by Nelson, J P
I felt dizzy, like the world was spinning out of control, but it couldn’t, I wouldn’t let it. I reached down into So’Yeth and embraced the heat, the source of my own power, to *Slow* the world down. Where was that roar coming from; and the pulse of that lightning? I felt as if I were somewhere else, someplace inside, but how … forcing myself to look up, I saw the night was clear … and then the displacement faded away.
“You mus-s-st be s-s-stronger-r-r … Wihlabahk is coming, but you it is who must make Wihlabahk come to end.”
Still reeling a bit, I asked her with a degree of forcefulness, “Who are you and what do you want from me?”
“Major?” It was Cudty walking up to see what was up, “Are you talking into the wind?”
Turning from the Shaman Lady to Cudty, then back to …
I looked around and said, “By the Hounds of …” Giving Cudty my full attention, and with some irritation in my voice, I said, “I guess I’m not talking to anyone at all.”
___________________________
Hoscoe had drawn me a map and shown me approximately where he wanted to meet. He warned me the plains would be much bigger than I could imagine, and that it wasn’t all flat. As we stepped off the last of that mountain, it did, however, look awfully flat. It looked flat until we started traipsing out on it, that is. We would travel a distance and sometimes find a ravine or gully. Sometimes we could go down and up the other side, other times we had to go around. Occasionally it took three to four times as long to cross what should have been a straight line.
I took to trying to *Detect* the lay of the land by reaching down into the ground just so I would know have an idea what was before us. After a while I got to where I could generally feel the ravines before we got there, and skirt a different path so as not to waste more time than we had to, but it was a lot of concentration and I didn’t feel very efficient the way I was doing it.
After a few days the irregularities in the ground became scarce and the land consistently smooth. Finally, you could look all around and not see a sign of anything, nothing, nowhere.
None of my men had been on the Plain before, except for Cudty, and he hadn’t been this far in. He’d had no reason too. If I was feeling the weight of loneliness, surely at least some of the men were. So I started singing. One by one the others started in and the mood lifted.
The word was, one of the things making travel in the Plain so dangerous was the inability to find water. With all of this grass, I knew there would be water somewhere, so I made it a point to *Detect* for it. Every camp didn’t find us beside a waterhole, but we didn’t go two nights in a row without it. It also came to me that I had subconsciously begun naming all of the disciplines and effects I had developed.
I also realized I was constantly trying some effect or another and it was keeping me exhausted; there were times I had begun fumbling my movements and ever so slightly slurring my speech. Ander noticed, Ize, Dud, Kispahrti … and they were all keeping me under careful eye.
Finally, way out there in the distance, by focusing hard I could see it; The Pyramid was there, and I felt a sense of foreboding run through my soul. No one else could make it out, but I could see the far off sparkle of the sun against the glossy sides where they came up to meet at the top.
How long since I had felt those eyes upon me? Not since … I suddenly had a hunch. Was it possible it was the Shaman Lady who had been watching me through some magical means, and not the Witch King, or the new Xiahstoi? Did the Shaman Lady just want to know where I was, previously; because she surely knew where I was now?
The area was lush with grasses, I had found another water source, and not far from us was a herd of those buffalo. They were going to move in front of us, actually. Looking up and thinking, I knew what I wanted to do. We had made really good time and I figured Hoscoe to be at least another week away. I wanted a close up look of that pyramid.
If our enemy wasn’t watching us magically, I could think of no way they would know we were so close. And when the cogs attacked us, it was always within a few miles of a ruin of some kind. I had the men dismount and then went straight to Ander, “I’m putting you in charge for a few days.”
“A few days?!” He got this stern tone and wrinkled his forehead, and making sure no one else could hear him he asked, “Why?! You going to do something crazy? I know you took the kid’s death hard and you haven’ been acting like yourself …”
“Ander … that pyramid’s laying that way,” I pointed, “maybe twenty, twenty-five miles, I’m guussing, guessing, and no one’s seen it in what, sixty years? We need to know what’s going on. I can feel what’s coming from a long way off. I can get in there, I think, without them knowing and get back within four, maybe five days.”
“Wolf, no. Sorry, but I’m not letting you go out there alone. It isn’t smart.”
“It’s-s … I’m in command, it’s my call.”
“Bullshit! I know you’re in command, but I’m also your friend. I’ve been watching you and you’ve let that boy’s death screw you up, just like Vensi keeps feeling guilty for Puffer. Recon is great, and I agree you’re the best to go out and do it, but we do it as a team. You’ll go out there alone, find something you think you can do, and go do it without a second thought. Getting yourself killed won’t bring Tahnus back.”
Somewhat, kind-a sort-a, and way out-a character for Ander, he added, “What did you have in mind for the rest of us? Weave baskets out of these long grasses?”
I pointed matter of factly, “Right over here is, is a small dip, and under it is a deep shpring, I mean spring. For physical labor, have the men dig deep enough to generate a ready supply for the company for maybe two weeks, until we re-up with the main force. Based on the angle they’ll come in, they’ll probably do to make camp right here until we determine exactly how we’re going to attack.
“That herd of buffalo will be here soon and you can kill a bunch of ‘em, skin ‘em, have, and have the meat ready for when the rest get here.”
“And yeah, you could weave some straining nets to filter that water. It’ll more likely be muddy at first.
Ander looked in the direction of the Pyramid, then back at me with a glare. After a few moments of us trying to stare each other down, he wrinkled his brow and said, “You won’t want horses so you can lay low as you get closer. Riding so far and picketing them wouldn’t be good, ‘cause you might have to come back a different way and leaving good horses out there would be against your nature.
“You’re not going to be taking crossbows, either. If you get caught in the beehive, you’ll be in sword trouble. You’re gonna want a team who can go for endurance on foot, and do it staying low for a long way.
“Most likely you’re going to want to leave tonight, without sufficient rest, so you can rely on your senses of the land to feel the way. And you’ll want a small number so you can move fast.”
We just looked at each other and shael’s if I couldn’t think of anything to say, after which he added with a firm finger against my chest, “Get some rest, Wolf, you’re exhausted. I’ll have three men ready for you tonight.”
There was no defiance in Ander’s tone, no challenge of authority, but he knew me well and was doing his job, which in his mind meant protecting me from myself, I guess. There have only been a couple of people I’ve known in my life who could hold a stare down with me, Ander being one of them. The only trouble was, he was right, probably, although I would never outright admit to it, so you could hear me say it, anyway.
I finally nodded and went for a cup of hot tea before hitting my blanket. I can’t remember my head touching down.
___________________________
Izner, Patriohr, a lean fellow named Gressit and I prepared to head out, but first I had something I needed to do. I found Vensi, he had done his work and was sitting alone and quiet. It wasn’t that he was shirking, nothing of the kind. Sitting down beside him I said quietly, “I’m not good at this sort of thing, Ven, but I want you t
o listen to me. Would you have done the same for him?”
He looked at me startled and hurt, “Yeah! No thoughts.”
“Ven … would you want him acting like this?”
I let my words settle in, and then added, “No one knows this, but I was born a slave. I heard my momma get raped and abused on more than one occasion, and when I tried to protect her I would get beaten hard; she was killed and died in my hands when I was young. One day I’m going back; I’m going back and making some things right, only I don’t know when. When the time comes, though, I need you to go with me. I need someone like you to watch my back; You, Ander, Ize, Dud, all of us who stick together. Can I count on you?”
Vensi looked down at the ground, up to the stars, and then to me and thought his words out very carefully, “Yeah-yeah-h-h, Wolf. I’ll be there for you.”
“Okay,” I said with a smile. “I’ll see you when we get back.” I stood up and he did too, like he was ready to go with me right then. For the life of me I don’t know why I told him that, but I did and it was done.
I was still tired, but the few hours of sleep did me a world of good. My team made short work of traveling to the Pyramid and made absolutely no sounds to each other, but you could feel the awe as we got closer. I had never seen anything the size of the smaller ones, but they were dwarfed in comparison to the glittering structure we targeted.
We were in a hurry, but we took our time. Even one altercation could alert everyone to our presence. I wasn’t happy about Ander picking Patriohr, but if I said a blatant No, that would have caused problems as well. But I became glad he came along. He had developed his skills well, and was incredibly light on his feet. Izner, of course, was exceptional at stealth, and Gressit had been an orphan making do on the street, until joining the army. Traveling as quick as we could on foot and keeping low among the grass of the plains was hard on the back. But I did the heal thing on everyone as often as possible to remedy the aches.
The ditch had been re-dug, but where had they put the dirt? We had gotten to the backside of the Pyramid and I was studying that big fin-like thing on the back, when Patriohr got up close to me and broke silence by whispering, “They’re routing the underground river system to fill the ditch.”
“Huh? What river system?”
“I studied engineering at the university and learned this entire country has a wealth of underground river systems. The irrigation possibilities could tremendously help with agriculture here.”
I just looked at him, trying to figure why this was relevant. I also remembered talking to Hoscoe about the water in the well at Biunang.
“Major, I’ve seen two grids with some leakage on the outer wall of the ditch. I am betting there is at least one more, and there will be a larger outlet grid as well. Each of these grids are covering a tunnel face. I’ve seen archaic schematics of trench systems which eventually lead to the Teshucarr River. They were used to pipe water where there wasn’t any and some of them were buried in tunnels.”
I just kept looking at him, then facially indicated for him to go on, “It is possible these grids are to hold in fish of a certain size … a kind of hatchery, if you will … but that would mean they are intending to stay for a long time, to even settle this place. From what you and the general have told us, it doesn’t make sense.”
My face may have gone white as suddenly, I remembered something. Patriohr had said it, about the Lihtosax may not be keeping things out of their region, as much as keeping something in. I got over to Izner and whispered to him, “Ize … take Gressit and as careful as you can, go this way around the ditch-line as Patriohr and I go the other. Look for a big hole, grid, gate, anything, that is built into the inside of the ditch … directly against the base of the pyramid. Don’t try to find me, I’ll find you.”
___________________________
Hoscoe gazed intently at my ground etching of the Pyramid, ditch-line, and placement of humans around the ruined smaller pyramids. At a point west of the bridge, Izner found a large, ornately designed gate of golden bars. As Patriohr suspected, there was one more grid in the outer ditch wall. Hoscoe and I both had the same thought on mind, the possibility of an elemental to attempt breaking down the barrier which formed Emdejon Falls. It was still a long shot, but it was a good possibility.
Hoscoe had waited for reinforcements from the mines, and he got them to the tune of four hundred and thirty people who could swing a tool or weapon. My company had done well in preparing meat, cleaning out a significant water source, etc., to prepare for these folks. The big question now, was how to go about attacking the Pyramid grounds. And once we attacked, how to get across that moat? The one bridge was the only way across without climbing the ditch.
I still hadn’t felt those eyes, and hadn’t since just before talking with the Shaman Lady the last time.
We talked over different ideas but it came down to this; there was a big expanse of space to cover, they could see us coming long before we got there, and we still hadn’t found an actual doorway to get inside should we manage a way across the ditch. While strategies were discussed, the soldiers practiced and non-soldiers learned. Ander was an outstanding teacher, and so was Patriohr. There were a couple dozen left-handed folk out there, and he was showing them how it was done.
I was in the middle of teaching some spear techniques to use with captured weapons when someone ran over to me and said, “Excuse me Major, the General wants your opinion of his plan.”
Assigning my trainees some exercises to practice and then running to where Hoscoe was brainstorming with some others, I looked into the eyes of mischief as Hoscoe was smiling a dangerous smile, stroking his goatee and casually taking a sip of his coffee. This, I knew, was going to be interesting.
Hoscoe maintained our true enemy was not the cognobins, and definitely not the humans cultivated to fight with them. He fully believed our adversaries had yet to reveal themselves. They were powerful in their own right, yes, and extremely intelligent. But, Hoscoe declared, the real adversary was woefully two-dimensional in combat tactics. He believed we were dealing with one or more strong wizards whose true tactical leader was either no longer around, had yet to show up, or was also grievously under-experienced in applied warfare.
After studying all records dealing with fighting patterns, tactics, technology, movement, and current strategies since the cognobins appearance, Hoscoe believed the first to be true. He did not, however, believe Meidra or the Witch Queen to have been the leader. Whatever was going on here was a small part of some greater war, something which had escaped the eyes of common man. Hoscoe was thinking the direct involvement of the High Priest Logan was indicative of what could be a Holy War with grand scale consequences, perhaps on the world level.
When I was explaining it to my unit leaders Tobin asked, “Then what difference can we make?”
I was about to open my mouth when Patriohr suddenly ventured forth an introspective answer, “Because, if we are only affecting one spoke of an enemy’s wagon wheel, that is one spoke we might be able to break.” Patriohr cast a friendly gaze upon Tobin and asked, “Have you ever tried to go far with a broken spoke on a wagon? I have. I thought to finish my journey, since it was only one spoke, but the one damaged part compromised the rest of the wheel and the whole thing broke in just a short time.” He looked from person to person and they all got it.
Hoscoe’s plan was to not attack the Pyramid of Rem’Nai Sezhukte. “Instead,” he said, “we are going to do the illogical, and prompt them to attack us. Hopefully they will make a mistake.” We were going to ride around the Pyramid grounds, just outside of crossbow range, then return to camp. Each day we would do something a little different, but that was the plan. Where he got the idea, I have no clue. He told me he read it in an ancient text I had never even heard about. Not that I had heard of them all, of course, but this was way out there. Still …
One of the men spoke up, “General … I don’t mean to doubt you, or your strategy. But this sounds
, it sounds …”
“Preposterous?” Hoscoe finished with a smile. “Of course; that is why I believe it will work. Gentlemen, there are no certainties in war. There is no exact science. Anything can happen, and it will. That is why it is a game of absolute risk. A tyro can accidentally loose a missile which can find itself into the heart of rabbit. This is where experience and psychology comes in to play. Take no doubt, conventional war is a game of chess between two generals, and a deadly game it is.
“Our adversary has the advantage of home field and superior weapons. But our adversary does not know how to use them. Yes, they are smart, and they will learn from their mistakes.” And then Hoscoe took a menacing tone and claimed an evil eye while brandishing his fist, “But I do not intend they should be able to rectify their folly.”
He looked at all of us, “We will not have a second chance at this, and we are here to do a job. Our prize lay within. We do not yet know the details of the prize, but I wager we will know it when it is seen.
“If you wish to flush the snake from its hole, you must find the hole the snake uses. And the best way is to either track the snake, or watch it retreat to its lair. And there will always be at least one other hole. We will march in units, and nothing will avail us a better position to find the hole of our adversary than to encircle to whole place. And nothing will allow us to encircle the place and be spread so thin, as to perform as we will be doing.
“The way they come out, will be the way we go in.” Hoscoe became very solemn, “Many, maybe most of us, will not survive. So let us each find the one reason for which we fight, pull it from our heart and hold it before us. I am proud of you each and all.” Striking his right fist to his chest, then upward to the heavens, Hoscoe let loose with “Gondishaey!”
The Pyramid defenders must have thought we were outright crazy. On day one we all rode in formation in a left-wise circle around the whole compound. We were loose and we looked ahead. Our crossbows, however, were hanging off to our right side prepared for a sudden snap-over to fire. We looked insane, but everyone was on a tightrope nerve as we played this most deadly of games. We saw nobody, but I could feel them. I knew they were watching and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one with sweat rolling down his neck and back.