Chapter 8: A Battle

It was late afternoon when Judy finally woke up all the way. She hadn't dreamed again, which, considering the dream she'd had before, was a good thing. But she was also aware she'd woken up every few minutes. Several times she'd moved slightly, twice she'd gotten up and moved her sleeping bag as the shade moved with the sun.

She knew she wasn't going back to sleep, even if it was the heat of the afternoon. Tuck was off talking to Gamelin again, her friends were awake, sitting under the fly and talking quietly amongst themselves. Elspeth sat inert, a few feet away, looking down, staring at the ground.

There was room for her, so she went and joined the others. There wasn't much talking; they mainly sat together, glad for the familiar faces. The afternoon wore on; the sun was getting close to the horizon when Tuck and Gamelin started towards the group of girls.

Judy stood up and so did Elspeth. After a second, the others did too.

"How are you doing?" Tuck asked Judy.

Judy glanced around. "I suppose we could ride if we had to, again. But..."

"But it would be hard," Tuck responded. "How about walking?"

Judy grimaced. "Our feet aren't in good shape, either. Becky's shoes aren't holding up."

"In terrain like this, odds are yours and mine will last for a while," Tuck told Judy. "The others, with the fabric uppers... they won't last."

He talked to Gamelin then, who shrugged. He beckoned to one of his men, who came quickly. Judy wasn't entirely sure what he told the man, but one name stood out: Tanda Havra.

Sure enough, she had been sent for. Tuck explained about shoes for three of the girls. Tanda Havra frowned. It took some time to figure that while she had a deerskin, they didn't have time to prepare it right. So it too was going to wear out faster than it should. Tanda Havra turned to Gamelin and said something, again too quick for Judy to keep up with.

Vosper, the sergeant, joined them and he said something to Gamelin. It was, Judy found, very frustrating to stand and listen to people talk and only understand about one word in four, and usually the word she understood was "the."

"She says," Tuck told Judy, understanding her frustration, "that if she can hunt tonight, she will kill another deer. With a few days of preparation, she can do something that will bear up. Gamelin isn't wild about letting her wander around; it's dangerous out there and even more so getting back into camp."

Judy frowned, but Elspeth beat her to the question. "Why's that?"

"The guards are scared and nervous. They are on guard duty at night with loaded weapons, terrified of an attack. The Mexicotal like to sneak up and kidnap enemies. They are fond of torture. You and Judy know about that."

"Also," Gamelin said, speaking slowly, using simple words, "she is to Mogdai people, as Tuck to you. She knows much about plants."

"Ask if she has anything for," Judy motioned to her thighs, where the worst of the galls were.

Tanda Havra chuckled lightly and nodded. She turned, and in a most unfeminine fashion, stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled. Over in the villager's camp, a girl about Elspeth's age perked up and came at a run.

Words went back and forth very fast; Judy was quite sure that Gamelin didn't understand anything either.

Vosper turned to Judy. "You go with this girl, Judybondi. Take something to carry with. Find good plants."

Judy nodded and a moment later she was walking with the village girl, towards the little eminence where she and Gamelin had been earlier. Judy had long since emptied everything out of her purse, right now the only thing she had in it was her canteen.

The other girl was lighter-skinned than Tanda Havra, about Lydia's color. Like Tanda, the girl was short and thin and was wearing long pants of something like doeskin and a blouse made out of what looked like cotton, with a doeskin vest with ties to keep it shut.

She set a brisk pace that Judy couldn't begin to match. The other saw that, grinned and slowed down. A moment later, she pointed to the same plant that Gamelin had cut a bit before, and they'd sucked on the leaves. The girl bent down, used a much smaller knife than Judy's to cut a stem. She mimed how to take off the tip, then showed rubbing between her thighs.

Judy could understand that. Judy saw another plant of the same kind a few feet away, pulled her own knife and started slicing leaves. In about a half hour, Judy's purse was full. The other girl tentatively reached out and touched Judy's knife lightly with her fingertips.

"You kill Mexicotal?" the girl asked.

Judy nodded.

"They kill my mother, my father, others of Mogdai who stayed to fight. It is good you kill one. I am Tazi. One day, I kill many Mexicotal!"

Once again Judy was at a loss. This was so different than home! Yet, it struck a chord inside her. Until the last few hundred years, and in fact, in great parts of her world still, many people lived like Tazi and those in her village. Simple folk who dreamed of being left alone to till their fields and raise their families. All too often, others from far away would come to take it away from them.

They returned to the camp. Tuck and one of Gamelin's men had put up the big tent while they were gone. Judy and Tazi led the other girls inside, and for the next half hour, liberally daubed the badly chafed galls with stuff from the plants.

It did feel cool and nice and Judy made a point of telling the others which plant it was that it came from.

When they came back out, Tuck met them, alone this time.

"I don't want to kid you, we're in a serious situation. The bad guys know someone is here, scouting them out. They have almost certainly found our trail. The question is, are they coming right after us, or, because we're headed away, maybe they don't care?

"Frankly, if it was up to me, I'd have my people flogging their horses trying to catch up, even if I was pretty sure that we'd reported in by now. But, if they had done that, we'd have seen signs of that this afternoon. Our host, Gamelin, had people up on the ridge from first light and they haven't seen anyone following us.

"Which isn't to say that they aren't coming. They could easily just be taking it slowly and careful. They have to know they've lost a couple of small patrols entirely. Maybe that's making them cautious. There's just no way to tell."

He waved at the big tent. "This is a risk. If they come at us in a hurry, we're going to have to scoot with the least possible delay. We'll lose the tent and a lot of gear. On the other hand, it gives you all a central place to sleep tonight -- and while I don't think it's going to rain today, tomorrow and the next couple of days look like there will be a chance of thunderstorms."

Judy looked around. To the northeast, large billowing cumulus clouds were towering. There were smaller ones north and northwest of them, too.

"I've talked to Gamelin and he had his sergeant send men out ahead of us. About a half mile that way," he pointed to the northeast, "around the curve of this mountain, is a better spot to camp. It's a little higher, but not much. It will be an easy ride, and so we're going to try an experiment: the four of you sitting sidesaddle. You'll have to be careful not to fall, but if you can do the half mile tomorrow, we'll be in a much better spot."

Tuck waved towards where the villagers were sitting, talking amongst themselves. "I might add, the villagers aren't used to riding either. They'll be walking; I'm told they can do it all day, every day. We'll see; I hope so.

"So, rest. We're going to fix supper here shortly. With this many people to feed, we're going to go through the food I brought along pretty quick. On the other hand, we'd eat up what Gamelin's troops brought along in a day or two. There will be venison tonight and if Tanda Havra, the woman who's leading the villagers, has any luck tonight, maybe venison tomorrow.

"Not all of you are drinking enough. Gamelin has people who will see to it that your canteens are filled, plus he has some water jacks that hold four or five gallons each and I have two plastic water bags that hold five gallons. We'll have those filled. If you empty your canteen during the day, you can get a refill. There's plenty of water on this side of the mountains, so don't worry about it; getting dehydrated, that you have to worry about."

"What happened to Mrs. Flowers?" Becky asked.

"I don't know. I looked and I think she was grabbed by some of the same people who brought us here. Those people didn't seem very friendly. I think they knocked everyone in the camp out; also not a very friendly thing... but if they did, they could have come in and taken us. I haven't a clue why they didn't. I'm thinking it wouldn't have been a good thing, if they had.

"I know a few things now that I didn't before. About ten years ago a man appeared here, from someplace else. Someone, I suspect, a lot like us. I think he was a cop, from the descriptions I've heard about the gear he was wearing. These people didn't know how to make gunpowder. A bunch of priests from a religion were making it, they kept it as a monopoly telling everyone it was made special for them by their god, a fellow called Styphon. They use that god's name these days as a curse word.

"This man is named Kalvan, he's their High King these days. Think Emperor. He had a revolver with him. He taught them to make gunpowder; he taught them how to beat their enemies in a stand-up fight. He's probably quite something, I'm sure. I think I've gotten them to accept that we don't know him, that we're not direct kin of their king. But they think we're fellow countrymen; hell, maybe they are right. Anyway, Kalvan, who is now king of most of what used to be the United States, arrived on the eve of a big war. Some peasant farmers took him in, welcoming him and fed him. In repayment he helped them fight off raiders.

"To make a long story short, he fought his way to the top, here. He says that he's from what they call the 'Winter Kingdom, ' Gamelin points that out on a map where either the Korean or Khamchatka Peninsulas are, I'm not sure which. Their maps have only one peninsula, where ours have two. The Winter Kingdom is the fabled home of their ancestors, who came here about the time of Christ in our world. They've never heard of Jesus. Or of Mohammad or Buddha or Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. Their maps don't show anything on the other side of the Atlantic; it's terra incognita. Except for the corner of Asia around this Winter Kingdom, Asia's all blank too.

"We traveled in some sort of vehicle," Tuck told them. "I don't know what kind; it's just an impression I have. They didn't look like the Lords of Creation, they behaved more like cockroaches."

He stopped talking and looked around. No one was close. "I can't make you do what I ask, but I'm thinking the people we are with are very superstitious. I don't think talking about coming here in a vehicle would be a good idea. Our friends favor two wheeled carts; four wheels are considered new-fangled."

Everyone laughed. It was a good thing, Judy thought, for Tuck to tell a joke. It relieved a lot of tension.

"These people believe in magic and sorcery. According to Gamelin, an evil sorcerer was jealous of their High King and this evil sorcerer conjured up a big spell and tossed Kalvan here, forever banished."

Elspeth snorted.

Tuck pointed his finger at her. "Elspeth, tell me, how did we get here?"

"I don't know."

"I don't either. I think it was technology of some sort. Slipping between alternate universes, maybe. I have to think that if I was someone from an alternate universe and there were some people capable of spilling the beans, I might decide to eliminate them. So, if Gamelin's people are comfortable with magic and sorcery, then that's what they should hear.

"They call my van a 'magic wagon.' I haven't said aye or nay. Tell them the truth, leaving out only a few details we don't understand. We were traveling across the desert in my van. I was there to teach you about the desert. There was a flash of light and then we were here. We don't know what happened, not at all. You don't know what happened. Keep the explanation simple. Flash of light; bang, we're here. A few seconds in the middle... I bet if we were to compare notes, we'd all remember different things.

"The most important thing about that story is that it's true. You can tell it as best as you can, leaving out any speculations on your part as to what happened and it will be true, and will tally with what the rest of us have to say. Don't speculate! We don't know what happened, and we'd be guessing. I'm guessing guessing is dangerous." Everyone smiled at that.

"Oh, yeah. They think you're the daughters of nobility," Tuck concluded.

Judy considered that, and then decided it was too important, so she interrupted to ask her question. "Tuck, Gamelin asked me some questions today. About what it was like at home. I told him that we didn't have nobles."

Tuck grimaced, then looked around, obviously uneasy. "Lies are a terrible thing. For one thing, it's easy to contradict yourself and then everyone knows you're lying and you lose credibility. These people might not have jet planes, radios and IBM computers, but that doesn't mean they are stupid. Credibility is an incredibly important asset in any civilization.

"If someone asks you a direct question, tell the truth. Try to keep it limited, but don't lie. Omit things, like that flash of light and what we saw, but don't lie. They have a King. I don't think they'll take lightly to the idea of an elected president."

"Tuck," Judy interrupted him, "Gamelin seemed impressed with the idea of everyone being equal."

He smiled at her. "The problem with that is that's not how things are done here. The sort of person who seeks to change the established order is called a revolutionary. I would be very careful about such things, because it's going to be easy to make mistakes. Mistakes like that can get a lot of people killed, including you. And the rest of us."

There was a stir in the rest of the camp; Judy turned to look and saw heliograph flashing from the same mountain as that morning.

"Make sure you are ready to go first thing in the morning," Tuck told them, "for that matter, if you're ready to go in an instant, that's better. Relax, rest. Think about dinner."

He walked towards Gamelin and Judy simply followed along behind him.

Gamelin watched the flashes in the distance; he'd missed the first half dozen letters, but they'd be repeated soon enough.

Vosper stood at his shoulder. "So, Eukarnas and Leucritis survived," the sergeant said.

"And did the job we should have done," Gamelin said, his voice bitter. "They saw the enemy host and counted them. They saw which way they were moving."

Vosper laughed nastily. "A great host, ranging towards Outpost. If you will recall, that's what we reported this morning."

"Eukarnas says fifty thousand Zarthani cavalry."

Vosper snorted and spat on the ground. "Nary a word about Mexicotal. Tanda Havra says the Mexicotal attacked Mogdai. Hestius says he was attacked by Zarthani scouts, but twice we've run into Mexicotal scouts."

"She also said that the attackers used rifles and cannon; the Mexicotal don't have cannon and not very many muskets, and far fewer rifles," Gamelin retorted.

"Well, the Mexicotal who attacked Judybondi and Elspeth had muskets; the Mexicotal scouts who attacked Tanda's villagers had muskets," Vosper observed. "Even if it is confused."

Vosper waved towards the mountain, where the signalmen on the distant peak were repeating the message. "We reported what we saw and heard, Lieutenant. I don't doubt Eukarnas and Leucritis saw what they saw, but I doubt if they were placidly waiting for that great host to march past their position so they could count them. I think they saw a column of the force arrayed against Outpost and then headed east as fast as their feet would carry them."

Gamelin nodded. What reason would the village woman have for lying about who had attacked Mogdai? Actually, in a few heartbeats, he could think of a couple of reasons.

Tuck spoke; he'd been listening. "I can't make you do things; I can't tell your count what to do. But if he's smart, he'll scout your enemy, their numbers and where they are. You know, if there are as many as the reports say, you can kill them all, fairly easily."

Vosper snorted in derision, but Gamelin was more cautious. "What do you mean?"

"Soldiers eat," Tuck said and Gamelin nodded.

"Fifty thousand horses eat more," Tuck added. He waved around them. "From where comes food for men, for horses?"

Vosper sucked in air, while Gamelin was still just curious. "I don't understand," Gamelin asked.

Gamelin knew the rule that a horse ate five times what a man ate, in a day. You just put five times as many wagons carrying hay as flour. Elementary.

Tuck chuckled. "Find road, find good spot. Block road. Kill livestock, break road. What horses eat? What men eat? What guns shoot? The more here, the worse, if road cut."

Gamelin's eyes bulged in sheer amazement. Not possible! It couldn't be so simple!

Vosper's eyes were gleaming. "We should let them come against Outpost. Then cut the road. And kill them all!"

"That would be... stupid," was all Gamelin could manage. Words didn't describe it. "Guards, many soldiers along road. Guards with wagons."

Tuck grinned; it wasn't a pleasant grin. "Long road. Many spots to cut. Burn bridges. Push rocks down on road. Attack rest spots. Many men must guard road. Many men then, not able to come to Outpost. Attack where enemy weak, where enemy not."

"Not honorable," Gamelin said, knowing it was a stupid thing to say.

Vosper snorted in derision again. "Their man said a half million come against Outpost. A thousand to one, Lieutenant. We might all die, but if we destroy that army... a thousand to one, Lord! A thousand to one! I don't want to die, but dying to kill a thousand of Styphon's Host! Yes!"

Gamelin was suddenly lost, seeing a vision in his mind of a host of his ancestors bowing to him, the greatest warrior in the history of Trygath.

Tuck took him by his tunic top and shook him. "Stupid!"

Gamelin opened his eyes, surprised that he'd closed them. Someone laying hands on him! A deadly insult! The words too!

"You die? What good that? You make Zarthani die! You make Mexicotal die! You make Styphon die! Don't you die!"

It was Vosper who brought Gamelin back to sanity. "Lieutenant, Count Tellan expects an answer," the sergeant said, nodding at the mountain to the northeast.

It was like a light shown on Gamelin; he had an idea. "Tell him that we are sending Lord Tuck and a half dozen men to escort him, some of the villagers, those well enough to keep up. That Count Tellan should listen to him..."

It was fast. Faster than the mind could imagine. One second Tuck had been standing next to Gamelin, his pistol in the leather holder at his side, then the next instant, the pistol was in Tuck's hand and the pistol was rammed into Gamelin's throat.

"No!" Tuck said succinctly. "Not if your life is vertvol!"