky's lack of response, his bleak stare, his stiffened jaw.
"He still won't accept what happened," thought Hideoshi. "He refuses to face that he's by himself since his family's all dead, but he knows that he must-and he's petrified. He's built up a frozen fortress of ice around himself, his thoughts. A fortress that will shatter into thousands of bits that'll dissolve into nothingness upon the first hard blow."
Hideoshi slapped his tingling hands to prevent numbness, while staring at Nevsky.
"I don't know why, but I'll see if I can shake him out of this," he thought.
A slushing of snow caused him and the other soldiers of the Third Company to pause their thoughts and doing. Sergeant Degmah, red-faced and puffing his cheeks, waddled up to them, followed by several other officers. Then Sergeant Degmah halted, and rang out:
"Boy! Your secret way better lead us down to the plains 'cause if you're lyin'- you'll get it!"
"I'm not lyin'! Follow me!" Illari called shrilly, skipping blithely and waving his one arm, then marching off with a beaming face.
The soldiers of the Third Company began to march, following the officers and Illari's lead. Some shifted their packs on their backs, adjusting them for comfort and security, while others plodded with half-closed eyes and drooping shoulders. All soon fell into two uneven lines that wound through the streets of Valash before entering into the house that they slept in some nights before.
But this time, they entered the great doors directly across from the entrance, and descended the stairs that seemed to drop down into the ground directly in front of the doors. Down the smooth steps they tramped until they reached a passageway, while was lit with a pale, white light that streamed down from shafts. In the passageway were five doors, two behind the company, and the other three beside and before them. Illari dashed to the door on the left, reached for the handle with his one hand, and swung it open while dangling from the handle.
"You'll want lights," he said before striding into the darkness.
The subdued chatter that was present before subsided as echoes became prevalent, and the air grew thick and damp. Hideoshi, Nevsky, Takashi, and Galen stuck together during the gradual decent, though none of them spoke.
Hideoshi glanced about him, and, from the flickering orange lights, discerned that the walls were painted in vivid colours, such as red, green, purple, and yellow. At times he could make out figures-soldiers, trees, beasts, maidens- all on a dark blue background with gold stars, just like those painted on the vaulted ceiling in the house above.
"I wish I knew what the paintings were, what they mean, who made them, and why," Hideoshi thought.

Part Fourteen

"If we're both alive when this is over, I'll take you,".
replied Nevsky, staring half-dazed at Illari.
Hideoshi glanced at his companions, then motioned towards the heap of goods in a far corner of the hall.
"Let's get our stuff and go," he said.
Hideoshi, Nevsky, Takashi, and Galen shuffled over to the corner, and began to pick through the heap of sleeping bags and stuffed canvas bags to find their belongings. For a moment Illari stared after them, then crept back upstairs. Several other soldiers from the Third Company also dug through the heap, muttering various complaints.
"I don't understand why we had to get picked for this suicide mission!"
"We were supposed to git back home in the summer, and now it's dead of winter! We're just wastn' our time, gettn' killed for nuthin!"
"Five thousand reinforcements! Bah! Against a hundred thousand?"
"Hey, Hideoshi!" Called one after glancing up from a sack he was rummaging. "What do you think about this mission?"
Hideoshi's narrow eyes contracted together as he thought of a reply.
"How should I say this?" He mused, when words began to form themselves together in his mind, demanding to be spoken.
Hideoshi raised his eyes, and surveyed his companions.
"I don't mean to disrespect the generals, but this plan appears to be a waste of manpower, another desperate gamble to stave off defeat."
He sighed, hoisted up his canvas sack onto his shoulders, and continued, "But we've got to do it, anyhow."
The other soldiers finished packing in silence. Only the plodding and shuffling of feet echoed in the hall, as the soldiers of the Third Company began to depart to the western wall, which rose above the western edge of the plateau.
"How are we going to climb down?" Whispered Nevsky to Hideoshi as they stepped out into the tingling cold.
"Didn't they train you-" Hideoshi began to snap, when he realised the absurdity of what he was about to say.
"He-and many others-haven't been trained at all," thought Hideoshi. "They've just been snatched up from their homes, had a weapon thrust in their hands, and sent off to this chaos! A farmer from the Andre Swamps may be strong, but he's not trained in warfare. Not much, anyway."
"Can you climb at all?" He whispered back to Nevsky.
"I used to climb trees," Nevsky whispered.
A patter of feet, alternating between crunching on snow and slapping stone, sounded behind them. Hideoshi turned to look, and saw a boy, thin and pale, stumbling and bare footed, in pale brown bespattered coat that engulfed him, trailing them.
"Illari!"
"Let me show you the way! Let me show you!" Cried Illari, panting as he adjusted his draping coat with his one hand.
Galen narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slightly while asking, "What way?"
"There's a way down to the bottom, without climbing down. I've been there. I can show you. It's a secret."
Illari turned his face upwards towards the four. Hideoshi glanced around him, placed his hands upon his knees, bent down so that his face reached the level of Illari's, then spoke.
"Are you sure that it's secret?"
"Yes."
Illari rapidly withdrew his eyes from the piercing scrutiny of Hideoshi's dark green ones, and hung his head.
"It's true! I know! Will you believe me?" He said, suddenly clutching Nevsky's arm.
"You all are supposed to be moving! What's going on?" Shouted Sergeant Degmah as he stormed up to his men. His thin, almost transparent eyebrows twitched vigorously, his pale hair bristled, his cheeks puffed in and out, and his pale blue eyes appeared to have melted into their whites from the heat of his fury.