They moved on. When the squad were more or less in rhythm, and staring at nothing more than their boots or the mist ahead of it, Polly raised her right hand to chest height and carefully turned it palm up so that she could see the fragment of paper that had soggily stayed behind when the rest had been pulled away.
 
 "No Surrender" to Alliance says Duchess (97)
 
 From William de Worde
 
 Valley of the Kneck, Sektober 7.
 
 Borogrovian troops assisted by Lord V
 
 Light Infantry took Kneck Keep this mo
 
 after fierce hand-to-hand fig
 
 I write its armaments which
 
 are being turned on the remn
 
 Borogravian forces acr
 
 His Grace Commander Sir S
 
 told the Times that
 
 surrender had been rej
 
 view the enemy commande
 
 load of stiff-necked fools, don'
 
 in the paper."
 
 It is understoo
 
 desperate situ
 
 ¨Cspread fami
 
 across t
 
 No altern
 
 invas
 
 They were winning, weren't they? So where did the word "surrender" come from? And what was the Alliance?
 
 And then there was the problem of Strappi, which had been growing on her. She could see he got on Jackrum's nerves as well, and he had a struttiness about him, a certain¨C er... sockiness, as if he was really the one in charge. Perhaps it was just general unpleasantness, but...
 
 "Corporal?" she said.
 
 "Yes, Parts?" said Strappi. His nose was still very red.
 
 "We are winning this war, aren't we?" said Polly. She'd given up correcting him.
 
 Suddenly, every ear in the squad was listening.
 
 "Don't you bother yourself about that, Parts!" snapped the corporal. "Your job is to fight!"
 
 "Right, corp. So... I'll be fighting on the winning side, will I?"