Parno's Peril

by N. C. Reed

  Had he not added 'their duty' he might have won Baxter over right there. But he did.

  “Sir, my men are not, when used correctly and given the proper support, 'incapable' of doing their duty,” Baxter almost visibly fumed.

  “Poor choice of words,” Wilson raised a hand in supplication. “I should have said 'incapable of carrying out that assignment'. The question remains just the same, however.”

  “Will the infantry train carry proper supplies for my men and horses with them?” Baxter asked.

  “Yes,” Wilson nodded. “Forage, rations, even the blacksmith units assigned to their corps, and I will ensure that General Venable gives you their complete cooperation.”

  “Then... probably,” Baxter nodded. “Three complete days of rest will go a long way to restoring my men's health and strength. As to the horses... I don't know,” he admitted. “It may be that we can field enough horses for one full division but not all the troops at my disposal. But that's better than nothing. Assuming we can get the horses ready, then we can probably make that. And get the job done.”

  “Then see to your men,” Wilson ordered. “I’ll have Sterling make sure you can get anything you need from the Quartermaster without argument or beating around the bush. And the order will go out this evening for all blacksmiths to lend their complete effort to seeing that your mounts are properly ready for duty in the field. You will report back in four days with your estimate of readiness.” He decided to soften his tone slightly to try and mollify Baxter.

  “I did make a mistake sending you out unprepared this last time, and that was mostly due to my anger with Stone,” he said quietly. “That is not to say he deserved it but nevertheless it was there. He made the argument that you could not be ready to move and I said he would do it or I would find someone who could. Your men would have gone regardless, just with someone like Weir in command instead of Stone.”

  “I need this move to take place, and I need it soon. Just delaying this six days may make the entire operation fail, but it can't be helped. I put us in this position so I have to bear the responsibility and I will. I will also do all that I can to rectify it, starting tonight. Go, rest and eat. Let your men get cleaned up. I will send over enough beer from the Quartermaster to help them have a good evening of it, though I expect you to keep them in check. Meanwhile, I will start doing the things I've promised. I will see you in four days time. Say, one hour before evening mess.”

  “Yes sir,” Baxter saluted and Wilson straightened and returned it. Without another word Baxter spun on his heels and left, leaving Wilson feeling as if he'd just bearded a lion in its den.

  “Sterling!”

  -

  Six days. Venable read the note and shook his head in disbelief. All this running and scurrying about and now six days while the cavalry 'rested'. He tossed the note down on his desk and sat down wearily. At least this would give him more time to prepare his own men.

  He had already planned to carry stores for the cavalry contingent but would use his latest orders to gather still more in the way of supplies for both the horse soldiers and his own. The more he studied his orders and the overall situation around him, the less at ease he felt. The more stores and equipment he could have on hand, the better. Since he'd been given this extra time, he would make the best use of it he could.

  -

  A day of rest had helped more than just the exhausted troopers, it seemed. Well before the sun was fully up the wagon train was once more under way. Winnie chose to ride rather than use the carriage. It looked like it would be a pretty day and the dust had settled thanks to the brief light rain the night before last.

  She had never been so far west and the heat and humidity surprised her. It wasn't yet oppressive to those used to it, but for someone who had spent her entire life in the rugged mountains of the east, it was definitely different.

  True to Case's prediction they had been on the trail no more than an hour when they turned on to a well-maintained trade route headed west.

  “This is a good road,” she noted in passing when Case had rode beside her for a bit. “Where does it run?”

  “It actually runs to the Royal City and then on further east,” Case told her.

  “Really? Then why not use it all the way down?”

  “Because of the raid, milady,” Case replied gently. “We went as far south as we could without having to make two river crossings. As it is, we’ll have to make two on the return trip.”

  “Right,” Winnie nodded. He had hinted at that before but she had not thought it through.

  The trip into Cams Den was not a long one on such a good road and true to Case's prediction once more they hit the edge of the small settlement just before lunch. Scouts met them on the eastern edge to report the town still had some residents though others had reportedly fled already. There was a good camping location on the way out of town, west of the town itself but still on the route, with clean water and ample room for so many. Case ordered Conway to take half of First Company and follow the scouts to the location and claim it for the night.

  The train slowed on its way through town and let the residents get a good look. Winnie decided it was worth an extra day just to let people see soldiers in their part of the kingdom. It would bolster morale if nothing else. Case waved her over to where he was speaking to a small group of people just off the town square.

  “Milady this is Mayor Benton,” Case introduced her to a slightly balding middle-aged man with a short beard and politician's smile.

  “Welcome my lady,” Benton tried to kiss her hand be Winnie deftly prevented it by turning it into a handshake.

  “Thank you, mayor,” she smiled at him, though what she really wanted to do was wash her hands. “What a lovely town,” she added.

  “Thank you, milady,” he bowed slightly. “These gentlemen are the town aldermen,” he introduced three other men. “Alderman Brown, Alderman Wicket and Alderman Farris. Together we r- govern the town and area immediate surrounding it.”

  She suspected he was going to say 'rule' but thought better of it. She decided to ignore it for now.

  “I want to meet with your townspeople after lunch, Mayor,” she said instead. “If you could have a messenger make the rounds and ask everyone to attend it would make things go much faster and easier.”

  “Easier than what?” Benton's smile had faded.

  “Easier than my men doing it for you,” Winnie replied, maintaining her smile. “That would give them time to get settled and eat. I have an announcement to make and I'd like everyone there to hear it.”

  “Well, we could certainly ensure that everyone heard what you had to say,” Benton told her.

  “I can ensure it myself so long as you ensure that everyone is there,” Winnie held her ground. “Please see that they are. Now if you’ll pardon me I have duties to see to but we will return after lunch.” With that she spurred her horse on, leaving the greasy man behind. Case caught up to her perhaps two minutes later.

  “Was it just me or-”

  “It wasn't just you,” Case replied before she finished. “He's hiding something. He's as greasy as the kiddie pig on E-Day.”

  “Kiddie pig?” Winnie asked, puzzled.

  “Each year on Establishment Day there's a fair in Nasil,” Case explained. “One of the competitions for the younger crowd is to catch a baby pig coated in grease. The child who succeeds in catching the pig wins and is allowed to keep it.”

  “That's a good prize,” Winnie nodded. “Nice comparison too,” she made a face and Case chuckled.

  “He definitely doesn't want us around, and he really doesn't want us talking to the townspeople,” he said. “We’ll just have to see if we can flush out whatever it is he's hiding.”

  “Works for me.”

  -

  Anthony Felds was confused.

  Up until this morning the Imperial lines had shown all the signs of impending movement. Now, they had stopped. True there was still some movement, but
there had been a sense of urgency about the movements as late as yesterday afternoon that was gone now. He spent a good hour looking over the west flank of the Imperial position before crawling back out of sight to where his horse was picketed. Felds saddled his horse quickly and mounted up, heading to report in. Normally he didn't report when nothing was happening. This time, the report was that nothing was happening.

  Even though is seemed as though it should be.

  -

  “It's a beautiful morning,” Stephanie said as she sat out under the awning of Parno's tent.

  “It is, indeed,” he agreed as he read over a report. He heard Stephanie sigh in exasperation and looked up.

  “Harrel used to do this for me,” he semi-apologized. “Now, I have to do it for myself.”

  “You poor man,” Stephanie dead-panned. “So much hard work, whatever will you do,” she placed the back of her wrist to her forehead in theatrics.

  “Funny,” Parno nodded. “Funny,” he drew the word out. “Meanwhile, if I don't read this extremely important report from the Quartermaster regarding the apparent loss of up to five percent of the weight of the current herd of cattle held in readiness for slaughter as rations, the war effort may be adversely affected.”

  “You have to be joking,” she looked appalled at the waste of time.

  “Only about the war effort,” Parno sighed. “And if I don't reply, I’ll just get another report tomorrow 'reference my report, yesterday' and asking if I had seen said report and if so could I please advise him how to prevent the cattle from losing so much weight when all they're doing it standing around, chewing.”

  “You have to be exaggerating,” she looked really appalled now.

  “Such is the army that I have inherited,” Parno assured her.

  “My God, how do we not lose the war?” Stephanie was aghast. “How does anything ever get done!”

  “Very slowly, I assure you,” he answered her as he scratched out a reply and set it aside for an aide to deliver.

  “What did you tell him?” she asked.

  “Feed them better grass,” he shrugged. She looked at him for a moment then suddenly her head rocked back and peals of laughter rocked across the morning. He waited until she had managed to get her laughter under control before saying;

  “No, seriously.”

  He managed to read through three more reports before her laughter was under control again.

  -

  The town square filled slowly. Too slowly, Winnie thought for a town this size. According to Benton, very few if any of the townspeople had fled, believing that the Royal Army would prevent any further incursion by the Nor, as they had through history. It made a decent story and was fairly convincing, but Winnie had been fed a line of crap before and knew when she heard one.

  So did Case.

  “There aren't many women in this crowd,” he said quietly. “Young women I mean,” he added as a group of older women sat off to the side, acting as if they were fighting not to be noticed.

  “I want to know what the hell is going on around here,” she muttered back. “Have Lieutenant Fain and his men make a circuit through town and maybe the surrounding area, say a mile out of town. Anyone not here is to be pointed in this direction. Is that alright?” she asked him.

  “I would have suggested if you hadn't,” Case nodded his agreement. “There is something wrong here, milady. In time of war like this, the population of a town this small should be predominantly old men, which it is, and far more women they we're seeing. I see children,” he nodded toward a group of children playing together just off the square, “but not the women I'd expect to be watching them. It looks more as if their grandmothers are looking after them.”

  “Have Fain find out what's going on,” Winnie ordered. “And make sure Benton and his cohorts can't leave. I’ll try and keep everyone occupied. You left half of Rucker's men to guard the wagons?”

  “Yes,” Case nodded.

  “Have the other half maintain order here then,” she suggested. “By which I mean keep Benton and any of his lackeys under control,” she added wryly.

  “We’ll do just that, milady.”

  -

  Winnie wasn't a public speaker but having been placed in the position she was in, her education in recent weeks had been much better than before. As a result, so long as she concentrated, she could do fairly well. And these were working people she could identify with far more readily than the people in the palace.

  “You may or may not know it,” she told the assembled crowd, “but Nasil was raided just a couple weeks gone by now.” Starting with that proved to be a good idea as it brought her the riveted attention of most everyone over the age of twelve.

  “Imperial Cavalry riding down from the central highlands managed to get into the Royal City and burn a great deal of it. Not enough to destroy the city,” she stressed, “just enough to make a mess. They paid dearly for it as our own cavalry pretty much routed them from the city the next morning and sent them home hanging from the saddle.” That drew strained laughs from the crowd.

  “The thing is, though, that if they can do it there, they can do it anywhere,” Winnie went on. “Worse, the Nor have made a treaty of some kind with the tribes out west and their men are riding in some kind of alliance with the Imperials. More with those opposing Shelby than here, but there are still a large number of them running loose here on the western plains.” This caused a much greater stir among the people.

  “So, my project is to make sure that people can defend themselves in towns like this. I have Royal Engineers who can show you how to properly prepare a defensive position, soldiers who can tell you how to stock for a siege and how to fight one, and others who can lend what assistance they can in the time we have.”

  “The problem being that our time is limited,” she went on to explain. “So, I want the most experienced builders to meet with my engineers as soon as this meeting is over, and let them show you how to make this square, right here, the ideal place for you to defend yourself should a raid occur. Atop that, some of the men from our escort,” she indicated the soldiers who were slowly surrounding the crowd and didn't mention they were actually just her escort, “will be showing you rudimentary sword techniques that will let you be better able to defend yourselves. And finally,” she smiled, “myself and these ladies here,” she indicated her Auxiliary members, “will be showing the women of this town how to wield a bow effectively if they don't already know. That will let the women fight back instead of merely hoping that the men alone can prevent the town from being sacked in the event of a raid.”

  “What's that?” Benton said suddenly. “Women?”

  “Yes,” Winnie nodded. “Women. These ladies and myself assisted in repelling the attack on the palace in the Royal City, using the bow. The women of your town can do the same thing here. Just because women aren't part of the army doesn't mean they can't fight. And neither the Nor nor the Tribals will care that women aren't supposed to be fighters. That's a proven fact.”

  “No woman in this town is going to be taught to use any weapon whatsoever!” Benton erupted, his face red. His fellow 'aldermen' were standing with him, nodding their agreement. “We say what goes on here and not some... some...”

  “Some?” Winnie's voice was deceptively mild. “And are you saying that your orders outweigh those of the King himself?”

  “Absolutely our orders... what?” Benton shut himself down as her words registered.

  “Perhaps my escort commander didn't properly introduce me,” she smiled sweetly. “I am Winifred Hubel, fiancé and Queen-Designate of King Memmnon McLeod, leader of this expedition. It is on his own orders that we are conducting this training. Since you've chosen to oppose the King's orders, I have no choice but to place you under arrest for sedition. Lieutenant Garrett, could you have some of your men escort the good mayor and his aldermen to the local constabulary for confinement?”

  “Wait one damn minute-” she couldn't remember whi
ch alderman it was that started to object.

  “With extreme pleasure, milady,” the stone-faced Garrett nodded. He pointed to a junior sergeant who took the eleven men in his squad and surrounding the 'aldermen' and leading them away even as they continued their protests. Once they were gone, Winnie looked at the remaining people who stood in the square looking uncertainly at one another.

  “I want to know what the hell is going on in this town, and I want to know right now,” she said. Her voice was quiet, but every person in the square heard her. It took a minute for it to sink in that Benton and the others were no longer a threat to them. After that, it was like a breaking dam. First one, then two, and soon all of them were talking. All but five men at the rear of the group who were trying to edge away.

  “Stop them,” Winnie ordered and Garrett's men collapsed on the five before they could get more than ten yards.

  “Confine them with the others,” she instructed. “And get my secretary up here. We're going to need sworn statements, I think.”

  -

  “Milord,” Doak Parsons arrived after lunch.

  “Yes, Mister Parsons?” Parno smiled.

  “Sir, I've had a man sitting on the western flank of the Imperial line for three days now,” Parsons reported. “There's been a great deal of activity there, always just out of sight of where he could get to. Every day now for three days, he's caught glimpses of wagons being brought up in line and left sitting as well as large numbers of men on the move, but again always behind cover of trees as much as possible.”

  “Sounds as if they're going to make a move,” Parno nodded.

  “It stopped cold as of this morning, milord,” Parsons said simply. “Nothing. No activity at all. Either they've changed their minds...”

  “Or they're waiting for orders,” Parno finished, nodding. “Very well. Have it marked on the map and then ask him to keep a sharp eye on that area. Give him some help. Pull it from elsewhere if we have to. They may be going to make another westward movement, only in much greater force this time. Make sure we know when they leave or when there's any movement along their line.”