Journey to the Forgotten Island

The Wall in the Desert - II

The imperial soldiers had come early and the boys of the wall were angry that there had been no warning. Silvia heard the usual cries of the mothers and walked to the crowd to see the commotion. The most eager of the boys and men were pushing to the front and women stayed behind, crying into their dresses or bare arms, hiding the pain on their faces.

There weren't only imperial soldiers, Silvia noticed, but some unarmed officials, who looked like clerks or merchants. This was not the yearly search for soldiers, she saw. The warlord's men were not here, and, thankfully, Lethi, Casi's ex-companion, who was a Duro soldier stationed nearby, was still far away fighting in the fertile lands. Something else was going on here.

Since she had been returned to the wall by Lila, Silvia had spent a month looking out for the return of Lethi and his friends, ever aware that he had threatened to come back for Casi and Silvia. Silvia had swapped clothes with some other women of the wall, downgrading her only cotton dress to coarse rags covered in stains. She had also convinced Vita – Casi and Toma's mother – to swap homes with another family. Most of Vita's children had by now either been sent to the farm lands, married or joined the military, so she needed less space, and Silvia hoped that moving further down the wall would make it harder for Lethi to track them down. But despite all these measures, Silvia still spent her days in complete vigilance, jumping whenever she heard a man's voice behind her, terrified that Lethi would return from the fighting in the fertile lands lusting for a new woman.

'Gather round. Come on, then,' one of the Duro clerks shouted. 'Sorry, boys, we're not recruiting yet. Harvest is another five moons away. Keep training and you'll be ready.'

The boys feigned disappointment, but Silvia could see them sigh with relief when the eyes of the men and women turned back to the clerk.

'We are here for a very simple reason,' the clerk shouted in his refined Eastern accent. 'Our great empire has recently won a victory in western Solapailtea against the rebels. We are looking for families who wish to settle in these newly acquired territories and work the land. These lands are owned by nobles of course, but as they are newly acquired, there are still dangers. So, the Emperor has decided that families who go north to settle will be rewarded with their own little parcel of land.'

The people in the crowd looked at each other and began to mutter about the clerk's announcement.

'Is it true the Sola warriors are cannibals?' a man cried from the back of the crowd.

'Do they really cut out your heart so that you can witness its final beat?' another shouted.

One of the Duro soldiers stood up on a rock to make himself seen and began shouting, 'Nothing of the sort! The Sola rebels are weak and disorganised men, simply disgruntled by their own inferiority. They pose no real threat now that we have vanquished them. The dangers my colleague speaks of are purely in terms of theft. You may find some of your food or livestock goes missing once in a while. Otherwise, you will be protected by our finest soldiers stationed in the nearby outpost.'

The crowd murmured once more. Soon, men and boys, women and girls, started to push forward to volunteer. They had seen an opportunity, even one so uncertain and dangerous, and would not let it go. The soldiers shouted for order and the crowd slowly formed into an obedient queue as the clerk began to note the details of the volunteers.

Silvia found a place in the queue. She told herself there was nothing to lose by having her name written down, but already her mind was full of visions of a good life, farming for food in a place full of lush trees and rivers.

'If I get to settle those Solapailtean pastures – I don't care if I get eaten by a cannibal – I'll lie back in the grass and roll around, I'll drink all the water I've ever dreamed of and I'll die happy away from this forsaken dust and sand,' an old lady said behind Silvia.