It took them an hour to descend the slope to the town, and when they arrived there was excitement in the air. Many people were already getting drunk. Luke walked down close to the sea where there was a market area which had been cleared of clothes and animals and the people had set out food and drink.

A man about the age of Luke’s father was standing on his own. “A good day for a celebration,” said Luke.

“You won’t be from these parts,” said the man.

“Why so?”

“You have the soft voice from the lowlands. Saw the pair of you coming down the hill.”

“We’re staying at Peratis,” said Luke.

The man spat. A younger man approached. “Don’t worry about him. He’s getting on a bit. Need beer?”

Luke and Simen accepted a beaker each and had to agree it was as good as anything they had tasted.

“My name’s Van. That man’s my father’s brother, you can safely ignore him. He’ll be well gone by night, any excuse. But this victory over Elenea, that’s more than an excuse.”

“When did the news come?”

“Only an hour ago. We saw from the flags but runners came over soon after. The stronghold of the city has been broken. We won’t have to worry about that country again.”

Luke pondered. “That’ll be the Blues.”

“Of course. My brother’s in the troop. They’ll be out again by now, they don’t hang in and allow a counter.”

Luke turned to Simen, they walked around for a bit. “We have some time, but we have to get to Gida. It’s the arranged meeting point for this situation. We should go to the Lodge first, they’ll have the news and plenty of time to discuss it before we get there, if we leave first thing tomorrow.”

“What will they think?”

“Hard to know. For some, an old enemy put to shame. For others, a new enemy made stronger. Hartor won’t like it.”

“He doesn’t like anything much these days.”

“I don’t blame him. The world has changed suddenly and the end of his rule is full of care. At least his land is well defended.”

“Elenea was well defended,” said Simen. “No one can take too much care in these days.”

They accepted a small amount of food from a lady who talked to them for some time about the town and how it had grown from just a single farm a few years previously, but they could see how the sun was starting its decline and walked out of the town along the easy coastal path for the return to the hostel at Peratis.

*

The pair were glad to reach the Lodge in the middle of the next day, as it was threatening to rain and neither of them cared to ride in wet weather. They had ridden all the way around the coast, avoiding the mountains and the Forest, and though they had observed many people they had not stopped to talk. The Elders were already grouped, they must have been discussing the situation already. Luke sat in the hall with them, Simen waited outside.

“Give us a report on how much you know and how much you are involved,” said one of the elderly men. Luke knew him well, his name was Los which he thought was a shortening or maybe an assumed name, no one knew what the original may have been. Luke stood, gathered his thoughts for a few seconds.

“I was not party to this plan, I only know what I learned yesterday in the town of Chelona.”

Some of the men looked at him suspiciously but no one said anything.

“I am told that Marcos took his troops on manoeuvres to the eastern part of the country. Yesterday we saw flag messages on the hills using a language I have not seen before. The messages were in blue and white. When we reached the town messengers had arrived and the news was wide spread. The folk were having a celebration. I was told their troops had made a raid on Elenea and sacked the Castle. That is why we returned here, we are on our way to Gida. Beyond that I have no knowledge.”

Rav was in the meeting, the youngest of the Elders. He was charged with keeping a watch on the Hinderith but spent most of his time in the Forest. “Do you think this is a good move by Marcos?”

“It seems dangerous. He does have a lot of support from his people. What do Atheleans think?”

“Atheleans do not like what he is doing. He is setting his people apart.”

“He is creating a new country,” said Luke.

Los nodded and all looked at him. “He must not create a new country. We have avoided that all the generations. It is a great threat to us. Sol, give us your analysis.”

The old master of the Lodge moved stiffly in his seat. He did not stand, maybe could not. “The development of the northern lands is a natural consequence of the taming of horses,” he said. “This is a matter we must react to in the most precise way. Anything less and we will have cycles of war for years to come.

“Marcos is intent on creating a nation and he is also intent on protecting it and then he will want all to pay tribute. We are in danger of becoming the lesser nation. But if he defeats Elenea many will support him. I think his plan is to weaken Elenea, claim great victories, and this way to build up support and gradually make his country superior to ours. That way he will achieve dominance and if he wishes he will be able to take over and rule both as one country, only this time it will be Gallea, I believe it now wishes to be called, and we will be beneath them.”

Another Elder stood and took the floor. “Marcos is a son of this country. He is driving Elenea to invade us. When they see him coming from their left they will invade our country from the other direction to catch him in the rear. There will be nothing left of us. The Eleneans are thorough, they will eliminate the threat entirely.”

Luke felt inclined to agree, though he did not want to say too much. “I have experience of the Elenean army, they are well supported. But what do you want us to do? We cannot invade the Hinderith. Marcos will be on his own territory, his forces are loyal and so are his citizens. We would have neither food nor shelter in the rough country, we would not last long at all.”

“And if we do nothing?” asked Sol.

Rav spoke. “These men are starting to ruin us. They have control of the sea villages and regularly go into the Forest. They defy our traditional laws, they take more than due harvest and we are left to replant without having anything for our own country. We are becoming their servants. We fight them off from time to time and it just results in conflict and bad feeling.”

Luke looked at the assembly, saw how much they depended on him and how few answers he had to give. “This afternoon I will meet at Gida. There will be more answers there. I will be back. This is my country and I will fight for it but some battles are hard to fight, we will have to be diplomatic as well. We will see what the Eleneans have to say, we can hope they will side with us rather than fighting. They have suffered a shock and will need allies too.”

The meeting dissolved into individual discussions and they took time for a food break. Luke managed to catch Rav on his own.

“How many of Athelea will support Marcos? There must be some.”

“Yes. A few. Maybe a lot. Last time his support came largely from Agor. The town people have less idea what it is like in the countryside. You will see, as they grow in strength they will become more open.”

“This should not be a fight,” said Luke. “I do not want it.”

“You do not choose your fights,” said Rav. “The fight chooses you. Is that not what we were taught? But no, I can see you don’t need to be too deep in this. We’ll do the fighting. As far as we can. Perhaps we can ally with Elenea? You may be able to help in that.”

“I have to go to Gida,” said Luke. “I’ll be back, I’ll have more answers. But we have time. It will be many months before things resolve themselves.”

*

Changing their horses they rode through the market town of Agor, where life seemed undisturbed by the events of the previous days. Luke noticed young men wearing blue in their headwear or clothing, he had seen this plenty of times before but only now did he understand the significance. They left the town behind and started uphill. The rain had been brief and left the air fresh. He was glad of the comfort of the slopes for an hour.

It was busier in Gida and Luke switched readily to the language of the mountains. He knew where Hartor would be, in urgent conference with his leading men. Near the compound he saw Toth, wearing a red headband. The young warrior saluted as the horses passed.

“Bright colours,” he said to Simen. “This is the fashion now in Gat?”

“They have to have a colour,” said Simen. “It marks them out.”

Leaving their horses they walked into the large building, soldiers standing to attention outside. Igor was in there, many soldiers Luke knew well, and Hartor standing in the middle. He looked up as Luke approached.

“Here’s the man who knows. Give us your news.”

Luke walked in to the centre, stood among the men. He explained what he had learnt in the Hinderith and at the Lodge, and gave a brief analysis of the situation. Hartor looked unhappy. He broke the meeting for private discussions and took Luke outside.

“Did you learn their semaphore?”

“I can tell you what the flags were, and we know roughly what the message was, but no one I met could, or perhaps would, tell me the signs. It doesn’t matter, we have friendly people and spies who can help. We’ll get the language soon enough.”

“You learnt a lot serving Elenea. That is good but there is a more pressing matter. We have not discussed it while we were waiting for you but the gossip is tremendous. It has to be formally announced.”

“If I am the only one who does not know kindly inform me,” said Luke.

“No need to be annoyed. The information came via my men in the borderlands, the messengers you have seen in the north would have been told to withhold the information from anyone other than commanders loyal to Marcos.”

“Why would Marcos want to keep information private?”

“The attack on the Castle was not just a raid. The place was totally destroyed. By fire.”

Luke guiltily remembered a conversation he had had with Marcos over a year previously, musing that the Castle walls were built mostly of wood and in dry weather would be vulnerable. He said nothing.

“This was a calculated attack on the ruling family. We know Rah was killed in the attack, we don’t know the full extent. We can expect much of the Castle Guard to have pulled back into their impregnable stronghold extending from the northland. But the politics will be complicated now.”

“I didn’t realise he would be so daring. Surely there will be retribution. The country itself will have blood feud.”

“You would expect. It will take some time for Elenea's leaders to regroup and recover their force. When they do I have no doubt they will mount a campaign. But Marcos won’t allow this. He will wait till they have half recovered and go in again. In the meantime he will take the outlying farms into his country and use them to feed his campaign. It will not be long before he is capable of taking Rakir.”

“This is similar to what the Atheleans thought. They thought he will drive the Eleneans to fight through the borderlands. But just as well he can increase his support while working the long way round via Elenea and come through the borderlands then he will himself have Athelea from both sides and all will be powerless.”

“And then what happens to Trantrith? He won’t fear mountains like most men do.”

“Rav, the young fighter on the Elders, said Athelea must ally with Elenea.”

“For a young man he has wisdom. Yes, they must. It is the only way.”

Outside the military part of the town people were going about their ordinary business. Luke saw some young men talking. He looked to Hartor.

“That boy, he has the red band just like Toth.”

“Red, yes, that makes me sad.”

“In the Hinderith they all wear blue. The semaphore message used blue flags too. And some of the men in Agor.”

Hartor’s expression deepened. “Then it has started again.”

Looking down the slope they could see the plain of Athelea and the twin valleys leading to the sea west of Agor. Beyond the country the mountains of the north, which might have a little snow in a month or two. Beyond that would be the blue of the sea, Hartor sighed, he was starting to look old.

“There is a blue flower grown mainly in the Hinderith. We do not grow it much in our land, it has a memory of the Mountain Wars. The dye is used to stain cloth. As a new generation comes along they have started use it again a little but Marcos must have whole fields of it. Now our people are back to wearing red again, it has started anew. We will not have peace without war.”

“How has it started again?”

“The Reds and the Blues. These are the colours of the Mountain Wars. Soon everyone will have to pick sides. Families and countries divided. Igor has been busy ensuring loyalties, you will have a lot to thank him for. But expect Athelea not to be so fortunate.”

“What do we do?” ashed Luke.

“First we go back in and finish the conference. I will make the announcements now and it will be in the open, put an end to rumour. Then winter is upon us, we must work hard. There will be fighting next year I have no doubt. Tomorrow we must go to Treaty and see who is there from Elenea. Whether they want to talk with us or fight us. It will be talking you will see, we should not fear them now.”

Luke turned, looked at a pair of horses walking along the damp track of the street into the military area. Felt the responsibility on his shoulders. He wondered, as they walked back, how much he had contributed to the dark times. Everything he had done had led to this situation. But no, he thought, it was Marcos who had put horses and military strength to bad use. Luke had trusted him and now everyone else would have to do a lot of fighting. He did not feel fatalistic. The threat would be quite real, but not so difficult to contain, in his heart he was as sure as he had ever been.