by N. C. Reed
“Of course, milord,” Hildebrand had to work to hide his surprise. “The Colonel is in the field at one of our forward observation posts. The Nor have camped early today, we think because of the threat of rain.”
Parno nodding. He’d seen the clouds gathering and wondered if the rain would be a help or a hurt. True, the Nor might slow their advance, but how would rainfall affect the preparations at the Gap? He didn’t know—and that worried him.
“As soon as you’re ready, then, Major,” Parno ordered. Hildebrand nodded, calling for his horse. Soon after he was leading Parno and his men forward. The column wound along a well-worn trail, halting at the base of a small rise.
“We’ll have to leave the horses here, milord,” Hildebrand informed him, dismounting. “I’d suggest leaving most of your men behind, as well,” he added. “It’s a small post and movement will attract attention.” Parno nodded and turned to his men.
“Wait here. Master Feng and I will climb to the post and see what we’ll see. Don’t worry,” he added with a grin at some of the sour looks. “You’ll see plenty of them before we’re through.” Dry chuckles answered that as the men dismounted and, without being ordered, set guard posts. Hildebrand watched without comment.
“We’re ready, Major,” Parno turned back to Hildebrand. The major nodded and led Parno and Cho up the rise, using footsteps and handholds recently carved into the hillside and it’s landscape. As they neared the top a man wearing the uniform of an Army Colonel appeared overhead, leaning over.
“Tom, what in blazes?” Colonel Chad asked, seeing his second in command climbing up toward him. “I thought I told you I didn’t want the both of us up here at the same. . . .”
“Sorry, sir,” Hildebrand smiled, slightly out of breath, “but Milord Parno wished to see you and asked me to guide him here.” Chad stiffened at that, and quickly extended a hand to assist his second over the crest of the rise. Once Hildebrand was up, Chad turned to assist the Prince only to find him and an Oriental looking man already upright.
“Pleasure to meet you, Colonel,” Parno smiled, extending his hand. “I’ve heard good things about you and your men. Well done.”
Chad took the hand without thinking, trying not to beam at the praise. “I must say, Milord, you made good time. We didn’t expect you for at least a week.”
“Expect me?” Parno looked puzzled.
“I sent riders to your post, milord, informing you of the situation. They couldn’t have reached you before today, though,” Chad continued, frowning as he did the math. “How did you get here so quickly?”
“I just looked at a map,” Parno shrugged. “This seemed the most likely spot for a brawl so my men and I rode up to see what we could find.”
“Just rode up - ” Hildebrand murmured, then cut himself off.
“Sir, I don’t think you realize what it is we’re facing here,” Chad said cautiously. “There are some - ”
“Fifty-plus thousand Nor, yes?” Parno asked. “I spoke with Colonel Landers at the Gap. His men, and mine, are currently working on fortifications to hold the Nor at bay. I came up to meet you and get a look for myself. I want to get a feel for how they operate. Maybe get an idea of how they react.”
“Of course,” Chad stammered, surprised. He cast a glance at Hildebrand who was struggling to keep a straight face. His eyes, though, burned with the phrase ‘I told you so’. Chad nodded in agreement to the unspoken dig, then turned back to the prince.
“We’ve been trying to determine those things, milord,” he admitted, “and we’ve had some success. We know how they react to sabotage, since we’ve destroyed several gorge bridges. Some of those hollows. . . .” he shook his head. “If we’d only had the manpower to lay an ambush with them packed in tight, trying to turn.”
“I understand, Colonel,” Parno patted the man’s shoulder lightly, “and trust me, when they reach the Gap, we’ll make them bleed. In the meantime let’s have a look, shall we?”
*****
“They’re moving faster than I’d hoped,” Parno admitted. He looked at the sprawling camp before him. Thousands of pinpricks of light marred the landscape as the Nor made camp, lit fires, and settled in for the night. Parno had observed their guards being set. They were disciplined.
“We’ve done what we could to slow them, sire,” Chad defended himself, taking Parno’s comment as criticism. Parno looked at him in shock.
“Good God, man, I’d say you’ve done bloody marvelous!” he exclaimed. “You’ve managed to slow them several times and kept them from breaking free of observation. What more can be expected of you in the face of these odds?”
“Thank you, milord,” Chad murmured, relieved that Parno hadn’t been disparaging his efforts or those of his men—and perhaps a little shame faced for thinking it.
“Don’t thank me, Colonel,” Parno grinned sloppily. “I’m afraid I’ve got more for you and your men to do. I want these bastards hounded every step of the way from here to the Gap. Come morning, I want you to select your best company to keep. . . .”
The talk went on long into the night. When it ended, Chad was smiling for the first time in two weeks.
*****
“Your thoughts?” Parno asked as he and Cho Feng sat around their fire.
“He is a good man, and an able commander,” Feng replied.
“I meant about my plans,” Parno sighed. He knew Feng knew what he’d meant.
“They are ambitious,” Feng looked at him. “Perhaps too much so. But if they succeed, then perhaps not.”
“You think I’m reaching too far, then?” Parno pressed.
“I think you reach too far for the men you have available,” Feng corrected. “Your plans are not inadequate, Parno. Your manpower is.”
“It’s all I have, Cho,” Parno shrugged helplessly, “and we’ve got to slow them down. Darvo and the others need at least five or six days to prepare. At most, right now, they’ve got three, perhaps four days. After that, the Nor will be on our front.”
“I know,” Cho sighed. “I did not say you were wrong, young Prince. I said you haven’t enough men.”
“What should I do, then?” Parno asked. “What part of the plan should I leave out in order to make the rest more likely to work.”
“I do not believe that you can make any better preparations,” Feng told him bluntly. “I simply want you to be prepared for some things to fail and for Chad’s men to pay the price for that failure.”
“You told me I had to know when to sacrifice,” Parno replied just as bluntly. “If this isn’t a time for that then when would the time be? If they hit the Gap before our preparations are complete, then all is lost.” Cho surprised him by smiling.
“You have learned well, young Prince,” he said, rising to his feet. “I am proud of you. I will retire now, I think,” he straightened his robes as he spoke. “I look forward to seeing you in battle, My Prince. I look forward to seeing you come into your own.”
“What. . . .?” but Feng was already retreating to his blankets.
“Tomorrow, young prince. Tomorrow will be soon enough.”
*****
Parno’s plan was simple, but not easy. Chad had called his company commanders together before dawn, issuing new orders. Some of them had looked stunned, but others, older and wiser, perhaps, than their counterparts, had grinned wolfishly, nodding in agreement. As the meeting broke up Chad cornered Captain Hiram Johnson who had drawn the hardest and most dangerous assignment.
“Ram, you and your men will be on the spike from now on,” Chad told him. “You know your orders. It is vital, vital, that you not loose contact with the Nor. We have to know where they are and what they’re doing at all times.”
“I won’t let you down, Colonel,” Johnson assured him. “My boys’ll get it done.”
“You’ll likely have casualties,” Chad warned.
“They’re soldiers,” Johnson shrugged. “They know that. So do I. No matter what happens, we’ll keep tabs o
n them. It will be easier than what the rest of you have to do,” he added with a grin. “Shovel work ain’t no fit way for a horseman to earn his pay.”
“True,” Chad nodded, returning the grin. “Still, if the Prince’s plan works. . . .”
“Indeed,” Johnson nodded, “and I think it will. He’s a fighter, that one.”
“I believe he is,” Chad agreed. “We’ll know soon enough.”
“Have a beer waiting for me,” Johnson shook his Colonel’s hand, then headed to his command. Chad watched him go.
“Never easy, is it?” Parno McLeod’s voice drifted to him. Chad turned to see Parno standing just outside the firelight.
“No, milord, it isn’t,” Chad shook his head as Parno walked forward to be nearer to the fire.
“You and your men have done well, Colonel. No one could have expected better, nor done better.”
“Thank you, milord.”
“We’ll win this war, Colonel,” Parno told him firmly, “but the cost is sure to be high. It’s already high, I’m willing to state, though I’ve no word of casualties from the front lines.”
“It’s dirty little battles like this one, though, that will ensure that our Kingdom, our people, survive. So long as our people survive then whatever happens to me I can accept.”
“I don’t mind what happens to me, so much, milord,” Chad shrugged. “I accepted responsibility for my men when I gained this position. My life is secondary to that responsibility. It’s the lives of my men I think of when I worry.”
“Don’t you think your men feel that same way about you?” Parno asked. “About protecting their lands and families? We don’t have the market cornered, Colonel, on dedication to service. Our men know what’s at stake as well as we do.” Parno’s face hardened slightly.
“And that will be the difference in this war, Colonel. Our enemy is fighting for conquest and power, and Lord knows what. Our men are fighting for their lives, for the lives of their loved ones, and for their homes.”
“That’s the men who will win this war, Colonel,” Parno told him. “Men who aren’t afraid to sacrifice themselves in order to defend what’s dear to them, and that includes me.” He grinned.
“It’s no secret that I’m not well liked by my family. You needn’t look so shocked, Colonel. I know that the entire kingdom knows. My siblings have seen to that,” he almost spat. “So I’m not exactly out here fighting for my family.”
“Then why are you here, milord?” Chad blurted. “I mean, you don’t have to be here! You could be safe in Nasil, or anywhere!”
“I’m here fighting for my people, Colonel, and for a land that I love. My people, our people, will not ever see a day of slavery and servitude so long as I can do anything to prevent it. I owe them that.”
“Why?” Chad was puzzled.
“Because of who I am,” Parno answered simply. “With privilege and power comes responsibility, Colonel. I was raised, despite my ostracizing, as a Royal. I like to think I’ve earned everything I’ve ever gotten, including a few beatings I’d soon forget,” he added with a lopsided grin. “But the simple fact is that I had more opportunities to do well than most small towns ever see combined.”
“There’s a debt for that. One of honor. So no, I can’t be in Nasil or anywhere else while my land, my people, are suffering.”
“You are full of surprises, milord,” Chad shook his head. “Forgive my saying so.”
“Nothing to forgive,” Parno waved away the apology. “I don’t stand on ceremony, Colonel. Never have. I also have a few loyal retainers who remind me near daily that pride goeth before the fall, so to speak. Between them they manage to keep me from taking myself too seriously.”
Chad laughed outright at that. He was surprised by the Prince’s disposition. Most ‘nobles’ he’d known, let alone a member of the current ruling family, would never join an outfit like his in the field, sleeping on blankets under the stars and fighting the enemy as closely as this one appeared willing to do. It gave him a surge of hope, discovering that such a man existed in the ruling class of his homeland.
“I’m very glad you’re here, Milord Parno.”
“You know what, Colonel? So am I.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Parno McLeod couldn’t remember ever being more exhausted than he was when Fort Cumberland came into view. He reigned his horse in, raising his hand to halt the movement of men behind him, examining the land before him.
Colonel Landers’ men had succeeded in clearing the field of fire that Parno had requested. The land between him and the fort was marked with stumps and with fallen trees. Parno was pleased. The fallen timber and the stumps would simply make it that much more difficult for the Nor to approach the Gap and there was no way around it. The Nor had to have the Gap for their plan to work.
And they wouldn’t get it, so long as Parno and his men could draw breath.
“Rider coming, milord,” a trooper noted. Parno’s eyes caught the movement and tracked it. There were actually three riders, he saw. As they drew near Parno recognized Darvo and Karls, along with a trooper he didn’t know.
“Welcome home, lad,” Darvo smiled as he reigned in beside Parno’s horse. “It’s good to see you.”
“Same to you,” Parno smiled tiredly. He shook hands with Darvo and Karls. “How are the preparations coming?” he asked without preamble.
“We’re all but finished,” Karls grinned broadly. “We’ll be finished sometime tomorrow, in fact. The main thing we lack is completing the reinforcing for the Fort’s exposed walls. All else is in readiness.”
“Good,” Parno nodded. “Because we should be seeing the Nor no later than morning, day after tomorrow. Could be here by first light tomorrow, though I think we’ve slowed them down enough they can’t make it that quickly...save for a scouting party, perhaps,” he added.
Parno had been in the field for five days and was bone weary. Colonel Chad’s men had performed brilliantly for him, though they had suffered for it. While one company had screened the Nor, keeping tabs on them, the rest had been hard at work laying traps, digging pits, and setting small ambushes. While the casualties the Nor suffered were a mere drop in the barrel, the time it had cost them was what had been important.
Twice they had forced the great column to stop and evaluate its patrols. Each time that had bought most of day in precious time for the men at the Gap to finish their defenses. Parno was relieved to see that the time had not been wasted. Colonel Chad’s men had suffered several casualties in the process of buying that time.
“Darvo, this is Colonel Chad,” Parno introduced the 12th Mounted’s commander to his mentor. “Colonel, this is Colonel Darvo Nidiad, commander of Parno’s Company.” Willard and Cho Feng exchanged grins at the name, but remained silent.
“Pleasure to meet you, Colonel,” Chad spoke quietly but with confidence. He and his men had proven themselves again and again over the last two weeks. He had no need to feel intimidated.
“And you, Colonel,” Darvo shook hands with Chad warmly. “Thank you for looking out for our wayward leader,” he grinned, nodding toward Parno.
“More like he’s looked after us,” Chad assured Darvo. “You’ve done well training him.”
“Took more than me to accomplish that,” Darvo laughed.
“Yes, well, now that all that’s out of the way,” Parno cut in, “let’s get inside the lines, shall we? These men are tired and deserve a good rest. Karls,” he looked to his third in command, “I want a company mounted and ready to ride as soon as possible. One company of Colonel Chad’s men are still out, screening the Nor. I want them relieved by fresh troops before dark. See to it, if you will.”
“Of course, milord,” Willard nodded, and turned his horse.
“Karls,” Parno called out and Willard turned.
“I don’t want you leading it,” the prince smiled. “I’ll need you here when the time comes.”
“Aye, milord,” Willard nodded, wondering how th
e prince had known his plan to accompany the troops.
“You looked a little too eager,” Parno answered the unasked question. Willard smiled and nodded again, then set off to roust out the required company. Parno turned to Chad.
“I want a squad of your best men to remount and head out with the new company. I know they’re tired, but they can return with Captain Johnson’s company. I just want to make sure that the hand off goes smoothly and happens before dark.”
“I’ll see to it, milord,” Chad nodded and turned to discuss that with Hildebrand.
“Let’s get into the fort,” Parno ordered. “I want a troop of Lander’s men with ours as well. Men familiar with the ground and the trails here about. I don’t want our men fumbling about on unfamiliar ground.”