"Hi, Rachel," Herzer said. "I didn't expect to see you out here."
"My father's going off to war," she said with a shrug. "I thought I should say goodbye." She looked up at him in the lamplight and sighed. "And you too."
"Rachel." Herzer said and then paused awkwardly. "Rachel. I'm sorry about what happened with Daneh. Really I am. I just."
"Herzer," she said sharply, then seemed to shake herself. "Herzer, I had a lot of trouble with that. But. we've been friends for a long time. If Mother can forgive you and Dad can forgive you, so can I. Okay?"
"Okay," he said sadly.
"What?" she asked in exasperation.
"I. I love you, Rachel," Herzer said, desperately. "I have for years. I just. wanted you to know that, before."
She looked at him with a stunned expression that faded to anger. "So you just wanted me to know that before you go off and get yourself killed? Thanks very much, Herzer Herrick."
"It's not like that!"
"Oh," she breathed out, the anger going out with it. "I. I'm sorry. I know it's not. Herzer, you're a very good friend and you always will be my very good friend. Okay?"
"Okay," he said miserably.
"Let that be enough for now," she said, laying her hand on his arm. "Come back. Okay?"
"Okay," he said. "And. can we talk more then?"
"Yes," she said with a chuckle. "Always."
"Okay."
"Fall in," Gunny called quietly.
"I've got to go," Herzer said, desperately.
"Bye, Herzer," Rachel said, standing on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. "Don't do anything stupid. Again."
"I'll try," he said, hurrying to his place.
The small force still made a brave sight, marching out through the gates of the stockade. The cavalry, commanded by Alyssa, led the cavalcade with the Blood Lords marching behind and the archers, mounted on horses, following along with a small pack train of mules and horses. Edmund rode immediately in front of the Blood Lords, dressed in full armor with his long-handled hammer tossed casually over one shoulder; behind him marched Gunny with a piper by his side. Herzer carried the guidon of the troop, the silver screaming eagle with its bundle of arrows in one talon and olive branch in the other, on a field of blue.
As they passed the gates Gunny led off the song.
"Axes flash, broadsword swing,
Shining armour's piercing ring
Horses run with polished shield,
Fight Those Bastards till They Yield
Midnight mare and blood red roan,
Fight to Keep this Land Your Own
Sound the horn and call the cry,
'HOW MANY OF THEM CAN WE MAKE DIE!' "
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
They marched up to the Via Apallia, then passed over the Shenan bridge heading west.
"Where are we going?" Cruz muttered from the front rank. Everyone knew that the enemy was in the direction to the south. They seemed to be marching away from the oncoming force.
"Don't know," Deann replied as the same question was muttered among the others.
"Silence in the ranks," Gunny called.
They followed the Via on a fast march to the west, segueing from "March of Cambreadth" to "Yellow Ribbon," with the different parts of the force singing their particular versions, to "Grand Trunk Road" and "Drinking Bourbon." The cavalry tried to get them to sing Garryowen but since it was impossible to march to, and the archers didn't know the words, they had to sing it on their own. They continued on through the early morning rain, which required a song of its own, until they came to the Cryptopus Creek bridge.
At a wave to Alyssa from Edmund, the cavalry, less five troopers, broke into a trot and continued down the road as the rest of the band, crossed the river, broke into single file and turned south.
Their path was a narrow trail that followed the edge of the small river. It entered the tree-choked defile that led to the inner valley of Massan Mountain. The trail was narrow and bad and the troop was often forced to pause to shore it up for the following horses or clear the way of deadfalls. Even when they got into the valley itself the old track was barely passable but they made decent time by marching hard. There were brief breaks, mostly to rest the horses, but they didn't even stop for a cooked lunch, eating parched corn and washing it down with water from the now much reduced stream. But by the time they reached the far end of the valley the sun was long gone over the high mountains to their west and it was starting to get dark.
"Camp," Edmund called. "Watches but no palisades."
The troop fell out into their well-practiced camp drill and Gunny and McGibbon set the watches split between the Blood Lords and the archers. The two groups didn't mingle much but kept to their separate fires.
"So, what the hell is happening?" Cruz asked Herzer as they bolted their evening meal. Herzer had drawn the slot of cook and he had made up a simple bannock filled with monkey and bits of salted pork. "Why the hell did the cavalry take off west?"
"Dunno," Herzer replied, thinking about the maps of the area. They were about as far away from being able to directly defend the town as it was possible to be.
'You were at the baron's last night," Cruz said. "He didn't say anything?"
"No, he didn't," Herzer replied, not mentioning what Edmund had said on the subject. "And if he did I wouldn't tell you."
"I think we're going to head up the mountain," Pedersen said. The decurion looked up at the black mass above them unhappily. "I hate that fisker."
"Me too," Deann said. "But if we are, we'd better get to bed early." With that she strode out of the firelight and began breaking out her bedroll.
"Agreed," Herzer said, getting up and grabbing the cooking gear. He washed it in the stream and then laid out his bedding. He had retrieved his fur blanket and had added that to his kit despite the additional weight. He laid down a leather ground cloth, then the blanket, and pulled out a bundle of clothes for a pillow. But before he lay down he took a stroll around the sentries posted at the edge of the camp and made sure everyone was alert and knew the duty roster. Then he headed back, took off his armor and boots and lay down under his cloak. It looked like it might rain sometime during the night but he'd deal with that if and when. He, too, pondered the possible intentions of their commander but before he came to any conclusion he had already fallen asleep.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, they headed up the mountain.
The trail was as bad as the one on the way in, if not worse. It clearly followed an old roadbed, but the work of millennia had broken down many of the road cuts and embankments. The trail switched back and forth and most of the ends of the switchbacks were washed away. But the triari was familiar with such conditions from their continuous marching over the region and they fell to work on each obstacle, clearing the rock slides and shoring up the places where the road had washed away. Despite this, it took all day to ascend the summit of the mountain and Baron Edmund was clearly unhappy with the progress. They ate trail rations for lunch and supper and continued marching well into the night. The baron did not permit them torches and with the sky overcast the path along the summit of the mountain was a tree-choked nightmare. Herzer wasn't sure how late it was when Talbot finally called a halt, but when he did Herzer mustered the sentries and then crawled into his furs, without taking off his armor, and was asleep almost before he lay down.
They were up before dawn the next morning and continued on their way, catching brief glimpses through the trees of the valleys on either side. There was little to be seen-that part of the Shenan was almost entirely unpeopled-until late in the day as they neared the far end of the mountain. The ridge they had followed had sloped upwards and as they approached the summit they could see, far down in the valley and on the west side of the mountain, a large force moving slowly to the north.
They had passed the occasional ancient roadbed and it was on one of these, which was marked by the faint trace of a trail, that Edmund stopped and conferred with Gunny.
&
nbsp; "Fall out," Gunny called. "Make full camp."
They stacked their weapons and started on the preparations for a fortified camp. First decuri and the archers started on the ditches and palisade while the other squads began cutting trees for a field of fire. The camp was at the top of the trail with the gate on the far side and a narrow passage available for movement up onto the summit.
Throughout the work Baron Edmund had been on a small hilltop to the south and as the afternoon wore on he suddenly nodded in satisfaction and raised a small mirror in his hand, catching the dying light of the sun. Then he trotted down to the nearly finished camp and looked around.
"Gunny, leave one decuri in the camp. The other three squads and the archers will follow me."
"Yes, my lord," the Gunny replied. "First, Third, Fourth, prepare to move out."
"Now what the fisk?" Cruz muttered as the tired and dirty soldiers began gathering their weapons. They had been able to see the enemy below moving northward for some time albeit only when they were down the slope.
"Just follow the orders, Cruz," Herzer said, picking up his spear and ruck.
"Take off your helmets and put on your cloaks," Edmund said as they prepared to move off. He had already done so. "I don't want the glitter of armor showing."
Herzer thought about that as they moved down the defile, and smiled. The mountain was very high and the line-of-sight distance to the enemy force was at least four miles. He had already noticed that the force in the valley was only viewable when there was a flash of metal, a view of an ox cart or from their afternoon fires. The group of bowmen and infantry filing down the mountain in their cloaks, which were a nondescript gray, would be nearly invisible to the enemy below.
They slithered and slipped down the mountain as the sun fell and the dusk faded to black. The clouds had cleared off after only dropping a smidgen of rain, and the gibbous moon gave just enough light to make their way. They followed the track almost to the base of the mountain where there was a small plateau about sixty meters wide, and paused. The baron called Herzer and McGibbon over to the edge of the plateau.
"Herzer, McGibbon, is there enough light for you to set up light defense works?" Edmund asked.
"Yes, sir," Herzer whispered. "But only a ditch; we can't see well enough to cut trees."
"You don't have to whisper, Herzer," Edmund chuckled. "McGibbon?"
"We can set up our shields and stakes," the archer said. "More than that I'm not sure."
"Set up a ditch across the defile with one opening," Edmund said after a moment. "We'll want some way to close it. Try to camouflage it as best you can. Don't set up the shields. Not yet. But have them ready to throw up in an instant."
"There's a big chestnut just there," Herzer said, pointing to the edge of the trail downslope. "If we fell it and tie lines to it, we can probably pull it up into the opening and block the trail. That's what you want, right?"
"Perfect," Edmund said, looking around. "Get to work."
Herzer set one maniple of third decuri to work on the tree while the rest dug a shallow trench along the edge of the plateau. When it was done he set them to cutting brush to mask the low wall and scouted for suitable saplings to make a better palisade. They had left their own stakes on the top of the ridge so they had to use local materials. He found that there was enough light and that there was a small grove of poplars, the result of a recent rock slide, that could provide the materials. When the trench was dug he sent the weary soldiers to work downing those and dragging the trunks over to improve the defenses until he was halted by Edmund.
"Well enough for now," Talbot said, nodding at the improving defenses. "Post sentries and get some sleep. We've got a murthering great battle in the morning."
Herzer called a halt to the preparations and then gave some thought to who should take watch. For most of them this would be their first battle and he knew that, despite their weariness, they would find it hard to sleep. He wasn't sure he could. He had already fought once, and survived, but this was his first experience of prebattle jitters. He called the three squads together and then tried to pick out those he figured weren't going to sleep anyway, giving them the duty of sentries, and sending the rest to their beds in the defenses.
When everything was settled, and the majority of the camp was either lying in wait, silently, or sleeping or standing watch, he moved around the defenses checking on the conditions. Halfway down the line, he found Baron Edmund doing the same.
"You need to get some sleep," the baron said with a nod.
"I could say the same for you, sir," Herzer replied. "It's to be an ambush, then?"
"We'll see," Edmund replied enigmatically. "Go get some rest, Herzer. First call before dawn. No fires. No one in armor is to show themselves above the parapet after dawn."
"I'll pass that on and then go to bed, sir," the triari replied. "Permission to carry on?" he asked, saluting.
"Right you are," Edmund said, returning the salute. As the boy passed into the darkness, Edmund shook his head and smiled, then went to bed.
Morning found them tired and sore and eating another cold breakfast of monkey and parched corn. But there was a bit of water cut with wine to wash it down at least. As dawn broke to the east with a limited dawn chorus in the cold of the morning, Edmund sent one of the cavalrymen down the defile with quietly whispered orders, then had the troops stand to in the defenses. The archers were arrayed at either end and the three squads of Blood Lords held the middle. There was a cut in the wall where the trail rose onto the plateau but ropes had been snugged around the butt of the large chestnut and they had determined that it could be moved with ease if everyone fell to the ropes.
A party out of armor and well wrapped in their cloaks to camouflage them against the gray of the trees had set to work improving the camouflage of the defenses when the lead of the enemy force came in view.
This time they were less than a mile away and the soldiers, having doffed their helmets lest the shine give away their positions, watched the force from Rowana straggle by. First came a spray of light cavalry, wandering down the valley pike as if they hadn't a care in the world, the men sitting silent and glum on their horses.
Then came the oddest sight any of them had ever seen. The force behind the cavalry was a motley group of infantry, but if they were human they had been horribly Changed. They were well below human height and stooped, with long powerful arms and bandy legs. They carried various weapons in their hands, axes both for fighting and wood felling, short swords, spears and clubs. They loped as much as walked, occasionally dropping to a knuckle walk when they had to speed up. Most of them were unarmored but they carried wooden shields across their backs and a few had a shirt of mail or a piece of plate stuck here and there. Despite the morning cold, many of them were virtually unclothed. Few of them wore shirts and many were naked save for a dirty loincloth.
"Orcs by God," Herzer muttered, rubbing at his eyes. "They're fisking orcs!"
"Chimp genes," Edmund said from behind him. The baron was peering at them carefully and he let out an angry sigh. "Sheida told me about this but I could hardly credit it!"
"Are they constructs?" Herzer asked, quietly.
"No, they're Change," Edmund growled. "Normal humans Changed by that bitch Celine's programs. This is. vile."
"Those poor bastards," Cruz said with a gulp. "So much for surrendering; I guarantee that those aren't guys who started out on his side."
"No, they're probably just poor damned refugees who got caught in his vile net," Edmund replied, tightly. "And, yes, that's probably your fate if he gets his hands on you. But there's no way we can Change them back. They're not going to care if you care about them. They're beyond our help and as steeped in evil as he is. So the only thing we can do is kill them. Because if we don't, they're going to take the town and rape our women and burn it to the ground. Am I clear on this?"
"Yes, sir," Cruz replied.
"Baron, I've got a question," Herzer said.
&n
bsp; "Shoot."
"Didn't the rabbit say that they were taking the east valley?"
"Of course he did," Edmund chuckled. "But he's evil. Or at least, extremely chaotic. So he, naturally, couldn't tell us the whole truth, even with Bast's geas. It would violate his nature."
"And you're letting him stick around?" Herzer asked, aghast.
"I've heard of him, as I said," Edmund replied. "Trust me, he's worth keeping on your side."
"Jesus, will you look at that horse?" Cruz gasped as the next group came into view.
The horse was monstrous, at least three times the size of the largest of Kane's Hanarahs, and it had to be to carry the massive figure in black plate on its back.
"Dionys?" Herzer asked.
"Oh, yeah," Edmund chuckled. "I wonder who he finally got to make his armor?"
John Ringo - Council Wars 01 - There Will Be Dragons Page 58
