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.