Ground Down

Chapter 64

"Tu fous ste kamp raun nibo boda Boudalan, emo kamp raun kom Ouskejon tof [Two forces have set up near the Boudalan border, in Ouskejon territory] . Noda fous na mwon op hir [Another force will move here]-" her scout indicated the border Yuljeda shared with Trishana- "emo laik Boudalan [They are Boudalan] . Fous daun-de laik teina [The forces over there are mixed] ."

"Pri chon emo kru [Mostly made up of which unit] ?" Lexa frowned at the map. 

"Won laik pri Ouskejon, emo bandrona don hit op bandrona kom Boudalan, emo gaf in hash au chit Enesi don sheik klin kom Bago [One is mostly Ouskejon, their ambassador has talked to the Boudalan ambassador, they want to talk about the deal Enesi made with Bago]-" he paused because Lexa made an acknowledging noise, she motioned for him to go on- "Podakru ste hosh nau [Podakru are quiet now] ."

Good. That was where Makini had disappeared to, then. Lexa let one hand perch on the corner of the map while she followed the imaginary lines her mind had drawn in between the inner territories of her Coalition. Boudalan troubled her. She shifted into the weight of the sash spilling down her shoulder, side-glanced her advisors by the other table, talking in hushed tones. Neither of them was her mentor. Neither of them was Titus. Neither of them was Gustus. Without any of them around her, she felt like the outer layers of her brain had been stripped back, like her thoughts had been unclothed, nude in the room, and they spun worse for it. 

A low tremor rumbled by under her feet, she raised her head, ready for the wailing of sirens, but no noise came. She hadn't missed that. As far as sleep went, Polis beat Westmount by miles, Polis being off limits for airborne attacks and therefore presenting a lack of wailing sirens made the few hours of rest her position allowed for halfway refreshing, compared to having to sprint into a bunker in her nightclothes in the dark, cold middle of the night just because the radar had registered another inbound missile. 

Lexa tried to centre her mind with a paced outbreath, like when she had still had the time and freedom to go running in the forest and her mind had drifted too far off into its own depths to maintain a disciplined breathing pattern and she'd gotten stitch. Boudalan held together about as well as a cup of Jell-O in the microwave, and it leaked out into the surrounding territories. Blame in on Norsak being an incompetent leader and Rekat not having enough buckets to mop up her head of unit's messes. Frankly, she was done getting her face rubbed in the pile of that that was her fault and her not having enough time or people or nerves to help out properly and it all working like a waterskin with a hole in the centre. 

"Noda fous [And the other force] ?" she turned back to her scout. 

"Pri Podakru, skes Delfi en Azgeda [Mostly Podakru, a few Delphi and Azgeda (warriors)] ." 

Also good. She'd put high hopes on Ouskejon to hold out instead of getting drawn into the mess and their head of unit had not disappointed. Meant Enesi remained a horrible person but reliable politician. Lexa rubbed her forehead. 

"Chit Boudalan fous diyo bilaik daun-de [What's the Boudalan force doing over there] ?" She indicated their unasked-for position in Yuljeda territory. 

She hadn't authorised that. She hadn't forbidden it either, her units could move their forces around freely within the limits of her rules and regulations, she encouraged it to get all the different kinds of warriors in her Coalition to mingle so they could learn from and about each other and learn the benefits of working together instead of bashing each other's faces in. 

Bigger forces and attack forces being moved had to be authorised by her, of course, and before her Coalition had started to crumble from all sides inwards and from the centre outwards, most units had done so halfway diligently. Which, as anyone who had ever honestly tried their hand at politics would agree, was about as good as it got.