Seasons of War by Derek Landy

Author:Derek Landy [Landy, Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-02-25T17:00:00+00:00

A group of draugar blocked the road and the buses had to stop. Valkyrie watched with the others while the soldiers got out to deal with the undead. It was fairly standard stuff, but after the Necromancer attack the aristocrats were a lot more nervous about things like this. When the last draugr fell, everyone got out. Valkyrie sighed, and followed.

By the time she stepped off the bus, a conversation had started, and she heard Cicerone say, “We ought to continue on foot.”

“Excuse me?” Edwina responded, the outrage already building behind her words. “You want us to walk all the way to Tahil na Kurge? How far is that from here?”

Cicerone scratched his head. “A hundred and fifty kilometres, maybe?”

Edwina wasn’t the only aristocrat to gasp. “And how long will that take?”

“That’s, I don’t know, thirty to forty hours of walking. Add another ten for breaks, maybe six for sleep …”

“No,” said Funwin. “We cannot physically do that. We will not. Most of us don’t even have walking shoes! We should get back in these carriages, that’s what we should do!”

Valkyrie circled until she got a decent vantage point from where she could observe the two groups – the aristocrats, and the soldiers trying to keep them safe. Assegai joined her.

“The carriages make it easier for the enemy to ambush us,” Cicerone explained.

“And what if we get ambushed while walking? Those monstrous things would overrun us in moments! At least if we’re in the carriages we have some protection, not to mention they can move at a distinctly faster pace than us!”

Assegai leaned in towards Valkyrie. “He shouldn’t be asking permission,” she whispered. “He should just tell them what we’re doing.”

“We’ll take a vote,” Cicerone offered.

“Very well,” said Funwin.

“But your soldiers can’t vote,” Edwina chimed in.

Cicerone frowned. “They have as much right as anyone.”

Edwina shook her head. “They’re used to following your orders. We can’t be sure their votes would be honest.”

That got more than a few hard looks from the soldiers, but Edwina did her absolute best to ignore them and kept her focus on Cicerone, who looked like he was nursing the biggest headache of his life.

“If the soldiers don’t vote,” he said with deliberate care, “then the only people voting will be the people being escorted. Forgive me for saying this, but I doubt that most of those people would choose to walk.”

“Not when we can get there faster by carriage.”

“As I have said, travelling by carriage makes it easier for our enemies to ambush us. If that happens, it’ll be soldiers who’ll go out to protect you.”

“That is their job, is it not?”

“Indeed,” said Cicerone. “But don’t you think, because the soldiers will be the ones risking their lives, that they should have a vote?”

Funwin looked around the other aristocrats. “No,” he said. “Soldiers know the risks when they become soldiers. It’s their job, it’s their duty, to defend us.” That got some mutterings of agreement from the others.

Cicerone’s mouth was a thin, bloodless line. “Very well,” he said.

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