Authors: Grant Hallman
“It just seems so
unlikely
for the Kruss to be making a serious effort out that way, mused Sandra. “It's
over seven hundred lightyears from their nearest base. By the time they detour
Regnum space, that's the better part of a Standard year, just one way. Their
fastest scout couldn't make the trip as soon as the
Belleville
does from
Trailway. What can they hope to gain?”
“That, people, is what we are going
to find out. And put a stop to. It
is
getting late, I know you all have
duties tomorrow and I suppose you're all too polite to leave before your
Admiral.” Luce smiled at the row of thoughtful, competent faces down the table.
“I believe there is traditional
precedent, ladies and gentlemen, to end Admiral’s Mess with a small toast. I
give you the
Arvida-Yee
and her crew: Godspeed and safe home.”
“
Arvida-Yee
” echoed from
five throats, and six glasses rose in the ancient ritual.
“I returned, and saw under the
sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither
yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour
to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” - The Book of
Ecclesiastes, 9:11; King James Translation, circa 1400 BC Terra.
Kirrah watched in consternation.
Spray flew from the shallows for two hundred meters up and down the far shore
of the Geera, as a thousand Wrth riders drove headlong into the river.
Maybe
it pissed them off when I broke the O'dai siege engines. Or maybe when we sank
their transport ships. Or possibly they are annoyed at the fires burning so
well on four of the six excise ships. Oh well… Checking beamer, seventy-seven
percent charge, probably sixty-five or six shots left. Let's dial eighty
percent power, that will still stop a Wrth, and give me fifteen or so extra
shots… I wonder how many of them will make it across the river, and where is…
what
now
?
On her forearm, the wristcomp's
attention-alarm was vibrating silently and insistently. Its comm light was
flashing a sullen yellow.
What?!
On the unit's small screen she read:
< Signal format SS.G 90->800 MHz,
assurance (99+)
< Packet structure B.11 or B.16,
assurance (99+)
< Encryption mode KAD.331, assurance
(99+)
< Signal type Mil/handheld or
Mil/powered-suit, voice.
< Signal consistent with nearby
source (0->3 km)
< Signal bearing 039->052 by
-009->012
Kirrah stared in openmouthed horror
for a few more seconds, then the sound of shouting brought her attention back
to her physical surroundings. Two hundred meters downstream, Peetha's forces
were riding hard toward her position. Upstream and coming at a dead run was
Rash'koi's party. Behind her the remaining boatmen and mortar crew were
scrambling for bows and extra bundles of arrows. And
everyone
was
shouting at her. A tide of horsemen filled the river, some still mounted, some
swimming alongside their horses, a few clearly floundering in the deeper water.
Within half a minute she was
surrounded by forty mounted archers and another thirty bowmen on foot. Peetha
shouted orders and half her forces, her Wrth warriors, galloped back down the
river and began spacing themselves out at seven or eight meter intervals.
Kruss
comm traffic?
Her mind reeled at the implications
.
Rash'koi quickly organized his
standing archers and shortly a volley of grenade arrows flew high into the air,
to come down almost vertically on the swimming Wrth in a hundred-meter arc of
flash and blinding spray. Riders fought for control as horses swung in panicky
circles.
This was not going to be a good day for the Wrth,
Kirrah
anticipated.
Kruss? Here, on
her
planet? How?
From the
wristcomp's bearing estimate, the transmission was coming from one of the O’dai
sailing ships. She sincerely hoped it was one of the
burning
ships.
I
want that Kruss! I want to know who it was talking to!
Another volley of grenades fell in
the water farther upstream, scattering and confusing more of the swimming
raiders. Here and there a circle of ripples marked where a warrior or mount had
gone under. The leading edge of the Wrth was about halfway across now, and
Irshe's sharpshooters were starting to pick off raiders who dared to show
themselves more than a handsbreadth above the water. Upstream two of the O'dai
ships were fully aflame, and two more were burning in several places. The
remaining damaged transport ship was pulled up to the far shore and smoking
from several small fires. One of the siege ships was wallowing mid-river, its
portside oars tangled with the broken throwing beam. The other, along with the
two intact excise ships, were pulling hard upstream. Across the river's
hundred-ten meter breadth, more and more Wrth were sinking out of sight.
Wake
up, Lieutenant Roehl, your student-warriors have identified a threat and you're
woolgathering about something you can't do anything about!
“Rash'koi!” she called. “Can you
send some men up-river, spaced out like Peetha's done, and stop the Wrth from
landing! They'll be sitting targets as they come out of the water!” The
Lieutenant hurried to comply. Across the river, more Wrth were gathering,
watching the drama playing out in the water. Wrth bolts continued to fly, a
constant hazard to face and bare limbs.
“Irshe! Can you hear me and shoot?”
“Yes, Warmaster” the tall man
acknowledged, nocking another arrow and watching for another hapless swimmer to
show a target.
“My, my
object-which-speaks
,
it has just heard the voice of a similar object. But Irshe…” she paused as he
drew and loosed, skewering another Wrth in the water, “the other
object-which-speaks
,
it belongs to my enemies from the sky… I don't know what it means, but one of
them is
here
, here with the O'dai, and it is using the device to speak
to more of them, I… I don't know where.”
“Warmaster, are we in danger from
this immediately?” Another arrow nocked, gray eyes scanning the water.
Irregularly but frequently, bodkin arrows flew from up and down the line of
Talamae, often scoring on a swimming target.
“I don't think so… but Irshe,
remember I told you my
not-sword
was the least of my people's weapons? I
fear my enemies have brought stronger weapons, against which all our forces are
chaff… I may have killed all of Talam, just by being here, just by helping…”
Irshe put up his bow and turned to her.
“The Wrth were killing us before
you arrived, Kirrah. There is only one death.” His calm eyes looked into hers.
“We have accepted you as our Warmaster, all Talamae.
Two lives balanced
.”
“Against Wrth! Against O'dai! Not
against
beamers
and
pulsers
and
smartshots
and… and
orbital
bombardment!
Gods! I do not have even the
words
… there are weapons
that would destroy our entire force here, from one of those ships in two
heartbeats!” Kirrah's voice kept rising as she spoke, higher and harsher…
“Irshe, there are weapons that would smash the entire city of Talameths’cha
into a large hole in the ground with a single blow, and kill everyone for fifty
doi’la
around the city! What have I
done
to you!”
“You have allied with us, you have
placed your life with ours. You have stood with us against six thousand Wrth,
and against the power of the O'dai navy. Kirrah…
Kirrah!
Listen to me…”
his eyes captured her gaze. “You have made our enemies yours, live or die. Just
so, your enemies are ours. Live or die. That is the smallest part of
two
lives balanced
.” He paused, one hand on her shoulder. Kirrah took a deep,
shuddering breath.
“And now, Warmaster, if we are not
immediately going to be cut down by
sky-weapons
, shall we return to our
present problem?” All up and down the near bank, Wrth were dragging themselves
into the shallows. Not nearly as many as had started from the far shore, Kirrah
noticed. As they touched riverbottom, horse and rider clambered into the
shallows. Here and there man and beast stumbled on the irregular bottom. As
they rose above the surface, the attackers fell, one by one, pierced with
Talamae arrows. Peetha's war-whoop was joined by her fellows, as her squad
enthusiastically slaughtered their erstwhile countrymen.
Well, that should
end any doubts about the loyalty of my 'students'
, Kirrah thought.
From upstream, shouts rose as two
mounted Wrth reached dry land, only to be felled by Rash'koi's archers.
This
is going to be close…
As she watched, the Wrth swam and splashed into range
and were cut down as they reached the shallows, like a busy day at the butcher
shop. Nowhere were more than two or three enemy reaching shore at the same
time, and the deadly efficient line of archers picked them off like target practice
as they labored, exhausted and floundering, across five or six meters of
shallow muddy bottom. The water along the bank of the Geera was turning
noticeably pink.
Peetha turned from her position and
approached Kirrah. “Warmaster,” she said. “See there, on the far bank, those
watching warriors. That one on the dark gray horse, that is Wyrakka, their
war-leader. Slay him and the rest may depart.”
“Thank you, Peetha. Is there any
way to get him to talk?”
“Warmaster, they are allied with
the O'dai. This has never happened in the Wrth nation's history, and it has
happened in secret. When I was Wrth, none of the warriors knew of this
alliance. I do not know what he plans, but I have never known him to change his
mind because of opposition.”
Yeah, I know the type… and there are still over
four thousand of them, plus what's left of those poor bastards in the river
.
Kirrah drew her beamer and selected
full power. She took careful aim at the man over a hundred meters away on the
far bank, sitting in his saddle and watching impassively as his warriors
struggled and died in the river. She paused. Planted her feet wide, gripped the
beamer mindfully, took in a deep breath, let out a careful one-third, stilled
herself into the sniper's mind, aimed… and let out her breath again.
“Is Warmaster's target too far to
strike?” asked Peetha.
“I can't do it, it …it feels like
murder. He's just …sitting there.”
“I do not understand, Warmaster. We
are killing hundreds of these fools who try to swim to attack us. Yet he is
chief of your enemies. All the deaths have flowed from his purpose, all the
deaths that are happening now and will still happen. If you can slay him, why
do you hesitate?”
That's a damn good question
, Kirrah admitted to
herself. Irshe turned at their words and said:
“Now I see the strength of your
warmaking above the sky. You do not look on your enemy's face when you slay
him. When I asked how you know when it is time to stop fighting, you had no
answer. Now I have another question - how do you know when it is time to
start?”
“To …start?”
“Kirrah
’jasa
, this is not a
thing of anger. It is a thing of need, of lives saved. Let me have a dozen
bowmen and grenade-arrows, we will kill him for you.”
“
No!
…I'm sorry,” Kirrah
added as both officers stepped back from her explosive denial. “You are both
correct. But we cannot spare the archers, there are still too many Wrth in the
water. And I will not ask you to do something I will not do myself. Peetha,
stand before me. I will use your shoulder to steady my aim. Face toward me, so
the flash does not dazzle you. Stand very, very still.” Kirrah selected the
beamer's comm-link mode, which the hand unit could use to punch a signal
through atmosphere to a ship in orbit. An optical sight snapped into place,
giving ten to one magnification. The young Wrth woman stood like a post before
her, utterly motionless. Kirrah was a few centimeters taller, and stood
slightly higher on the bank. She rested her right wrist on the other woman's
right shoulder, and sighted through the beamer's optics. A pair of fine yellow
lines met in the center, wavering over the distance. The magnification clearly
showed the group of Wrth leaders sitting on their horses.
This is going to
be one long pistol shot
.
Kirrah took a moment to absorb the
target view. She glanced right, to look into Peetha's brown eyes watching her
intently. Some elemental understanding passed between them. Kirrah could feel
the assurance and confidence from her young protégé. Peetha broke eye contact
first, staring off fixedly into space over Kirrah's right shoulder. At that
moment, another cry floated down from the two raptors still circling high in
the heavens.
Everything became very still in
Kirrah’s perception. The warriors struggling in the water, the arrows flying in
both directions, the shouts of men fighting fires on the burning ships, all
receded. Only the image of a handful of mounted men on the far bank existed.
Only one man on his horse. Only his face, looking directly at Kirrah. Her body
settled slightly in place, each bone seeming to come to a complete stillness
against its fellow. Her breath went in, a fraction came out, stopped. The
crosshairs wavered slightly back and forth across the face of her enemy.
Can
I kill this man?