Strangely, black and white plumes of smoke erupted from the bows of the Navy ships and the ships raced through the thick clouds. All was silent and then a thunderous blast echoed up from the harbour and the cliffs. Screams were heard throughout the city at the sudden and unfamiliar noise. The main mast of the dark ship farthest behind had large pieces blown off by some impact. The high winds sheared what remained of the mast off the ship taking most of the men arrayed on her deck with it into the water. The ship heaved around to the right out of control.
Steve was about to shout warning when armed men in Jergen battalion uniforms swarmed the front of the Baron's train from the alleyways and side streets. Crossbows were lowered and pointed at the Baron. The Colonel halted and pulled his gaze from the harbour battle to face the Baron. He looked a little shocked but then a huge smile spread across his face.
"Lord Andrew Windthrop, you are accused of high treason by the President of the Republic of Belkin. You are under arrest. You are to follow me to the gaol where you will be imprisoned until you can be transported to Munsten for trial," the Colonel declared in a loud booming voice.
The mayor looked from the Colonel to the ships in the harbour and opened and closed his mouth. He raised an arm to point at the ships fighting in the harbour and then dropped it. "What is going on? Colonel? What is going on?" he pleaded with a high-pitched break in his voice.
Mesmerised, Steve watched the dark ships turn hard to starboard to drive their port sides into the piers. Wood splintered and screams could be heard faintly rising from the harbour as people were smashed against the hulls. The men on the ships leaped from the decks and Steve wondered what it was they wore. They were dressed in sand coloured wraps with gleaming curved swords. Jergen was under attack. The Colonel looked down at the harbour at the sound of splintering wood and faint screams and smiled. "Our friends from the East have arrived." Steve saw his smile turn into a frown when the Navy ships turned in the harbour to present their sides.
The sides of the Navy ships disappeared in more black and white smoke. A massive booming sound echoed up from the harbour and the dark ship floundering in the harbour exploded in splintering wood. The air around the ship turned red around her as the men were decimated by unknown projectiles. The ship's upper deck was wiped clean of men and rigging. Screams then cheers were heard throughout the city in response. Whatever the Navy was using was having great effect on the enemy ships. Plume after plume of smoke erupted from the Navy ships followed by massive rolling booms. The dark ships along the jetty were vulnerable and wood splinters and bodies sprayed across the harbour. Many citizens of Jergen were caught in the same blasts and Steve winced at the sight. Dozens of armed men and people were wiped out. The Navy was decimating the enemy forces with some unknown weapon of destruction.
Steve spied several of the enemy in the harbour stop and cluster around some strange device they pulled off one of their ships. Others pulled out longbows and flames sparked on arrows bristling along their line. Steve watched several men pull back on the strange device and watched a small round container arc through the air toward one of the Navy frigates. That's a little like an arbalest, thought Steve. The container struck a ship's side and shattered, spraying some kind of liquid across the wood. Several flaming arrows followed and one struck the liquid. The moment the arrow struck the liquid it burst into flame. Oil! thought Steve.
Container after container was launched into the air and both frigates were struck. Arrows followed and soon both frigates were aflame. Sails were burning freely and sailors on fire leapt into the water. The flagship veered hard to starboard and made for the safety of the bay. Two containers smashed on her stern but the following flaming arrows fell short in the bay. What remained of the enemy on shore turned and ran into the city. The flagship continued her turn and beat against the wind to escape the flames. Steve watched as she struggled to lower longboats to the water.
Steve tore his gaze from the harbour and observed that everyone; including the garrison soldiers, had eyes only for the harbour. He gave a hand-signal and as one his crew drew swords and hacked into the nearest men. The Baron's horse whinnied and reared back in fright at the smell and sight of blood. The Baron fell from his saddle yelling in fright. The front hooves of his horse thrust wildly through the air and one smacked into the Colonel and knocked him clear off his horse. The Colonel landed straight on to his back and gaped for air with the wind knocked out of him.
The Baron's horse, now in full panic, run screaming into the open square up the road spilling garrison men as they dove to the side. Steve smiled at the sight and plunged his sword into the nearest man. As the horse left the square it was replaced by at least two platoons of garrison soldiers who ran in and stopped to form up. They carried swords, spears, and crossbows. They eyed the train, and a leader stepped in front and brandished a sabre. He drew breath to give an order and then hesitated when he saw the Colonel between his men and the Baron's army.
"Retreat!" ordered Steve and then signalled his crew to clear the way. He drove his horse forward and swung clear of the saddle to land beside the Baron. He grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him off the ground. Grunting with strain he forced him up into his saddle. The Baron rolled his eyes wildly and locked onto Steve's. The sclera of his eyes were bright white and wide. He gaped to draw breath.
Steve grunted. "No time, Lord Windthrop, get your ass and your men out of the city."
The Baron shook his head.
"Retreat! Now! You will be wiped out in the city." Steve hesitated and then decided. "My crew will stay and hide. We'll strike from within. When the gates open you attack, understand?"
The Baron hesitated and then nodded once. Steve released his saddle bags from the saddle and grabbed his bow and quiver. "Get out of Jergen as quickly as you can and camp out of bow range." He slapped the horse on the ass and it bolted back down the road after the Baron's fleeing army. He heard the Baron's weak cry to retreat, and the train turned as one and rode and ran back the way they had come in. Figures they can manage a retreat rather than a rout. Steve could see they had abandoned the carts and wagons on the streets. Nothing to be done about that.
Steve turned to appraise his crew. They were all standing over slain garrison soldiers and holding their personal weapons and saddle bags. His crew and the garrison seemed frozen for a moment in time. Steve gave the signal and his crew smiled and melted into side streets and alleys. He glanced once at the Colonel now getting to his feet but still labouring to breathe. Steve gave a mock salute and sprinted down a side street and into an alley. In moments, the crew had disappeared.
The men in the square shouted out in alarm and ran forward and spread out to search the nearby streets. The Colonel drew a staggered breath and began barking out orders. He ordered an attack on the retreating army of the Baron and coordinated a street-by-street sweep for Steve's crew. Minutes went by then hours. Steve and the crew harried the attackers on the Baron and suppressed their ability to engage. When night fell, the garrison was ordered back to the barracks and debriefed by the majors. Two dozen of the garrison were missing and presumed dead. Curfew was imposed, and martial law declared. Colonel Masters was not pleased and was observed by many yelling in public at his officers and staff sergeants.
Citizens hid in their homes and watched through curtained windows as the garrison patrolled the city streets. The enemy then joined with the garrison, shocking the city. The leader of these strange clad men had been met with the Colonel and they had clasped forearms in friendship. The gentry and merchants were in turmoil: Jergen had been invaded by a foreign army and then been embraced by the Colonel. The citizens of Jergen eyed one another and hid to weather the storm.
The citizens took heart seeing the flagship of the Navy had escape the oil and fire attack and limp out of the harbour to stand guard at the bay's entrance. Her scarlet sails were a beacon of hope for the city. Her longboats ploughed the harbour waters recovering sailors who had leaped to safety in the water an
d helping those who were badly burned. All eyes were on the dark ships decimated on the docks with bodies strewn about like discarded husks. Four of the ships had floundered and lay fully on their sides in the water. The other two were hard up on the jetties and would not sail again without repairs. The Navy had dealt a severe blow to the enemy, and the city were thankful.
Outside the walls, the army of the Baron set up camp. Campfires were lit and the city could see the hundreds of men of the Turgany army staring at the braced gates and they wondered how they would get through to take the city back. Fighting on the streets continued throughout the night and garrison soldiers were found with their throats cut and with eyes looking unfocused to the night sky.
Every citizen understood one thing looking as the ship-of-the-line in the harbour mouth went to anchor for the night and the army camped outside the main gate settled in: whoever this invading army was they were stranded here. They were not leaving any time soon.
Colonel Masters stood in front of the large bay window in his office overlooking the harbour and watched the clean-up of the harbour jetties. To his right, pinned to the wall, was a scaled map of the city he had just left examining. He had placed markers with flags on areas cleared by his men. They couldn't find Steve's crew anywhere in the city. Reports of his patrols being ambushed continued to arrive at his desk. His men now searched in half-squads of eight and that seemed to have lessened the attacks. His men were being hunted in the streets by this band of highwaymen. Like a flea you can't seem to find, he growled. It keeps biting and biting.
The Colonel had heard rumours of a band of highwaymen working under the graces of the Baron of Turgany before he was posted to Jergen. Several officers in the wardroom at Munsten had talked about days from years ago. Their leader had been cunning and frequented with a fighter woman with only one arm. Seeing Steve Comlin outside the gate with a woman with one arm had confirmed those rumours. He had requested all paperwork on the subject and was still waiting for archives to produce anything. Steve Comlin was good. He could admit that. Estimates placed about fifty of his crew loose in the city. Hidden like rats. The garrison was searching door-to-door now and making little progress in a city the size of Jergen. It will take weeks, and weeks I do not have.
He was furious Lord Windthrop's illegal army had escaped unbloodied and worse; the Baron was not behind bars. The Lord Protector had been adamant the Baron be arrested and brought to Munsten for a public execution. Now the Baron sat camped just outside bow range and showed no sign of moving. Not my problem though, he thought. It's that foreigner that will have to march out and deal with him provided he still has the men for it. Down below in the harbour he watched as a sand coloured body was tossed high into the back of a cart with dozens of others.
This is a right mess, he thought. The timing of events had been atrocious. The Baron had arrived just as the Easterners had sailed in. Damn the Admiral and his luck at catching them at sea! The flagship still sat at the entrance to his harbour. He could see it now strutting back and forth at the bay entrance. His infamous powder guns had decimated Hassim's men. The losses to y-Mushir's men were staggering, and he felt a twinge of doubt the plan would survive. He cursed to himself instead. I had only to arrest that buffoon of a Baron and then welcome the Easterners. But it all fell apart. It was to be so simple and now... He clenched his fist and struck his thigh, using the pain to focus on the tasks before him.
A soft knock on his door turned him back to his desk. He sat and composed his face. I have to appear stronger than I feel to these foreigners. The President had assured him that all would be well, provided he remained respectful. He had briefly met the foreigners at the docks and then led them to the barracks and left them to settle. He had more pressing issues with Steve Comlin loose in the city. Now, he was formally meeting the second-in-command and he was worried despite the assurances of the President.
"They are not invaders," Healy had said all those months ago. "They are assisting in the establishment of my rightful rule and by joining us they assure fair and equitable trade for generations. This is a business transaction, nothing more."
The Colonel shook his head to clear past doubts. He was beyond that now. "Enter," he said simply and his door was pushed open by his batman. Colonel Masters stood when y-Mushir Hassim strolled in to his office looking to the left and right and ignoring him. Colonel Masters clenched his teeth at the slight. Hassim was over six feet tall and sported a trim beard shot with grey and gleaming with oils. His eyes were the colour of flint and piercing. Hassim had a nasty cut high across his left cheek bone, but otherwise he appeared hale. He was soon flanked by two of his men of equal height. They wore the strange clothing of their land. Beige robes held tight to their forms with leather bindings. No markings were visible, but they looked like uniforms. Gleaming exposed scimitars hung from their waists. Daggers were strapped to their calves. The men standing next to Hassim stared intently at the Colonel and he felt a small bead of sweat trickle down the small of his back.
A small, balding man with a sparse beard, and wearing a loose-spun and dirty robe, stepped out from behind Hassim and looked to the floor grasping his two hands in front of him. The robe was too large for his frame and he looked like he had been beaten. Bruises surrounded his head, and a dried line of blood had escaped his left ear.
Colonel Masters held out a hand. Hassim merely stared at it, until embarrassed, the Colonel lowered it. "Sir, welcome to Belkin and the city of Jergen."
Hassim grunted and reached out to the small man and grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him closer beside him. He said something quick and unintelligible to the man. The man looked up and said something in return. Hassim responded, and the man looked up to the Colonel.
"y-Mushir Hassim say thank you for welcome. He charge. Make men come together," mumbled the man.
The Colonel could barely make out the words for the accent. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"
The man flinched and repeated the same line. The Colonel shook his head, still unclear. Hassim looked from the man to the Colonel and then struck the man hard on the back of the head. The man cried out and exclaimed something in his language and cowered. Hassim barked something else, and the man looked up at the Colonel, pleading with his eyes for him to understand. "y-Mushir Hassim say get men together."
The Colonel blinked in confusion and then understood. "He wants my men gathered?"
The man looked relieved and then nodded once.
Colonel Masters frowned and studied Hassim. The man sweated arrogance. He stood in his office with his arms folded across his chest and staring at the Colonel like he was beneath him. The President had said to be respectful, but he struggled to keep to that advice. He glared back at the man. "Tell e-Mush Hassum first I need to know how many of his men survived."
The man looked fearful and said nothing. The Colonel repeated what he had said and pointed at Hassim. The men alongside Hassim placed their hands on the handles of their swords and growled. Colonel Masters raised one eyebrow at them and then barked at the small man. "Tell him!"
The man turned to Hassim and took a small step backward and away. He spoke quietly. Hassim stood with his arms folded and said nothing. He glared at the Colonel and then looked thoughtful for a moment. The Colonel noticed that Hassim's men still had their hands on their swords. He thought to call out to his men waiting outside but dismissed the idea. Things would escalate too quickly.
Hassim's face suddenly broke into a tight smile and he spoke quickly. The little man seemed to sink in relief and turned to the Colonel. "He say enough." Hassim barked a quick laugh.
The Colonel raised an eyebrow in disbelief. He had ordered the bodies counted as they were pulled out of the harbour. The Admiral of the Fleet had decimated the foreigners. He had lost at least half of his men. "Bullshit. How many?" he repeated to the man.
The man translated and Hassim smiled broader and showed his teeth and said something in reply. "y-Mushir Hassim say count s
elf. Gather."
Frustrated, the Colonel glared at Hassim for a moment and then called out to his batman without breaking eye contact. The man stuck his head in the doorway.
"Sir?"
"Order a full parade. Thirty minutes past sunrise tomorrow."
The translator whispered to Hassim. Hassim grinned and then walked around the desk and brushed past the Colonel to look out the window. Colonel Masters watched him. Hassim then moved over to the map and stared at it for a moment. He picked a paperweight off the desk, looked at it, and then tossed it back down. He laughed once and strolled out of the office. His two men followed in his wake. The Colonel sat heavily and leaned back in his chair. That could have gone better. What did he mean by 'he charge'? Surely, he doesn't think he's in charge? That would be preposterous. They're allies, not invaders
In a moment, his batman poked his head in the office door and announced his two senior officers wished to see him to report on the search. He nodded and put his paperweight back in place. Colonel Masters swivelled his chair to look out the window once more. My entire career has led to this point. A little decision here and there and now I am deep into this. I feel the traitor and I probably am. He heard a throat clear, and he turned to his two majors, at attention and saluting in front of his desk.
"Report," he ordered.
Twelve
Munsten - Reviewing Pavilion - June 901 A.C.
PRESIDENT HEALY ROSE from his chair and yelled out for silence. He called out twice more before the Chamber of Representatives, and the three Councils, quietened and returned to their seats. They were all seated looking out toward the sea in the reviewing pavilion. It was here that the King had received sail-pasts from his Navy and returned his salute. The massive pavilion thrust out over the harbour with a central dais raised to give the harbour an unobstructed view for the reviewing King and Admiral of the Fleet. Healy had rarely used the pavilion, but enjoyed it now. He had Kamal Sherwami seated next to him and the Councils placed directly below him in seats placed to either side of the dais. The representatives were arrayed out by the railing with awnings providing shelter from the noonday sun. A stiff breeze blew in from the water, but the skies were blue and cloudless. It was a gorgeous summer day.
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