Quibble, 73. Feint

The alliance goes to war. When the forces of utter control prove crafty, Nish devises a strategy for turning the tables.

else

73. Feint @Aladfar

Numberless, forgive my reticence. While others spoke to you, I have kept silent – that is a silence’s wont, after all. We live close to death. Grief clings like a cobweb to our recollections: so many Ones rectified before their time, so many summaries yielding only disappointments, so many lives spent in vain. We are silent not out of unfeeling sternness, as oft supposed, but because we feel too much, more than Zeros should. We remember, but we do not recount. We do not tell the story even to each other.

Now I must tell the story. Greater grief gnaws at me and urges me on, but I realize too that I have been silent as much out of shame as out of grief.

We – Vega and I – put you in a trap. Rasalased thought it unwise, Alnasl thought it wrong, and Utopia warned us an excelsior is not a tool. We listened, but only that. We did as we saw fit, without apology to any One.

As we learned to depend on the Adroit and especially Definition for our survival in a war, we saw our own arrogance and how it had led us into errors.

Definition never demanded to know why we’d kept her in the dark about the life of her child. Her silence was more unsettling than any accusations could have been. We knew she hadn’t forgiven us. She’d set the matter aside, that was all. Now, committing ourselves to this desperate war against utter control, we were doing penance. Perhaps it would decide whether she at last chose to forgive us.

So we told ourselves. So we told each other. But what could we do, Numberless, to earn your forgiveness?

On the second labor at the hottest, a small array of utter control – just five Zeros – traveled through the night-door from Egg 10 to reconnoiter the Arc of Edict. Finding we held the arc, the array quickly fell back through the door. Only minutes later, a second reconnaissance array poured through the door from Egg 17, likewise retreating in haste. Fortunately, our allied forces wouldn’t gather at the arc until the next morning, so utter control still had no inkling what we were planning. However, the near-simultaneity of forays to the arc suggested our enemies could now communicate between Eggs. It was possible the forays were prearranged and utter control was trying to trick us, but it was safer to assume at least one of the Eggs’ Utopias had surrendered, maybe both.

We convened another council in Bibliography’s cottage. The blacksmith and the resurrectionist were in high spirits: their work was going well, and by the morrow, our forces would be fully equipped for battle. Definition and Imay were perturbed at being called away from training, but they grew grave as I delivered my news.

“This changes things,” I told them. “We can’t attack an Egg with our whole force. Part of our force must hold the night-doors at the arc, or the arrays on the other Egg will follow us when they get word of our attack. They’ll make us fight a rearguard action at some time when our forces are split, probably at the second night-door.”

“A trap between two fronts,” Vega said.

“Any more stragglers coming in?” Glossary asked her.

“None today.”

“Then we’ve got everyone we’re going to get,” said Definition. “Fifty-six. What’s the strength of the force we’re facing?”

“According to the night-doors they traversed Within,” Vega answered, “the total array of utter control numbers one hundred twenty-eight. There’s no knowing how the lord Lesath would have split them up. Evenly, if I’m to guess. He couldn’t know which Egg we’d attack.”

“We’re outnumbered, that’s true, but we have tactical advantages,” I reminded the council. “Only strong control infiltrates our mirrors now. Our enemies have to focus intently to overpower the Adroit.”

“You Zeros could wear mirror-goggles, too,” Glossary suggested.

“We have enough glass,” Marginalia said.

“No,” I said. “We must see their dreams clearly.”

“Without imbibing the whole of their dreams, we can’t fight them with our own dreams,” Rasalased explained. “It’s why we’ve never used mirrors before. Frankly, it’s why I don’t expect the Adroit you’ve given kindnesses to do much with them.”

“Nor do we,” Definition remarked. “We’re not depending on them.”

“Nonetheless,” I went on, “if only we maintain surprise and speed, we will have more mobility on the battlefield. Two enemies to face – a Zero and an Adroit, attacking in different ways – means utter control’s forces will struggle to pop, vision, intone, and maybe even espy. And then there are your swordsmen, Imay.”

The Far blushed at the mention. Though not as well trained as he wished them, his array knew the basics of their swords and, moreover, how to fight as a group.

“I beg you again, Djer-nah, send us at the head of the vanguard,” he said. “A fear of steel will scatter our enemies away from the first night-door.”

“Too risky,” I said. “We have no idea yet what lies beyond that door. It’s wiser to keep the swordsmen safe until we can deploy you strategically.”

“But if Imay is right, if they scatter, then we’ll have an easier time taking the next door and getting to the field beyond it,” said Vega. “Surprise and speed, you said. If our only real chance is confusing our enemies in order to move quickly through them—”

“Very well,” I granted, still not liking the idea. “But keep the formation tight. On the first field, we’ll play for shock and awe. After the first two arrays of kindness have gone through, an array of control goes. Then we alternate kindness and control. All the arrays of control will wear red cloaks, even lords and ladies. We’re marking them so we can tell friends from foes. Rasalased, you’ll command the rear and come through with the last array. I want utter control to think control has wholly joined our side.”

“They’ll think they’re outnumbered!” Bibliography exclaimed.

“I doubt it,” Vega said. “They wouldn’t have taken the Eggs if they didn’t believe control would wait to see what they’ll achieve before taking a side.”

“Maybe,” I rejoined, “but what they’ll see is a lot of red cloaks. In the glass fight, they won’t have time to rethink the question. This ruse won’t hold up once we’re in the Egg, but it might help us win the fields. The first field, at least.”

Definition skanced me. “The second field’s going to be harder, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I said. “Their scouts in the first field will have reported to them, so they’ll have some idea what’s coming. They’ll get reinforcements from their rear. And as I said, we might face a counterattack from our rear. And if they didn’t evenly divide between the Eggs, we might arrive on the second field to find most of the total array there. It’s all guesswork, really. We may not even make it to Egg 10.”

Definition frowned.

The second speech at the hottest dawned. Our total array met in the Axle of the Adroit consensus half an hour after sunrise, and we all popped Within. Taking the short way to the Arc of Edict, we crossed two spirals. In the first, we lit our ambers, and Ones fell away from us, calling out – “Zeros! Zeros!” – as they fled the chambers we crossed. Fear was abroad in the second spiral. Its Axle lay abandoned, bright with its tarry-not’s admission of sunlight, which struck the floor in a circle almost reaching the walls.

“It’s unnerving!” whispered Definition, who strode at my side.

We reached the night-door. Popping through it, we let our Adroit hear the key – dazzler, trance, penitent – so they could make their way back as far as this spiral alone if necessary. The force of kindness holding the Arc of Edict made way for us on the other side. Once all gathered there, we reformed our total array inside the cave in the order in which we would go into battle. Then we marched the array out of the Arc of Edict and onto the porch of stone overlooking the glacier. It had snowed recently, but fortunately not much. The snow on the porch stood only a couple of inches deep.

We formed seven phalanxes with four Zeros and four Adroit in each. I surveyed the field of jagged ice below and visioned particular places to the Zeros in each phalanx. Then, phalanx by phalanx, we popped down to the glacier’s surface. Popping in among the penitentes, there were spills but no injuries, thanks to the snow on the ice. The array was messy, though. We popped back up to the porch, this time with orders to maintain formation. It didn’t go well. Only lords and ladies and a few adepts popped in precisely where they were supposed to be.

I admonished the adepts: “Do you want to stand with allies or stand alone? Want solid ground under your feet? Calculate the damned pop!”

We popped down to the ice again, back up to the porch. They got their minds in their ambers, and this time it went much better. A third trial arrayed the entire force just as intended. Then Vega, Glossary, Definition, and I strode forward and turned to regard our troops.

“The Adroit aren’t looking me in the eyes,” Definition told me. “They’re afraid.”

Self-dreaming with my yinman, I lifted off the ground a few feet and said loudly, “Zeros! Adroit! Hearken!” Then I let myself drop and looked at Definition. “You speak to them,” I said. “They need to be One. Only One can make them so.”

She was silent a moment. I think Iklil was telling her something. Then, in a flash, before I even knew her left hand was out of her pocket, she blazed forth her kindness.

In the dream, Dazed chorused as sunlight burst through the stained glass of their chapel. Adroit, many of whom now stood before me, hurried along the cobblestones of their consensus, speaking to each other, gesturing. Rasalased and Alsephina sat at a fire, holding hands. Quibble leaned over a desk and took up a quill to write. Index walked a path in the forest, one hand resting on the shoulder of the wolf at his side.

“If you think we’re fighting for our lives, you’re right, we are!” Definition said as we lived her memories. “But we have kindness on our side, and I don’t mean glasses or Zeros. Remember all your kindnesses, all the love you’ve given each other!”

The glass dazzled us as Definition poured all that she loved into this dream. Each memory was more than itself: the dream overflowed with her fondness, her hope. Then her glass abruptly died and released us.

“Utter control has none of that!” Definition proclaimed. “They want power for its own sake, not to help any One but to dominate Ones. They’re zealots. They’ll fight hard for their beliefs. But in their hearts, there’s nothing really worth fighting for, and what’s more, they know it. They are empty shells, nothing more, and we shall break them!”

Adroit and Zeros both raised a cheer. Then a voice rose in song somewhere deep in the ranks. All the Adroit joined in:

     ‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free,
     ‘Tis a gift to come down where you ought to be!
     And when we find ourselves in the place that is right,
     ‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight!

They sang the second verse, then the first again. When the song ended, their eyes were all upturned, and some even looked eager. We let everyone stand at ease and talk. Rasalased left her array of control, walked up to us, spoke to Definition.

“Thank you, Nish! This lady—” Rasalased flashed her eyes at Vega. “—has been speaking to me of kindness for as long as I’ve known her, but I never understood it like you just made me understand it. If I live through this, I’m giving up control.”

Vega laughed.

“I’ll be your adept!” the lady of control promised, and they both laughed. Then Rasalased grew serious again and said, “Hearing the Adroit sing made Seph happy. We thank them for that, too.”

“You’re taking Alsephina with us?” Definition said, concerned.

Rasalased bared both her hands, showing her amber as well as a blue glass. “I’m fighting with a kindness. Seph is lighting it. We’ll have strong dreams.”

Definition smiled.

Traveling through the first night-door on the way to Egg 10, Vega and I emerged kneeling on a bare platform of rough limestone. No Zeros waited for us there, only our own swordsmen who had gone ahead of us. One looked at me and shrugged.

It was night. A moon nearly at its full stood high over the eastern horizon. As more arrays arrived through the floor-set night-door at our backs, I walked with Vega and our Adroit to the platform’s northeast corner, where Imay stood, sword in hand.

Below us fell away two sides of the pyramid on which we stood. Near its shorn-off top, the sides were smooth, but not far down, the smoothness gave way to rows of massive blocks, a giant’s staircase leading down to the desert sand. At its northwest corner, the pyramid’s base rose in a hump, the glassy surface of which gleamed in the moonlight. A globule of superheated gossamer-glass had fallen there. To the east, well below us, stood a sphinx with a well-eroded face. To the northeast, there rose another pyramid with a flattened top nearly level with us. Beyond it, moonlight reflected blindingly off the glass shroud of a city that stretched away for miles eastward.

“Can you see them?” the Far said, pointing with his sword at the other pyramid. “Two Djer were here. They popped over there to join their comrades.”

Squinting against the glare, I made out a blur atop the northeast pyramid. Then I espied. Arrayed Zeros stood in one large column facing us, no doubt espying, perhaps waiting for us to attack. Their pyramid’s night-door, like ours, was situated at the center of its apex, but the columned array obscured it.

I maintained negativity, wondering what utter control was doing. Their column suddenly split apart into two columns and I saw their pyramid’s night-door. Two Zeros crouched there. They disappeared without a pop – they’d traveled through the door. At once, the array of utter control began to run around the platform in a spiral, tightening inwards upon the door, shrinking as they went.

Aghast, I spun back towards our door and intoned: Stop!

The first few pairs of control had just come through. I ordered a blue cloak back through the door to halt our forces at once, then turned back towards our enemy just in time to espy the last Zero on the other pyramid vanishing through its door.

“Damn their eyes!” I cried aloud for all to hear. “If only we had a vision! Alnasl, I miss you! You’d have seen this coming!”

“What?” asked Glossary.

“They’re giving up the first field without a fight.”

“And that’s bad?”

“Very. Those two at the night-door were their visions. I couldn’t see through the array’s mask, but they could. We just showed them how we’re coming – who, in what order. They got a good look at our Adroit, the mirror-goggles, the swords and daggers. Now they’re visioning all of it to the array on the other side of the second door.”

“Did they see us arrive?” said an adept of control.

“Best to assume so,” I said.

“Surprise at least is lost,” Vega said slowly, “if not our whole strategy.”

There was a collective sigh. Definition removed her goggles and gazed all about. “Where are we?” she asked.

“Giza,” I told her. “We’re atop the Pyramid of Khafre.” I pointed northeast to the other pyramid. “Utter control was on the Pyramid of Khufu.”

“And what about that glow? All those buildings?”

“A city of the Ancient, coated in gossamer-glass,” said Vega. “Put your goggles back on, Nish. The light is bad for your eyes.”

I beckoned Vega, Definition, Glossary, and Imay close for a huddle.

“If we advance now, we can expect to meet all the forces of Egg 10 on the second field,” I said. “They may feint again to draw us forward, but when they change tactics, it won’t be two-on-one anymore. And doubtless they’re sending word to Egg 17. When they pincer us, it will be a nightmare! Their numbers will win.”

“Then what bones do we throw against this?” Imay said.

We stood a while in silent thought. At last Definition suggested, “Let’s give this field back and try to draw them out.”

“Use their strategy against them?” Vega said doubtfully.

“It might work,” I posited, “if we leave no spies here as they left for us.”

“And if we retreat all the way back,” Definition added.

“Onto the arc’s porch?” Imay asked.

“Down to the glacier. We’ll use the penitentes as cover, and we’ll keep our hands off all our glasses. The ambers, too.”

“And lay down all our armor?” Vega cried. “We’ll be defenseless!”

“No, we’ll be invisible,” I countered. “Even their visions won’t see us.”

“But will they really believe we just ran away?” Vega said.

“If they do,” Definition said, “they’ll seize the chance to take the Arc of Edict and prevent our coming back. That means they’ll have to bring out a sizable force. Then we attack on the ground we know and try to zip through. If they don’t believe it, if they just send out a spy or two, then we regroup and come up with a new plan.”

“And attack tonight?” I said.

Definition winked.

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rem

This chapter gave me considerable trouble in revision, and I’m still not sure I like it. Sometimes I have to say, “That’s all I can give it.”

My heroes are facing a setback, but they’re not giving up. I’m trying to emulate their courage. Once again, my bank account is close to empty with bills on the way and no income I can depend on. If you can spare something, here are links (the best options are PayPal and Venmo, since I get 100%). Thanks!