Against the Tide tcw-3

by John Ringo

  “Spoiler attack,” Conner said, lightly. “You’ve more than enough forces to hold them off.” He glanced up at the dragons and frowned. “They should be turning…”

  Rachel finally quit looking out over the field and looked up at the dragons, squinting against the sun. He was right, they should be turning to attack the original force. Unless… they were going to attack the portal force. She was no tactician; she left that up to her father. But she knew something Conner didn’t and it was a balm to her bruised soul.

  “Things not going exactly as you planned, Conner?” she asked, sweetly.

  “They rarely do,” Conner said, still watching the approaching dragons. “That is the reason for leaders… They’re not attacking the orcs,” he said as the dragons split into four echelons and entered a dive. “They’re attacking us!”

  “The legion’s moving,” General Kossin said, angrily. He glanced up at the dragons, determined that none were headed for their position and then ignored them.

  “They’re supposed to!” Conner shouted as the first echelon dropped a sheet of napalm over the east gate. The gates were covered with leather against just such an attack as were the towers to either side, but he could see burning orcs abandoning their positions.

  “No, they’re moving left,” the general ground out. “Towards the archer hill.”

  “What?” Conner said. “What? Impossible!”

  “No plan survives contact with the enemy, Conner,” Rachel said, sweetly. “That’s why they call them the enemy.”

  “No!” the New Destiny agent said as he saw what the attacking great dragon was carrying. “Noooo!”

  * * *

  “Right about there, I think,” Joanna bellowed, dropping the two open portals in the camp’s main boulevard and flaring out to land. She kept her wings and tail extended as she landed and spun in place, clearing out a quarter acre of land in the process. There were some defenders in the area; they stood as much chance against her as the tents that were smashed to the ground.

  Herzer flared out his wyvern just north of the portals and then slid off the side, slapping it on the haunch with his sword even as he blocked an attack with his shield.

  “Get out of here you silly thing,” he shouted, gutting the attacking orc and kicking him away. The wyvern got the message, took three awkward hops and was airborne.

  Herzer saw Bast interpose herself between a squad of orcs and the wooden portals and he ran to do the same to the north. As expected the tide of orcs that were coming out of the New Destiny portals had been carefully drilled. They were to the north of the UFS portals, and running away. None of them so much as glanced behind and the few officers that tried to stem the tide and get them turned around were bowled over. The only orcs they had to contend with were the remaining defenders in the camp. Those that weren’t either headed for the south gate or immolated in one of the attacks.

  Megan had already slid off the greater dragon and was running for them. He checked to make sure nobody was targeting her and then went to work.

  Even “relatively few” defenders were far more than the UFS had for this strike. Orcs were coming at them from every side and he closed with the portals to keep them off the, relatively, fragile beams and especially away from Megan.

  Bast was doing the same on the other side but the majority of the work was being handled by Joanna. Her tail flashed back and forth, hard and fast like a giant crocodile, and any orc unlucky enough to be caught by it was tossed through the air like a grain of rice. Her wings batted as well and the concussion from them was enough to stun any of the orcs.

  One of the big ogres came charging from the south and she hopped over some stunned orcs to engage it. The ogre, for a change, was carrying a huge club. She dodged a clumsy swing and bit the ogre on the head, crushing the massive skull in her teeth.

  “Pthack!” she spit. “Damn they taste bad!”

  * * *

  Megan ran through the chaos, jumping over guide-ropes from flattened tents and dodging bits of debris until she reached the open frames of the portals. Then she placed one hand on either frame.

  “Mother!” she called. “Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, Miss Travante,” a voice said out of the air.

  “There are two portals prepared at Raven’s Mill,” Megan panted. “There should be some Blood Lords waiting. Do you know which ones I’m talking about?”

  “Yes, Miss Travante,” the voice said.

  “Establish link here,” Megan said. “Code Beta Fourteen. Power Authorization One-Nine-Four-Five.”

  The portals blinked to life and Megan jumped between them, out of the way of the tide of elite Blood Lords that would be pouring out any second… any… second…

  She waved her hands as if to shoo them through. Waved them again.

  “HERZER!”

  * * *

  Herzer spun in place at the scream and looked to see what had happened to her. But Megan was fine.

  “What?” he shouted, taking a blow on his armor and dropping his shield to crush the orc’s foot. Then he slid his sword into its neck and turned back. “What?”

  “NO BLOOD LORDS!” Megan shouted, dancing from foot to foot. “Where are the Blood Lords!? There was supposed to be a tide of Blood Lords!”

  “Shit,” Herzer said under his breath. “Joanna! Cover this side!” he yelled, spitting another orc and dashing to the gate.

  He stuck his head through and shook it at the sight that greeted him. The whole battalion was standing at parade rest while the colonel was haranguing someone in a cook’s uniform. He cleared his throat.

  “Colonel?” he said, urgently.

  “Major Herrick?” Colonel Heiskanen said.

  “Yes, sir,” Herzer replied, desperately, waving a blood-spattered sword to point behind him. “Did we forget something, sir?” he asked in a mad voice. “The battle? The orcs? A camp to capture?”

  “What orcs?” Heiskanen shouted. “What camp? What the hell is going on?”

  Herzer froze at that and then stepped through the gate. There was, precisely, no time to explain and the plan had gone straight to hell. Oh, well.

  He looked at the assembled ranks for a brief moment and then raised his sword over his head.

  “BLOOD LORDS!” he shouted. “BLOOD TO OUR BLOOD, STEEL TO OUR STEEL.” He spun in place and pointed through the portals. “FOLLOW ME!”

  * * *

  Megan picked up a broken tent pole and fended off the orc that was menacing her, backing towards Bast. Of course, that wasn’t a great option, either. Bast was surrounded by orcs. They were dying, fast, but it didn’t mean one of them wouldn’t get in a blow on Megan.

  “Oh, shit,” she said. “Am I dumb or what? Mother, Personal Protection Field, please, Authorization Beta-Charlie.”

  As the PPF came live the pole was cut off short. She dropped it and stuck her thumbs in her ears, waggling her fingers at the orc.

  “Nah, nah,” she taunted. “You can’t get me!”

  The orc raised its sword and let out a hoarse bellow of fury, darting forward just in time to be bowled over by an armored wave.

  * * *

  Herzer smashed into an orc and tossed him aside where he was trampled by the flood of Blood Lords coming through the east gate.

  “Portals,” Herzer shouted, turning to face the groups that were running through and gesturing over his back. “Knock ’em down! Knock ’em down! Knock ’em down! Portals, portals, portals! Knock ’em down! Knock ’em down! Knock ’em down!”

  Blood Lords were highly drilled but they were also taught to think. Where the tide of orcs was appearing was apparent and the groups spread out, heading for the portals. Others, though, thought of other things and turned aside, spreading a perimeter around their own portals to defend them.

  Joanna, seeing that the plan was finally working, headed for the furthest portal to the east. It was just north of the east gate and after she’d flicked it, and its fellow, over with her tail, she headed for that.
More Blood Lords moved to follow her.

  “Major Herrick,” Colonel Heiskanen said as he made his way through the pandemonium around the gate. “What is going on?”

  “Sir, there is no time for explanation,” Herzer said, grabbing a passing officer. “Lieutenant Julicher, grab your platoon and as many others as you can. Head for the south gate,” Herzer said, pointing. “Get it open. Second Legion is coming through at a double-time.”

  “Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said, and immediately began bellowing for his triari sergeant.

  “Joanna!” Herzer bellowed.

  “Yo!” Joanna yelled, swinging her tail around and knocking a couple of orcs over.

  “Get to Megan and Bast!” Herzer shouted. “Let the troops get the gates. Make sure Megan is okay!”

  “Got it!”

  “Lieutenant Sosinsky,” Herzer said, grabbing one of the officers just emerging from the west portal. “West gate. Take your platoon, as much of it as you can find. Take it and hold it until relieved.”

  “Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said, dashing in that direction.

  “Take your platoon, I said!” Herzer shouted. “Sergeant Turzak! Get the platoon and try to keep that young idiot alive!”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “That’s a fisk load of orcs!” Colonel Heiskanen said. “Captain Wallo!”

  “Leave ’em alone, sir!” Herzer shouted. “Let them run out the gate! Get the portals knocked over! Then close the gates when they’re out!”

  “That’s what this is about!” Heiskanen said, looking around. “Then they’ll beÑ”

  “Out there and we’ll be in here with Second Legion, sir,” Herzer said. “No sweat.”

  * * *

  “No sweat, you said!” Gunny Rutherford yelled.

  “Oh, shut up!” Edmund yelled back, braining an orc with his hammer.

  They were on the front lines of the legion, helping to hold back the first spray of orcs from the main force while half the First Legion did a world record job of constructing a parapet behind them. As promised the lines had been marked out and everything to hand but the timing had turned out to be… a little tricky.

  “I should be going swimming about now!” Gunny Rutherford yelled, slamming his shield into an orc and then gutting it from the side. “Making my sacrifice to the Bull God! Maybe having a haircut or picking out which mermaid wench to try to have half-breed babies with!”

  “You know you love this shit, you old coot!” Edmund shouted, blocking a blow with his shield and then slamming the hammer into the orc’s unprotected knee. They always forgot to guard the legs.

  “We’re about done here, sir!” General Lepheimer yelled from the parapet.

  “Well then get the damned archers to give us some fisking space!” Edmund shouted just as he heard a grunt from Gunny.

  He leapt to the side and brained the orc that had his sword raised for a killing blow over the fallen noncom. Gunny was still breathing but he had a gash the size of a forearm in his side, the heavy blow from the orc having smashed the loricated plate in. Ribs were visible. Gunny Rutherford wasn’t the only legionnaire down and the shield wall was well and truly broken, just scattered legionnaires left in front of the parapet trying to stem what seemed like all the orcs in the world.

  Edmund let out a curse and activated his armor. He’d been saving the charge for desperate times and these seemed desperate enough. It began to glow blue and he felt the fatigue wash away as nannites scoured his body of toxins, enhancing his strength and speed. Not as good as the old days, when he’d first met the gunny and they’d been young idiots trying to bring some order to the shambles that was Anarchia. But good enough.

  * * *

  The general waved the archers forward to the parapet and looked over, searching for the UFS commander. It took him a moment to find him in the pile of bodies. Edmund was a blur. He appeared to have Gunny Rutherford over his back and was wading through the orcs as if they weren’t there, headed for the right-hand bastion.

  “Ropes!” the general yelled, pointing to the remaining legionnaires. Some of them had gotten some movement room, if only because Edmund had killed everything in front of them. “Archers!”

  * * *

  The portals were metal set in concrete blocks. They were well stabilized but six or eight Blood Lords could generally push one down.

  Lieutenant Sivula stepped back and brushed his hands together, just as there was a thump from underneath the fallen portal.

  “That’s gotta hurt,” he said, wincing. For the orcs that had been running through the portals, it had to be like running face first into a brick wall. However, the blocks left a certain amount of space underneath and he could see hands starting to scrabble around the edges. “Ah, weel, now, that’s not on,” he muttered drawing his sword and stabbing under the gate. He was rewarded with a howl and smiled. “Sorry!”

  Chapter Thirty-five

  “Oh… shit,” Conner said as the last portal was tipped over. He could see figures swarming over the south wall, where the orcs, attacked from in front and behind, were running around uselessly. Speaking of useless, the last of the main force was just about through the north gate and they were being followed by a line of legionnaires. He could picture what was going to happen in his mind’s eye. They’d take the gate, shut it, and then the New Destiny force would be trapped on the outside, caught between two legions.

  “Indirect approach,” Rachel said. “Strike where your enemy is vulnerable. Gotta hand it to Daddy. If you don’t, he’ll take it anyway.”

  “Right,” Conner said, his face firming. “We’re out of here.”

  “What?” General Kossin snapped. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that,” Conner said. “You can handle the rest. You’ve still got more forces than the legionnaires. But Miss Ghorbani and I are out of here. Roc. Bring her.”

  * * *

  Rachel stumbled forward at a hard shove and looked over her shoulder at the elf-thing.

  “I’m going, I’m going,” she muttered, following Conner down the stairs. His tent was in the northeast quadrant, which was still free of UFS forces. She looked around, desperately, but he was careful to avoid the Blood Lords headed for the gate. He had his back to her but she could see the glitter of a personal protection field. She touched her chest and grimaced, looking to the west where she knew safety lay. Only a few meters. Only a few.

  “Don’t,” Roc growled, touching her in the back. “Go.”

  She looked down one of the streets of tents and saw a familiar figure trotting to the north.

  “HERZER!”

  * * *

  For the next step, Herzer had to see. He’d headed for the north gate, which he could see Blood Lords fighting for. There weren’t many defenders and as he watched the gates started to swing shut. From up on the command tower he’d be able to see how the rest of the battle was going. Down here it was total chaos, but a chaos that Colonel Heiskanen could handle, not to mention General Magalong. But what happened next would be the key.

  He was about sixty yards from the gate when he heard his name shouted to the right.

  “Rachel?”

  * * *

  “Great,” Conner said, shaking his head. “The heroic rescuer. Roc. Take him.” Conner waved to drop his personal protection field and grabbed Rachel by the wrist. “Come on, bitch.”

  * * *

  “Herzer!” Rachel shouted, digging at the steellike vise around her wrist. “Elf, Herzer! ELF!”

  * * *

  The… thing charging him was a demon and it was fast. He raised his shield to block the first lightning blow and the sword of the thing nearly clove it in half. He darted in, thinking that with that much extension it would be off-balance but the blow that hit him came out of nowhere, knocking him to his knees. He rolled backwards and up, managing to get his prosthetic up and catch the sword in it with a shock that ran down his arm and through his whole body. But the hand wasn’t steel, it was adamantine, and it grip
ped the sword for a moment, binding it, as the thing yanked at it, nearly yanking him off his feet. He tried to dodge under the sword and get his own weapon in play but the thing had far too much length of arm for that to work. Finally it got its weapon free and he backed away, watching Rachel being dragged towards a tent, helpless to save her as he’d been helpless to save her mother.

  The thing looked at him for a moment, cocking its head to the side and then raised the sword for a blow he knew he could neither dodge nor block.

  “Not so,” Bast said, striking from the thing’s unprotected side.

  The monster moved faster than the eye could see, but the blow from the light saber still opened up a gash on its ribs, cutting through the mail that armored it like tinfoil. The thing leapt backward again, considering its new foe.

  “Go to Rachel,” Bast said. “This one is mine.”

  Herzer didn’t even nod, just started running.

  * * *

  “Quit struggling, bitch!” Conner shouted, dragging Rachel closer and grabbing her by the hair, then slapping her on the side of the head.

  Rachel saw stars for a moment and then shook her head, trying to clear it. Suddenly, Conner had her in a chokehold and a knife had appeared in his hand.

  “Take one step closer and she dies.”

  * * *

  Herzer tossed the sword in the air, weighing his chances. The man was much larger than Rachel and although he was trying to use her as a shield there was a fair amount in the open. And Herzer was pretty good at throwing a sword. Pretty good.