by Nelson, J P
“I find it one time when I camped by a ruin. I don’t know why, ain’t no magic on it, but it ain’t never run out an’ it always works until I close that cap.”
“Thank you, Handsome … I don’t know what to say …”
“You done said it. Now go out there and cut some ‘nobin gizzard.”
It was Hoscoe who touched me the most. He had been fidgeting, something he wasn’t given to do, and helped me get my backpack and rig together. I had my rucksack, supplies, slicker, blanket roll and ground sheet, jerked meat, etc. A possible pouch I would carry slung over my right shoulder and down my left side; it held a big pack off coffee, cigars, small packets of dry tinder for starting fires, a couple of spare crossbow strings and a few other choice articles the others would not be likely to have.
My boots I had made myself. For the first time I tried making footgear, based on what my momma had showed me long ago. As I worked, I tried to push warmth and energy into them, just to see what would happen. So far, they looked no different than anything normal. It had taken me months to make them, but this would be the first time I put them to use. They had three layers of sole and were supposed to be as tough as foot soldiers marching boots, but they were still as supple as regular wear-about soft sole shoes.
They laced up the front, but came up over the calf and were worn over my leggings. The top folded over once tied and six inch long fringes hung all around. Knife sheaths were inside the boots, one on each outer side of the leg, and there were a couple of little surprise pockets on the inside as well.
The rucksack was rigged to hold a sheaf of crossbow bolts on the left side, and my sheaf would hold three dozen, more than the rest of the others. My sword could be slung easily under the rucksack where I could grab it from above my right shoulder. Again, this was different from the standard outfit, where the other soldiers would draw from cross body.
As I was preparing to go below and join the company, Hoscoe stood before me face to face and said, “I am proud of you. Do not forget that. As you know, this is not a patrol. You are going to war. Keep your mind straight, focus on the prize, and the prize will change from time to time.
Keep an eye out, young sir. I do not trust the wind. Something more is amiss, only I cannot identify it ... yet.”
He looked down and around the room, and then let out a long sigh, “There seems to be many things I cannot identify, anymore. But, when you shoot … when you shoot … make your aim true. You are going to need all the help you can get.” He walked over and brought me his crossbow. Hoscoe held the magnificent weapon with reverence, and then said, “This is the Beckerson Mark VII, perhaps the finest weapon of its kind ever built. Old Man Beckerson, himself, built it before he died. It was meant to be a prototype, and this one he built just for me.”
Hoscoe showed me some features I didn’t know, would have never imagined it could have. Not only did it have a unique over and under slide carriage, but internally there were counter springs which made it redraw with a flip of a finger lever. Its range was comparable to the Resounder, Hoscoe believed. He had picked off unarmored moving targets at three hundred rods, for sure.
The Mark VII could be used many ways; as a single shot conventional weapon, two bolts at once, or you could fire one as the other automatically redrew, allowing you to fire as fast as you could reload. And there was more as well.
He handed me the weapon and I took it in my hands, speechless. “I … I wish I were setting out with you. You have no idea ...” I thought his eyes were going misty and there was a faint tremble in his voice, he wasn’t looking me straight on. “I am a warrior. I belong in the field. I would rather pass with honor, than sitting back as … well … no matter.” He snapped to and with full carriage he looked me straight and snapped with a crisp salute, “Gondishaey!”
Breathing in deeply, and with all the dignity I could muster, I snapped to and returned his salute, “Gondishaey!”
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Days turned to weeks as we moved deep into the interior. We explored the site of the patrol massacre, and then we found the remains of a lone farming keep. There were no signs of people or livestock of any kind. The doors to buildings had been knocked in and we saw where a stew had been boiling at time of attack. I found an ancient ruin up on a hillside, but nothing else.
More than once, Major Leman had us split company as each of the three platoons went off in separate directions to converge at distant points. The Major took command of one platoon, the Lieutenant had another, and the Field Sergeant the last. I usually had free reign to travel alone, but if I wished I could take someone with me. Izner and I worked well together, and he was light of foot, so he was my usual partner.
It was Izner who noticed I left little to no footprints, and I could tell my feet always felt cool and comfortable. Once I waded through a small stream just to see what would happen, and my feet stayed dry. When I walked across sticks, I could feel them as well as if I was barefoot, but my feet were protected at the same time. They didn’t make me sticky footed like a lizard, but they helped when I climbed up rock and such. I smiled.
“I just know woodsmen walking,” I told Izner.
My mind kept going back to that ancient ruin. I had felt something there, a tingling. Magic, I asked myself? I wanted to go back and take a better look, but that was days ago. From now on, I would take as long as I wanted to check out anything.
Six weeks out and our company had been split up. I was with Ander’s platoon and we were last to make rendezvous when we noticed a much bigger camp than we were used to.
“Aldivert …” I whispered to Ander. I could see him walking around and putting on airs, and off to the side he had a horse picketed. Leave it to him to be the only one with a horse while his men all walked. “… This can’t be good.”
“Damn, Wolf. He’s supposed to have a lot bigger company.”
I didn’t like it, or him. I had learned that he was supposed to have had the first dance with Tancine at her ball, and he was livid with me. Shael’s, I didn’t know. No one had told me and it happened so smoothly. I couldn’t tell she was complaining, either, nor did he dance with her the whole rest of the evening. He was also mad because I had worked over his second and hadn’t been whipped.
Aldivert had been advanced to Field Major some time back. What was it, maybe two years ago? But he was acting like he was in charge, and I could see an unhappy face on Major Leman’s face long before we got there. As we walked in, Dudley’s face was looking our way with a hopeless expression.
“Well, men …” Aldivert came striding our way. And then I saw the insignia on his collar, he had been promoted to Lt. Commander. “You took long enough.” He passed me a glare and asked with a hint of distain, “Did the scout get you lost?” Turning to Ander before he could respond he ordered, “Make your troop at ease, and then report to me at once.” Aldivert didn’t even let Ander get an acknowledgement voiced before he turned and strode to his tent.
I wasn’t allowed to attend the meeting with sergeants and officers, but Aldivert’s story was that he had been made Lt. Commander to govern that region. He had been on mission when his company had been attacked. Only the twenty-six he had with him had escaped and he was now taking command of our company as reinforcements.
My hearing is good, but I had been trying to extend my hearing over greater distances. It took a lot of concentration, but I was getting to where I could *Listen* four to five times farther than most humans. While they were in meeting, I overheard three of Aldivert’s soldiers making plans against Dudley; something to get him into trouble. I just happened out of the brush and asked what they were talking about. Turning on me one said, “None of your concern.”
Smiling I replied, “I just made it my concern.”
Another, a soldier named Traevos, suddenly held up his hands and said, “Alright Wolf, alright.” He was being smart. “But you be careful. No one can protect you out here.”
“No, you be careful,”
I replied, “You might need to rely on me one day.” With that I walked back to the fire for some food and told Izner what I had heard. Later in the evening I saw Traevos talking to Aldivert and then Aldivert passed me a mean glance while nodding his head.
For two days we marched with no apparent destination, and then I saw we were headed toward the jungle. These boys were conditioned to obey orders. I could understand, because I had come up that way, too. But Hoscoe had been teaching me to think for myself. This was wrong, and against what we were outfitted for.
Aldivert passed the command that we were to maintain absolute quiet, and he kept me away from everyone. He didn’t speak, but he wanted me up front with him. Several times I felt eyes watching us, but there was nothing I could see.
It was interesting, hadn’t Aldivert reported he had been attacked with most of his command lost? He didn’t act like someone who was looking over his shoulder. His surviving men didn’t seem to be nursing any wounds, either. And they weren’t tired and downcast as if they had just run from a defeat.
On the second evening, Aldivert had us make camp on the forest edge. Nothing about it felt right to me. Across from the fire I started winking my right eye, as if it were a twitch. Then I would rub it. Izner was across from me at the fire and caught on quickly. We had worked out a play-around code in which we communicated through eye blinks. Ander and Merle had never gotten into it, but Dudley had, and he caught what I was saying.
I had been ordered into sack with the first watch and I guess I was supposed to have fallen asleep. But I was *Aware* of vibrations in the ground long before the attackers came, and they weren’t cognobins, either. Everything was quiet, no sounds of anything, but I knew they were there and they were good. But I was better … Suddenly I jumped up and yelled “Engage!” As I came up I had my crossbow aimed on my target and I was pulling the trigger.
Chapter 43
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EVERY MAN-JACK ONE of our original company had been trained by Hoscoe, and he taught far more than individual skill-at-arms; he taught team tactics and procedures. Aldivert’s men were still in their sacks when the rest of the camp was up and fighting; something I wondered about afterward.
When I had yelled, a foliage covered human stepped out of the forest with a crossbow aimed where my bedding was. I asked no questions and gave him one where it matters, then quickly I turned to another emerging opponent and put one into his chest. A third was running up behind me and leveled his weapon at me from thirty-five feet away. He wouldn’t miss, but neither did I.
Hidden inside the stock of my weapon was a small barrel with a coil-loaded spring. Hoscoe called it his Ace in the hole. A specially barbed dart was inside this barrel. Its maximum effective range, he said, was fifty feet, give or take, and I let this man take it in the neck as he stared at me in total disbelief. I made the world seem to *Slow* as his weapon discharged and my own conditioned reflexes took over.
I had learned that the world didn’t really slow down, but somehow I was able to alter my own perceptions and channel energy into my body to make my actions faster. So, to me everything in my immediate area seemed to slow, but in reality, it was me who was speeding up. The real effort was in making my body speed up, it was like forcing myself to move fast inside a barrel of thick molasses or honey and took a lot out of me.
This was one effect I practiced as much as I could. It still didn’t work every time, and I couldn’t keep it up for long, but Hoscoe determined I could move between four and five times faster than normal. The practice really paid off in that camp attack.
My target died standing up and I could see his own bolt coming at me in slowed motion. Torquing my body hard to the side, I caught the bolt, and then spinning to find another opponent I loaded my auto-redrawn top carriage, aimed at a fourth mark who was taking aim on Ander and drilled him in the head. The *Slow* effect was already wearing off and I could feel the fatigue as I dropped the weapon to my bedroll. I did an aerial barrel-roll up and over a bolt I couldn’t have caught, and pulling my hatchet in mid air, I landed on my feet and hurled it into the chest of yet a fifth opponent.
‘Whew,’ I thought as I felt a heady sensation, the after effect of power usage made me a touch dizzy.
Fighting was going on all around as to my side Puffer was dispatching his man, Merle had a long piece of wood he was clubbing heads with, and Ander had practically taken command. I couldn’t remember pulling my sword and short blade, but after downing one man something new entered the fray.
The snarling of big cats, angry, gadwaur, big cats, came to my ears and I heard two men scream along with the sound of the yells of a wounded gadwaur. Then as my reflexes warned me, a large fur covered antagonist made contact with me as I rolled over fast.
My move threw the Gadwaur over me and we both came to feet at the same instant. There was only a spilt-second for me to try, and try I did … to *S’Fahn Muir* with this creature, and communicate with it. She hesitated for a moment, and then I felt an unnatural struggle within her beast’s brain. I focused hard and felt the turmoil … and I pushed inward, feeling myself enter her thoughts from ten feet away. Once more I *Pushed* inward, through our mental rapport, against this strangeness she could not label or comprehend, and then it was gone.
She was beautiful, strong, and deadly, but with an animal’s intelligence and lack of ability to resist powerful influences outside her natural instincts. Clearly in her honest and unguarded recent memory, I saw her crouched over a recent kill preparing to feed. Then a human I had never seen stood before her, tossed some glittering dust onto her face to breath, and began uttering words. Everything after was a muddle of anger and rage, awaiting a word of attack, until now.
The voice of the one giving the word I had not heard before. It was different from the caster, but I would forget neither face nor sound.
[Leave,] I tried to communicate to her. Then she looked into the fray and leapt back into the forest.
Turning, I saw Ander, Vensi and some of the others staring at me. One of them was Traevos. The battle was over quickly and decisively. Twenty-eight sneak attackers were dead. A few had gotten away, and some of us were ready to run them down. But Aldivert said to hold. “Going into the night, scattered, is not a good idea,” he said.
As we took account of our own losses, five of our own were dead and eight more wounded. Among the dead, however, were Major Leman and Lieutenant Citsan. Leman was being examined by one of Aldivert’s men, and only three of them had gotten up for the fight. None were among the wounded, none but Aldivert who was standing back waiting his man to pronounce Leman dead.
I bent down and examined the crossbow sunk deep into Leman’s back, then the slashed right arm and neck. His sword had a stain of blood on it, not much, but it was there. Leaning low I smelled deep of the scent on the feathers, and looked at Aldivert and his scratched face.
We met eyes then, and he knew that I knew what had happened. Aldivert had murdered Major Leman, and I couldn’t prove a thing.
Aldivert casually walked to me and asked, “Is there something you would like to say, scout?”
Accusing an officer of something so serious, without evidence, was subject to penalty of death. I had no fear of this man, but I needed substantiation before I could make my case.
“Come on. Speak up.” He taunted.
I spoke so all could hear, “There is a wizard involved.”
His mouth moved and caught in mid-word, “H-how could you know that?” His manner, his hesitation and surprise at my words, all rang of pre-knowledge to me. He should have been curious that I thought a wizard might be involved, not how I could know.
“If I see him, I can identify him.” I said, matter-of-factly. He didn’t like it, or me; not one bit. He was enraged, but cool. This man was dangerous on more than one front. Other than timing, nothing here could directly connect Aldivert with the surprise attack or the wizard, but in my gut I was now sure they were. Aldivert had an agenda, and it had not
hing to do with defeating cognobins, or at least not at the moment.
His blade was still drawn, but so was mine, and he dearly wanted to run me through. But as much as he prized himself a swordsman, he knew how well I had taken his men at the pub. I knew then Aldivert hated me as some men hate without any particular reason. He wanted me dead, but he was a sure thing operator. Everything must be in his favor, and he wouldn’t take a chance with me.
He was not afraid. In fact, I don’t think he was afraid of anything. There was something reeking of insanity in his eyes. But he was shrewd as well. Whatever his goal might be, I may or may not be in his way, but my existence vexed him. I had outmaneuvered him this night, and I did it accidentally. Aldivert was used to winning, and this he would never forget. More than that, I knew something, and he didn’t know how much. And his dilemma would be … how did I know?
A burial detail was ordered immediately the next morning, and then we were moving. We seemed to be headed back to the north, and I wondered why. Aldivert said he was in charge of the diamond mine country, which was south and east. Talking was not allowed, but he didn’t know who my friends were. He only knew I was well liked. Therefore, he could not let me spend time with anyone. As soon as possible, he would need to have me killed.
We followed the forest line for quite a ways, but on the third day the weather patterns were acting strange again. Hail hit us with savage lightning and thunder and everyone got pelted, some with skin splitting wounds. A stand of trees with the right growing arrangement was found, and we made quick work of bending their tops in and weaving shelters.
There was no way to keep me from being enclosed with someone, so he made sure I was with several of his own men. Merle was in my shelter, however, and I had an Idea.
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