Railroad Rising: The Blackpowder Rebellion

by J. P. Wagner

  Food was becoming harder to come by, with the army not only requiring a huge amount to see to its daily needs, but also requiring massive amounts, either to be loaded into wagons to accompany the army, or else to be sent by rail along the proposed route to set up huge supply-magazines at certain towns on the way.

  One thing that was not in short supply was prophecies regarding the coming war. These prophecies were, with very few exceptions, all positive, though some seemed to suggest that the king need only show his face at the head of his army and the Rebels would surrender en masse. To his credit, the king gave scant credence to such prophecies, but put rather more trust in prophecies that predicted a severe struggle before any success. Some few, of course, were totally negative, declaring that the king and all his great army would be lost in the mists of the north, never to return. Of those who predicted failure, a few did so in public only to be taken and hanged for spreading sedition.

  Yakor’s comment on one such was, “Could the man not predict what his fate would be? Or did he think that the king would reward him for foretelling disaster?”

  Other such prophets were more cautious, tacking up their anonymous disastrous predictions on walls and disappearing into the crowds.

  The king who was preparing his army to march seemed a different person from the one who had rushed and scrambled southward from Tenerack. This king seemed almost calm and poised, ready to listen to his advisors, but still able to make a firm decision for himself when the time came.

  Yakor, in private talks with Carrtog, said, “I don’t believe this is the real king. If real trouble comes, I’m afraid we’ll see the same king come forth, the one who scampered away from Tenerack, leaving behind some loyal soldiers whose only fault was to be so badly wounded as to slow his flight. I’m afraid that we will only survive because he’s afraid we might hint at his actual behavior, and so he will insist on leaving us back here in the city. It will also be certain that he’ll have people around to listen to every word we might say, just in case we say the wrong things. So you make sure you guard your tongue, and you might also speak a warning to Lady Adengler, though I think she can be depended on to be careful.”

  “Yakor, my trusted advisor, remember that she has served as lady-in-waiting to the Princess Ellevar for a good many years; I think if I were to have the nerve to warn her about the king’s changeable moods, she would fetch me a clout around the ears. And I’d deserve it.”

  Yakor smiled a twisted little smile of embarrassment. “My apologies to you and the Lady Adengler. I’m afraid I’m a little too cautious about this situation we find ourselves in. And perhaps I sometimes fail to realize that you are no longer the rash and careless boy that rode out from Tsingallik a year and more ago.”

  Chapter 15

  On the second day preceding the king’s departure with his army, he summoned Carrtog for a meeting. He started off immediately with the reason for the meeting. “Lord Carrtog, I am leaving you here in the capital with a specific task, to ensure the safety of my daughter, Ellevar. Yes, she has a particular force of guards who are responsible for her well-being. You, however, will serve as a sort of second line of defense. You will not be under the command of the captain of the guards, nor will you command them, but I would wish that both of you would be willing to consult one with the other if you think of anything that the other might need to know. You may wonder why I have insisted you have more training in magic; this is the reason. The guards may well be able to fight any attacks by normal means, with ordinary weapons. You, I hope, may be able to defend if magic should be used. Indeed, you may use your magic even against nonmagical foes, at your discretion.”

  The king paused, and smiled. “If the Gods favor us, you will not be called upon to do anything, only stay here and be alert until I return. However, it is much better to be ready and not be needed than not to be ready in a sudden desperate time of need. Do you have any questions?”

  “No, I think not, Your Majesty.”

  #

  Carrtog was still fuming when he talked to Yakor. “I knew he’d try to use the advancement of my magic lessons as a reason to leave me behind. Now he adds in this duty for me, to make it almost seem another part of his reward to me!”

  “And so it is. But remember that he’s going to make you a more competent magician, something that has to be counted as good.”

  “But you will remember how some of the lords at my investment were less than half-willing to have me among their numbers. Some of those will be happy to tell anyone who’ll listen that I took advantage of the king’s favor to stay out of danger instead of marching North.”

  Yakor gave him a ferocious frown. “Now there is the boy afraid that his reputation will suffer because he’s the one left behind to look after the herds while his elders go out on a cattle raid! For sure and certain, that boy will not likely face any danger staying back home, but he doesn’t consider that there will be more than one cattle raid to come in the future, when he will indeed be old enough, and most likely face danger enough and to spare!

  “Enjoy your time at home with your new wife, and think that, barring some great misfortune, you will be alive to see your first child born.” The older man waved a hand toward the unseen tents beyond the walls. “There is more than a few out there who have left a pregnant wife behind, and will never come home to see that new child. So put on a smile, or I’ll have to thump that solid skull of ours a time or two again.”

  Carrtog looked at Yakor’s face and realized two things; first, that the man was right, he was fortunate, and second, that the man was indeed capable of thumping his skull, though he hadn’t done it in a few years.

  He pushed a smile onto his face and said, “You’re right, I’m too fortunate to be complaining, and for another thing, I don’t think I’d like to have to explain to Addy why I suddenly come to dinner with several extra lumps on my head.”

  #

  King Bornival rode off at the head of his army to reconquer the North. To be more precise, the king rode off at the head of a large section of his army, while another part of his Army was sent off by railroad to assemble further up along the track.

  “Several highly competent mathematicians have spent a good deal of time,” Gwaitorr said, “working out the schedules of how far up the railway they will set up the first assembly point, and where and when the trains will meet the marching Army to load further troops to take up to that advance point. They were also required to work out the amounts of food required to be loaded with each train-load of troops, plus the amount of fuel needed to power the trains on their various journeys. There were also the things that could only be guessed at, such as the number of cars, or even worse, locomotives which might break down and require repair, or perhaps replacement. But all this enables the king to advance a larger number of supplied troops for a greater distance than they could march on foot. I hope this serves to demonstrate the usefulness of modern mechanical methods for warfare, Lord Carrtog.”

  Carrtog nodded. “It does indeed. And it also seems to indicate that generals will need to be more accomplished mathematicians, whereas they previously used to employ inspired guesswork to work out march routes and situation of supply-magazines.”

  The magician gave him a sharp glance. “Very true; in fact, probably more true than you realize.”

  When the king had taken his Army off northward, he left the city and its environs seemingly deserted. All the tents that had surrounded the city had been struck, packed up, and sent off, leaving that patch around the city with the grass flattened and, in some places, worn away to bare earth.

  The rest of the city began to fall back into the habitual patterns of behavior and Carrtog turned his mind back to his growing engineering passion.

  Carrtog had asked Yakor to try to find him a smith, one who would be willing to work on steam engines and other ‘new-fangled’ notions, and it wasn’t long before his man-at-
arms delivered.

  The smith proved to be a short and stocky man by the name of Fflanaval who had no problem with novel smith-work and, in fact, was somewhat intrigued with some of the notions Carrtog suggested to him.

  Rather than build or rent another building for a work-shed, Carrtog made arrangements to use the same premises that Gwaitorr and Enemantwin used for his lessons and their work-shed. With the decision to use the same work-shed came the inevitable need to fit Gryff into the equation. Gwaitorr was not entirely pleased with the thought of a farmer’s son being taught mechanics, but the king would be less than pleased if Gwaitorr ceased training Carrtog and since Carrtog was determined that he himself would pass on his lessons to Gryff regardless, the tutor capitulated. Gryff wasn’t much interested in learning magic, but since there were some elements of mechanics — as Gwaitorr taught them — which involved spellcraft, he learned at least that much magic. Carrtog found that having to teach Gryff the lessons up to the point where they were at least near to even footing was useful in that it reinforced his own knowledge.

  And so, with the aid of Fflanaval, it wasn’t long before they’d built a small steam engine. On the day when they successfully fired it up, they sat around with a cup of wine in modest celebration.

  “The next thing to do,” Carrtog said, “is to attach it to something, such as a wagon, or the like.”

  “That can be done, Lord?” asked Gryff, there was a glint of eagerness in his eyes that Carrtog made passing note of.

  “I believe it can be done, though just how it can be done will likely take some testing and trying. Though, first I would like to find a way to launch a glider using a steam engine, other than by train of course; I have little desire to repeat that particular experience.”

  Gryff stared at him wide-eyed. Perhaps he had forgotten that Carrtog had been present at that disastrous attempt at kidnapping the king.

  Gwaitorr snorted, “I’m surprised you would even want to build gliders at all after an experience such as that.”

  “Truth be told, the flight itself was quite invigorating. I would not be averse to trying it again, though, perhaps with more success and less risk of certain death. The smiths of Tsingallik have already begun experimenting with gliders, launching them by a drawn winch connected to a steam engine, but it seems the engines do not produce enough force to create the necessary speed on the winch. It is my thought to create a steam engine of higher pressure that might perform the task.”

  Gwaitorr frowned. “With that comes greater risk to the engineer.”

  “Just so. There must be a way to fold or seam the pieces to improve strength by design, but I have not yet come upon the answer.” As he said it he knew that it was not quite true, it had already occurred to him that the answer perhaps lay in the spell Enemantwin had taught him about turning wood into near-iron. If he could alter the spell, perhaps by adding additional effects, then maybe the results could be stronger, but less brittle, than iron; metal made, so to speak, to taste.

  All these endeavors kept Carrtog busy, busy enough not to worry excessively about the rumors that had been growing about the king’s flight from Tenerack. The worst of those describing how the king had chosen to abandon his wounded men to be slaughtered in their beds by the rebels.

  As Yakor had predicted, most people of good sense did answer those tales by asking whether the king ought to have stayed to be slaughtered with those wounded men, or even worse, to be taken prisoner and held to ransom.

  But a more insidious tale began to make the rounds, in the form of another pair of questions: Had not the king himself decided to take only what amounted to a token force of his Gentlemen up to Tenerack, so as to demonstrate his peaceful intentions? How was it then the fault of Captain Gwailants? And since the man could no longer speak for himself, was that not just a convenient place for the blame to lie?

  Carrtog seldom went out among the people who would say such things, and Yakor, known as Carrtog’s man, did not involve himself in such conversations, so they hoped that whatever reaction the king made would not touch them, though Carrtog kept a stock of money at hand in case sudden flight was necessary.

  #

  Reports of the progress of the King’s Army were not continuous at first, but they did come down from time to time. There was a report, with moderate rejoicing, when the whole Army had reached the point where the first magazine beyond the Northern Border had been set up, a town by the name of Kilgarhai.

  Some skirmishing was reported when the Army moved north from there, but the Rebels did not seem to be at all determined to fight a real battle just yet. People who recalled the fate of General Malgwyn suggested that the rebel leadership might well follow the previously successful strategy, to lead the King’s Army far north, stretch their supply-lines, and at the end attempt an ambush of some sort.

  The officer in charge of the garrison of the capital began to send trainloads of supplies up to the supply depot at Kilgarhai. The continual train traffic between the garrison and the supply-depots meant that news from the North began flowing readily. Part of the news came in the form of official news reports, stating that the Army was pushing the rebels steadily northward, still with only occasional skirmishes, but no serious battles. While other reports spoke of attempts by small irregular forces of rebels to cut the railway lines, both south of Kilgarhai and to the north, though General Hartovan and the garrison at Kilgarhai prevented all but minor damage.

  “Actually,” Yakor told Carrtog, Gryff, and Addy, “Things aren’t quite so sunny as the official reports say. The rebels are retreating, that is certain, but the King’s Army is taking more casualties in these skirmishes than the rebels. That is shown by the near constant requests for reinforcements. Also, General Hartovan isn’t completely successful in keeping the rebels away from the tracks. Talk to the train-crews, and look at the constant requests for new rails and railroad ties.”

  He raised a finger. “Don’t talk to anyone about that. Lord Carrtog, Lady Adengler, I know you won’t be saying anything in the wrong places, but Gryff, take this as a warning. It may make you feel good to know something that none of your companions know, but if the wrong person hears it, or someone you tell merely repeats it in the hearing of that wrong person, it could end in all of us being arrested for sedition. You understand?”

  Gryff, a serious, almost frightened, look on his face, nodded.

  Chapter 16

  PROCLAMATION!

  Let it be known to the citizens of Cragmor, and in particular to the citizens of the capital. Whereinas it has come to the attention of His Majesty the King that seditious statements have been made and passed by word of mouth among the citizens and that such statements may well be prejudicial to the well-being of the kingdom.

  It is therefore commanded that utterance of such statements shall be considered an offense against the Crown, and shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment, or death by hanging, according to the decision of the court.

  #

  Carrtog stood beside Yakor reading the broadsheet posted on the outside wall of the inn. Somewhere off in the distance, they could hear the ringing of the town crier’s bell, along with his shout. Although his words could not be distinguished, they were essentially the same words as were written on the proclamation.

  Yakor spat on the ground. “Well, there’ll be some damn fools get their necks stretched. Most people will just be really careful who they open their mouths to. Other than that, not much will change.”

  “We hope.” Carrtog responded. “If His Majesty starts worrying too much about the kinds of things I might say regarding the trip south from Tenerack, he might decide to do something about me beforehand. I wouldn’t be the first hero to fall from glory.”

  Yakor spat again. “That’s true, of course.”

  #

  “So that’s it, my love,” Carrtog told Addy. “There’s a possibility that the king wi
ll blame all or some of these stories on me. If that happens, he may not have me hanged, given that I did save the princess, but on the other hand, what would be better show that he was utterly serious about stamping out sedition than to hang the man he’d previously declared a hero, and one of his favorites? If that happens, I’ve made plans to flee the country, much though I dislike the notion. The first part, at least, would be rough and uncomfortable, much like our jaunt down from Tenerack. I’m considering leaving you behind and possibly sending for you later. The princess might not be able to help me if the king were to take it into his head to do away with me, but she’d probably be able to shield you.”

  Addy stood up straight, and her expression turned grim. “Is this the situation my mother warned me about, a man getting me pregnant and then going off and leaving me and the child alone?”

  “No!” Carrtog protested, “It’s nothing like that at all! I’m just trying to think of what’s best for you!” He was wondering if this were one of those strange moods pregnant women sometimes got; surely she couldn’t think this was all part of some convoluted plot to desert her? After all, he’d married her before he’d got her pregnant.

  “Of course, I’m not trying to run off on you! I’m just thinking of your welfare! If we have to flee the country with you in your condition, it’ll be terribly hard on you. I wouldn’t want to put you through that.”

  “So you say!” she declared, her face stiff with anger. Suddenly her wrathful expression dissolved, and she began to laugh. “Oh Carrtog, my love, I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to tease you! But my dearest dear, surely you don’t think I’d agree to let you go off without me — without us.” She put a hand on her swollen middle. “If you tried, you’d find me coming after you, running as hard as I could waddle. And you wouldn’t put me to that nasty trouble, would you?”

  Carrtog took a deep breath, then allowed himself to laugh a bit, too. “All right,” he said, “but I think I’m going to have to insist that you stop that sort of teasing. I was beginning to worry about you having your father coming after me for desertion.”