by Terry Mixon
At that moment, Kelsey stepped up and joined the conversation. “Julia.”
“Kelsey,” she responded with a wry smile. “I’ve been talking with our new friend and arranging for us to take possession of whatever horses can be captured. We’ll also take all the armor that we can salvage. In exchange, they can have everything in the tents.”
“That sounds like a good deal,” Kelsey agreed. “I’ll also open up the pinnaces so that they can look inside and determine if there’s anything they’d like to take with them. Though, we have some supplies there that we could carry on horses, so we get first pick of that.
“The horde will eventually manage to breach them. If there’s anything that you feel worthy of salvage, Miss Beauchamp, it’s yours. We’ll never be using these craft again.”
The other woman smiled slightly. “That’s quite generous of you. I believe there are likely several things that we would like to salvage. We can carry them on our remounts as we retreat. And my rank is captain. These men and women are my company: Beauchamp’s Bastards.”
That was… quite the name.
Beauchamp then stared at the two women. “I find myself quite curious as to the story behind your arrival here. It saddens me that I’m not going to hear the end of it. Perhaps there is further business we can conduct.”
Julia hadn’t ever heard a better opening than that. The other woman obviously wanted to make a deal that might involve getting them to safety, and at this point, they certainly needed a place to go.
“As it happens, we’re not going to be able to get away from the horde unless we have some local assistance. I suggest that we accompany you to a location that is convenient and safe.”
“We’ve got other people about five kilometers from here,” Kelsey interjected. “They’ll be moving within the next hour. At least the ones that have horses.
“They were attacked as well and recovered about fifty horses. With the ones we have here, that should be enough for almost everyone to ride doubled up, but they won’t know how to do so very well.
“Let me be clear. They won’t know how to ride at all. Is it going to be possible for us to still get out of the horde’s territory in time to keep them from catching us?”
Beauchamp nodded. “My people have an outpost a day’s ride from here. My company was dispatched from there to salvage what we could from the crash. If your people are prepared to travel, and aren’t too slow, we should be able to reach the walls of the outpost by dusk tomorrow. If it was just my people, we’d be able to make it much sooner, but that should be enough time for your people. Barely.
“The horde will know roughly where we’re headed, but right now they don’t know that we’ve thrashed their forces. They’ll find out about the battles just before dark. They’ll respond with every warrior they have close at hand. For such a large force, they’re not going to want to travel while it’s dark.
“They’ll set out first thing in the morning, bringing remounts to pursue us with all the speed they can manage. It’s going to be close, but I believe that we can make it to our outpost before they do. Once we get behind its walls, you’ll be under our protection while we negotiate further agreements.”
“And the horde isn’t going to try to burn your city to the ground?” Julia asked.
“They’re welcome to try,” the other woman said grimly. “It has fixed emplacements of advanced weapons capable of killing any who come too close. If they could’ve destroyed that outpost before now, they would’ve already done so.
“This incident is going to anger them greatly, but I don’t believe it will change the balance of power all that much. In fact, the loss of the warriors they’ve had today will blunt them to a degree. They’ll still hate us, they’ll still want to kill us, but they won’t be able to do anything serious about it for now.”
Kelsey raised an eyebrow and gave her a slight nod. “I can provide whatever you want quickly, but in exchange, I’d like some of your remounts. That trade-off will allow us to make better time and still let my people all ride. The building where they’re at is almost directly back in the direction you came from, so we won’t lose much time going for them.”
Beauchamp considered that before slowly nodding. “I have some things that would make that agreement worthwhile. Let’s gather everything we want and get ready to move out. We will await your riders and then return for the rest of your people. Let’s not waste daylight.”
15
Kelsey watched Julia as she gave lessons to the marines about how to ride horses. She shook her head at the sight of the otherwise competent marines falling off horses and tried not to smirk.
Her amusement temporarily satisfied, she turned her attention back to where Captain Beauchamp’s people were quickly sorting through the equipment in the tents and deciding what they could take and what they’d have to leave behind for the horde.
They obviously wanted to take everything, but circumstances weren’t going to allow that. The horde would be here sometime tomorrow. If they wanted something other than what they’d asked Kelsey to find for them from the pinnaces or the camp, they’d need to take it with them today.
She’d consulted with Talbot and Jared as soon as she’d been able to, and some of them were on their way to the camp even now. Once they arrived, they’d pack what they could and then head back for the rest.
With the horses, it would be possible to take their powered armor with them, though it would have to be packed away. That would be extremely helpful. Still, with all of the antiarmor weapons that the horde seemed to have, they were far from a panacea.
They’d have to be extremely careful about how they fought the locals because they didn’t have that many marines and they were all her friends. She didn’t want to lose a single one of them. They’d gotten lucky in their first fight. Damned lucky.
With their improved ability to carry supplies, she’d selected a lot of extra food from inside the pinnaces. The extra rations would drastically improve their ability to move quickly, at least for now. If they had to stop and hunt, enemies might catch them.
With horses, that equation changed. If they could parlay the other gear into more horses and some assistance, they might be able to get to the Imperial Palace in a couple of months rather than half a year.
Captain Beauchamp interrupted her introspection when she stepped up beside her. “My people have selected what we’re going to take from the tents. We should be loaded in the next twenty minutes. Are you going to be ready?”
Kelsey nodded. “We’ve already gathered some extra food. We don’t have those oversized cargo bags that you do, so we’re doing the best we can to get it all loaded. It’s nice to have more supplies, but it’s a little unwieldy right now.”
The other woman pursed her lips and nodded. “Traveling long distances can be challenging. It’s all a balance between taking everything you need while not carrying too much. Larger saddlebags and using dedicated pack animals would improve your speed. Looking at your people, I’m not certain that you’re going to notice much of a difference right now. Forgive me for saying so, but they are terrible riders.”
Kelsey was forced to agree. “Thankfully, they’re getting a good bit of education from my sister, and they’ll manage to figure it out. None of them are stupid. They’re going to be slow in the beginning, especially doubled up, but I believe that we can get them moving at a decent pace.
“If we can get your people to assist us in poking them to change behaviors that they shouldn’t be doing, I think that will speed us up even more. Riding along and telling someone don’t do that, do this, and showing them an example. Like I said, they’re bright. They’ll figure it out.”
“Having spoken to both your sister and you, I have to say that you’re an odd pair,” the other woman said. “I’ve met twins before, and they often have relatively different personalities. I suppose it comes from wanting to make one’s self different from someone that looks just like themselves.
“The two of you seem inseparably close. You use a lot of the same turns of phrase, your opinions on things are often very similar, and it’s eerie how difficult it is to tell the difference between the two of you. Even with twins, one can usually tell which is which with a little time.
“With you two, I’m never certain. Each of you has peculiar quirks that I’m starting to pick up on, but you also have some that are identical. That’s unusual.”
Kelsey grinned. “Let’s just say that we spent a lot of time together when we were younger, and our experiences only really diverged when we were adults. You’ll find that Julia and I can be reliably the same in a lot of ways, and then you’ll run into a landmine where our opinions are completely different.”
“A landmine? As in bombs planted in the ground? Thankfully, I’ve never run into any of those, though I have read about some in the texts put together by our ancestors during the guerrilla wars.”
Kelsey really wanted to ask more about that. That history hadn’t been in any of the data banks, either for the Old Empire or even the Rebel Empire. The AIs had perpetuated the myth that Terra was still a civilized world, never allowing word that they’d bombed it a century or more ago to get out.
Learning how they’d fought the AIs and been successful enough that the computers had written them off would be fascinating. There were probably hundreds of tales of derring-do that she could use to distract the people making those idiotic vids about her on Pentagar. If she could get them interested in the siege of Terra, then she could have her life back.
“I’d really like to learn more about that,” she said. “It sounds fascinating. Maybe once I have us ready to move out, we can talk more. With our people about to arrive, I need to get the last of the food packed so that it won’t take too long to get everyone out of here.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then,” the other woman said, shooting her an oddly casual salute with two fingers to her forehead before rejoining her people.
Kelsey took the next several minutes to make sure that the marines knew that they needed to wrap things up. She didn’t want to delay their departure any longer than necessary. By the time they reached the outpost, every minute might count.
She’d heard about the aftermath of Jared’s battle. The horde had managed to damage the building where they’d been hiding, killed six people, and wounded fourteen others. Thankfully, the wounds were within Lily Stone’s capabilities, and everyone could still ride.
Talbot hadn’t directly said so, but she suspected that Jared had been involved in the fighting, and part of her approved. Her brother was a little too restrained when it came to personal combat. Put him on the bridge of a warship and the man would fight like nobody’s business, but slap a gun in his hands and he became reticent. A good commander needed to learn how to fight on the ground, in the air, and in space.
She didn’t consider herself a leader in that mold, but she was working on it. He, on the other hand, was a genius when it came to fighting spaceships. If she could expand his capabilities with ground fighting, he’d be one of those people that could do anything up to and including commanding marines in action.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Corporal Boske stepped up. “We’re done, Colonel. We’ve bagged everything we can, and the marines have stripped off their armor. Everything is packed away, and our people are ready to travel.
“Captain Beauchamp’s people will help us guide the extra horses, since even once the rest of our people get here, we don’t have the skills to make it work. They should be here in ten minutes, and we can move out.
“Do we have any idea how we’re going to handle this on the way back to the building? Watching my people attempt to ride horses is a comedy of errors. I can only imagine what the Fleet personnel and scientists are going to look like. Can you imagine Carl Owlet trying to ride?”
Kelsey could, and the vision made her laugh. “We’ll figure it out. Mount up. Let’s join Beauchamp’s Bastards and get the hell out of here as soon as Jared and the others get here.”
16
Talbot struggled to stay in the saddle while simultaneously glaring at Carl, who rode easily beside him, moving as if he’d been riding horses for years. “How the hell do you know how to ride a horse? Better yet, how did you make friends with that mean bastard you’re on?”
Carl gave him an insulted glance. “Buttercup isn’t mean, he’s just misunderstood.”
“Buttercup?” Talbot asked incredulously, feeling his eyebrows rise toward his hairline. “I’m pretty sure that horse is a dude. And a major hardcase, based on the marine he almost stomped after he threw him. The bastard is vindictive.”
“The name is kind of an inside joke,” Carl said with a grin. “I’ll wager Kelsey gets it right off. My mother sent me to a camp when I was a kid because I had difficulty socializing. It was a nice break from all of the tutoring and studying, so I didn’t mind too much, even if it meant I had to deal with other people. The instructors said I had a real talent for riding, they taught me all the tricks they knew, and I soaked it up. Up until we went on the expedition, I still rode every chance that I got.
“As for Buttercup, he and I have come to an agreement. I’m not sure what kind of relationship he had with his previous rider, but I showed him who’s boss. The trick is making sure that you’re the master of the situation and that the horse can’t smell your fear. Frankly, it’s better not to be afraid at all.”
He raised an eyebrow Talbot. “You’re not afraid, are you, Talbot? You look kind of nervous to me.”
Talbot scowled at the insult. The fact that it was somewhat true was just an added irritant. The big beast he was riding seemed determined to test him at every opportunity and had already tossed him off twice.
These horses had to be trained to obey commands, but only a few of them knew what did what. Worse, everyone was ham-handed with the reins, and that just seemed to make the beasts cranky. There was nothing like having a horse take off into a gallop when you least expected it, leaving you hanging on for dear life.
At least Carl had been able to help them. He’d gone from person to person, giving them what instruction he could to help them at least stay in the saddle. If they were going to make it back to the camp and then move out with the experienced riders, they were going to have to know at least a little about how to keep up.
Having most of them doubled up wasn’t helping. Nothing to be done about it though. They only had so many horses, and they couldn’t leave anyone behind.
From what Kelsey had said, the woman leading the force at the camp was going to task some of her people to help teach them what they needed to know, so that they could get to the outpost before the horde caught up with them.
Based on what he could see of their performance so far, his people were going to need all the help they could get.
No matter how this worked out, it was terrifying to think that they had to count on these unruly creatures to make it to safety. He wasn’t sure that any amount of instruction was going to do them any good over the short term. They were lucky that no one had been injured falling off the horses. Yet.
He glanced over at where Doctor Stone was overseeing the wounded. All of them could ride, though none of them was one hundred percent. Grisham, the worst of the wounded, had his left arm bound tightly to his chest.
They’d selected what seemed to be the most pliable of the warhorses for the wounded and put someone solid behind them. That seemed to be working out so far, as the animals looked as if they were sensing their riders’ injuries and going a little easy.
And, Carl had a few extra people to help show them the ropes. Elise and Olivia knew how to ride, though the warhorses were more than a bit challenging for even them.
Kelsey and Julia also knew how to ride, so technically they had five experienced riders, but that wasn’t nearly enough for over a hundred people. He’d gratefully accepted the strangers’ help getting them to the outpost because he didn’t want to see any more of his peop
le die.
Just having to bury the six that had already fallen burned his soul. Kelsey hadn’t been able to do anything with the marine that had been killed at the camp. Some tasks were just too hard to do under these conditions.
If they survived, Talbot had sworn to see them properly interred at the Spire on Avalon. If any of them made it off this cursed world.
Even as he was thinking that, they came over a low rise and he saw the camp spread out below them. There was a beehive of activity still taking place, and he also noted the lines of dead and the captured prisoners still huddled together under guard.
None of the prisoners at the building had seemed inclined to speak, so they’d cut them loose, on foot, and with no weapons or armor. They’d undoubtedly rejoin their friends within a couple of days and that would mean they’d fight them again, but they couldn’t exactly take the captives with them.
Kelsey must’ve noted their approach because she rode out to meet them. As she got closer, she angled over toward Talbot and soon matched his slow pace, grinning at him.
“So, how do you enjoying riding?” she asked cheerfully.
“Don’t you start with me,” he warned. “My ass is already hurting like a bitch.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Carl said smugly. “By nightfall, it’ll be completely numb. And tomorrow? Oh, you are going to be in such pain.”
Talbot narrowed his eyes at his friend and considered spooking his horse, but the little bastard would probably maintain control of the beast and then smirk at him.
How that scientist boy could smirk. It was so unfair.
He forced his attention back to his wife. “How are things here? Are you ready to go?”
Kelsey nodded. “Everything’s packed. We’ve loaded up every horse we could catch and have all the food we could gather already loaded. We should be ready to go inside fifteen minutes, and then we’ll head back for the rest.
