The Far Side (64 page)

Yourel sat down next to him.  “Cousin, we are in trouble.”

Glaive snorted.  “We are surrounded -- of course we’re in trouble!”

“Worse -- the storm three weeks ago significantly reduced our food supply.  We planted crops, but they aren’t close to being mature yet.  Now your ship is gone, along with all of the supplies aboard it, plus the radio.  Your men, half of them, made it safely to land, cousin.  That is the source of the problem.”

“That my men survived is a problem?”  His cousin was insane!  Scholars!

“Your men survived, Viceroy -- their supplies did not.”

“And the
Togan
will be here in a few days. 
Togan
is a supply ship with holds full of food.  And there are the crops we’ve planted as well.  We might have to tighten our belts a bit, but not much.”

Glaive was still not certain what to think of the captain of the
Togan
, another supply ship with his fleet.  Unlike everyone else,
Togan’s
captain had streamed a sea anchor and had moved much slower than the other ships.  They had found a sheltered shore behind one of the islands and had stayed safe there while the other ships had fought for their lives.

Togan
had done as the
Abna
had done, securing their radio, and had escaped with only a cracked mast.  They’d spent two weeks installing a new mast that they’d cut on the island, and now they were finally approaching the fort.  Glaive had trouble accepting a captain who risked so little.

The good news though, was that his wife and daughter were aboard
Togan
, as was her brother and his wife and their two sons.  The supplies were now crucial, and he could ignore the fact that he was fond of his wife, even if, so far, she’d only presented him with a daughter.

Glaive eventually had fallen into an exhausted sleep -- only to be woken up a short time later by Graal.  “Viceroy, they have fired the crops!”

That brought him awake in an instant.  “What?”

“About a half hour ago, one of the guards reported smelling something odd, and I was woken at once.  I went to the wall, but I didn’t recognize the smell.  There was a flash towards the fields and then a whooshing sound.  All of a sudden, the fields were blazing like a fireplace.  I ordered the cannon on the east side to fire two shots, but the gun captain told me that only you can order him to fire.”

“We’re short on powder,” Glaive said absently, as he rubbed sleep from his eyes.  He followed Graal to the wall and peeped over.  The fire wasn’t as dramatic as Graal had described, but there was no doubt that the fields had been all but destroyed.

A guard sergeant saluted.  “We never saw one of the barbarians, Lord Viceroy!”  There had been precious few of them visible earlier in the day as well.

Glaive turned to Graal, able to vent his anger on a helpless subordinate.  “You did see something to fire the cannon at, did you not?”

Graal met his eyes.  “No.  Viceroy -- I didn’t want to sit here and let the crops be destroyed and do nothing.”

Glaive laughed, more bitter than ever.  It was humiliating.  He’d been thinking about how the Emperor’s orders had hamstrung his ability to fight the barbarians.  And now his own orders had hamstrung Graal.

“Maintain a watch.  Fire muskets if you see something to shoot at.  Otherwise, don’t fire.  And the guns remain under my direct command.”

Graal bowed his head and Glaive went back to his pallet and laid down on it.  This wasn’t good!  After a few minutes he rose and sought out Yourel and stood over him.  “Have the technicians fixed the radio antennas?”

“No, Viceroy.  The antennas were destroyed by their explosives.  It will take a day, perhaps two, to restore them.  I have placed the equipment for the time being in the small cave we quarried to shelter the women and children.”

Glaive finally managed to drowse a few minutes before the sun started to rise into the sky, even if the Big Moon obscured most of the light.  The men were alert, but had to keep their heads down.

Just before the eclipse was to end a man was seen waving a white flag.  Graal spoke to Glaive.  “Viceroy, I think they wish to parley.”

Glaive raised an eyebrow.  Why would they do that?  They had but to close their fists and everyone in the fort would be dead.  He sniffed -- they were the Builders, after all!  They liked to run!  They didn’t like to fight!  Maybe they wanted to surrender.

He shook his head.  That was a stupid thought!  The Builders knew they had won.  Was there a chance, however small, that they might give him time to think about their demands?  Was it enough time for the
Togan
to come up and add more fighting men and more cannon?

He thought for a moment and then turned to Graal.  “I wish you to be rude.  I want you to be insulting -- but don’t go so far as to have them walk away.  Delay as much as you can and then agree to discuss their requests with me.  Okay?”

“Yes, Viceroy!”

There were a few shouted exchanges and Graal came right back.  “My lord, I don’t understand them, and they don’t understand me.  Perhaps Yourel could translate what I have to say?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

He rubbed his chin, only half listening to the negotiations.  The smart thing to do was to accept his fate, which would be death, and use the
Togan
and
Abna
to evacuate everyone to one of the islands off to the east.  Giving the order to evacuate would certainly bring about his execution.

Would the Emperor be better off with Glaive dead and the survivors safe?  Or would it be better for Glaive if he gambled on a victory?  That really wasn’t possible, was it?  The Builders had brought up thousands of men, and they hadn’t needed more than a few weeks.  He knew the one city he’d found was four hundred miles away, and the other part of the mainland they’d found was another hundred beyond that.  By all accounts it was populous and with many cities.

These then were the troops that could be assembled most swiftly and could well be just militia.  Certainly he didn’t understand why they used steel bows instead of muskets if they had a choice.  He grimaced -- well, except for the fact that steel bows were more accurate and fired faster and didn’t obscure your vision.

No, if they didn’t evacuate, everyone would die.  Even if they held out against this group, more would be coming, and then more and then more still.  He would take the opportunity and get as many away as he could and take his chances with the Emperor’s temper.

Graal sank down next to him.  “They say they are sending their war leader to parley, down by the water’s edge.”

He beckoned to Yourel, who moved to Glaive’s side with alacrity.  “Viceroy?”

“You will negotiate with them.  Stall for time -- the
Abna
signaled earlier that they’d heard from
Togan
this morning and that they will be soon rounding the peninsula.  They should be here within an hour or two.  With the
Togan’s
weapons, we should be able to get better terms.  Graal, you will walk out with Yourel and two guards.  Yourel, you will be the only one to talk, but translate for Graal.”

“Yes, Viceroy!” the two men chorused.

After that, things went from bad to catastrophic.  The “war leader” was a female child, or so Glaive thought until she killed a dozen men on the
Abna
.  That was followed by the information that
Togan
had been destroyed.   Glaive called Graal and Yourel back, mostly to give himself time to think.

“Your impressions of the child?” he demanded from Graal and Yourel.

“She’s no child, she’s just short,” Yourel told him.  “There are Builder records that such things happen.  We’ve tried to breed the slaves to be shorter, but it’s a lengthy task.”

“She’s not a child?”

“No, Viceroy,” Graal added.  “I watched her when she fired her weapon.  Viceroy, that weapon -- if the Builders had them in any number, we’d all be dead now.  They are as far beyond our muskets as muskets are beyond bows and arrows.

“I tried to count the shots she fired.  I think they were in groups of three, but they are very fast and it’s hard to tell.  You really can’t hear the separate shots -- you have to watch the bullets hit their targets.  Those bullets hit their targets more often than not.  I didn’t notice it at first, but there is something like a light on the end of the barrel of her weapon.  The bullets hit where the light shines.”

He took a deep breath.  “Viceroy, I fear that some of these we face are from the Big Moon and have come to make common cause with the Builders.”

Yourel nodded in agreement.  “She is astute, she is observant, and she is personally brave.  She stood cool while the men with her were clearly afraid and sweating as she shot at us.  She ignored the return fire, calmly picking off the men who shot at her.  Viceroy, if she’s not a war leader, then we are truly doomed.  If their war leaders are better than she is...”   He spread his hands helplessly.

“I signaled
Abna
to pull away from the shore again,” Glaive told them.  “They are our only remaining hope.”

Graal stood stiffly.  “Viceroy, if I am to be killed for what I am about to say, so be it.  It will sound like defeatism.  But we are beaten.  Their bomb throwers can shoot at
Abna
if they try to reach shore to pick us up. 
Abna
can shoot back, but they won’t be able to touch their weapons.  One of my sergeants saw one of their men carrying something earlier.  It was a long tube, Viceroy.  Sir, I think these cannon of theirs are small enough for a few men to carry one.

“If we try to leave our walls, thousands of the Builders will be shooting their steel bows at us.  We would last but a few minutes.  If we try to stay behind these walls, we will starve in a month, and those damnable cannons will keep us awake all day and night, firing occasional shots.

“They have to know these things.  I think they are sincerely offering to allow us to leave.  They wish to draw
Abna’s
teeth before they allow it to close with the shore.  It is a prudent thing to do.  They say they are willing to let us leave if we release the slaves to them.”

“It would be more prudent for them to crush us,” Glaive told him.

Graal shrugged.  “They know we have more people than food.  That is why they made the offer about the slaves, I think.  I mean -- slaves -- who cares about them?”

“Some of them might have the same ancestors,” Glaive said dryly.  “There is something important you both missed.  Something that speaks to your theory about visitors from the Big Moon,” he told them.

“What, Viceroy?” Yourel asked.

“They knew
Togan
was coming, they knew when and where it would be and they ambushed it.  Either someone in this camp told them -- or they have radio as well.”

“They couldn’t understand us,” Graal said fiercely.  “We only transmit in code!”

“Perhaps... but if nothing else, they could tell a weak signal was growing stronger.  Personally, I think someone is listening to us on the radios.  There are other nations with radios, don’t forget.  Perhaps one of them has beaten us here.”

“If any of them had weapons like the short one has, we’d all be dead,” Yourel stated harshly.

“Aye, that’s why I think you might have something with the visitors from the Big Moon idea.  That means we have some important information that has to be communicated back home.  It has to be, at whatever the personal cost to the three of us, no matter how many lives are lost here.  We need to find a way to get the transmitter out to
Abna
without the barbarians knowing about it -- they are surely going to inspect us as we leave, and if they know about radios, they will know what to look for.”

Graal smiled.  “I can see to that, Viceroy!”

“You can?”

“Aye, sir.  We will triple wrap it in oiled canvas, and then we will add some other bits of oiled canvas to help float it.  I have two men who are divers off the Sea March reefs -- they use air skins over their heads to help them stay under water longer.  When it gets dark, the two of them can go down to the water with the transmitter and swim out to sea with it.  If there’s time, we can do the same thing with the receiver.”

“Do it.  Yourel, tell them we agree.  We take our weapons, food and a bag of personal items for each person.  Be sure we conceal the spare parts for the radio among those personal items.”

* * *

Kris woke up with a start.  She remembered the blackness and opened her eyes, afraid she had died.  She looked around, recognizing the small infirmary that they’d brought the Tengri girl to.

She turned and saw her mother a few feet away, talking to another woman, both of them wearing hospital scrubs.  “Am I okay?” she asked.  “Or have I messed up off-world travel for all time?”

Her mother hugged her tightly for a second, then smiled at her.  “You gave me a little scare, my dear, but then you’ve done it once before, when you were six.”

“What did I do when I was six?”