Walls of Dark and Dust by Dave Walker

Author:Dave Walker [Walker, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indie Author Project

Eleven

Gareth had to admit the wall was an impressive feat of determination. Whatever their other faults, the Lenieri weren’t slackers. They didn’t do anything halfass. Though the stone soon tapered off into wood, it was just as solid and topped with regular watchtowers. The amount of people and resources needed to complete it in a year must have been immense. He could only imagine, with a shudder, how things would have gone had they all been sent to the front instead.

After a day of travelling, he had yet to spot any obvious weaknesses. A rabbit or a deer couldn’t slip through the thing, much less a man. It wouldn’t stand up to an army, but the point was to make an assault difficult, not impossible. Any attack would have to cross open land under fire from elevated positions. Getting their heavy artillery into range would be a risky proposition. He had to assume train tracks ran parallel to bring reinforcements and supplies to any point under attack. That’s what he would have done.

“Not going to be easy,” Nada said in his ear.

“Is that your official opinion?” Gareth growled. His spark was anxious to make its reports. As ever. Words were its currency. It traded information for influence, knowledge for connections. That was all a spark had to offer. If it had nothing to say, what was the point of its existence?

Gareth glanced over his shoulder at Cynthia, who sat cross-legged on the ground of their makeshift camp, hands folded in silent, sightless meditation. A valuable secret. What she knew made her a threat to Lenier. What she was made her a threat to Missio. Either side would pay an enormous ransom. But no, he was not ready to give her up just yet. She was his secret. He had to hope the price was not too high for his spark to resist. At least he didn’t have to worry about her not keeping it.

“I haven’t said anything,” Nada answered. Without any other way to know what was happening beyond this patch of countryside, Gareth had little choice but to trust it, but in the dark, quiet places of his mind a small voice reminded him that he could not always trust himself. “Should we keep going?”

“We can forget about finding weaknesses,” he said. That had been a pretense, anyway. They might travel for weeks down to the coast looking for unfinished sections or favorable terrain, but the current view was proof enough how fruitless that would be. Time was running out. A treaty might be signed any day, and at that point it wouldn’t matter what anyone in the military thought. He had to uncover some convincing intel or weave some plausible story before the politicians took over, and there was none to be had on this side of the wall. “We have to get inside. That’s where the real prize is.”

Nada buzzed across his face. “We are looking at the same thing, right?”

A twenty-foot wall. Sheer. Planks lined vertically and sealed with tar.

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