Chapter 39: Counting the Cost

When I awoke I was a little confused for a second.  I sat up suddenly and looked around.  D'ar'Beth just turned her head away in amusement. 

I groaned as my body let me know that it was not happy with the amount of abuse I had subjected it to. It took me a few seconds to realise that not all the aches and pains were actually mine. We had bonded so closely in the Sword Dance that I hadn’t let go of it completely. After a little thought and experimentation, I realised that it was no longer something that I had to do consciously, but that it would now be a natural part of how I operated. I made a mental note to explore the ramifications later… the most immediate effect was that it seemed as if I had multiple pairs of eyes, hands and feet.

I stood up and took a step, before tripping over my own feet and falling down again. The sense of “expansion” of myself from a single individual to being part of a larger “group” would take some getting used to.

I got up again, and gingerly took a few steps. My head seemed to clear quickly and I could feel myself re-adjusting.

“[You’ll get used to it quickly enough,]” D'ar'Beth’s voice echoed in my head.

I looked at her quizzically, as I realised that there was something different about her. She seemed to be more than before.

“[What’s different about you?]” I asked her.

“[Nothing,]” she replied “[the real question is what’s different about you.]”

“[What do you mean? It’s just the Sword Dance that seems to have lingered?]”

“[No. It’s a lot more than that. You {taste} like a new hatchling.]”

“Hatchling?” I queried aloud, '”What the hell does that mean?”

“[It’s not important now. You need to focus on our immediate needs. When we are safe and secure, then we can have a long talk about what has happened.]”

“[I’ll hold you to that,]” I told her, still puzzled by what she had implied. In the background to her mental words I got the sense of what looked/felt like large wings sheltering a clutch of eggs. All I could relate it to was an eagle sitting on it’s nest.

I decided to follow D'ar'Beth’s advice and turned to the immediate situation. Now that I had had some time to adjust, I could separate out  what aches and pains were mine, and which belonged to others in the Finger. I made a quick check and realised I could pretty much disregard the various cuts and bruises on my own body. There were a few more serious wounds on some of the others though, with, I suddenly realised, a missing arm.

As I realised that, another realisation struck me. It wasn’t just my Finger with me, but that of Desrae, and it was her arm that was missing.

Chapter 38: Break Out

I sent D'ar'Beth a mental query, “[What now?]”.
“[There is something wrong with this whole situation. You cannot surrender,]” she answered.
S’Alor chimed in with a short “[Agreed]”.
For the first time since the battle started, I realised that I had given S’Alor no thought at all, and I felt vaguely ashamed.
“{Amusement}{Pleasure in the Hunt/Kill} [Watch for me. I will make a path for you,]” S’Alor added.
I shivered mentally at the sheer atavistic pleasure that came through the link to the large cat, and let the Finger know that they should be prepared to break out if the opportunity came.
We fought on for a few minutes, although it started to feel as if it was longer than that as our bodies started to tire. I felt a sudden lessening of the pressure from the one side and noted on my Mental Map that S’alor was approaching from that side.
A huge roar suddenly attracted the attention of the warriors facing us, and I smiled as I realised that S’Alor was making his presence felt. I pulled the Finger in tighter to me and we started moving in S’Alor’s direction.
It took some time and a lot of effort, but with S’Alor joining us, we eventually broke free of thick of the fight and started to run. There were a few individual pursuers, but we cut them down and broke completely free. Shortly afterwards, we were joined by D'ar'Beth, who emerged from behind a small ridge and fell in with the rest of the Finger.
“[Far enough,]” D'ar'Beth finally let me know. For the first time since the ambush had been sprung, I let the Sword Dance drop, and the fatigue came rushing in like the water breaking free from a collapsing dam. I managing to get the Finger to move into positions of all-round defence and then allowed my body to drop down onto the sand. I could feel that all my reserves had been burnt up and I wouldn’t be able to do anything active for some time.
D'ar'Beth examined me critically for a few seconds, then commented, “[Yes. You need the time to recover. S’Alor and I will keep watch. You rest and I will wake you in time or if anything happens.]”

Well… I’ve been away … :-)

For those of you who were wondering (all 2 and a half of you) why i haven’t been writing, it’s been a long stretch for me of real life interfering!

I was in the army for a while, first two months at Infantry School doing the Battalion Mortars Specialist course, of which a fair proportion was in the bush… and then on my return I took over as Alpha Company Commander for two and a half months, specifically to prepare the company for the combat readiness evaluation for deployment.

I’ve also just had the most delightful addition to my family, my third daughter Sophiah Rosanna, who has just turned one month old.

In between all that, my cell phone got destroyed and I lost what I had been working on…

Last, and by no means least, I have been scurrying around trying to earn a living… :

I just got a new notebook though, and I’m hoping to be able to start writing again.. so watch this space!

Chapter 37: First Battle

At first I couldn’t see it, but after a few seconds I felt a slight mental nudge from D'ar'Beth. The confusion of the fight clicked into focus and I started to see a pattern forming out of the chaos. The few seconds pause was sufficient, however, for the attackers of the column to charge us and while I was still processing the information, my Finger came into contact with a real enemy for the first time.

I found that while I fell instantly into the full gestalt of the Sword Dance, having D'ar'Beth joining in made me able to split my attention. I was multi-tasking on a level I had never thought possible, focusing on my own fight, managing the Finger in the fight as a group and also able to observe the broader battle and think critically about what was happening.

Our opponents were armed in almost the exact same manner as we were, with long swords, but their appearance otherwise was a little disturbing. They looked like men just like us, except that they seemed to be distorted somehow… there was something just not quite right about them. I couldn’t quite pinpoint the precise differences, I just knew that they were there.

We seemed to be very evenly matched in individual skill, but there were a lot more of them then there were of us. Within a few minutes, it became clear to me that our biggest advantage was in the fact that we were fighting as a true team, that the Sword Dance had added a qualitive advantage that was proving superior to their quantative one, and there were already a large number of our enemies who were clearly out of the fight while we had yet to sustain a single major injury.

The sounds and sights of this fight though were horrific, and I knew that the gruesome injuries that were being inflicted had the potential to haunt my dreams for a long time to come.

Those thoughts were somehow distant from my feelings though as I started to glory in the fight itself, the clash of blades, the physical exertion, the glory of the Sword Dance and the way that it was fast becoming the tightest bond that we had achieved yet.

Each member of the Finger was fighting the warrior to their immediate front,  and yet there was a constant situational awareness that allowed each one to act as the shield for their comrades to each side.

I was becoming lost in the immediate fight, until I got another nudge from D'ar'Beth, and forced myself to think about the larger picture.

The column had been ambushed from both flanks simultaneously, and now that I looked, it was obvious that they had built themselves hides by burrowing into the ground and emerging on some signal. It was still a puzzle how they had managed to avoid the mental probing that had become such an instinctive part of our Sword Dance as we built a Mind Map, but that problem would have to wait for a later time. I noticed though that the “dead spots” that S’Alor had pointed out might have been the indicators of their presence.

What had truely concerned D'ar'Beth was the fact that this battle contained an ambush within the ambush.

The column had been attacked from within its own lines and the main column had fallen back into the center where they were defending themselves fiercely, but there was an outer ring of attackers who were now emerging to press those of us who had been screening the column on the flanks, and we were about to be pinned between the two forces.

I contacted Hand Evans and Desrae and warned them about the danger, and then started trying to extricate Finger from the battle. Breaking contact was exceptionally difficult as the enemy warriors pressed us hard and moving backwards put us on the back-foot both figuratively and literally.

I started pulling the finger in from the flanks to create a circle rather than the extended line that we had been in and that seemed to help, although my Mind Map now showed me that we were definitely surrounded completely, and from what I could sense, there were very few of the other flanking Fingers who were still effective combat forces.

Our briefing during training had been that if we were ever in a hopeless situation, that we should rather surrender as the protocol was that prisoners would be stripped of their weapons and have to give their parole not to fight for a period of time. I was starting to think that this was what I was going to have to do, but at the first hint of this thought I got a very clear message of [NO!] from D'ar'Beth.

Chapter 36: Route march

Morning came too quickly. By the time the sun was visible over the horizon, we were on the move, my finger and Desrae's in the echelon left. We moved at an easy lope, although it was faster than I had thought I would be able to run before coming to War World. The support carts were left behind with a protection element to follow as fast as they could.

We ran on for a number of hours, while I examined the terrain we crossed with interest. We were moving across low rolling ground covered with grass and small bushes. Further out from the road, there was more sub-tropical vegetation with larger bushes and the occasional clump of trees. It was very difficult to see how any-one could ambush us without us knowing about it before-hand considering the way that my internal "mental map" showed me where there were people and animals anywhere within my range.

"[ D'ar'Beth]" I called.

"[Yes Rupert?]"

"[How is it possible that the rest of the Fight got ambushed?]"

"[That is the question that everyone has. Battle here is normally face-to-face with both sides knowing where the other side is. One of the reasons that I am along for this is that I need to confirm my suspicions about how that was possible.]"

"[Oh. OK. Do you think someone can hide their presence from us?]"

"[That shouldn't be possible considering the way that things were set up. If they can, then the problem is most serious.]"

"[Finger, listen.]" I broadcast to the Finger, including Desrae just for her information. "[Forget about detecting any ambush mentally. Time to think as if we were back at home. Use your eyes.]"

I got a acknowledgement from each member of the Finger and I could feel the general sense of awareness increase. S'Alor's response included a touch of 'teach your granny to suck eggs' which I just ignored.

As we ran on, I shifted into the Sword Dance state and pulled the Finger in with me. We had run like this a lot during our training and if felt almost comfortable to do so now. All of us were watching the terrain for any sign of an ambush, but the whole idea of someone being able to hide really irritated me. I had bought into the whole concept of these new mental powers, and yet the more we experienced, the less it seemed that they were going to really help. My mental map showed the column on the march and nothing except small animals in the area surrounding us, but I was now distrustful of that and watched the horizon formed by the rolling terrain as well as checking the tree-lines and looking for dead-ground.

We settled into the run at the higher level of awareness that I felt was necessary, and the miles rolled past under our feet. We paused every two hours to rest and to swap elements of the column around. My finger had rotated back into the main column, out to the right flank, back into the main column and then back onto the left as we approached what we were told would be our stopping point for the night camp.

I could feel the slackening of people's attention directed outwards as everyone started thinking ahead to resting for the night and was about to make a few pointed reminders, when something caught my attention.

Just ahead on the left of the formation, in my Finger's area of responsibility, I sensed that there was something wrong. As I focused on the general area, I called on S'Alor to see if he had noticed what I had.

"[Yes. There seems to be a dead-spot {here}]" he sent.

The area that S'Alor had indicated was right next to the trail, just short of where we were expecting to camp, and right where my Finger would have to pass. I sent out an immediate alert to the Finger and echoed it up the chain of command to Fist Ryan.

As I received an acknowledgement, all hell broke loose as a horde of some sort of creatures erupted from a covered trench and poured into our formation.

The shock seemed to trigger something in me, and I pulled the Finger mentally into a much tighter link than I had thought was possible. I was frantic at first as I thought that my people would be over-run, but as each fought their own private battles, it became clear that the attackers were aiming for the main column and essentially ignoring the screening elements as much as possible. In a few minutes, they were past my Finger and fully engaged with the main force.

I used every second of the respite that was available to me to pull my finger closer together, and once I had them all close, and had done a quick mental check on their state of health and injuries, I turned them all towards the main battle, fully intending to launch an attack into the rear of the attackers.

We were poised to attack, when I got a mental blast from D'ar'Beth, "[Stop Rupert. Wait]".

I couldn't ignore the imperative feel of that communication. It had an implicit expectation that it would be obeyed. I trusted D'ar'Beth enough that I pulled the Finger to an immediate halt and started scanning the battlefield to see what could have caused D'ar'Beth to stop us so precipitously.

Chapter 35 - Ambush

When I got to the HQ area in the center of the laager, I was very pleased to be able to greet the other Finger leaders that I knew; especially those that had been part of my training Finger.

Desrae and I stood together in companionable silence while we waited to see what was going on.

It didn't take long for all the Finger leaders to arrive, but Hand Evans was visibly impatient with the stragglers.

"All right people," Hand Evans began, "we're on the road at last. The delay in town was unfortunately necessary for us to make final preparations for the journey. I know that all of you have been wondering just what the huge rush was, and there have been all sorts of rumors flying around. The rumors have it half right. The fact is that the Fists of our Fight have been ambushed and decimated by an unexpected enemy force. Losing a tenth of their number forced them to retreat to a stronghold where they are currently besieged.

"After the initial ambush, the Fight has lost another two thirds of its strength, and they're barely holding on, waiting for the relief column, that's us, to arrive."

"The castle that they are occupying is some distance from here. At our current pace, it would take us about two weeks to get there, which we don't think is good enough, it has to be faster. We have no idea whether they can hold out long enough to wait for us and are concerned that either their food and water will run out or the defenses will be over-run."

Hand Evans paused to take a sip of water and took the time to look around the circle, meeting the gaze of each of us in turn. I got the definite impression that we were being evaluated against some internal checklist of criteria and that our taskings would be delivered as a consequence of that evaluation. I soon discovered that I wasn't far wrong.

Hand Evans continued on to explain that we would be leaving the support personnel behind with the wagons, and would move on foot as rapidly as possible. He then proceeded to issue instructions for the various fingers. I found that we were tasked with being part of the defensive screen.

The formation that Hand Evans chose was the main group marching in column of route, three abreast, with two screening formations in what I thought of as echelon left and right. This was basically two lines forming an arrow-head shape. My finger was assigned to the front left of the formation.

After Hand Evans had finished his briefing, I walked slowly back to my finger, chatting to Desrae as we walked. As it turned out, her Finger would be working with mine as the other part of the line. We decided that I would coordinate the two fingers and Desrae would keep an eye out on our back-trail. With those details sorted out, I filled Desrae in on the details of some of the strange things that had happened since we had last spoken. I didn't tell her specifically about the archery equipment, just hinted at it when I told her about D'ar'Beth's behavior.

"[What do you think she is, Rupert?]" Desrae asked, intrigued.

"[Funny you should ask it that way. What instead of Who I mean. Proves to me that you feel something along the lines of what I do about her.]"

"[Maybe I'm just picking up a {taste} from you when you talk about her?]" Desrae speculated.

"[Maybe. See what you think when you actually meet her though. What really intrigues me is that she feels as if she is much denser ... more ... than what see seems at first. On top of that, we weren't told about Dwarves or anything else like that, and there has been a serious lack of information on a lot of other important issues.]"

"[What issue is it that's really bothering you?]"

"[Well, this has all been really fun, and I've allowed myself to be swept along on the tide of events, but there are some fundamentals that have been skipped. It suddenly occurred to me during the briefing; what happens if you die?]"

"[Shit. That's true. No-one's ever told us.]"

"[That's not the only thing, but it is pretty crucial. I think we've been operating on the assumption that we were pretty much invulnerable. Reading between the lines though it seems as if those who died weren't miraculously resurrected, which is kinda what I had been imagining.]"

"[That's true. I think we need to keep concerns like that to ourselves though until we have answers we can give to our fingers, you agree?]"

"[Yes, definitely. Anyway, here we are. Let me introduce you around.]"

I called the Finger together and introduced them to Desrae before starting to brief them on what we would be doing as part of the march starting the next day. Desrae confirmed silently to me that she felt the same sense of 'more' about D'ar'Beth's mental presence.

Once I had briefed my Finger, I went with Desrae while she briefed hers. Once both were briefed, we split up again and I returned to my interrupted rest. I didn't have much time left before reveille and I wanted to get as much rest as possible.

Chapter 34: Column of Route

I had, as usual, a whole lot of questions that I wanted answers to. Also as usual, circumstances forced me to have to be patient before I got them.

I was hoping and expecting to be able to question D'ar'Beth once we were back at the Inn, but when we arrived there, we found Hand Evans and a number of the other Fingers all waiting for us.

D'ar'Beth sent me a quick message of “[Later]” before we split up to fetch our kit.

No more than ten minutes later, we were formed up in a column and moving through the streets of the port town. As we wound between the buildings, other Fingers came out to join us and by the time we reached the Eastern town gate, it looked as if everyone was there.

We passed through the gate under the watchful eyes of the Town Guard, and I got the very clear impression that they were very relieved to see us go. I didn't understand that as I assumed that in the event of an external attack, they would have welcomed the support that our assistance could provide. I figured that they were probably more concerned with having to fight against us, and in the close confines of the town, I could imagine that would be a very bloody and destructive fight indeed.

Once outside the walls, I noticed a group of wagons waiting for us. The were hitched to what passed for Oxen in this place, and manned by members of the "Elves"; related to those in the training center if their facial features were anything to go by.

As we passed them by, they swung into position in the center of our column, where we split up make room for them. I was soon clear that the pace of our march would be determined by the top speed of the beasts of burden; restricted to a crawl in other words.

It didn't take long to settle into the rhythm of the march. The road was fairly good: gravel, but very well planned. It followed the natural contours of the ground, winding around natural obstacles and staying relatively flat. Not that there was much variation in the terrain at first; the coastal lowlands stretched out for what looked like at least a days travel before we would start the climb to the escarpment, just visible as foothills on the horizon.

Once we were properly settled into the march, S'Alor ranging widely to the side, and the rest of the Finger walking in two files, one on either side of the road, I decided to tackle D'ar'Beth.

“[So, do you intend keeping me in the dark, or will you do me the courtesy of explaining the contents of that pack on your back?]” I asked her, doing my best to restrict my mental sending to the most private mode possible.

“[I can explain a bit, but not all secrets are mine to tell,]” she replied.

“[Please,]” I answered, “[tell me what you can.]”

“[This world was created to act as a battleground, just as you were told, and there were certain rules put in place to ensure that the battles here were manageable. You and your kind are very recent arrivals, and as far as what your kind has dealt with so far, they have told you the truth. The problem is that there are both remnants of previous waves of warrior races, as well as individuals of other races that haven't taken an interest before, who have started getting active again.]”

“[You mean like S'Alor?]” I asked.

“[Yes. He is a very interesting addition to the mix. I'm quite certain that you have no idea as to his true nature or stature.]”

“[I'm not sure I understand what you mean about that. It seems pretty clear to me.]”

“[Well, yes. That just proves my point. Your kind has been on War World for just about five hundred of your years and about one hundred in local time. War World itself has been operating for over ten thousand local years. There are lots of old secrets here, some right in front of you.]”

I looked at her when she said that, and saw she was grinning at me. I tried to sort through the various layers of meaning that I could sense lay behind that remark, and decided to stick with the most obvious.

“[So tell me about the archery equipment...]”

“[Have you ever tested the concept of the shield against anything?]” D'ar'Beth asked nodded when she saw my head shake. “[I thought not. I must admit to being a little surprised that you didn't follow up on your doubts, but only a little. What's happened is that your kinds battles have been limited. You have all bought into the same myths. If you are facing an enemy that believes the same things you do, then it's easy to perpetuate the myths. The reality is that the shields are vulnerable, just as the people who generate them are vulnerable. There are many ways that I could think of to crack the concentration of a Finger or Hand, or to take them by surprise, and then the arrows would have no barrier to success. The largest problem is this desire for set-piece battles. I get the sense that it appeals to your human sensibilities in some way. I think it's ridiculous, mere posing, although I know it has been very effective as a means to decide issues clearly for those using War World for its intended purpose. The problem is that things are changing.]”

“[Everything you say just calls up more questions. You refer to us as 'you humans' which confirms for me that you aren't what you seem, and the way you talk, I can't help thinking you are a lot older than you look. Why are you here, with us I mean as well as why you are on War World itself?]”

“[I'm one of those remnants I was talking about, and you're correct, I am a lot older. Just how much is something I'll keep to myself a while longer. I haven't involved myself with any of the conflicts for a long time.]”

“[Why now then?]”

“[Every so often, someone gets clever. They think they can manipulate events on War World to suit themselves, or even worse, to sell guaranteed results. Something of the sort seems to be happening now. That's why I'm involved.]”

“[But why with use, with me?]”

“[You haven't realised it, but you know that mental map of yours?]”

“[Yes...]”

“[When you get to a certain level of ... skill ... then the details on the map start to show you things ... Lines of influence, centers of power and sometimes, potential. You are one of those.]”

“[I'm confused. One of which?]”

“[A potential center of power. There is also a very interesting web of lines of influence building up around you. That's unusual to say the least. You've been here hardly any time at all, and you have met very few of the people with power, but a surprisingly high number considering.]”

I kept quiet for a while, mulling over what D'ar'Beth had told me. Being on the march left a lot of time for introspection, which I found I needed a lot more of here than I had at home. That was probably because I had to find my feet within a completely new frame of reference.

As we marched, I noticed that we had covered a fair distance, and the foothills had grown to be looming mountains on the horizon. The sun setting turned it into a chocolate box scene which I simply admired.

The command came down to turn off the road and we set up camp for the night. The wagons were circled to form a laager and sentry duty assigned with the minimum of fuss.

Each Finger was assigned a portion of the circumference where we had to sleep and guard. Once those details were settled, we ate the trail rations that were distributed from the wagons. We were forbidden fires and told to maintain silence. I got the sense that these were just drills with no real reason, which I could forgive as it was good practice for when it was really necessary.

I was already settled and ready to sleep, received a call to join the other Finger leaders for an Order Group meeting, so it was with some reluctance the I got up and headed for the wagons.

Chapter 33: Market

S'Alor decided that he didn't need the attention that he would receive going out into the town, so he sprawled out on the floor in front of the fire-place.

I was very curious to see what the town looked like, and to meet some of the local people. There had been no exposure to anyone other than the people we had been training with, and now the very intriguing people I had met at the Dragon's Wing Inn.

The first thing that struck me was that the town was clean. From my reading about the medieval towns in history, I expected it to really stink; with raw sewage in the streets and rubbish disposed of by dumping wherever it was convenient. The fact that this wasn't the case was a huge relief. There were a lot of very interesting smells, but these were from the various enterprises that we passed along the way. As we entered the market square, I was struck by the smell of spices and food, and our first stop was at a small stall that sold some unidentifiable meat 'in-a-bun' and I couldn't help having a quiet internal chuckle at the thought of what Terry Pratchett would say about that.

Once we all had something to eat, we started browsing through the market D'ar'Beth soon got impatient with us, and hurried us along. She led us down an alley that led off the market proper. All the shops and stalls dealt in weapons and armour in some form. I got side-tracked immediately by the various blades on display, and had to suffer D'ar'Beth's displeasure.

Suitably chastised, I hurried after her along with the rest until she turned into a dingy shop halfway down the alley.

I had to duck my head to avoid getting dinged by the various swords and maces hanging from the ceiling and it took a few minutes before my eyes could adjust to the poor light in the shop. A wizened old man was sitting behind a counter on a high stool, peering near-sightedly to see who had invaded his shop.

"Aah, D'ar'Beth So good to see you again," he exclaimed suddenly as he spotted her in the gloom. "What can I help you with today?"

"Well met Bathar. We are going journeying and my I want to set my friends here up with some of your speciality items," she replied quietly.

Bathar smiled at her then screeched at a young boy to close the door. Once he was satisfied that our privacy was assured, he clambered off his stool and a cabinet behind the counter. He reached in and pulled out something that looked like a bundle of rags. He laid it on the counter and unravelled the cloth to expose six finely crafted wood-and-sinew bows.

I was startled at the sight, as I had thought that there were no 'projectile' weapons on War World having believed what our instructors had told us.

"Those look beautiful Bathar. You have the arrows to go with them?" D'ar'Beth asked.

"Of course," Bathar replied, removing a larger bundle from his cabinet. When he unravelled that, it revealed sheaf of metal-tipped arrows.

"[Don't say anything until we are alone. Just go along with me for now, ]" D'ar'Beth sent to all of us. No-one had made any move to say a word, all of us being too shocked by this sudden revelation to know what to say.

D'ar'Beth negotiated a price quietly with Bathar, while I turned over this new development in my mind. If my guess about D'ar'Beth's nature was correct, she had been around for a long time and had a lot of experience. If she thought that we needed projectile weapons, then there must be a reason for it. I started considering how this idea fit into the information that we had received so far.

I had been uneasy with a number of the things that we had been told during training, and the concept of projectile weapons had been one of them. I had bought into the idea of the Finger generating a shield as part of the mental tools that we had learnt, but remembered being uneasy at the time about what would happen if someone did use weapons like these when we didn't have the shield operative.

D'ar'Beth finished up with Bathar and we all greeted him as we left the shop. D'ar'Beth was in much less of a hurry after that and we strolled around the market for over an hour, picking up some travel food and a few items that would make our lives more comfortable while on the road. These were mostly common sense, but one thing I hadn't considered was salt. D'ar'Beth and Greta both recommended that we each buy a large packet of salt as they said we would need it more than we thought and it wasn't easily available away from the markets on the coast. Greta pointed out that it was essential for preserving any meat that we hunted for ourselves, especially when it was not possible or wise to either stay in one place for too long or to build fires that could announce our presence in an area.

When I protested that we would be with the wagon train of the Hand, D'ar'Beth pointed out something that I should have thought of; that if we were used as scouts, we could be out of contact with the column for long periods of time. We bought the salt and a few other things and eventually made our way back to the Inn.

Chapter 32: Leaving the Dragon's Wing Inn

I slept very well that night. For some reason I felt safe and secure in the Inn, and S’Alor reaffirmed my feeling but wouldn’t go into any specifics when I questioned him. I got the very definite impression though that it had to do with the presence of D’ar’Beth. She was definitely more than she seemed.

I awoke refreshed, with a new energy and a desire to see what the day would bring. I only realized when I thought about it that the previous few days a weight had been building in my mind; a foreboding about the future. I wasn’t sure how or what it had lifted, but I was glad it had.

I got cleaned up and, after making sure the others were up and in the process of getting ready, went down for breakfast.

Greta was on duty again, and after greeting me pleasantly, went bustling off to get me my morning meal. The others trickled down one by one, and each seemed content to sit in quiet contemplation once they had all finished eating.

Just as I was starting to wonder whether we would be spending another day or two in the inn, the door opened and Hand Evans entered. He looked vaguely surprised to when I greeted him, and I was curious why when I had thought that he had come to the Inn to collect us, or to task us in some way. After greeting me, he went to the counter and spoke in low tones to Greta, stood and waited for a while. In a few minutes, Daffid came out from the kitchen area and the two of them chatted for a while in quiet tones. I was watching them carefully, as I realized that Hand Evans had some other business in the Inn, and after a few minutes of conversation he looked startled, and turned to stare at me. A few minutes later he left Daffid and came to join us at our table.

“You seem to manage to always be around when important things are happening Cy,” Hand Evans commented quietly, once he had taken the first sips of his warm drink. “How does that happen, do you think?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” I responded, and my puzzlement must have been convincing as he relaxed slightly and leant back in his chair.

“You have no idea?” he asked.

“No. All I know is that we were told to stay in this Inn over-night, which we did. Now I’m waiting for further orders. I thought that was why you were here, to tell the truth. Obviously that’s not the case.”

“Well, it wasn’t. That’s changed. Daffid tells me that you met with one of his other guests last night …”

“Yes. With D’ar’Beth. What about her?”

“She’s the reason I’m here. She has agreed to travel with us when we leave here. When we first requested her company, she refused point blank, but then she inexplicably changed her mind. Now I’ve been told that she will travel with you and your Finger.”

“Oh. That’s a surprise. Why with us?”

“She apparently approves of you. She’ll be accompanied by Daffid’s daughter, Greta. You are to treat them as guests, but also as part of your finger, if that makes sense.”

“No, actually, it doesn’t. I’m getting the idea that it doesn’t make any difference what I think about this though, what with you being so cagy. Isn’t there anything more you can tell me about her?”

“You can ask D’ar’Beth anything you wish. What she chooses to tell you is her business. It’s certainly none of mine. I would like to caution you though; be very careful in your dealings with her.”

“Oh, I’ll be careful all-right. I already realised that she is more than she appears.”

“More than you think,” Hand Evans replied enigmatically, then he tossed off the last of his drink and stood. “You have the rest of the day to get your stuff together. Do some shopping in the market and get what you think you need. We are getting all the logistics sorted out, and negotiating things like rights of way for our journey. We expect to be able to move out early tomorrow morning. You’ll get the call. Expect it soon after midnight. Ok?”

“Yes. That sounds fine.”

Hand Evans tuned on his heel and left, rather abruptly I thought, but then figured that he would have many arrangements to make so I suppose it was a little egocentric of me to think so.

Once he was gone, we sat around a while speculating on what we had just been told. Greta came over to our table to clear up, and I asked her whether she was ready to travel.

“I’ll have my kit packed and be ready. You won’t need to worry about me,” was her tart rejoinder.

Having been put firmly in my place by a woman, once again to S’Alor’s vast amusement, I decided that we needed to do some practice. I walked over to the counter and called Daffid to ask him if there was somewhere we could use, and he pointed me to a door to the Inn’s inner courtyard.

The Finger joined me and we started warming up. Within a few minutes, we were deeply into the Sword-Dance and I could feel that it had been a good decision, because it drew us together and energised us in a way as we flowed through the forms. After a while, I noticed that there were two others who had joined us, a little hesitantly at first, but quickly speeding up and integrating with the rest of the Finger. I noticed in an abstract way that it was Greta and D’ar’Beth. They didn’t know the exact forms that we were using, but had forms of their own, and I was able to push our forms to them easily enough.

Once we had worked through our normal forms, I picked up from great a tentative suggestion to use some of the forms she knew and I accepted gratefully, always keen to learn new things. It then became obvious that her forms were designed for a double-bladed axe, and had to be adjusted for our use with swords. It was quickly apparent why she had been a bit hesitant with our forms; she was wielding a pretty impressive axe and had been adapting our forms from the sword to the axe as she went along. I was very impressed, because that was not a trivial accomplishment, as I soon discovered trying to do the conversion in the other direction.

Greta was generous with her knowledge however, and I allowed her sense of her axe; the way it moved; what muscles she used to heft it; how she placed her feet and how she used her whole upper-body to make the axe sing through the air; suffuse the Dance and imprint itself on my memory.

D’ar’Beth was part of the Sword Dance, but she seemed to hold herself aloof. There with us, but rather as if she was an observer and not a participant. I got the feeling that she was quite amused with it all, although there was no malice; rather a sense of affection. She let nothing about herself slip into the union that we created, so we didn’t learn anything from her. If S’Alor hadn’t been so reassuring, I would have been very suspicious of her and especially of what her motives were.

Once we had wound down out of the Dance, I took the opportunity to examine Greta’s axe. It was a fearsome thing, but beautiful; beautiful in the way that good design is beautiful. The axe had absolutely no decorations on it whatsoever; it was simply a plain steel head and hasp, with a leather-wrapped handle. When I gave it a few practice swings, I could feel that it was perfectly balanced. Most of Greta’s forms were for slicing movements through the air, keeping the head of the axe moving at all times. The axe had a spike sticking out of the head though, almost an extension of the hasp, which could be used in a formidable stabbing attack.

After complimenting Greta on her axe, I turned to D’ar’Beth.

“I hear you’re accompanying us on our trip?”

“Yes, your leaders asked me to go along, and I didn’t make up my mind to join with them. I changed my mind after meeting you and your delightful companions,” D’ar’Beth answered.

I knew she was really referring to S’Alor. She didn’t seem to be too concerned about me questioning her, so I decided to push it a little.

“Why would my ‘leaders’ invite you along? I find the whole thing a little strange.”

“Oh, they know that I’ll contribute to the fighting strength I suppose,” she answered with a little smile playing over her lips.

I suspected that her reply had been a little disingenuous, but I got the sense that pushing any further wasn’t going to get me very far, and might actually cause problems that I didn’t need.

“Ok. I suppose we’ll discover more about that as we go. Is there anything that you need to do to get ready for the journey?’ I asked her.

“No. I’m ready. I would suggest though, if I may, that you ensure that you ensure you have provisions of food and water of your own and don’t rely on the Fight to provide everything for you. There are some stalls in the market which will supply you with some very good travel rations. Ask for ‘Way-Bread’. That’s good.”

“Ok, thanks for the advice. We’ll do so.”

With that, we all re-entered the Inn and I lead the Finger out through the main door to explore the town a little and search for the market-place.

Chapter 31: The Dragon's Wing Inn

Pushing open the door proved to be anti-climatic. The door opened directly into a common room, with a few tables scattered around. On the left was a huge fireplace, maybe better described as a hearth, and the fire burning there was obviously intended to roast what looked like some kind of pig.

"Obelix would like this place," Bridget commented, making me wonder briefly if she had developed an ability to read my mind.

On the left of the room, running the length of the wall, was a bar counter. We stood for a few seconds, allowing our eyes to adjust to the gloom before there was a disturbance in the bead curtained doorway behind the bar, which parted to admit a heavily bearded man.

I stared at him for a few moments without speaking because something about the way he looked struck me as just wrong.

"[He's a Dwarf]," Brad interjected, making me feel relieved because I hadn't been able to place what was wrong. As soon as he said that, everything clicked into focus for me and I realised that this was not like someone from Earth suffering from 'dwarfism', but rather someone who was completely in proportion, who was in fact a heavily muscled man, but was just short.

I had to take two steps towards the bar counter before I was able to see far enough over it to realise that the entire floor behind the counter was raised. The man, dwarf that is, was about four feet tall. The platform was raised far enough so that just over a foot of his height was visible over the counter. It was obviously designed to make it comfortable for him to work the counter.

"Good Eve to you, Gentle Folk, and welcome to the Dragon's Wing," he greeted us. Then I saw a look of shock on his face as he stared past me. "What in the name of the Goddess is THAT doing here?"

I turned to look where he was pointing and saw that it was at S'Alor, who was obviously interested in the smells wafting from the roasted pig, and had wandered out from behind the rest of us to investigate. When I turned back to the dwarf, I could see that his initial shock had turned to determination. He was now holding a double-bladed axe. I paused for a moment to admire it, while I considered what a formidable weapon it might make in competent hands, and the hands holding it certainly appeared to be competent.

"Sorry to startle you, but that is just S'Alor," I tried to reassure him, "one of our companions."

"A companion, you say? One of the new terrors of the forest. You certainly pick strange companions."

"Even so, that is what he is. We are here to stay the night," I said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "I have a letter here." I stepped forward and handed the letter I had been given to the Dwarf.

The dwarf seemed reluctant to relax his vigilance, never mind the death-grip he had on his axe, and shifted his gaze to me in a manner that told me that our whole party had been evaluated as being on probation. We might have stood there in that Mexican-standoff for a long time, but just then, a voice interrupted us.

"Oh Daffid, they are fine. The beautiful cat seems friendly enough. Why not put down your toy and welcome our guests properly?"

I whipped my head around at the first sound of this voice. I was utterly captivated: I had heard the phrase 'dulcet tones' before, and never really understood it. This voice epitomised it for me.

I had to hunt for the source of the voice for a few seconds, and then saw the hem of a dark blue dress that was caught by the light from the fire. Once I had that visual clue, I was able to make out a shadowy form standing on the bottom step of a staircase that I hadn't noticed. 'The staircase must lead to the upper levels of the Inn,' I thought to myself.

"Good Evening, my lady," I greeted the woman, "I must thank you both for you timeous intervention as well as your acceptance of my companion."

"It is of no matter," she replied matter-of-factly, "not everyone relies on outer appearance to judge character."

At first, I thought she was warning me that she would have some horrible disfigurement that she was referring to, but as I thought that, she stepped down and moved out of the shadows.

My first thought was how tall she was; a total contrast to the still muttering dwarf. At a guess, she was just over six feet and five inches. Tall in any context. She had honey blond hair tied up in two braids, one on each side of her head, and reminded me of nothing less than one of Wagner's Valkries. Her face was all hard planes and sharp angles and did nothing to detract from my first impression of her as the Über warrior women. While her long flowing dress was beautiful, and complimented her figure perfectly, I couldn't suppress a touch of disappointment that she wasn't dressed in some sort of Warrior Maiden's outfit, with a steel bra and a wisp of fabric around her hips.

"I'm sure you're right, Milady," I responded once I could reign in my thoughts and find my voice. "I am Cy Peters, and these are my companions," I said and proceeded to introduce them all.

“Pleased to meet you,” she said, “you can call me D’ar’Beth.”

“[amusement]” came from S’Alor.

“[What’s tickled you, S’Alor?]” I asked him.

“[What she said about ‘outer appearance’,]” he answered cryptically.

“[Oh?]” I queried him.

“[Later,]” was all I got in response.

“I will leave you to the tender mercies of Daffid. I am sure he can settle you in quite comfortably. Maybe once you have settled and relaxed a bit, we can have a chat,” D’ar’Beth said before gliding elegantly back up the stairs.

As I watched her disappear, I belatedly decided to take notice again of my mind map. It had finally started to recover from the sensory overload that the heavily populated town had provided. I looked to see whether I could follow D’ar’Beth and was not too surprised that there was something different about the way she looked in my map. She seemed to be a denser presence than any of the other people, and I decided that I needed to take note of what S’Alor had said about appearances. She was very clearly more than what she appeared.

I turned to Daffid, who had emerged from behind the bar counter, and asked him, “Who is D’ar’Beth?”

“She is who she is. What she is, is her own business which she will tell you or not, just as she decides. If you will follow me …” he replied.

“I shrugged and picked up my kit and followed Daffid as he led the way up the stairs. The rest of my Finger followed along behind me, peeling off in twos as Daffid allocated us rooms.

Once I had dumped my kit in the room I was to share with Brad and S’Alor, I made my way to the communal bathroom at the end of the corridor, where I was delighted to find copper baths supplied with hot water. Once I had bathed and put on clean clothes, I went down to the common room below.

As I descended into the room, I noticed that a few of the tables were occupied, and realised that people were probably gathering for supper and the evening’s entertainment. I selected a table near to the fireplace that I thought would accommodate the whole Finger. S’Alor accompanied me closely and slipped under the table, out of the way.

When Daffid noticed me sitting there, he waved at me and a few minutes later I saw a short woman approaching the table. She looked like a female twin of Daffid, so I guessed she was part of his family.

“Greetings, I am Greta Daffid’son, and I will serve you this evening. You can have the house soup if you wish, but the roast pork is the main meal we are serving this evening.”

“Thank you Greta, I think I’ll have the pork,” I answered her, “and my companions all the same as they arrive, please.”

“With pleasure,” Greta said and turned and left.

Chapter 30: Entering the Fray

As I gazed out at Port A'maine through the port-hole of the wooden ship, I couldn't help noticing the pall of smoke that hung over the town. The slight off-shore breeze suddenly wafted a sample of the miasma, created by bad hygene practices, past my nose.

I shuddered in disgust as the reality of a primitive city was brought home to me. I coukd hear S'alor's sardonic comments about humans who 'messed where they lived' as a subliminal refrain in the back of my head.

If it hadn't been for the bad smell, I would have thought the sight of the sprawling harbour town to be quite beautiful. The buildings shone in the late afternoon sunlight. It was the first time on War World that I had seen any evidence of buildings not created by the 'Elves', and if I had been watching a documentary, I would have thought that it was a recreation of a small European port from a millenium in the past.

The warehouses on the waterfront were prosaic enough, and the houses and other buildings that sprawled up the gentle slope of the hills surrounding the harbour were pretty much as I had imagined they might be. The one glaring ommission, however, was any form of church or temple. There didn't seem to be any evidence of religious buildings, and I decided that I would try to find out about religious practices as soon as I could.

Brooding over the town, at the summit of one hill, was a large building that I tagged in my mind as 'feudal castle'. From a distance, I could already see that there were a number of differences from the many castle remains I had seen in Europe, the most glaring of which was the glacis and ramparts which had been designed to resist attacks from cannons. Their lack told me that projectile weapons were definitely not a part of this world.

While I had been wool-gathering, the ship had been moored to the dock and the sailors now extended a gang-plank.

"In your Fingers and Hands, disembark," came the call. My first thought was to keep my Finger together, and S'Alor was part of the finger in my opinion, so I called everyone else in the finger together and we made our way up the ladders to the main deck.

Once there, I looked around for S'Alor and spotted him on the starboard gunwale, near the gangway. We moved over to join him, pushing cross-stream through the rest of the Fingers.

I felt a sense of relief to be back in physical contact with S'Alor, a feeling that he mirrored, as there had been a low-lieing anxiety that the sailor's fear of him might transform into an attempt to harm him where I wouldn't be able to jump in to assist in his defence.

We waited about ten minutes before our turn to disembark arrived, and I used the time to discuss what I had observed so far of the harbour town with the rest of my Finger. All of them agreed that the less time spent in a town, the better, if the terrible stench was any indication of the normal state of affairs.

As we walked down the gangway, I was momentarily worried that it would break under S'Alor's weight, but he sent me a quiet reassurance, which set my mind at ease.

We disembarked onto a pier that extended about four hundred meters out into the harbour, and I was very interested to see the different ships moored there as we walked past. It seemed to me that they were primarily cargo vessels, although it was difficult to make out what they might have carried. My nose was no help in this situation, having gone on strike for better working conditions, and my mental map was a bit confused with the large number of people in this new place.

As we left the pier, Hand Evans was waiting with directions for each Finger Leader. When I looked at the piece of paper he handed me, I saw that our accomodation was fairly nearby.

I followed the directions, noticing as we walked that the streets were practically deserted. I only saw three people the crossed our path in the whole time.

I finally spotted the sign of the Inn, a stylised wing, which matched the name I had been given: 'The Dragon's Wing'. A little apprehensively, as I had no idea what to expect, I pushed open the door and stepped inside.

 

Part Two

Part One is now over. Cy and friends have completed their training and have a fairly good grasp of their abilities. They have been a little surprised with the emergency mobilisation and Cy at least is a little uncertain about whether what he has learnt is all true. There have been some hints that all is not as it appears, and questions about their taskings have been avoided or answered only superficially. As we rejoin the story, Cy's fist has just arrived at the harbour on the mainland...

Chapter 29: Mobilisation

Alarm and mobilisation

I woke up to the sound of a general alarm. We had gotten to sleep very late the night before and I could feel that I hadn't had nearly enough sleep yet. I dragged myself out of bed and out of the barracks and met up with everyone else streaming onto the parade ground. It was still dark, with just the slightest touch of light to warn that dawn was approaching. By the time the entire Hand was formed up, Hand Evans was standing and waiting impatiently.

  "Shut up and listen," Hand Evans shouted. Everyone got quiet very quickly. "We have just got news that the fight has run into trouble. They are besieged in a city on the mainland continent. We are going to have to cut your training short and go to their aid. The cadre and Finger Leaders will meet with me when you are dismissed, the rest of you start packing. That is all. Dismissed."

  I was stunned. Our second phase had lasted just five weeks, the first three concentrating on fighting together as a Hand and then, after our three day break, we had done lots of maneuvering and drills to get us accustomed to the various possible tactical situations that we might face.

  I hurried with the others to the mess where an impatient Hand Evans was already locked in furious discussion with some of the cadre.

  "Right, everyone here?" Hand Evans asked. He didn't pause for the answer but just continued, "The situation is as I outlined it out there. For now ignore that, we will have some time during the journey to go into more detail. For now we have to concentrate on movement orders. You Knuckles are now officially Finger Leaders. This is no longer a pool of replacements for the Fight, but rather a Fighting Hand. I will remain as Hand Leader, the Cadre members will form part of my tactical HQ and will be available to assist you if necessary. I want you to return to your fingers and ensure that you have your kit packed and ready. We leave an hour from now. We will be heading for the transit base on the coast where we can trans-ship to the mainland. Any questions?"

  There were none. Everyone could see that it would be a bad idea to waste Hand Evan's time.

Travel

Two hours later we were on the road. We were all loaded down with a full load of gear and moving at a pace somewhere faster than a walk and slower than a run. It was that heavily loaded shuffle that the British Army calls 'tabbing' although slightly faster than that. We had set out from the camp along a pathway that down-river for a short distance before crossing the river at a ford and then turning East.

  Once we were settled into the journey, I had time to think about other things.

  "[Desrae, how're you doing?]" I asked.

  "[Fine thanks Cy. Feeling strong.]"

  "[No, I didn't mean that. I was thinking that I got the strong impression that Hand Evans was panicked.]"

  "[You don't say {sarcasm}]"

  "[Hey. {spank} {smile}]"

  "[{smile} Yes, I did find it strange that he was so ruffled. I have no idea why there was such a rush. Apparently it will take us some time to get to where the Fight is, so I am sure we could have taken a bit more time to make sure we had everything we need.]"

  "[A bit of a better briefing would have been nice. I am a little concerned about how he reacted. There are to my mind two possibilities; either there is something more serious than we know so far, or he is not a good commander. One of the first lessons I learnt about that was that if you panic, the men around you panic.]"

  "[He came damn close to panicing though, didn't he?]"

  I could hear my doubts about Hand Evans reflected by Desrae. It didn't reassure me in the least. I reached out to all the other Finger Leaders and checked on how they were doing. They all reported that they were doing fine physically, but all were to a greater or lesser extent worried about what was happening although it was only Lian who specifically said that he was worried about a commander who couldn't hide his panic from his subordinates. We all agreed to keep checking with each other.

Transit

It took us almost two days to get to the coast. We ran all day from sun-up to sun-down, stopping to camp on the bank of a river overnight without even bothering to build temporary fortifications or latrines.

  When we reached the coast just after lunch-time on the second day, it was to be greeted by the sight of a harbour built of stone. There were a few small buildings which turned out to be housing for the permanent staff at the harbour and a long low barracks-type building, which we discovered was for the use of ship's crews that were moored in the harbour. There was a small tavern which we were told was off limits to us as we would not be staying long enough to have time off.

  We were directed to a field and told to wait. I took the opportunity to inspect all the members of my Finger, making sure that their feet were OK and that they still had all their kit. While I was doing that, S'Alor appeared out of the undergrowth and joined us.

  After a wait of about an hour, we were called to board a large ship moored in the harbour. I was fascinated as it was the first time I had been on a fully rigged sailing ship. I didn't get much chance to rubber-neck though, as we were directed down to the lower decks pretty quickly and told to stay there, out of the way of the sailors.

  Once out of the harbour, it looked as if we were going to have a problem with sea-sickness, until I managed to move my Finger into battle-mode and focus their attention away from the problem. While we were doing that, I found that two of my Finger members had problems with their inner-ears, both as a result of child-hood infections. I helped them to focus their bodies healing abilities on the problem and our sea-sickness problems disappeared.

  We were at sea for about three hours. The sun was low on the horizon when we were told that we were about to enter the harbour on the mainland. It was a town called Port A'maine. All I could see out of the port-hole was what looked like warehouses that butted right up against the wharfs.

  Hand Evans spoke to all of us, telling us that we would be put up in the town over-night while arrangements were made to travel the next day. There were dire warnings about what would happen to anyone who got out of hand.

Chapter 28: Doubts

"Are you alright Cy?" Desrae asked.

  I was a little startled. I had been so deep into my thoughts that the heightened situational awareness that I had developed since arriving on War World had deserted me.

  "Sorry Des, just thinking about something."

  "Yes, I can see that silly," Desrae said sitting down next to me. We were on a large rock upstream from the jetty and I had been staring out over the water. "What's got your knickers in a knot?"

  "Do you think everything is coming too easily?" I asked.

  "What do you mean?"

  "I was just thinking that from the time we were recruited, we have been processed like mince being fed into a sausage-maker. I get the feeling that the powers-that-be have been more surprised at the fact that we have broken the mould than at what we have actually achieved.'

  "Hmm, that doesn't mean it came easily?"

  "True. What I meant though is that we have no real evidence that what we are doing is the correct thing. I keep thinking of things that worry me."

  "Like what?"

  "Like the shields. You know we have practised with the Fingers and the Hand generating shields?"

  "Yes. That was a little scary until we saw the stones the cadre threw bouncing off."

  "Yes, but the mental shields are no real use in close combat. We have to rely on members of the Finger defending each other, and on the use of the parry dagger."

  "What would you like to see then? Are you saying that you would prefer to have proper shields?"

  "Well ... sort of. It's just that I am a bit concerned about what would happen if we had any significant casualties, what happens when the integrity of the Finger or Hand is broken?"

  "Sort of like you did with the thrown dagger in our fight against Lorraine's Finger?"

  "Yes. I overheard a number of comments after that fight. A lot of people seemed to think that throwing the dagger wouldn't work because the shields protected a finger from projectile weapons."

  "That's just silly. They should realise that it only applies to arrows and things from further away."

  "Why should they realise that Des? It's what we were told ... but it was part of the dogma, not something that seemed to occur to anyone."

  "And what do you think that means?"

  "I think that things are stagnated. No-One is thinking beyond what they have been taught. I should never have been able to orchestrate the defence of a Finger like Lorraine's considering that they have so much more experience of actual battle than us. What is more important for me though is that while we have been doing this training as a Hand, I keep seeing ways that we could be attacked and defeated."

  "Really? But what about the comments from Hand Evans and the way that he has given us this three day break in training as an award?"

  "That's just it. We have done all the drills perfectly, but I spent enough time in the army before to understand the difference between drills and combat. It is easy enough to 'win' each and every battle during training when there is no enemy to confront you, and something else completely different when you are opposed by a real opponent... in fact just having trouble with the weather or terrain can mean that you can be defeated by an inferior force. What worries me even more though is that the way that we are starting to mesh now as Fingers and as a Hand means that we are starting to think that is the only way that we can fight."

  "Have you discussed this with anyone yet?"

  "Only with S'Alor."

  "And? What does he have to say?"

  "He just appears to be vastly amused by everything, but I get the sense that he agrees with me about our vunerabilities. He just isn't really talking about them. I also think that he is willing to do stuff only up to a point, after that it seems that he expects me to figure stuff out for myself."

  "Sort of like a parent hey?" Desrae said with a smile.

  I looked at her and smiled back. She had an uncanny knack for knowing just how to cheer me up.

  "I have been on an incredible learning curve here," Desrae continued, "I never served in the military before so all this stuff is new to me. I thought that the training was pretty fantastic and comprehensive. What am I missing?"

  "Well, if I had to relate the way that our role has been described to us, I would say that it is analogous to that of shock infantry, but if I look at how we are armed and configured, I think it is more suited to that of skirmishers or for reconnaissance. Something more like the 95th Regiment of the Rifle Brigade in the Peninsular Campaign."

  "Oh. I think I know something about that. You mean like Richard Sharpe?"

  I laughed out loud at that. "You have read the Sharpe novels?"

  Desrae looked a little sheepish. "Yes. What of it?"

  "Just surprised is all. I don't know why though, I've noticed from other things you've said that you had a fairly catholic taste in books."

  "Sometimes you read what is available. I must say that I didn't pay attention to everything in stories like that; I just focused on the main plot and read it for pleasure."

  "Well, you are absolutely correct. Just like the Green Jackets or like the Roman Velites."

  "But how do you think someone could defeat us?"

  "I think we have lots of vulnerabilities. One of the most glaring to me is what would happen if the leaders were removed."

  "You mean us Finger Leaders?"

  "Yes. And the Hand leader."

  "I'm not sure. I would have to think about it a bit, but off the cuff, I would think someone else would take over."

  "Mmm. Who? That is one of my problems. I was so enamoured by the whole romance of this thing that I never thought about it properly before now. You know that there are a lot of reasons why the armies where we come from are structured the way they are with essentially a two-tiered system of Officers and NCOs. One of those reasons is so that there is a clear separation between Command and Management, but for the purposes of what I have been considering, the more important reason is so that there is someone who can hold the fort if the officer is taken out. The platoon or company can continue, at least for a while, quite happily if the officers are taken out. This structure is too flat, with very few commanders and no way for any of the subordinates to step up and take command."

  "But there is a structure," Desrae protested, " the knuckles can take over the Finger and the senior Finger Leader can take over the Hand."

  "No. That isn't exactly what I meant. We are training to fight as integrated units, and the implicit reasoning is that any injury is only temporary, because of the way that we heal. I learnt a very important lesson early on in my military career. We were involved in a war in a large, sparsely populated area where the Corporals were given command of their sections for long periods of time with only infrequent contact with their chain of command, and everyone knew that they could do his job if he was taken out. That extended up the chain with everyone training one or two levels above his rank. Here, if the leaders go down and are not returned to action rapidly, then the entire unit loses it's effectiveness."

  "I know that my husband used to talk about the Corporal's War in Namibia so I have some idea of what you mean. I am not sure quite why that is so important though?"

  "It's just an uneasiness I have. Let's do some what ifs."

  "Ok. Like what?"

  "Let's say that all of us Finger Leaders were to get together and have supper one night, and someone put a sleeping potion into the food, then as soon as we fell asleep, they attacked the base. What do you think would happen?"

  I watched while Desrae thought about that and saw various expressions chase themselves across her face. She was silent for a long time, while I stared out at the moon shining on the water.

  "I think it might be a bit disastrous" Desrae said eventually.

  "Ja. We are training to be the Phalanx, the heavy infantry, so there is little need for individual thought, but we are not armed for that without shields. It also feels to me like the Russian philosophy of centralised control. Works wonderfully when it works, but tend to prefer ability and decision making, right down to the individual solider. Means you can be more flexible and adapt faster to changes when the plan inevitably dissolves in the face of the enemy..."

  "What do you think needs to change?" Desrae asked with a worried frown.

  "I would do it differently if I was in charge. But then I don't have experience of the wars here, so I might be completely wrong."

  "Hey, how about you forget about that for now and come back to join the rest of us? We still have two days to relax before starting the next phase of training. Maybe we can discuss this a bit more and think it through."

  "You're right. I suspect there is still lots I need to know. Sorry for neding your ear by the way."

  "I did ask what was bothering you. There are some people who care for you you know."

  "Thanks Desrae. I appreciate that more than I can tell you."

  "No problem. Let's see whether there is any of that home-brew left."

  "Sounds good to me."

Chapter 27: Lectures

I hadn't realised juts how tired the swim had made me until we had been running for a while and I found myself flagging. It took some concentration on my body and some concerted effort before I felt my body starting to adjust again as it flushed all the toxins. I {tasted} how the rest of my Finger were doing, and when I saw that they were battling as much as I had been, I did the same for them as I had done for myself. We eventually completed the run back where we had started at the big rock, and S'Alor took himself off into the bush when we started swimming. It was a lot easier this time, both because all the warriors in my Finger now knew how to swim and because it was down-stream back to the base. When we got back to the base, Hand Evans dismissed us for brunch.

***

After brunch, all of the 'knuckles' were called aside by Hand Evans while the rest were formed up and started to practice normal sword drills in formation under the cadre's watchful eye.

***

"Knuckleheads," Hand Evans began, "we are going to start teaching new concepts, drills and formations to you, so that you can teach them to your Fingers. The schedule to start with is going to be PT in the mornings, then a lecture for you after brunch at 10h00 till about 14h30. After that you will have time to instruct your Fingers until 16h00. Supper is from 16h00 to 16h30. You will then be able to work with your Finger on drills and problems experienced during the day stopping at 20h00. After that you have personal time with lights out at 22h30.

"There will be no formal inspections of the Barracks, but be aware that you are responsible for them and that means that the punishment is yours if they aren't spick and span. I suggest you hold your own ad hoc inspections to ensure that we never have trouble about this.

"Depending on how things go, we will switch to a night program where everything will be reversed. Yes Desrae?"

"Hand Evans, how will we know that things are on schedule?" asked Desrae.

"We will tell you," Hand Evans answered. "When we determine that you are up to scratch, we will schedule a break and then start the night phase. When that is completed, we will have an evaluation and then we will look at a few possible specialisations. Please understand, our normal schedule for this first day phase is four weeks minimum. We suspect though that if you can get your 'Sword Dance' technique to work for you, you might be able to progress slightly faster. From what I saw of the hair loss earlier, I suspect that won't be any trouble at all... "

Everyone laughed at that.

"Right, lets begin with the order of march when crossing hostile country" Hand Evans launched into his lecture. I had to pay very careful attention to what he said because I had come to realise that a lot of what I 'knew' from my previous military experience could get me into trouble. I had to remember that there were no mortars, patrol or otherwise, to provide a quick response to an ambush to to assist in breaking contact. There were no fire-support missions or casevacs, no transport vehicles to handle logistics and no battle-taxis, or Infantry Combat Vehicles. Everything here was done on foot at the pace that the warriors could move. The essentials were the same, the same principles and concepts, I just had to remember that the assumptions based on motorised or mechanised infantry had to be re-evaluated and thought through in the light of the current situation.

Hand Evans introduced us to the concept of the 'Tactical Decision Exercise" and told us that as we progressed, we could be presented with a scenario at any time and have to come up with a solution on the spot. This was tied initially into the broader concept of the way that the Hand would move and fight, so there was very little scope for individual Finger decision making. The one place where this was different was in the skirmish line. When the Hand was moving tactically through hostile terrain, one of the Fingers would act as a skirmish line a short distance ahead of the Hand, and if they hit contact, their job was to delay the attack for long enough for the rest of the Hand to prepare for battle. One of the other Fingers was responsible for protection of the HQ element. The HQ element would be where any odds and sods would travel with the Hand, to ensure that they didn't interfere with its smooth running. Depending on the terrain, there were various formations that the Hand could travel in. Generally in forested or bushy areas, this would be with less seperation between individuals. Finger formations would generally be line ahead or a 2-up-T formation. Each Hand would be close enough to at least one other Hand so that they could provide support in need. For more open terrain such as desert or savannah, the formations would be a lot more open and dispersed, concentrating only for obstacle crossing and to confront a mutual threat.

With this very broad outline, we were dismissed to join the rest of the Hand for us to start working with them as Fingers.

My first priority was to teach my Finger the Sword Dance, and in the process start to bind them into a unit that would think and act together. I had readlly struggled on the swim and run to do any more than to maintain contact between the members of the Finger. There was certainly no team as there had been with my original Finger.

I started off by going up into Battle Mode and then pulling the Finger up with me, then I began on the simplest sword drills, one after another until they started to flow together into the beginnings of the Sword Dance. When we reached this point after about an hour, it was as if I had broken through a brick wall. After that it started to go a lot faster as I didn't need to do quite as much controlling, but could rather just 'show' and have the Finger members pick it up with less and less direct control from me.

By the time 16h00 rolled around, the Finger was performing pretty well. i could see that it was still going to take a lot of working together to get the fluidity and control that I had come to expect, but it was a solid start that could be built on.

I had considered dropping in instruction similar to the way that S'Alor had shown me how to push instructions to their bodies to lose their hair and modify their characteristics, but I was feeling guilty about that. S'Alors cavalier attitude had crossed over to me and had influenced me to feel the same way about it that he did. If I had thought about it first, I would never have done what I had without at the very least obtaining permission first. I thought that it smacked of mind control or domination and it was a violation of privacy that I would object to strenuously if it had been done to me without my permission. I also considered that it would be more efficient in the long run for the warriors in my Finger, and others, to learn how to take this sort of instruction with the least amount of interference with their minds on the part of the instructor.

***

After supper, I got together with the other knuckles and we decided to do a Sword Dance of our own. While we were busy with that, I explained my thinking about the mental instruction and the rest agreed that we needed to ensure that we started out on the moral high ground, so that as we developed this further those who came afterwards would have a good example to follow. We also agreed it just made good sense to act morally.

While we were busy, we also shared our impressions and memories of the lecture that we had received from Hand Evans. I found that this was extremely useful as it helped me to commit what we had learnt to memory and there were things that each of us had missed that one of the others had picked up on, so we filled in each other's blanks in this way. During the Sword Dance, S'Alor joined us mentally, and he had some pithy and pointed comments to make on the practicality of quite a few of the things that we had been taught.

***

This set the schedule for the next few weeks activities. Every day we followed Hand Evans' program and learnt like crazy from what he and others had to teach us. At the same time, we were teaching others what we had learnt which tended to force us to think about it and remember it. There is nothing that teaches you a subject like having to teach someone else. After two weeks of this, I felt that my Finger was fully competent, just having to have a few sharp corners smoothed, and I was starting to hope for something a little different and challenging.

***

Blog: War World Map

I have been playing with the idea of having a map of War World. My mapping skills are a little... rudimentary to say the least. Here is a first attempt.

For those of you wondering, the reason the base is on an island is to seperate the training from the "real world" envirionment of the main continent.

If anyone wants to make a stab at doing something better, let me know and I will send you the original .psd file. 

Blog: Explanations

Compulsive re-readers of my story who possess an eagle eye would have noticed that S'Alor is now described as a Smilodean NOT a Simian. I NEVER intended to suggest that he had any monkey features... :-)

Some words and phrases that have been queried:

1. Cadre - Training team (pronounced card-ra)
2. Sand-Box - Normally Iraq (aka Down-range)
3. Paras - In this case "The Parachute Regiment"
4. P-Course - more properly P-Week, the parachute selection and training course in the British Army
5. RIFd - Reduction in Force (made a verb). i.e. made redundant/fired
6. IED - improvised explosive device

BoonDock

Chapter 26: Swim

Once I got Brad sorted out, we could pick up the pace a bit. I could feel that the swimming was using my muscles in a completely different way to running and fighting had. I had known that being swimming fit was different to being running fit before, but with my new awareness of my body that came with the Battle Mode I was able to see the difference in detail. As we swam, I started working on adjusting my body to compensate for the strain that the swimming was putting on it. I could see though that the warriors in my Finger were not able to do anything like that. The changes to their bodies were still at the involuntary stage that I had experienced during the run on my first day on War World. I thought about that a bit and decided that I could ask for some advice.

"[S'Alor, can you hear me?]"

"[Yes Cy.]" S'Alor gave the feeling that he was sleepy and a little grumpy at being woken up.

"[Sorry to wake you, I just wanted to ask you a quick question. Is it possible for me to teach the members of my Finger how to control their bodies a little better?]"

"[No. You are their pack leader so you can do it for them. {image/explanation}. Now leave me to sleep.]"

S'Alor dumped a fairly complex concept in my mind which took some time for me to unravel. If I understood him correctly, I could guide the process in the members of my finger in the same way I had done for myself. I decided to be very, very circumspect in what I attempted with this because I didn't want to do anything that would be dangerous to them. I picked on the shaving thing as a good place to start, because even if I messed up, it was no big deal. According to S'Alor, once we were in battle mode with me leading the gestalt, I didn't even need their permission. I thought carefully about the way that I got rid of my hair, and reached out to the Finger and gave a {push} for them to lose theirs. There was an immediate chorus of confusion and shock.

"[Cy, What's happening?]" called Bridget.

That didn't surprise me at all. She had just lost her mane of blond hair after all.

"[Sorry Bridget, and the rest of you, I just got rid of your hair for you.]" I told the Finger.

"[That was the strangest thing,]" Bill chipped in, "[I could feel all of my hair falling out and washing away. Did you get rid of everything?"]

"[Yes. We are all hairless for now. It is fairly easy to speed up hair-growth later on if any of you wish, but I thought that for now it is better this way. I am going to make some other changes so don't be too surprised]"

"[{agreement}] came from all of them.

I thought carefully about the next bunch of changes I wanted to make. I started changing each of them one by one, basically slimming down all of them and optimising their bodies for both endurance and strength. By the time I had finished, we were at the rock that Hand Evans had told us about so we all climbed out of the water. I felt energised as I always did after being in battle mode, but once we were waiting at the rock, I dropped us out of battle mode. I examined all the members of the finger and I was truly amazed at what I had been able to accomplish. I had thought that being able to change myself was a rush, but this was way beyond that.I could see that a fair number of the changes had happened already, but I knew that some of them would take a bit of time to happen. One of the more obvious ones was that I had decided that we should all be the same height. I had tried to change us all to be six foot two, but that hadn't happened yet. The most obvious change was the absolute lack of hair on all of us, but the change in physique was also readily apparent.

Desrae's finger had got out of the water a few minutes before us and she had watched us arrive.

"[Do you have some sort of fetish for hairless women Cy?]" she asked me with barely suppressed mirth.

"[{amusement} I just did that as a first step and as a test. I also think it will be good for hygene.]" I was a little defensive, but took her teasing as a sign of her affection.

"[How did you do that Cy?]" Desrae asked so I explained it to her and to the others in the same way that S'Alor had explained to me, along with a few more detailed mental images.

It was hilarious to watch as suddenly all the hair started falling off the members of first Desrae's Finger and then, one by one, the rest of the Hand.

Just as this was happening, Hand Evans and the rest of the cadre arrived at the rock. I was watching Hand Evans' face and got to see his face when he noticed what was going on. It was very amusing to watch him struggle to get his face under control and try to pretend that he was completely unsurprised.

"Right," he said. "If you lot are quite finished playing silly buggers, let's take a run. This is going to be part of our routine every morning from now on. We will swim the two klicks from the jetty to here, run about twenty klicks on various different routes ending back here, then swim back to the jetty. In your fingers, by number, follow me."

I got into line directly behind Hand Evans with my Finger with me and we set out. We hadn't gone more than a klick when S'Alor was running silently next to me.

"[You gave me a fright S'Alor. I though you were sleeping?]" I greeted him.

"[I wasn't interested in swimming. I like to run.]" was his very curt reply.

"[I didn't see you on my Mind Map. How do you do that?]" I asked him. This was something that had been puzzling me for a while.

"[Practise. Like this {image/explanation}.]"

I tried to figure it out. It seemed that it was simply a technique that was an extension of the situational awareness that being in Battle Mode gave me. All I had to do though was to integrate myself so thoroughly with the envirionment that I was invisible so much as people would overlook me. I tried to do this and S'Alor just laughed at me.

"[It will take you some time to practice that. I'll tell you when you get it right.]" he told me.

I had to content myself with that. I took the Finger up into Battle Mode and I concentrated on practicing 'I am a rock, I am a bush' while we ran to the constant under-current of S'Alor's amusement.

Chapter 25: New Finger

I moved my kit from the Barracks room that we had used the previous night across to the Finger One Barracks. This was a move from one side of the semi-circle to the other, from the furtherest East to the furtherest West. My new barracks was right on the bank of the river. I stood in the door and waited to see what would happen next.

After a short while the Cadre Finger Leaders started sending warriors out to the different barracks; I could hear them calling names and then see the warriors leaving the formation to return to their original barracks, collect their kit and move to their new homes, just as I had done. Three warriors came to my new barracks to collect their kit and move out before the first of my new finger arrived to join me. As he walked up to the barracks carrying his kit, I tried to guess what sort of man he was. He was tall, somewhere over six feet, and very bulky. I couldn’t tell whether this was a hold-over from his previous build or not, but he looked as if he was a typical body-builder with an extreme development of his muscles. As he came up the stairs, he looked at me without saying anything, until I realised that he was waiting for me to clear the path into the barracks. I moved aside and let him in. When he had dumped his kit, I was waiting on the ground in front of the barracks and I asked him his name.

"I’m Bradley," he grunted and came to a stop next to me. We both watched as the rest of my new finger straggled in one by one. It took about ten minutes for the rest to gather. Once the last straggler was there, I looked them over.

"My name is Cy Peters. Being appointed as a ‘knuckle’ to a new Finger has been a huge surprise for me, so I have probably just as little idea what to expect as you do. I think we should spend some time introducing ourselves while we wait for more information. I come from Durban in South Africa and I was in the Army there. I saw combat in Angola and Namibia at section level in Motorised Infantry, and then later on as part of a Mechanised Battalion Group near the Lomba river. I was a reserve force soldier for twenty three years, doing time in the army for between thirty and ninety days every year. My last deployment was as a company commander on peace keeping operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, although there wasn’t all the much peace to keep up in the North East where we were. Before I joined up for War World, I was the battalion training officer. You might recognise me from the Combat Competition. Brad, what about you?"

"Bradley Commons. Called Brad, not Bradley," came the surly response. I was British Army. Got to Staff Sergeant and they kicked me out. Wouldn’t let me stay in for my thirty years cause I wasn’t a Sgt Major. Did a few tours in Ireland, one in Aden. Latest was a tour to the Sand-Box."

"Thanks Brad. Next?" I asked of a short wiry man.

"Jeremy Ellis. Jerry to my friends. Originally from Kenya. I was the son of British expatriates and I volunteered for the British Army and ended up doing the P course. I instructed for a while on secondment from the Paras. Did a combat tour in Cyprus fighting the Greeks. I got out after my five years but found I was getting bored on my Dad’s farm, so I signed up with Mad Mike Hoare. Did two contracts with him in the Congo. After that I had had enough soldiering, so I bought a farm in Rhodesia. I was in the BSAP there and did a lot of tracking. I have been retired for a long time now and was living in Mooi River."

"Interesting. Seems we have eaten some of the same dust," I said with a smile. "You didn’t live that far away from me either. Next?"

"That’ll be me." The voice came from a woman around 5’8" in height with a close-cropped head of brown hair. "I’m Shelly Booth. Grew up in Chicago. I have no military background, but I know weapons and fighting." The last was said with a touch of defiance.

"I would be interested to know where you learnt about those Shelly?" I probed gently.

"I ran with a gang," came the succinct reply.

"Ok. Makes sense. That’s Brad, Jerry and Shelly. Next please?"

"Bill Riley. I did twelve years in the US Army. My last tour was with the 10th Mountain in the Stan."

"Light Infantryman hey? Carry light, Sleep Cold." I grinned at Bill. "What rank?"

"I left as a Sgt. Up or Out got me RIFd".

I could see that there was an incredible amount of resentment there. Bill had the classic American soldier’s build; heavy in the arms and shoulders.

"OK. And you?" This was to the last member of the finger. A short, blond, Barbie type.

"I grew up on a farm in Wyoming. Lived around horses and did pulled my weight but I got sick of being the butte of Dumb Blonde jokes. I decided to take the opportunity when it came up. I lost one brother to Desert Storm and another to an IED in Iraq just last year. I figured that if they had been alive, they might have liked to take advantage of this opportunity, so I came in their place. "

"OK. You didn’t tell us your name?"

"Oh. Sorry. I am Bridget Amory. Folks were of German stock."

"Ok Bridget. Thanks. Right. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s try something else. How far did you guys get with the mental side of things?"

I watched them while I asked this question. I had been surprised to see that all the men had beards and mustaches, so I guessed that they had not got quite as far along as I had with my old Finger.

"[Can you all hear me?]" I asked when I got only a few mumbled responses. As it turned out, they could all hear me, but they could not send at all. I had to pick up their replies from their minds, rather then having them send it back to me. After a little observation, it was obvious that their mental development was sorely lacking.

"[Finger Leaders,]" I heard Hand Evans calling, "[Take your new fingers down to the Jetty. We are going to start out with a bit of a swim. When you are there, swim up-river till you reach a large rock {image} on the left bank. The rock is about two klicks upriver. Get out of the river, and wait next to the rock.]"

"[Can everyone swim?]" I asked the Finger as we walked rapidly the hundred meters or so to the jetty. All of them said they could so as soon as we were there, I dived into the water with the Finger following. Two klicks was a very long way to swim to my old way of thinking, and the last time I had swum that far was when I competed in the Midmar Mile a few years before. I had experience now though of what my body was capable of here on War World.

I started out at a very slow pace, doing an easy breast-stroke while I checked on my Finger. They were all OK except for Brad who seemed to have progressed as far as doggy-paddle before deciding that was all he needed to know about swimming. I realised that I had automatically moved into the meditation state, and I was at first surprised that the rest of the Finger hadn’t followed me in doing so. I suddenly felt the other ‘knuckles’, the members of my old Finger, as they also entered the state we had used for the Sword Dance, so I reached out to them.

"[Are you guys doing OK?]"

"[Yup,]" Desrae replied, "[although it looks as though our Finger was something special. This lot {image/taste}]"

I laughed. Desrae’s image showed a bunch of drunken slobs falling around and vomiting on each other.

"[It’s not that bad.]"

"[Almost. We need to get these guys as much up to speed as we can Cy. Interacting with them has made me realise we are already light years ahead.]" Desrae’s scathing tone came through clearly.

"[Agreed. Why not start by seeing if we can get our Fingers into the ‘battle mode’ first, then we can see if that helps us with teaching them the other stuff we know?]"

"[{Agreement}]" came back from all four of them.

I reached out to my Finger "[I want you to follow me in your minds.]"

As I got each person’s attention I started guiding them into the battle mode state. I started with Brad as it seemed to me that he had the most to benefit from learning how to do it. While I was struggling with him, we were swimming at a snail’s pace. This didn’t worry me too much as I could see in my Mind Map that there were at least three Fingers that were having problems and were proceeding slowly. It took me much longer than I had thought it would, but eventually the whole section had managed to move into battle mode. Once they were there, I started pushing swimming techniques at them. The change in Brad was startling. He learnt from this process very quickly and the section started moving at last with a fairly rapid over-hand crawl. As we swam, I started trying to confirm my initial suspicions that the warriors that I had been given had barely scratched the surface of the potential of the mental aspects of what I had found available. I checked with Desrae and the others and they were adamant in confirming my thoughts. I decided to move this up the chain a little and contact Finger Roberts. He very quickly confirmed what I had suspected. He explained to me that the real forging of a Finger normally happened in battle where the bonds between the members would be created under extreme stress. it was only after this first battle that we were supposed to really start coming into our mental abilities as we fed off the synergy from a bonded Finger. He pointed out to me that we had been an aberration, which was why they were experimenting with placing us as knuckles to see whether we could use our abilities to short-cut the process.