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.

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.

Part Twelve

"But," Hideoshi inquired, wrinkling his brow, "weren't the Valashian soldiers captured and imprisoned?"
Galen nodded, still panting, with short and sporadic breath.
"Yeah, but those civilians-remember those women that spat on us yesterday?"
"I'd rather not-"
"Never mind then, but these Valashians are a mean, craven, knavish bunch!"
"Say!" Exclaimed Takashi. "Snow's falling, and the fire's fizzling out!"
Galen grunted, "Good."
Several more hours passed. Still the Karician army tramped up the road onto the plain before the city, until a bloody glow streaked the black eastern sky, colouring the Karician ranks.
Then, a roaring wave of a shout, the shout of one hundred thousand unified voices, rose and collapsed.
The center of the Karician lines parted, and a runner raced through the center, bearing a green flag.
"A truce!" Whispered the soldiers stationed on the walls of Valash.
The officers of the companies stationed nearest to the gate began to shout, "Open the gate!" When Nevsky shrieked. A shriek that stilled the entire plateau.
"The sky! The sky! Look at the sky!"
Everyone raised their eyes. Soaring above the city was a Fairy, a Mazovian. Six times he circled the city, before dropping something that gleamed like an iridescent glass star, then vanishing.
The star-like object hurtled down, dazzling all with its brilliant colours before it disappeared behind some roofs and crashed, shattering like glass. Everyone was turning back to what they were doing before, when a 'whoosh' sounded, buildings began collapsing, and an enormous fire billowed forth.
Soon, a terrible sight unfolded before the soldiers. As several buildings collapsed, they saw, tumbling or rolling towards the flames, as though they were being sucked into a. maelstrom, soldiers and civilians.
"What weapon could do that?" Takashi gasped.
Buildings had ceased to collapse, but the flames waxed in strength, leaping upwards, crackling as more structures and rubble succumbed to the heat. Still an overbearing wind of unnatural force blew near the center of Valash, bearing everything not rooted in the earth towards the golden-white center of the flames.
Suddenly, a crash thudded nearby. Wheeling round, Hideoshi cried, grasping his forehead, "The cunning villains! Now the Karicians are ramming the gate!"
"If only," he thought, "if I'd resisted that urge to look back! But, there's nothing to do now except-I must-"
"Fire!" Shouted the officers on the walls. "Don't look behind you! The Fairies will take care of it!"
Hideoshi mechanically took up his bow, fitted an arrow, drew back the taut string with his numbed hands, aimed at a Karician soldier, then released the string. Around him, Takashi, Galen, and many other soldiers did likewise. Cannons flashed, thundering as their cannonballs and shells crashed into the mass of Karicians below. Creaking, the great scorpions of the Karicians fired back at the base of the walls of Valash, chipping away at the stone.
For several hours this continued, until the Karician force withdrew to the far side of the plateau. A low murmur could be heard, and orange campefires seen, but nothing else could be discerned from the city of Valash.
Hideoshi had sat down, when he heard Nevsky say," Hideoshi?"
"Yes," he yawned.
"How can you kill people-I mean, I know it's your duty, but-without it bothering you?"
"I-don't really think about it. That is, I try not to."
"I've never killed anyone,so-"
"-You mean that you didn't-" Hideoshi began shouting but checked himself after looking into Nevsky's eyes.
"You don't belong here," said Hideoshi. "Maybe you should try to get assigned back with the cooks and stable-boys."
"You don't mean I'm not good enough, do you?" Nevsky said, trying to suppress the tears welling up in his eyes.
"No. You're too good. It's natural to be reluctant to kill another man."
"Then, why doesn't killing affect you?"
"Nevsky," said Hideoshi, "don't believe those fellows that say killing doesn't affect them. It does. But, with practice, time, or a strong sense of duty-never mind! I can't explain it!"
"May I sit beside you?"
Hideoshi nodded.
Nevsky brushed away a heap of snow before sitting next to Hideoshi. Before them, amid unscathed buildings, were smouldering heaps of blackened rubble. Lone pillars or empty shells of buildings stood among the rubble, their charred corners a mute testimony to the ravages they had undergone. Several Fairies searched among the ruins for the victims, while shocked Valashians wandered among the ashes in. bewilderment.
Hideoshi and Nevsky stared without speaking, until Hideoshi felt a shadow fall upon him. He turned round, then started.
"It is only I," said Lord Anomijah, who stood beside them.
"I," Hideoshi said, "did not expect to have the honour of meeting you again."
"Say!" Cried Galen as he strode towards them, "why have you been watching Hideoshi and Takashi?"
Takashi, who had almost dozed off nearby, started.
"Us! Are you sure?" Hideoshi said.
"Sure! Yesterday night, when you all were asleep, he sneaked in and stared at you two. When we were getting ready for the siege he spied on you. And, during the battle we just had, he watched you. I saw him!"
"I am guilty," confessed Lord Anomijah, whose eyes danced in a somber face.
"Why then, sir," Hideoshi said, "do you take such an interest in my brother and I?"
"I would keep my reasons to myself."
"But don't we have the right to know why? It can look suspicious."
"What is your family name?"
Hideoshi nearly jumped when confronted with this unexpected question, but steadied himself.
"Varri."
"Thank you."
"Why did you want to know, sir?"
"I have my own reasons."
"Will that always be your-"
Whistles screeched, while officers shouted, "Third Company to report to the tower in the center of the city at once!"

Part Eleven

"No, I'm not lost," said the boy.
"Then where," Nevsky demanded, "are your parents?"
"Father left, then Mother killed herself."
"Wha-!" Exclaimed Nevsky.
"Hey, you!" Someone called. "What are you doing off-duty?"
Nevsky looked beyond the boy, and saw Lieutenant Hanft of the Third Company.
"Well, sir," stammered Nevsky.
Lieutenant Hanft frowned.
"I see. Get on now, and come with me! There's still a war on!"
Lieutenant Hanft, strode briskly up the narrow street, trailed by Nevsky. Turning a corner, saw Hideoshi, Takashi, and Galen leaning on a house wall. Nearby, several soldiers were seated at a low table, gambling.
"Stop that, get up, and go help repair the rest of the walls!" Ordered Lieutenant Hanft.
The soldiers shifted in their seats and moaned, "Why don't our Fairy 'friends' help? They've just holed themselves up in the nicest building in town, and don't even talk to us!"
"Who says such things?" Laughed several voices. Before the soldiers stood several Fairies, clad in white.
None of the soldiers replied.
"Besides," continued the foremost of the group,"we have decided that we will assist by caring for the wounded, cooking meals, and loading weapons, unless we must fight."
"Look at those sissies," Galen snickered, while everyone else except Hideoshi, Nevsky, and Takashi laughed.
The Fairies faces flushed red, and their eyes blazed, but one of then shouted "Stop!" Which caused all present to turn and look at him.
Tugging his wing was the boy Nevsky had met. But now, seeing that everyone was staring at him, he stopped, and looked bashfully at the street.
"What did you do that for?" Asked the Fairy.
"I wanted to be noticed. I've never seen Fairies before, and I wanted to see if your wings would stay on."
"Where are your parent-what happened to your arm?"
Nevsky spoke up. "He's an orphan, and he was born without that arm."
"Oh," said the Fairy. Then he turned towards the boy, asking. "What is your name?"
"Illari."
"Alright. Would you like to have two arms, like other boys?"
Illari wrinkled his freckled face, then looked up at the auburn-haired Fairy
"No."
Everyone gasped.
"Why not?" Queried the puzzled Fairy.
"Because I wasn't meant to have it."
"Who told you that?"
"Nobody. I once heard some men talking about how one wasn't meant to be a king since he wasn't born one. So, maybe I wasn't meant to have two arms."
"Come on, now, we've got to get ready to-" said Lieutenant Hanft, but deafening shouts of "Look!" Began to resound on all sides.
The entire group dashed to the nearest set of stairs that led to the top of the city wall, rushed up, and pressed themselves against the cold stone. Far below the plateau, on the white plains, a dark column wound its way towards the plateau. A faint tramp like continuous thunder accompanied by a low rumble could be heard.
"Wow," gasped Takashi.
"How many soldiers do we have?" Nevsky asked while his face blanched at the sight.
"About twenty thousand," replied Hideoshi. "One of our against five of theirs."
"We'll see how this goes," said Lieutenant Hanft.
"We must now depart to our own quarters," said a newcomer.
It was Lord Anomijah Miron, who stood facing the group, his brown hair hurled about by a sudden gust, his green eyes shining with urgency. The Fairies began to withdraw from the group, when a thud sounded.
"It's Illari!" Nevsky shouted.
On the stone wall Illari lay still for a moment, then began to twitch violently. After several seconds, the twitching subsided, and Illari opened his eyes. Galen knelt beside him, asking, "Has this happened before?"
Illari moaned, "Lots of times. Even when I was a baby."
"Missing an arm and epilepsy-how could he survive?" Wondered Galen aloud.
"But," Lord Anomijah interjected, "we must prepare for a seige, not stand here! My men and I will care for the boy, but-" turning to Illari-"do not pull on our wings."
The Fairies turned and strode away, bearing Illari with them. But, at the foot of the stairs, Lord Anomijah glamced back at Hideoshi and Takashi, sighed, and turned away.
"What was that for?" Galen asked.
Hideoshi stared after Lord Anomijah, then said, "I can't tell. But we've got to get ready."
For the next several hours, Hideoshi, Galen, Nevsky, and Takashi bustled about with the rest of the Third Company, reinforcing walls, stuffing quivers with arrows; and stacking cannonballs, cannonshells, and gunpowder kegs next to the cannons. Meanwhile, the dark column slithered closer, preparing to open its jaws and strike at the city of Valash.
Well into the night, the soldiers, Hideoshi and his friends among them, were stationed on the wall. Before the city, where the lone road dipped beyond sight into a cluster of trees, the first division of the enemy emerged, and marched onto the open plain. Hideoshi tensed, his breathing and heartbeat accelerated, and his hands grew cold, though he gripped his bow the tighter.
"I'll make it! If a thunderbird couldn't kill me, there's nothing to fret over," he mused.
"Then why do I tremble?" He continued.
For several hours, more Karician divisions appeared, each joining the others on the snowy plain before the city. Hideoshi had begun to rest his head on his shoulder when a lurid orange glow flared from behind him.
"Fire!" Screamed many.
Galen rushed up to Hideoshi, panting, "Those Valashians! They set the city on fire to aid their Karician friends!"

Part Ten

"I won't leave you," said Hideoshi breathlessly, "if you stop that and stiffen up!"
Takashi suddenly burst out,"I know! You can come and live with us after this siege is over!"
"Why not? What do you say, Nevsky?"
Nevsky had calmed down, but he still quivered as he said,
"That's fine. I promise I'll be better. Besides-in case you got some queer notions in your heads-I'm no drunk. I even loathe the very smell of alcohol! It's just-never mind. I'll come with you two."
They briskly left the basement, Nevsky snatching up the letter, climbed up the stairs, and walked out of the tavern. A full moon glowed milky-white overhead in the dark blue sky, lighting the snow on the ground and the city of Valash.
"You know," Takashi said, "I never really noticed the city before. See that round tower with the cone roof right in the middle?"
"Or, how everything seems to have a blue tile roof?" Said Nevsky.
Hideoshi interjected, "That's because there's blue clay about six miles or so from here. Let's get to bed now!"
They plodded through slushy streets just beginning to freeze over, until they reached a large house, climbed up the stairs, opened the door, and stepped inside. Gasping, Nevsky said:
"It's the house we looked around in yesterday!-or the day before- I don't remember."
But now there were rows of sleeping bags on the stone floor beneath the stained glass windows. A fire was burning in a fireplace that escaped their notice on their last visit, while soldiers milled about, talking, drinking, or sitting alone on their sleeping bags. Takashi yawned.
"It's drafty in here, and it echoes a lot. I won't be able to sleep tonight," he said.
"Then you're no soldier," grinned Hideoshi, who ran up to, then dived into his sleeping bag afterwards. Takashi and Nevsky followed his example.
However, several hours later, Nevsky still lay awake. Thinking.
"I-I run from it, yet it follows me. It won't leave me! And I'm such a coward, though I want to be brave. But how-the world is not what I thought it to be! It's savage and heartless! But it can't be! If it was, then why would Hideoshi and Galen help me? If that was true, totally true, they wouldn't have.
"I've got to fight tomorrow, but I'm nothing but a scared nineteen-year-old, alone, alone! So I'm a man, they say. In years, maybe, but inside-
"-Hideoshi. How can he say that life is wonderful despite suffering? But it's true that I felt like fighting for it. Then the rest must-must be true! But how? How can life be wonderful in spite of fear?"
The darkness of sleep overtook Nevsky however, and he slept in peace.
When Nevsky awoke, dappled flecks of coloured light shone on the stone floor, while the dim outlines of the ceiling and the columns grew more defined with increasing light. Other soldiers from the Third Company were also arising from slumber, grooming themselves or just crawling out of their sleeping bags.
"So you're up now!" Said Takashi (who was nearby ) in a loud whisper.
"Yeah."
After grooming and a breakfast of stew, Hideoshi, Nevsky, and Takashi walked out of the front door, down the steps, and onto the street. A group of women walked past them, spitting into their faces and shouting "Bah!" Before strolling away.
Takashi, grimacing while wiping his face with his coat sleeve, said: "Yuck! How rude!"
"I heard some other soldiers say that they were spit at when walking around," Nevsky said.
"Well, I suppose they don't bear goodwill towards their 'invaders'," said Hideoshi.
Frowning, Takashi replied, "We'd better watch out then!".
Meanwhile, Nevsky, seized by an adventurous mood, wandered off into a side street nearby. He strode across frozen mud, stared at the blue tile roofs, and puffed out a cloud of frozen breath while twiddling his thumbs. Then he looked down, and saw a child alone in the street, huddled against a stone house wall. It was a boy, about seven, barefoot and draped in a woman's coat caked with mud. His straw brown hair curled, and his eyes were a vivid turquoise.
Nevsky stared, then asked, "Are your eyes really that colour?"
"Yes," came a hurried whisper of a reply.
The boy turned to face Nevsky while saying this, which caused Nevsky to notice that the boy had no right arm.
"Were you hurt?" He asked.
The boy lowered his head, almost whispering, "No."
"What happened then?"
"Wuz born that way."
"Oh."
They stood silently in the grey-white light in the grey street, Nevsky staring at the boy, the boy gazing at the ground. Then Nevsky broke the silence.
"Do you have any parents nearby? Are you lost?" He asked.

Part Nine

"We're-" began Takashi, but he checked himself.
"Go on!" General Tacitus fumed.
Hideoshi spoke up.
"It is not the custom, among our people where we come from, for the younger brother to speak before the elder in the name of his brethren or family in formal circumstances. I hope you, good sirs, will understand this."
"We understand," replied the Fairies.
"We," continued Hideoshi, clinching his fists at times to ease his pain, "are from the Illyvitch Mountain Chain to the far east. Takashi and I are brothers, and there is one other at home, Toru, for he is but nine years old."
"And your ancestors? Who were they?"
"Our ancestors were from various peoples, but our forefather Varrus' mother came from this region long ago, sometime in the third millennium by our reckoning."
"Varrus," whispered Lord Anomijah Miron. Aloud, he said:
"Do you have any accounts-"
A lieutenant from Third Company dashed in, shouting "Scouts report that a massive force of karician soldiers is marching towards Valash! They'll be here in a day!"
"And I," said Emperor Dietrich,"will depart, though my soldiers will stay under the command of Lord Anomijah Miron."
General Tacitus, flustered and red-faced at the news, shouted to the lieutenant,"Order your men, and tell the other officers to tell their men to move into the city and repair that breach if you can! And, how many are in this force?"
"About a hundred thousand, sir."
"Okay! Get moving!"
"Yes, sir!" Replied the quaking lieutenant, who saluted, then rushed away.
Another officer, this time a major from the Fifth Company, thrust himself into the tent. He saluted General Tacitus, then said:
"Sir, our spies just reported that the Karician army has decided to halt, so they'll be here in a day and a half actually."
"Then go and do what I've just ordered! Make those Valashians help too!" Boomed the general.
Emperor Dietrich turned to leave, but halted, and turned round. He looked at his men, and they nodded their heads. Then he spoke to General Tacitus.
"You will need every able bodied man you can get to repulse this attack. My men and I will heal your wounded, then I will take my leave."
The Fairies went to the wounded and touched them, healing them instantly. Emperor Dietrich strode up to Hideoshi, looked into his deep green eyes, then at his wound, and asked, "How were you wounded?"
"I slew the thunderbird whose carcass lies in the city," said Hideoshi, who felt renewed strength pulsing through his body.
"Slew a thunder bird, and lives, though he is mortal," whispered Emperor Dietrich, though Hideoshi, Nevsky, and Takashi heard him. "Or," he continued, glancing at Hideoshi's eyes, "is there something more there?"
He then departed with his men, while the formerly wounded arose and stretched themselves, before leaving to pack up camp.
In the hustle that followed, Hideoshi and Takashi clung together for hours, setting up beds, carrying supplies, and checking inventory for hours, until it was well into the night and a measure of calm had replaced the bustling noise. Then, Takashi, glancing around, exclaimed, "Where's Nevsky?"
"Let's find him," sighed Hideoshi.
Through narrow streets darkened by shadow in the dark blue of a winter night when a full moon shines they hunted for Nevsky, finally entering a tavern.
They did not see him in the throng on the upper level, but, descending into the basement, in a dim, narrow corner they saw him, hunched over a table. Several large pewter tankards stood on the table, filled with whiskey, and a dirty, crumpled letter. Above them, the ceiling loomed low, barely missing the tops of their heads.
"What are you DOING!" Hideoshi shouted indignantly.
Nevsky, without raising his head, whined, "Leave me."
Takashi glared, then said, "Let's leave him! Let him be miserable with himself!"
"No, I'm not leaving!" Said Hideoshi, who wondered in his mind, "Why am I doing this?"
"Nevsky, what's the matter?" He asked.
"Don't you-have you ever thought that it's more terrifying to live at times then to die?"
"Yes, but-but-life is so good that, despite terror and pain, we must fight for it! Can't you see that! But you must! That's why you're drinking now, because you can feel that life is a marvellous good, even if you want to feel otherwise, and you, in terror of that thought, want to cling to life all the same, and it's tearing you apart. But, stop your drinking AT ONCE and tell me what's wrong!"
Nevsky trembled, but he raised his head, and said, "See that-" pointing to the letter. "They-all my relatives, near and distant-are dead. I won't be writing to Aunt Olga to tell her that Ivan's dead."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"It's not like you killed them. But-I-I'm alone, alone!"
Nevsky turned towards them, then rushed to Hideoshi and seized his coat with both hands, his face red and streaked with a sudden onslaught of tears.
"Don't leave me!" He cried.