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33. TREACHERY AFOOT; In Costaramannh!

Trees are tall and overhang the road, making a tunnel in places. Inside one of these the lead truck is slowing. Tinunh hands me my guitar and I put it away. When I look up from that I see the lead truck pull nose first, bow first, half off the road under some trees, and stop.

There is a man there!

They converse through the window. The man walks back into the woods. The truck follows, goes deeper in, into the woods. Eenunh follows. Out the back windows I see the truck behind bobbling over the uneven ground, hang on to bin racks to steady myself.

More people! There are soldiers, civilians. Several. We go on, come up on a level, and there are more people. The lead truck turns, loops around, tight turn, mudholes in the track, full of yellow clay water, comes back past us. Eenunh makes the same loop, comes back past the third truck. I look out the back and see them turn and come up behind us again.

Doors pop open, ahead, and ours. Everyone is quiet. I'm up and out first, offer my hand to Tinunh. She doesn't take it, jumps down. Eenunh does, steps down. Soda. Thin Man. Still, everyone is quiet.

A small troop of men and women, led by a woman, comes in formation up out of the woods behind the last truck. I don't know where they came from.

I think I see some kind of salute. The right hand is almost cupped, palm up, and brought to the middle of the chest. Thimiannh is doing the same thing, I see, as he turns toward the woman. Faces are stern but soften into smiles. Thimiannh speaks, "We made good time."

The woman speaks, "Yes, you did." Their voices are quiet, covert. They go to the last truck where her troops have stopped, waiting. We all follow.

The militia are unloading cases of ammunition. I see one of our men pulling the bins on the bottom row of the racks on the left, opening sliding lids, and removing two ammo cases from each one. It is a very efficient operation. The ammo cases come out, are passed to the back of the truck, and handed to people there, who, once they have two, go off back into the woods with them.

There... there are... far more ammo cases... than... I saw issued by the commanh and loaded in the trucks.

Ammo gone, there are other packages. A different crew takes those, food perhaps, medical supplies, I speculate. I think... these are militia... but... in guerrilla mode, partisans.

I look ahead. The other truck is getting similar treatment, but the relay line is going back uphill instead of into the woods behind the trucks.

A squad is at our truck, relay line, downhill.

The woman and Thimiannh are talking. He gestures to Eenunh. She goes to them. The women brush fingertips.

They turn, Thimiannh and the woman, and go off the direction she came from, behind the third truck. Eenunh gestures for Tinunh and Soda and I to follow.

It is a tedious path, up, down, around rock outcrops, blue stone. Suddenly, they're going through a spindle door, but it is made of blue stone. We go in. The light-emitting substance is dull in a passageway, a ramp up, then brightens as we come into a room. Men, women, sit about, casual, but rise to their feet when the woman comes out of the passage.

They speak, only a little louder. I hear Thimiannh's name. And then, Eenunh's... and there is a cacophony of voices, all speaking at once! People begin coming to her, Eenunh, brushing fingertips. There are grins. My girl grins beautifully. She calls to Tinunh, introduces her. There's lots of doting vocalization. I hear Entemannh mentioned.

Eenunh comes to me, and turns back to them, takes my hand, introduces me, "This is my fiance'," she tells them, "ass oomam, Gary E. Andrews."

I feel my face flush! There is silence. Then laughter! It subsides, possibly from the look of their commander, her look and hand gestures working together.

"Show us your hair," a woman says. I don't know which one said it. I grin. Eenunh grins. She pushes my hood off my head. I reach and take off my ball cap. There's not much comment. Eenunh's face is calming. She runs her right hand through my hair on the left side. I hear them talk of my eyes.

"Show us your arms," another voice says. I see him. He looks a little spooked. The commander says, "No! No! No! Leave him alone. This isn't a circus!"

She goes to the wall to our left. There's a map there. A map... of Costaramannh! I pull out my map, unfold it and compare. She explains,

"The main road..." she points to the middle road The White Road ends at, or... turns into... and says, "has been destroyed for some time. The bridge over the river is damaged; foot traffic only. The east road is intact. We favor it. The west road is usually guarded and the factions there can be difficult. Some violent extremists contrive to dominate the security whenever possible. And it's rather unpredictable. I suggest some of us go in both ways. Our main body will go in by the east bridge. Once across the river we'll come to the west entrance where your contingent will enter. What we send in by the west road will be all test. We'll risk some ammunition, some supplies, but mainly we'll be in force but with not much detectable weaponry... unless... we need it. If there is trouble we'll come out of the woods on this side of the river, and across the bridge from the other side. It's... as secure as I can promise it."

I'm orienting the map. It has the north at the bottom, showing The White Road coming up, the way we've just come, entering the city. That bridge is out. There are roads angling off The White Road, to east and west, following the course of a river, curving around to two other bridges as this outer 'loop' begins to turn further south, encircling the city.

"I don't recommend trying to go around further south to other entry points. It raises suspicion as to why you would come off The White Road by any but the nearest entry. They'll know we came in from the north."

I see the logic. As soon as any entry gets you across the river into the city, the interior roads do long spirals in... or... spokes in across concentric circles, intersecting. To get to anywhere in the city you only have to get in and it's easy to get anywhere by a series of turns onto circle routes, left or right, and spiral routes between concentric loops. Everyone is making marks on their map. Tinunh sees I'm not and offers her stylus. I mark off The White Road bridge, hand it back. The commander is advising of other trouble spots, damaged and blocked sections of the city. The same features that make the circles and spiral design a good one, make it a bad one if something gets blocked. You have to backtrack, find alternate routes. We mark our maps.

"Your unit will go in on the west road," the commander is telling Thimiannh. The west road! I don't like that! "They're expecting you so we'll give them what they're expecting. Do you know your destination... your lodging?"

"Yes," Thin Man says, and tells her. She looks at the map, says,

"No! That's... that whole area, for blocks... there was a battle there. Artillery. We stopped them but the whole area was damaged... there's... that can't be! Who made those arrangements?"

"The Koobs," Soda says.

"That's... that's... a trap," the commander says. "Look at the ways in, one way in or out here, and one there, and that second one is down to one lane. I don't like that at all. Why would they put you in there? There's... there's no running water in that area." She turns, inquires of another soldier, who confirms all she has said. Soldiers look closely at our maps, concur that the lodging the Koobs arranged are in the middle of a no-man's land!

"This... might literally be a trap!" she says. "Why aren't you in the middle of the city? There are good hotels there. That's where the Koobs and their guests will be. They're already there. There is security, dining, music. Out here," she points to the area under discussion... you're camping!"

A murmur runs throughout the room, dies down as quickly.

"We knew there would be treachery," Thimiannh says. "Soda, speculated, and... saw some... signs. There may be some factions from up our way too. Money changes everything."

The logistics of just getting into the city continue to be discussed.

"The west road contingent will make a close pass to the designated area, but try to maneuver back around, go to the center of the city and find accommodation there," Thin Man says.

"They'll expect that," the commander says. "Once you're in at a certain point they can block you, make you turn into their..." She doesn't finish the sentence.

"We'll have to come in by the east road, and get people back up to you, to strengthen your troops. If we have to fight our way in we will! That will be our first mission inside the city; to get back to you at that west bridge. We won't need to hide what we're doing at that point. If it's a trap they'll be watching for us but..." Again, she doesn't finish the sentence.

There's a twinge of genuine anger in her voice. She is stern. She uses a word referring to the mothers of the Koobs.

Eenunh's face is just as stern. Soda's too. Tinunh is expressionless.

Thimiannh starts mapping some routes to for the commander to dispatch squads along, all ending up at the same general area, covering us, covering each other, alternative routes to regroup at various points, if we have to.

There is treachery afoot, in Costaramannh!