Eagle People (30 page)

Near daylight the extra soldiers arrived, with additional food, and reported the route looked safe and clean, but all knew there were risks anytime you moved over open ground. Enemies of The People had the bad habit of striking when the opportunity was there for them, regardless of any other conditions.

Four days later, the wagons rolled into the village of The Cheyenne Mountain People. Mongoose was glad the trip was over, only she knew the next few months would be difficult for both Clans. There would be problems, and they had to address each situation honestly and fairly. She consider Colonel a fair and honorable man, and was glad they'd be sharing leadership roles.

Colonel walked from a lodge, extended his hand to her and said, “I see you made it. You did lose a few people, right?”

“A few, only not as many as I expected. Here almost a week back we lynched a man eater and my warriors killed three others.”

“I would have hanged the bastard, too. See, they started eating people hundreds of years back, when the country first fell, to keep from starving to death, and over the years they haven't changed their diets. Nasty business in my mind.”

“All kinds of game around, and they want to eat people.”

“I know you have many books, so I need your folks and mine to take them into the complex.  My men have cleared a large room and installed row after row of shelving for your books. We will do your books like we do our technical orders. When someone wants to read a book, they'll sign a listing showing what book they have borrowed, so we can track them, and give them a couple of weeks to return it. How does that sound?”

“I'd rather not do that. Mainly because the books may be lost, stolen or destroyed and these are the only ones we have. When these are gone, there are no more. If they want to read them, do it in the room you have prepared for us.”

“I understand, and hadn't thought of that. Come, let us eat.”

The meal was a simple one of a small piece of meat and vegetables grown in the garden. Mongoose, a big meat eater, looked at her serving and then met Amon's eyes. He grinned.

Colonel, seeing the exchange, said, “We usually eat soups for breakfast, small piece of meat with vegetables or fruit for lunch, and then for supper more meat and vegetables. It is hard for us to get meat, not to kill it, but to pack it in from the plains or lower elevations. Because of that, we eat less meat than most people.”

“We'll get used to it. Colonel, what is the biggest threat to you here?”

“We have many, but the Snake People and Goat People are the biggest villages we have to deal with most of the time. We've had some run ins with The Northern Plains People at times, and they're vicious in battle. They only use male warriors, but they're hard men.”

“We fought them on the way here. Seems your guns make it an equal battle.”

Colonel laughed and then replied, “Guns are an advantage, but we have weapons in storage that we've not used in a long while. We have grenades, which are small balls of steel that explode when thrown and kill the enemy, mines, which are explosives that explode when stepped on, and many other things. In the past, as far as I know, we never had enough warriors to use most of what we have. I use all our explosives, which is what we call things that blow up, sparingly. Once used, they are gone forever. I do have three men learning how to make gun powder, bullets and guns, but it'll take some time.”

“Perhaps our books can help you. We have books on how to make things, except we lacked the tools to make them. Maybe by using both books a man or woman can learn more.”

“I will tell my team of teachers and workers that you have many books. I think our joining was a good thing.”

At that point, Sergeant Dooley walked to the Colonel, saluted and said, “Our guard at post number 19 just reported a large group of Snake warriors moving toward the village.”

Chapter 20

COLONEL SAID, “DEFENSIVE POSITIONS,
everyone. Warriors of the Eagle People, each of you must go with one of my warriors. Women, children, and elderly who are not warriors go into the complex immediately. Once the battle starts, the door will be closed and locked. You'll be safe there.”

“Go, my people, and learn from this attack!” Mongoose yelled.

The Colonel looked at her and said, “Come, and I will show you how we secure the complex when under attack.”  

“What about me?” Amon asked.

“You are the second in command, along with my Major, so you go with him.”

“Major!”

“Sir?”

“Take Amon with you and show him how we do things.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Major and Amon ran to the edge of the village. Holes were dug and some were already filled with warriors. Moving to a hole in the middle of the field, the Major said, “The battle will be controlled from here. The holes are positioned for interlocking fields of fire, which means, each can also provide a killing shot into another area. You'll quickly get the feel for it once the fight starts.”

“Are there a lot of Snake People?”

“Thousands of warriors, but they've yet to breech our defenses. The guns make the difference and once your people are issued guns, if they're smart, which they are, they'll leave us alone.”

Dooley called out, “They're are at the 300 yard marker.”

“That's distance from the first hole. At about 50 yards we'll open fire.”

“Do they have guns at all?”

“Yes, a few, but not much ammunition. See, at times they'll kill one of us and take the guns and ammo. Then over a period of time, they run out of ammo and the gun is converted into a club until they can get their hands on more bullets.”

“Can I have my archers fire when they're a hundred yards away?”

“I see no reason to say no. It won't stop them, but the guns will.”

Dooley said, “Two hundred yards and closing.”

Amon stood and said, “Eagle warriors, prepare your bows. When I give the command, fire your arrows at the enemy. We will release as a group and do it three times. After that, fire at will.”

“What kind of bow is it you carry? It's longer than most I've seen.” Major asked.

“It's an English long bow from our books. Our Learned Ones discovered them years back and we've been using them for at least 200 years, maybe longer. They shoot further and are more accurate at long distances than a standard bow. An added advantage is, if we shoot someone within, say fifty yards, there is a good chance the arrow will go through the target and do maximum tissue damage. You'll notice our arrows are not flat with one arrowhead. The arrows we shoot have four cutting sides on each arrowhead, for massive internal bleeding, and it usually causes the target to go into shock almost instantly. If one arrow strikes a man in the middle of the chest, he's dead, because he'll bleed out in no time.”

“Get your bowmen ready.” Major said.

“Eagle archers, bowstrings back and release on my command.”

Amon pulled his string back, lifted the point of his arrow and as he released it, he said, “Fire!”

Hundreds of arrows flew toward the Snake warriors.

From what he could see, most landed with the men, and some were seen to fall and screams were heard.

“Prepare your arrows!” Amon glanced at his warriors.

“Prepare to release! Release!”

Again arrows filled the air and the line paused as shields were place over heads as protection.  Men staggered and then fell, as others screamed as they were struck.

“Prepare an arrow!”

“Prepare to release! Release!”

The third time a couple of men were spotted running for shelter, but the main group remained in position.  The grasses were littered with bodies of injured and dead men.

“Archers, fire at will!”

Twangs of bowstrings filled the air as the Major and his men waited.

There sounded a war cry and the Snake warriors ran forward.

“
Fire at will.
” Major said, and then started picking targets and firing single shots. A minute later, Amon joined him.

Men fell left and right, some dead, but others wailing in pain and fear.

“They're getting close!” someone yelled.

“Fix bayonets!” Major yelled as he pulled a knife from his belt and attached it to the barrel of his rifle. Amon had no gun knife, or bayonet as the Major called it, so he did nothing.

When the Snake warriors were close enough to see the shape of their noses, Major yelled, “Charge!”

Soldiers came up and out of their holes and ran for their enemy.  

“Charge!” Amon screamed and Eagle warriors ran forward to help in the fight.

The fight was ugly, with men being killed with rocks, clubs, guns, spears and knives. A man beside Amon took the shield from a Snake warrior and beat him to death after numerous hard swings.  A big man ran for Amon, with a battle ax in his hand. The Eagle waited and when the man neared, he dropped the gun, pulled his sword and they began to circle. Out of the blue the Snake screamed and ran right for him, so he dropped to his back and used his legs, as well as the Snake's forward momentum, to propel the man up and over him.  

Amon quickly turned and moved to the man, picking his sword up along the way. When the Snake sat up, the Eagle warrior's steel blade caught him in the center of the face. The man screamed, reach for his face, and then fell backward. As the injured man's fingers felt his injury, Amon drove the tip of his sword through the warrior's belly. The man screamed again, fell to his back, and died.

The Snakes were leaving the battle, but the ground was covered with Snake warriors: dead, dying and seriously injured. Rifle fire began to slow and a minute later it stopped, except for a random shot or two.

Amon yelled, “Eagle warriors, move among our enemy and kill those yet breathing. Cut the throats of every warrior.”

Major said, “We do not mutilate the dead.”

“We don't either, but by cutting each man's throat, no one will escape death. We are called the 'cut throats' because of this. All on the battlefield will soon be dead and no longer a risk to us.”

Major grinned and replied, “It makes sense to me. Let us return to Colonel and report the outcome of our battle.”

Over the next few weeks minor problems arose and were quickly handled by Mongoose and Colonel. Usually it was bickering over this or that, but nothing serious.

A week after arriving, Sergeant Dooley brought the Eagle warriors together and issued each of them a rifle, which were still packed in cosmoline, a thick grease. Over the next few days they cleaned the weapons, learned the functions of all parts, and how to change magazines. Safety classes were held, each warrior had to show he or she was able to take the rifle completely apart and then put it back together again, and have it function. They were taught how to load magazines, sight in their weapons and then finally the big day came to fire their rifles.

“Each of you will fire twenty-five rounds from your rifles. You will come forward one at a time and do as you're instructed.” Sergeant Dooley said as he paced in front of the small group. “The barrel of your rifles will always be pointed toward the target, or up in the air. At no time will you point it at a person. If you point your rifle in any other direction, I will knock you on your ass.”