“We can get out through the mountains,” she says, more to herself. “The reinforcements should be there by now. And we’ll come back. And this time we’ll win.”

“We should never have come,” I say.

“It was supposed to be.”

Suddenly I want to argue—it’s the first feeling I’ve had for so long—I almost feel nostalgic as the words burst from my mouth—

“What kind of nonsense is that?!”

“The spirits or gods whatever they are—”

“Gods?”

“... I don’t know anything about religion, but they must have brought us here to test us.”

“They must have?”

“Don’t parrot me!” she snaps, her chinstrap banging against her neck as she turns to me.

“Tested us why?”

“We have to prove our worth to them before they will help us.”

“What worth?”

“The worth of our side, you idiot! Our worth!”

“Worthy to do what? Make the whole world like this?!” I stop, wave my arm around, at the land, and the ruins in the distance.

She stops too. “Worthy because we are willing to die for what’s right, that’s what nobility is! When they see we are noble, I’m telling you, they will send us the victory we’ve earned.”

“What victory?”

“What victory?! Are you out of your mind? Who are you to say ‘what victory’—you want them to win?” She jabs the air with her finger in the direction of the cemetery.

“What you’re calling victory is just death—can’t you get that through your thick head? It’s all just death—that’s the only enemy I know or care about and who wins against death? What kind of victory is that? Who ever won a fight against death?”

“—And so Makemin and the rest, your friends, they all die for nothing?”

“Makemin was a murderer! He deserved to die! He deserved to die a thousand times! And just what price are you going to get us for their deaths? You think the enemy won’t try to make us pay for all the ones of theirs we’ve killed? Show me where you go to make these final payments you’re always talking about!”

“It’s not something you see happen—history in the future will show we were right, and say everything I’ve been saying to you. Now will you belt up and move?”

“Right about what? If you’re right you’re right whether you win or not!”

“Who’s going to tell the truth if we lose? If we lose, there won’t be any one to tell our story at all!”

“To hell with the story! It’s a stupid story! It’s a worthless story! It’s a shameful story! What do I care about stories when I’m dead!? Which of these dead people is going to tell the story?”

“You.”

“I won’t tell! I won’t tell a word of it!”