Respite

The Road to Mt. Dakun, Rebellion-Held Aviye

Amri

The march upcountry took a heavier toll than Amri expected.

The children were in bad condition to walk, their feet blistered by running into the forest to escape the attack on their village.

In the city, they liked to say that country folk were born tough, but Amri saw only children. Crying children afraid that everything they knew was gone, running into the arms of the closest friends their village had, only to be taken farther and farther away.

It came as a relief when Amri confronted Lorn about what would be done with them, the Sergeant meeting her with the reply, "We'll drop them off at the next village. Lutis, I believe."

"What will happen to them there? They're too young to be soldiers."

"Is that what they taught you in college?" Lorn looked at her disdainfully. "We don't train children to be soldiers. We educate them to a basic level, and we point them at the right politics, but we don't arm them, and we don't train them to fight until they come to us, as adults, Doctor."

Amri bristled a bit at having her title turned into an insult, but the Sergeant was right. She'd implied something terrible. "I'm sorry, Sergeant."

"What are you sorry for?" Lorn asked, and Amri felt something behind the question that was more than normal implications.

"I'm sorry for... implying the Sunrise Sword uses child soldiers... It is a lie that is all too frequent in the news." Amri sighed, "I still need to unlearn some things, if I'm to join them."

Lorn gave her an appraising look before nodding. "Mea taught that an apology should mean something. That means stating what you did wrong and offering a solution. An apology without understanding is empty."

"I understand, Sergeant..." At least, Amri hoped she did.

"Then I accept your apology. Be careful not to make statements like that when we arrive."

As the morning got brighter, they started to hear the sounds of planes flying about the valley.

Sergeant Lorn wasn't too concerned, since the forest gave them cover from the west, where most of the flights came from, but once the planes started coming back around, they had to duck into the forest and hide.

A plane passed so close that Amri could see the propellor-pushed craft clearly, its single set of wings and shark-like nose painted to resemble some beast. Perhaps it was meant to be a dragon, but Amri had seen real dragons nesting in the mountains when she was young. Dragons were fierce but not vicious. That trait belonged to mankind alone.

The children didn't handle the plane's nearness as well. A few started crying and sobbing so uncontrollably the squad was at a loss for what to do.

Maya was calm, however, and so Amri went to her, asking if she knew a way to help.

"Maya... you know how to calm the others, right? How to make them feel better?"

The girl nodded. "Sometimes... when I sing... the younger kids stop crying... but I don't want to get us in trouble..."

Amri looked at the others, who had varying success trying to distract their wards from their fear while getting back to the march. "It's okay. They aren't close enough to hear us... so how about I carry you while you sing us a song, okay? I think the other kids would love to hear you sing."

She offered Maya her back, picking her up and matching pace with the soldiers. Maya wrapped her arms around Amri's neck, turning her head until she was comfortable.

"I... I..." she cleared her throat. "I was walking down the road, picking berries on the way..."

Amri saw some of the kids look towards Maya and smiled for them. She didn't know the words, but she quickly gained a sense of the tune, humming along.

She was surprised when Xan lifted his voice, a gentle tenor, joining Maya a bit awkwardly until they found their harmony, the smiles spreading from the children to the soldiers one by one as the simple song lifted their spirits.

Sergeant Lorn remained stoic the longest, until Maya arrived at a refrain and she started quietly singing, her voice surprisingly in harmony with Maya's.

Together, they continued singing, even taking up new songs as the dirt road began to parallel a river, the stream adding its own sort of music to the birdsong and breeze. Here, with only the road cutting through, Amri saw the beauty of the eastern high country, the sheer mountains cloaked in green, everything lush and vibrant except for the road.

It was awe-inspiring. Sublime in her senses as she saw hints of the hidden dangers of nature. A tiger roared from some distant, shrouded place. Hawks screamed as they dove for prey. Herons speared their beaks into the waters. Life and death, but measured by need. Balanced by it.

Amri realized she'd needed this, not the city. Her awakened mind craved harmony, balance, and contemplation. Perhaps the natural world helped the Ascendants who followed the steeper path of meditation. It would explain why the three great Ascendants of Aviye were all described as coming out of the east with wisdom and knowledge.

As the squad trekked to the north and east, she wondered if they intended to go all the way to the Ocean of Dawn, but eventually they turned to the northwest along a side road, heading deeper into the mountains as the gradient took them upwards. Amri found herself needing a lot more rest after they started climbing, not used to the exercise. It was late afternoon, and the sun had gone from pleasantly warm to unbearably hot for her as her skin began to sunburn.

She was just about to ask to stop when Sergeant Lorn raised her fist, halting the squad.

The soldiers that weren't carrying children raised their rifles and fanned out, while the rest took a knee, letting the children down as they unslung their rifles. The Sergeant gave Anroh and Qal their orders before the pair continued ahead. Soon they went out of sight past the sheer rock face.

Long minutes passed in silence, the tension palpable in Amri's throat. When Qal reappeared, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Traps disarmed, depot's all clear," Amri heard her report.

"Alright." Lorn replied before turning to everyone else. "Let's get inside before another plane shows up."

They rounded the bend and Amri saw nothing, until Qal seemed to pass into the rock face, revealing that there was a hard-to-discern gap, just narrow enough for a person to pass through without touching the walls with their shoulders. The soldiers pulled small ether lights from their packs, clipping them to their belts or the straps of their packs. Anroh and Xan were left at the entrance, though they stayed within the rocky alcove to avoid detection.

Amri was moved to the middle of the formation. When it was her turn to enter, Amri ducked into the mountain, grateful to be out of the sun. She spotted some of the traps Qal spoke of. Tripwires had been unhitched to allow them passage, the pieces of wood left on alternating sides of tunnel resembling mousetraps with grenades on top. Amri reasoned through what she saw and realized that they wouldn't dare use anything stronger than a grenade because whatever was in here was not something they wanted to lose access to.

Deeper in, she spotted water dripping down the walls and natural light. When she passed the spot, looking up she saw a crack in the mountain so tall it must have spanned hundreds of feet. She could even see a tree, its branches waving in the wind. When she took her first step to move past the spot, she heard a crunch and looked down to find the bones of small animals, as well as other remains. She hurried past.

At last they came to a vast, dark space, and Sergeant Lorn wasted no time ordering everyone to set up. Out of packs came a couple of larger lamps, and once these were light it was possible to see the stacks of equipment, ammunition, and rations lining the farthest walls of the cave in boxes stacked waist-high.

Sergeant Lorn pried open one of the ration boxes, and Amri spotted boxes and cans with the marks of the Hegemony, which was well known to be the provider of most of the Kingdom's equipment. She could not imagine what it must have taken to steal this much and bring it into this cave on foot. The Sergeant started handing out the food to the children, boxes first, since the soldiers would need to open the cans from them.

The rest of the soldiers started laying out their gear, clearly intent on taking a rest. A portable heating plate was brought out, and once the cans were distributed, knives were produced to cut them open.

Vegetables and fruits started to appear, diced and preserved in sugared or salted water. The boxes given to the children mostly contained breads, crackers, jerky, and various nuts; dry foods that could be readily eaten. Strangest to Amri was the canned meat, which looked like a cylinder of mottled pink meat and off-white fat, but once it started cooking, even her mouth began to water after the hours and hours of marching.

With everyone working together, the meal came together quickly, with the children being served first along with Amri, who helped them make little plates out of the hard bread and crackers before extracting her cutlery from her pack. She was about to take her first bite when Anroh dashed into the cave, calling out.

"Someone's coming."