“You heard what Rozek said?” Gina asked when she saw Kim.
“Yes.”
“Good news for you, but I’m not so certain about us. I don’t know if I like the thought of a squadron of Rangers loose in the mountains.”
“Maybe it could work out for us both.”
“In what way?”
“Rozek accused the Rangers of desertion. I don’t know why they went. There was probably more to it than just thinking I’d been killed. But whatever the reason, they can’t go back to the Homelands. When Rozek makes her report, the Guards will be only too pleased for someone to blame for their losses. The Rangers will be convenient scapegoats. You said you could make use of my skills. Do you think you could make room for a whole squadron?”
Gina looked thoughtful. “Possibly...possibly. Some adjustments will be needed on both sides, but possibly.” Her right eye looked appraisingly at Kim. “Find your comrades and talk to them. If they are willing to join us, bring them here, and we will discuss it further.”
“How long will you stay at this camp?”
“At least five days. We must make sure the major and her women keep on walking and don’t try to double back.” Gina reached out and put her hand on Kim’s arm. “Take a horse and anything else you need. And may the Goddess watch over you.”
Kim smiled. That dawn, when the heretics were heading off, she had heard the appropriate rejoinder several times. She used it now. “And may a malfunctioning starship in geo-stationary orbit watch over you.”
*
The Rangers had made little attempt to disguise their tracks. It said much about their opinion of the Guards’ abilities. Kim was able to follow the trail without dismounting. Her guess was that after deserting, the Rangers would have put ten or twelve kilometers between themselves and the Guards and then found an easily defended spot to rest out the day and following night.
Dusk was drawing close as Kim rode along the bottom of a winding valley, underneath the spreading branches of tall trees. Despite bruises that were still tender, she felt at peace for the first time in months. She had always been happiest out in the wildlands, away from the regulations, the temples, the Sisters, and the Guards. A smile crossed Kim’s face as she remembered Rozek, covered in mud and soot, trying to intimidate Gina with her quotes from the book of the Elder-Ones. The image was one that she would always treasure.
The light was fading fast. Kim was starting to consider stopping her hunt and resuming the next morning, when she heard the whinny of a horse. The squadron must be encamped less than a kilometer ahead, although any sign of their presence was well disguised. Kim had no doubts that the site would be better defended than anything seen so far on the mission. Her smile broadened. The most junior Ranger could give Rozek lessons in how to be a soldier.
*
The debate had been going around in circles all afternoon. Only two options were available, and no one was particularly happy with either. As Chip had pointed out, there was only one place to go. The Rangers, with their skills, could cope well enough in the wilds during the summer, sticking to a vegetarian diet, but the resources necessary to survive the winter could only be found in the Homelands. The issue was whether the Rangers went back to live inside or outside the law.
After a life devoted to hunting bandits, none of the Rangers was keen on the latter option, but the outcome was very chancy if they threw themselves on the mercy of the Ranger Command and surrendered. Even if they could convince the authorities at Fort Krowe that desertion had been justified, the Guards were unlikely to be so understanding, and if the Sisters got involved, the chances of a pardon became still more remote.
The whole squadron, with the exception of a few sentries, was gathered around the fire. Most were sitting on the ground, though some at the rear leaned against the encircling trees so as to better see the various speakers.
“You could always say you heard me escaping and you all came after me, knowing it would take the entire squadron to recapture me.” Chip’s suggestion was at least as sensible as some others, although less seriously meant.
“There’s no—” another Ranger began and then stopped sharply as a low, rippling whistle sounded from the trees.
The signal was from one of the sentries, warning of someone approaching. In an instant, the whole camp was at the ready, but before any action could be taken, a second whistle sounded, this one with a rising note. The code sign by which one Ranger identified her position to another.
“What are they playing at?” Chip muttered in confusion, her hand moving to the hilt of her sword. Surely the Guards could not have traced them? And why were the sentries signaling to each other?
A sudden cry of alarm issued from the sentry, but even as swords were whipped free of their scabbards, the yell turned to an unmistakable whoop of delight. The Rangers around the fire looked at each other uncertainly, wondering what was happening. At Chip’s signal, they spread out so as not to present a solid target, and archers slipped to positions at the edge, from where they could get a clear line of sight. All were facing the direction of the sounds when the sentry herself emerged from the bushes accompanied by a woman it took everyone a few disbelieving seconds to identify.
Kim walked forward into the firelight, a broad grin on her face, and finally broke the stunned silence. “You know, Chip, I hate to use clichés, but you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Kim?” Chip’s voice was hushed. “You fell into that river. We saw you.”
Kim shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “I can swim.”
There was no chance to say more. With tears in her eyes, Chip launched herself forward, flinging her arms around her friend, and threatening to unbalance them both. Kim laughed and said light-heartedly, “Hey, steady on, you don’t want to make Katryn jealous.”
Not that any risk of that existed, as within an instant, Katryn was also there, wrapping them both in an embrace, followed by as many of the others as could get close enough to pat Kim’s back or rub her head. It was not in any of the books of standard military procedures, but no one was bothered.
*
It was some time before all the recounting of events was completed, but in the end, the decision was very straightforward, a unanimous vote that the Rangers would join with the heretics. Although many were unsure or unhappy about the atheist beliefs, it seemed to offer a fair and free life, and the squadron had no other honorable option. With over sixty dead Guards to avenge and the predictable contents of Rozek’s report laying part of the blame on the Rangers, there was no hope of the squadron being accepted back.
The meeting was about to disperse when Chip stood up one last time, holding out her hands for attention. The murmuring around the camp stilled. “Okay. So we’re all deserters and have seen our last pay packet. But can I take it we still want to function as a squadron, and I’m still your lieutenant?” A loud succession of cheers and whistles left no doubt that this was agreed. Once the noise quieted, Chip went on, “Well, a squadron needs a captain, and since we won’t be getting one from Fort Krowe, we’ll have to make our own arrangements and vote for a leader. I would like to start by nominating ex-Lieutenant Kimberly Ramon.”
The second burst of applause was if anything, louder than the first. No other nominees were put forward, and the final vote was also unanimous.
Chapter Sixteen—A Dream for the Future
Kim was not sure exactly what she had been expecting of the heretics’ farm. Gina had warned her that it was little more than a collection of temporary huts, and she had accordingly overlaid the image of hovels onto a memory of her parents’ farm. What she had not been ready for was something the size of a village, comprised of fifty to sixty round huts, the home to nearly two hundred women, plus their cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, and horses. The buildings were arranged around a central square. They all had conical, turf-covered roofs, and dry stone walls, about a meter high, the cracks filled with mud and grass. Judging by the trails of smoke seeping from the apex of the roofs,
the ones in the middle provided dwellings for the inhabitants. The outer huts were slightly more variable in size, and were doubtless storehouses and animal byres.
The place gave the overwhelming impression of poverty, which Kim found hard to pin down. After all, many farm laborers in the Homelands lived in conditions that were equally basic, if not worse. The heretics themselves all looked well fed and clothed, and the farmlands were clearly fertile. Fields golden with ripening corn were interspersed with rows of beans, cabbages, and other vegetables. Thriving herds dotted the surrounding hills.
Only when she had dismounted in the open space at the center of the village and looked around did Kim finally put her finger on the discrepancy. It was the uniformity of the community. In a place of a similar size in the homelands, a few, the poorest, at the fringes, would have been living in an even worse state, but there would have been others in fine homes of dressed stone, with tiled roofs and under-floor heating. The village would have had a welcoming tavern, a public bathhouse, and a council hall, the main civic building, which would have functioned as school, law court, meeting room, and church at the appropriate times. There would have been gardens. And without these, the place seemed uncivilized, crude, and shoddy.
Word of the Rangers’ arrival had spread, and a fair number of heretics had left their work to watch the column of green and gray clad women ride in. As she ran her eyes over the gathering, another difference to the homelands struck Kim. Many elderly faces were dotted among the crowd, but the range of ages hit a sharp cutoff at the other end. There were no young girls abandoning their lessons to run behind the Rangers, or toddlers peering from behind their mothers’ legs, and Kim found their absence far more unsettling than she would have believed.
Kim did not have long to dwell on her first impressions. Gina was waiting at the head of a small group of elders who welcomed the Rangers to the village. The welcome was noticeable both in its informality and in the speed with which it turned to practical matters: which huts had been cleared for barracks, where the horses should go, who could allocate food. Kim managed to restrain a broad grin. It was anyone’s guess how the two groups, the Rangers and the heretics, would get on, but it was evident they both started with a common disregard for time-wasting ceremonies.
Later that night, when everyone had settled, Kim had a chance to talk things over with the heretic leader. They sat outside the hut where Gina lived with her partner and three other couples in communal domestic arrangements that seemed to exist in a permanent state of happy, although noisy, chaos.
“Have any of your Rangers begun to regret their decision to join us?” Gina asked.
“Not that I’ve heard. How are your people feeling?”
Gina pursed her lips and waggled a hand horizontally in answer.
“What don’t they like?”
“Not all are convinced of the wisdom of admitting a large group of armed soldiers when you don’t share our religious beliefs.”
“Shouldn’t that be lack of religious beliefs?”
Gina smiled. “Maybe.”
“They aren’t worried at us eating our way through your food stores?”
“I shouldn’t think so. It looks like it will be a good harvest. There will be plenty to see us all through winter, and food has never been a problem so far. However, now that the Guards know we’re here, we’ll have to move. Rozek won’t get back to Landfall for well over a month, and they won’t have time to assemble another company before winter makes the mission impossible, but we must not still be here come spring.” Gina looked rueful. “It will be the third time we’ve been forced to move. I can guarantee that everyone will be extremely grateful for thirty capable, robust women to help rebuild the settlement. You’re going to work for your keep, believe me.”
Kim looked at the glittering array of stars that hung above them, her thoughts adding things together. “So it’s the need to keep moving that stops you from building better homes?”
The implied low opinion of the village had not been intended as criticism, but Gina hung her head. Eventually she said, “Yes. When we first fled here we...I had hopes. At the first site, we began to lay out a proper settlement. We had nearly completed the bathhouse when we had to run again. The work we put into it...we’ve never had the enthusiasm to make a real start again. But I feel so guilty. These people listened to me, and look where it’s gotten them.”
“You could move farther west. So far that the Guards would never find you. You’ve got the whole planet to hide in.”
“We still have a lot of adherents in the homelands, and their numbers are slowly growing, despite the efforts of the Guards to identify them. We can’t desert them. They must have somewhere they can escape to if they get discovered. And also there are certain essential items we can’t make ourselves, so we have to send people back from time to time to procure things.”
Kim was silent for so long, eventually Gina turned and asked, “What are you thinking?”
“A compromise, of sorts.”
“Which is?”
“Once you’ve finished moving the village, it doesn’t strike me that you’re going to need the Rangers much to help with the farming, except maybe at harvest time,” Kim said.
“True.”
“Which means we can be freed to do what we’ve been trained for: patrolling large areas of wilderness, and fighting. The village could move another thirty days west of here, a distance that would strain the supplies of anyone who came looking for it. We Rangers could patrol this region, meeting any escaping refugees, and harrying any Guards. We could pick a strong defensive site for the village and fortify it, because now you’ve got a proper fighting force to garrison it. And once you’re safe from attack, you could rebuild your bathhouse.”
Gina’s face was thoughtful. “I’m not sure. I’d have to talk it over with the rest. But...maybe.”
“I know, it’s typical. You’ve been here years, and then a new girl comes in and wants to change everything around.” Kim’s tones were self-derogatory.
“Some might see it like that. But...” Gina paused. “You can find a safe site for a permanent settlement.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“Yes,” Kim said in confirmation.
“Go and find it. Once we have a definite proposal, I’m sure we can talk the doubters around.”
*
The long line of cliffs soared nearly two hundred meters, a sheer precipice of rock, overhanging the broad flood plain below. The only break for several kilometers was a hanging valley, looking for all the world as if the Goddess had placed a gigantic finger atop the escarpment and pressed halfway down. A river issued from the mouth and cascaded the remaining distance to the lowlands in plumes of white spray.
Kim and Chip stood at the top of the waterfall and took in the view. The climb up was not easy, but a little judicious work with a pickax and it would be possible to make a path that animals could be herded along in single file. The mouth of the valley was narrow, little more than fifty meters wide. With a strong wall across and a dozen archers behind it, that same path up would be suicide for any enemy force foolish enough to try attacking.
The Rangers turned their back on the low-lying plain and walked a short way along the valley to the point where the vertical sides started to draw apart. On both sides, the tops of the cliffs became ever higher, until they joined with an encircling ring of mountains. From two days of surveying, they knew the valley before them was over four kilometers long, broadening out to nearly a kilometer at its widest point. It held a small lake, good grazing, and an abundant stock of timber. Apart from the mouth, there were two, or possibly three, ways into the valley. All were treacherous and all were easily defended. The site was a little closer to the Sisters’ homelands than had originally been intended for the new village but was, all in all, far too good to be dismissed. It even opened south, so as to be sheltered from the worst of the cold northerly wind.
Chip’s expression made her approval evid
ent as she said, “So, what do you think?”
“I think that with a squadron of Rangers and a strong barricade, we could hold out here against a thousand Guards.”
“And their friends. If they had any.”
Kim nodded, her eyes taking in the white-capped peaks, the sunlight sparkling on the lake, and the dense green forest of firs. The terrain could not have been better if had it been sculpted for their needs. That it was also beautiful was a bonus. A contented smile touched Kim’s face; there were far worse places to live.
*
The bright day in early February held the promise of spring. A crisp blue sky arched over the valley, and sunshine painted the world in sharp, rich colors. Overnight, a thaw had cleared patches of snow, although a cold pinch in the air warned that a change in the wind could easily bring it back. The first signs of buds were already appearing on the trees.
Kim and Gina walked though the building site that was the beginnings of the village. The work of preparing for the arrival of people had progressed all through winter, whenever the weather allowed. The first year would be hard, just to do enough to establish themselves while still ensuring the fields were cleared, plowed, sown, tended, and harvested. Yet morale among the women was sky-high. Already, the site had been chosen for the bathhouse and meeting rooms, and plans had been made for stone-built houses, with proper heating and sanitation. It would not all come at once. Many years would pass before everyone would be able to move from the temporary round huts, with their damp floors and cold drafts. But it would come; the women had a dream for the future. Over the winter, a mutual regard had grown between the Rangers and the heretics. This aspect of the previous few months was the topic that Kim and Gina were discussing.
“I think it comes down to Rangers being intrinsic non-conformists,” Gina said.
“What makes you say that?”
The Temple at Landfall Page 17