At the Queen_s command

Chapter Fifty-Three

May 30, 1764

Temperance

Temperance Bay, Mystria

"T ruth be told, sir, I ain't too proud to acknowledge I am pleased to be leaving Temperance behind." Nathaniel walked beside Major Forest. "Every foot between me and Bishop Bumble makes me happy."

Forest smiled. "It was good he gave us that blessing before we headed out. His heart is in the right place."

Nathaniel frowned, unsure he believed Bumble had a heart. The Bishop had offered an hour-long sermon on the horrors of Tharyngian society, telling the men that their mission was really God's plan. He offered numerous scriptures to underscore this opinion, even mentioning the Good Lord wandering for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. "Not sure I find tales of the Lord wandering and lost much of a good omen, Major."

"Your feelings not withstanding, Captain Woods, I'm sure the sermon was a comfort to some." Forest's eyes narrowed. "Everyone fell out properly."

"True, sir, with a few exceptions."

By rule both companies of the Mystrian Rangers carried a hundred rounds of ball or bullet per man. The riflemen among them had an added twenty of the prince's pasmorte killers. All of them had their long guns in a deer- or moose-skin case. Most all the men had decorated them with beads, buttons, bits of shell, or fancy stitching. They carried hatchets or tomahawks and knives.

Each carried two types of packs. The first, consisting of a blanket wrapped in bearskin, had a strap looped through its middle. That loop settled over the man's shoulders and across his chest rather high. A few men tucked some notions in the blanket, but nothing too heavy. A canvas cloth rolled up and tied on either end into a loop made up the second pack. It closely resembled a big sausage. The men carried rice, beans, some salt, some sausage and salt pork in it, as well as eating utensils, some ginger, sugar, and tea.

In a separate satchel they kept bullet molds, lead, spare firestones, and tools. Because these things tended to be heavy, four or five men would share them, passing the satchel around every couple of miles. Nathaniel had his own satchel with the molds, but Makepeace offered to haul it since they both used the same rounds.

Nathaniel smiled as the troops marched along. No one would mistake them for Norillian troops, as they looked far more raggedy than professional soldiers. In general, the Rangers all dressed alike, wearing moccasins and leather leggings, breeches, leather tunics or homespun shirts, with short jackets over them, and caps. The similarity ended there, however, as colors marked the men as different. Caleb and his college friends all wore sashes of maroon and gold around their middles. The men from Summerland had their red caps. The Branches and Casks all wore foxskin caps, while the southerners had adopted the Fairlee militia's green coat.

Nathaniel hadn't been immune to sprucing up his appearance. He decorated his slouch-brimmed, black felt hat with a band of jeopard fur. William's mother had made him a necklace with bear and jeopard claws-the bear claws for his relationship to Msitazi, and the jeopard claws to celebrate his warrior nature. Just seeing that made some men smile and soured Rufus Branch's expression right quick.

Caleb's men-whom the others had taken to calling the Bookworms-had made a point of carrying a diary, pencils or pens, and at least one other book. They planned, during pauses in the marches, to read to each other, continuing their education on the way. Not to be outdone, Makepeace had managed to find himself a copy of the Bible and threatened to read the entire thing to every Tharyngian left alive at Fort Cuivre.

"I reckon them books will get heavy, Major."

"I believe you are correct. I suggested they read from one of them until it was finished, then move to the next. I suspect some will be abandoned in Hattersburg."

"We'll be leaving more than books." Nathaniel pointed to a skinny man whose buckskin clothes hung on him like mammoth hide on a mouse. "It was kindly of Bishop Bumble to give us Mr. Beecher to tend to our spiritual needs, but he ain't gonna make it."

"It could be worse."

Nathaniel smiled. At the end of his sermon, Bishop Bumble announced that he would accompany Lord Rivendell and his army. This appeared to surprise his wife, who began crying and had to be comforted by Lilith and Mrs. Frost. Mrs. Frost appeared a bit weepy, too, but she put on a brave face when she said her good-byes to Caleb.

"True enough, Major." Justice Bone, who got himself elected Corporal in charge of the third squad, had picked Beecher as part of his squad. The other men split up his heavier gear, leaving him with a knife, his Bible, and his blanket pack. The squad would eat their way through his supplies first, then let him

carry his empty canvas pack until they resupplied at Hattersburg.

"I reckon I will head back and see to the first squad."

"Thank you, Captain."

Forest had deployed his hundred and forty men well for traveling. A pair of men headed out in front of the column, a pair flanked it either side, and two followed it, rotating the duty through all the men in whichever squad had that particular assignment. Since the northerners knew the area better, they got the honor of guaranteeing the unit's safety.

The Bookworms had won the job of rearguard for the march from Temperance. As Nathaniel fell back, he greeted men and pet a number of the dogs traveling with the column. A few men had fitted their dogs with packs, but most just muzzled them. Dogs made sniffing out ambushes much easier, and the muzzles prevented a lot of barking from alerting the enemy to their location.

The Bookworms appeared to be in high spirits by the time Nathaniel reached them. They clearly were enjoying their new clothes-they had outfitted themselves in buckskins head to toe, having bartered clothes from Norisle in some cases for soiled and ratty skins. Nathaniel was pretty sure none of them had killed any of the animals whose skins they'd pulled on. They walked with a swagger the long miles would burn out of them. He expected half would remain in Hattersburg, but it pleased him to have them along.

Makepeace had dropped all the way back to school whichever Bookworm marched beside him. Nathaniel fell in beside Caleb, who traveled with his fellows despite being in charge of the fifth squad. Caleb, himself wearing a black felt, slouch-brimmed hat, gave Nathaniel a nod.

"How does it look up front, Captain?"

"Moving right along." Nathaniel acknowledged the Bookworms with a nod. "How are your boys holding up?"

"We've barely gotten a mile, Captain. They will be fine."

"Going's easy now."

Caleb nodded. "Most all of them know it."

"Way I see it, you have two jobs, Lieutenant Frost." A long line of men walking two abreast wound its way down the road. "First is to see to the fifth squad. Makepeace will see to your Bookworms."

"I understand."

"Second, don't be preaching no glory and duty." Nathaniel smiled. "Leave all the preaching to Mr. Beecher."

"I don't believe I understand your point, Captain."

"Men will talk themselves into all manner of stupid things. See it mostly when they been drinking. But speechifying, that will make some men drunk. And glory-seeking is stupid. On this here long walk we will be wet, bug bit, snake bit, thorn-scratched, hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, sore, shot at, and just plain tired. A man what figgers he's doing all that for glory, he's a man who will run when he learns there ain't no glory. Man who won't run is one who looks on down inside and knows he's doing this for himself and his kin, the ones he loves."

"My men won't run."

"I will accept your word on that. Just soes you know that you need to treat them like men. Make 'em believe they can do it and they will. Tease them with a reward that don't mean nothing, and they won't."

"Thank you, Captain."

"And you can get through this, Caleb."

The younger man smiled. "I know. Captain, I hope you won't mind, but I did something for you, back in Temperance."

"What would that be?"

"I know you didn't get a chance to see Rachel before we marched. So I told my sister to tell her that you wished Rachel well."

Nathaniel nodded slowly. "You know you oughten not poke your nose into a man's affairs."

"I know, but…"

"And you know your sister ain't going to cotton to delivering that message."

"Yes, but…"

Nathaniel looked at him. "I appreciate it, Lieutenant Frost. Might be, as we go along, you could scratch down some words for me. You'll be sending things back to Temperance from Hattersburg, most like."

"I'd be happy to."

"I would be obliged." Nathaniel smiled easily. "And just to ease your mind, I did sit a spell with Rachel, making my good-byes."

Caleb stared at him, mouth open. "But Rufus' Foxtails, they were guarding her. How could you sneak in to see her?"

"I reckon that's something for you to be thinking on for the nights the boys in them fox-caps is having sentry duty." Nathaniel nodded and started working his way back up the line. "Or be happy about when we come to Fort Cuivre and we need me to take a peek inside."

By the end of the day the column made camp on the banks of the Benjamin River, several miles east of the Prince's estate. Nathaniel had gone ahead with the Summerland boys to pick out exactly where they would camp. The eldest of them, Thomas, had been in logging camps for a few years, so he laid out where the privies would go, while Nathaniel placed sentries.

Before darkness had fallen, Kamiskwa appeared from the river along with twenty Shedashee braves. Half were Altashee, the other half Lanatashee. They'd brought down the river large war canoes suitable for carrying thirty men each.

Nathaniel looked the Shedashee party over. "That's a powerful lot of canoes."

"The Lanatashee made two more than we did, though ours are better."

"I reckon. None of the other Confederation tribes sent warriors?"

Kamiskwa shook his head. "They see this as a white-man's war."

"Probably wise to stay out of it." Nathaniel sighed. "Seven Nations?"

"They've heard the Ryngians are dealing with wendigo. Only the Ungarakii are crazy enough to act for them."

"Better only one tribe than all seven."

Nathaniel took Kamiskwa around through the camp, introducing him to the various officers. Most of the men had met Shedashee before and, despite the fact that the men of Fairlee had fought a couple wars against the Chokashee and Ishannakii, they mostly accepted the Twilight People. Their dogs sniffed and yelped, as they had been trained, but their owners held them back.

Major Forest greeted Kamiskwa warmly and invited him to dine at the Major's tent along with the unit's captains and lieutenants. Forest's enthusiastic acceptance of the Shedashee silenced most protests, save those from the Foxtails. Rufus, who had been elected as their Corporal, bristled at serving under Caleb and Nathaniel, so nothing would make him happy.

Nothing shy of my dying. Nathaniel laughed. So they is just going to go on being disappointed.

After supper the Shedashee made their own camp on the far side of the river. It gave the dogs a chance to settle down and saved Forest from having to post a guard across the water. Forest set his sentries up in units of six, with a pair of men chosen from various companies. He posted them far enough away from the main camp that discovering a sentry post would not put an enemy on top of his force. Two sentries would be awake at all times at each post. If they heard anything, they would wake others who would alert the main camp.

A runner found Nathaniel and asked him to report to Major Forest. He found Benjamin Beecher with the Major. "Reporting as ordered, sir."

"Mr. Beecher has a problem. I cannot seem to make him understand our situation."

Nathaniel nodded to the minister. "Reverend."

"With all due respect, Major Forest, I'm not certain Captain Woods can help. He never attends church and is, well, how can I say this? He is a notorious fornicator."

Nathaniel eased his shoulders back and his spine slowly popped. "That sounds like something bad, Mr. Beecher."

"It is, and you know it."

"I reckon that if you're gonna damn me for that, there's more than half the men here would be in the same boat."

Major Forest held up his good hand. "That is immaterial to the problem at hand. Mr. Beecher, if you will."

"Yes, Major." Beecher frowned mightily, his expression mocked by the face of the raccoon staring down from his cap. "These Twilight People are unbaptized. We cannot have the godless on this expedition."

"Would you be caring to make sense, Mr. Beecher?"

Beecher clasped his hands behind his back. "The Tharyngians have rejected our God. They are our enemies. The Shedashee have not embraced our God. It is the same in His eyes."

"Well now, Mr. Beecher, being as how I am a notorious fornicator and hain't never stepped into a church where you was able to see me, ain't I just as bad as any Ryngian?"

"You, I have been told, were baptized. Your foot has been set on the road to redemption. Those men in our company who have not been baptized will be baptized tomorrow morning, right here, in the river. I should like the Shedashee to join them."

"Iffen they don't, they's enemies?"

Beecher looked skyward. "It's God's judgment, not mine."

Nathaniel could see where Beecher was headed, and it wasn't good. "Well, I don't reckon you need to be crying your eyes out over all this. The Altashee live in the village of Saint Luke."

The minister blinked. "They do?"

"I ain't lying. Their Chief Msitazi declared it so after welcoming missionaries. Your fears is just silly."

"I didn't know." Beecher frowned. "Why didn't you just tell me this?"

"Why did you go and call me a fornicator?" Nathaniel looked at him hard. "Some folks don't take kindly to be being judged."

The man glanced down. "I see. I beg your pardon, Captain Woods."

"Forgiven and forgotten. But now don't go a-mentioning baptism to the Twilight People. They's strong in their faith, but silent about it. Probably over there in a prayer circle now."

Beecher turned and looked over across the river. "God bless them."

"I reckon he has." Nathaniel nodded. "If you'll excuse me, I'm thinking I could use some saving, and I'll be over there getting it. Sir."

Forest held his hand up. "Wait, Captain. That's all, Mr. Beecher."

The preacher withdrew.

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "Major?"

"There might be a problem when Beecher finds out you've lied."

"From who? The Shedashee?" Nathaniel shook his head. "I reckon they've had more experience dealing with men of the cloth trying to save them than all the rest of us combined. I don't expect they'll have a problem. And if Beecher does, well, I hear tell the Good Lord done spent forty days and forty nights wandering the wilderness. Mr. Beecher might find hisself doing the same thing, doing everyone some right powerful good."