But she understood something completely different: The enemy has given orders not to harm me. And these soldiers are so well trained and disciplined that they are obeying the order.
The force opposing them was not huge—the firepower wasn't overwhelming. But most of her soldiers weren't shooting at all. How could they? They couldn't see a target to shoot at. And the enemy would concentrate its fire on any force that tried to leave the road and get up the hills to sweep over the enemy lines.
As far as she could see, if any of the enemy had died, it was by accident.
I am Varus, she thought. I have led my troops, as Varus led the Roman Legions, into a trap, where we will all die. Die without even damaging the enemy.
What was I thinking? This terrain was made for ambush. Why didn't I see that? Why was I so sure the enemy couldn't attack us here? Whatever you're sure the enemy can't do, but which would destroy you if they did it anyway, you must plan to counter. This was elementary.
No one from Ender's Jeesh would have made such a mistake.
Alai knew. He had warned her from the start. Her troops weren't ready for such a campaign. It would be a slaughter. And here they were now, dying all around her, the whole highway thick with corpses. Her men had been reduced to piling up the dead as makeshift bulwarks against enemy fire. There was no point in her issuing commands, because they would not be understood or obeyed.
And yet her men fought on.
Her cellphone rang.
She knew at once that it was the enemy, calling her to ask her to surrender. But how could they know her cellphone number?
Was it possible that Alai was with them?
"Virlomi."
Not Alai. But she knew the voice.
"This is Suri."
Suriyawong. Were these FPE troops? Or Thai? How could Thai troops get across Burma and all the way up here?
Not Chinese troops at all. Why was it suddenly so clear now? Why hadn't it been clear before, when Alai was warning her? In their private talks, Alamandar said it would all work because the Russians would have the Chinese army fully involved in the north. Whichever attack Han Tzu defended against, the other side would be able to rampage through China. Or if he tried to fight both, then each would destroy that part of his army in turn.
What neither of them had realized was that Han Tzu was just as capable of finding allies as they were.
Suriyawong, whose love she had spurned. It felt like so many years ago. When they were children. Was this his vengeance, because she had married Alai instead of him?
"Can you hear me, Vir?"
"Yes," she said.
"I would rather capture these men," he said. "I don't want to spend the rest of the day killing them all."
"Then stop."
"They won't surrender while you're still fighting. They worship you. They're dying for you. Tell them to surrender, and let the survivors go home to their families when the war is over."
"Tell Indians to surrender to Siamese?"
As soon as she said it, she regretted it. Once she had cared first for the lives of her men. Now, suddenly, she found herself speaking out of injured pride.
"Vir," said Suri. "They're dying for nothing. Save their lives."
She broke the connection. She looked at the men around her, the ones that were alive, crouching behind piles of their comrades' bodies, searching for some kind of target out in the trees, up the slopes ... and seeing nothing.
"They've stopped shooting," said one of her surviving officers.
"Enough men have died for my pride," said Virlomi. "May the dead forgive me. I will live a thousand lives to make up for this one vain, stupid day." She raised her voice. "Lay down your weapons. Virlomi says: Lay down your weapons and stand up with your hands in the air. Take no more lives! Lay down your weapons!"
"We will die for you, Mother India!" cried one of the men.
"Satyagraha!" shouted Virlomi. "Bear what must be borne! Today what you must bear is surrender! Mother India commands you to live so you can go home and comfort your wives and make babies to heal the great wounds that have been torn in the heart of India today!"
Some of her words and all of the meaning of her message were passed up and down the highway of corpses.
She set the example by raising her hands and walking out beyond the wall of bodies, into the open. Of course no one shot at her, because no one had during the whole battle. But soon others joined her. They lined up on the same side of the corpse wall that she had chosen, leaving their weapons behind them.
From out of the trees on both sides of the highway, wary Thai soldiers emerged, guns still at the ready. They were covered with sweat and the frenzy of killing was only just leaving them.
Virlomi turned and looked behind her. Emerging from the trees on the other side of the road was Suriyawong. She walked back over the walls of corpses to meet him in the grass on the other side. They stopped when they were three paces apart.
She gestured up and down the road. "So. This is your work."
"No, Virlomi," he said sadly. "It's yours."
"Yes," she said. "I know."
"Will you come with me to tell the other two armies to stop fighting? They'll only give up when you tell them to."
"Yes," she said. "Now?"
"Phone them and see if they obey. If I try to lead you away right now, these soldiers will take up arms again to stop me. For some reason they still worship you."
"In India we worship the Destroyer along with Vishnu and Brahma."
"But I never knew that you served Shiva," said Suriyawong.
She had no answer for him. She used her cellphone and made the calls. "They're trying to stop the men from fighting."
Then there was silence between them for a while. She could hear the barked commands of the Thai soldiers, forming her men into small groups and beginning their march down the valley.
"Aren't you going to ask about your husband?" said Suri.
"What about him?"
"Are you so sure your Muslim co-conspirators killed him, then?"
"Nobody was going to kill him," she said. "They were only going to confine him until after the victory."
Suri laughed bitterly. "You spent this long fighting the Muslims, Vir, and you still don't understand them any better than that? This isn't a chess game. The person of the king is not sacred."
"I never sought his death."
"You took away his power," said Suri. "He tried to stop you from doing this and you plotted against your own husband. He was a better friend to India than you ever were." His voice cracked with passion.
"You cannot say anything to me that's crueler than what I am now saying to myself."
"The girl Virlomi, so brave, so wise," said Suri. "Does she still exist? Or has the goddess destroyed her too?"
"The goddess is gone," said Virlomi. "Only the fool, only the murderer remains."
A field radio crackled at his waist. Something was said in Thai.
"Please come with me now, Virlomi. One army is surrendering, but the other shot the officer you telephoned when he tried to give the order."
A chopper approached them. Landed. They got on.
In the air, Suriyawong asked her, "What will you do now?"
"I'm your prisoner. What will you do?"
"You're Peter Wiggin's prisoner. Thailand has joined the Free People."
She knew what that would mean to Suriyawong. Thailand—even the name meant "land of the free." Peter's new "nation" had coopted the name of Suriyawong's homeland. And now, his homeland would no longer be sovereign. They had given up their independence. Peter Wiggin would be master of all.