Guerrilla (The Invasion of Miraval Book 2)

by Justin Bohardt

  Kryski came over and sat at their table with another man, who looked like he was easily over forty years old. He had short cropped gray hair covered with a military cap with a torn off insignia and cool gray eyes. “This is Dimidar Markov,” Kryski introduced. “He’s the second in command of my unit.”

  “Markov,” Dag echoed. “That’s a Dommie name.”

  “It’s a Jaegan name,” Markov corrected, his accent not sounding too dissimilar from a Dominion one. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Dag and demanded, “Do we have a problem, lieutenant?”

  Jaega was an old principality even smaller than Miraval. At least, it had been thirty years ago. The Dominion had made Jaega one of its first invasion targets when they began their southward expansions that had eventually resulted in two wars with Miraval. Three wars now, Dag corrected in his own mind.

  “No problem,” Dag said at last. “What brought you to Miraval?”

  “Getting out of the Dominion,” he replied.

  Kryski added, “Dimidar here was conscripted into the Dominion Skyfleet. Man has actually served as an engineer on airships. Airships!”

  “Not many of those in Miraval,” Aria observed.

  “I’d hoped to never see one again if I’m being honest,” he replied. “I guess I can’t be that lucky.”

  “None of us wanted to see the Dominion again,” Aria said.

  “I’ll drink to that,” Kryski agreed as he and Aria clinked mugs and threw back their ale.

  Dag nursed his, barely taking a few sips. He was not generally a drinker as he disliked the lack of control that it brought on. Not to mention, if the Dominion did manage to attack in the middle of the night, he did not want to be fighting his own mind at the same time as the enemy.

  After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Markov at last asked, “Is it appropriate to ask our mission, sir? I know we’re going to occupy Stonewater, but to what end?”

  “Captain Beaurigar believes that there is at least a small chance that the Dominion will attempt to find a way through the Rock Maze and into the Crest,” Dag explained. “Their forces that were halted in the Northern Crest are going to go somewhere. If they try to sneak in the back door…”

  “Then we shut it,” Kryski said exuberantly.

  Dag shook his head in the affirmative and Markov asked, “With thirty men?”

  “This is a reconnaissance mission,” Dag said. “We put ourselves in a position to spot any approaching Dommies and get that information back to Beaurigar so he can appropriately position our defenses.”

  Kryski looked disappointed. “We’re going on a scouting mission?” he asked, his voice sounding crestfallen.

  “Don’t worry, sergeant,” Dag said. “There will be plenty of time to take the fight to the enemy.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kryski said.

  “Don’t be too excited to go to war,” Markov cautioned. “The glory that you think you’ll find is a joke.”

  Kryski looked even more disappointed and drank deeper of his ale.

  “You’re depressing the kid,” Aria observed as she punched Kryski lightly in the arm. “It’s not as bad as he’s saying.”

  “Did you have those scars before you’d seen battle?” Markov demanded, indicating the thin lines running across Aria’s face.

  “Out of line,” Dag immediately said.

  “I meant no offense,” Markov apologized. “I simply meant to convey that the first casualty of any war is delusion. For hundreds of years, humans have produced books and for the past twenty, cinema offerings, depicting the glory of war and the idea of noble combat. There is no such thing. It is death. Just remember, that if we do run into the enemy, some of the men in your squad, your friends, will almost certainly die.”

  Kryski looked re-energized by Aria’s exuberance or from the ale he had drunk and he countered, “But they will die gloriously.”

  The song the assembled group was singing had ended right as Kryski made his bold proclamation, and it was greeted with a cry of “Huzzah!” from everyone. Markov rolled his eyes slightly, but he could not help but grin a little bit as Kryski stood up from the table and joined his comrades for a moment of revelry. Dag and Aria dug into their food for a moment, neither realizing how famished they were. Once they were finished and Kryski was sitting back down again, Dag felt Aria’s hand find his under the table to give it a gentle squeeze.

  “Lieutenant,” Aria said with a pointed look at Dag. “There were some tactical matters that we had wanted to discuss. Sergeant, do you have a billet we could use.”

  “Most of the men are sleeping in the barracks,” Kryski replied. “But there is an officer’s mess on the top floor. We’ve been using it for storage as there aren’t any officers here currently.”

  “Where are all of your officers? You said something about a captain?” Dag asked.

  “Captain Yonson is a mine foreman,” Markov said. “He’s needed over there more than here.”

  “Sir, we really ought to get to it,” Aria said.

  “Right,” Dag said, standing up from the table. “Sergeant, if you could make sure my squad and yours get bedded down after they’ve had their merriment, I would appreciate it. We need to move at dawn.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kryski said as Dag and Aria headed toward a door that led to the stairwell.

  They were barely through the door with it shutting slowly behind him before Aria was on Dag, her lips pressing intently into his. “Gods, I’ve wanted to do that for days,” she said hungrily in his ear as she kissed passionately at his neck.

  Dag did not return her embrace with the same exuberance as he was worried about what would happen if one of the militia or his own squad decided to head up to the barracks, but Aria was not going to be deterred. Eventually, Dag turned the protesting part of his brain off and pulled Aria off her feet. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he somehow managed to carry her up three flights of stairs. The third floor was not entirely empty, as the officer’s quarters had been turned into some barracks and a supply depot. However, the long line of cots occupied by sleeping soldiers, probably those who had drawn early shifts, was on the other side of a swinging door from the hallway they had entered.

  Aria broke her lips away from Dag’s long enough to swing her head around and spot a door that had Officer’s Mess painted on it in black letters. “There,” she said, pointing.

  Dag somehow managed to get the door open with one hand, while still holding Aria’s body against his, and having to deal with her near constant yet pleasant distraction. The officer’s mess was dimly illuminated by a single light bulb swinging from the ceiling, and the furniture had been covered with empty ammunition crates and used clothing. Aria hopped out of Dag’s arms and then dragged him down to the only non-covered space on the floor.

  Although he was not normally self-conscious, a part of Dag’s brain was telling him that anyone could come walking into the officer’s mess at any time, but the gleam in Aria’s eyes seemed to convey that she was perfectly aware of that possibility, and that was what she liked about it. Dag allowed Aria to pull him into her arms and then he became only aware of the warmth of her body.

  13

  The next morning, Kryski and Markov had the twenty-two men under their command in formation, standing at attention on the National Guard’s training ground. They all saluted when they saw Dag approaching with Aria and the rather hungover Pendelton, Logan and Kayleigh, who looked like she was going to be sick.

  “As you were,” Dag said, hoping that he was getting the military lingo correct.

  Unlike Alex, he had no training in actual soldiering, let alone any officer training. As he stood before the assembled militia, two thoughts went through his mind. The first was a sense of enormous weight. The twenty-four men and women before him and the four Miravallians behind him were responsible for the entire western defense of the Crest. The second thing through his mind was that he was completely unprepared for this. He had courage and was probably the finest shot
in Harren Falls, if not the Crest, but the men who stood before him were clearly National Guard reservists prior to the Dominion invasion. They had more experience in an army than he did, and yet he was supposed to lead them and give them orders.

  Dag felt a subtle hand touch him gently on the back, a reassuring feeling courtesy of Aria. She had been clever and kind enough to make sure that no one else had seen it. Dag stepped forward and marched up and down the line of militia, looking each man and woman over, trying to find some words that they seemed to expect from him. He would have given his right arm for Alex to be there at that point.

  “I’m not generally one for making speeches,” Dag began. “And I don’t need to astonish you with the size of the task we’re undertaking. We’re marching out to Stonewater in the Rock Maze. Our job is to keep an eye out for the enemy.”

  Although the militia kept their composure, Dag could tell that if they had their wish, they would have reacted much the same way as Kryski had the night before.

  “Alright, I know it’s not the most glamorous job in the world,” Dag said, deciding to drop the stilted and formal method of speaking he had adopted. It was a rather poor imitation of his brother in any case. “If you’re like me, you want to be on the front lines, taking it to the enemy, and giving the Dommies a short, sharp kick to their soft bits.”

  The militiamen chuckled.

  “But we go where we’re needed,” he continued. “And make no mistake, there is no single place in Miraval that is safe from the Dominion. They conquered a third of our country in a few days. If we aren’t vigilant, they will be on the doorstep of our homes. The five of us,” he indicated his squad from Harren Falls, “Nearly lost our home because we didn’t think the Dominion could be on us that quickly. If you’re looking for action, there’s a good chance we’ll see it. If you’re looking to defend your homes and families, I’ll guarantee you’ll see that opportunity as well. Understood?”

  There was a chorus of “Yes, sirs.”

  “Great, speech over,” Dag said. “Sergeant Kryski, pick three men that know the lay of the land best. One will run point with Logan. The others will take the flanks with Pendelton and Kayleigh. Let’s move out.”

  14

  “They’re coming,” Tangrit said through gritted teeth from his perch atop the captured Dominion tank. Passing the binoculars to Alex, he added, “Just infantry.”

  It was hard to see anything in the relative dark of the dawn, but it appeared that the Dominion had spent the better part of the night advancing their forces and working to rebuild the bridges across the New River. The fires in Rainer Ravine had been put out for the most part as the conflagration was no longer visible from Alex’s vantage and tanks had been brought up to the third bridge, about a mile away. They were not within firing range yet, but a force of over a hundred Dominion soldiers, many carrying rocket propelled grenade launchers, were making their way up the hill, swimming across the river when necessary.

  “What’s the range on those rocket launchers?” he asked Tangrit.

  “’Bout four hundred and fifty yards firing up a slope like this,” the bombardier replied.

  “Open fire at five hundred yards,” Alex replied.

  “Yes, sir,” he replied.

  Moving up and down the defensive line, Alex passed the same order to the bombardiers on the mortar cannon, the grenade launchers and the smaller Dominion tank. For the militia sentries in position on the defense line, he told them to hold their fire until the Dommies were within one hundred yards. He did not want any of his inexperienced men going trigger happy and wasting ammunition on an enemy they did not have a chance of hitting.

  The massive main gun of the tank opened fire, followed shortly by mortar cannons and rocket launchers, as Alex made his way back to the center of the formation. Captain Beaurigar joined him a moment later, looking weary with large bags under his eyes. He had taken command of the defense for most of the night, allowing Alex to sleep, and had only been in his tent for an hour when the sound of cannons awoke him.

  “It’s just a probe, sir,” Alex shouted over the sound of weapons firing. “I think they’re just testing our defenses.”

  His statement was punctuated by an explosion against the earthworks they had created in the center of the defensive line, an attack that was answered by a barrage of machine gun fire from the militiamen stationed on the wings. Answering fire came from the Dominion forces, but another salvo from the main tank quieted the assault, and Tangrit poked his head from the tank once more.

  “They’re retreating, sir,” he announced.

  “Good,” Alex answered. “Hopefully, they’ll think twice before trying another assault.”

  “Very well,” Beaurigar said as he chewed on his lower lip, something clearly bothering him. “Lieutenant, see to any wounded and then wake up the Commodore. Those berserkers of his were supposed to be ready to go by nightfall and now it’s dawn. I want those bomb ships launched now.”

  “Yes, sir,” Alex responded as Beaurigar headed back to his tent.

  15

  The long sloping hills of the western Crest eventually began to flatten out as they marched onward through the woods that were getting thinner and thinner. A perpetual fog seemed to hang in the air as they got lower, and the air was moist and heavy. The heat was far greater now that they were out of the higher altitudes and Dag had to remind his company to drink at every stream and tributary they forded.

  “I’m sweating like a whore in temple,” Aria muttered to him as they stopped and refilled their canteens at a small spring.

  Dag laughed. “Welcome to the lowlands,” he said.

  “They can keep it,” she replied as she snuck a kiss on his cheek when she thought no one was looking before joining the rest of the group that continued to move to the west.

  “Your wife?” Kryski asked. Dag had not noticed the ranger sneaking up on him and he tried to keep his face from turning red.

  “Not yet,” he replied, not looking up at his guide.

  “If you don’t mind some advice, lieutenant,” he said. “I would recommend sooner rather than later in that regard. We never know when the ones we love will be taken from us.”

  Dag stood up from the creek and looked to Kryski, who had a forlorn look to him. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he agreed.

  Several hours later, they emerged from the forest and saw a huge expanse of Miraval opening up before them. The afternoon sun had burned off the fog and the damp, and they could see the craggy and moss covered stones of the Rock Maze spreading toward a distant plain covered in purple, blue and yellow wildflowers. The Godly River appeared as a thin blue line snaking through the plains in the distance.

  “Somewhere across that water is our army,” Dag said. “Guarding the crossings.”

  Kryski pointed to the northern mountains. “Somewhere up there is Highskye and the Dominion Army,” he said.

  “Let’s hope that’s where they are,” Aria muttered as Kryski led them forward down a slightly sloping rocky path into the canyons that made up the Rock Maze.

  The Rock Maze had once been a long sheet of barren rock, the remnant of a mountain that the gods had flattened into the ground if the legends were to be believed. Thousands of years of rain and water rushing down from the Crest had carved deep pathways through the rock, forming the canyons that sliced around the rock towers. The canyon floors were covered with mossy stones, occasional patches of grass, and rough pine needle covered shrubs that managed to grow directly out of the rock.

  Dag did not like being in the canyons. Even though he knew that it would be impossible to move a large force through the Rock Maze without going through the canyons, he still felt like it would be too easy for the Dommies to have set up an ambush. If he were them, he would have put snipers on the thin canyon walls that separated each trench through the rocks, waiting to intercept any enemy forces that came through.

  “How long to Stonewater?” Dag asked Kryski.

  “We should
get there by evening,” he replied.

  “I trust from the name that there is water there,” Dag said.

  “The River Rampage runs under the fortress and flows out to the Godly River,” he said. “We’ll have plenty of water.”

  That was one positive, Dag supposed. The heat down in the canyon was sweltering with the sun heating the stones surrounding them, the lack of breeze in the claustrophobic maze and the continued high humidity. He had run through the water in his canteen already and he noticed that the other Harren Falls soldiers had done the same. The Craven Bluffs scouts on the other hand seemed to be doing fine.

  When Dag asked him about it, Kryski laughed and said, “Try going into an aurastone mine sometime and then tell me what you think of the heat and humidity out here, sir.”

  “Point taken,” Dag said.

  Several hours later, when Dag felt like he had sweated through every last inch of the clothing he had been wearing, there was a bird call from one of Kryski’s men at the front of their column. Pendelton came racing back, his normally pale features bright red from the heat and the exertion.

  “We’re here, sir,” he said excitedly to Dag.

  “Everyone, hold!” Dag immediately ordered.

  He motioned for Pendelton to come with him, and the two of them ran their way to the front of their company, where the canyon turned sharply to the north. Dag and Pendelton crouched down next to Markov, the former Dommie, who was using a rock outcropping for cover. Around the corner from the large spiraling gray rock formation, Dag could see a massive looming stone fortress that looked like it was crumbling apart before his very eyes.

  “Looks deserted,” Pendelton whispered.

  “Exactly how the enemy would want it to look,” Markov cautioned.

  Dag studied the massive fortress for a moment, looking for any sign of movement. The massive front walls of the fortress were cracked and the parapets were missing stones, but he saw no sign that the Dominion had beaten them there. The central citadel had fallen and collapsed in on itself and parts of the walls were overgrown with moss. A large twisting and gnarled root tree, named for the lack of leaves and root-like appearance of its branches, towered next to the fallen citadel. There was a large archway in the bottom of the forward wall through which rushed the raging River Rampage. The sound of the churning water was loud enough to drown out any noise an enemy could be making.