There was no way out. When the Exalted comes calling, no one refuses. Avoidance of impressment is a crime punishable by death. When it happened, it felt inevitable. I opened the door fully dressed: boots on, coat on even though it was hot out. I had a pack ready and a bedroll strapped to it in less than five minutes. The soldiers were pleasantly surprised. The one in charge asked for my papers, marked this new assignment, and manacled me. “A precaution,” he said, “since you flirt with convicts.” He tucked my papers in my vest pocket and led me away. I walked through the borough flanked by Qin soldiers in full uniform, handcuffed, while the neighbors watched.

PART SEVEN:

THE GRASSLANDS

Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

The soldiers going to the front had their own train. It was huge, it was armed, and it was state of the art. It ran on a whisper. The metal was some alloy, something light. It was powered by steam and clockworks instead of coal, and the interior had a process that converted riders’ waste to usable water for the engines. It was a marvel. It was elf-built, but I was the only elf on the train. Each Qin soldier had his own bunk, but I was cuffed to a pipe in the bowels of the train. They tethered me to a pipe that brought the remnants of boiling water from the furnace to the cisterns. I still have burns on my hand and wrist from where I touched it when I slept. I did not sleep well. A pair of soldiers unlocked me once a day to relieve myself and eat. The rail to Ma-Halad is long, but we made good time. We stopped in no towns. We didn’t need to stop: we had fuel and provisions enough.

Two of the train’s engineers worked the furnace room. I couldn’t see them—my chains didn’t allow me enough room to peek around the corner—but I could hear them. They spoke about their orders, about the Exalted’s plan for the east. The grasslands were fertile, and the Exalted wanted Qin farmers working it so we no longer had to rely on Vilahnan wheat. There were always rumors that since it was elf-grown it was impure. That was the official story, but the engineers speculated that really the push east had more to do with the gold elves. The Empire needed slave labor. Factory lines are hard to fill with full citizens. I listened, and I seethed, and I hatched fruitless plans.