IronStar (25 page)
Authors: Grant Hallman
The grizzled Armsmaster then stood
to declare that the assembly should hear from Kirrah before asking her to
accept any such
shee’thomm
, and that he would be happy to serve with
her, in her service, or with her in his.
Uh-oh, speech time
. She
received the Mouth of Talam, an ornate and intricate piece of brass sculpture
vaguely dumbell-shaped, with a comfortable handle but weighing at least four or
five kilos.
“People and rulers of Talam,” she
said, “I am a stranger and a guest to your Realm, but as you saw today, I know
something of war. I expect my countrymen to arrive later this year, and when
they arrive, this fighting will be ended. But I fear this city will not remain
healthy that long. The Wrth scour the farms and stop travelers and merchants by
land, the O’dai prey on your trade and shipping by sea. If this city hides
behind its walls, it will slowly strangle.
“In many hundreds of years of
warfare, my people have learned one thing is always true. If enemies come from
another land and attack you on your land, the best place to fight for
your
land
is on
theirs
. If you wish, I will help you do this. It will require the
effort of every person in the city who can fight or work, and some will die. I
believe if you do not make this effort, the city will perish.”
Well, it’s
only another hundred forty days, I suppose Akaray and I could hide out
somewhere until then…
Guildmaster Delima shu’Maakael rose
next, gathering her red-trimmed blue robe about her as she received the Mouth.
“What effort does Kirrah Warmaster
ask of us? How much, how many, for how long?”
That, I can answer,
Kirrah
thought.
“Guildmaster, there are still five
thousand Wrth at the gates,” Kirrah replied. The city’s entire forces, even
with the new weapons, are not half enough to defeat them in the field. Yet we
must do more than defeat them, we must so destroy them that they are unable to
raid the smallest village.
“While we do that, we must also
defend the city from any other attack. The siege engines brought against our
gates today were not made by the Wrth, but by others who wish us ill. They have
other, more powerful, siege engines on ships. If they are clever, they would
attack the city from the river, while our forces are away fighting the Wrth. We
need defensive forces here as well. I can show you how to make weapons to
defeat siege weapons on ships, as the longbow defeats the crossbow.
“But you asked a simple question,
and it deserves a simple answer. To make this city safe, I need everything. All
adult citizens, all your work, all my new Wrth students, everything I can put
into the service of the Talamae. I need this until my people come, or until the
borders of Talam are secure again.”
“This woman asks much,” Delima said
into the hubbub of voices that greeted Kirrah’s words. “What does the
experience of our Armsmaster and the wisdom of our King have to say?” At a wave
from Lord Tsano, Opeth rose to speak:
“Kirrah is truly a Warmaster. Never
have I seen such a cheap victory as she gave us today. She asks much, but she
promises much. I believe we need everything she has. We are fortunate to have
her weapons and her advice. I say, give her this
shee’thomm
, if she will
accept it.”
Lord Tsano spoke next. “Talamae,
you have all heard the reports of our villages being destroyed. Today I looked
from the walls of the City, and I saw our destruction ride up to its gates. We
must reclaim our Realm, or perish. If you do not give Warmaster’s
shee’thomm
to this woman now, by the time this mistake is seen, it will be too late. I
call vote.”
“Vote,” said Issthe.
“Vote,” from Opeth.
“Well, Scribemaster,” said Delima
turning to Taiwi at her left, “That seems clear enough. Shall we agree to the
vote?” At his reluctant nod, they both added their voice to the call.
I
don’t like the look of this
, thought Kirrah.
There are too many dubious
faces in that crowd
.
Before the voting could begin,
Tai’kara, the
shee’tho’vai
from Waterside Block, signaled for the floor.
“Before we vote on such an
important question, I believe we should seek wisdom from the
ito’lae’mara
.
We have this right.” Glances were exchanged at the raised tables, and at a nod
from Issthe, Lord Tsano signaled to one of the assistant scribes, who produced
a small cloth pouch and set it before the priestess. Issthe spoke:
“You have asked the runes to draw
forth your wisdom. So shall it be done. I name the query: ‘Guidance to the
Realm’. I choose the mode: Past, Present, Future, with Rune-of-Attention.
Scribemaster Taiwi shu’Wdatha, draw for the Past.” She held open the pouch, and
the Scribemaster came around in front of her desk, reached in, and pulled out a
small wooden tablet, about two by four centimeters. The priest placed it into
one of the four matching indentations in the hand-sized wood rectangle she
held, third from the top. Kirrah could just make out a small arrow-shape on the
wooden piece he had drawn.
“The rune is
Journey
,”
Issthe said. “I now draw for the Present.” She reached into the bag, and came
out with another tablet, this one bearing a circle on a triangular base. She
placed it in the second slot from the top.
“The rune is
Security
,” she
said. There was a stir among the people at that one.
“Kirrah shu-Roehl, come and draw
our rune of the Future.” More than a little puzzled, Kirrah came to the front
of Issthe’s desk, and reached into the bag, which she now realized contained
several dozen of the wood tablets. She drew one out. On its surface was an
arrow-shape similar to the one the Scribemaster had drawn, with the addition of
two lines crossing the shaft of the arrow. Issthe accepted the rune, placed it
in the top slot. She said:
“The rune is
Haste
.” Many of
the seated
shee’tho’vai
looked stunned, and a number of urgent whispered
conversations erupted.
What is going on?
Kirrah wondered.
Do they
trust their future to a …a game of chance?
Beside her, Issthe ceased her
efforts, laid down the board, and became perfectly still. Like a ripple, a
circle of stillness spread into the noisy room. Within seconds, the priest was
again the silent focus of every eye.
How does she
do
that!
Kirrah
wondered, not for the first time.
“Lord Tsano will draw our rune of
Attention,” she said. The huge man got up from his desk and walked around in
front of the priest. The rune he drew bore a small diamond shape, lying on its
side,
a rhombus
, Kirrah recognized its geometry. A diagonal line crossed
the center, joining the two farthest points. Issthe received the rune and
placed it in the bottom slot on her board.
“The rune is
Skilled
, my
people,” said the priest’s quiet, clear voice. Not a person stirred.
“Heed the wisdom drawn forth,” she
continued, in what was clearly a familiar ritual. “This is my reading to the
Council of Talam. To the query: ‘Guidance to the Realm’, you have found that
the past is indeed moving, and will not remain as it has been. You have found
security this day. You are counseled to make haste; today is not a place to
stand, but a place from which to move, and soon. Move with skill, or choose
someone to lead, who has the skill needed.
“It is done. Vote.”
At a nod from the King, one of the
scribes broke the absolute silence that followed Issthe’s pronouncement. The
voting itself consisted of each of the two hundred and two
shee’tho’vai,
the
block-leaders, one at a time raising a white or a black wand when the session
scribe called their name. His two assistants placed a glass bead on either the
black or the white pan of a balance scales which sat on a stand in front of the
King’s desk, according to the color of the wand. The Scribemaster kept a
separate tally. The entire process took most of an hour, and at the end of it,
by a vote of one hundred twelve to ninety, Kirrah was the confirmed Warmaster
of the Talamae realm, with literal powers of life or death over every citizen;
the right to requisition any property or service; and accountable only to the
King for her actions. In the tradition of human generals everywhere, her first
official act was to call a meeting.
“Doi’tam
-fira'tachk
.
You are a problem for me, and therefore for
the defense of Talam. You are one of the finest tools in the Realm, and I very
much need your services. Your enthusiastic, intelligent, brave,
loyal
services.
If you cannot give me that, speak now and you will be relieved of your
shee’thomm
,
no dishonor. Before you answer,” she said, raising a hand as he drew in a
breath, “…I tell you this. If you ever again draw weapon against me, or harm a
bound enemy without my orders, or act to dishonor my word in any way, I will,
Sir, burn you to ash where you stand. Before you tell me your answer, tell me
that you believe I mean
exactly
what I say.”
“I, I…” the big Cavalry Major seemed to
shrink before the blaze of her eyes. He looked from one to the other of his
erstwhile friends. The others seemed embarrassed by the intensity of the
confrontation.
“
Fira'tachk
!” The flat crack of
Kirrah’s open hand on the tabletop made everyone jump.
Except Issthe
,
Kirrah noticed out of the corner of her eye…
how does she
do
that?
“Look at me!” His eyes jerked another few seconds, then met hers.
“Do you
believe me?”
Icy green eyes burned into his brown ones with almost physical
intensity.
“Yes.” Pause… “Yes, Warmaster.”
“Then tell me this, Doi’tam
-fira'tachk
-of-Cavalry.
What is your worst fear?
” she demanded.
“Ah, ahhh…” a reflexive swallow, the man was
sweating lightly. “To dishonor my station, my Cavalry. Warmaster. To fight
dishonorably on the field.”
“Have no fear for that, Major.
I
do
not fight honorably.
I fight and I win
. Your honor has no place in my
service, only my own.
Will that suffice
?” Another reflexive swallow.
But
his eyes stayed with me,
Kirrah noticed.
“Warmaster, I spoke in error.
You
are
my worst fear.”
“That, Major, is the first wise word I have
heard from you today. Now, would you please answer my
first
question.” A
brief, thoughtful pause.
“I will serve my Warmaster, arm and eyes, on
my life.” The Major gave his salute, this time directly to Kirrah.
“On my life and the life of Talameths’cha,
you are my
Fira'tachk
-of-Cavalry. Now, let us discuss how we may best
train and mobilize the citizens. We have a siege to break.”
And when I get a
moment or two
, she added under her breath,
I want a few words with
Issthe, about …whatever that was, that happened back there, the… what did they
call it?
‘Ito'lae'mara’.
Chapter 20 (Landing plus forty): Celebration
“Everything that can be invented,
has been invented.” - Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, Office of Patents, 1899
A.D.; United States of America, Terra.
Kirrah spent that night at the
training field with her Wrth ‘students’, sleeping in a tent under guard. The
next day, the uninjured Wrth began receiving training with the practice
versions of the pike and the Talamae infantry sword, which was about the same
length, but heavier than their traditional curved blade. Kirrah insisted that
her new converts should be treated as trustworthy until proven otherwise. At
least with practice swords.
Peetha, over her own objections,
was deemed unfit for active duty until she recovered from the blood loss she
had suffered, but she seemed pleased to accompany Kirrah to the day’s series of
meetings. Her wounds were healing cleanly and quickly, and the forehead injury
turned out not to be the burn Kirrah feared might have been from her own sidearm,
but an earlier, deliberate, branding by Peetha’s own people.
The first meeting was with
Scribemaster Taiwi, Guildmaster Delima, Armsmaster Opeth and Lord Tsano, to
plan how to mobilize Talam’s citizenry. After a bit of haggling, the group
decided every able-bodied male between the ages of thirteen and one hundred
Local, that is about eighteen Standard and late middle age, would receive
training in both pike and longbow as soon as possible. These would form a
citizen army of about six thousand, including one thousand considered an
off-duty reserve to keep the essential trades active. The training schedule
would start turning out green but combat-ready soldiers in about thirty days.
The first class would consist of about twelve hundred recruits, so the entire
training process would require five or six classes moving through the system.
Mass production of the new weapons
would be given manufacturing priority. Farming and much of the trades’ labor
would fall mainly to the comparable number of able-bodied women, although
Delima insisted that any who were willing and able, should receive military
training as well. Kirrah, who came from a tradition of military service that
embraced equal opportunities for both men and women to be shot at, found
herself uncomfortable at first with the idea of pitting women against men in
such direct physical combat. Her reluctance crumbled at the thought of Peetha’s
obvious abilities and the approximately thirty percent of women in the Wrth’s
ranks, and it collapsed entirely when it was pointed out that it would add
another one to two thousand soldiers to her forces.