Chapter 118: What do you mean, it doesn’t exist?
Marcus had forgotten how plesant clors were. The plains were boringly still, waiting for a storm that grew fatter in the sky. The very grey of the stormy clouds shone almost unbearably on eyes that had been in the dark for months. A soft breeze crawled over the fields, kissing the free soldiers’ faces. They were all smiling stupidly.
Those five hundred warriors gave out a foul smell. Vivianne made an effort not to cover her nose, but she stayed several steps away from them, against the wind. What a vision, that band of hairy, skinny mongrels. They weren’t broken, though. They laughed and that made Vivianne happy. She was proud of her brother, who kept those soldiers sane in the dark.
‘You seem happy, littls sister. Our soldiers are fine. I suggest we go to Sananssau to recover before we head on to Lune.’
It hadn’t occurred to Vivianne that the dungeouns remained death to news of the invasion.
‘The city of Sananssau doesn’t exist anymore,’ she told her brother. ‘We have to go to Sananssau forest, meet up with what is left of Deran.’
‘What do you mean, it doesn’t exist anymore? Wait, let’s organize the march, then you tell me everything. I also want to know where you have been all this time.’
Marcus organized the army of mongrels, he himself a foul smelling creature. Lucille found hers and Vivianne’s horses, brought them back and offered them to the two weakest people. There were others with a sad look, and they decided to take turns.
Sananssau forest was one day away. Vivianne thought that they might need more time with those weakened soldiers, but they kept up with Marcus, even at night. Marcus knew the geography of Deran well enough to guide them in the moonlight. He also knew which ways to follow in order to remain hidden from the Rock.
‘They have watches on this side of the mountain, but they can’t see all the valleys from there.’
The first piece of news Vivianne told his brother was the fall of Lune. If she began with the worst, it would be easier to accept the rest, she thought. She told him about Farheim and Inlang and about how she had summoned Nuille.
‘Indeed,’ said Marcus. ‘I’ve heard the name before.’
Then Vivianne told him about Chambert, the dragon, Pierre and Líran. She spoke about how they met the mage Fregósbor and how Pierre faced Chelag’Ren. Frederico of Patire and Neville of Baynard, One-eyed Luc, Maurice’s death, Jean.
‘You seem to admire this Pierre,’ Marcus interrupted.
Pierre? Vivianne was just telling him everything that happened since she left Lune to meet Clément of Deran.
‘You mentioned Pierre more often than anyone else, even yourself,’ said Marcus. ‘And your voice changes when you speak of him.’
Vivianne hadn’t noticed that. The truth was Pierre was in everything. When she thought about him, she saw him surrounded by light, like on that day at Olivier’s palace. Vivianne tried to envision Coalim, Bojet, Germon, Frederico, even Marcus with that aura, but the light refused to appear. Pierre was the only one who shone.
‘You like him,’ said Marcus. It was almost a question.
Did she? Vivianne couldn’t tell. Maybe the difficulty she had reading other people included understanding her own self. Maybe she couldn’t read hwe own feelings, but Marcus was right: she liked thinking about Pierre, drawing him was natural, remembering him was good.
Hm.
Anyway, Pierre was in Chambert, Vivianne and Marcus were in Deran with five hundred dirty, hungry soldiers. Fulion’s riders should be in Sananssau by now, with weapons and supplies, but maybe Fulion hadn’t found a way yet to go South and warn Chambert about the invasion. Menior hadn’t come back from Vaguilar yet.
Marcus let Vivianne finish the story without interrupting her again. There were more important things than feelings at stake here.
‘I’m surprised Adelaide kept on feeding us in the current circumstances,’ he said. ‘The Rock was always prepared for the worst, but five hundred extra mouths is a lot for any fortress.’
‘It must have been Clément,’ said Vivianne.
‘Clément is weak.’
‘He may not be strong enough to undo what has been done, but he is good enough to not let a situation become worse.’
‘We are going to need a lot more than that if we want to stand a chance against thirty thousand invaders.’