Chapter 14: The Raid -- Planning

Judy Bondi stood with Tanda Havra and Tazi, unsure if she'd been relegated to the rear because she was a girl or because it was dangerous. Tanda seemed to understand her thoughts.

"My uncle says cannon are dangerous to those who shoot them, if they are not careful. Too much fireseed, too heavy a shot, they can burst and kill everyone around. New guns are the most dangerous of all. A single gun bursting, in a row of guns, can make the others burst. And the sound hurts the ears."

Judy watched them zero in on the first fire, hitting it relatively quickly. Then Tuck moved on horseback, to another gun position, well away, perhaps five hundred yards. Judy had heard them talking about it earlier, the mortar was in a shallow ravine, about twenty feet below the level of the plateau.

She had seen faint flashes with the first mortar, light reflected off the rocks. Once she knew where to look, the flash was visible after each shot. Not so with the second mortar. She could only hear a vague sound in the distance; there was no muzzle flash.

After the third shot hit the fire, that mortar fell silent as well. Judy knew there was something else, but she didn't know what.

She saw the faint flash of a third mortar, heard the sound and looked forward, over the stunted scrub trees that dominated hereabouts.

There was no sound, but suddenly there was a harsh, actinic light hanging over a small hill. More shells rained down on the hill, smothering it, Judy thought. All three mortars had been shooting at it.

A while later Captain Leitnos and Tuck arrived, leading men carrying a mortar tube in a shelter half. Captain Leitnos was nursing a sore hand. "When I told him that mortar tubes were hot," Tuck told Judy, "Captain Leitnos decided to touch one to see how hot is was. The answer is that you never want to find out."

Even as he spoke, the mortar tube clanged on the ground, having burned through the canvas of the shelter half. "This is as good a spot as any," Tuck told those around him. "We'll spend the night here."

One of the privates nodded and relayed the command. Judy remembered the young man as the one who'd gone with Tuck, after Mrs. Flowers. "Pickets," Tuck told the private, and the other nodded.

It was impossible to miss the fact that when Judy went to sleep, she was next to Tanda and Tazi, and the three of them were ringed by Hostigi soldiers. It was, Judy thought, not worth making an issue about, because she was sure she'd be ignored.

Judy was very nearly asleep when Tuck came by. He had stopped to talk to Tanda though, not Judy. "You have a penchant for wandering around the camp, in and out. I'm training these people, Tanda. They have orders to shoot anyone who doesn't answer a challenge. They are going to be a lot better as guards than they ever were. Don't wander."

"I never would," Tanda said, sounding aggrieved.

"I understand, I was afraid of the impetuousness of youth. Just a word to the wise, you understand?"

"Yes, now let us sleep," Tanda replied.

Judy realized she was feeling better than she'd felt since she'd come here. The aches were fading; the food no longer seemed as terrible. She looked up at the stars, far clearer than they'd ever been at home. She smiled and closed her eyes. Sleep came quickly.

Judy was toed awake later, sometime in the middle of the night. She could sense movement, but the moon had set and there was only starlight to see by and that wasn't enough.

Tuck spoke from the darkness. "I have here our Mogdai attache. Currently, she's tied up. Untie her, Judy, only after first light."

There was a muffled sound; frustrated anger, Judy thought.

"Oh, and she's gagged. I'd leave her that way if I were you, because if you start feeling sorry for her and untie her before first light, I'm going to think you can't be trusted with the simplest task. And henceforth, you'll stay back in town."

There was the faintest of sounds, then nothing.

Then another faint rustle and Judy heard Tazi whisper, "Sister, should I untie you?"

"Tazi," Judy said into the darkness, "if you want to help your friend and sister, then do nothing until first light. How else do you teach a proud person a lesson?"

Tazi sighed. "Elder Sister, Lady Judy is right, so was Lord Tuck. It was foolish to go out, just to show you could do it. What good are you to Mogdai, sister, if a guard shoots you by mistake?"

Judy was tolerably sure the sound she heard then was a fart; whatever it was, Tazi laughed. "You sleep, sister! It won't be long, then!"

The camp lapsed back into silence. Judy could hear Tanda squirming around, no doubt, trying to untie herself. It was, Judy thought, a battle of wills. Tuck versus Tanda. And Tuck liked Tanda? Judy wasn't entirely sure she understood that, nor why Tuck had done what he'd done. Then she remembered Tazi's words about being shot by mistake. Was that why Tuck had done it? Because he really did like Tanda, and he really intended to teach the guards how to do their jobs better?

It was surely something to think about.

There was just enough light to see when Tanda turned her back on Judy, holding up the knot to be undone. It took a bit; Judy had to use her knifepoint to tease the rope loops out of the knots. Finally Tanda was rubbing her wrists, then her ankles.

After a minute she got up and stretched, then went and kicked Tuck rather hard. "May I go scout now?"

Tuck had been sleeping on top of his sleeping bag, his Stetson pulled over his eyes. "Sure, take trooper Hestius with you."

"I'll take Tazi," Tanda told him.

"That's up to you, but you will also take my trooper."

"He will slow us down."

"Tanda, it's very simple. If you want to be out here with us, I have to be able to trust you. The Hostigi commander has to be able to trust you. You know, trust you to do what you're told and not to do as you please. If you don't take a trooper with you and if you don't come back with a trooper that's been with you the entire time, don't bother to come back. Go back to Outpost, tell your uncle to appoint someone else as attache."

Tanda held her little finger up. "That long and we go, whether your trooper is ready of not."

Tuck pointed to the young man that had been with Tuck on the march to Outpost. The young man glanced at Tazi and then his eyes gleamed in unfeigned pleasure.

A few minutes later the three loped out of camp, heading towards a rise a mile or so to the south. One that had a good view out over the basins, beyond the Mogollon Rim. The Barrier, Judy reminded herself. That's what they called it here. And it probably was, if you were limited to horses and wagons. The road they'd ascended the cliff on was wide enough for a horse, but not for a wagon. There was probably a way up for wagons, but they hadn't seen it.

Gamelin and his men came back in. Tuck gestured to Judy and she joined Tuck, Gamelin, Vosper and Captain Leitnos for a meeting.

"Yesterday the men learned that they can shift where the bombs land and hit their target. If they can see their target." Tuck told them. "Today, we'll practice aiming at targets the mortar gunners can't see."

A few minutes later the men were eating, then afterwards they policed the camp before riding another mile further north. When they stopped Judy decided she wanted to listen to what Tuck was saying, so she stayed close to his elbow.

"For now," Tuck told the assembled troops, "we'll keep it simple." He held up two wooden sticks, one with a white piece of cloth, the other with a red piece attached to the stick. Each stick was about two feet long and the cloth about a foot square.

"The white flag is which way to move the tube, left or right. Held in the left hand it means left, in the right hand, move the tube to the right. If it's held low," he demonstrated, holding the stick point towards the ground, "that means one degree right or left. Held level, that's three degrees, held up, five degrees in whichever direction. If you want to shift the fire two degrees right, you do this." He pulled the flag back to his face, then moved it back where it had been. "You can sign quickly, once you've practiced, just about any shift in any direction.

"The red flag is up and down. Up," he raised the flag over his head, "and down." He moved it down. "Then you touch your nose for five degrees, your stomach for three degrees, and your knee for one degree. Repeat for the right angle."

"That sounds complicated," Captain Leitnos said, sounding a little sour.

Judy looked at the man in surprise. It was very simple!

"We will practice. We have a half dozen sets of flags. We'll pair up and give everyone a chance to wave flags and the other to interpret them. Then we'll trade off and do it again."

At the end of two hours, everyone was reasonably proficient. Judy stayed close to Tuck the whole time, and for the first few minutes, he'd closely watched the sergeants who were directing the men, with Vosper and Gamelin watching the sergeants.

Tuck walked a ways off with Captain Leitnos. "We need a better way to carry hot mortar tubes," Tuck told him.

"Just dump water on them," the captain told him.

Tuck smiled. "Which will give off a plume of white steam. I don't think that's a good idea on a battlefield. Plus, the men have enough to carry as it is."

The captain nodded. "We can make some heavy leather straps," Captain Leitnos said after some thought. "They will wear out, but they will be small and light, compared to everything else about these mortars. We can carry spares."

Tuck nodded.

A while later they set up a mortar tube and Tuck handed Gamelin an old tunic top from his pack. "Go up to that hill, find a pole and hang the shirt from it. Stuff it with grass, then come back."

Gamelin and Vosper swung onto their horses and galloped off. As they did, Tanda, Tazi and Hestius returned.

"Well, anything to report?" Tuck asked Tanda.

"Nothing, not even dust," Tanda told him. "We went all the way to the edge of the Barrier and looked out. We could see nothing. Your trooper knows how to run!"

Tuck nodded, before returning his attention back to the exercise.

For the rest of the morning and afternoon each team would fire a single shot from their mortar and the men would decide what the signals should be. Moreover, Tuck made it a contest, with the team who did best getting a wineskin instead of beer with dinner.

There was laughter, good-natured kidding and everyone was eager to do their best. Judy watched carefully, curious about everything. Finally they poured a little water on the mortar tube they'd been using and it did indeed send up billows of steam. The plumes towered twenty or thirty feet into the air.

That had been, Judy thought, deliberate on Tuck's part. He'd remembered what Captain Leitnos had said earlier. None of the men had heard the captain's suggestion, but more than one had looked nervously at the clouds of white vapor drifting away on the late afternoon breeze.

Then they returned to the eastern shore of the lake. In the time they'd been gone, a small tent city had been constructed, about thirty tents. Soldiers walked the perimeter, all armed and grim.

There was something like a rowboat moored at the small pier, and Tuck, Captain Leitnos, Tanda, Tazi and Judy climbed in, for a quick row out to the city.

Tuck turned to Tanda. "We have been summoned for a meeting concerning the first scout reports. There would be time to see your uncle first."

"First Count Tellan, then my uncle," Tanda told Tuck when he made his suggestion.

The whole thing with the night before was simply her fault. She should have known, had indeed assumed, that Tuck would try to stop her from leaving the camp.

She woke after midnight and had moved silently to the latrine area. There had been no sound, no sign of the inner camp guards. She slipped through the outer guards, downhill and turned away from the camp.

She'd been alert; sure that Tuck would be following her. But she'd heard nothing and finally, confident, she'd given into her impulse. She had taken perhaps a half dozen running steps when she saw the rope flick past her eyes. It moved far faster than she could react; at once her arms were pinned to her sides.

She'd tried to escape the rope, but Tuck was quick, as she'd learned the first time she'd met him. With a casual motion, he'd flipped the rope and looped it about her arms, pulling it tight, trapping her. He'd stepped close, put his leg behind hers and levered her backwards to the ground.

It was quick and in spite of telling herself she was ready for anything, the speed and effectiveness of the attack had stunned her. Before she could fight back, she'd been neatly bound. She'd told him he'd won, speaking quietly; he'd reacted by putting a rag in her mouth and binding that.

He'd picked her up and had carried her one-handed back to camp, up the hill, depositing her into the care of Lady Judy. Tanda had made a few noises, but there was never any chance of being released; she'd tried to untie her hands, but knew almost at once that it might take days.

Moreover, he'd been right in the morning, putting one of the troopers with her. The young man knew the signal codes, and at her request had flashed messages out to any scouts in the basins. Not only was the young man sweet on Tazi, he could run and he could signal. Still, there had been no reply to their attempts to communicate. It hadn't been much of a hope, but perhaps they could have learned something.

Now, Count Tellan appeared; Manistewa was already sitting quietly in the Council Chamber.

Count Tellan turned to Tanda first. "Please do not try to send messages in the future. The scouts report them and will not respond unless you have the right code."

Tanda bowed her head. Altogether, not a good day!

The first scouts hadn't gotten far and only a fraction had been told to signal the first afternoon.

After saying that, Count Tellan turned to Tuck. "The Lady Elspeth spent most of the day with Logistos Glaxos. He has requested her services. Even though you said you were willing, know that the logistos will become the most unpopular man in Outpost in the event of a siege. He is the one who determines who eats and who goes hungry."

Tuck inclined his head. "Perhaps she can put a pleasant face on the unpleasantness."

Tanda didn't think that would help. Moreover, Elspeth wasn't likely to ever be guilty of having a pleasant expression.

"Captain Leitnos, how goes the training?" Count Tellan asked his man.

Captain Leitnos started speaking of the difficulties. "The tubes are very hot after being fired. We can't leave them behind; we'll need to make some sort of leather carry straps that we can use.

"Count Tellan, those little guns eat bombs like a bear eats berries in a berry patch!" He nodded at Tuck, "Captain Tuck kept the firing slow, but I timed it by counting. A five count, Lord Tellan. If you are in a hurry, a five count is measured fire. You could cut that in half if you were firing against a well spread-out target, like a large enemy force.

"A twenty count, Lord, for aimed fire. You could fire the entire thousand rounds in a long afternoon of battle. The bombs weigh twelve pounds, sir, and are packed in boxes of three that weigh another three pounds. We were careful; none of the bombs were dropped. I have no idea if they would explode if dropped."

"They might," Tuck agreed. "That and we had one this afternoon that didn't explode on impact. Sergeant Vosper exploded it with a rifle shot. That was one of the dozen mortar rounds we fired. The good news is that I suspect that picking one up will be dangerous; a curious enemy may do your work for you. The bad news is that clever artisans will be able to duplicate them within a few moons."

"And accuracy?" the Count asked.

"Unbelievable, Lord Count," Captain Leitnos reported. "Three shots to get within a few feet."

Tuck cautioned, "Count, we are shooting at a range of less than a half mile. At a mile, it will take more shots to get on target. Of course, the proper use of mortars at that range is against dispersed targets."

Tanda watched Tuck lift his eyes and meet the Count's. "Sir, I haven't asked. How do your soldiers fight? How does one army engage another?"

"The High King has taught us to adapt our tactics to the situation. Cavalry typically attack in a loose line abreast. Mainly they fight enemy cavalry. Infantry fights in ranks of three, two or one, depending on how much impact the commander desires."

Tuck nodded. "Ranks fire as one, or by numbers?" Tuck asked the Count.

"In theory we could have them fire by number, but in practice, it's much easier to have an entire rank fire at once."

"And has anyone looked over enemy dead after a battle? To see how many of them were struck by how many bullets?"

Gamelin cleared his throat. "We honor the dead, even of our enemies."

"Fine, but you do bury them, right?" Tuck asked.

"Of course. Rough graves, but the priests of Galzar Wolf's Head say words praising their bravery and honor to speed them on their way."

"Then your men can count wounds," Tuck said harshly. "One, two, three, many. I'm betting that there are a lot of the 'many' category."

"The men are trained to fire directly to their front," Count Tellan told Tuck.

"And I'm sure they try, but in a battle you tend to focus on something and stay focused until something changes. Maybe your target is in front of you, maybe not."

Count Tellan nodded, knowing the truth of what Tuck said.

"So, you would have us shoot by number as well?"

"Yes, sir. It is a matter of training. It isn't something you can teach in an afternoon, but if you keep at it, day after day, then the men can do it in their sleep."

"We try to keep drill simple," Captain Leitnos told Tuck.

"Your soldiers are good men," Tuck replied. "If something is explained to them, then you show them how it works... they are like puppies, eager to please."

Count Tellan looked across the table his eyes on Tuck, then on the others. "I think, Sergeant Vosper you feel an urge to speak, but are concerned about speaking in front of us."

Vosper nodded.

"Then talk, Sergeant. The reason each of you is at this table is I need the thinking of as many people as possible. If you see something wrong or if you can think of a better way to do something, you must speak."