She almost failed to understand what he was saying, and then burst out: ‘That’s impossible! You couldn’t have got so many men past us without us knowing. A few scouts, yes, but—’
‘Lieutenant.’ His voice was steely now. ‘I have not captured Locke. Locke is in the hands of Denland because the Couchant front has been won. Won by us, Lieutenant. The war is over.’
She felt her hand twitch towards her pistol and restrained it by main willpower. Over? The war isn’t over. We’re still here, aren’t we? ‘I don’t understand.’
‘The Denland army of the Couchant has broken your Lascanne resistance, Lieutenant. The war is over. We are even now sending soldiers into Lascanne itself. The only part of the Lascanne army currently armed and in open resistance is under your command.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t believe a word of this.’
‘You would not,’ he acknowledged. ‘That is why I have brought my witness. This woman was captured by my scouts even as she left Locke. And she left Locke when it fell, Lieutenant. Take her, she’s yours, but listen to what she has to say, please.’
‘Penny . . . ?’ Emily gestured for Belchere to come closer, and the girl needed no second invitation, almost knocking her over with her eagerness. Emily severed the ropes about the prisoner’s wrists with the edge of her sabre, only drawing the weapon part way from the scabbard so that the Denlander soldiers would not mistake the gesture. Still the girl had said nothing.
‘Penny talk to me,’ Emily demanded. Then, when nothing came: ‘Soldier-at-Arms Belchere, report. That’s an order.’
Penny Belchere turned a tear-streaked face to her and said, ‘It’s true,’ in a voice so soft that Doctor Lam could hardly have heard.
‘What’s true? Tell me exactly what you saw.’
Penny hugged herself miserably. ‘I was in Locke. I had just got off the train. I was going to . . . I don’t know . . . eat, clean up, see some people, before I came to you . . . There were soldiers there; they were coming off the high passes. Everyone was shouting. I thought it was just . . . I thought it was just soldiers being soldiers. I didn’t understand. Then the shooting started. Nobody seemed to know what was going on. There were all sorts of people running about with guns. I could hear fighting . . . people being hurt. Then . . . I looked out onto the main square, and there were so many soldiers still coming down, and I knew there were never so many soldiers in Locke . . . and I saw that the ones arriving all had grey jackets . . . and I knew. They were fighting, fighting and shooting at people, everyone who tried to stop them. They were just . . . like a machine, Miss Marshwic. I’d never seen fighting before . . . not real fighting. I was never supposed to be there! I was just a messenger. You and bloody Northway – I’d never have seen it, if not for you two!’ Tears sprang anew from her eyes as her voice choked off. Emily realized that she had never appreciated how young this girl really was. She felt a hundred years old herself.
‘A compelling story, Doctor,’ she said, her mind racing, ‘but it’s open to interpretation. An attack on Locke doesn’t mean it’s been taken. We had all of Locke’s spare soldiers sent here twelve days ago. A small force could have overrun the town. We won’t surrender, I’m afraid. You’ll have to come and get us.’ Feeling full of patriotic duty, she turned to go.
‘Wait!’ Doctor Lam’s face twisted into something that was part anger and part grief. ‘Listen to me and please consider all that I say. I know you Lascans. I know you, even. I know how damnably stubborn you are, but even you can’t fly in the face of all reason. The war is lost, and you can never prevail. You have only two choices: to surrender or to die. Surely you must see that. I am urging you . . .’ He stopped to compose himself, then continued in a calmer tone. ‘I am not urging you, Lieutenant. I am not threatening you. I do not demand. I am begging you to surrender.’ He looked suddenly far older even than Emily felt. ‘If you surrender, then all of you will be able to go home free. You will go back to