desperation, Mrs Melchance said almost nothing, and yet a knowledge of it came seeping into the minds of the recruits like damp. The horrors of that inimical place were already the stuff of nightmares to them, even looking upon a simple and stylized depiction of it here on out-of-date maps.
Her mind full of hard, stale crusts of history, Emily was on her way to the refectory when she was called out.
‘Oi, miss!’ a harsh voice yelled at her, and she turned to see three of her classmates glowering at her. She recognized the woman who had shouted as Sally something-or-other, a burly creature whose uniform shirt strained over her large belly, and whose arms were heavy with muscle from a life of toil. Two women of more slender proportions, but the same unpleasant expressions, flanked her menacingly.
‘Were you addressing me?’ Emily asked them coldly.
‘Was I addressing her?’ Sally mocked. ‘How posh you do talk, miss. Think you’re the bloody arse of the earth, don’t you?’
Emily made herself calm as she realized what they wanted. This was their own little republican struggle, she supposed, inevitable as history.
‘Go away,’ she told them disdainfully, and Sally jeered back at her.
‘Won’t you say please, posh miss? I thought it was proper to say please.’
‘Please, go away.’ Emily kept her hands at her sides, but she was tensing up inwardly. She guessed that she could say anything and everything, and there would still be hell to pay at the end of it. If only the major, or Bowler, would appear round the corner. Nobody did, though. This once, the world had left her to her own devices.
‘Know what?’ Sally said. ‘I’m going to teach you how much better you are than me. I’m fed up of you going about with your nose in the air, thinking you’re such a bloody gentlewoman. Maybe you’ll change your mind once I’ve mashed it a bit.’
‘What have you got against me?’ Emily asked. She’s working her courage up, she realized unexpectedly. Sally was far larger than her but, even so, the woman had to talk a fight up. It gave Emily a sliver of hope.
‘You nobs! You know how long I was in service? Fifteen bloody years! And soon as the Draft comes along, I get chucked out here without a word of bloody thanks, cos they’re too bloody scared to send their own. Bloody cast-off, that’s what I was.’
‘Me too,’ said one of the other women. ‘I’d a son, too. They promised they’d find someone to look after him, but I know them. He’s only nine and he can’t look after himself, can he? But I reckon they had him out the door the moment they’d packed me off here!’
‘What is this to do with me?’ Emily said. ‘I came here, didn’t I? I didn’t send anyone in my place. Your grievances are with the households you came from, not with me.’
‘Oh, grievances,’ Sally mocked. ‘Yeah, well.’ She shook her head ponderously. ‘They ain’t here and you are.’ And with that piece of philosophy she lumbered forward with a surprising turn of speed and reached out to grab. She caught Emily off guard with her attack, despite all her preparation. One hand nipped at the collar of Emily’s jacket; the other grasped her hair and pulled.
She had fought before, this Sally. She was not new to the sport, but she was only used to fighting other women. The short-cut hair slipped from her fingers, and Emily cuffed her weakly across the face and fell back before her, tugging herself free. In a quick shrug she had her jacket off and on the ground, facing the larger woman in her shirtsleeves.
Sally lumbered towards her, face ugly, and Emily moved backwards and around in a wide circle. She kept an eye on the other two, but they seemed content to watch their friend do all the work. For a big woman, Sally moved well, and twice her great hands almost latched on to Emily. The third time one did, clasping about the smaller woman’s wrist and hauling her in so that Emily bounced off the woman’s belly. Sally slapped her across the face and shoulder, hard enough to make her head ring, and Emily tried to get an arm up to return the favour and banged Sally under the chin with her elbow instead. The big woman bit her tongue savagely and cursed. She still held Emily’s wrist, and shook her hard, rattling her back and forth before going for