Changer’s Moon

V. The Battle For The Biserica
1

They climbed to the top of the west gatetower, Dom Hern and Yael-mri, Georgia Myers and Anoike Ley, stood looking down at the army stretched out through the low hills humping up toward the Pass, gazed at movement and form half-hidden, half-seen through the glitter-haze of Nor magic. In a ragged line along the barren flat where the hills stopped, a row of norits stood staring at the wall, radiating a virulent hatred for the weapon women behind the merlons, for the Stenda, the tar-folk and villagers waiting with bows, spears or tending the fires under kettles of bubbling fat.

Hern nodded at the widely spaced dark figures. “Norits.”

Georgia looked over the shorter man’s shoulder. “They don’t fancy y’all that much.”

“They don’t fancy anything that limits their power.”

“Yeah. Knew a few like that back home.”

Yael-mri stepped away from her slit. “Dom Georgia, domna Anoike, those men are the greatest danger we face.” She looked down at long slim hands that shook a little until she shut them into fists. “It won’t take them long before they find out how to deflect your missiles. Two days. If we’re really blessed by fortune, three. We’d appreciate it if you’d concentrate on taking out as many of the norits as you can. However many you kill or wound, that many weakens them,” she nodded at the slit, the army below, “more than a thousand men. But as soon as you notice that you can’t seem to hit any more of them, forget it and use your weapons where they can do some good.”

Georgia nodded, then moved to one of the broader slits in the tower’s side, leaned out and looked along the wall, using the small dark forms of the defenders to help him estimate the width of the walkway behind the merlons, tried to determine how much shelter the stone uprights would give his people. Anoike joined him in the opening, her elbows poking hard into his back until he wriggled a little, tensed some muscles, and sent them sliding. She caught at his shoulders, chuckled softly. He ignored that and the pressure of her body against his, pointed to the walkway. “Wide enough, you think?”

“For a wall, it’s some wide. Not no expressway, more like a back country two-laner, with them hot-pots for wide-assed road hogs, but yeah, I say Angel could ride it. If he keep his head down. Horse’s head it might show, might not. Way he move, take a piece a luck for them suckers to get a shot at him, specially with bows.”

“Move the delicate bod, woman, I’m coming out.”

Chuckling again, she stepped away from him, stood in the center of the small square room, hands in pockets, casually hipshot, looking from Yael-mri’s faintly disapproving face to the bland round countenance of Dom Hern. The glint in his eyes was familiar. She tried to look conspicuously uninterested.

Georgia pulled his head in, rubbed the back of his fist across his chin. “We got a pretty wide front to keep an eye on. Seems to me the best thing would be posting snipers along the wall. They’d be spread thin. Need competition quality shooters here to take out your norits fast and economical. Lay my hand on fifteen maybe, counting Annie Lee here.” He grinned at Anoike.

She snorted. “You payin for that, Redneck. Wait till we in the sack, I show you Annie Lee.” She jerked her thumb toward the wall. “Split Angel’s band, half on each side the gate, use teletalks to send ’em where they needed. How many teletalks you pick up at the armory? Got some spare batteries, I do hope. One a us up here with binocs, we could see the whole damn war. Like some crazy board game.” She shook her head slowly. “Weird. Hey man, think a the wars you been hoppin around to where most the time no sucker got any idea what’s happenin, especially some shithead general.” She strolled over to one of the front slits and looked down. “We got us a cozy down-home war. Almost makes sense.”

Hern’s eyes moved from her rigid back to Georgia. “Teletalks?”

“Yeah. Since you’re running this thing kinda shorthanded, you could do with better communications than they got. We picked up a gross of ’em, Anoike, brand-new in the cartons, enough to tie everything into a good tight web. And batteries sealed in plastic so they should be all right unless Procurement’s more rotten than usual. You know, this could be a bigger edge than rifles.” He turned to Yael-mri. “What’re you doing about rock-climbers?” When she continued to look blank, he moved a hand in an impatient gesture. “Sabotage teams flanking the walls. Going round through the mountains. Give me a cloudy night, some rope and a half-dozen of my folk and five’ll get you a hundred, I get into the Biserica and make a dent in your Shawar. You’re vulnerable there, Yael-mri, and it don’t take magic to do it, just a bit of work and the motivation. Dom Hern here,” he waved at Hern, “says you got something called Sleykyn assassins with one big hate for you meien. If they half like the contract killers we got back home, climbing’s something they got a lot of practice in. Whoever’s running that show,” another wave toward the army, “he’d have to be rock from ear to ear not to think of that. And don’t tell me you don’t fight that way. He got ’em, he’s gonna use ’em. Hate between you and Sleykyn goes back hundreds of years, the Dom says, so he gonna have no trouble getting volunteers for a suicide run. Up to you to keep it from paying off. You better have spotters watching both sides of the valley. We got spare binocs we can let you have if you want.” He frowned. “No night-scopes, though, what we got we better keep on the wall.” He looked from Hern to Yael-mri, shook his head. “Dumb. Me. You don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. Teletalks, nightscopes, binoculars. I’ve seen enough here. Anoike?” She nodded. “Right. Let’s get back down to the camp, I’ll walk you through our gear.”

Yael-mri passed a hand across the gray-streaked brown hair cut close so her finely shaped head. “War,” she said. “I don’t want to think about it and that keeps me half-blind.” She started down the stairs walking beside Georgia. “We have some sensitives that aren’t strong enough for Shawar. I’ll work out relays and keep them scanning the cliffs.”

Georgia chuckled. “Crystal balls?”

“Not exactly. Why?”

“No reason; this world is so much like mine I keep forgetting the ways it’s different.”

As she continued to circle down the stairs, hand sliding along the wall, Yael-mri shook her head. “You have to remember, Georgia Myers, you and all your folk. Remind your fighters to keep their weapons inside the wall. Shawar protection ends with the outer surface of the stone. Anything that pierces the shield, the Norim out there will catch hold of and turn for their own purposes.” She was silent for another few steps, frowning. “The shield only keeps magic out, does nothing to stop anything material. The mercenary longbowmen have strong reputations for accuracy. You’d better watch yourselves. She went down and around, spoke again as they started down the last flight of stairs. “When they spot your shooters the norits will tell Nekaz Kole. The Ogogehians have something called vuurvis oil they use to spread fire that can’t be put out. If your sharpshooters are easy to spot, they’ll attract fireballs like lodestones.”

They emerged into the chill morning, started toward the jeep that brought them from the Biserica.

“How soon’s the attack going to start?” Georgia settled himself in the seat behind the driver, watched Anoike swing up behind the wheel.

Yael-mri got awkwardly in and perched beside him, still uncomfortable around the machines. “Depends on what you mean by attack. The Nearga Nor are battering at the Shawar right now. Fierce-but we’re holding for the moment. The army? I’d give them till noon to get settled in and start building the siege engines. And put some order in the camp. And the first attacks will be more probes than serious thrusts, testing our resolve and our defenses. They’ll send meat against us, not their trained fighters.” She raised her voice so she could be heard over the noise of the engine. “Dom, meat first, don’t you think?”

He looked back, frowning, his attention plainly elsewhere. “Yes,” he said. “Most likely. Though what I’ve heard about Nekaz Kole, he’s tricky. Have to watch for changes.” He stared past them a moment, then faced around, sinking into his thoughts.