{"id":268,"date":"2010-06-11T13:30:42","date_gmt":"2010-06-11T19:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/?p=268"},"modified":"2010-06-17T21:39:29","modified_gmt":"2010-06-18T03:39:29","slug":"chapter-thirty-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/atfmb.com\/Evermist\/2010\/06\/chapter-thirty-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Thirty-Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 2010, Patrick Hester.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

Chapter Thirty-Two<\/h1>\n

Valenz watched from the parapets as far below, the Militia wagons brought in the wounded, dead and dying from the massacre<\/em>.\u00a0 He shook his head at the word, though he knew it fit better than anything else he could come up with.\u00a0 From a distance, he’d observed the damage to the Wall, worse than anything he’d seen before and that was going back a ways.\u00a0 They had nearly breached through to the far side when the retreat was called.<\/p>\n

He shook his head again; that was applying military tactics and stratagems to something more animalistic and instinctual than strategic; like putting your hand in a flame, you pull it back because it hurts, not because it makes strategic sense.<\/p>\n

“Valenz?”<\/p>\n

Making his way back into the tower, Valenz walked over to the stone chair and waited.\u00a0 The Magistrate sat rigid; his face could’ve been carved from the stone itself.\u00a0 The battle with the Engineers had taken its toll on him but the end result was rolling in through the gates this very minute.\u00a0 Again he shook his head, applying military terms to things.\u00a0 It came from another life long, long ago.\u00a0 You’d think he would’ve forgotten all of that by now.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t ever really a battle in the conventional terms with the Engineers, no, it was more of a contest of wills; Magistrate testing his will against the Engineers with the future of everyone hanging in the balance while the Engineers tried to push their agenda.\u00a0 If the Engineers won…\u00a0 He didn\u2019t like the thought of that at all.<\/p>\n

“Flying boats,” said the Magistrate into his thoughts.\u00a0 The paper he held tight in his fist crinkled.\u00a0 He’d been holding it for hours, ever since the Engineers had scurried off to round up the wounded.\u00a0 “Men are dead, more are dying, and they talk to me of-” he began crumpling and shredding the papers all at the same time. “-flying boats!”\u00a0 Valenz watched as tiny bits of the plans for the flying boats sprinkled to the stone floor.\u00a0 Personally, he thought the idea fascinating but this wasn’t about what he thought.\u00a0 Still, seeing the pieces of paper float to the floor made him a bit sad.\u00a0 His father had been a sailor, after all.\u00a0 Imagine sailing among the clouds…<\/p>\n

“The wagons are here, My Lord,” he offered.<\/p>\n

“Do you know what the Engineers do with our dead, Valenz?”\u00a0 He kept his mouth tightly shut; he knew when to keep his mouth closed and this was one of those times.\u00a0 He knew all too well what the Engineers did with their dead and now was not the time to bring it up.\u00a0 “I told them they can’t have them, not this time.”\u00a0 Valenz adjusted his spectacles.\u00a0 Best to let him get through this without interruption, he thought.\u00a0 Get it out of his system.\u00a0 “Not enough.\u00a0 Not enough to be soldiers, not enough to be farmers, not enough and still they take the dead.\u00a0 It’s their due, you see.\u00a0 According to the old agreements.\u00a0 But not this time.”\u00a0 The old agreements.\u00a0 Valenz often wondered how they might have been different if someone else had negotiated with the Engineers, someone a bit less desperate.\u00a0 Then again, everyone was probably desperate back then.<\/p>\n

“Tell me about the North,” the Magistrate breathed.<\/p>\n

Valenz fidgeted.\u00a0 He rarely did, but this was a rare moment.\u00a0 “Gone,” he answered.\u00a0 “Swept away during the coordinated attack.\u00a0 No idea how much escaped.”<\/p>\n

The Magistrate began to giggle, then to chuckle, then to laugh from deep within his belly.\u00a0 He went into a fit, gasping for breath, slapping his knees, holding his stomach, writhing in his seat.\u00a0 This went on for several minutes.\u00a0 Valenz waited patiently.<\/p>\n

“Good.\u00a0 Let the Others deal with them for a change,” the Magistrate said at last.\u00a0 “Serve them right for leaving in the first place.”\u00a0 Valenz cocked his head to the side.<\/p>\n

“Others, my Lord?” he asked.\u00a0 The Magistrate waved him to silence.\u00a0 Valenz considered this for a moment, it wasn’t often he learned something new.<\/p>\n

“Go,” said the Magistrate.\u00a0 “Make sure the Engineers keep to the bargain, that they heal the wounded.\u00a0 Let me know when to make an appearance.\u00a0 Morale and all that.”<\/p>\n

“Yes, my Lord,” Valenz said with a bow.<\/p>\n

Stepping through the crack in the stone, Valenz continued to ponder this new bit of information.\u00a0 As far as he knew, there was nothing at all North of Evermist.\u00a0 If that were true, then who were the Others?<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2010, Patrick Hester.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved Chapter Thirty-Two Valenz watched from the parapets as far below, the Militia wagons brought in the wounded, dead and dying from the massacre.\u00a0 He shook his head at the word, though he knew it fit better than anything else he could come up with.\u00a0 From a distance, he’d […]<\/p>\n

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