Warlord

Raj looked over to his right: the remaining four hundred or so of the Cuirassiers were standing in solid ranks, and Suharto seemed to have them well enough in hand. Dalhouse and the others probably wouldn't stop until their dogs died.

'Runner. C Company is to face right and fire in support,' he said. The man dashed off and the outermost of Poplanich's companies came to and stood, shuffling backward and pivoting on the left like a door swinging back to face the Squadron units lapping around them. 'Runner, to Senior Captain Suharto. Prepare to see that party of barbs off.'

BAM. BAM. BAM. C Company had opened fire, rifles coming up and dropping like the motion of a loom's shuttle.

There were four noblemen's banners among the Squadron flanking party, and about eight hundred men; two of the glittering flags went down under the hail of 11mm rounds. Through the growing haze of smoke and dust, he could see men pitching out of the saddle, and the whole body bent and curved a little away from the fire. The Cuirassiers' banner dipped toward him in acknowledgment and readiness; he waved his arm around his head twice and chopped it forward to the right. A trumpet sounded and the Cuirassiers moved from stand to walk, from walk to trot. The sabers came out with a uniform snap and rested on their shoulders, then forward as they rocked into a gallop and swung wide right to charge; the volley fire continued in their support almost to the moment of impact. The disordered ranks of the Squadrones shattered under the impact of the boot-to-boot charge, only a few of them managing to fire their flintlocks; then the Civil Government soldiers wheeled and galloped back, emptying more saddles.

They cantered back into place, bloodied sabers in their hands, and dressed ranks again. Raj nodded; Senior Captain Suharto was taking his words to heart.

'Runner to Major Zahpata,' he said, pulling out his notepad: Major, I expect the Squadron to fall into disorder for a short period. If you can break contact easily, pull back to the left flank of the main position.

'No, Mekkle,' he went on, 'I'm not relieving you. Quite the contrary-you kept your head when all about were losing theirs, and turned what could have been an unmitigated disaster into a mitigated one.' Although when I find Major Dalhouse. . Thiddo looked stunned; until then he had been a mixture of relief at having someone to take the responsibility off his shoulders, and dread of what his leader would say.

Raj leaned forward and slapped him on the shoulder. 'If you'd lost those guns and come barreling into camp with the barbs on your heels. . well, you didn't. My friend, this is not a business in which elegant plans buy you any yams. The ability to retrieve matters when someone screws up is much more important.

'Now,' he said, viewing the field.

They would have to pull back soon; someone on the other side was finally realizing they were in a meeting engagement. The Squadron host was clumping into four main groups-what he could see of it-with the transport train far behind pulling into a classic Military Government-style circular wagon-fort. And dismounted Squadrones were working their way to the east through the patch of broken country that was protecting his left. Fairly soon they'd be through it-and he couldn't afford to be pinned. Raj massaged the back of his neck under the leather and chainmail guard; the day-he glanced up; about 1100 hours, morning rather-had been a real surf-ride. In garrison, we complain about the boredom. But when you consider the alternative. .

'Sir?' Thiddo asked. 'Ah, I expected-'

'You can't,' Raj went on, 'let yourself get too focused on a plan, Mekkle. Actually things are going rather well. We've lost, oh, two hundred men'-da Cruz's face came before him for a moment, and he pushed it away-'including those who just buggered off, and how many do you think the Squadron's lost? Two thousand? Four? Six?'

They both glanced to the front. It was difficult to tell through the drifting mass of powder smoke, but there was a positive carpet of unmoving figures on the ground out beyond the Civil Government line. Another series of volleys slapped out, hiding the Squadron front for a moment; smoke billowed from the enemy, too far away to do any real damage.

'And more important, they're still coming on the way we want them to. Notice anything about them, Mekkle?'

'Ummm-they do tend to react like a bull stung by a pihkador, sir. Confirms what we were told.'

'Hit them in the nose and you can lead them by it,' Raj nodded. A trooper came up with a flagstaff; the banner on it was pure white. 'I've got something for you to take to the Admiral,' he went on, reaching for a bag tied to his saddle 'that will concentrate his mind even more. Yes, things are not going badly at all. Trumpeter, call cease fire.'

* * *

'Hnnnng.'

The soldier arched his back as the Renunciate cut away the remains of his boot. Sticky blood had pooled inside the leather, and it slid out in a gelatinous mass. One of the assistants wilted and began to sag; Fatima cor Staenbridge reached out and shook her sharply.

'Scrub,' the nun said; the pants-leg had been slit far back. 'Come on, I've got to see what I'm doing here.'

The soldier-the boy-was glassy-eyed from opium, but it was dangerous to give too much when shock was involved. Fatima gripped his wrist and hand more firmly and leaned over him, smiling; it seemed to make it easier for them to bear, if someone was looking at them. At least there aren't many. A Descotter trooper with a shot-broken thigh right at the beginning, and a few more ever since; they had even had time to treat some enemy wounded. Not like Sandoral; she remembered the tubfuls of amputated legs and arms at the bottoms of the operating tables. . just a trickle so far. The word was that the north force was almost to the city. Soon they would be there, under the walls and the cannon. Gerrin and Barton would be there.

The boy with the mangled foot had a shield-shaped shoulder-flash with crossed sabers over a black numeral '5,' and the motto Hell o Zpalata above-'Hell or Plunder.' The 5th Descott Guards.

'What's your name, soldier?' she asked.

His eyes darted to her, and his teeth showed in something like a smile; they were yellow-white in the muddy shock-molded brown of his face.

'Hylio Carasyn,' he gasped.

'You're in the 5th, aren't you?' she said.

'Yis, ma'am,' he said. A probe clicked down by the foot of the table, and his hand gripped hers until the bones creaked; it was his saber hand, and he was a strong young man. 'Yer t'Major's lady, eh?'

She nodded. 'What happened up there?' she said. Allah-Spirit of Man-she prayed silently, remembering Foley on the table, his ruined hand. . Please, let anyone die but them.

The soldier was panting, and his eyes slid out of focus. 'Barbs,' he muttered. 'Gunmen, swordsmen. Barbs, thousands, I shot 'im and he-nnnnnnn!'

'Ah, got it,' the stern-faced Renunciate said, her arms glistening red to the elbows. The probe held a misshapen piece of lead a little larger than a pea. 'Clamp there, move sharp!'

There was a clatter at the door of the tent 'Mediko, mediko! More of 'em!'

Young Hylio Carasyn had fainted. Fatima put her hand on the sweat-cold forehead. You don't know any more of what's going on than I do, poor baby, she thought

The doctor looked up. 'Get me that damned catgut,' she said, frowning. The assistant handed her a curved needle. 'Time to close this one up.'

* * *

'Took them long enough,' Raj grunted, raising his binoculars. He had drawn a little ahead of the group around his banner, messengers, and aides.

The firing had finally stopped, along the front at least. Wind drifted the smoke away; unfortunately, it also showed the true size of the Squadron war-host again, looking all the more terrifying because it had hauled itself together. It would show them how few their enemies in this particular skirmish had been, as well-which might be either good or bad, depending on how bright they were. Raj turned and looked down the ranks. The men were resting stolidly, faces and hands black with burnt powder; a few were taking sips from their canteens and carefully spraying a fine mist into the open breeches of their rifles, then wiping them with the tails of their coats. Hell on maintenance, but you did what you had to when it came down to cases.