Chapter 21: Disaster

Judy's eyes were fixed on Tuck, as he in turn was watching Gamelin's part in the battle. "They're away," Tuck said. "Clean away, no opposition. I don't think they took any casualties."

Judy breathed a sign of relief then that changed when Tuck spoke loudly, "Down!"

Everyone hunkered down lower, and then came an extremely large "boom" from the town. Tuck looked to his left and grimaced. "Big gun! It knocked down about an acre of corn. Gamelin's out of danger."

Judy breathed another silent prayer of relief.

Then it was back to waiting. The morning wore on, the temperature steadily increased, making the waiting all the more difficult. In the distance came the sound of cannon, then, not as loud, the slam of rifle fire. The sound was steady for about five minutes, and then the rate of fire slacked off considerably.

Tuck kept his attention on the town and Judy kept waiting for Tuck to signal the attack.

The sound of the distant firing had stopped before Tuck waved and one mortar fired an illumination round. It burst over the center of town, drifting slowly down. It was a bright spot in the daytime, leaving a trail of dark gray smoke as it descended. It went out several hundred feet in the air, the small parachute unaware and uncaring that the flare no longer burned.

There was a sudden creak as the gates started to open. Tuck popped his head up, looked for a long second, then was back down. "Pass the word, we will engage the troops exiting the town. A four count on the volleys. The first volley to come when I open fire."

The command passed swiftly through the force waiting. Tuck peeked again, a few seconds later. He came back down, grinned at Judy and Tazi. "It's going to be noisy for a finger-width... keep your heads down."

"What's happening?" Judy asked.

"There's a big bunch aiming to come out the main gate, probably intending to see what all the shooting was about. A couple of hundred of them it looks like. If we hit them right, they won't be able to close the gate."

He had been, Judy noticed, counting to himself, even as he talked to her. He popped up again, firing a single shot from his rifle.

Two hundred rifles spoke an instant later, and then the mortars added their weight to the volley.

There was a long, long count, before the next rifle volley; ten heart-beats. Rifles were going off from the town, bullets could be heard going overhead, others slammed into rocks and ricocheted noisily. Another mortar volley, a little ahead of the rifles. Then came the second rifle volley.

The number of bullets going by had become awesome. Every second or so, Judy could hear one go overhead. Tuck was a few feet away, looking at her.

A few feet away, the third rank rose to fire, and a trooper was hit in the throat, collapsing like an empty bag. That volley fired as well.

Tuck popped up, fired two shots and was back down. He turned to Judy. "Go over to the left. Tell Captain Mnestreus to watch out; they'll be firing grape shot here in a few seconds. Keep down!"

Judy ran, crouching down, along the line of the ditch. Several more times bullets whizzed overhead. She delivered her message to Captain Mnestreus, who grunted when he heard it.

"Down!" the captain called and his men knelt.

Bullets had been bad. What passed over their heads was beyond bad. Imagine a million angry hornets. Imagine more ricochets than you could willingly face. It was like that and more.

"Up!" the captain commanded and men were up, resuming the volleys.

"Tell Captain Tuck the Mexicotal here are pulling back. I'm going to advance after the next cannon salvo."

She bobbed her head and ran back to Tuck's position. When she sank down next to him he reached out and touched her shoulder. "Remind me next time," he told her, "to pick a shorter messenger."

Judy looked at him, confused.

He smiled. "You are drawing a lot of attention from the guards on the walls. They have enough elevation to see you and have been shooting at you. Fortunately, they are lousy shots."

"I didn't notice."

"Like I said, they're lousy shots."

"Captain Mnestreus says he's going to advance after the next cannon salvo."

Tuck reached out and touched Judy's cheek. "Don't take this personally, but Tazi is head and shoulders shorter than you."

He turned to Tazi. "Run and tell Captain Mnestreus to hold up until commanded to advance." Tuck pointed at Tazi and then yelled, "And keep your head down!"

Tazi nodded and she too ran along the line, hunched down in a crouch. It didn't seem to Judy that anyone was shooting at her.

Tuck touched her shoulder. "Listen."

Judy listened, not sure what she was supposed to pay attention to. There was a lot less firing from the town than there had been a few seconds before. And there was a sound like distant surf. She looked at Tuck.

"At a guess, the people of Xipototec have decided which side they want to go with," he told her.

Tuck called down the line, "Cease fire! Cease fire!"

With the cessation of firing, it was clear that what firing there was, was within the town. Not on the walls, but inside the town, but there wasn't much of it. The surf sound was now clearer, the sound of thousands of voices raised in anger.

Tuck looked at Judy. "Do you know what happened in France after the revolution? In Russia after theirs?"

Judy shook her head.

"It wasn't pretty," Tuck told her. "The people had suffered long and hard. They had a lot of grievances and they paid the nobles back a thousand times over. It won't be pretty, what we'll see inside there. Don't let it throw you."

Tuck stood then and stretched, his eyes intent on the town. Judy frowned. "Can I stand up?"

"Sure, why not? Might as well stretch."

She rose up and looked at the town. She'd seen it several times before now; now it was very different. There was a mound of dead men and horses a few feet from the gate. Then, in the gate area itself, the mounds were much higher. Her eyes went to a signal mirror flashing on the wall. Tazi had returned and now stood next to Judy, looking around.

Tazi walked over to Tuck, stared at him for a long time, then leaned close and kissed him on each cheek. Then she bowed her head to him.

Tazi's people, Judy thought, have been murdered for a long time by the Mexicotal. Her mother, her father. Who knew how many others? Tazi looked up at Tuck. "I would go to my sister."

Tuck bobbed his head. "It won't be safe, but yes."

More and more Hostigi heads were up, looking at the town. Tuck called out, "It's ours, lads! Don't go shooting any of our allies!"

There was laughter, a release of the tension that all had felt. A few seconds later, the cheers started.

Judy had a hard time understanding the cheers at first, until she realized the first word they were saying was "Lord" and not "Captain." Shouts started from the walls as well. The same words, with another accent.

Tuck climbed out of the ditch, and Judy was up a fraction of a second later to walk by his side. Ahead of them, Tazi passed into the town, while Tuck led a procession of Hostigi towards the gate.

Halfway there, Tuck turned to Judy and spoke in English. "You'll never guess why the Romans believed that a successful general, returning home to a celebration, should have a slave whispering in his ear, 'I am but a man.'"

"Because it would be very easy to get used to this," Judy replied.

"Exactly. Judy, please don't let me get used to this."

"Well, we could change what's whispered in your ear," she told him. She paused for effect, then whispered, "Your shit stinks!"

Tuck rocked with laughter. "I should wash your mouth out with soap!"

"Just trying to help!"

He could only grin, and then he walked faster, when he saw Tanda Havra on top of the wall, waving to him, signing him to hurry.

Judy glanced over her shoulder to the mountains, so distant. I hope you are okay, Gamelin. It would really wreck things if you're not.

When they reached the top of the wall, Tanda was looking off towards the mountains. She turned to Tuck. "Captain Andromoth destroyed the Mexicotal who pursued Lieutenant Gamelin. He reports two dead and a few wounded."

Tuck bobbed his head. "And what are the good captain's intentions?"

A signalman spoke up. "Lord Tuck, Captain Andromoth reports that the road is too obstructed to move his guns forward. He's sending some of his men up, but the guns and wagons can't move as yet. He's sending Lieutenant Gamelin forward with his company and he will come as fast as possible with the rest when the way is clear."

When a group of horsemen emerged from the mountains, Tuck studied them. "Mexicotal, but just a few hundred. It looks like Captain Andromoth really knocked the stuffing out of them."

Judy had been aware that Tanda was speaking with a tall man, wearing just a few feathers and not much else. There wasn't anything left to the imagination, Judy thought.

Tanda came back to Tuck. "You are in luck, Captain Tuck."

"I'm in luck?"

"Yes. This is Vertax, an agent of Manistewa's here in the town. He was the captain of the God-King's scouts. He reports that three days ago a wagon caravan arrived from the south. They camped here in town, because the road north isn't finished and they were afraid of an attack. More than a hundred wagons, nearly a thousand horses... wagons filled with fireseed and corn. Four parts in five, he says, fireseed."

The man said something else, in a language Judy didn't recognize. Evidently Tanda Havra didn't speak it either, because Tanda asked him to repeat. For a few minutes, there was much back and forth.

Tanda turned back to Tuck. "You need to send many men to the Governor's Palace. Vertax says that Xipototec is the main rally point for the Northern Regime. There are, he says, fifteen thousand stands of rifles in the palace."

"Three in a stand?" Tuck asked.

A brief conversation. "Four, Tuck."

Tuck turned towards where the Mexicotal survivors from the town were. They had stopped, several miles from the walls.

Tuck beckoned to Judy. "Find an artilleryman. Tell him I want a gun aimed at those men and fired. A ball, preferably, but grape or case shot will do. It has to be on line, even though the round will fall short."

Judy found one of the mortar lieutenants who was inspecting one of the big Mexicotal guns. She passed on the order and the lieutenant looked at the gun, then at Judy. "When in doubt, Lady Judy, ask your sergeant!" He was calling for the man, and Judy left it in their hands. Less than a finger-width later, one of the huge cannon on the walls boomed.

Again, a signalman reported, "The Mexicotal forces are heading southwest. Captain Andromoth says the Ruthani wish to destroy them."

"Tell Captain Andromoth," Tuck said, "that the Ruthani are to follow, observe and report. The Mexicotal aren't to know they are being followed."

Tanda looked at Tuck. "Tonight, when it's dark... we could send fifty men south. At daylight, the Mexicotal would bleed for every step they took south. By nightfall, none would live."

Tuck sighed. "Tanda, war is about what you think you see. You judge your enemy based on what you think you see. If your enemy lies, if what you see isn't the truth... then you don't know your enemy's true strength or intentions.

"Sure, we could destroy them. Odds are, Huspai, the town to the south, will learn of the attack, anyway. You can't attack a town this size, with this many defenders and expect the other side won't notice."

"They will notice! And fear us!"

"Exactly!" Tuck agreed. "And what would they do then? They would carefully assemble their forces, they would march against us cautiously and would attack us cautiously. How is that to our advantage? We want them to make mistakes. That would be encouraging them not to make mistakes!

"No, we let them go. They will assume we are over-extended and will assemble a force to move against us with the minimum of preparation before they march against us."

"They have forty thousand soldiers there. Half of them will come. We fought here, three to one against us and won. That is good! Before, we have fought many times our numbers and won and then we have withdrawn. We can't withdraw here. The Mexicotal will put everyone living in this town to death if they retake it. Twenty-five thousand men, women and children."

Tuck smiled. Judy wished she had his confidence. "Tanda," Tuck told his intended, "I've never given you reason to think so ill of me. I take my responsibilities seriously, as you should well know. I didn't come here to get everyone in Xipototec slaughtered by the Mexicotal."

He paused, "If there is a wagon train here, then this town must be on the Mexicotal road north."

"It is," Tanda Havra confirmed.

"Well, our mission was to cut that road. We've done it. Our next mission was to keep the road cut for as long as possible. That means we have to stop the Mexicotal who will march against us. You say there are twenty-five thousand people here?"

"Yes, Tuck." Tanda sounded unsure of herself, something Judy had trouble believing.

"They can have a party tonight. Tomorrow, we'll clean up the mess, then tomorrow night we'll have another party. First thing the next day, I'll be asking for volunteers. Sixty thousand muskets, eh? A hundred and sixty tons of fireseed?"

Tanda was patient. "Tuck, it will take the Mexicotal two moon-quarters to reach the town to the south. They will assemble and come north. A moon and a half from now, Xipototec will face twenty thousand Mexicotal regular soldiers."

"So, the locals will have a party tonight and a party tomorrow night. Then for the ten days after that we'll drill volunteers in how to load a musket. Then we'll give them some time to learn to aim, and the rest of two moon-quarters to learn to march on command. Then we march south. A few days south of here, we'll meet the Mexicotal."

"You can't train a soldier in a few moon-quarters!" one of the Hostigi onlookers gasped in shock.

"We can teach a man to load and fire in a moon-quarter. We can teach him to follow someone who knows what he's doing, on a march in a couple of days. We will line them up and have them face their worst enemy. And then they will learn that the God-King's soldiers die just like any other soldier, when you shoot them."

"Thousands of them will die!" Tanda said, obviously upset.

"I figure we'll get five to seven thousand volunteers," Tuck said, ignoring Tanda. "We will train them. It will be my job to put them in a place where they can gain confidence under fire, by killing their enemies and not getting killed themselves. So far, the God-King's soldiers have been very obliging."

There were laughs among the assembled men. They were deeper in Mexicotal territory than any army had ever gone, more successful than any army had ever been. And Tuck was right; the Mexicotal had been as stupid as the Zarthani had been, near Outpost. Judy nodded, sure Tuck was right.

"And if you make a mistake?" Tanda demanded from Tuck.

"Then they die, I die, you die, Judy and Tazi die. We all die. But what happens if we win? The Mexicotal road will have been cut for three hundred miles. Three hundred miles, Tanda! They won't be able to move forward this year, and if we do our jobs, they might have trouble next year. Count Tellan wanted two moons... we'll give him a dozen or two, if we win."

Tanda stared at Tuck, her nostrils flaring with anger. "You understand," Tanda said finally, "if you get us all killed, I will never marry you?"

There were a few gasps, but Tuck laughed.

"If I don't get us all killed, will you marry me? On the winter solstice?"

Judy laughed at that, as did Tazi.

Tanda Havra grinned then. "If you think you will be alive the day after our marriage!"

"The day after our marriage, Tanda Havra, you will say something polite about me in front of everyone."

Again, everyone laughed.

Judy saw the look that passed between them. Then Tuck turned to everyone present. "Have we got a war to fight or what? We need to secure the palace; we need to see if we can take a few prisoners. We need to get started on a rip-roaring party tonight!"

Gamelin and his men entered the city carefully, walking their mounts through the tangled mass of Mexicotal dead in front of the city's main gate. There were several hundred Hostigi regulars on guard at the gate, commanded by Captain Mnestreus.

"Lord Tuck is at the Governor's Palace on the other side of town," the captain told Gamelin. "Report to him there." Gamelin saluted and his men mounted again to ride through the town.

The area beyond the gate consisted of an open space a hundred paces on a side, then sun-baked mud brick buildings that essentially formed another wall, this one two stories high. There was a wide road that led into the town, also blank faced. The road went only a few hundred feet, before turning. They moved a quarter mile, with only occasional narrow alleys leading off from the main road; there were two more bends.

Vosper rode next to Gamelin and spoke finally. "Could you imagine how tough this place would be to take if we actually had to assault it?"

"You would need cannon," Gamelin said. "Stand off at a distance and blow down the walls inside, then go through the walls, not down the road."

Vosper looked at him, then smiled. "Lord Tuck is a good teacher!"

They reached the main square. It was much larger than Gamelin expected, with a large well in the center. One side of the square had the Governor's Palace, which backed into the wall around the town. There was a mass of wagons behind a barricade in another corner of the square, with a smaller fenced-off area filled with horses.

There was a tremendous mass of humanity atop a pile of something that was obscured by the sheer numbers of people atop it. It was, Gamelin thought, more people in one place than he'd ever seen in his life.

A Hostigi lieutenant grinned at Gamelin. "Lord Tuck is inside the Palace. The Governor and about fifty officers, priests and nobles fled through a postern gate."

"That's too bad," Gamelin said. "What's that?" he waved at what had to be the largest crowd of people he'd ever seen in his life.

"It was too bad... for them," the Lieutenant told Gamelin. "Lord Tuck had placed some of the Ruthani to hold the gate. The Ruthani skinned the ones they captured alive."

Then the lieutenant waved at the people obviously hard at work in the hot afternoon sun.

"That was the Temple Pyramid of the God-King here. Where the sacrifices were made. They're tearing it down, brick by brick, by hand. Great Galzar, do these people hate the God-King!"

Gamelin turned back and looked again. Tens of thousands of hands were tearing at the stones of the building, tearing it down. Men, women, children, the old... everyone it seemed who lived in the town. It was already visibly lower than it had been a finger-width before.

"Where are they putting the rubble?" Gamelin asked, watching a line of people that ran from the former temple, into the Governor's Palace.

"They are dumping it in the river," the lieutenant replied. "They say they are washing the blood off; a year from now, they will raise a new temple to their own gods, with the purified bricks."

A few minutes later Gamelin saw Lady Judy emerge from the palace with a dozen men, who trotted off on some errand. She saw him almost the same time he saw her.

Gamelin smiled in relief at her safety, from the sheer joy of seeing her again. She was so beautiful! Judy smiled back and then beckoned.

He was off his horse and nearly stumbled in his haste to comply.

"You have your company?" she said, looking at his men.

"Yes, Lady Judy."

"Captain Tuck says that you should take them over there, and guard those wagons and horses." She pointed to the area where the wagons were. "There is more than a hundred tons of fireseed in those wagons, plus tons of grain. Tuck says, remember the Zarthani fort! Be careful!"

Gamelin grimaced.

Judy finished up his instructions. "When you have your people settled in, the guards posted, return here, to the Governor's Audience Room."

Gamelin saluted, turned and got his soldiers going. It was one of the most difficult things he'd done in his life, turning his back on her, and even harder still, not to turn back for another glimpse. She was right, though. This was important. That much fireseed exploding would level the town, he was sure. Not to mention kill them all.

"Make a field camp here, outside the wagon enclosure," Gamelin told his men. "I want a rope corral for our own horses, based on that fence. Vosper, take a party through the wagon corral and count how many wagons there are, check the perimeter."

The sergeant nodded, pulled four men out and went inside.

"I'll make this short," Gamelin told his company. "These are supply wagons. They contain no beer, no wine, and some grain. Mainly the wagons are filled with fireseed. If I find a man smoking within a hundred paces of the corral, I'll kill him."

The small movements of the men vanished, leaving only the sounds of the horses, waiting patiently in the sun. "We will guard these wagons carefully. We've done a fine job today, we accomplished our mission!" He lifted his right hand high, thumb up. "Three cheers for Lord Tuck!"

The cheers were loud and enthusiastic.

It took a palm-width to get things organized. There had been a dozen men who'd been guarding the wagons before, now they returned to their own company. Gamelin stood with Vosper, watching the finishing touches on their rope corral. "A sergeant told me Tuck has announced a party tonight. Tomorrow we'll clean up battle damage and have another party. Then, so the sergeant said, we're going to train Mexicotal peasants to be soldiers of the High King."

"That takes a year," Gamelin said, dubiously. "I don't think we have a year."

"If the sergeant is to be believed, Lord Tuck plans on doing it in two moon-quarters."

"I've walked with him, I've talked with him, I've fought beside him," Gamelin told Vosper. "I stopped thinking of him as a sorcerer long ago. If he can train soldiers in two moon quarters, then he truly is a sorcerer!"

"The sergeant said that as well as the fireseed that we guard, we also took sixty thousand rifles. Rifles, not muskets."

That stopped Gamelin and focused his attention on Vosper.

Vosper met his lieutenant's eyes.

Vosper went on to say, "We looked at the wagons, opening one of the kegs of fireseed. Lord Gamelin, the fireseed does not bear either the Temple Mark of Styphon, or the Seal of the High King. Instead, there is a symbol like this." Vosper leaned down a drew a small circle in the sand, then eight elongated circles that didn't touch the one in the center, but the smaller end of the stretched circles all pointed inward.

"Mexicotal rifles, Mexicotal fireseed," Vosper told him.

"I need to report to Captain Tuck," Gamelin replied. Gamelin glanced across the square. There was just about nothing left of the Mexicotal temple. "When they get done there, quietly turn out the men. Keep all but a few out of sight, but ready to form up as needed. Those people really hate the God-King and I don't think anyone knows what will happen next."

Tanda wiped sweat from her forehead. How did the Mexicotal live in these buildings? They were much hotter than the houses she'd known in Mogdai and there was almost no air movement at all. They were on a balcony, overlooking the town square, watching as the activity around the temple started to wind down.

Tuck turned to Vertax, now wearing the uniform of a Hostigi private. "Now what will they do?"

Vertax shrugged. "I have no idea. We all knew they hated us; it's never happened before that the slaves and serfs have taken a town."

"This is not going to be fun," Tuck told him. "I want to speak to them. I hope you have a strong voice."

"Sounds like it," Tanda told Tuck. Vertax had a deep voice that sounded like it would carry.

"Okay, what we're going to do is I'm going to speak to you, you'll translate and talk to the people in my name. I'll keep it short and simple."

"Okay."

"First I'm going to get their attention, then call them over and tell them I want to talk to them."

The former Mexicotal officer bobbed his head in understanding. "I don't think they will hear," he told Tuck.

"They'll hear," Tuck said with calm assurance.

Tuck turned to one of the Hostigi lieutenants. "Get two dozen men, form them up in two ranks inside the room here. On command, march one rank forward; have them fire into the air on the third pip. Then have the second rank replace them, only to fire on my command."

The lieutenant was only too eager to please, and in a few moments, there was a single loud crash as a dozen rifles fired at once.

Everyone in the square turned to the palace, the sounds died away. Vertax began to shout his message in a loud voice. Promptly, people began to stream towards the palace and the balcony.

Tuck turned to Tanda. "That was easy enough!"

Vertax turned to Tuck. "The God-King's Governor spoke from here, whenever he commanded them. It's what they are used to."

Tuck looked angry. "It's too late to do anything about that now. Tell Vertax that the first thing he is to say is that tomorrow this balcony will be gone, and after this, I'll speak from the ground."

Vertax nodded. He called loudly a few more times, and then spoke a simple sentence. There wasn't much reaction, just a nervous silence.

Tuck spoke, "Kalvan, High King of Hostigos does not hold with slavery."

Vertax repeated Tuck's words, this time bringing murmurs from the crowd.

"Kalvan, High King, does not hold with serfdom."

More murmurs.

"Today, I speak in the name of the High King, and I tell you now this land is free in his name, and is under his protection."

The murmurs quieted, Tanda could see people looking at each other. This wasn't going well for Tuck, not at all.

"The Governor of Xipototec lies dead, his body stripped, his blood soaking your streets."

"The priests of the God-King lie dead, spilling their blood in your streets as once they spilled your blood on their temples."

"The nobles of the God-King lie dead, spilling their blood in your streets, as once your blood was spilled."

"The officers and soldiers of the God-King lie dead, spilling their blood in your streets, as once your blood was spilled."

"The custom of the High King is to claim half of the lands of his enemies that his soldiers capture. The other half he gives to the soldiers who conquered it."

"In the High King's name, I renounce his half. I renounce the part that would come to me. The High King will stand good for the rest himself, paying the bounty to his soldiers and officers from his own coffers.

"You are, this day, free men and women! Xipototec is now your town!"

The crowd was still for a few moments, then they realized the truth: they were free! The screaming was sudden, thunderous and lasted for a very long time.

When they were quiet again, Tuck spoke, "You must select leaders from among yourselves, to speak with me. However, today you are free!"

This time there were even more cheers, growing steadily.

When Tuck finally raised his hands, the sound declined rapidly.

"We have taken much today, from the God-King. Food and drink included. Tonight, let us celebrate! They are dead! We are alive! Long live the High King! Long live High King Kalvan!"

Tuck turned to Lady Judy. "Tell them to start rolling out the kegs of beer and wine. We seriously need to find some meat for a proper barbeque! If not for tonight, then tomorrow!"

Judy laughed, but dashed below.

Tuck motioned to Tanda and Vertax. "I don't think it would be a good idea for you to go out, Vertax, but Tanda, we need to know how the people really feel. Could you see to some of the Ruthani who speak the language going among the people, talking to them, seeing what they think?"

Tanda agreed and went to find some of the Ruthani. She found the Paracop, Xenos, and explained what was needed.

"I already have men who have volunteered." He grinned at her. "You understand that nine months from tonight, there will be a sudden surge of new babies?"

"Do what you must," she told him.

"I talked to one of the logistos. They haven't hardly begun to tally what's here. There are two palace levels above ground, and at least four beneath. Storerooms for everything you can think of! A treasure trove!"

"Gold?" Tanda asked.

He shook his head. "There's a fair amount of personal jewelry, some fancy bowls and plates. They don't use money, you know."

Tanda kicked herself. True, her job wasn't studying the Mexicotal, but you'd think her curiosity would have extended at least as far as knowing what they used in trade!