across the frontier you have maintained, we should catch the enemy in the rear, perhaps even while he is redeploying.”
“What remains of our garrison is in no condition for an attack,” the factor said doubtfully.
“I expected that,” Jenks agreed, “but if you shift all you have to face the enemy beachhead in the east, surely it can no longer threaten the city here. We will destroy it at our leisure. Once the sun is up, our aircraft-”
“Aircraft? You mean the flying machines that brought your note?” Humphries asked, seizing upon the unfamiliar word.
“Yes. A gift from our allies. They will bomb the enemy in the east and prevent resupply. Soon the Doms there will be in worse straits than you were.”
“Extraordinary,” Humphries muttered. His sunken eyes grew earnest. “Your… Lemooans. They will not eat any tortoises they stumble across? Perhaps a few others have survived?”
“You have my word, Sir Humphries,” Jenks said gently.
“Sir,” Blas said to Jenks, motioning at the transports. “Colonel Blair will soon be ashore.”
“Of course. You have duties. Good hunting, Captain, and God bless.”
“Thank you, sir, and may the Maker be with you.” Saluting the governor, Blas backed away, then darted through the jumble of forming companies.
“Extraordinary,” Humphries repeated again, watching Blas depart. “Such a polite little thing.”
Jenks smiled. “I assure you, sir, the enemy will not think so.”
Nancys started landing in Elizabeth Bay by early afternoon. Most of these were damaged to some degree, by ground fire or Grikbirds, but some were just low on fuel or out of ordnance. They gathered around a tender to be refueled and rearmed or hoisted out of the water for repairs. The citizens of Elizabethtown lined the shore, watching the strange machines come and go, as fascinated by the Nancys as they were the people who flew them. Supplies were landed on the dock to be distributed among the people. Guards stood around the bales and crates, but hungry as the people had to be, there was no rush, no misbehavior. The island had been relieved and there would be food. They could wait a little longer. The wind carried the sound of the great battle in the north, but the same wind swept the thunder of the closer battle in the east completely away. The only evidence of the fighting there was the quick return of aircraft that flew in that direction, and the steady trickle of wounded that wound back down the high-pass road.
“Doc’Selass,” daughter of CINCWEST Keje-Fris-Ar, flew down from the fighting in the north to tend the wounded in the city and take charge of the local hospital. There was the usual resistance by Imperial doctors, but when Jenks commanded that Selass, as personal physician to the Imperial family, be obeyed in all things medical, indignant obstructionism turned to skeptical observation-and soon enthusiastic cooperation. Human and Lemurian physiologies were strikingly similar, but Selass had grown quite familiar with the differences as well. She was far more qualified than any local physician, particularly when dealing with battle injuries, and when the curative powers of the Lemurian polta paste were explained-and confirmed by Selass’s Imperial assistants-her former rivals became willing students and helpers.
At nightfall, Jenks trotted up the steps of Government House with Admiral Lelaa-Tal-Cleraan and Orrin Reddy in tow. Lelaa matched Jenks’s energetic steps, even though her massive ship had been in the thick of the fight since before dawn. Maaka-Kakja ’s great guns and aircraft had pounded the surprised and horrified Doms in ways they’d never imagined. Maaka-Kakja had taken a few light hits herself, mostly by heavy roundshot dropped by Grikbirds-but new countermeasures rendered Grikbirds less of a threat to well-protected ships and aircraft than they’d been before.
Orrin was dragging a bit. He’d flown many sorties that day-before flying Lelaa here. He couldn’t stop yawning. Jenks had never even approached the front as the battle raged. Forming and sending troops forward had required all his efforts and he was just as tired as Orrin, but nervous energy kept him going.
Sir Humphries’s factor met the trio at the top of the stairs and led them inside to a sitting room where the governor sat hunched in a chair, a large brandy at his elbow. The garrison commander was seated beside him, his white tunic with red facings was stained and rumpled. Jenks glanced around. Frankly, he’d expected a larger reception. He bowed to the governor, and the garrison commander stood. The factor edged around the room to stand behind Sir Humphries, who remained seated, staring at the once-lush carpet at his feet.
“Sir,” Jenks began, looking at the sitting man. “May I present Admiral Lelaa-Tal-Cleraan, commander of the Naval element of Second Fleet?”
“How charming,” Humphries said softly. “Another Lemooan female! And a Naval officer, damn me!”
“And this is Orrin Reddy, Commander of Flight Operations. It was his aircraft you saw today-and that the enemy have learned to fear so much.”
“Indeed?” Humphries asked, a spark igniting behind rheumy eyes. “Flying machines might be of great use in locating tortoises!”
The garrison commander cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I am Colonel Alexander, and am most pleased to meet you all. As you may have gathered, the situation here had grown quite dire. Another mere week would have seen the end of us.” He cast a quick glance at the governor. “Many have suffered, in a variety of ways.”
Jenks looked at the man. “Then you will appreciate the honor it gives me to announce that Albermarl Island is secure and your suffering is over. General Shinya and Colonel Blair have pushed the remnants of the northern invasion force against the base of that smoldering hill on the northernmost point. It cannot escape and has no choice but to surrender or die.”
“The Doms’ll send ships! More men!” Sir Humphries barked desperately.
“No, sir,” Jenks gently assured. “Our air power has sunk or burned the bulk of the enemy fleet at Norwich Bay on King James Island. He has nothing left there to send.”
“But… what of the murderers to the east, just across the isle, that threaten us here in Elizabethtown?”
“We pounded ’em all day from the air, while the garrison”-Orrin nodded at Alexander-“kept ’em pinned on the beach with nowhere to go. It was like shootin’ fish in a barrel, poor bastards. They’re in the same boat as those up north: quit or croak.”
“They might slip men across under cover of darkness!” Humphries insisted.
“They could, a few,” Orrin agreed, “but then they’d be stuck too. If I was them, I’d try to pull my people out in the dark.” He paused. “But that’ll be tough. We control the strait between the islands, with DDs and searchlights-”
“DDs?”
“Frigates,” Jenks said. “Mr. Reddy is right. In a few days, there will not be a free-or live-Dom on Albermarl, and more of our troops and ships will be coming all the time. Soon, this island will fairly shudder beneath the weight of the force we will build to invade the Dominion itself and destroy the murderous threat it poses forever!”
“Extraordinary!” Humphries said with a trace of his old cheer at last. He peered intently at Orrin. “You are a… rider… of flying machines?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You have flown over this isle? And King James Island, perhaps?”
“Ah… yes, sir.” Orrin decided not to mention he’d been shot at the first time.
“Amazing! To see the world as a bird-or those horrible Dom dragons see it… I can only imagine.” He took a gulp of brandy, suddenly excited. “Did you happen to see any tortoises at all?”
CHAPTER 24
March 25, 1944
Rocky Gap
General-Queen Protector Safir Maraan, her silver-washed armor dented and tarnished, her black cloak torn and stained, stood in her command tent, staring down at the map before her. She wasn’t really looking at it anymore; the image was intimately familiar, and besides, she could hardly see through the kaleidoscope of amber tears colored by the guttering lanterns. Colonel Billy Flynn had saved her tail in the Saa-lon highlands and had since become an excellent friend. Now he was dead, along with nearly all the Marines, Rangers, and Sularans that had
