Princess Rescue Inc (68 page)

Perry
snorted. “Well, something is better than nothing. I'm going to check on the
Sarge and see if we can accelerate the Alpha troop. I'd like to get two more
Silent Knight teams in the field tomorrow and another platoon of reinforcements
for the blocking force.”

Ryans
shook his head. “Not to mention gear and supplies to them. My department LT,
I'm working on it,” Ryans said and then sighed. “Oh well, back to the salt
mines. Later.” He waved as they parted. He rounded the corner to see Deidra
trying hard not to cry. He comforted her when he realized she heard what he'd said
about her father. “Stiff upper lip lass. I'm sorry about your dad but he's a
fighter, he may yet pull through,” he murmured. “For his sake and the sake of
your people you need to keep it together,” he said. Her shoulders tensed as her
fists clenched. He stepped back.

She
froze and then noted his concern and bit her lip before biting his head off
with an angry retort. “I know you're human, it's hard to not be,” he said,
trying to be supportive as he smiled to her. She nodded but didn't say
anything. They walked through the castle corridors together quietly.

<==={}------------>

“All’s
fair in love and war?” the Master Sergeant asked smiling. He'd heard about the
princess and Ryans walking together. He wasn't sure why Sue wanted this class
on first aid, but maybe she was right. At least it kept some of his people busy
and out of trouble.

Sue
snorted. “Something like that. You know it's a woman's prerogative to change
her mind,” she said, smiling sweetly. She gave Waters a challenging look as she
prepared her teaching material. At her insistence each of the soldiers were
going to be given a basic kit. Hopefully it would keep them or their fellows
alive until a medic could get to them.

He
snorted. “Yeah Doc, but it's a man's prerogative to try to get her to change it
back,” he replied. She blushed and shook her head.

“And
now that we've got that our of our system,” she said turning to the waiting
class. They stiffened to attention. She nodded. “Right. We're teaching all of
you first aid. The reasons are obvious but I'll run them by you anyway in case
you've forgotten. One, we want you to survive. Two if one of your fellows is
hurt we want you to administer basic aid and then help the medics or move on.
What we're going to teach you could keep them from bleeding out or losing an
arm or a leg or their life. Three this is the entrance course to becoming an
officer or a Silent Knight and its pass or fail. But more importantly it's your
life and the lives of your brothers and sisters in arms,” she said, tone
dropping in a growl as her eyes noted a pair of people in the back. “So pay
attention damn it!” she snarled at a kid who was turned away to murmur
something to another lad. The kid jumped and turned to her, sobered.

“Good.
Now that I've got your undivided attention,” she looked at Waters who looked
grimly at the lad. The lad gulped under that stern gaze, as did his partner.
“We're going to start with the basics. How to approach a victim, assess the
damage...”

<==={}------------>

“We
lost a man,” the Sergeant said coming into the room sometime later. He shot
Lieutenant Perry and Ryans a look.

“Have
a seat Master Sergeant,” Perry said pointing to a chair. He waited until the
grizzled noncom was seated before he tossed him a beer.

“Hell
it ain't even five,” Waters said, staring at the beer.

“Five
o'clock somewhere. By your looks, you need it,” Ryans replied, nodding to the
other man. He wanted to know who they'd lost. Another recruit most likely. He'd
have to let Max know.

“Yeah,”
Waters took a sip then sighed. “Least it's cold. Love in a row boat beer, but
it's cold.” He smiled then cocked his head to Ryans.

“Camper
fridge.” Ryans said smiling.

“Ah.”
Waters nodded.

“Who'd
we lose?” Perry asked. “A recruit? Or a lord's son?”

“No.
Worse,” Waters sighed and scratched at the side of his head. “Schneider.”

“Ah
hell,” Perry said, rearing back in surprise. “How'd it happen?”

“Raid.
Actually, it was the aftermath. Seems they got the objective, but during the
extraction they got made. Duluth loosed the
dogzards
. Those six legged
fuckers are insanely quick and damn nasty; I've seen them here in the capital.
We just got news of what happened, the crew didn't dare use the radio until
they were sure they'd shaken all pursuit. Jesse was in tears when she told me.
She caught me in passing and I came straight here.”

“Oh,”
Ryans grimaced. Perry gave him a look. “I saw a couple in the tour of the
stables. Nasty things. And those were just the garden variety hunting pets.”
Pets indeed, they were as big as a mastiff, large enough for someone to ride if
they wanted. Give a komodo dragon an extra set of legs, double its size, and
poison spines and you had a general idea of these things.

“Yeah,”
Waters sighed. “Got him from behind. Damn things are fast and agile. They can
climb trees and leap from tree to tree. Suppressing fire didn't work,” he said.
He shook his head and scowled.

“It
rarely ever does.” Perry sighed in answer.

“They
got the bastard, or so they said but a bunch of its friends came. According to
the report they couldn't get his body.” Both Ryans and Perry winced at the
thought of being torn apart, let alone eaten. Ryans gulped and downed his beer.
Yup, nightmares tonight, he thought bleakly.

“Not
my way to go,” Waters finally broke the silence with that and then sighed.

“Yeah,”
both men echoed thoughtfully.

<==={}------------>

Perry
grimaced as Galloway came in the door the next morning. “How'd it go?” he
asked. Galloway had just came back from the nearest mine. He'd been checking
each, overhauling their security detail and setting each up with mining
explosives.

“Better
than I thought. I got the idea to have a carcass with the explosives. The
miners took the hint when we blew it up and the body was torn apart. Least I
hope they did. We need longer fuses though. Maybe squibs?” he asked hopefully.

Perry
shook his head, “not anytime soon. And don't even try fulminate of mercury
percussion caps like Wanda's using for the ammo. That stuffs nasty,” Perry
shuddered.

Galloway
made a face. “Ew... That's bad. Okay, well they got the message, we sent out a
trailer full of gunpowder for them to use in the nearest mine. They've got
strict instructions to clear the mine before they detonate in case of a cave
in.”

“Ah.
How are you getting the explosive to work at all? I thought it would channel
most of the force right back out the bore hole?” Perry asked. He wasn't happy
about giving them gunpowder but they now had a glut of it. The oldest stuff was
being sent to the mines. Hopefully they'd switch completely over to smokeless
soon.

“Tamp
it with clay and rock or concrete for that matter. Give it a day or so to set
then let her rip,” Galloway answered taking a seat. He'd always loved demo,
he'd been bitten by the bug when he was a kid. His dad had taken him into the
mines once and it had been a blast. A blast literally.

“Good.
How are you feeling?” Perry asked.

Galloway
waved off his superior's concern. “Sore but I'm good. Doc's giving me a weekly
check up to make sure none of the stitches were pulled. I've only got a couple
left in me.”

Perry
nodded. “Good to know. We may have another job for you soon enough. Until then
can you help Max out with the powder works and the engineering projects around
the capital?”

Galloway
nodded. “Sure. Always loved getting my hands dirty. I prefer it any old day
over getting paper cuts,” Galloway grinned and stood. He came to attention and
saluted.

“Keep
the faith Lieutenant. Dismissed,” Perry said, nodding as he returned the
salute. Galloway did a smart about face and walked out.

<==={}------------>

Ryans
heard a noise and turned his head grunting as he pushed up from the floor. He
heard a gasp and caught sight of slippered feet. “Um...” he knelt and looked up
to see Deidra there, hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

“Sorry
princess,” he said, grabbing his shirt. He'd taken it off when he'd gotten
sweaty. Waters looked over to the intruder and snorted. He turned back to Ryans
and raised an eyebrow. Ryans shrugged, putting the shirt on.

“Shoulder
again sir?” Waters asked. Ryans nodded a choppy nod.

“You
should take it easy. You keep breaking stitches,” Waters sighed. Ryans for some
reason wasn't healing right. It might be the climate, but more likely it was
Ryans himself. The man kept moving and doing things and putting himself in
danger and taking damage. Waters had even odds with Paris that the hero was
going to get his stupid ass killed soon.

“Um,
I've got to go take a shower,” Ryans said passing the princess. Later,” he
said.

Her
hand had fallen to her throat. She turned, taking in his musky sweat scent and
then turning back to the class. She was dressed in her armor, ready for her
morning training. She felt warm suddenly, she knew she was blushing but it was
more than that.

“Sorry
princess, we'll be out of your hair in a few minutes,” Waters said as an aside
to her. “Just getting wrapped up here,” he said.

She
nodded dumbly, vision still cloudy. Ryans had looked good despite his injuries
on her behalf. He was looking better and better every day and she didn't like
that. She resented that he could do that to her so easily but she couldn't do
it to him in return. It just wasn't natural. “I'll um, wait,” she murmured,
going over to a bench near the wall. She felt with her hand as she backed up to
it, eyes still vacant as she sat and watched the men working out, and then the
sky and the guards around her. It took some time for her to shake off her fuzzy
thoughts and flushed warm feeling and get back to the here and know.

<==={}------------>

Art’ur
raged when he found out that the attack on the wall had been repulsed. He was
even more enraged when he heard the casualty report. Less than ten men had
escaped the ambush. Of course Wedst's cousin had survived, being in the rear
ranks to spur his men on. He glared at the man but knew he was untouchable. He
needed Wedst's support and killing his cousin in front of the man would instill
fear yes, but also rage.

Uuôden
was quietly concerned about the new weapons, these slug throwers the survivors
had reported. “Sling shots couldn't do such damage,” he rumbled softly, rubbing
his chin. “And a sling comes from above not in line with your enemy. More of a
crossbow bolt,” he mused, wishing he had been there to see for himself.

Art’ur
ordered a triple cohort to flank the wall and attack it, and a second cohort to
attack from the front. He turned his attention to the latest raid on his own
forces. He gloated over the use of the
dogzards
but was angry that the
beasts had only killed one of the interlopers. It would make the bastards much
more careful about coming around though. He'd offered a reward for their
capture alive but so far none had managed it.

“Order
the spies to set fires. I don't care about the risks,” he growled glaring at
Dominus Wedst. “I want them to slow this army the Imperium has been building. Set
fire to the fodder or to their food. No!” he stopped himself. What they were
after was food after all. “Set fire to the forges or other works. Not the food.
Make sure they know that!” he growled.

Wedst
saluted him but didn't say anything. When the King waved a hand to dismiss him
airily his jaw set and he walked out.

<==={}------------>

“I'm
surprised Duluth hasn't sent someone to negotiate yet,” Ryans commented. The
King nodded.  They had just received a surprise convoy from Duke Isamu
Sung that morning and all were gratified and relieved by it. Sung hadn't sent
more than two cohorts but he had sent gratifying amounts of tin, copper,
nickel, lead and fruit. He'd also sent along two wagons of medicinal herbs, all
processed and ready for use. The King had been gratified by the news. Sung's
daughter had been thanked by the royal couple a few minutes ago. She was here
in the capital studying and trying to catch a suitable husband.

“Actually,
I'm surprised by the lack of spies. It's not like he's got many bargaining
chips,” Perry snorted. “We've got the tech edge; he's got to have noticed it by
now. We've tried to keep our long range weapons under cover while we ramp up
production but some of what we've done must have leaked out.” He was fairly
certain King Art’ur had figured something different was going on after getting
reports of his men getting slaughtered at the pass.

“True,
and the plane isn't exactly a secret,” Max said dryly and then snorted. “I've
got compound bows in production now, with light bamboo arrows. It should double
the range of the bowmen,” he reported and then grimaced. He really didn't like
that, or the new crossbow design, he'd rather use rifles but they just didn't
have enough of them in production. “We're still ramping up production of the
rifles. We've got a rifling bench sorted out, and now that the chemists have
gotten their end sorted out we're gradually moving over to more modern rifles
and phasing out the muskets.”