Ethrian fled toward his body.
6 Year 1016afe
The Desert
SHIH-KA’I CLAMBERED TO the top of the grey dune. His legs ached. He was soaked with perspiration. He felt greasy inside his field gear. He was tired and short on patience. What am I doing out here? he wondered. I belong with the Fourth Demonstration.
He stopped. The breeze felt good, though it had to work to penetrate his field dress. He surveyed the tower of dust still falling in the distance. Other dusts piled up around his boots, gently driven by the wind.
“Very spectacular, Lord.”
“Thank you, Pan ku. I thought it might say something to our friends over there.” He stared at the solitary mountain. Other Tervola joined him. “Am I seeing things?” he asked. “Or is that a creature carved out of stone?”
“I believe so, Lord,” said a Tervola named Meng Chiao. “It looks old.”
“Perhaps. But it’s alive. It’s the source of our trouble. Set up a transfer behind the dune. I’m returning to the fortress. I’ll be right back.”
“As you wish, Lord.”
Shih-ka’i slid and scrambled down the west face of the dune, began trudging toward the nearest active portal. “I’m too old for this,” he grumbled.
“Lord?”
“Talking to myself, Pan ku. Ignore me.”
He wondered why he needed to be here on the line. He was no field officer. The novelty? He had never served with a combat legion.
He stopped. “Pan ku, there’s no need for you to dog me. I’m coming back. Why don’t you wait here?”
“If you command me to, Lord. Otherwise, I wouldn’t feel right.”
“All right. If you don’t mind the exercise and the sun.” The man’s devotion gave Shih-ka’i a small, pleasant feeling of worthiness. Rare were the Tervola who inspired the personal affection of their men.
“I don’t mind, Lord.”
Shih-ka’i transferred to the Seventeenth’s headquarters. Had he become too dependent on that one sorcery? It had its limits, and he dared not lose them in the bigger picture. His brethren had learned that the hard way during the last war. A large force could not be supported through transfers alone. They were too slow. They had too small a capacity. Their lifespans were limited. Only a few could operate within a small area. More began interfering with one another. Still, they were superb backing for small tactical operations. To move and supply a legion, old-fashioned boot leather and wagon wheels remained the most practical approach.
Portals had their dangers, too. Sometimes people disappeared. That had happened too often during the western war. The wizard Varthlokkur had learned to tamper with the transfer stream.
Shih-ka’i shuddered.
Easy, he told himself. It’s just weariness working on your nerves.
Nerves were not the whole problem. He was apprehensive about that stone thing. Caution was indicated. It was a complete unknown.
Tasi-feng greeted him. “What’s happening out there, Lord?”
“We found the center of it. Giant artifact shaped like an animal. Looks like it was carved from a mountain. I sent Hsu Shen to take a closer look. Are the ballistae ready?”
“They’re waiting, Lord. I inspected them myself. The Candidates did a good job. Every shaft was properly impressed and ranged. All we need is someone to target up front.”
“I’ll do that. How many shafts?”
“Twelve were all we had, Lord. Six in the trough, six standing by.”
“Should be adequate. The damned thing will look like the moths have been after it before we’re done. Let’s look them over.”
The ballista battery waited in a field outside the fortress. At first glance the engines looked like common siege equipment. The frames, troughs, and cranks were of standard imperial design. The specialized pieces were the bows and strings. Those had been prepared in a thaumaturgical arsenal hidden deep in the heart of Shinsan. Not even Lord Ssu-ma knew its location.
The shafts, too, had come out of that arsenal. They were of a very dark, hard, and heavy material. Inlaid into them were traceries of silver, gold, and a dull greyish metal. The heads were crystals in spearhead shape. They glowed with a fierce inner fire.
Shih-ka’i thumbed one, asked, “Ever wonder what one of these costs?”
“A small fortune,” Tasi-feng guessed.
“I’m sure. Crank one back. And set me a portal here so I can jump back and forth.”
“I arranged a portal earlier, Lord. Over here. I thought you’d want to range them yourself.”
Shih-ka’i scowled. Lord Lun-yu was too damned efficient. Or he himself was too predictable. “First three at two-minute intervals. I’ll come back if I want more.” He surveyed the crews. Candidates all. Ordinary soldiers were not permitted to operate specialized equipment. It became dangerous in the hands of the untrained.
“You. Go ahead and shoot.”
A ballista string whipped forward. There was a tremendous crack. A shaft hurtled into the air, a quicksilver sliver slicing into the distance. It did not follow a normal, gravity-defeated arc. It was still climbing when last it caught the sun.
“Two-minute intervals,” Shih-ka’i reminded. He entered the ready portal. Pan ku followed as soon as the portal permitted.
A minute later Shih-ka’i topped the dusty dune in the far desert. He faced westward, waiting for a silver sparkle to appear over the mountains. “Hsu Shen run into anything yet?” he asked.
“No, Lord. He’s halfway there.”
“Signal him to take a position where we can see him, then to wait. I don’t want him too close to target. Ah. Here it comes.”
He sealed his eyes, reached with Tervola-trained senses, touched the hurtling shaft. Another part of his mind found the stone thing. He etched a mental line from spear to target. “Coming down, men. Shield your eyes.”
The shaft hurtled toward the earth. Impact! Light-balls swarmed the touchdown point like a hundred round lightning flashes blasting away in rapid succession.
Shih-ka’i opened his eyes. “I’ll be damned,” he murmured. He had missed by two hundred yards.
Roaring, rising heat sucked up dust from hundreds of feet around the impact point. A pool fifty feet in diameter bubbled and splashed like overheated water. “Warm your hands around that,” Shih-ka’i said. But his cockiness had fled.
He had missed. That could be no accident. He faced west again, watching for the next flash of silver.
He concentrated harder this time. He retained control till the moment of impact. And this time he felt the will resisting his own.
He opened his eyes. “Another miss!” But this time the first great upwelling of molten earth splashed the flank of the stone thing. He had brought the weapon in close.
“More power on the impression?” he asked the other Tervola.
One of the oldest, exiled by Lord Kuo, replied, “No, Lord. Range and impression felt perfect. It’s the targeting. Something is resisting.”
“Then I didn’t imagine that.”
“No, Lord. I suggest we all target the next one.”
“Absolutely,” Shih-ka’i said. “I want to see what happens when we get a direct hit.”
“It’s coming, Lord.”
Shih-ka’i felt for the shaft and found it. He drew his targeting line. His brethren came in. They made of the line a tube from which the missile could not escape.
The missile hurtled down. The will trying to shunt it aside failed. It struck. Shih-ka’i opened his eyes.
Gouts of molten rock had blown out of the stone thing’s haunch. “Dead on,” he crowed. “Dead on. Now we wait.”
They did not wait long.
“Is that someone standing on its head?” Shih-ka’i asked. He squinted, could not be sure. His eyes weren’t what they had been.
“Looks like two of them, Lord.”
“Curious. Can you tell what they’re doing?”
“No, Lord.”
A great angry bellow shook the deser
t. It filled the universe and rattled Shih-ka’i’s teeth in his jaws. Dust devils raced across the barrens, circling in panic. Shih-ka’i pictured this as the flight of frightened ghosts. He smiled at his own imagination. “Prepare to defend yourselves,” he ordered.
Something had changed. The feel of the situation was different. One of the Tervola said, “Something is happening around the thing’s forelegs, Lord.”
Shih-ka’i squinted again. “Tell Hsu Shen to get back here now!” he snapped.
Soldiers were pouring into the desert! Out of nowhere. Horsemen. Infantry. Battalion after battalion...
“Form line of battle, gentlemen. Meng Chiao. Prepare portals for an emergency withdrawal. Gentlemen, I’m returning to the fortress. I’ll make my arrangements there and come right back.”
He descended the rear of the dune, slipping and sliding in his haste. Pan ku was a step behind him. He hoped the others did not think he was fleeing. They might lose heart.
If there was a flaw in Shinsan’s military structure, it was the failure of the Tervola to meet the high personal standards they set for their men. They themselves sometimes yielded to emotion on the battlefield.
Tasi-feng was surprised to see him back so soon. “Lord Ssu-ma. Did something go wrong?”
“Not at this end. I may have made a poor decision up there. We’ve awakened something very old and very nasty. Nine shafts left? I want the first six at thirty-second intervals. Portals are to be arranged to allow the forward group to be evacuated in a hurry if necessary. Inform all legion commanders that Seventeenth is combat operational. They’re to be ready to march on short notice. Contact Northern Army. Tell them I may invoke my right to demand reinforcements.”
“Lord, we’re concentrating too many portals in too small an area.”
“I’m aware of the risks, Lord Lun-yu. I’m also certain we’ve grabbed a monster by the tail. It might not let us turn loose.” Shih-ka’i turned to the Candidates manning the ballistae. “Thirty-second intervals. Loose the first shaft.”
He watched silver flicker up and into the east, then strode through the portal.
The situation had worsened in his absence. A sea of warriors surrounded the stone thing. A soldier-river swept toward the dune. Hsu Shen’s men were kicking up clouds of dust in their race to rejoin their comrades.
Flying things swarmed over the lonely mountain like clouds of gnats. “What are they?” Shih-ka’i asked.
“Dragons with riders, Lord Ssu-ma. Small dragons, probably specially bred. It’s impossible to be sure from here, but the riders seem to be nonhuman. Ou-yan is trying to get a better look, but something keeps interfering.”
Shih-ka’i moved to where a Tervola sat cross-legged before a wide silver bowl pushed deep into the sand. The man kept chanting the same cantrips over and over. Cloudy pictures would form in the water m the bowl. Then something would interfere and they would fade away.
“Shaft coming, Lord,” Pan ku said.
Shih-ka’i turned, caught it, drew a line connected with the flood chasing Hsu Shen. He brought it down perfectly. Whole platoons vaporized. Companies were decimated by splashes of molten stone.
“Shaft, Lord.”
Shih-ka’i flung that and the next into the rapidly expanding horde around the stone thing. Huge, steaming holes appeared amidst the darkness of them.
That desert-shaking roar came again.
“I think somebody’s mad, Lord,” said Pan ku. Shih-ka’i glanced at his batman. Pan ku wore a straight face.
“I think so, yes.”
“The flyers, Lord.”
The gnat-swarms hurtled toward the dune. “Stand by!” Shih-ka’i ordered. “They could be dangerous.”
“Shaft, Lord.”
Shih-ka’i drew a line between the shaft and a flyer bobbing in the heart of the swarm. When the flash faded, he saw several objects falling in flames. Two split up as riders separated from their mounts.
The others came on. They bobbed too much for accurate counting, though Shih-ka’i decided there were at least fifty. More were gathering above the stone thing.
He put another shaft in. It was more effective. At least six flyers went down. The last shaft took out another four.
Their weaving and bobbing ceased. They peeled off in twos and threes to streak toward the dune. “Spell of concealment,” Shih-ka’i called. “Spell of visual dislocation.”
A blackness covered the dune. No one appeared to be where he had stood a moment earlier. The first flyers streaked over so low their passage stirred the dust. The riders struck with shafts of light.
“Casualties?” Shih-ka’i demanded.
“None, Lord.”
“If anyone should be injured, send him through the portal immediately. We don’t leave anyone they can use against us. Same with any of their people we capture. Through the portal. Does anyone own access to an aerial demon? Meng Chiao? What are you waiting for? Get it up there.”
Bolts of power pounded the dune. The Tervola turned most of them aside. They flung back whatever sorceries they commanded. Few had any effect.
“Hsu Shen won’t make it, Lord.”
Shih-ka’i could see that. He was considering the problem already. He had three shafts left at the fortress. He wanted to use them against the thing of stone. Should he sacrifice Hsu Shen? No. “Pan ku. Come with me. I’ll return shortly, gentlemen.”
He did not return as quickly as he anticipated. He paused to give the big map a look and to leave Tasi-feng with fresh instructions.
“We’ve lost control out there,” he said. “They’ve got too much and we’ve got too little. We’ll stall them as long as we can. Here.” He indicated a position on the map. “The most likely place for them to come westward. Move a brigade out now. Have them march light. The heat out there is murderous. We’ll use portals as much as we can.”
“Lord, we don’t have enough of them.”
“Take them away from the other patrols. Tell them to march to that pass and start digging in. Orders to all legions. Start marching here immediately. Begin reinforcing with their ready units now. Take whatever initiatives you deem necessary. As soon as you man this place with their people, send out the other brigade. I’ve got to get back. Hsu Shen is in trouble. I want those last three shafts at one-minute intervals.”
“As you command, Lord.”
Shih-ka’i trotted out to the transfer portal. “Pan ku,” he panted, “I don’t think I’m young enough anymore.”
“If I might be so bold, Lord. Why don’t you stay at the heart of the web and let your officers do the running?”
“You make perfect sense. I don’t know why. I just want to be on the scene. Maybe because I’ve never been there before.”
They passed through the portal and climbed the dune.
Hsu Shen was in big trouble. He was close now, but horsemen were about to split around him and cut him off. Shih-ka’i checked the sky. The dragon riders were engaged in complex aerobatics, trying to vanquish Meng Chiao’s demon. The demon had left his mark. Their numbers had been reduced.
“They’re very clumsily controlled, Lord,” the demon’s master observed.
“They’re like the men we met in the mountains?”
“Dead? Yes, Lord. However, the riders aren’t human. We obtained a specimen and sent it through for examination.”
“Good. Good. Casualties?”
“Only two men so far, Lord.”
“Excellent.”
“Shaft, Lord,” Pan ku said.
“Thank you.” Shih-ka’i took another look at Hsu Shen’s situation. He would have to spend at least one shaft to salvage the advance party. He caught the weapon, imagined the line. The missile came down. It shattered the pursuing riders.
“Begin evacuating the troops,” Shih-ka’i ordered. “We don’t have much more time.”
“Perhaps not enough to get us all out, Lord.”
Shih-ka’i considered the size of the approaching horde. “We’ll form around the portal. S
end the men through first.”
Meng Chiao trembled. “As you command, Lord.”
“Shaft, Lord.”
“Thank you, Pan ku.” Shih-ka’i continued to study the enemy. Hsu Shen was safe for the moment. Should he drop the weapon into the crowd surrounding the stone thing? Those two figures atop its head...
He targeted, connecting shaft and stone head.
The line bent immediately. “I need help, gentlemen. Targeting on the idol’s head.”
Slowly, slowly, the foot of the line crawled back toward the great beast’s head...
The shaft arrived too soon. Shih-ka’i could not bring it down where he wanted. It hit the beast’s shoulder. Tons of molten rock blew away, showering the soldiers swarming below.
“I think you did more damage that way than you would have with a direct shot,” Meng Chiao observed. “Look at the swath that cut.”
Shih-ka’i did not respond. He was watching the minute dots scamper down the monster’s back. Too late to get them now. “Meng Chiao. Pass the word. After we bring the next shaft down, everyone who can should call up a demon and turn it loose.”
“The thing controlling them is crazy-angry, Lord,” Meng Chiao observed. “It’s not doing well at all. Minds me of a spiteful child breaking its toys.”
“Uhm. Keep it angry.”
“Shaft, Lord.”
“Aye.” Shih-ka’i glanced at Hsu Shen. He would make it with less dramatic help. “Help me, gentlemen. I’m going to bring this one down across its snout.”
He imagined a hard, iron arc. His companions added their wills to his. This time there was less resistance. The enemy mind remained distracted by anger.
An instant after the last shaft struck, the desert again reverberated to a great angry roar. “That one hit a nerve,” Pan ku remarked.
“So it seems. Get those demons up, gentlemen. Centurion! Can’t you move those men into the portal faster?”
“No, Lord.”
“Very well. Don’t slack off.” Shih-ka’i turned to watch Hsu Shen finish his last hundred yards.
Hsu Shen’s men ran lightly and well, in good order, as befit soldiers of Shinsan. They did not cast fearful glances over their shoulders. The only gear they had abandoned was that which their commander had told them to drop. They retained their shields and weapons. “Good men,” Shih-ka’i observed.