14. DECLARE WAR

For three days Violet worked for the sakes of the hapless villagers. They knew she'd been sent on behalf of the illagers because she told them, so they were mostly silent and watched her with suspicion. They began warming to her after she expanded their farms, their animal pens and built them a storage shed, all while assisting with the regular jobs and coming up with suggestions to help them with their predicament. The old Violet was meant to study testificates, but the more she thought about it she'd always been more of a glorified social worker.

Of course, she didn't dedicate all her time to building and planning - just most of it. In refusing to neglect her combat training, she did solo practice. It was much less efficient, but she wasn't going to let a single day go by without honing her skills with a weapon - just a little bit more, every day. So Violet stepped outside the village perimeter and swung her sword over the sand, and usually the inhabitants would stare as she did this too. Maybe it looked dumb, but she couldn't do nothing.

The number of her 'attacks' were brought back down to a minimum. She'd feared being in a village again might increase her suffering, but fortunately she kept herself busy enough to keep them away. The worst one woke her up in the middle of the night. It was the sound, that particular pitch of agonised screaming as Nicolai the village nitwit was held against a wall and carved alive. It was the worst sound she'd ever heard, and she woke up shaking and sweating.

Later that day Violet was laying out a sandstone shade covering for the pigs when she noticed villagers scurrying. She looked up, wiping the sweat from her brow and frowned.

"An illager approaches!" Mabel cried after spotting Violet.

Violet's frown deepened and she swung herself over the fence and hurried out from the buildings to see. The iron golem was making its round, trudging away, and there was the coffee-furred camel belonging to Inger. Violet hesitated before running over the sand toward him.

Due to the rate at which these villagers were softening toward her, she was sure that a week would make them reasonable enough to consider what she was saying, given the circumstances. Had Zann decided three days was plenty of time after all? But why send only Inger?

"Violet, I fear the others are in danger," Inger said at once. "Smoke rises from the outpost and there's signs of battle in the next village."

Around his neck were binoculars, she shook off that observation.

"What? Where's Zann? Why aren't the others with you?"

"I was ordered to stay behind to keep an eye on thee."

In case she tried to escape. Well, there was no time to think about that anyhow.

"I'm coming on!" She hauled herself up, gripping his shoulders to fit on the saddle behind him. "Let's go, quickly!"

As much as he didn't like her, that was forgotten in the face of his loyalty and fear for their leader. A loyalty that somehow Violet had caught as well. She didn't even look back. Inger hit the reigns and the camel started running - Violet hadn't seen a camel run, its legs seemed bendy as they stretched far. Together they made up Zann's fledgling rescue party, now speeding over the rolls of sand.

If Violet could never get her crystal ball back, then Enim may be her only life now. Augustus's team would find her village abandoned, they'd search but possibly never find her. Or if they did it would be months yet. So if her life wouldn't be a return to Lan'Tim and its sheltered deceptions, all she had was here, working with her tribe to become strong and protect villagers. She couldn't let her tribe fall against another without her influence. But she didn't need to convince herself by thinking through any of this. She stared determinedly forward, squinting through sand on the wind, and her hair flinging across her face.

The next village was in their sights in just an hour, instead of hours. In that time the camel had gradually slowed, exhausted, and soon it wouldn't be able to walk without a good rest. Their steeds couldn't run for much longer than this, but it had been enough.

A fire was burning in one of the buildings. Violet paled, she couldn't quite say the words: don't tell me we did this? They plodded closer and from a window an arrow flew. The camel shrieked and reared, throwing its riders off. Its hoof came down close to Violet's head so she rolled further away. The camel continued to buck and its back leg came down on Inger's arm - there was a crack and he howled. The camel raced off, away from the village. Violet turned her head, seeing the arrow lodged in its side. It ran several metres before finally collapsing from tiredness.

She turned her eyes back to the village. The fight was still going.

Violet raced up and went to Inger who was still thrashing in the sand. She pulled him and forced them to run around the buildings so they'd be out of sight. Another arrow was fired and got Inger's knee - he roared again. Violet flung his arm over her shoulder and they raced like quarries until they were behind a cartography building.

Violet lay him down against the back wall and he was hissing breaths, "Use your potion!"

The scarlet bottle appeared in his hand. Violet seized and wrenched at the arrow - Inger screamed. Violet's mind was pulsing. He thrashed so she had to grab at him. She snapped it, then pulled out both halves from either side of his leg. Inger kept screaming, but it was out. She pushed him to drink and after some seconds he could, picking up the bottle again and undoing the cork, then swigging the potion. His arm clicked again and the skin healed over his knee. Violet sighed in relief and stood.

Inger sat panting but mended. Violet eyed the crude, curved sword at his hip.

"Tell me you have another weapon I can use."

"Naye, I do not."

Violet swore. Her eyes swept the desert. She was switched on again, heart pounding and head hazing. Her enemies were here, trying to kill her and she longed for the fight. But for a proper fight she needed a decent weapon. Violet manifested her pickaxe and started swinging its side against the wall. She cried out with each hit and Inger stood to stare at what she was doing. Finally the wood snapped and Violet had a rather pathetic pike of sorts, a sharp stick but something she felt better fighting with than the awkward pickaxe.

She looked at Inger and he was regarding her strangely.

"We have to find Zann and the others," she said and he nodded.

Fearless insanity; they had to make their way along the backs of the buildings. Violet peeked out and saw an unknown illager nock his bow and she pulled back as the arrow sailed through the space her head had been.

Crashing, like a door being smashed through instead of open was propagated through the village. Seizing her chance, Violet ran the gap to behind the next building and Inger followed. With pointed stick in hand she rounded the next building and saw through the window across the footpath: Nedi had smashed his way in while the archers were distracted. There was fighting inside but enemies were escaping out a backdoor. One was drawing a bow and aiming inside, through the window.

So Violet raced at him, getting tunnel vision once more, and speared the archer through his neck. She pulled out her wooden splinter and blood propelled from his pulminary artery. The illager beside him called out in anger but his attention was pulled away as Inger swung his sword, forcing him to back up. Violet reached down and drew the blade from the belt of her twitching, fallen foe.

Instead of immediately helping Inger she swept her gaze for more enemies. An illager she'd never met charged her from the doorway. She took a stance and guarded his strike, he pushed the weight of his body into it and Violet felt her back leg give. He swung again and her wrist ached - her sword was gone. She'd lost her good grip after losing her footing against his first blow. In the same second his eyes registered her unarmed state.

For a moment Violet was lost in the significance of this.

All her combat training. Her wins, and her losses. All of it was in preparation for this: her first armed fight and it would be over in just three swings. One to throw her off, two to remove the weapon, three to take her life. Just a couple of seconds, really.

It was all happening quickly, but before he could take his third swing he was stabbed from behind. His eyes bulged at the space above Violet's head. The sword was pulled out and one of Zann's men then ran off to help Inger. Violet fell to one knee, grabbing for and then holding herself up with the sword. She was panting, each breath made her ribs ache.

A violent piercing of flesh, a scream cut short. The other enemy was dealt with. Violet looked ahead and saw the others coming out of the building, stepping over a lifeless arm and the wooden wreckage of smashed furniture. Jarmila, the other man, Nedi stooped to walk out too. Zann walked out last and Violet felt the relief on her face.

Zann looked at her and at Inger, he nodded his appreciation.

Nedi was staring at the sword in Violet's hand.

"Zann, what hast happened?" Inger asked.

"There is no peace," Zann spat on the sand, there was blood in it. "The other tribe wants war, so we'll give 'em war."

Violet looked to Jarmila as she turned away, strapping her serrated blade onto her back, "We were pursued to here. We used all but one of our healing potions. Twas a rout then we didst regroup, then a stand-off until ye both distracted their archers."

"Glad we could help," Violet said, finally standing properly, "So what now? We go back to the tribe?"

Jarmila turned and walked to Violet, a hand outstretched for her sword. It vanished when Violet willed it into her inventory.

Jarmila stood there, her hand still out, "We can't trust thee with a weapon. Hand it over."

"I'm not going to be defenceless when this happens again. I want to fight too."

Nedi looked at Zann. The seconds went by as their captain deliberated. Jarmila's eyes narrowed in that warning way of hers. She'd been increasingly expected to suppress her sardonic treatment of their 'prisoner'. Now, she started to reach for the handle of her weapon.

"Jarmila…" Zann spoke up, though he was still unsure.

"I promise I'll give it back when we return to the caves. Alright?" Violet asked and nobody answered right away.

"It's thanks to Violet's potions that we won this fight. That all of us are still standing, unharmed," Zann pointed out.

Jarmila's arm finally lowered. Violet felt the relief but knew to keep it off her face.

"We'd better go," Zann continued, "The other tribe will start invading our villages, and our spies there will be outnumbered and killed."

Violet turned away, staring between the buildings to the desert and where Inger's camel was sitting in the sand. She hurried over. It occurred to her that this seemingly abandoned village was probably full of ordinary testificates hiding from the violence. She didn't feel as concerned about that as she ought to be. She slowed down once close to Inger's camel because it was hissing breaths, that arrow still lodged into its shoulder. When Violet tried to help the poor animal it just got up and hurried away from her before sitting down in the sand again.

The others were able to corner it and remove the arrow. It howled and raced to the other corner of the village, now bleeding freely into its fur. Violet was almost thinking they should abandon it to save time, but Zann approached it steadily one last time and amazingly he had it tamed. The wound wasn't deep and it could still run and carry a rider. The other camels were found lingering over a dune; they hadn't been tied to posts because the fighting had started suddenly. The furthest camel had just been reached and led back by one of them. It was time to go.

And so they rode, but instead of going straight back they split up to zigzag between their captured villages.

A war between illager tribes required their army to become a major confluence of all their scattered numbers, the spies had to be gathered and returned to the main camp. Violet stayed with Zann and they broke off last, Jarmila shot her a look before speeding off south-east on her pale camel. Violet found riding this fast on her own bumpy and wild, wind streaked through her tangling hair as she tried to keep pace behind the captain. She preferred to think of him now as her chauffeur instead of jailer. The others either all had compasses, or they'd memorised the locations of all villages in their territory well enough.

A few times they slowed to a canter and Violet almost asked Zann questions but didn't. Instead they moved in silence for several minutes, letting the camels have a momentary rest before resuming their charge across the desert.

The next village came into view and they stopped right by its farms. The villagers tensed, scurrying across the pathways. There was no iron golem here. The inhabitants reminded her of Chief Garth and his frightened villagers, from the village she'd visited on her journey to the ocean, but Violet was barely paying attention to them.

"Stay with the mounts," Zann ordered and strolled between the buildings.

Violet's camel dropped down beside his to rest, making it easier for her to climb off and work the stiffness out of her legs. She took some steps, felt the sweat sticking her shirt to her back, and gazed out at the desert. She'd almost died again today. Everything felt different somehow. Is this how it would always be? All illusions were shattered, but so was she. Violet clenched and unclenched her hands.

She could feel fear, but it wasn't to the correct extent. Not in that moment, at least. If death was staring her down again it'd feel different, but for now all she understood was the need to fight. But was she really going to join a war among illagers?

She tried to picture it, and wished she hadn't. A fight of equal numbers, was that a fifty-fifty chance of victory? She couldn't imagine herself on a battlefield and not dying. Even being near a battlefield seemed too great a risk, and yet she didn't want to not be there. Would she be spared again if Zann's men lost? Viewed as a peculiarity with some potential value? It didn't seem likely.

Zann's return interrupted her thoughts and she turned around, then realised she'd started crying. The illager with Zann looked grave. He registered Violet but had obviously been told about her. Zann's expression was unreadable; Violet wiped her eyes.

"Are we going straight back from here?" she asked.

"Two more stops. Each spy will break off to warn others in turn, and then when we reconvene we'd have assembled all our men from the western posts."

Violet nodded at Zann's explanation. It seemed they'd get everyone together at the main camp and then charge west united. It would probably be a single battle of under a hundred illagers in total. Still a horrific scene of war, even in miniature.

Zann and Violet pulled the reigns on their camels and the animals reluctantly got to their feet. Then they were racing off again, and Violet saw the illager they warned moving diagonally away from them to another village.

They didn't get to their next stop before sunset, and since their animals were now running at half-speed Zann finally called them to stop. Violet climbed off and her camel lazed pitifully onto its side. Zann walked around and began feeding and giving water to both of them.

"Moving at this pace, we should get back by tomorrow right?" Violet asked when he approached her, proffering the lavender potion.

"If fortune favours us," was all Zann said. Violet took the potion.

He walked away from her, laying back in the burning orange of a nearing sunset. He propped himself against his camel, its stomach expanding and retracting like a balloon.

Violet rested her hand on the potion's lid, not yet wanting to disappear from his sights.

"I suppose it's a shame you guys don't have an instant messaging system," Violet drifted over.

"I know not what that is," he grumbled.

Violet decided to sit near, against her own camel. "You guys don't communicate with flags or smoke signs via towers? With binoculars the message could travel fast across your whole territory." She'd just remembered those details from the black book she'd read, so its knowledge wasn't useless after all. "Or you could train messenger birds."

"We do keep hawks. At the main camp."

Binoculars and trained birds were no significant things, except to illagers living in a world like Enim. Something this ally of theirs knew would impress illagers and earn him their cooperation. But Violet once more banished her thoughts on the subject. Knowing more about their ally wasn't going to help her. She turned over and finally drank the invisibility potion as the darkness crept over the landscape.

"We shall take the watch in turns, on the chance we've been followed."

"Sure thing."

Zann wasn't afraid that she'd kill him, even though it was just the two of them and she had the advantage of not being seen. It took her an hour to sleep. Even though she'd only worked half the day, travel was still tiring even when she was just clinging to a camel's back. In time she went under.

"Violet, I must rest now."

His hand reached blindly at her imprint, touching her side. She awoke to see a campfire which was illuminating the area better than the slim moon. His eyes weren't focused because he couldn't see her. Violet stretched tiredly but rubbed at her eyes and sat up.

"Hmm, sure."

"Be vigilant. If our tracks were followed they'll see only me sleeping by the fire. Tis much mo' likely they'll attack while they canst not see thou."

Violet looked at the campfire, "Are you acting as bait?"

He turned over, "Tis precaution, nothing more."

He was soon asleep, and Violet was indeed vigilant as she paced in the dark. She made sure her footsteps wouldn't be visible in the firelight, but she also didn't want to get too close to the monsters. Unable to see her, they were like peaceful mobs. And given Violet's new company lately, seeing them ignore her reinforced the sense she'd changed.

Was this the predator's gaze? How they saw the world? The regular villagers and mobs were so trifle in their harmlessness. Inept day walkers.

Violet struggled with the watch, and it wasn't because of tiredness.

She was imagining over and over again, enemy illagers creeping down the dips of sand. She'd have to knock Zann awake and they'd fight them off together, outnumbered. Of course, an hour went by with nobody approaching them. Violet stared harder at the sand as she walked, in case she saw the sand move weirdly or a stick bush rustle - signs enemies were invisible themselves.

In that hour Violet was thinking more and more about the fact that if there was a war she wouldn't be one of the ones who made it, no matter who won. She'd be a casualty. This expatriation alone proved how unlucky she was. The situation she was in now - alone with the captain - was the best one she was going to have. If she let this opportunity go by, like before, she was going to end up killed in mass illager conflict. She knew it.

Violet knew what she had to do, and it took almost another hour to gear herself up for it.

She willed the sword out from her inventory and it was suddenly floating before her. It was also shaking. Violet cursed and felt her eyes water - she was terrified, but she had to betray Zann now and get away. Her loyalty up until now was a sickness born from trauma. If she wanted to live, she had to get away.

Violet willed herself to be as steady as she could, which wasn't very. She began walking toward Zann as he slept and toward the crackling fire. Her resolve hardened as she stood over him; not perfect control but it would have to do. She nudged him with her foot.

He didn't wake. Was she really going to attempt threatening his life, and yet was still too concerned about rudeness to kick him harder? She nudged Zann more firmly and finally he rolled onto his back.

Violet pressed the sword against his throat. He blinked as the situation began to register.

"Hand over your potions, and your compass. Now."

She had no idea how her voice sounded. Zann blinked and she could see he was thinking.

"Thou dost not want to do this, Violet."

She thought of the murders she'd seen and used it to harden her resolve. The blade touched the skin of his neck, "Now."

"And then what? Thou will kill me?"

"That's what you deserve."

She wasn't supposed to converse with him, to give him the chance to talk her out of it, but her head was hazing.

"I may well, but is that what thee wishes?"

The sword shook. Fuck. Zann appeared calm, but it was likely a trick. His breathing was steady.

"I don't have to kill you. Hand the stuff over. I'll take the camels and you can walk to the next village from here. So, hand them over!"

Zann closed his eyes, "Still too soft…" There was a spot of blood on his neck, a small cut from Violet's sword. Her vision was getting blurrier and she realised it was from tears.

Violet started rambling, "I have to get out of here. I have to get back to Lan'Tim. I'm not going to survive here. I've barely learnt how to fight. I'm still more likely to lose a fair fight against a man. I…" It was obvious she was trying to convince herself and not him.

Zann appeared to realise something, his brow creasing, "No harm is going to come to thee, Violet. I will make sure of that."

Suddenly, her resolve was indisputably lost. No chance of clawing it back, just evaporated. Violet was sobbing now, and she tossed the sword away. She took some steps away before falling to her knees and breaking down.

The fear of death and enacting her plan had crippled her. Could she have really made it back to the main camp alone without anyone spotting the camels? Could she have really snuck past everyone, even invisible, and then got to Zann's quarters, smashed in the door if it was locked? And did she know for sure her crystal ball was still sitting where she'd last seen it? The seemingly logical sequence of events stretched long before her, filled with invisible uncertainties that could trip her up and ruin everything. If she failed she could run nowhere. She wouldn't be thrown back into that dark hole, she'd be killed….

Zann knew where she was by her imprint and the sound of her crying. It seemed he wasn't going to seek retribution. Soon the night sky showed the first signs of brightening. Still a dark, almost-indigo. Violet had stopped most of her crying and was only sniffling at this point.

When Zann spoke up he sounded soft, "I had no intention of involving thee in the fighting, not if I didn't have to."

Violet wiped her face and blew out her mouth so her breaths would stop being so shallow. She was facing east, away from him.

"I would like to help you all win. But in a war, I think, all I'm going to do is die," her voice was hoarse.

For a significant moment Zann didn't say anything. Then he spoke, "Then thou still needs to become stronger."

Stronger? How exactly was she supposed to do that? It wasn't so much rhetorical, Violet was thinking deeply on it. She knew how to fight, and she knew how to swordfight. Not well, mind you. But she was no longer helpless. Real fights were different to practices, obviously. A part of her had been damaged from trauma, and it altered her judgments, and it allowed her to run in when the others were being attacked yesterday. But when the fear wasn't gone, it was paralysing. Violet supposed experience with real fighting was the only way to overcome that, and unfortunately that was always going to be deadly.

She heard Zann stand up, "Sleep a few more hours, Violet. I have rested enough."

She nodded stupidly, then realised he still couldn't see her. But she lay down in the sand and curled up. The stress had exhausted her. She felt embarrassed, ridiculous and oh so foolish. But she closed her eyes and fell back to sleep, waking later when she was gently shaken.

It'd seemed like not a second had passed, but suddenly the sun was up. It was after sunrise and Violet was fully visible. She turned and sat up, meeting Zann's unreadable reds. The insides were a fainter, faded colour than the outsides, that made them similar enough to human eyes.

"Tis time we continued." Then Zann moved away.

Violet climbed up and did some stretches to undo the kinks in her muscles. Her sword wasn't where she'd dropped it, so Zann had it again. She went to her camel and stroked his furry neck before climbing up and swinging her leg over.

She followed Zann and they went first at a trot, and then a run.

。。。

【AN: So I haven't updated in like eleven days. Feels like ages. Since uni starts up again for me on the 20th, maybe I can finish this story before then if I can update almost every day until then. I mean, it's really not impossible for me, but we'll just see. Thx Shuriken for reviewing chapter 6!】