The Baby and the Battlefield

Chapter Ten: A Journey and a Conversation

 The next few days went by in a whirlwind. An old shirt was torn up to make diapers for the baby – Mulberry kept a few of the small, soft pieces of cloth for her own use, as well. Mulberry was given Marcus' spare tunic, which, when worn over her shift, left her dressed in a way that was at least decent, if not pretty. Marcus and Petro assisted with the cremation of the bodies from the battlefield. Mulberry spent her days trying to care for the baby and cooking the rations Marcus and Petro brought back. It had turned out that she could cook after all, at least this poor, paltry stuff the imperial army called food. It was hard to ruin something that was already awful, and the two men seemed hungry all the time, as did the baby.

 Marcus often watched Mulberry as she worked, and Mulberry found this disturbing. He was inscrutable, and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He rarely seemed to bring work back himself, only occasionally spending time painstakingly making copies of forms on reused scraps of paper he carefully hoarded in a chest. Sometimes he collected oak galls or acorns, saying they were for making ink. Mulberry decided she was glad when the order came to break camp. She assisted in striking the tent and packing all of their belongings, including the baby’s egg basket, into a single small cart drawn by Marcus’ big grey mare. The cart was sent back with the baggage train, where Mulberry, too, went, joining the slaves, with the baby slung on her back.

 She was grateful that Marcus had not insisted that she be placed with the prisoners who where shackled together in long lines. Instead, she walked with a crowd of trusted retainers; rich men’s cooks, the common man’s secretary, a few women whose jobs Mulberry did not care to know about, but who at least cooed over the baby and made sure that Mulberry was keeping up. While they were traveling, she did not see Marcus at all. The baggage train travelled several hours behind the main force, and she was near the back of that. Her days consisted of walking, walking, and more walking, followed by falling exhausted on the ground for a few hours of fitful sleep. Her feet, used to soft shoes, ached and blistered. Even when the blisters broke, she had to keep walking. She did not like sleeping outside, especially when it rained. It was hard to keep Aurelia dry, and her constant crying caused a lot of grumbling. Mulberry was actually grateful that they were all under guard – it meant that no one would try to take out their frustrations on the poor baby.

 When they stopped walking again, it was nearly eight days later. Mulberry's bare feet still ached, but at least calluses were starting to form and her blisters to fade. She was more exhausted than she could ever remember being before in her life. When Marcus came and fetched her she was so grateful she almost could have kissed him. Marcus, on the other hand had no more than a brusque ‘good afternoon’ for Mulberry, before he took Aurelia in his arms. The little girl was happy to see him too; she giggled and clapped her fat little hands and babbled nonsense syllables at him. Mulberry followed two steps behind as they went into the camp.

 To Mulberry’s shock, the camp that had been set up was virtually identical to the one that they had left – the same two main thoroughfares at right angles, the same set-up of side paths and conduits, the same areas under guard or open for all to walk through. She had no idea that the imperial army was so organized as this. She helped Petro put up the tent – a much easier job than she expected. It was a simpler structure than her felt tent had been, and the canvas was comparatively light and manoeuvrable. Petro had chatted eagerly with her, seemingly dying to have someone to talk to. By the time the tent was set up, Mulberry had heard about Petro’s big sister and her annoying children, and about how Marcus always got a ton of letters from home, and from his older brother, which made Petro jealous. While they worked, Marcus went off somewhere with the baby. It was apparently somewhere with water, as he came back with her clean and fresh-smelling and obviously just-bathed. It made Mulberry feel even more grungy, to hold the perfectly clean baby in her arms.