IronStar (28 page)

“Fighting, Lord. All five were apprehended
fighting in the west stable beside the training field. This man.” indicating
the Wrth, “is the most severely injured. The duty priest says all will
recover.”

Kirrah listened with growing dismay
to the unfolding story. According to the three Talamae, the Wrth had attacked
them as they walked past the stables. The Wrth claimed, with translation
through Peetha, that the two recruits and the corporal had cornered the woman,
a girl about Peetha’s age, and then attacked the man when he happened by and came
to her aid. A little questioning by Lord Tsano revealed that the knife found at
the scene was standard militia issue, and appeared to belong to the corporal.
There were no knife wounds on the Talamae, but plenty of bruises, deep
scratches and several bite marks. In rebuttal, the Talamae claimed that the
Wrth were enemies in any case, and no Talamae soldier should be penalized for
harming them.
I can form a pretty good picture,
Kirrah thought, her jaw
clenched.
This must not be allowed
. Lord Tsano turned to her.

“These are your soldiers to judge,
Warmaster.”

“Yes, Lord Tsano. It is intolerable
that fighting should happen between my soldiers. There are plenty of enemies
waiting for us.” Two of the Talamae accused scowled at that. “What is more, I
have given my word to these Wrth, that they are my warriors. These persons,” a
contemptuous wave at the Talamae, “…have violated that word. Please tell us,
Peetha, what is the penalty among the Wrth, for this error?” The young woman
rose, warrior’s outrage and dignity wrapped around her like a mantle.

“Death, Warmaster, hung head down
over a fire, for one who treads on the word of the war-leader.” The accused
corporal barked a single short laugh, choked off as he noticed Kirrah’s face.
Peetha continued: “And for fighting among warriors, banishment, or loss of two
fingers. If they are worthy otherwise, the accused may choose one of the
fingers.” Both Wrth reflexively curled up their hands as she pronounced this.

“And are these accused Wrth
‘otherwise worthy’?”

“Yes, Warmaster. Before today, both
have been commendable.”

“Peetha, you are their commanding
officer. I ask, do you believe they are guilty of fighting among warriors?”

“Yes, Warmaster. I will be pleased
to apply the punishment.” At that, both accused Wrth stood straighter, looked
straight ahead.

“Thank you, Peetha, I shall decide
punishment, I asked your opinion about their guilt.”

“My apologies, Warmaster, I failed
to understand your intent,” the young Wrth said, blushing deeply under her tan.

“No apology necessary, Peetha, I
did not declare my intent. But I do have one other question. Is it not true
that as Wrth, before entering my service, you looked upon the Talamae farmers
as ‘earthgrubbers’?”

“Yes, Warmaster.” Another blush,
not as deep.

“Tell them this is my judgement. I
have proof that they were fighting. I suspect they were provoked, but of that,
I have no proof. If this happens again, to any of my student-warriors, I want
them to call out and bring others, and avoid fighting unless their lives are at
immediate threat.” Kirrah waited as the translation was delivered.

“Their punishment is this. They
shall remain my students. They shall cease to be warriors. Starting tomorrow,
each shall work in the fields as servants to a Talamae woman who is planting.
They shall do whatever they are told. If they harm another, their lives are
forfeit. If I receive a good report from their masters in seven days, I will
accept them as warriors again. Otherwise, they remain until their
earth-grubber
masters are pleased with their work.” Kirrah waited for the translation
again. As each sentence fell, the Wrth became paler, their eyes wider. The two
accused Talamae recruits sniggered at one another.

“One more thing. They shall sleep
in the tents with my other students, who shall be told of my judgement. None
shall speak ill of them, all shall learn from them.” From their stricken looks,
they both preferred Peetha’s punishment to Kirrah’s.

G
ood, now for the hard part
.
Kirrah turned to the Talamae accused, who were looking rather cocky at what
they obviously perceived to be a light punishment.

“Lord Tsano, what is the Talamae
soldiers’ usual penalty for fighting their fellows?”

“Kirrah Warmaster, if blood is
drawn, flogging. If the disruption endangers the realm, or other soldiers in
combat, then death.”

“Thank you, Lord Tsano. I do in
fact find that these three have endangered the Realm. If my word is broken,
other enemies will not trust my offer of service as these Wrth have. Guards,
bring them into the courtyard.” Kirrah rose and strode down the length of the
courtroom, out the door and into the brilliant afternoon sun. The eyes of the
accused followed her in shocked disbelief. Commotion broke out behind her as
the guards wrestled the three into submission and dragged them, struggling,
through the door. A rough circle formed around Kirrah in the courtyard, the
three accused Talamae before her. She spoke to the guards:

“The
dakka'tachk
 
first. Place him there.
Kneel! Man, if you do not kneel, these guards will break your legs.
Kneel!
”
Sweating, spluttering with fear and weeping with indignation, the corporal fell
to his knees on the stone paving.

“Bring me ashes. Yesterday’s torch
will do, anything. And bring my Wrth student-farmers, they shall see my
judgement on these.” There was a brief hiatus as the court clerk scurried to
fulfill her demands. The guards, Peetha, Irshe, Lord Tsano, the other court
functionaries, stood in a semicircle around the bizarre tableau, awaiting the
outcome. A few other palace workers passing by paused, and heads appeared at
some of the adjacent windows. In a moment the clerk returned bearing a drinking
mug half full of black and gray powder.

“Good, place the ashes before this
man. Kath’shai-
dakka'tachk
, listen to me. I have done something no other
Warmaster has ever done. I have made allies out of attacking Wrth. Your actions
have put at risk my word to these allies, and thus endangered my chance to
repeat this feat. As surely as though you opened the city gates at night, this
imperils your Realm, your city, and your own worthless life. Since you value
them so little, you will now, before these citizens, chant Deathnaming for all
three.” The man stared at her dumbly. One of Lord Tsano’s eyebrows rose, just
slightly. Kirrah’s voice went flat and deadly:

“Kath’shai-
dakka'tachk
. You
will carry out my judgement, immediately, or I
will
turn you over to my
Wrth warriors for
theirs
.” The man somehow managed to go even paler than
he had been. “You have trodden on your Warmaster’s word.
This shall not
stand!
Choose.” The man’s throat clenched, unclenched. He looked at the
ring of stony faces around him. The two Wrth prisoners were looking on with
what looked to Kirrah like a clinical, professional interest. Both the accused
recruits were sweating, eyes wide, standing as far as their chains allowed from
the unfortunate corporal. The chains held his wrists out at his sides.

“Perhaps the
Dakka'tachk
has
forgotten. Guards, show him the first position.” Two guards forced the
corporal’s palms out and upward. Kirrah waited.

“Ayy… ya…” the man choked out. He
fell silent.

“Peetha. Go to the training field,
bring twenty of my student-warriors, and the means to build a fire, and anything
else needful to cleanse my word. If they arrive before this man’s Deathnaming
is done, he is yours.”

“
Yes
, Warmaster,” Peetha
said enthusiastically, and set off at a trot. As her footsteps faded, the
courtyard fell into utter silence.

“Ayy… yaaa…” he said again. Kirrah
squatted before him on her heels, cocked her head on one side, and watched. He
coughed.

“Ay’ya… lua… tha!” With the first
phrase, something seemed to break open in the man.

“Ayy… yah… luaa… Tal… Tal… am…
shuah.” A few sharp intakes of breath around the circle. No one, Kirrah
realized, had ever heard
this
death-chant sung before. More people were
gathering in a circle, silently watching. One of the guards was looking away.
Most seemed transfixed as though the man were being disemboweled before them.

“Ayyyy… yahhh… luaa…Talameths’cha…
shuah!” Another, deeper gasp from the crowd. The man was shaking and sobbing
openly now, arms raised, head slumped.

“Ayyyy… yahhh… luaaaa… Kath’shai…
shuahsha…” His hands met over his head, then he collapsed, hanging by his
chained wrists. One of the recruits was kneeling, the other was shaking so
badly it was a wonder he could stand.

“The ashes. You must kiss the
ashes.” Kirrah stood, pitiless, as the act was completed, and then heard the
Deathnaming chants one after the other from the two recruits. The second man
was almost indecently hasty about it - as he finished, quick footsteps
announced the arrival of the Wrth detail she had sent for. Three very pale
Talamae knelt on the stone courtyard.

“This day, you men have become as
dead. I claim your lives in the service of this Realm and this City. You shall
serve as one of my student-warriors, you shall live with them, eat with them,
train with them, fight alongside them. Peetha shall be your commanding officer.
Your service will end at my pleasure. My judgement is done.”

At Lord Tsano’s beckon, Kirrah
followed him into his private office.
Oh-oh
, she thought,
I hope I
didn’t step into the
mu’uthn
-poop with that performance… he
looks awfully stern, no, he’s smiling, no, he’s
trying
to look stern…

“Ah, Lord Tsano, I hope… what I did
then…”

“Warmaster,” the big man said as he
sat behind his desk, “That was the most
inventive
punishment, I think I
have ever seen. You judged them guilty of a capital crime, and then you made
them declare their lives and citizenship dead. In effect, you took their lives,
yet they live and serve. I am as amazed as I was when the Wrth surrendered.”

“Then you are not displeased?”

“I am very pleased with your
judgement. I am even
more
pleased, that you are on
our side
.”

“
Two lives balanced
, Lord.”

“Yes. Yes indeed. I asked you here
after the judgement, to hear the report I received. Your scouts have found the
Wrth forces. As you suspected, they have not returned to their homeland. They
have assembled at the mouth of the River Geera where it empties into the Sea of
the Sun. With them were gathered at least six of the O’dai excise ships, and
two other ships with the extra tower between its masts. None was moving. This
was seen two days ago and reported this morning.” Kirrah felt suddenly cold,
and not just from reaction to the scene in the courtyard.

“As I feared, Lord. My ship-weapons
are not yet ready to go against the O’dai ships. We will be forced to defend
the city when they arrive. I shall send more scouts to report on their
progress. When they are within a half day’s march, we shall test them. The
river is narrow enough that they cannot escape the range of our grenades and
fire-arrows. Unless the Wrth ride with them… we shall send a patrol down both
sides of the river, just in case. I think the Wrth could not cross the river
fast enough to interfere with my grenadiers on the south shore.” Kirrah rose
and moved toward the door, but paused as Lord Tsano raised one big hand and
asked:

“I know my Warmaster has much to
prepare, but I must ask one question. If that idiot
Dakka'tachk
had not
sung Deathnaming as you demanded, would you have given him to your Wrth?”

“Yes, Lord. By then, I had no
choices left. I really,
really
hoped they’d do what I demanded. It was
the only way I could think of, to save their lives.” Leaving the big
ex-blacksmith gazing speculatively at her from behind his royal desk, Kirrah
made her exit.

“When you have to kill a man, it
costs nothing to be polite.” - Sir Winston Churchill,
op.cit.

Kirrah spent the next two days
visiting the various projects she had initiated. The steam turbine was turning
out to be even more difficult than she had expected, mostly because of problems
making good seals to hold in the steam pressure, at the few required openings
such as where the rotating shaft exited the turbine housing. The mortar tubes
were working, but the projectiles were a different problem. The first version
had a nasty tendency to explode in its tube when fired. The ‘fixed’ version
simply shattered on impact without exploding. More research into fusing
technology was clearly indicated.

On the other hand, the river chain
was installed, new walls now guarded the riverbank where it passed the military
sector and the eastern quadrant of the city, and the militia training was
actually a little ahead of schedule. Production of her new weapons was brisk,
inventories accumulating for everything except the mortar rounds.

When not actively haranguing one of
the guilds, she was able to spend some time giving the Talamae background about
Regnum culture, politics, economics and trade policies. Lord Tsano,
Scribemaster Taiwi, Guildmaster Delima, and Slaetra (who turned out to have not
only taught the present King but to have served a term as ruler herself), made
up an ad hoc committee formed to negotiate with the Regnum when they arrived.
If
they arrived
…

Kirrah’s own cultural education
continued. Several conversations with Peetha gave no clue how to discourage the
Wrth. Any negotiation based on ‘the Regnum is coming’ would very likely be
interpreted as feeble attempts by weak prey to trick the mighty Wrth out of
fulfilling their manifest destiny. Especially when she could not deliver gods
from the sky on any specific date.

At the end of the second day,
Wai’thago sent for Kirrah. She arrived with Irshe, Akaray perched in the saddle
behind the tall Sergeant. After a brief exchange of greetings, the big hirsute
blacksmith led them down to the riverbank.
Is the steam turbine already in
the boat?
Kirrah wondered.
I didn’t think the boat would be ready for
another six or seven days.
They rounded a small shed near the riverbank and
found three of the new mortar tubes aimed out into the river and primed for
firing. Wai’thago’s face split in a huge smile and he bent to the base of one
of the tubes, where he pulled back a small lever.

“Wai’thago!” Kirrah called, “This
is not safe! You should test from farther away! The last time we tried this, it
exploded in the tube!”

“Warmaster, we have found a
solution! Stand back if you wish!” She walked back a dozen meters and sent
Irshe off another dozen with Akaray, then raised her suit’s helmet and signaled
‘Go.’

The blacksmith, looking as proud as
a new father, let the lever drop. A large flash and boom accompanied a billow
of smoke. He stepped to the next tube, and repeated the show. And the third.

Well
, thought Kirrah,
he’s
still standing… were those live rounds?
Seconds later, well across the
river three large detonations punctuated the large man’s success.

“Congratulations, Wai’thago! How
did you do it?” she asked.
Accurate, too - those all hit within a five-meter
circle, I bet. And that firing lever looks like it could evolve into a
flintlock, with just a few hints…

“We adapted the flint-and-wire
igniter
from your grenade arrows, Warmaster. But to make the load safe to carry and
throw, we use a bit of thread to secure the moving flint to the base. When it
is thrown, the flash from the starpowder burns away the thread, and the flint
is free to move when the, the
warhead
, strikes something.

“A bit of thread. Wai’thago, you
have done a great service for your city. I am delighted. How soon can I have a
hundred of these?”

All the next day, a handpicked crew
of archers and volunteers from the star-throwers guild, retrained as
artillerymen. And women. Dawn the day after found Kirrah at the city’s docks,
overseeing final preparations for a mission to meet the O’dai ships. The modest
flotilla, six of the small Talamae merchant vessels, would carry forty Border
Patrol and twenty Wrth, including horses and equipment. Another twenty Border
Patrol had left before dawn, with orders to follow along the south bank of the
Geera. Also aboard were six of the new mortar tubes and forty rounds, all the
shop could produce in a day by cannibalizing parts from the previous designs.
Each succeeding day, another ship would follow with fifteen or twenty more
rounds.

“Why can’t I go?” asked Akaray, for
the fifteenth time that morning.

“Why don’t you tell me the reasons,
aska
?” Kirrah paused in her anxious overseeing of every possible detail,
and knelt on the dock by her adopted son.
Temporarily adopted
, she
reminded herself as she hugged him fiercely, the scent of his light brown hair
fresh and familiar in her nostrils.

“Too young. Too dangerous. No armor
suit,” he said slowly, hugging her in return.

“I must go. We do not seek a fight
with the Wrth. We need to test our weapons against the O’dai ships. If we have
a problem, we will return on the south bank, by horseback.” Still he clung. Men
loading supplies on the ships made a moving river of activity that divided and
flowed around them.

“What is Akaray most afraid of?”

“The, the Wrth will catch you. Or
the O’dai ships will sink you in the river.”

“These things are possible, that is
why we will be very careful. You know we defeated the
irwua
. Trust me to be careful and skilled.”
And to make a world
where you don’t grow up fearing for your life every day,
she added under
her breath.

“Yes, Kirrah.” He released her neck
and stepped back into the arms of Tash’ta, Kirrah’s maid and first choice of
caregiver in her absence.

“Good hunting,” said Opeth,
stepping forward and gripping her hand in the greeting-salute.

“Take good care of the City while I
am gone, Armsmaster. Save the Royal Cavalry for things you cannot do from
behind our walls.” Dark, dark blue eyes gazed out from under his bushy brows,
acknowledging her fears.

“It will be my pleasure, Warmaster.
Your new weapons and all the new recruits make it an easy task. May Source
protect you.”

The ships pushed off one by one,
drifting from the docks at the foot of the military quadrant and out into the
current. Oars were unshipped and a moderate stroke drove the small vessels
steadily downstream. Kirrah continued to pace and check things, until Irshe
cornered her and asked,

“Is Kirrah trying to walk down the
River Geera?”

“What? Oh, I just keep wondering
what I’ve forgotten. Nerves.”

“Has Kirrah not led men into battle
before?”

“In the Regnum, we fight rarely,
and when we do, it is with machines. We never see our enemies. My job was …is,
to steer the vessel. Others control its weapons, and act as lookout. The
captain is in charge. This all seems so, so
personal
.”

“If you do not see your enemy’s
face, how do you know when he is afraid, or worried, or determined, or willing
to surrender?”

“Our machines fight for us, faster
than a man can blink an eye. If one ship loses, most often everyone aboard is
dead before they can feel it. We do not have the choice to look at our enemy’s
face.”

“Then, how do you know when it is
time to stop fighting?”

“That, my friend, is a very good
question. Once two ships begin battle, it is usually to the death, or until one
escapes. More often, we fight with many ships, like a patrol of cavalry and
bowmen, each having weapons with different tasks.”

“Once, Kirrah'
jasa
, I thought I would enjoy seeing your warmaking above the sky.
Now I am not so sure. Here, would you sit on this bale and try to get some
rest? It will be a long day, if you burn your energy like a candle.” With a
resigned sigh, Kirrah took her friend’s excellent advice.

Before noon, the twenty mounted
scouts following along the south bank caught up, passed them and continued
downstream. The river’s course swung northwest in a long curve, and they glided
like cruise ships down the peaceful current. The shoreline was mostly flat,
gentle rolling plains spread out from either bank.
Not-grass
filled the
view to the horizon north and south, broken intermittently by small clumps of
trees and herds of grazing mu’uthn and their smaller cousins the domesticable
mu’atha. Occasionally a solitary bird could be seen lofting high on invisible
thermals in the clear cerulean air. By afternoon, puffy white clouds dotted the
sky. The sun set in a brief, vivid display of reds and golds.

In the twilight, men fed and
watered the horses as the ships continued downstream. Everyone but a small
night watch slept as best they could. Some time deep in the planet’s long
night, they passed the burned-out husk of the town of Olame’thsha on the north
bank, torched by the Wrth some fifteen days earlier. Shortly after, the river’s
course turned southwest again.

Dawn of the second day found the
flotilla within seventy kilometers of the river mouth. Late that morning, they
were greeted by a pair of scouts coming back upriver, riding hard. The ships
pulled in to the south bank, and Kirrah and the others quickly learned that the
O’dai warships had been spotted at least ten kilometers up from the mouth of
the river, moving upstream and paced by the main body of Wrth raiders on the
north shore.
One of the big benefits of paranoia,
Kirrah reflected,
was
that when something bad actually happened, a person was ready with a plan.

“Everyone off!” she ordered.
“Supplies, horses, everything. As soon as the first boat is empty, take a
mooring rope to the north shore. I want the cheapest, oldest boat moored
directly in the center of the river.

“As soon as the gear is unloaded,
set up our tents there, where the brush is thickest, a hundred hab’la back from
the riverbank. Don’t pitch them fully, just give us a cloth wall between our
mortars and the river. I don’t want to help them target anything. Use the side of
the cloth that is the best camouflage. The later they know what’s here, the
better. Set up the mortar tubes behind the tents.” She turned back to address
the boat crews.

“Leave one more boat, the fastest,
tied up here on the shore. Its crew should be volunteer only, there may be much
fighting. I may need a boat, but it may be lost. The other four, head upstream
as fast as you can. If the enemy passes us and overtakes you, land on the south
shore and take your crews overland to the city. I want no crew captured or
killed trying to save their boats.

“Irshe, send a messenger upstream,
warn Opeth the O’dai are coming, and keep the new mortar rounds there, do not
send any more downstream. We will make a stand here, and then ride to the city.
He will need every defense he has, if the siege boats reach the city before we
do. Tell him we will attempt another messenger tomorrow.

“Rash’koi-
sana'tachk
, I want
twenty men with chain mail armor hidden down in the reeds at the riverbank.
Fire arrows and grenade arrows ready.” Men were bustling about to her barrage
of orders.

“Peetha.” The young woman stepped
up smartly and saluted, her brown eyes shining.

“Warmaster.”

“Your warriors will guard the
mortars. When they are not under attack, you have my permission to shoot at the
boats or any other thickly massed enemy, including Wrth on the far shore. We
have only the arrows we carry. Every warrior must hold back at least two hands
of bodkin points, to defend the mortars in case the enemy lands on this shore.”

“Yes, Warmaster!” With another
snappy salute, Peetha barked orders and moved her squad off to her assigned
position.
Save us all from keeners
, Kirrah thought.

“Why aren’t those boats headed
upriver?” she demanded, realizing that the unloading was complete. Several
river captains glanced at one another.

“We cannot agree which boat is the
fastest, Warmaster,” said one.

“That’s right,” called another from
farther down the bank. “Crath’pae’s hull may be newer, but my crew beats his
every time we race.”

“Infants!” Called another captain,
from upstream. “My boat can beat both of your leaking washtubs!”

As Kirrah’s brow was darkening with
thoughts of punishment for mutineers, Irshe stepped to her side and said
quietly:

“All the ship crews want to stay
and help. No one wants to leave and miss seeing our Warmaster win, and if it
goes badly, no one wants to return without her. If you want to send them away,
you must choose who, and you must drive them off with a broom.”

Damn
, she thought,
what
is it with these people? And why haven’t I learned how to cuss in Talamae?

“Irshe, I cannot guarantee to win
every time. I welcome their help, but any boats left here when the O’dai arrive
will probably be lost.”

“Perhaps if the extra boats were
pulled up on the bank, a
doi’la
or two upriver? How could the boat crews
be useful? Thirty men, if they all stayed.”

“All right, if that is what they
want, put them to work running errands and handling arrows for the bowmen. Tell
them I think they are all fools, and I thank them.”

After two hours of tedious waiting,
another pair of riders arrived from downriver, to confirm that the O’dai ships
were still approaching, and that there were twelve of them, strung out in three
lines abreast. Kirrah sent two of the scouts on fresh mounts, and two of the
sailors, back downriver to see what their extra experience could tell her about
the approaching vessels. An hour later they returned, just as the tops of masts
became visible at extreme range downriver. Captain Crath’pae reported: