Part Thirteen

"We'd better go now," said Hideoshi while he jumped up, snatching up his weapons. Nevsky, Takashi, and Galen followed.
At the head of the stairs leading down into the city, Hideoshi glanced back. Lord Anomijah still stood where they had left him, gazing wistfully at them.
"Fairwell," Hideoshi said before racing down the stairs to overtake the others.
After tripping over charred beams and tramping through freezing slush, they arrived at the round tower. Other soldiers from the Third Company milled about, whispering rumours, crowding others to get closer to the tower, and glancing nervously at the tower door. Uncertainty tingled through the anxious looks, wide eyes, and fidgeting bodies of the soldiers, spreading from man to man. Then the tower door creaked, slowly opening.
Every man instantly stilled or quieted himself when that door creaked. Some could not exhale from trepidation or anticipation. Others stolidly watched, seemingly unmoved, but their eyes spoke of suppressed emotion.
At last, General Tacitus emerged from the dim shadows. He scanned the soldiers rapidly, then spoke.
"Soldiers of the Third Company, tonight, it will be your task to divert the enemy to the city of Kolov, which is ten miles from here, on the nearest plateau to this city. To do this, you will climb down this plateau, and run to Kolov. You will start tonight!"
The soldiers gasped.
But the soldiers checked their murmuring when General Tacitus spoke again.
"We are," he announced, "expecting about five thousand reinforcements in a day and a half, which is all the aid our consuls could muster at this time. If you do your task well, this diversion may give us a little time, time in which more reinforcements can be acquired. Go now, my men."
General Tacitus turned back, soon lost to sight in the dim tower. The tower door creaked shut behind him, shutting out the buzz that arose in the streets.
"Why do they always think that their schemes will save us?" Muttered Hideoshi. "They've only been a waste, a reckless waste of time and lives!"
Takashi grinned while saying blithely, "Well, the day after tomorrow the odds will be much better!"
"How?" Scoffed Galen.
"It'll be four to one instead of five to one."
"Takashi! Do you,-" said Hideoshi, "really think that that's much better?"
"Come on, now! You're too gloomy anyway. Always have been."
"It would do you some good to see the serious side of things. At least I know-"
"We'd better get ready!" Cried Galen.
Hideoshi, Nevsky, Takashi and Galen soon found the house in which they slept two nights ago. But now, their belongings were heaped in a remote corner of the entrance hall, while several Fairies were unpacking their own belongings, one of them the auburn-haired Fairy they had met before.
"I thought that your quarters were elsewhere," Hideoshi said.
The Fairy replied, " They were, but since your company no longer needs this place, we came here. It is a stouter building than the one we were given, not gaudy, and austere."
"I never associated Fairies with austerity," mused Galen aloud. "I thought that they were pleasure-loving, luxurious people. Your clothes certainly aren't plain!"
"Our clothes are more elaborate than those you have on, but they are made of wool, not silk, or satin. We appreciate and enjoy pleasure, but how can we retain a watchful guard against evil if we gave ourselves up to pleasure? Even the- the Mazovians are not so foolish."
He suddenly glanced over his shoulder at the stairs, then grinned.
"Illari!"
"Illari," said Nevsky. "So, he's fine? No more seizures?"
"He had several, but he is well."
Illari crept down the stairs, then glided across the hall until he reached Nevsky. He kept his eyes lowered at first, but his one hand crept out of the shabby coat he wore, and pinched Nevsky's arm.
"Hey!" Shouted Nevsky, flailing his arms, then staring at Illari. "Why'd you do that?"
Illari gradually raised his turquoise eyes until they met Nevsky's brown ones, before rapidly lowering them.
"Can I talk with you?"
"Sure," said Nevsky, puzzled by Illari's request.
With his only hand, Illari grabbed one of Nevsky's and tugged on it, pleading, "Come with me."
"I can't. I've got to go fight soon."
"Then I'll come with you!"
"You're not fit for war!" Exclaimed Hideoshi. "And-" memories of Nevsky's terror flashing in his mind-"you couldn't take it."
"I've seen people killed," said Illari.
Galen looked up in shock.
"You?" He said.
"Yes. Buildings fell on them. I even saw a man kill another-before the siege-to take his money. And mother killed herself when father left. I can go. I have no home. Nobody'd miss me if I died."
"This blasted war-even children are caught up in its madness," said Hideoshi, staring at the floor of the hall.
Illari spoke again.
"Never mind. I might black out-and that wouldn't help you. But, Nevsky, when you come back, take me home with you. Please."
Nevsky stared at nothing in particular. Home. What home? A charred ruin in a desolate swamp, its inhabitants now among the dead.
"I don't have one," he replied.
"Then we can make a home anywhere!"
Nevsky started, a new thought dawning in his mind.