Another explosion rocked the fortifications on the main road just as Alex finished speaking. Dag looked at his brother and then looked to the Miravallian men. Spying Logan and Pendleton, he felt a moment of gratitude for their safety before he ordered both of them, “Best time through the woods to Tangrit’s position. Tell him to cease fire and then report to Captain Beaurigar that the battle is won.”
“Aye, boss,” Pendleton said as both men took off at a sprint toward the wood.
Aria and one of the members of Squad Alethia found some rope in the Dominion supply chests and within twenty minutes, the thirty-six surviving Dommies had their hands bound behind their back, their legs tied to at least two other prisoners, and had been seated in the officer’s tent with Squad Alethia guarding them. The two surviving officers had been manacled and placed in the tent as well.
Alex had sent Squad Delito to look for survivors and bring anyone who was found to a second tent they had decided to use as a hospital. It would be several hours before the doctor and Captain Beaurigar would arrive at the camp though. With the road mined, they would need to go through the woods as well. Most who had survived their initial wounds probably would not live out the night, Alex thought to himself.
Dag was seeing to the men that he could, using needle and thread to sew up the wounds that he could, finding branches for the men to bite down on as the pain tore through them, and even saying a few prayers over those who had died. Kayleigh watched him and helped where she could, although she had never been much with a needle. She was perfectly capable of holding a lantern above a wound though and giving Dag the light he needed.
“I can’t believe we did it,” she whispered as Dag finished sewing up a small graze wound for one of the Miravallians.
“We haven’t done it yet,” Dag responded. “We’ve still got to bring the bridge down.”
“Yeah, but we, you know, survived the first battle,” she said.
He looked up at her. “Yeah, that we did,” he agreed. “You did good out there, kid.”
Dag stood up, patted the Miravallian gently on the shoulder and took a few steps away from the hospital tent. There was not much more that he could do for any of them and he had seen enough death in the past few days. Kayleigh followed not far behind him.
“Something on your mind?” he asked her in a hushed voice as he led them toward the gorge and the bridge.
“I- I was so scared,” she responded after a moment.
“No shame in that,” he replied. “I doubt you’d find many in our number or in the Dominion’s who weren’t scared.”
“But I froze,” she argued. “They were just about to kill me when Aria’s group attacked that daggerhead. I should be dead. All those people are dead, some of them at my hands, but I should be the one who died.”
Dag turned on her and said, “None of us should be dead. You can wonder all you want as to why you’re the one who lived when all the others died, but it won’t do any damn good. That kind of thinking can drive a man mad.” He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Why do you think Tangrit is the town drunk? He doesn’t understand why he’s alive either, when all his comrades were killed. You can tell yourself that the gods favor you or that they left you alive to torture you, but in the end it doesn’t matter. You’re alive. Be happy. Be grateful. And when the next battle comes, live through that one too. That’s the only way you can win a war. You keep living.”
Kayleigh moved fast and rushed her face into Dag’s and stole a quick kiss. He looked taken aback for a moment. “Thank you,” she said sincerely, before adding a more official sounding, “Sir.”
Dag eyed her curiously for a moment before allowing a grin to cross his face. “No need to thank me,” he said. “Just repeating what was once said to me.” He thought back to his father who had told him that the secret to war was living, just before he went off to the front line one last time and did not return. Knowing the secret was not enough, he supposed as he looked out into the black shadowy expanse that was the gorge.
22
The next few hours before dawn flew by quickly. Tangrit and his men stopped the shelling of the Dominion position and his team moved up to the occupied Dominion camp along with Captain Beaurigar. Beaurigar took no time to celebrate the rather improbable victory, but instead immediately began issuing new orders. Tangrit and his men were sent to the road to dig up the mines the Dommies had planted. Torrace and his small crew were given the task of collecting weapons and supplies that had been captured or abandoned. Squad Berlio was given the task of digging graves for the Miravallians who had given their lives while Squad Delito dug a pit to serve as a mass grave for the Dominion men killed in action.
Once those orders were given, he gathered up Alex, Dag and Aria and had them follow him back toward the bridge. “We’re not quite there,” he observed to no one in particular as he studied the bridge for a moment. “I don’t like this.”
“You don’t like what, sir?” Alex asked.
“Not knowing how far away the enemy is,” he responded. “There’s much still to do if our plan is to be successful. This was a good victory this night, but all can still be lost if we don’t succeed in the next few hours.”
“We know the Dominion tank column and the main force will be here sometime later today,” Aria pointed out.
“Today can mean a lot of different things,” the captain responded. He turned back around and faced his officers. “We need to know the exact location of the enemy force.” He looked at Dag. “Raslan, I won’t order you to go. You’ll be all alone against their entire army if they see you.”
Dag snorted. “They won’t see me,” he replied calmly.
“Very well,” the captain said gravely. He turned to Aria. “Once Tangrit unearths those mines have him use the explosives to rig the bridge to collapse when we want it to.”
“Yes, sir,” she responded.
“We’ll have Torrace move the prisoners once the road is cleared,” Beaurigar continued.
“There is one problem,” Alex said contemplatively, his brow furrowing. “Our plan is to blow the bridge as the army is moving across, but what if they send a small force over to make sure the position is secure first?”
“Then we blow the bridge before they can set foot on this side,” Beaurigar said. “We’ll have to be happy with that.”
“What if there was another way?” Alex asked.
“He’s got a plan,” Dag said to Aria. “He’s got that look.”
23
Once the plan was discussed and agreed upon, Dag shouldered his rifle and headed for the bridge. Aria stopped him before he got more than a few feet though. “Be careful out there, Dag,” she said.
“Don’t worry about me,” he replied. “If I can sneak up on a mountain lion and her cubs, I think I’ll be fine against these bastards.”
Aria looked slightly horrified. “Why did you sneak up on a mountain lion’s cubs?” she asked. “You didn’t?”
Dag laughed. “Of course not,” he replied. “I’m not going to shoot a cub and mountain lions aren’t particularly tasty. I just wanted to see them. Beautiful creatures.” He shrugged and added, “Besides, it’s the one constant of the universe: parents caring for their children. Maybe if we could all remember that, we wouldn’t be fighting so many wars over trivial nonsense.” Dag turned and took off at a jog, making his way across the bridge just as the sun was beginning to rise.
After several hours of jogging through the woods that framed the narrow road on either side of the northern Crest, Dag at last heard the enemy column approaching. The rumble of tanks rolling on treads over the road, the sound of axes striking lumber and the crashing of branches that could only be trees falling were at least half a mile off from the sound of it, but Dag wanted to confirm. The Dominion forces almost certainly had scouts and skirmishers deployed ahead of the main force along with men in the woods on the side to ensure that they were not ambushed. Getting any closer to them was probably unwise, but that
did not mean he could not get a look at them.
He looked appraisingly at the several dozen trees in his immediate vicinity and chose a thick oak that towered high into the sky and had what appeared to be sturdy branches headed all the way up. Dag began to ascend rapidly, finding purchase with ease, even as his hands and clothes became sticky with sap. It took only a few minutes for him to break free of most of the tree cover around him, but all the same he continued to climb.
The road was more or less straight as it moved south to the gorge, rising in elevation as it did so. When Dag had at last reached the top of the oak, he could see miles in every direction, including down the road. He had been right- the enemy tanks were only half a mile away, but the tree cutters were much closer. It had to be a thousand men who had been reassigned to widening the road and were now clear cutting trees and blasting stumps with packed charges of toluene glycerin. The nearest group was maybe one hundred yards away, and Dag realized that he had to get moving. Even though he was in the tree’s branches, there was not a lot of other cover and there was a small chance he might be seen. Moving as quickly as he dared, he began to descend the tree just as a rifle crack reported from the road and a chunk of the tree where his head had been a moment before splintered apart. Throwing caution to the wind, Dag half-climbed half-fell down the tree. More bullets ripped the tree apart and he could hear the shouts of the soldiers over his own frenzied heartbeat and labored breathing.
The shots ceased as he made it into the canopy cover of the surrounding trees, but he knew if he did not get to the ground fast, he was going to be captured. As soon as his feet hit ground, he took off at a sprint to the west. Several miles to the west was a small village, home to about twenty or so families. Making sure his trail was painfully obvious to follow, Dag raced through the woods until he found a small dirt road that he knew led to the village. He took off down it and ran for at least a mile before he darted once more into the woods, carefully hiding his trail this time. Slowly, he worked his way back through the woods, shimmying through undergrowth when possible and darting between trees when necessary.
“What do you think?” a voice cut through the quiet forest making Dag pause in the brush he was hiding in.
He was able to see a group of Dominion soldiers standing on the road, one of them consulting a piece of paper. The one with the paper said, “According to the map, there’s a tiny hamlet down this road.”
“Probably just a local,” the first man muttered. “Wanted to see what a real army looked like.”
This brought a few laughs from the assembled Dommies.
“Come on, let’s get back to work,” the one with the map said. “We’ll report the incident to the boss and see if he wants to send a detail to secure the village.”
The soldiers turned and left, headed back down the road. Dag waited at least ten minutes to make sure the Dommies were well and truly gone, before getting up and starting at a run through the woods, headed south by southeast, back to the bridge.
24
“There they are!” Filo Milliner hissed in excitement as he worked the action on his rifle and prepared to fire.
“Hold your fire, dammit!” Alex spat back in reply. “It’s just Dagger. Besides, you’re not supposed to be firing on the enemy when they get here anyway. Relax or I’m pulling you off the line.”
“Sorry, sir,” Filo responded. The grammar school teacher was normally very levelheaded, which is one of the reasons Alex had put him on the small detail that stood guard at the bridge. Their plan very much depended on discipline.
Dag trotted across the bridge and he looked a little worn out as he approached Alex and dropped to one knee. Alex passed Dag a canteen of water, which the latter accepted gratefully. After nearly draining it dry, he handed it back, gasping for air. After a moment, Dag rose to his feet and sized up the grey-black uniforms that Alex and the half dozen others were wearing.
“That color suits you, brother,” he said.
Alex spat. He did not like wearing the enemy uniform just on principal, but the added element of him being hanged as a spy if captured had little appeal as well. It was necessary to the potential deception that he and his squad were going to pull off, and he had volunteered to lead them. The other six men with him were volunteers as well.
“Well, do you want me to guess how far away the enemy is?” Alex demanded of his brother.
Dag rolled his eyes for a moment, then remembered he was talking to his superior officer and not his younger brother, and said, “Only a few hours at the most. They’ve got thousands of men and dozens of tanks from what I was able to see before they chased me off. I hope we’re ready.”
“They saw you?” Alex echoed, clearly surprised.
“Aye, but I led them on a merry chase,” he replied. “They assumed that I was a curious onlooker from one of the local hamlets.”
“How do you know that?” he demanded.
Dag simply raised an eyebrow at his brother.
Alex shrugged and said, “Alright, well, we’re as ready as we’re going to be. Aria’s got the main force in the woods in hiding, ready to spring into action if necessary. Your squad is already perched on top of the rocks in sniping positions. Tangrit was able to use the explosives in the mines to make a bomb. It’s attached to a structural key point in the bridge. When it blows, the whole thing should come down.”
“Should? There’s a reassuring word,” Dag muttered. “Who’s setting it off?”
“You are,” Alex responded. “You’ll have the best vantage point. It’s all wired up and the detonator just needs you to push the lever down.”
“Well, I guess I can’t mess that up,” Dag said. “I better get into position and check with my squad.”
He saluted his brother, who returned the gesture, and he turned and walked across the Dominion camp toward the rocks. It was amazing what Alex had gotten them to do in just a few hours. Spent shell casings had been picked up; sandbags had been repaired and refilled; the barricade across the road that had been destroyed in the shelling was rebuilt; the mortar holes in the ground had been refashioned with crudely cut sharp wooden poles to look like additional fortifications. The ground had been cleared of bodies and even the stains of blood left behind on the field of battle had been covered with dirt. It would not survive a detailed inspection, but the appearance, combined with Alex and six others in Dominion uniform would give the first Dommies across the bridge the impression that this was still a Dominion camp.
Dag scaled the far side of the rock wall and found a crossbow in his face when he reached the top. He eyed Kayleigh curiously before she quickly lowered the weapon and said, “Sorry, sir.”
“No worries, Kayleigh,” he replied. “Better to be vigilant than to be caught unawares.”
He ascended the last few steps to the top of the formation after accepting a helping hand from Logan. “Sergeant,” the constable said as Dag took a seat next to them, his back against one of the rocky outcroppings they had used as cover the night before. For the first time, fatigue gripped Dag strongly and he had to fight to keep his eyes open. “We’re all feeling it,” Logan added, as he observed Dag struggling to stay awake. “I’ve been rotating us for a little sleep since the LT stationed us up here. Pendleton’s resting now.”
“Good thinking, we only have a few more hours until the enemy arrives,” Dag said. “We need to get what rest we can.”
“Speaking of, sir,” Logan began. “Kayleigh and I have already had two hours of sleep, and you’ve been through more than we have.”
“Are you telling me to go to bed?” Dag asked with a wry grin.
“We’ll wake you once the shooting starts,” Logan replied.
With a small chuckle, Dag allowed himself to close his eyes for a moment, wondering how he was going to be able to sleep on the eve of battle. It seemed like no time later than Logan was shaking him awake.
“They’re at the bridge, boss,” Logan whispered before creeping back along the rock wall cre
nellations so that he could stay out of sight.
A fresh surge of adrenaline sped up Dag’s awakening process and he pulled his rifle off his back and into position. The other three members of his squad had spread out behind cover to the right of his position, leaving him the closest man to the gorge. Kayleigh was closest to him and had traded in her crossbow for a rifle, given the distance from the rock wall to where Alex and his disguised squad stood. If Alex’s plan did not work, they were going to need a lot of cover fire. He looked over to the detonator that lay on the rock next to him, a large box with a T-bar sticking out of it, just waiting to be pressed. That opportunity would come soon enough, he told himself, as he watched the first Dominion vehicle, a small jeep, accompanied by two dozen scouts make its way across the bridge. The rest of the Dominion force was holding, he observed. They had been right about that at least.
“Get ready,” he whispered urgently to his squad members. “This could go down any second.”
25
Alex watched the Dominion jeep approaching and felt a knot of dread start to stir up in his stomach. Pushing it back down, he forced his hand up into the air in what he hoped was a relaxed greeting. The twenty men accompanying the jeep spread out in a defensive pattern, taking up the unoccupied defensive lines as the jeep came to a stop just off the road past the bridge. There were three men in the jeep: a driver, a commando manning the jeep’s built-in machine gun, and an officer who was now getting out of the vehicle. Approaching him, Alex stopped and brought himself to full attention, saluting as he did so.
“As you were,” the officer said stiffly, returning the salute. By way of introduction, he said, “Major Vernon Dallas. Report. Any trouble?”
“No trouble, sir,” Alex reported. “A small skirmish with a ragtag group, composed of militia I believe. We chased them back to their hometown and captured it, a small village not too far down the road.”
Partisan (The Invasion of Miraval Book 1) Page 10