Chapter 30: Aftermath of Battle

Tanda opened her eyes to darkness. She listened cautiously, trying to understand what had happened to her. She remembered the big fight; she remembered standing over Lion, trying to keep more bayonets from his body. He'd been bayoneted twice by then, once in the leg, once in the same arm he'd been wounded in earlier. Something had happened to her, because she remembered nothing after that.

A few feet away a light kindled, and she saw one of the half dozen priests of Dralm who'd come with the column. He was bending over someone lying on the ground. The priest straightened and turned to a shape standing next to him.

Tanda was startled to see Lady Judy, looking more haggard then ever she could remember seeing a living person. "She is dead, my Lady," the priest told the young woman.

Judy's face turned to stone. "Gods, priest! How do I tell her father? Lord Tuck? Priest, help me, for I am lost!"

The priest reached out to her and gathered her to his chest, holding the girl while she sobbed.

Tanda found she could lever herself up on one arm. Both arms were actually working, but one was suffering pins and needles of cutoff circulation. Best thing for that, her brain told her, was to move around.

"Lady Judy," she managed to croak.

The girl hesitated a fraction of second, then pushed away from the priest, looking dry-eyed and confident. "Tanda Havra, are you well?"

"No, I'm not well. My head throbs; my limbs move one way when I command them to move another. Where is my father, Lady Judy? Where is Lord Tuck?"

"Here, Tanda," the gruff voice said.

She turned to face Tuck.

Tuck pretty much ignored Tanda, coming to stop in front of Lady Judy. "Report, Judy," he said in English.

"I got my people massacred. Tazi's dead, Zokala just died. Nearly seventy, Tuck, of eighty-five are dead."

Tanda hid a small smile. Lady Judy had replied in Zarthani, not English. "My father, Lady Judy, what of him?" Tanda insisted.

A voice spoke from some feet away. "Trying to sleep, daughter! But there are too many here passing gas! Daughter, are you well?"

"Well enough, father."

"Then hush and let an old man sleep."

"Let's go outside," Tuck said quietly, "assuming any of you can walk."

Tanda moved her legs. She could do it, but she wasn't going to be running anywhere for a few days.

Judy, for her part, glared at Tuck. "I was hit in the back; there's nothing wrong with my legs."

The priest of Dralm held the lantern high as they made their way across the floor of the bunker. The dead soldiers of the God-King stay lay curled in death as they had fallen, the Hostigi and Mexicotal casualties had been moved to one side and laid out with care, both the living and the dead.

In spite of years of training, years of hard living, Tanda bowed low to the rows of dead. Behind her, Tuck started speaking, his voice low and sad.

Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind,
that from the nunnery of thy
chaste breast and quiet mind
to war and arms I fly.

True a new mistress now I chase,
the first foe in the field,
and with a stronger faith embrace
a sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such
as you too shall adore,
I could not love thee dear so much
loved I not Honor more.

Obviously, Tanda thought, a poem from his home. Oh, what a poem! It had certainly sufficed to send Lady Judy back to tears; even the priest of Dralm had drawn himself up. "Galzar, Lord Tuck, could not have said it better!" the priest intoned. To her surprise, the priest repeated the words.

She grimaced. One more thing that Tuck had left behind to confuse travelers from Home Timeline!

They were outside, on a causeway splotched with blood. There were a lot of bodies lying at the bottom of the cliff. Xenos, the Paratime police sergeant appeared. "Tanda Havra! Are you well?"

She drew herself up. "The next person who asks gets shot! Well enough!"

He bowed. "Tanda Havra, we tried to come to your assistance! But Lord Tuck forbade it! I told the men that they had to obey, but they were angry, very angry! And when Lord Tuck told Lord Gamelin to rescue you! Ai! They cried to the heavens! But I told them what did they expect, after what they had done?

"And then, Tanda Havra! Lord Gamelin! He didn't attack with rifles and pistols, as any man would! No! He called to his men to sling their rifles and draw sabers! Not even a finger-width, Tanda Havra! And the God-King's soldiers were dead! Every last one of them!"

"Well, someday you can tell my uncle what a great soldier Lord Gamelin is. You can tell him too, about Lady Judy, who held."

"Your father, Tanda Havra?"

"Ornery. A broken arm, at least one bayonet thrust to his leg, another to the arm. Tazi died. Zokala died. So did a lot of other fine and good people."

The paracop blinked. "My lady! Tazi! I..."

"Don't bother with words! She wanted that fat bastard God-King dead. My future husband promised me we'd do it by the winter solstice. I laughed, do you understand? I laughed at him. Now, well, come the solstice, that fat bastard will be dead! If my husband-to-be doesn't see to it, I will!"

"This is all wonderful," Tuck told them, "but I still have an army to fight. What you did in Tarr-Dombra, Judy, was brave, very brave. But there were less than a hundred of you and more than a thousand of them. Forty thousand more came against the rest of us this morning."

"I assume you dealt with them?" Tanda asked. "I was too busy to watch."

"Me, too," Lady Judy said. Lady Judy was very, very angry, Tanda saw.

"We destroyed them. We have less than five hundred casualties. I never dreamed they would attack our left flank; it was stupid. Their losses prove it was stupid. Everyone tells me that the God-King's generals like to make a demonstration in one place, and then attack in another. Up to now, I've never given them a chance to plan an attack. For the life of me, I can't imagine a more stupid plan than the one they tried."

He turned to Judy. "Not that it didn't cost you. I'm sorry, Judy, I'm truly sorry. But I told you that shit happens. It does. It would be nice if we could assume that from here on out they will keep doing stupid things, but it's not going to happen. There were survivors today. Any of them who are truly smart will realize what might have indeed worked.

"They spent themselves uselessly on your people, Judy. You fought well and bravely and gave heart to everyone in the army. When the God-King's main attack came, we brushed it aside with ease.

"Now, however, they've withdrawn and once again, we face each other across this valley. We have to do something, but if I attack them, I'll get my head handed to me, just like I handed them theirs. So? Now what?"

Judy reached out and ran three bloody fingers over Lord Tuck's cheek. "Something will come to mind, I know you."

"It's a risk," he told them. "But the fact is, they don't seem to have figured out my specialties are raids and ambushes. This sorry mess was another ambush." He waved at the battlefield.

"The plan, Tuck," Judy reminded him.

"At first light, we will evaluate all the wounded. Those that can be moved will be sent to Xipototec. Then I will have to contemplate what we do next, because anyone sorely wounded, those who can't be moved, will die."

"What is your plan, Tuck?" Judy repeated.

"We will withdraw in order as far as the horizon. Then we will take cover in a ravine we've found. We will let them see us leave. I expect them to scout forward. With the remaining scouts, I'm confident we can kill the ones that find us. They will march forward. This General Thanos is desperate for a victory. Yesterday we didn't even give him a victory on our left; that has to sting."

"And then what, Tuck?" Judy asked.

"We hit him from the rear and roll up his army. We've done it before. Piece of cake. Then we do a quick march across the valley and hopefully catch his rearguards asleep. Kill them and the next town lays open before us. Odds are, with us around the walls, they'll rise up."

"My father will be one of those who returns to Xipototec," Tanda told Tuck. "He has a broken arm and a bayonet wound in the leg."

"That's not a problem."

"Hestius," Judy said, "should go, too. If he stays with us... he'll do something really stupid."

"I'm told his wounds are serious," Tuck agreed.

He turned to Tanda. "And you, Tanda, how are you?"

"Bruised, but no broken limbs, no bullet wounds, no bayonet stabs. Stiff and sore. It will pass."

"Lady Judy?" Tuck inquired.

She lifted her chin. "I'm fine."

Tuck smiled slightly. "Then, please, do as I do." He lifted both arms, parallel with the ground.

Judy did the same thing, although not as quickly. Tanda doubted that Lord Tuck missed seeing the beads of sweat pop out on her forehead, or the grimace of pain on her face.

"I guess you're well enough to go on, then," Tuck told Judy. He lifted his hands over his head for a brief moment, and clapped, then dropped them again to his side. Tanda knew Lady Judy closed her eyes at that, as the beads of sweat on her forehead turned to rivers.

"Lord Tuck," Tanda said evenly. He turned to look at her. "Myself, I'm too tired to scratch. How about letting us get some sleep?"

"Of course, Tanda. Lady Judy."

Tanda waved at Lady Judy, back towards Tarr-Dombra. She nodded and the two of them started back. Just before they went in, Tanda reached out and touched Judy on the arm.

"You think you got a lot of good people killed, today."

"Didn't I? They're dead."

"Yes, they're dead. They already sing songs about you, Lady Judy. This will be another dozen verses. You, however, did not kill one of your people. Instead, you taught them to kill their enemies by the dozen, by the hundred. Not just any enemies, but the God-King's soldiers! Some of his finest! Your people won the battle, Lady Judy! You won the battle! You were there, right to the end, with ideas and orders! You stood next to them, swinging a bayonet!

Judy laughed bitterly. "All I had at the end was a regular shovel."

"Trust me, Lady Judy, that is a more fearsome weapon in the right hands than a bayonet!"

"My people are dead!" Judy reminded Tanda Havra.

"Yes, a great many are. But some lived. It is the stuff of legend, Lady Judy! And now they have lived it! Those who survived will be telling their children and grandchildren about this day!"

"Assuming I don't get them killed, too!"

"Judy, you and I -- we've never liked each other. First, you were jealous of Tuck. Then I was jealous of Tuck. We were both wrong, for the opposite reason. Tuck is his own man and makes his own decisions. You've long since passed the point where you want to be a part of the decision-making. That's why you took this job, so you didn't have to worry about maybe being thrust into Tuck's job if something went wrong.

"I, on the other hand, have never wanted to be a decision maker, but to my surprise, I find I can do it. This makes me more uncomfortable than you will ever know. I hate people like that!

"We have our own paths, Judy. I will wed Tuck and he will be a fine father and I will be the best mother I can be. You will wed Gamelin and your children will listen in awe at the tales of your brave deeds. But you will be content as a mother, as will I."

She waved around her. "I could hunt animals, can and have. I kill them without feeling any remorse; we were hungry and they were available. But war? Lady Judy, war isn't hunting. It's just war. Where men kill each other and the better at it you are, the more you are honored. I want no such honors, do you understand? None."

"I understand."

"Our husbands-to-be have no doubt worked out elaborate plans to keep us out of the fighting, once this war is over," Tanda said, grinning. "We will profess to be shocked and displeased. But, Lady Judy, I can't imagine I will ever leave the side of my children."

"Until a few moons ago," Judy told Tanda, "I was accounted a child. I'm still not sure what I want." She waved at Tarr-Dombra. "I could live the rest of my life without ever being in such a place again."

"But," Tanda told her, "until that day, we both know our duty."

Judy nodded, her face black with anger. "I've lost four out of five of the people who trusted me to bring them home safe. I will get better!"

Tanda could tell Judy wasn't comfortable at all with the look Tanda gave her at that remark.

Freidal looked at his sister and nodded. "So, the baby is a boy?"

"Yes. She refuses, though, to look at him. A wet-nurse wasn't a problem, but she will have to tell us what she wants to do with him."

"I'll deal with it," Freidal told his sister, sounding far more confident than he felt. Lady Elspeth's way with words was already legendary. It was, he thought, a small surprise, to find her words failed her when it came to the baby.

He walked down corridors, scandalized a few midwives and sat down on Lady Elspeth's bedside. "I understand you are doing fine," he told her.

"Yeah."

"You have been an eloquent voice, Lady Elspeth, for Count Tellan and the High King. I have the utmost respect for that."

"What is it you want?" she asked, seemingly resigned.

"Nothing unreasonable. Lady Elspeth, we have laws in our land. I know you don't hold the majority of our laws with any kind of respect and I would be pleased to hear your thoughts on those. But, Lady Elspeth, we have a law that says that within a moon-quarter, a woman has to name the father of her child or declare her child a bastard."

"He's a bastard. What part of rape didn't you understand?"

"Yet, Lady Elspeth, when my sister told you that wet-nurses would be provided to care for the child, to raise the child, that you would never, ever have to worry about the child, you told her you weren't sure if you could 'let go.'"

"He's a bastard, fostered on me by rape. Why should I ever love the bastard?"

"Because, rape or not, he's your son. You and your bastard son have shared adventures. Not to mention, nearly cost me my throne. I have to admit some curiosity about how he'll grow up."

"Well, I doubt very much if a foreign bastard will be much of a threat to your throne."

For several heartbeats Freidal goggled at the obtuseness and shallowness of her comment. Then he realized Lady Elspeth simply didn't see things the way any other Zarthani or Hostigi would. She had no idea what she'd just suggested as a possibility.

He decided that if nothing else, he could have this one moment of revenge against her tongue. "There are things you and I could do to minimize that threat," he told her.

Lady Elspeth grimaced, realizing she had said something wrong, but with no idea what. "Count Tellan told me that where I was most likely to be tripped up was in what seemed like casual conversation, about things very different between what I'm used to and what you are used to."

"Are you too proud to ask what I first thought you meant, and what I just replied means?" Freidal asked her.

"It's that I'm more tired than anything else," Lady Elspeth admitted. "Okay, I'm a big girl. Even a mommy, after a fashion. What did I say?"

"The only way your son could be a threat to the kingdom was if we were married."

He saw her throat work. "That wasn't what I meant."

"I know. But most of my people would take that as your meaning."

"The man that fathered that baby took me as I lay unconscious after he'd beaten me senseless. A second tried and I killed him. Another man, a fine man, agreed to marry me. Then your soldiers killed him; he didn't want, he told me, to lie with a pregnant woman. Do you really want to be number four on the hit parade?"

Freidal shrugged. "I don't know what a "hit parade" is. Right now, if I announced my intention to marry you, like as not, I'd be dead within a moon."

"It's always nice to hear from a man how much he loves and respects you," Lady Elspeth said, her voice bitter.

Freidal grinned. "Lady Elspeth, bedding you would be like bedding a cactus. You use leather gloves, a leather apron and a great deal of care. I don't honestly know what I think and since I became King the most important lesson I've learned is to think long and hard before I act, and think even longer and harder before I speak in front of you. My father didn't think. My mother didn't think; Xitki Quillan didn't think. Dralm knows, for the priests of Styphon, their one true god was really avarice, which made their brains wither.

"Now, please rest. As I said, you have a moon-quarter to decide about the baby. More than one woman has awoken, a new mother, and had misgivings."

"I suppose they get over them, right?"

"Most do. Some don't."

Lady Elspeth shook her head. "I guess you don't much respect those who turn away, do you?"

"It is duty, Lady Elspeth. Duty isn't doing only the simple, pleasant, safe things. Duty is doing what's set before you, regardless of anything else. Your son's father did you wrong; none will tell you different. But your son is half yours, Lady Elspeth. He is as much of your flesh as any woman's child. He no more asked for this existence than you asked for his."

He turned and walked away without another word.

Elspeth sank back into the bed. It was as if she'd been hit over the head. All this time, it was self-pity and self-loathing driving her! How could she ignore the simple biological fact that half of her son's genes were hers? Freidal was deadly accurate when he said her son had no more choice in who he was than he'd had in how he was made.

Fairness? She'd never given him a chance! Maybe he'd turn out to be a fucking rapist, like his father. What sort of genes did he inherit from his mother? She'd never thought about that, not even a bit.

In spite of the discomfort that came from rolling on her side, she did, facing away from the door. Time to think...

Gamelin bowed to Lord Tuck. "Lord, the scouts report that the God-King's soldiers are withdrawing."

Even though the sun was barely over the horizon, Lord Tuck's camp was bustling with activity. Wagons were being readied and the wounded prepared to be moved. Lord Tuck ran his hand across his face.

"At some point they have to realize that we don't fight except when attacked, and that when they attack us on ground of our choosing, they get slaughtered. Do you suppose General Thanos has finally woken from his slumbers and is trying a trick?"

Gamelin could only shrug. "Lord Tuck, that is why we have scouts."

Lord Tuck actually laughed at what really was an admonishment from a junior. "Lieutenant, fetch Captain Vertax."

Gamelin did as bid. The older man was sitting in a cluster of the Mexicotal sergeants and lieutenants, talking to them about battle tactics. Gamelin had no idea how a man could look so calm and so unaffected when his only daughter had died the day before. He delivered the message, and then walked with Vertax back to Lord Tuck."

"Captain," Lord Tuck addressed the Mexicotal officer, "I have a difficult and dangerous task for you."

"I am yours to command, Lord Tuck."

"I told you before how sorely your daughter will be missed," Lord Tuck told him.

The man shrugged. "My daughter and I both died the day I turned my coat and began helping the Hostigi. We both knew the day was very close when we agreed to help you take Xipototec. That is why she let me paint her face, Lord Tuck."

Tuck nodded. "I know, but I have to ask if you plan on throwing your life away."

"No, Lord Tuck. Death came to Zokala; it will come for me. But I no more seek it than she did."

"The God-King's Captain-General Thanos appears to be withdrawing, according to the scouts. Please take two companies of Mexicotal infantry and see what you find on the other summit. We'll send a couple of Hostigi signalmen with you."

"Thank you, Lord Tuck!" Vertax looked across the valley at the ridgeline across from them. "We should be there two palm-widths after High Sun. We've heard from several refugees that the people of Tecpan were restive. It is possible that if word leaked out about another defeat, that they've risen.

"Find out what you can. Your orders are to learn what you can and then report. Hold the heights, but only if there is little risk, do you understand? If there is any counterattack, withdraw."

"I understand, Lord Tuck!"

He turned and trotted back to the group of men he'd been talking to moments before, calling for two officers and a half dozen sergeants.

Gamelin stood with Vosper a few finger-widths later as the Mexicotal moved out, heading down the ridge, past the heaps of dead soldiers from the battle the day before. It was then that Gamelin noticed something. "Vosper, do you see it? The road is clear!"

Vosper laughed. "Aye, I think they believed they'd make short work of us and they wanted to keep it clear for their artillery and wagon train as they started towards Xipototec."

They watched the Mexicotal break into a run. Gamelin was pleased -- they were in step! The sound of three hundred feet slapping the ground at a time was impressive.

He turned to Vosper. "It is but four moons since we took Xipototec, but Oath to Galzar! I'd not like taking my company against those men!"