Fires of Memory

by Washburn, Scott;

  “Phell! What is it? What’s going on?”

  “Kareen! Calm down, everything is all right.”

  “All right? Then why is the whole garrison turning out? We saw that rider come in. Something’s happening!”

  “Yes, but there’s no reason to worry. A fairly large band of Kaifeng are coming this way through the pass.”

  “Oh, gods!” gasped Kareen.

  “It will be all right,” insisted Phell. “They can’t possibly get into the fort. You are perfectly safe. The Kaifeng might just be coming to parley for all we know. We’re falling in just to be on the safe side.”

  “But what about Matt? He’s out there somewhere!” Phell hesitated for the merest instant, but it was enough for Kareen. “The rider brought some word, didn’t he? You know something, Phell!”

  “All right. The column was in some trouble, but the rider thinks they found a place to defend. Once we deal with this batch, we’ll go look for the column.” This did nothing to reassure Kareen. She clutched Phell’s hand.

  “Look, I have to go,” he said. “You stay indoors until this is settled.”

  “Phell!”

  “I love you.” He leaned over and kissed her on the lips. “I’ll see you later.” He turned and ran off toward the stables.

  “I love you,” she whispered after him.

  Kareen stayed on the porch, but she did not go inside. It was a quarter of an hour before all the troops were in place and things settled down. Or at least all the regular troops were in place; there were still many of the Varags running about without any apparent purpose. Thelena was with her and she had a strange, unreadable expression on her face.

  “Some of the ladies have gone up on to the roof over there,” she said, pointing. “Perhaps we can see better from there.”

  Kareen looked and saw that Thelena was right. The main barracks was three stories high and had a flat roof with a parapet, and a number of women had gathered there. She wanted to go, but she hesitated. Those were probably the women of some of the enlisted men. She really should not be mingling with them...

  The hell with that, I want to see!

  “All right, let’s go,” she said.

  “Let me take the kettles off the fire first,” said Thelena. She went inside and then reappeared a few moments later. She took out her key to lock the door. Kareen nearly told her to forget about that in her impatience, but Thelena looked over to her. “With all the excitement, the Varags might get some ideas.” Kareen suddenly realized that she was right. The irregulars would steal anything, given half a chance. Thelena locked the door and then they walked over toward the barracks, trying to look as though they knew what they were doing.

  Fortunately, the barracks building had an external stair, so they could reach the roof without going inside. The two women hurried up the steps and were puffing by the time they reached the top. There were already a number of women and children there, but it was a large building so they were able to find a spot along the parapet without difficulty. Kareen looked down and saw that none of the troops had moved. The officers had all gone up onto the walls and were looking through telescopes; they appeared to be talking excitedly. Kareen looked out beyond the walls to the far side of the valley, but she could not see anything out of the ordinary. The Kaifeng must be fairly close if they had called all the soldiers into ranks...

  “Can you see anything?” she asked.

  “No. I cannot...”

  “Look!” A cry from farther down the roof made them jerk their heads around. A young boy was jumping up and down and pointing.

  “There they are!”

  * * * * *

  “We’ve got to keep moving,” groaned Matt. “We’ve got to warn the fort!”

  “Not much of a chance for that, sir,” said Sergeant Chenik, between breaths. “Those bastards are on horses and going by the fastest route. The rate we’re going, we won’t get there before tomorrow afternoon. They could be there by... well, they could be there by now, sir.”

  “I know, I know, but we’ve got to try. Maybe they won’t attack immediately. Maybe we can still get there before they do.”

  “Maybe,” grunted Chenik as he scrambled over another boulder. “Not sure what good our warning’s gonna do, sir. If they can do to the fort what they did to us...” Chenik stopped talking. Whether he had run out of breath or simply didn’t want to finish the thought, Matt didn’t know. He scrambled after the sergeant. After a while, he looked back, but Private Regari was not in sight. The trooper could not keep up and Matt could not afford to wait for him.

  After the disaster of yesterday—was it only yesterday?—they had moved as far and as fast as they could until darkness and exhaustion had forced them to stop. By chance, they could see the enemy camp from the hill they were on. They stared down at the campfires for a while, but soon fell asleep. Sergeant Chenik woke him before dawn and they moved on. They were hungry and thirsty and worn, but they had to move. Several hours later, they saw the first of the Kaifeng moving through the pass. They tried to hurry, but they knew they were being left behind. By midday, their parched throats forced them down into one of the valleys to find a spring to refill their canteens. It was costing them time, but they could not keep going without water.

  The afternoon was drawing on now. Matt guessed they were about six miles from the fort in a straight line, a lot farther by the paths they would have to follow. And then, they would probably have to make a wide detour to get around the Kaifeng and into the fort. There was no hope of doing it today.

  “Have to try!” he gasped out loud. “Have to keep moving! Have to...”

  Boom!

  Matt and Chenik froze in their tracks as the faint report echoed among the hills. A cannon shot from the fort. There was no doubt about what it was. The two men looked at each other.

  “They’re there,” said Chenik.

  Matt nodded. “Keep moving.”

  * * * * *

  The cannon shot made all the horses jump. Most of the riders jumped, as well. Atark and all the gathered noyens looked to the fort to see a puff of smoke blossoming on the wall. Several men cried out and pointed when the smoke formed into a perfect ring that drifted across the valley. Atark hardly noticed the cannon ball splintering against the rocks five hundred paces short of them, he was so enthralled by the smoke ring. It was so perfect it almost seemed... magical. The thought chilled him. What if we are wrong about the Easterners’ magic? But no, he was not wrong.

  “Well, Shaman Atark of the Gettai-Tatua,” said one of the men sitting his horse near him. “Do we attack now, before night, or do we wait until the morning?”

  “That will be decided by Ka-Noyen Zarruk,” said Atark. He said it with a perfectly level voice, but there was an immediate stir among the group.

  “Zarruk is not a ka!” cried one of them, angrily. “Only the voices of the noyens can name a ka! Not a shaman — no matter how powerful he claims to be!” Many of the others growled and nodded in agreement. Zarruk looked uneasy. Atark had fully expected this.

  “Then let the voices of the glorious noyens be raised!” he said. “Let Zarruk of the Gettai be named ka. Let him order the attack. Let us win a mighty victory this day!”

  “And why should it be Zarruk we name ka?” demanded the same one. He swept his arm around to the others “Why not Muskar of the Yattu or Larrak of the Hyami or...”

  “Or Teskat of the Kuttari,” interrupted Atark, staring straight at the man he had named.

  “Yes, why not?” said Teskat, not quailing before Atark’s stare. “Why not Teskat of the Kuttari?”

  “Why not, indeed,” said Atark. “But let the noyens decide now. I wish to know whether to prepare my magic... or to pack my horses and return to the plains.”

  It took a moment for his statement to sink in, but when it did, there was a stir. “What do you mean, Atark of the Gettai-Tatua? Surely, you will work your magic!”

  “I followed Ka-Noyen Zarruk here to work my magic. I will work
it for no other ka.”

  “But...but we cannot attack the fort without your magic!” spluttered Teskat.

  “If you say so, Noyen Teskat of the Kuttari.”

  “You would use your new powers for the aggrandizement of your noyen instead of the good of all the tribes, Atark of the Gettai-Tatua?” asked a man. This was Gerrik, the shaman of Teskat’s tribe. A jealous and unscrupulous man, in Atark’s opinion.

  “Just as you would use them for your own glory, Gerrik of the Kuttari? Believe what you will, but my statement stands.”

  The silence that followed was like the aftermath of the enemy cannon shot: a hollow, ringing silence, with a held-breath anticipation of what was to come. But there was no sudden impact as from a cannon ball. Instead, the other noyens began muttering among themselves. Teskat looked about with growing anger. “It was agreed!” he snarled. Several heads jerked up.

  “Agreed? By who, Teskat? Not by me!” said Darnar of the Retayi.

  “Nor by me!” shouted several others at once. Teskat’s face turned red. In a moment, all the noyens except for Zarruk were shouting at each other. Several drew their swords and shook them over their heads. Zarruk leaned over to Atark.

  “What have you done?”

  “What I had to do. Wait. Have patience.”

  The argument went on for some time. Atark looked to the sun. Another two hours of light. Perhaps the attack would not happen today after all. But then there was a sudden pause in the babble of voices. He looked back to see all the noyens staring at him. Noyen Darnar came forward.

  “We will name Zarruk of the Gettai Ka for today and for the next moon. Then we must decide anew. Is this acceptable, Oh Mighty Shaman?”

  Atark looked to Zarruk. He nodded. “It is all you dare ask of them,” he whispered. “Please, Atark, do not push them farther!”

  “I will prepare my magic, if the ka-noyen so commands,” said Atark bowing in his saddle to Zarruk.

  “Let it be so,” said Zarruk uneasily. He looked to the others. “Let the warriors be marshaled. We will attack at once.” The noyens jerked their heads in acknowledgment, turned their horses, and rode toward their men, shouting. Zarruk took one long look at Atark and then followed. Atark stood there for a moment before turning to one of the warriors who had been tasked with assisting him.

  “Bring the captives forward.”

  * * * * *

  Kareen was getting tired of watching. She had been standing on the roof for over an hour and it seemed like nothing was going to happen after all. A terrible anxiety had shot through her when she first saw the huge mass of horsemen appear in the pass. It looked like there were many thousands of them. If Matt had been caught out in the plains by that host...!

  But the invaders had not done much after they arrived. The fort had fired a single cannon as a warning, and the Kaifeng had halted and not come forward. Perhaps they would not attack; certainly, it seemed a foolish thing for them to attack. Kareen knew little of tactics, but even she could see that horsemen alone had little chance against a fort with stone walls twenty feet high, bristling with cannons and muskets.

  And those walls were indeed bristling. The musketeers were now up there, lining the parapets, bayonets gleaming in the afternoon sun. The gunners were by their cannons, smoke from the slow matches curling lazily upward. Half of the dragoons, including Phell, were still standing on the parade ground while the rest had gone down to the town. A much less substantial wall stretched from the fort, through the town and all the way to the other side of the pass. The dragoons were manning that to deny the enemy easy passage, but they could quickly withdraw back to the fort if necessary. The defenses seemed very strong to Kareen. Her fear was for her brother, not for herself.

  Most of the other women, the wives of the enlisted men, had already left the roof. They would be carrying the dinner meal out to their men on the walls. Perhaps they should do the same thing for Phell?

  “Thelena? Maybe you should go back home and get the meal prepared. We can take something out to Phell. Thelena?” The other woman did not appear to have heard her. She was staring out at the enemy with a strange look on her face. “Thelena?” Kareen said her name louder and the woman jerked in surprise.

  “My...my lady?”

  “Dinner. We must get dinner ready. You go ahead, I will follow in a little while.”

  “Yes. Yes, my lady.” Thelena took one more look at the horsemen and then went down the steps. Kareen stayed behind, uncertain what to do. If there was to be no attack, then there was no point in staying. But she did not want to miss anything. As frightened as she was, she was also excited. Nothing like this had ever happened before! Still, she could always come back. She turned to follow Thelena.

  “Hey! It looks like they are doing something!” a boy shouted. It might have been the same sharp-eyed one who had first spotted the Kaifeng earlier. Kareen wheeled about and went back to her spot on the parapet. Something was happening? What? She couldn’t... Oh, over there. The horsemen seemed to be spreading out on the far side of the pass, forming into a thick line facing the fort. Why would they be doing that if they were not going to attack? The soldiers on the walls were getting up, getting ready. A thrill of anticipation coursed through her. Was she about to see a battle? She had been a part of the army for over four years, but somehow it never occurred to her that she might actually see a battle.

  But perhaps she wouldn’t. It seemed to be taking an awfully long time for the Kaifeng to get ready. She had little notion of how long it took to form an army for an attack. The day was waning; if nothing happened soon, it would be dark.

  A horn rang across the valley. It sounded very different from the soldiers’ bugles. Kareen stared hard. More horns. Dozens of them, it seemed. A moment later, she could see movement among the horsemen. Were they...? Yes, they were coming forward! The lines of riders seemed to ripple. Where they started was in the shadow of the western hills, but in a moment, they emerged into the sunlight, which sparkled off swords and spear points. She drew in her breath. The men on the walls near the cannons were moving around. They would probably fire their guns soon. Twenty cannons could bear on the attackers and she could scarcely imagine what effect the cannon balls would have on the massed horsemen.

  Then there was another exclamation from the rooftop, and this time it was not the boy. Someone else was crying out and pointing at something. It only took Kareen an instant to see what it was. A bright, golden light had appeared on the far side of the pass, back behind where the horsemen had massed. It was in the shadow of the hill and it gleamed like the sun. What was it? No torch or lantern could be that bright.

  She gasped when the ball of golden light exploded into a cloud of smaller lights that rose up like a mass of sparks from a bonfire. Cries of astonishment—and alarm—came from the rooftop and the walls. The cloud of sparks was rushing toward them! Far faster than any wind could have borne them! They were beautiful, but Kareen was filled with fear at what they might be.

  The sparks swept past the enemy horsemen, who were moving at a slow trot, and across the valley and up the slope toward the fort. Closer and closer. The men on the walls were shouting and pointing. Officers roared out for silence. The sparks were spreading out, spacing themselves along the whole front of the fort. Kareen gasped as they reached the walls.

  In an instant, the entire western wall of the fort was enveloped in smoke. A moment later, a vast roar of sound hit her as all of the cannons and all of the muskets went off in a long, ragged volley. This was joined by countless other explosions as cartridge boxes and stacked artillery ammunition ignited. The sounds of screaming men was added to the din. Some had been burned by the exploding powder while others had been crushed by the recoil of the unexpectedly firing cannons. Through the smoke came more of the golden sparks. They collected over the parade ground like a swarm of bees and then darted out in all directions.

  Some of them flashed toward the waiting dragoons. The troopers’ formation was already coming ap
art because of what was happening on the walls, but now it disintegrated completely. Kareen watched in frozen shock as the dragoons’ weapons all discharged and their own cartridge boxes exploded. Horses reared and fell, adding their screams to the other horrible noises. Troopers were thrown to the ground or carried off by their terrified mounts.

  Suddenly a roar that outdid all the other sounds slammed into Kareen, nearly knocking her down. The whole southwest bastion disappeared in an enormous boiling cloud of smoke. Blocks of stone, cannons, men—and bits of men—were hurled skyward. An instant later, the northwest bastion exploded just like the first.

  Magazines. There were magazines under each of the...

  She had not even completed the thought when the two eastern bastions exploded, and this time, she was thrown off her feet. She fell onto the sandy roof and covered her ears. Smaller explosions shook the building as small arms ammunitions stores blew up. A large block of stone from one of the bastions came hurtling down and smashed through the roof not twenty feet away. Other, smaller, bits of debris came pattering down all around her. She lay there trying to muffle the screams all around her until she realized that she was one of the ones who was screaming. She forced herself to stop and pushed herself up from the roof.

  Smoke was everywhere. The sharp, bitter taste and smell of gunpowder was in her mouth and her nose. Her eyes watered with it. She stumbled over to the parapet and tried to see. The explosions had stopped, but the screams and shouts had not. More smoke drifted past her and she could smell burning wood along with the burning powder. The wind pulled the veil of smoke away for a moment, and she looked down onto bedlam. Men and horses were running everywhere. Others lay writhing on the ground or were still, dead or stunned. Wreckage was strewn all about. Then the smoke concealed it all again.