The Far Side

by Wylie, Gina Marie

  At the sound, the lieutenant had looked, saw the gesture towards them and got up.

  “What is it, Sergeant?”

  “I think he wants to know if they are prisoners, Lieutenant.”

  “Of course they’re prisoners! Tell him they are prisoners of King Zod!”

  Honor, thought Melek. How do you find honor in something like this? If he tried to explain to Ezra, he couldn’t be sure if Ezra would attack. His own, personal, survival wasn’t what he worried about the most. If Ezra did have weapons, they weren’t at all like his or the lieutenant’s. Ezra had indicated that he could kill all of them in the time it would take for a man to turn around, before he could so much as pull his bow.

  If he tried to do what the lieutenant wished, he could be starting a war. Worse, if Ezra’s weapons were that much better than theirs, Melek could end up on the losing side. He doubted if King Zod would approve of that!

  He chose his words carefully. “Sir, they don’t have bows. This man, Ezra is his name I believe, isn’t a fool. If we have weapons and he doesn’t, I’m sure he knows his status, a man alone, facing seven with bows.”

  As if to make a liar out of him, there was a loud sound from the nursery chamber. All of the soldiers looked that way. Even Melek had a moment’s fear.

  Then the second woman came walking out, the short one, carrying something in her hand, hanging down.

  He tried to figure out what it was, even while the short one was talking to Ezra. Melek swallowed. The tall girl had clearly been superior, and now so was this one. Ezra was a bodyguard to nobles! That was the only thing that made sense! Who sent two noblewomen off alone with one male guard? No one -- at least, not on purpose!

  Ezra turned to him and gestured to what the woman carried. “Bow.”

  Melek looked at it again. A sword blade for a bow stave? Not! He shook his head.

  Ezra smiled. “Andie,” he said pointed to her. “Ezra,” he said, tapping his chest. “Melek,” he said pointing to Melek, and finally he pointed at the third member of his party. “Kris.” Worse, Ezra sketched a bow towards “Kris” and a lesser one towards “Andie.”

  Nobles! It was true! Everyone knew that if you had to take a noble prisoner, you did it gently, knowing that other nobles were jealous of their privileges, and that denying them was suicide!

  Ezra pointed towards the outside. “Andie. Bow. Practice.”

  “What’s he saying?” Menim asked. “I heard bow.”

  “The young woman is a noble, Lieutenant. She wants to practice with her bow, outside.”

  “Bow? That’s not a bow! I thought you said they didn’t have bows?”

  Melek wanted to kick the fool in the leg! What kind of an officer was it who didn’t realize she was carrying bits and pieces cobbled together from the middens? There was one thing left to him and really, what choice did he have?

  “Lieutenant, if you wish, I will tell her to surrender her bow. But, Lieutenant, she’s a noble. I’ll have to make the demand in your name, sir.”

  Menim looked at Melek like he’d taken leave of his senses. “It’s not a bow! She looks like a man!”

  Collum, from a few feet, behind spoke up. “The man bowed to both of them, Lieutenant. Sergeant Melek is right. The women are nobles.”

  Or, a further statement that commoners weren’t going to take actions against a noble unless it was in the name of another noble, however minor a noble that he might be.

  “Lieutenant,” Melek said confidently, trying to reassure his superior. “There is one way to find out if it’s a bow. Let her go outside and shoot. She is but one, sir. None of the others have anything that could be a bow. You can line up the men, and if she looks like a threat...”

  Yes, you stupid simpleton. Contemplate the fact that the only way we’ll shoot is on direct order from you. And that there was a good chance the men wouldn’t even if you did command it, not wanting to kill someone who looks like a child and is a woman on top of that.

  Menim pulled himself up. “Okay, but I don’t think that’s a bow, and I’m not sure that’s a woman.”

  Collum snorted, and there were a few guffaws from the other soldiers. Maybe the lieutenant didn’t recognize a woman when he saw one, but not so common soldiers.

  Worse, Ezra winked at Melek. Just what did that mean? Among his people, that meant a practical joke. A joke would be a really bad choice, just now!

  They filed outside. In spite of Menim’s orders to watch the woman, most of the men kept a wary eye on the sky as well.

  The young woman put one end of the device in the dirt and used an iron rod to pull on a flat length of metal. It didn’t move far, just an inch or two, but it bent the sword blade. Melek swallowed. It took a lot to bend a sword blade!

  The woman said something to Ezra who looked around. He pointed at the fake boulder. The woman nodded, placed an iron rod centered on the blade and lifted the device to her shoulder. There was a loud “clunk,” quite different than what they’d heard earlier.

  The iron rod was a gray streak, shooting across his field of view. There was an even odder sound as it hit the rock.

  Most of the men had missed the flight of the iron rod, but all were looking at the rock. The young woman, Ezra in tow, went and stood in front of the rock. Melek came up and swallowed hard again as saw what had happened to the iron rod.

  The rod had been perhaps a foot long. Now, only half a foot was visible, as the rod was sunk into the rock. The girl touched the rod gently and was, Melek thought, trying to wiggle it. There was no missing the grin on her face.

  She gestured for Melek to touch it and he did. It was solidly embedded in the rock and didn’t wiggle at all to his touch.

  She said one word to Ezra and nodded. “Melek, two?”

  She wanted to do it again? Lieutenant Menim had arrived and was looking at the rock. “Sergeant Melek, what is this?”

  “Lieutenant, that iron rod -- she used that as an arrow.”

  The lieutenant frowned. The girl laughed and held her hands together and made the same flapping motions as Melek had when he was describing dralka. Seeing she had his attention, she pulled her hands apart. One of them swooped and looped in the air, a little like a dralka. Abruptly, she shoved the index finger of her other hand between the index and middle fingers of the “flying” hand. She kept her fingers closed, and when Melek was watching, she wiggled the finger between the others.

  That was derisory, Melek thought numbly. Maybe what she had made didn’t look like a bow, but he had to stop and back up to basic concepts. A bow was a piece of wood that flexed and had a string to flex it. Pull on the string and the wood bent. Put an arrow on the center of the string and it flew off very hard. The wood used in bows was very hard and very difficult to bend. But compared to a sword blade?

  He whistled softly to himself. Her weapon was one that could kill a dralka, even if you hit it in its armored chest. He wasn’t stupid. He knew she had made it out of stuff found in the midden heap. What kind of a person was one who could do such a thing?

  Well, not only wasn’t she stupid, she knew a lot more about weapons than Melek, in fact, much more than anyone he knew. What kind of young person could do something like that in an afternoon of work, with minimal tools and no help? And was just second in rank?

  He bowed to the girl, then deeper to the other.

  Menim of course, took it as a personal insult. “Sergeant! I should put you under arrest! What are you thinking?”

  Melek motioned to the other soldiers, back to where the young noblewoman, Andie, Ezra had called her, had fired from before.

  Most of them had the wit to understand that the iron rod was impressive -- and that Menim wasn’t. They followed Melek, Ezra and the young women.

  She did what she’d done before to prepare the weapon, and as before there was a “tung” followed almost at once by a “krang” as the bolt hit the rock.

  The privates were like small children watching their fathers shoot. They ran in a chatterin
g group to the rock.

  He sucked air when he saw the two bolts just inches apart. Only a fool would think it was luck. Sure, she’d been but thirty paces, but few but the best archers got arrows that close together, even at that range. That a chit of girl had done it was no accident, not when you considered everything else!

  “How is she doing that, Sergeant Melek?” Menim asked, nodding at the two bolts.

  If Menim had had any doubt before just where he now stood with his soldiers, their sarcastic laughter had to make it obvious.

  Ezra stood next to Melek, pointing at the young woman. He held a stick in his hand, motioned at the bow and broke the stick. Melek frowned. A bow that lasted two shots? What good was that?

  He laughed at himself. How long would a bow he made from scratch from the leavings of a midden heap last?

  “Collum!” Melek called out. The private turned to him. “Run back to the watch post. Bring the tools -- all of them. Bring some bow blanks and your knives!” Collum started to turn, and he stopped him. “Collum! One more thing!”

  The other obediently paused. “We have some steel wire from an old sword hilt that we used to fix one of the wagons. Bring it as well!”

  Chapter 10 :: The Woman Who Counted

  Andie looked at Ezra. “What’s that smug look on your face?”

  Ezra laughed. “Do you read much science fiction?”

  “Some,” Andie told him.

  “Poul Anderson?”

  “That is so my grandfather’s sort of story.”

  “Yeah, well, when we get home, you have to promise me to find his story The Man Who Counts.”

  “Let me guess -- he could count higher than ten?”

  “No, not that kind of count. The important kind.”

  “And how was it that he counted?”

  “The story is about a stalwart young hero cast away with a beautiful woman and a fat old merchant. The hero spends the story beavering away, trying one scheme after another to find a way to escape. None of them work. He can’t figure out why the girl sticks with the fat old guy, except that the merchant was her employer and so he figures that’s it.

  “When they’re finally rescued, he is bragging and crowing -- then he finds out that it was the fat merchant’s plan that had worked. He goes to the girl, intending to apologize, only to find her in the arms of the fat merchant. It was the merchant that had saved them, and she was rewarding him.”

  Andie frowned. “I’m not sure I approve.”

  “Andie, you count. I’m the stalwart hero, who will have a million schemes that have no long-term value at all. Kris is the clever, confident heroine who does everything she can to help you. You, Andie, you’re the one who counts. You sat down and did something which you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, didn’t think was a big deal. You did it in a few hours, where I’d have needed days to even begin to get to where you were at lunch.

  “You, Andie. You’re the one that counts. It’ll be you that gets us home.”

  “Fucking right! Where did that guy go?”

  “They have a post nearby. Melek hasn’t come out and said it, but this cave is less than a half mile from their location and they never noticed it. Not for more than a hundred years.

  “Of course, that’s partly because if anyone had put their head in here, they’d have recognized it for what it was and turned tail and run.”

  “And that guy who left?” Andie asked, impatient.

  “I’m not sure, but I told Melek that you don’t think your crossbow will stand up to another shot. I think he plans on doing something about that.”

  “What?”

  “Andie, I understand two words in a hundred, if I’m lucky. I have no idea.”

  “The stock piece is splintering,” she told him. “I don’t think I can draw it again without the wood cracking. I have no idea where the pieces would go.”

  “And I have no more desire than you do to find out, either, Andie. So relax. Chill.”

  Kris watched Andie, Ezra, Melek and the man who’d come back with any number of things, talking with each other. Melek sketched a bow on the square block of wood to show Ezra what it was.

  Andie turned it sideways, mimed cutting it in half, lengthwise, then drew what looked like a pistol grip on what was left. Andie wasn’t happy when the one man pulled out a knife and started cutting on the piece, but he was like a beaver -- shavings flying as he worked.

  Kris decided that Andie must have come to the conclusion that the man knew what he was doing, and used a pen to sketch in real lines for him to cut to, top and sides. She worked with him as he got closer and closer to the shape she wanted until she pronounced herself satisfied.

  Again, the sword blade was used, again, wrapped in place by rope, and lowered into a groove cut in the stock. This time there was a bolt thing that was put in a hole, so that the crude fork that Andie was using worked better to cock it. The trigger was one of the many eyelets that had been shaped to pull and let loose the bow “string.” This time, instead of steel bands, there was steel wire.

  Everyone had watched as Andie tied knots in the wire with a pair of pliers, confining it to a series of holes in a heavy piece of wood. Then another piece of wood, with similar holes, and more knots. Andie then twisted four strands of wire into a multiple strand, before using the nippers to cut the resulting heavier wire.

  By then it was dark, and the men built a fire just outside the cave and had some sort of hard tack rations, while the three from Earth ate more MREs. Ezra shared some with Melek, and the other looked far more excited about it than Andie felt.

  Melek also was excited about the heaters, which Andie thought was silly, considering how easy a time they’d had building a fire.

  Finally, Kris and Andie were bedded down in the room with the rations, well away from the cave entrance. In spite of the pitch darkness, for the first time she felt at home in it. How weird!

  Morning brought the usual urges, but Kris put a cork in it, and waited until Andie was stirring. Andie wasn’t as sensitive about Ezra’s sleep as Kris -- she shook him by the shoulder. “Potty run!”

  Kris could see it -- the calculation on his face. He didn’t get up to follow them, but Kris knew he was just outside the ring of light from their flashlights as they went towards the main chamber.

  One man was awake and watched them walk across the chamber to the outhouse. He grinned and ostentatiously turned his back.

  When they finished, they went outside and Andie took a deep breath. “Ah, sunlight!”

  Kris motioned towards the southeast. “That doesn’t look like sunlight to me.”

  Andie looked. “Storm clouds. Even deserts have thunderstorms, Kris.”

  “Andie, there is no vegetation around. We live in Southern California, Andie -- what do denuded hillsides and heavy rains equal in your mind?”

  Andie looked around again. “I don’t think there’s any danger of mudslides, he...” she stopped. “Uh oh! Company!”

  Kris turned and didn’t see anything. Then Andie grabbed her arm and lifted it up. In the distance what looked like a good-sized hawk beat its wings for a moment, and then continued gliding.

  Then perspective snapped into play, and Kris realized that the “bird” was miles away, and you didn’t even want to think about what size the wings would have to be to show a flap at that distance.

  Andie dipped into her pants and pulled out an air horn. “This is going to be so cool!” she said with a wicked grin.

  The air horn went off for a solid five count. Then Andie yelled, “Melek! Melek! Get your ass out here!”

  Kris rolled up her eyes, hoping Melek hadn’t picked up any English.

  Melek was out in a minute, his bow ready. Andie pointed in the right direction. “Dralka?”

  “Dralka!” he agreed. He yelled a loud command inside, and the men began to come out, all with bows at the ready. He said more words and everyone craned to look at the dralka.

  Ezra appeared, his rifle in his hand. Kris could s
ee Andie glance at her. She knew that this was something she didn’t know about. “Andie, it has to be up to you and Ezra.”

  Andie nodded. “Ezra, time to go all in? Or hold something back?”

  “All in, Andie.”

  “How far away can you hit it?”

  “Call it three hundred meters. A thousand feet, give or take. It’s turned towards us and is coming straight on. Piece of cake -- no deflection.”

  “Do it, then. If you can, tell Melek not to panic.”

  Ezra spoke to Melek. “Melek, me kill dralka. You understand?”

  “Aye!”

  * * *

  Melek cautioned the others with a few words as Ezra had requested. Melek mentally crossed his fingers hoping that they would obey.

  Far sooner than he would have imagined, Ezra put the weapon to his shoulder. There was another of those deafening bangs. Of all of them, Melek was the only one who watched the dralka, not the thunder rod.

  The dralka folded its wings and plunged straight to the ground. There was no sign of injury, nothing -- it just died and fell.

  Menim was upset and angry, wanting to know what was happening. By then, the others were aware that the dralka was gone.

  “It’s a weapon,” Melek said firmly. “We’ve heard it before. It wasn’t directed at us then and it’s not directed at us now.”

  “A weapon?” Menim croaked. “I thought you said they had none!”

  “I said they had no bows! They didn’t disarm us and I didn’t like the odds of trying to disarm them.”

  Collum laughed and so did another. Menim’s face turned black with rage, only to be brought up short when Ezra poked him in the chest with the weapon. It was nearly comic. Menim’s eyes crossed, focused on the end against his chest. He dropped his bow, the only one of them to do so.

  Melek growled to the men, “And when was the last time you saw just one dralka hunting?”

  Eyes immediately went to the sky and that was when Collum spoke to him. “Sergeant, storm clouds to the southeast.”