Demontech: Gulf Run

by David Sherman

  Distances were difficult to judge in the forest’s half-light. He had to count paces to estimate when he was a hundred yards from the road—the flankers were supposed to be that distance out. Then he turned toward the head of the column and began walking parallel to the road. There were four flank patrols to each side of the road, each six-man patrol a mix of soldiers and Eikby hunters or woodsmen. The hunters and woodsmen had insisted to Spinner that they would easily be able to maintain the proper distance from the road and not get lost. The road disappeared from view completely at less than a hundred yards into the trees. If necessary, a six-man patrol was large enough to spread out on line, so one man could be in sight of the road, the next man out in sight of him, and so on until the final two or three were a hundred yards out.

  Spinner suddenly realized he had only the most tenuous grasp of direction in this forest. Was he paralleling the road? Angling toward it? Angling away? Was he even walking in a straight line?

  He froze and listened carefully for a long moment. But he heard no sound of people or horses. He was alone in a strange forest and didn’t know if he was facing in the right direction or in a direction that would take him far away from anywhere he wanted to go. And danger might lurk just out of sight and sound.

  No, there was at least one known danger: there were bandits in the forest. And there were Jokapcul behind.

  Got any other bright ideas, Grace? he asked himself. That was one of the peculiar expressions Lord Gunny had brought with him from—from—from wherever he had come.

  Lord Gunny. Yes. What did Lord Gunny Says say about navigation in deep forest?

  He didn’t know. He was a Frangerian Marine—a sea soldier. Yes, he’d been trained to fight in all kinds of terrain, including dense forest, but he’d never expected to be alone in a trackless forest. He’d certainly never been alone in a forest and so far from sight or sound of a road. He looked in the direction he thought was parallel to the road. If he angled slightly to the right of that direction, he told himself, he should be all right. Shouldn’t he? He knew enough about land navigation to be able to find his way—most of the time. Pick a point and walk to it. But the trees grew just close enough that he couldn’t see any point to pick that was farther than, what? Fifty yards? And mostly less than that. If he was judging distance right in the dim light. Fifty yards wasn’t far enough for an aiming point.

  Why did he come out here by himself? he wondered. He didn’t know, it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

  All right, Spinner, don’t get excited. You can do it. Remember Lord Gunny’s admonition: “You’re a Marine. When in doubt, act decisively.”

  So where were the flanking patrols? Unless they had gotten badly out of alignment, he’d entered the forest between the third and fourth patrols. All he had to do was stay in position and the trailing flanking patrol would come upon him in a few more minutes.

  There, he heard a footstep. Here they came now, just a little farther out than they should be. Or maybe he hadn’t gone a hundred yards from the road. If the last patrol hadn’t already passed.

  He shook his head. The deep forest was so confusing.

  “Don’t move or you’re dead,” a voice he didn’t recognize growled in Zobran from nearby.

  A twig snapped several yards to the side of the voice. Spinner moved only his eyes and saw the man who spoke, a stranger who held a bow with an arrow drawn and aimed directly at him. Five yards to his left another bowman stepped from behind a tree, also aiming at him. He thought they must be bandits, and wondered how far away that fourth flanking patrol was—or if it had already passed by.

  “You with those people on the road?” asked another voice. Spinner couldn’t see the speaker.

  “Yes.” His Zobran, like Haft’s, had improved considerably during the previous couple of weeks.

  “What you doing out here by yourself, fool?” asked the first man.

  “Nature’s call. He’s shy, that’s why he’s so far from the road,” another, unseen voice said with a snicker.

  “Knock it off,” the second voice snapped. Then to Spinner, “We mean you no harm. Just had to make sure you didn’t start fighting before we could talk. You can move now—just remember, we have archers aiming at you.”

  Careful to keep his left hand away from the quarterstaff in his right, Spinner turned toward the one who sounded like he was in charge. He looked like he was in charge too. He was tall—not spectacularly so, but a couple of inches taller than Spinner, who was slightly taller than the average man—and broad across the shoulders. Mostly, he exuded the kind of confidence seen in men accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed. Like the two bowmen Spinner had seen, this one was dressed in a mix of rude homespun and princely finery; an unbleached homespun shirt was gathered by a fine leather belt from which hung a scabbarded sword and knife, his boots were a dandy’s tooled leather and his trousers deep green, ill-fitting but well made. The garb and weapons added to Spinner’s suspicion that these men were bandits.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “Refugees,” was the immediate reply. “Same as you. We’re running from the Jokaps.”

  Spinner slowly looked the man up and down. “Looks like you’ve encountered some other refugees,” he said in pointed reference to the man’s garb.

  The man shook his head; he knew what Spinner meant. “What we did or didn’t do before is in the past. Now I figure we’re all in this together. We aren’t interested in robbing anyone. Not unless we find a lone Jokap. We’d be quite happy to kill and rob one of them.”

  “What do you want from me? I’m carrying little money.” He wanted to keep the bandit talking long enough for the bowmen to begin straining from holding their bows drawn and let their aim wander. Then he could act.

  “We don’t want your money. There’s eighteen of us, not counting our womenfolk and children. That’s not nearly enough to fight the Jokaps combing the woods.” It was hard to see clearly in the deep shade, but the man seemed worried, maybe even frightened. “We’ve been following behind your last flanking patrol—you’ve got lots of flanking patrols, plus those men in your rear. You seem to know what you’re up to. We’ve been waiting to find one of you alone, someone to take us in to meet your leaders for parley so we can join forces.” He raised his hand and lowered it, palm down. “He’s listening, put your weapons down.”

  Spinner swiveled his eyes and saw the nearer bowman lower his weapon. The man kept the arrow nocked, though.

  “Will you do that?” There was a tone of supplication in the bandit leader’s voice. “Take us to meet with your leaders?”

  Spinner hesitated a moment. What if this was a trick to get the bandits into the column? They could do a lot of damage, kill or injure a lot of people, before they ran off with whatever booty they could carry.

  He looked around and for the first time took in the number of men facing him. There were three he hadn’t seen before. What should he do? When in doubt, act decisively.

  “Bring two men with you, leave the others here.” He turned in what he thought was the direction that would lead him back to the column near where he had left Postelmuz with his horse. “Follow me. What’s your name?” he asked over his shoulder.

  “Veduci. What’s yours?”

  Spinner picked up his pace and didn’t answer.

  Spinner’s blind navigation was better than he had any reason to hope. When he reached the road, he saw Postelmuz leading the gelding only forty yards ahead. Spinner called out to him.

  Postelmuz spun about. “Yes, Lord Spinner!”

  Veduci looked at him sharply, surprised by the name. “You don’t dress like any lord I’ve ever seen.”

  “I’m not a lord,” Spinner growled.

  Postelmuz trotted up, leading the gelding, and held the reins out for Spinner.

  Spinner shook him off. “Ride forward. Get Fletcher, tell him I want him.”

  Postelmuz stood erect and grinned broadly. “Yes, Lord Spinner!”

>   “Stop calling me ’Lord’!”

  “As you command, Lord Spinner!” He bounded into the saddle and heeled the gelding. It took off at a gallop toward the column’s front.

  Spinner grimaced, then looked about. He saw two men he vaguely recognized from Eikby. They were both armed with short swords. “You two,” he ordered. “Go back and get Haft. Tell him I need him right now. Tell him it’s an emergency.”

  “Yes, lord.” They started back at a brisk walk.

  “Run!”

  The two men sprinted.

  He turned to Veduci. The bandit leader was eyeing him speculatively.

  “Your youth fooled me,” the bandit said. “I didn’t think you were the leader. In what army are you an officer? I can tell that’s a uniform, but I don’t recognize the emblems on your cloak.”

  “I’m not an officer in any army,” Spinner said wearily. “I’m an enlisted Frangerian Marine. So is Haft.”

  Veduci nodded as though that explained everything. “I’ve heard of you Frangerian Marines,” he said. “You’re a long way from the sea. Tell me, is it true that a war god descended from heaven and molded you in his image?”

  Spinner remembered the story of how Lord Gunny appeared from nowhere in front of the assembled priests of many religions when they were watching a demonstration of the summoning of demons. “I’ve never heard it said that way,” he said slowly as he and the bandits kept pace with the column of curious refugees, “but it was something like that, yes.”

  Fletcher arrived in just a few minutes. Alyline was with him. It took Haft a little longer. He looked very displeased to be riding a captured Jokapcul horse.

  “This better be good,” Haft snarled as he dismounted. He shoved the reins at someone and hastily stepped away from the horse. “We just ambushed a Jokapcul patrol that was trailing us. There’s probably more coming, and we have to be ready for them.”

  CHAPTER

  THREE

  Haft looked at Veduci and his two companions with suspicion. Fletcher merely eyed them curiously. Alyline ignored the strangers in favor of glaring at Spinner—he hadn’t called for her, and she was angry at what she saw as his attempt to leave her out of whatever was happening. Veduci briefly gave her an appraising look, then turned his attention back to Spinner and the newly arrived men. He gave the demon spitter slung over Haft’s shoulder a curious glance. His two companions gaped more openly at the Golden Girl.

  “What do we have here?” Haft demanded, giving Veduci a hard look. “They don’t look like honest refugees to me.”

  Veduci looked at him levelly; the two bandits who accompanied him glanced sharply at Haft, then looked about nervously, as though spying out threats and seeking escape routes.

  “Because we are three men? Because of how we are dressed?” Veduci snorted. “Our womenfolk and children are hidden from danger. We took what clothing we needed from victims of the Jokaps or banditry, they didn’t need them anymore.”

  “What banditry were they victims of?” Haft, a bit shorter than the average man, moved in closer and jutted his face upward at Veduci’s. “And what danger do your women and children need to hide from here? Do you think these refugees,” he waved his arm at the caravan, “are a danger to them?”

  Veduci leaned forward to tower over Haft. “Seems to me you’re a danger,” he growled.

  “Enough, you two!” Spinner snapped. “Haft, this is Veduci. He’s got eighteen armed men, plus women and children. They’re running from the Jokapcul, just like us. You say they’re getting close to us? If that’s so, we’ll need every fighting man we can get.”

  Haft nodded slowly. “If they will fight.” He turned his face to Spinner. “Where are the women and children, have you even seen them? Has anybody?”

  Spinner looked at the people who had stopped to look and listen. “Keep moving,” he shouted at them. “Don’t let the caravan break up. Move on!” While he waited for movement to resume, he thought about how he hadn’t seen the women and children. Nor had he seen eighteen armed men, only six. And Haft might be right. “How do we know you won’t break and run if the Jokapcul catch up with us?” he asked Veduci when the people began hurrying to catch up. “How do we know you’ll stand and fight?”

  The bandit leader spat to the side. “They’re coming as fast as we’re running. They’re going to catch us sooner or later anyway. We’re better off fighting them with a large group than by ourselves.”

  Veduci had a good point, but Haft didn’t look convinced.

  Alyline spoke up. “Your women and children, how many are there? What is their state? Have you any wagons to carry your injured or feeble?”

  Veduci gave her a slight bow. “We have twenty-one women, lady.” He had no idea who she was; her revealing vest and the translucent pantaloons that hung from low on her hips made her look more like a tavern entertainer than a lady, but her garments were a shimmering gold, and the gold coins that dangled from her necklace and girdle looked to be real. More, nobody objected when she spoke up. He thought it best to assume she had rank. “Four of them are with child. And there are children, two babes in arms and a handful of toddlers. And we got one crone.” He sadly shook his head. “We’ve got no wagons and only seven horses to carry the infirm and supplies.”

  Alyline glared at Haft. “Two infants, half a dozen toddlers, and a crone, and you see a threat?”

  “I haven’t seen any infants, toddlers, or crones. And desperate people are always a threat,” Haft answered.

  “We are desperate people too,” Fletcher interjected before Alyline and Haft could get started on an argument. To Veduci, “What supplies do you have? Food, medicines, trade goods?”

  “Only what we can carry on our backs and three of the horses.”

  “Where are your women and children?” Alyline demanded angrily. “Why have you left them in the wilderness?”

  “I didn’t know how we’d be received,” Veduci snapped. “So far, it looks like I was right to leave them hidden.”

  “Refugees with women and children,” Spinner said firmly before anyone else could speak, “would be received better than the armed men who surrounded me.”

  “They ambushed you?” Haft stepped back to gain fighting room and reached for the axe at his side.

  “They only surrounded me, Haft.” Spinner’s sharp voice stopped Haft before he could draw his weapon. “They didn’t attack.”

  “We were simply ready to defend ourselves in case we were attacked,” Veduci said calmly.

  “You look like bandits to me,” Haft said bluntly. He kept his hand near his axe.

  Veduci’s face twitched but showed no other reaction. His two companions began edging back to gain fighting room, and cast worried looks at Haft and the others.

  Alyline suddenly interjected, “If you have women and children, bring them in. Let us see them. Then we will know if you are refugees.”

  “But—”

  Alyline cut off Haft’s protest with a sharp look. “Bring them in now,” she commanded.

  Veduci gave her another appraising look—yes, she did have rank here—then turned to Spinner and Haft.

  “Leave your men here while you fetch your people,” Spinner told him.

  “Make sure your women and children are unarmed,” Haft added with a wicked grin.

  Veduci shot him a hard look and turned to the forest.

  “Your weapons, please,” Spinner said to the other two.

  The two exchanged a wordless glance. One looked at the armed men around them; no one held a weapon in his hands, but all looked ready. He nodded to his companion, and they unbuckled their sword belts and handed them to Fletcher, along with their bows. Nobody demanded their quivers, so they kept their arrows.

  “Keep moving,” Haft shouted at a knot of people who had stopped to gawk. “Move along, you’re getting too strung out.” The caravan moved on.

  The end of the refugee column was passing when Veduci emerged from the forest with a clot of women and children.
They were as he had described.

  “You, come with me,” Alyline said to a young woman whose stomach was swollen with child. The young woman nervously took half a step back, then obeyed Alyline’s peremptory gesture. The Golden Girl put her arm over the woman’s shoulder and leaned her head toward her. She led her to the other side of the road and down it a bit, talking quietly as they went.

  “Where are the rest of your men?” Spinner asked.

  “Standing ready to rescue our people if need be.”

  “That’s fair,” Fletcher said before Spinner or Haft could reply. “We’ve given them no reason to trust us yet.”

  “We don’t know who they are yet either,” Spinner said.

  “We know who you are,” Veduci said.

  The others looked at him, and Spinner gestured for him to continue.

  Veduci nodded at the caravan now just past. “You’re the Eikby people. You defeated the Rockhold Band when they attacked you, and you bested the Jokaps too. The Jokaps will catch and kill us if we remain by ourselves. They catch us when we’re with you, maybe between us we’ll kill so many of them they won’t kill all of us.”

  Spinner didn’t say so, but he agreed with Haft that Veduci and his people were bandits. Fletcher hadn’t expressed an opinion. Alyline either didn’t think so or didn’t care. What should they do? Veduci gave a strong argument for the bandits being refugees seeking the protection of a larger group. But would they actually join the Eikby refugees, or would they wait for a chance to rob and run away? And what would they really do if the Jokapcul caught them on the road?