Against the Tide

Chapter Twenty-three

“You’re insane!” Edmund snapped.

“Maybe, but Megan just saved your life,” Sheida pointed out.

“He was going to use cyanide,” Edmund snapped. “In my coffee. I hate almond in my coffee, it’s nearly as barbaric as hazelnut. I would have smelled it. And I need every carrier, Sheida.”

“The Hazhir is closest,” Sheida said, definitely. “Detach it to pick up Megan and anyone else she wants transported. Do it now, Edmund. That’s an order.”

“Damnit!” Talbot snarled. “Okay, okay. Will do, my Queen. This is going to get people killed.”

“Edmund, we have an additional Key,” Sheida pointed out. “Which means no more depending upon the Finn for low-margin votes. That will keep people alive. Send the message. Or do you want me to?”

“You,” Edmund admitted. “It will be faster and less prone to intercept or confusion. I’m going to be busy anyway, trying to figure out how to survive with a third of my combat forces gone.”

“Major Herrick,” the messenger panted as she threw open Herzer’s door. “Skipper wants you right away. She said to run.”

“Look, knock or something,” Herzer said, rolling out from under Bast.

“Sorry, sir,” the female messenger said, going red and then pale and shutting the door hastily.

“Why me?” Herzer asked, throwing on his clothes. As he did he heard a cry of “All hands! Stand by to go about!”

“I don’t know,” Bast said, leaning her cheek on one fist and making a moue. “Hate all this military stuff. Do this. Do that. Go here. Go there. But you’d best run.”

“Sorry,” he said, as he tucked in his shirt. He leaned over and gave her a kiss, then hurried out the door.

He took the lower deck corridors, which were filled with running figures as the crew poured up on deck, and then realized that the messenger hadn’t specified where the skipper was. He pounded down the officers’ corridor and gestured with his chin at the skipper’s door.

“Skipper in there?” he asked the marine sentry.

“Yes, sir,” the marine replied. “You’re to go right in.”

Herzer knocked and entered the room at a bellowed: “Enter!”

“You sent for me, ma’am?” Herzer asked, stopping in shock at the sight of Sheida Ghorbani’s projection. “Majesty?” he added, bowing.

“We’ve been diverted,” Skipper Karcher said. “Her Majesty asked that you be present for the briefing. Your Majesty?”

“Call me Sheida for God’s sake,” Sheida said. “Paul Bowman is dead. The girl who killed him took his Key and escaped to the castle of the Clan McClure in Gael. She has requested that she be extracted by carrier. You’re the closest.”

“Good God,” Herzer said.

“Sit, damnit,” Skipper Karcher said. “You look like you’re about to fall down. We’re…” she did some mental estimation. “We’re at least three days’ sail from the west coast of Gael if the winds hold. And there’s a Destiny carrier somewhere up there. They’re probably closer.”

“That’s why I’m only telling you two,” Sheida pointed out. “She also has information that New Destiny can overcome personal protection fields. I want to make this clear. She is to be protected. Use any means necessary. Get her to safety. She has some other women with her, I’m not sure how many. Pick them up as well as anyone else she wants transported. Protect her as you would me.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Skipper Karcher said. “Where are we picking her up?”

“Here,” Sheida said, summoning a holographic map and pointing to an inlet on the west coast of Gael. “The area is near the battle lines with New Destiny. And if they get wind of where she is, they’ll go for her with everything they have. This goes no further, understand?”

“Understood, ma’am,” Herzer said.

“Have you already changed course?” Sheida asked.

“Before Herzer got here, ma’am,” the skipper stated.

“Okay, here is some additional information,” Sheida said with a note of distaste. “The girls are from Paul’s… harem. He considered it a ‘breeding program’ but the first term is closer to reality. Herzer, I know that you have background in rape trauma. This is going to be the same and… different. I’m not sure what you’ll be dealing with, but Megan is probably going to be a little odd at first. Deal with it.”

“Bast is here, ma’am,” Herzer pointed out. “She was one of the first ones to counsel Daneh. She’s very good. She knows what she’s doing in situations like that.”

“Now that’s the first good news I’ve had in a while,” Sheida said with a tired smile. “Other than the fact that we have an additional Key. Well, that’s the orders.”

“Are we to sail directly to Norau from picking her up?” Karcher asked.

“I’m… not sure,” Sheida admitted. “Edmund really doesn’t want to lose you. We’ll have to decide that later. For now, pick her up then head in the general direction of Newfell Base. Oh, the invasion fleet is headed for Balmoran. I’m sending them a warning.”

“Balmoran?” Herzer said. “Rachel is there.”

“Oh, bloody hell,” Sheida said, then disappeared.

“Oh, now I’m supposed to put on my ground commander hat?” Edmund said. “Evacuate the civilians.”

“It’s one of our biggest cities!” Sheida snapped.

“And it’s big enough that it’s indefensible,” Edmund replied with a sigh. “If you won’t evacuate, send messages to have them build breastworks around the whole thing, if they have time. If they don’t then tell them to get the hell out of Dodge. I’ll deal with the invasion as soon as I’ve dealt with the fleet. The ground forces are to stand pat and delay Paul’s forces. My staff has the plans on that one. Second Legion’s in place, First will move to block them from passing up the river. There are defensive positions already prepared. Some of that ‘useless defense money’ we’ve been pissing away.”

“Edmund, we have to try to hold Balmoran,” Sheida said. “That’s important. There’s too much invested in that town. We can’t see it all destroyed.”

“They won’t have time to destroy it all,” Edmund said. “Trust me on this. Burn quite a bit of it, yes. Maybe loot some if we don’t trash their ships, yes. Destroy it all, no.”

“Rachel’s there,” Sheida pointed out.

“I know,” Edmund replied, his jaw flexing. “And she’s a medico with the combat forces. She’s not eligible for withdrawal.”

“That’s… rather cold,” Sheida said.

“She’s my only daughter,” Edmund said, as cold as arctic ice. “I could have sent her back to Raven’s Mill, where the townspeople know that a decent militia is a good idea. Where there are walls building. Where the cream of the Blood Lords would have been there to protect her. I sent her to Balmoran instead. That is for me to live with, Sheida. Understand?”

“Yes, I do,” Sheida said, quietly. “How long until this is all over?”

“Years,” Edmund said. “But if you mean this particular campaign?” He thought about it for a moment. “Seven days. It doesn’t really start for two more.”

“Doctor Ghorbani?”

Rachel looked up from the chart she was annotating and nodded at the duty nurse to wait a moment. The young man on the bed had a face that was twisted with pain from his broken leg. He had fallen from a scaffold and broken his femur. At least that was what the chart said. The only problem was that he was complaining of pains from his hip and lower leg as well. He was in a large cast and it was impossible to examine the rest of the area. Not that there was much she could have done for a broken hip, but the ankle or leg could have been set if the PA on duty had waited to fix the femur until he was conscious.

She noted that it might be necessary to rebreak the lower leg and then patted him on the shoulder.

“I’ll give orders for an increase in pain medication,” she said. “In the meantime just try to rest.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the boy said.

She nodded at the duty nurse and walked down to the end of the ward. “Yes?”

“We just got told that Balmoran is where the orcs are coming,” the nurse said nervously.

“Well, I guess we’ll have our work cut out for us,” Rachel said as calmly as she could. “I’ve upped Robertson to ten milligrams of codeine; make sure that the other nurses check his chart before they administer it and get him another five milligrams now.”

“Yes, Doctor,” the nurse said.

“Our job is to fix people,” Rachel noted. “Let the soldiers and sailors worry about where the damage is going to happen.”

Megan looked at the walls for a while after breaking contact with Sheida, pinching her nose and furrowing her brow in thought.

“Baradur, do you know where the rest of the women are?” she asked.

“Yes, mistress,” the bodyguard said.

“We need to go there.”

Without a word the man stood up and opened the door, stepping through and checking the corridor. One of McClure’s soldiers had been stationed outside the door and Baradur nodded at him as Megan stepped through.

“Where are the other women?” Megan asked the soldier.

“In the women’s quarters by the kitchens,” the soldier said. “The laird said that you were to stay in the turret, mistress.”

“We’re going down there,” Megan replied. “You can lead.”

“Mistress, the laird said…”

“Well, we’re going down there,” Megan replied, smiling thinly. “And you are going to lead. If the laird has a problem with it, he can bring it up with me.”

“Yes, mistress,” the soldier said, turning down the corridor.

He led her in the opposite direction from the main hall at which Megan looked over her shoulder and frowned quizzically at Baradur. The bodyguard just nodded and gestured down the hall.

She hadn’t realized until this moment what a knife-edge she was riding. In the harem she had, more or less, understood the dangers. But here, in a the castle of a group of unknown, and unknowable, loyalties, she had to wonder just who she could trust. Even after reaching Norau she would have the same problems. Ownership of a Key gave the user a great deal of power, power that was desirable to just about anyone in this post-Fall world. She automatically had told the soldier to precede her but it wasn’t until they were walking that she realized she didn’t want him behind her. She had to wonder how much of that automatic paranoia was from her recent experiences and how much was from her father. And to wonder how much of it was valid. Their reception had been surprisingly friendly and the castle, despite the laird’s own paranoia, seemed secure.

On the other hand, it was easier to follow the young man than to take directions if he was behind her.

They turned down a side corridor and entered another narrow spiral staircase. Baradur grabbed a torch just as they entered the black maw of the doorway so she could partially see where she was going. The stairwell could best be described as “dank” and she wondered at the amount of slime that was on the walls.

“Can I ask a question?” she said as she slipped the second time and bumped into the young man in front of her.

“Yes, of course, mistress.”

“I’ve been in historical castles before; they were never this…”

“Worn?” the man laughed. “Mistress, there are nearly a hundred people packed inside these walls. That many people in an area like this leads to all sorts of nastiness. We’ve had people come down with fungal infections. And there’s nothing we could do, even if we had the time, about stuff like this mold. Cleaning these steps would be a job for bleach. Do you know how to make bleach, mistress?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Megan chuckled, “I do. But I take your point. For that matter, I know some medicinal chemistry. I’m not sure if I should leave.”

“Mistress, if you could help that would be great,” the guard said, his voice curiously muffled. “But you need to get to somewhere decent as fast as possible. This is no place for a council member. You can do us much more good presenting our case to those bastards in Norau that don’t lift a finger to help us. We’ve been fighting Paul’s forces almost since the Fall and the only help we’ve gotten is from the Finn, who just told the New Destiny bastards that they can’t use power.”

He turned as they reached a mostly empty storeroom at the bottom and looked her in the eye.

“I don’t know at what point the Finn will decide that we’re not ‘neutral,’ ” the young man said, shaking his head. “But I don’t really care. When you’ve seen one of your best friends dying from not having a decent doctor it’s hard to care about ‘the big picture.’ We need help, mistress, while there’s anyone left to help.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Megan said. “While I’m here and when I’ve gotten to Norau.”

“Thank you, mistress,” the young man said, gesturing to a door on the far side of the storeroom. “This way.”

“How many people have you lost?” Megan asked as the soldier opened the door.

“I don’t really know,” he admitted. “More guys trickle in from further up the highlands all the time. Right now we’ve got about thirty fighters here at the Clan and Innes has about a hundred. We had about eighty at one point. Some of them got killed, some drifted away. We don’t hold a boy that’s seen the war and decided it’s not for him. He’ll find someplace in the hills and make a farm and send us what he can. But if he hasn’t the stomach to stand the orcs then I don’t want him on my shoulder.”

In the next room there were a few people sleeping, most of them women, girls really, two of them curled up with a young man about the age of the soldier. The others were curled up with each other, huddling under fewer blankets than there were bodies. They tiptoed through lightly, trying not to wake any of the sleepers.

The next room was well lit with torches along the walls and a dying fire in a large fireplace. From the utensils lining the walls, the large kettle in the fireplace and the tables, Megan suspected she had found the castle kitchens. And most of the girls from the harem were there. As she entered conversation stopped.

“I take it there’s some problem?” she asked, looking at the faces. Shanea was standing with her arms folded next to an older woman Megan didn’t recognize. Amber was on the other side of the woman with most of the girls Megan had brought arranged in a semicircle opposite the trio. Mirta was standing off to one side, watching. In addition to the “girls” and some women that, from their clothing and mostly angry expressions she suspected were native to the castle, there was a tall, incredibly tall, woman who appeared to have fully functional wings.

“Megan, it’s bloody freezing in here and they tell us there aren’t enough clothes or blankets to go around,” Ashly said, angrily. She had her arms folded as well and Megan suddenly realized it was less a defensive stance than against the cold; she was still wearing only the brief clothing she had been wearing in the escape and she was shivering in the cold. Despite the fire that had, apparently, been burning in the fireplace, the room was bitterly cold. Megan realized that none of them were wearing more and she suddenly felt uncomfortable in the heavy fur robe that McClure had thrown over her shoulders.

“From what I’ve seen it’s true,” Megan said, taking off the robe. She immediately felt the biting cold of the room and regretted the gesture. But she didn’t put the robe back on. “You should look in the next room.”

“Mistress Travante, I’m Flora McClure,” the older woman said, stepping forward with her hand out. The woman was small and slender to the point of emaciation. “Jock’s wife. For some reason he didn’t think we needed to be introduced,” the woman added, acerbically.

“I suspect he’s going to regret that,” Megan said with a grin. “Look, Ashly, the rest of you, I had planned on going to Norau. That didn’t work out. We’re here and we’re damned well not going back. If any of you think you’ll be better off with the New Destiny legions, from what I hear they’re no more than a half day’s walk.” She looked around at the girls and then snorted. “That’s what I thought. We’re here. Until we can get picked up we’re going to have to make the best of it. Now, Flora, what can we do to help?”

“There’s not much we can do, now, about clothing and blankets,” Flora said, shaking her head. “We make sure each of the soldiers has a blanket and their cloak; they’ve often got to fight out in the wet and sleep out in it besides. But we only have the wool to make cloth with, and not much of that. We shear in the spring and what we get then is it. Most of it is woven by now and it’s all in use. I’ve scrounged up a few blankets by taking them from other women; now they’re without. I’ll see what I can find in the way of clothing in the morning. That cloak you have Jock traded for and it’s the only one like it in the castle; there aren’t many fur-bearing animals up here in the highlands.”

“We’ll manage, Megan,” Amber said. “We’ll sleep in a pile with as many blankets as Flora can scrounge.”

“This is going to kill my baby,” Vera said.

Megan noted that the baby had been wrapped up in scraps of wool and shook her head. “Flora, can the pregnant women and the ones with children, at least, be put near a fire?”

“They can, but we can’t keep it burning all night,” Flora sighed. “We’ve got to cut the wood by hand, you know. And the wood gathering parties have to be protected from raids by the Changed. I was going to put them by the fireplace; it will stay warmer there longer. But we can’t keep the fire burning.” She paused and shrugged. “Most of the women sleep in here anyway; it’s warmer than just about anywhere else.”

“This is warm?” Ashly snapped.

“Yes, it is,” Flora said, giving her a hard look. “Especially the stones right around the fire. It’s a privilege to sleep by the fireplace in Castle McClure, missy. One that we’re ceding to you, as guests. Just as we’re not making you wash up from dinner, tonight. But tomorrow night, I don’t care who your friends are, you’re by God going to help or you’ll be put outside the walls and find out what real hardship is.”

There was a murmur of agreement from the women gathered behind her and Megan grasped Ashly’s arm as the woman opened her mouth to retort.

“Ashly, a moment of your time?” Megan said, smiling in a friendly manner as her fingers closed on a nerve point in the woman’s upper arm.

“Sure, Megan,” Ashly said, grimacing.

Megan drew her aside far enough away that she might not be overheard.

“Ashly, we’re dependent upon these people for the next few days, until a ship comes,” Megan whispered, fiercely. “And they don’t have any more to give. Bitching about it isn’t going to get us anything but problems. And if you make enough problems I’ll let them pitch you out in the snow. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Megan, but listen to me,” Ashly said, her face working as she tried to marshal her thoughts. “These people have been living in this for years. They’re used to it. They don’t like it but they can survive it. We’re not used to it and I’m not sure we can survive it. There is such a thing as dying of hypothermia.”

“Like she said, huddle up together,” Megan replied. “I’ll try to get you all close to the fire.” She paused and then nodded at an inner thought. “I can expend some energy, enough to make sure that the babies and the pregnant women stay warm. If I can figure out a program to use. But quit bitching, okay? We’ve got to work the problem, not make new ones. And, tomorrow, we’re obviously going to be put to work. Make sure that the other girls don’t decide that’s beneath them, clear?”

“Yes,” Ashly sighed. “I almost said I wish I was back in the harem. But I don’t. I didn’t like being there, either, Megan.”

“It will be better when we get to Norau,” Megan promised, then frowned. “One question, are you having problems with the men?”

“Not since the scene in the hall,” Ashly said. “I think they’re petrified of you.”

“What the girls want to do is up to them,” Megan said. “But it’s up to them. Let them make up their own minds. I doubt that Shanea would blink at sharing a blanket with one of the soldiers.”

“I’m not so sure,” Ashly said with a grin. “They really smell.”

“I think we’ll get used to it.” Megan frowned. “I need to talk to Flora now. Work the problem, Ashly, don’t be one.”

“Got it.”

“Flora,” Megan said, walking back over to the group, “Ashly makes the valid point that we’re not adjusted to this temperature. Nor are we dressed for it. I’m going to expend a small amount of power to make sure that none of them go into hypothermia. But we’re going to need to get more supplies. Do any of the surrounding clans have spare material?”

“Not much,” Flora said, frowning. “And I hadn’t really thought about the fact that you’re not used to it, although the clothing was pretty obvious.” She made a grimace at that and Megan had to drown an angry reaction.

“We didn’t choose how we dressed,” Megan said, admitting that they did but not the general form. “What I was thinking is that I have a small amount of power that I can expend. I could probably do something for the other clans if they could come up with some blankets and clothes. Anything would be preferable to this,” she added, gesturing at her own clothing.

“Agreed,” Flora said, glancing at the soldier that had accompanied Megan to the kitchen who was discreetly eyeing the wide selection of female flesh on display. “If for no other reason than to keep the young bucks from rioting.”

“That too,” Megan said, frowning. “Given where we’ve just come from I’m going to put this as delicately as possible. Bed the babies and their mothers by the fireplace. The rest of you snuggle in as close as possible and use all the blankets that we can get. But if any of the girls want to share a blanket with one of the soldiers, I’m not going to raise any fuss. As long as it’s the girl’s choice.”

“I won’t mind,” Shanea said, winking at Megan’s escort.

“I’m on duty,” the young man replied, blushing. “But… I get off in a couple of hours.”

“Well, I don’t know about getting off,” Shanea said with a grin, “but we might see what can be arranged.”

“Behave,” Megan said, frowning. “It better be clear that it has to be willing bedding and I will have the balls of anyone that takes advantage.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Flora said.

“I’m going to bed here,” Amber said, her face working. “I think I’ve had all of men I can handle for a while.”

“That’s settled then,” Megan said, wiping her face. “Flora, is there somewhere we can talk? I know it’s late…”

“No, not a problem,” Flora said. “The rest of you get some sleep, early day tomorrow. Earlier than you’re probably used to.” She gestured at the cloak that Megan had set on one of the tables. “Take that.”

“They can use it down here,” Megan protested.

“Be damned,” Flora said, definitely. “Take itÑwhere we’re going it’s colder.”

Megan put the cloak back on and then, trailed by Baradur and the soldier, followed Flora out of the kitchen and up more of the interminable stairs and down corridors until they reached a small room. It was set up as an office and it was pretty clear that it was Flora’s sanctum.

“You two can wait out here,” Flora said, gesturing at the -corridor.

“Yes, mistress,” Baradur said, taking up a position by the door.

“Thank you for intervening,” Flora said, sitting in her chair and rubbing her face. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t. You make a good point that we’re more used to the cold…”

“It is horrible isn’t it?” Megan said. “It almost feels worse than being outside.”

“It’s the stone walls,” Flora said, shrugging. “And the lack of heat. I should have handled it better but that Ashly…”

“Ashly is… Ashly,” Megan said, shrugging. “She puts on airs like a queen.”

“But you don’t,” Flora noted. “And you’re the closest thing to it that Clan McClure has seen.”

“All I am is a Key-holder,” Megan protested. “I don’t even know how to use it properly. I talk about doing healing, but I don’t really know how.”

“Well, the last bad injury we had died last week,” Flora said. “But I’ll send out runners to Innes tomorrow and find out if they have anything to trade. And anyone who needs healing. In the meantime you can be figuring out how to do it,” she added with a faint smile. “With more mouths to feed and clothes to make from whatever cloth we can get, there’s going to be work to do. I won’t get any trouble out of your girls from it, will I?”

“Not much,” Megan said. “As long as Ashly goes along, and she will or I’ll tear a strip off of her. I tried to put Mirta in charge but she’s not willing to put herself forward. Amber might, but she’s… that’s a long story. She’s having a hard enough time putting her head back together I guess. And Christel stayed behind. I suspect that was a bad choice on her part.” She frowned at a memory. “Who was that bird woman? Is she one of yours?”

“No,” Flora admitted. “She turned up here just a couple of days ago. She’s apparently a courier of some sort for the UFS. They couldn’t pick her up so they told her to come here and wait for a ship. We do have some contact with the UFS. Not much, and not much in the way of help. But they’ve dropped off supplies before.”

“I’ll see what I can do about getting you more support when I get to Norau,” Megan said, yawning. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s been a long day for all of us,” Flora said. “And tomorrow’s probably going to be longer. Go get some rest.”

“I’ll do that,” Megan said. “Thanks for this talk. It helped.” She looked thoughtful and then shrugged. “Getting all my news from Paul sometimes I felt like despairing; everything seemed to be falling New Destiny’s way. I’m glad there are some people who aren’t willing to just roll over for them, no matter how bad it gets.”

“You’re welcome,” Flora chuckled. “We’ll beat these New Destiny bastards yet.”