A Cruel Bird Came to the Nest and Looked - By Magnus Mills Page 0,38
concern to Greylag. He was obviously delighting in every minute of his day out, so we just kept on going.
It was a mild day for the time of year, but I could tell that the weather in general was deteriorating. As we continued walking I wondered how long Wryneck and Smew had expected to bask in their glorious teatime sunsets. After all, the clocks could hardly be put forward in perpetuity; otherwise, every morning would eventually be lost in delayed darkness. Moreover, the sun was becoming increasingly pale by the day: even now it barely rose high enough to show its face through the gloom of late autumn. Judging by the sky there was little prospect of a decent sunset this evening, and I felt slightly sorry for Wryneck and Smew. At five o’clock (adjusted time) they would realise the futility of their deeds.
Meanwhile, the publication of counterfeit edicts had led them into very perilous territory. Even if they were acting for the good of the empire, which I didn’t doubt, there would now be a question mark hanging over each of them. I was especially surprised at Wryneck, who had appeared so anxious to curb even minor instances of ‘treason’. As for Smew, I’d long held the opinion that he was a vain and egotistical man. I wouldn’t have put it past him if he’d taken the ceremonial crown for himself, even if it was only a gold-painted replica. From what I could gather, nobody knew where the real crown was. Presumably it was locked safely away somewhere, and the only person who might know its whereabouts was the emperor himself; except that he wasn’t an emperor in the fully fledged sense because he’d never been crowned. He was a prince who for reasons of his own had failed to return from university. This in turn meant that Greater Fallowfields was not at present an empire. It wasn’t even a kingdom: it was only a principality.
I was snapped out of my reverie by a shrill piping sound in the near distance.
Greylag stopped in his tracks and listened.
‘G sharp,’ he announced.
‘Really?’ I said.
More shrill piping followed.
‘Definitely G sharp,’ said Greylag. ‘What a marvellously powerful instrument that must be.’
We resumed our hike. Ahead of us the scrub was starting to thicken into woodland. Further away lay great stands of forest, though I wasn’t sure whether we would get that far. I could feel rain approaching. We decided to call a halt while it was still dry. Greylag and I sat down and shared some ship’s biscuits that I’d obtained from Sanderling.
‘I don’t know for certain,’ I said, nodding towards the east, ‘but I think someone’s building a railway out there.’
‘Really, sir?’ said Greylag. ‘Is that allowed?’
‘Probably not,’ I said, ‘but if they’ve managed to come this far the question is beside the point.’
Indeed, the matter of who was ‘allowed’ to do what in this region had never previously arisen. Apart from those few attempts at forestry, we had chosen to ignore the ‘near east’ in exactly the same way as we did the ‘far east’. The wilderness had always been regarded as a natural frontier which therefore required no further development. It had evidently never occurred to anyone that there might be pioneers coming through from the other side. As Smew had mentioned in his recent talks, the empire assumed unceasingly that ‘the rest of the world’ could never impinge on our sphere of influence. He also seemed to suggest that there were some unspoken doubts surrounding this belief. Maybe, after all, he knew his subject better than I’d given him credit for.
The rain held off so we pressed forward. During the next hour we heard more shrill piping noises, as well as various clangs and hisses. Presently there also came the sound of men’s voices. We passed some felled trees and entered a clearing. Shrouded in steam and smoke stood a huge, dark engine with a blackened funnel. Behind it an iron railway receded into the distance. A wire fence ran parallel on either side of the tracks. At the edge of the clearing was a double row of bell tents; also, some kind of field kitchen.
I had never seen men working as hard as those gathered around the engine. They barely glanced in our direction when we appeared out of the scrub, but just kept on labouring at their task. The sight of these men came as something of a revelation to me. We had a maxim in the