Parno's Gambit: The Black Sheep of Soulan: Book 3

by N. C. Reed

  “Fine,” he assured her with a nod. “I'm surprised to see you. I had assumed you would be with the forces giving chase to the enemy.”

  “Why?” she acted surprised.

  “It's what you wanted,” he shrugged. “As I said, it was merely an assumption. Your father was here a bit earlier but he's made his way down now, I believe.”

  “I didn't come to see my father,” she told him. “I came to apologize,” the words came hard for her.

  “For what?” he turned again, looking at her.

  “You know what for,” she almost huffed before getting herself under control. “For making such a scene before. For saying what I did.”

  “Ah. That,” he nodded, once more turning his attention to the view before him. “There's no need to apologize for expressing your true feelings,” he assured her. “If that's truly how you feel then it's better I know it now, wouldn't you say?”

  That statement caught Winnie by surprise.

  “I just wanted to help,” she tried to keep any anger from her voice. Her temper was a failing she was all too aware of. “I wanted to help protect this place.”

  “You did,” he nodded, still not looking back. “Was it everything you had hoped it would be?” he asked solicitously. There was no rancor in his tone, no trace of anything other than simple interest.

  “I didn't hope for anything,” she told him flatly. “I wanted to help.”

  “Are you at least satisfied that you did so?” he turned once more to look at her. “Do you feel that you've finally made the contribution that you wanted to make?”

  “Why are you being like this?” she asked rather than answer. “I told you I came to apologize. I shouldn't have said what I did, Memmnon, and I'm sorry for it.”

  “What am I being like?” he looked and sounded puzzled. “I just asked a question, that's all. And if you feel you need my forgiveness then of course you have it,” he nodded. “I do not see that you need it but won't argue the point. How did your Ladies Auxiliary do?” he asked. “I noted at least a few on the front wall along with you.”

  “They did fine,” Winnie said softly. “Scared but did their duty. Some were a little green faced after the dead Nor were left in front of us all day,” she admitted. “I didn't care for it myself.”

  “I suppose after this we should extend that training to everyone,” he turned again to look at his burning city. “If they can attack here, they can certainly attack anywhere else. We'll need to create a training program for that sort of thing in all the major cities that the Nor might reach with such an attack. Many of the efforts taken here would be useful in those cities as well I should think.”

  “Is it going to be like this from now on?” Winnie asked.

  “I don't know,” he shrugged. “They have never done anything like this. Never had the horsemen capable of raiding into our territory so deeply without their main army to sup-”

  “I don't mean the war, Memmnon,” she cut him off slightly sharper than she actually meant to. “I mean us. Are we going to be like this from now on?”

  “What are we being like?” Memmnon turned a puzzled face to her. “I don't understand.”

  “I feel like you're punishing me,” Winnie admitted. “For going against your wishes.”

  “Would that do any good?” he asked her. “I can't see that it would myself, which means there's no real point. And I'm not much of the punishing type to be honest,” he shrugged. “Just not my way, I suppose. You did as you wanted, and I suspect you will do so in the future regardless of any request I might make of you. As for punishment, I don't see what I've done or am doing that you would think of as punishment.” He turned yet again to the sight below him.

  “At the moment I'm watching the city I grew up in burn,” he told her. “That and the loss of so much is really all that I was thinking of at the moment. Grateful for the fact that I've had no reports of any losses to our people other than minor injuries to be sure. That is the only bright spot I can see. As bad as this is,” he waved his arm at the scene before him, “it could have been much worse. I am thankful that it was not.”

  “Are you telling me you aren't angry with me?” Winnie asked him then.

  “I was never angry,” he told her. “I was afraid. Terrified would probably be a better word, really. Terrified that something would happen to you and there was nothing I could do about it other than try to keep you safe, which you would not allow,” he shrugged. “I wasn't angry then, nor am I angry now. Do not seek to project your reactions on to me, Winifred,” he told her flatly.

  “My reactions?” she huffed despite herself.

  “When things don't go your way, your respond with anger,” he nodded. “I can't afford to do so. I am not allowed to be angry, or anything else for that matter that might affect my judgment or my ability to rule. That includes being angry at you for placing yourself in harm's way, no matter how it may affect me. I watched my father rule in anger, and allowed it to influence me far too much. I know what an angry monarch can do, what damage he can cause.”

  “Thus, I cannot allow myself to be angry,” he explained. “I was angry with my sister and issued orders that will likely see her and Therron both dead if they are not already. Justified? Yes. But still done in anger. I believe now I know why my father's heart was so weak,” he admitted. “Stress.”

  “I've caused you stress?” Winnie asked.

  “Of course you did,” he replied honestly. “How can I think of you down there, on that gate, and not be stressful over your safety? To even suggest otherwise is completely ridiculous. But if we are to be married it is something I will have to learn to live with,” he shrugged. “And I will.”

  “If?” Winnie felt her heart seize. “If we're to be married?”

  “You came here expecting a confrontation, and I have refused,” Memmnon told her. “If you follow the pattern you have established thus far, you will become angry, or at the very least indignant, and then you will blame me for that. After which you will try and use my affection for you to force concessions from me for whatever it is you believe I have done, real or imagined.”

  “So, I will cut to the chase, so to speak, and simply ask you what you want.” His tone was still as friendly and open as when he started.

  “You think I came here just to ask something of you?” she demanded angrily, not realizing she was doing exactly as he had just predicted.

  “Anger,” he held up one finger but said nothing else.

  “And whose fault is it if I'm angry?” she shot back, only to see a second finger raised in silence.

  “If you thin-” she started, then stopped abruptly as she finally realized what she was doing. Memmnon raised a single eyebrow and looked at her.

  “I think. . .what?” he asked.

  “I…I'm sorry,” she said softly, her face having fallen into a look of almost pain. “I didn't know I did that,” she admitted. “Never paid no-any, intention,” she sighed. “Why do you put up with me anyhow?” she asked, eyes now damp if not wet with tears. “Why?”

  “Because I love you,” he shrugged, as if that was all the reason he needed. And for him, it likely was.

  “I'll do better,” she promised suddenly, laying her bow aside and wrapping both arms around one of his. “I promise I'll do better.”

  “Don't make promises you can't keep, Winnie,” Memmnon stroked her hair softly, rubbing the back of her head. “I'm not asking for any, you know.”

  “I'll keep it,” she said so solemnly that it caught him by surprise. “I will.”

  ~*~

  Wilbanks and his men hit the battle field just as Baxter's men were pulling across the bridge. He desperately wanted to pursue, but one look at the city burning all around them made him realize where his duty was.

  “Third Brigade!” he called out, “Secure the bridge, scouts out! The rest of you on the fires! Be watchful for enemy wounded and holdouts!”

  His men fell in, assisting those already pouring from the pa
lace fortifications to fight the fires. Soulan had specially fitted wagons that could be operated by hand to pump water onto the fires and these were now brought from their stations all over the city to areas where fires were raging out of control.

  Oxen, draft horses, even war mounts were pressed into service to haul tanks of water from the river to feed these pumps. Soon nearly ten thousand men and women were fighting fires all over the city.

  This was the scene Pierce and his men rode into roughly twenty minutes after Wilbanks arrived. Pierce sat looking at the city for a moment, wallowing in his complete and total defeat.

  “Sir?” Whit pressed in. “Orders?” Pierce just looked at him.

  “Sir, do we assist with the fires?” Whit asked, trying to keep any of the men from seeing him like this.

  “Yes,” Pierce nodded. “We'll head down to the plaza, there,” he pointed. “Someone there is likely in charge and will know where we can do the most good. Let's be about it!” he said firmly for all around him to hear. He sounded calm and sure, but was anything but as he looked at the devastation around him.

  This was his fault.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  -

  It took a day-and-a-half to get the fires under control. Not out, just under control. There were still fires burning in a half-dozen places as night fell the day after the Nor had departed. Four were fires centered around storehouses, the other two were business district buildings that had once housed dry goods merchants. Those fires had spread to the blocks around them thanks in part to the debris placed around them by Imperial soldiers. Soaked in any kind of accelerate the enemy troopers had been able to find, they had kindled quickly as the fires had spread even after they had abandoned their efforts.

  As night did fall, weary troopers made bivouac inside the spacious palace grounds in the empty barracks and in some cases on the grounds. Uniforms were washed clean of soot and grime, horses cared for and men were able to bathe.

  The King's Own and Palace Guard along with hundreds of civilians were all still working to put out the fires, but the combat units were exhausted and had to rest.

  “Report?” Chad looked at Hildebrand who had been to the hospital.

  “Forty-two dead, one hundred twelve wounded,” the normally upbeat major sighed. “Thirty-eight will likely not serve again. Twenty-nine are slight enough to ride north with us in three days time. The rest are varied, but should be able to return to duty at some point.”

  “Not bad considering the odds,” Chad's own sigh echoed his second's. “Enemy losses?”

  “Three hundred ninety-one left on the battlefield where we engaged them,” Hildebrand consulted his notes. “Another two hundred and change left scattered around the city with dysentery and what not from eating tainted meat left for them by the Agriculture Minister,” he smirked. “All dead now,” he added darkly. The Black Flag was still in effect, and after this it was sure to stay that way.

  “I 'll get a report written up, we 'll need a courier by light,” Chad mentioned.

  “Royal Courier will be leaving at sunrise,” Hildebrand nodded. “I'd recommend against that at the moment,” he added after a pause. “We don't know where that bunch is and for all we know they can cross the river somewhere. Anything vital in those dispatches would fall into enemy hands.”

  “Marshal has to know what's happened,” Chad shook his head. “We 'll have to chance it. We 'll send a squad if we have to, but I've always heard that the Royal Couriers are better mounted than we are. Might just slow him down.”

  “Probably,” his second agreed. “I 'll finish the tally and have it to you in a few minutes, then see when and where to meet the courier in the morning.”

  ~*~

  “Colonel, you've been a great help to me these last few weeks,” Pierce told Whit as he accepted Whit's report. “I thank you for that.”

  “You sound like we're done here, sir,” Whit frowned.

  “Oh, I suspect you and your men will remain to either protect the city or the approaches to it so nothing like this can happen again, but I expect to be relieved. No matter how you view this, I was responsible for preventing this and I didn't get the job done. Like it or not, this is on me.”

  “Sir, I can't see it that way,” Whit shook his head. “We did everything right, sir. Sometimes the enemy gets it right too, you know. And your timely warning sent here prevented the city from being caught completely unaware, saved no telling how many lives, and protected the Sovereign. That's not nothing, sir.”

  “Nor is it likely enough,” Pierce smiled tiredly. “But I do appreciate it, Colonel. Are your men getting everything they need?” he changed the subject.

  “Food and a chance to clean up and rest was about all they needed, sir,” Whit nodded. “Other commands are doing the same. We could be ready to ride by morning, sir,” he hinted.

  “They have two days on us already, Colonel,” Pierce replied. “That's a long chase.”

  “They also have a great many men who are too sick to ride far at a time, sir,” Whit reminded him. “We could still catch them and do them harm.”

  “I will consult with the others and see what the consensus is,” Pierce promised. “I am to meet with General Wilbanks and Colonel Chad in a few minutes, as well as representatives of the King's General Staff. I'm sure it will be a lively discussion.”

  ~*~

  “We made good time today,” Whipple said as he and Beaumont shared a fire.

  “Not bad,” Beaumont agreed. “Figure three-and-a-half weeks, give or take, to put us at Cove Canton. By then the courier chain should have reached the Marshal. Might have orders waiting for us by then.”

  “You think he 'll want us back to raiding, or waiting to see what happens from the east?” Whipple asked.

  “You know that kind of thinking better than me, Horace,” Beaumont shrugged. “I honestly don't know. I don't see what the CPC can do for Therron in all honesty. Wasn't for Soulan, they'd be part of the Empire anyway.”

  “Therron is a silver-tongued devil, Buford, don't ever forget that,” Whipple warned grimly. “If there's a chance in hell to get help out of the Coasties, he can find it never doubt.”

  “I don't,” Beaumont nodded. “Nothing we can do about it right now, though,” he added. “Messages to Admiral Semmes and the Marshal are about all we can do. And not knowing how bad the Fleet got hurt before, there may not be anything Semmes can do about it neither.”

  “We' 'll know soon enough I should think,” Whipple agreed.

  ~*~

  “We should send every man we can muster after the enemy at first light!” the aging general at the head of the map table insisted. “We cannot allow this to go unpunished.”

  “It hasn't,” Stang shook his head. “Over half their force are near dead with dehydration and dysentery according to the men left behind. And there was plenty of evidence of it left as well,” he grimaced. Several buildings that had escaped the fires set by the enemy had to be destroyed because of that 'evidence'. Heathen bastards.

  “That isn't enough,” Brock shook his head. “We need to run these bastards down and kill them while they're weak!”

  “General, need I remind you there are fires still burning in this city even as we speak?” Memmnon spoke calmly but firmly. “That there are thousands of people that will be day after tomorrow be flooding back into this city and that many of them will no longer have a place to live or to work? That we lost fully half the stores that had been stockpiled here for both the war effort as well as feeding the people here? We have plenty enough problems without sending our most able men off to chase a sick and retreating enemy.”

  “They have achieved a victory here, but we need not give them more of one,” he ended flatly.

  “I don't see how chasing them down and killing them is giving them anything other than the taste of southern steel!” the old general spoke again. General Turnbow had been among Tammon's most trusted advisers, and was not taking his loss of that status well. Mem
mnon did not listen to him as Tammon had. Or Therron.

  “General, I think I have made myself clear on this,” Memmnon looked at him sharply. “We have sent a scouting party in pursuit to make sure they are headed out of our territory. Messages received from them so far indicate that our enemy is suffering. Many of them no doubt will perish without medical attention they won't be able to get short of returning to their own lines. Our men are tired. Some have been in the saddle for days before arriving here and immediately fighting either the enemy or the fires, and in some cases both.”

  “We do not have so many soldiers and horses that we can afford to throw them away in chasing after an enemy that is already beaten. And many of the men now here are needed far more desperately at the front than they are here.” He paused, looking around the table.

  “I propose to send Brigadier Pierce and his men back into the central province north of the river day after tomorrow to resume their patrols and interdiction. They served us well in this instance and will continue to do so I believe. General Wilbanks and Colonel Chad will at the same time be taking their own commands to link up with the army and my brother. With two Corps out of the line for refit and training he can use all the help he can get.”

  “We will increase the training of unorganized militia here in the city, and will also be spreading that initiative to other cities as well. Every able-bodied man and woman who can draw a bow will be taught to do so, and shoot it. Every city will erect a fortification such as this one for their citizens to retreat to in the event of either a raid or an actual attack. This will take time of course, but the time will pass regardless of how we use it.”

  “In the meantime, we will mobilize what we can here to rebuild the city and replenish our stores as we can. We must look to the winter and be prepared. Our army must be kept supplied or we will fall. That is not an option, gentlemen.”

  “I do not believe Brigadier Pierce can be trusted with such orders,” Turnbow shook his head. “Had he done his job in the first place, this attack would not have been possible. It was obviously a mistake to give him such a command and he should be replaced immediately. I propose-”