Chapter 28a: Once More, Unto the Breach

Judy stood next to Tuck, watching the ranks of soldiers toiling along the road that led up the ridge. After weeks of this she knew how much it would take out of the soldiers to reach the top of the ridge. She grinned to herself and then turned to Tuck. "What's it like to fight in the plains?"

"It's not any fun. It's easier to make a mistake. They can come at you six ways from Sunday. It's harder to conduct an ambush, unless you're in broken country; that is, with some hills and the occasional river or forest. Still, an army has to eat, and so the goals and objectives aren't that much different."

"Why are we getting so far from Xipototec?"

Tuck sighed. "It's defended reasonably well. It would be defended even better if we were there. Except we can't win if we stay on the defensive. I'm sure I could hold it against all comers -- for a while. But unless the God-King is decisively defeated, he'll come for it one day in strength we can't hope to match.

"You have to think honestly to yourself: if the God-King sued for peace today, pulling back like the Zarthani did, letting us keep our gains, Xipototec would be hanging out here in the middle of the desert like a ripe fig. Four or five years down the road, do you think the High King would go to war with the God-King if they took it back?"

"I'd like to think he would," Judy told him.

"In 1956 the Hungarians revolted against the Soviet Union. We could have sent them help," Tuck told Judy. "Except we didn't. We stood by and let the Soviets murder thousands of people, because we'd have lost millions in a general war with the Soviet Union. It would be asking an awful lot of the High King to put hundreds of thousands of his people at risk to save a few tens of thousands in Xipototec.

"So yeah, I'd like to think he'd march anyway; you don't make your allies comfortable if you're willing to toss one of them to the wolves when the going gets tough.

"But let us win, and win big -- that's a different story, particularly if the people from Xipototec play an important part in that victory. It's why the Ruthani are so stupid. You know about the minerals down in their part of Arizona?"

Judy shook her head.

"Well, guess what? One of Gamelin's soldiers knows some of the economically important rocks and reported finding them to Gamelin. And Gamelin passed the word on to Count Tellan, telling Count Tellan that he'd assured the Ruthani that the High King has no designs on their territory. It's why Captain Leitnos stayed with the Ruthani. It's why I went out of my way to tell the Ruthani the same thing. In the long run, those economic assets will be developed. It would go a far piece to securing the Ruthani's future if they are in charge of exploiting them.

"Where we're from, we didn't exactly distinguish ourselves with our relations with the Indians. We lied, stole and cheated them. Exterminated them like vermin. It was a little more equal here, but not much."

"So, we're going to attack the God-King," Judy said, ignoring Tuck's attempt to change the subject.

"That's the plan. We will keep between Xipototec and this General Thanos we talked to. We have scouts towards their big town south of Xipototec and Hostigi signalers with the scouts. If they send a force towards Xipototec we'll turn around and make forced marches, trying to beat them. It's not the safest thing in the world, but it's the best we can do."

"And what happens if we catch the God-King's soldiers ahead of us?"

"We harass, we raid. A couple of ambushes. Count Tellan is sending word to the High King that we're out here and what we're doing, but that word's not likely to reach the High King before fall. When we get a little further east, I'll think about sending word ahead of ourselves."

He grinned and motioned the two of them to start forward, the last of the soldiers having passed, but ahead of the column of wagons and artillery. Way in the back Gamelin commanded the rear guard, two hundred mounted Hostigi.

They strode easily, used to walking and marching now. Riding a horse was a piece of cake.

"How is your company coming along?" Tuck asked Judy.

"Very well. We took the half dozen horses you gave us and we're teaching everyone to ride. Everyone gets an hour or two a day on a horse. Tanda is still working with us on our scouting skills. Her father is helping us, too. We can usually find the Ruthani now, but finding those two is very hard. Tanda we've found a few times. We've never found Lion."

"A year and a half ago, Mac and I went hunting javelina in the same mountains not far from where we arrived here. There were a bunch of us, as usual. Mac and I were the scouts, and we circled round and started walking towards where the others were waiting, hoping to get the critters moving their way."

Tuck laughed. "I was walking down a ridge line, not much different than this one, and Mac made a pumping motion with his hand: the signal to stop and take cover. So, I stopped, wondering what he was trying to tell me. I didn't go to ground.

"He went up the ridge at a dead run, got the others moving towards me." Tuck chuckled. "Mac would have been right at home with these folks. He can run and run and run. I saw the others filtering along the ridge top. I was flat mystified what was going on.

"I heard the tiniest rustle and turned my head slightly, to see a javelina a few feet away from me, trying to sneak by. I pretended I didn't see it and it kept going. Then Mac yelled, 'Hoorah!' and we both shouted and waved our arms.

"I'd walked right into the middle of a herd. Maybe twenty of them were within a dozen feet of me at one point, Mac said. From where he was, he could see them sneaking past me.

"Anyway, we spooked them and they charged down a wash, where the others were waiting. A bad day for that javelina herd."

"Hoorah?" Judy asked.

"Sure, it's a term used in the old west. That's what you did when you made a lot of noise to drive cattle or other animals that were a little reluctant to travel. It also referred to something bad guys did to a town, to cow it."

He looked at her steadily for a second. "Tonight, you will take your people to one side of the camp, out of line of sight with the rest of the camp. Tell your people that there will be a night exercise after midnight and they must listen closely to their sergeants and their officer. They are not to tell anyone about the exercise."

"Yes, Tuck," Judy said confidently.

"Your orders are to stay down, keep down, and keep your people safe."

Judy looked at him, not sure what he meant. "I don't understand."

"Gamelin's company will fire a single illumination round, high over the camp. Then they will each fire a single rifle shot into the air. Then they too will get down and stay down." He looked Judy in the eye. "We've come a long way teaching the men fire discipline. They are pretty good when they are psyched up; when they know a battle is at hand or if they are training. They talk to each other, they joke, they crow about how easy it is to kill the God-King's soldiers.

"What they will do when taken by surprise -- that I don't know. Their sergeants will be screaming at them not to shoot."

Judy remembered the first raid on the Zarthani fort. "A lot of people could get hurt."

Tuck nodded soberly. "I know. But it's something they have to learn to deal with. We've done nothing but ambush and raid our enemies. One of these days, they are going to try it on us. I'd like to think we'd spot them coming in, and would give them a warm welcome. But we could just as easily miss them. The men have to know what to do. Do you understand?"

"Who knows about what's going to happen?" Judy asked.

"You and Gamelin. Gamelin will tell Vosper tonight after we make camp. Captain Andromoth knows; at sunset his men will start double-hobbling the horses... his men won't be told why, but some will guess."

"Tanda?" Judy asked.

Tuck laughed. "No, not Tanda. Or Lion or any of the Ruthani. You'll want to be sure you're well away from the Ruthani camp. I'm actually fairly confident about our soldiers. I'm not nearly as confident about Tanda's folks, even though Tanda and Lion have worked hard to get them straightened out."

"And who should I tell?"

"That's up to you. Me? I'd seriously consider not telling anyone."

He waved towards the southwest. "Once in Nam, I was told we were going to have an alert in our camp at midnight; not the usual time for an alert. I told Mac about it; hell, I told Mac about everything back then.

"The alert came down and there was a hell of a lot of confusion everywhere else except our team. We were there, in position, everything as ready as it should be.

"The alert ended at dawn and five minutes later my team commander was chewing me out. The purpose of a surprise alert, you see, is that it's a surprise. Anyone can get set and ready with time to do so. The thing you have to practice is how to do it in a crunch. He was right."

"What did you say to Mr. Mac?" Judy asked.

Tuck laughed. "Why, I told him that the boss had thanked me for having everyone up and ready, and making the team look so good. Mac knew what had happened... and understood why I never told him about another alert."

"There's so much to learn!" Judy told him.

"Hey, if it was easy, anyone could do it, and we wouldn't get the big bucks!"

Tanda Havra looked around and shook her head. "I do not understand Lord Tuck, father."

Lion's smile gleamed in the twilight. "He is a clever man. Cleverer than you, but not cleverer than me."

Tanda looked at him with exasperation. "We camped early. We reached the top; we could have covered a few more miles. It's flat, his soldiers could have done it easily."

"Yes, but we aren't in a hurry, and it was a steep hill, daughter. Perhaps he wanted everyone rested."

"And this!" Tanda said, ignoring him, sweeping her hand around at the terrain. "Look at these positions! We can't see the main body! We can't see Lady Judy and Tazi's group! Lord Gamelin is well behind us."

Lion had a sly look on his face. "Lord Tuck is preparing to meet an attack."

Tanda was still frustrated. "He would have told us, if an attack was coming! He would at least have told me!"

"Daughter, you are not a soldier."

She turned and looked him square in the eye. "And neither are you, father! You hunt, yes. But it isn't the same."

"No," he agreed. "It isn't the same. However, I used to watch the soldiers of the High King very carefully. I wanted to learn their magic, so I could sneak up and steal their fireseed weapons. It took me many years to learn there was no magic, just practice."

Tanda wanted to shake him. Instead, she stopped and considered. Lion wasn't a fool. Tuck wasn't a fool. Tuck was acting as if there was going to be an attack. She and the Ruthani were off to one side, with a deep ravine on two sides, rocky scree on the third, and the main camp up and over a small rise.

Lady Judy's people were close to them, but down in a small depression. In order for anyone to attack Lady Judy they would have to come through the main camp, then the Ruthani. What was it called when you prepared for an attack that wasn't coming? Lion had named it. Practice.

She bowed her head towards Lion. "Father, I apologize."

"It is nothing but practice, daughter." There was something about the way he spoke that brought her eyes back to him.

"Father, you are telling me something. Please, I am your daughter, and you are right. I'm not a soldier. It will be practice."

"And what are you thinking of doing?"

Tanda frowned. "I was going to warn them to expect a false attack. To be careful, to prepare, but not to shoot."

"They should know not to shoot, shouldn't they?" he asked. "It is in the High King's field regulations. Do you think Lord Tuck has them read once a moon to everyone else and every other day to the Ruthani without reason?"

Tanda grimaced. "You don't think I should say anything."

"You should say nothing," he agreed. "And like me, find a place that our brothers and cousins will have a hard time shooting us by mistake."

"We'll look like fools again," Tanda despaired.

"Daughter, Lord Tuck has to be able to trust his soldiers to do his bidding. The Ruthani don't do as they are told. I have talked to them; you have talked to them. Pinyon has talked to them... and still they do as they please.

"You, daughter, you were like them in the beginning! I've heard the stories! But you learned, didn't you? That what Tuck wanted was good sense, and you were stupid to fight it.

"Daughter, I want to kill these bastard sons of the God-King more than I want life itself. But our brothers and cousins do not bring the Lost Ruthani any credit; just shame. Better, I think, to send them all back. I think that is Lord Tuck's intent. Tonight the Ruthani do as they should... or not. If not..."

"I won't leave him," Tanda told Lion.

Lion laughed. "Daughter, only a foolish woman would leave a man like Lord Tuck out of her sight for more than a few heartbeats! He is a great man, destined for great things."

"And you, Lion?"

"Me? I told you, I want to kill the God-King. Nothing is more important to me than that."

"Do me a favor, father," Tanda told him.

"What, daughter?"

"Kill the old bastard, then go home to your wives and children, live to a very old age and have even more sons and daughters. Don't throw your life away -- not even for the God-King."

He smiled at her, but in her heart Tanda knew he'd trade his life for the God-King's in an instant.

There was a rattle of stones and she turned and saw Tuck coming their way.

"Good evening, Lord Tuck!" Lion called. "A fine morning's walk!"

Tuck grinned at him. "For you. It was a little tiring for most of the men."

Tuck turned to Tanda. "I wanted to tell you that I was talking to Vertax earlier. He's sure this General Thanos is going to try a raid against us soon. So, I asked the patrol you sent out earlier to tell the returning patrol to stay out a little longer, unless they'd seen any of the God-King's soldiers."

"Midnight, eh?" Tanda asked, smiling.

"No, they won't be coming in at midnight. Not tonight," he said patiently.

"I understand fine, husband-to-be. I understand perfectly."

"Practice, Tanda, is just that. Exercise judgment and caution, even so."

So, he suspected she knew. How could she bring herself to hint that without Lion, she would have known nothing, and would have been pleased to have a double patrol out in front of them, because she too worried about the God-King's soldiers attacking them?

Long before midnight she was in a small depression that she improved by putting some of the plentiful rocks all around it, adding another foot or so to its depth.

One of the Ruthani "sergeants" had been by earlier. He'd sneered at the rocks, sneered again when she'd told him she wanted to be ready for a raid. "We will know, long before they come!"

Tanda had stood, reached out and took the man with one hand, and put her knife to his belly, just the point, enough to get his attention. "Yes, of course. Which is why Mogdai had a finger-width's warning. There were thousands of the God-King's soldiers. Cannon! They brought cannon up and no one noticed any of them! Do not dare tell me, little man, about how good you and yours scout!"

She pushed him away and he tripped and fell. Even in the darkness she could sense his rage. From out of the darkness, right next to the fallen man, Pinyon's voice came. "And of course, you saw me too, right?"

The man crabbed backwards, then turned and ran into Lion, who simply laughed, stroking his fang necklaces.

Tanda contemplated the man, and then turned to Pinyon. "They knew, didn't they?"

"Do you know why I am here?" he asked.

Tanda shook her head, not understanding why that was germane.

"I talked to Gamelin's man, the sergeant, Vosper. He told me that Lord Tuck argued that Count Tellan could not win his war against his enemies by sitting in his fort, waiting for them to come against them or pass them by.

"That, Tanda Havra, is how we have fought for so many years! We are like a desert tortoise! We pull in our arms and legs! Above all, we hide our heads. Shame! Shame, daughter! That was never going to defeat our enemies! Never! And now, once again, we hide! Yes, we led most of our people to safety, and they are safe indeed. But like the desert tortoise, we were always doomed to lose against our enemies because we prize safety.

"Lord Tuck understands this! He understands it better than generation after generation of the Ruthani!"

In the distance there was the faint thump of a mortar firing. "Get down, Pinyon!" Tanda called to him.

He jumped into her hole with alacrity, a heartbeat later Lion landed atop Tanda. The night sky lit up, then as was undoubtedly signaled by the light, hundreds of rifles fired as one.

In spite of having Lion on top of her, Tanda bellowed. "Cover! Cover! If any man shoots before I say! I'll kill him, if your sergeant hasn't already!"

In the distance there was a rifle shot, then a second.

"Steady!" Tanda cried out as loudly as she could. "Steady! Find cover, be ready to fire on my command!"

A weight lifted off her body, and she knew Lion was gone. She worried for an instant, but couldn't afford to keep quiet.

"Sergeants! Check your men! Check their positions! Section one to cover the scree to our rear! The rest, prepare to move as Lord Tuck commands!"

No one else fired; there had just been two shots from the main camp. In the distance, a bugle sounded... as if the God-King's soldiers were charging. Then from close by a rifle fired into the darkness.

A few heartbeats later a man started screaming. A terrible, horrible scream... and the screaming didn't stop.

Over the sound of the screams Lion's voice rose, just as terrible in his own way. "He screams for his mother! He screams for his wife! Two Crows would have seen a new child when he returned home, but he can't scream! He has a rifle bullet through his skull! So Fat Wind screams and screams for the both of them!"

An palm-width later a runner appeared in the dark, saying it had been a drill, that the mock attack was done. The screaming hadn't stopped and Tanda could see the young messenger's eyes, wide and afraid, unable to turn away from the screams.

"It was a drill!" Tanda called as loudly as she could. "There was no attack! It was practice!"

The screams stopped the next instant.

"Build up the fire," Tanda commanded. "I want to talk to you all."

There were just forty-three, including Tanda, Pinyon and Lion, who assembled around the fire. Pinyon bowed to her, turned and walked away into the night.

"At dawn I will face Lord Tuck," she told them. "I will tell him that I cannot control you. That I don't want to lead you after this day."

There were gasps and groans.

One of the men stood. "Lady Tanda, we want to follow you! I swear I will do as you command! Each and every thing!"

She looked at him and shook her head. "Two hundred and fifty of us went south. The Ruthani, the smallest part of Lord Tuck's forces, have taken more casualties than all the rest of Tuck's soldiers combined! Even now, tonight, we have two dead. There are forty-three of us here, two dozen more on patrol. Barely one man in four of what we started with! A quarter of us are dead! A quarter!"

She stared at the sergeant, who wilted. "What commander would want to command such as us? We kill each other, over and over... now and then we kill one or two of our enemies... while Lord Tuck's men kill hundreds and thousands of them. Why? Why would I want to lead such fools as you?"