Member of the Guard

Iveta trudged along by her mother’s side. She peered through the skirts of the other women around her, looking for the distinct uniforms of the soldiers marching ahead. There were more soldiers behind them, and here and there a few figures on horseback. Iveta wished she were traveling with the cavalry division, that was far more exciting and sometimes you could get a ride on someone’s horse, but the cavalry only joined them when they made camp for the night.

At that moment, a white horse came riding through the crowd behind them. Elena Valiyeva sat atop it, scanning the crowd. Most of the people did not actually know her, but they hurriedly moved out of the horse’s way, leaving a path clear. She rode up to Iveta and bent down to talk to her. “Come to my tent tonight when we make camp. Everyone is meeting.”

Iveta nodded. Excitement made her eyes shine as she watched Elena ride away. Finally something to do! The endless marching along the dusty road was even more boring than sitting in one of the stuffy classrooms of the Guard Barracks, listening to Isaak or Sanja drone on and on about military strategy. Iveta’s dark eyes stared off into oblivion, her mind back in the barracks with the others.

“Found you!” Anna’s bright voice broke into her thoughts, and she turned to see the other girl running up beside her. The two had become friends on the long march, sleeping together under the stars when they made camp. But she was not one of the Guard, and sometimes Iveta felt guilty for the double life she hid from Anna.

“Hi!” she said, grinning down at her. The two girls were the same age, but Iveta was almost a head taller.

“This is getting old,” Anna complained. “Can we finally reach the border? I came to see a battle, not walk through a dust storm.”

Iveta laughed. It came so unexpectedly from Anna’s sweet, usually smiling mouth. She was the perfect picture of a demure little girl, with her blonde braids pinned up in a wreath around her head, but she had an adventurous streak in her, which was probably why they had become friends.

“I hate it,” Iveta admitted. “Nothing happens. I wish we could ride, at least.”

“A young captain offered to let me ride on his horse earlier, but Mama wouldn’t let me,” Anna said regretfully. Iveta could guess why. After all, it was only since she had joined the Guard that her mother had taken on well-paying work as a housekeeper in one of the large houses that graced the city's center. The small commission the Guard paid her mother, along with the social rank Iveta’s position brought home, was enough to allow them to mix with a higher social class and live, if not extravagantly, at least comfortably and safely. Iveta had enough memories from her life before the Guard to know why Anna's mother was distrustful of the unknown captain's motives.

She shrugged. “It shouldn’t be too much longer now. We’re only a two days’ march from the border.”

“Do you think there’ll be fighting?” Anna sounded eager.

“I doubt it. If they can avoid it, they will. They don’t want a war, that’s the last thing the country needs. There might be a skirmish or two, but we want to avoid an all-out battle.” Iveta bit her lip, falling silent. Had she said too much? After all, she wasn’t supposed to know about military strategy. But Anna didn’t seem to find it strange.

“Then why would they bring out the army? They don’t need this many men.”

“Maybe they want to intimidate the enemy,” Iveta suggested.

“I suppose. The Masna couldn’t beat us anyway.”

Iveta wisely didn’t answer, but inside she thought, Are you sure? Venama wasn’t as strong as it once had been. They looked strong from the outside, and the sight of their army was enough to scare anyone away from their borders, but the country was like a rotten apple, beautiful on the outside, but moldy at its core. In reality, even Iveta didn’t know the extent of the damage corruption had done to the government, but she knew enough to be far less optimistic about this campaign.

They halted in mid-afternoon, which came as no surprise to Iveta. She had suspected they would go more slowly this close to the border, perhaps even set up camp here and leave their supply trains behind while the army advanced. While Anna was gone helping her mother set up a tent, Iveta slipped away and threaded her way among the soldiers toward General Valiyeva’s tent. As she reached the center of the camp, she met Andrei coming from the opposite side. His clothes and even his hair was dusty, and Iveta wondered if she was just as dirty from the road.

“Did Elena tell you to meet too?” she asked quietly, as they fell in step beside one another.

He nodded. “I imagine she wants to talk about the next few days.”

“Seems like everyone wants to.” Iveta gestured towards the largest tent in the camp, which had been set to their left. It belonged to the young General Dimov, who had risen through the ranks of the army remarkably quickly and had already made a name for himself at the Siege of Hamara Mere. Iveta had seen him once or twice in his well-pressed uniform, with gloves on his hands, and did not think much of him. But now his tent was clearly busy, with two soldiers standing guard at the entrance, through which Iveta and Andrei could glimpse several officers seated around a table.

“Planning,” Andrei remarked. They walked on till they reached the small tent in front of which Elena’s horse was tethered. They entered and found most of the others already there: Zhenya, Ayari, Najet, Liban, Safia, Lise, Albin, Huda, Karl, Antalka, and Cyra. They sat around on cots or on the ground, with Elena sitting atop her trunk waiting for everyone to be gathered. Andrei spread his jacket on the ground to sit on, and Iveta squeezed onto it next to him. Isaak was there too, looking as glum as always, and examining a map in his hands.

“All right, show them,” Elena said, when everyone had gathered. They leaned forward to see the map, eager to hear the plans for the next few days. Iveta wasn’t worried about anyone listening in, she knew Elena had posted guards, even if they weren’t obvious from the outside.