At first nobody moved. But then Fade stepped forward with the banner Momma Oaks had made. The rest of the men began their drills, showing what our joint training had taught them. A surprised murmur stirred the townsfolk, and then the impossible happened—what I had been working toward from the beginning. Men and women, boys and girls, all of those old enough and bold enough to meet our needs, rushed forward, eager to take their place in our ranks, more willing bodies here than I’d dared dream.
This is for you, Stalker, this moment … and every battle henceforth.
Somehow, I hid my startled exultation. “Then line up,” I said, “and give us your names. There’s a war on.”
three
terminus
“For then,” he said, “the king himself can’t part us.”
—George MacDonald, The Day Boy and the Night Girl
War
That day in Lorraine, we more than doubled our number. Company D remained in town for two more weeks while we offered rudimentary training. It wasn’t enough for the dangers we’d face in the wilderness, but scouts reported activity in Appleton; part of the horde was on the move. So we had to march, though our war band was still too small to face them.
By nightfall, we were camped alongside the river. I wished Stalker were here to offer tactical advice, but I’d left him planted in the ground, and I owed him a decisive victory. While the rest of the men tended to mundane tasks, I called a meeting: Fade, Thornton, Tully, Spence, and Morrow. They were my most experienced warriors, so it made sense to ask their advice.
“Of all the recruits, you’ve seen the most combat. What’s the best move?”
“You’re in charge,” Thornton muttered. “I’m just here to kill Muties.”
“But you acted like you knew what you were doing, the night we covered the retreat to Soldier’s Pond.” And it was true. He wouldn’t get out of strategic planning by claiming ignorance. I’d seen too much of his skill over the past months.
“We can’t fight them head-on,” Tully put in.
Spence nodded his agreement. “Sands told me that three hundred strong set out from Appleton. My guess is, they’re heading for Lorraine. It’s the next nearest town for plundering.”
“But the rest of the horde is settling in?” Morrow asked.
I’d wondered the same thing. “We’ve assumed that they were all soldiers, but what if the horde’s numbers are swollen by noncombatants? The warriors might’ve been searching for a safe place to leave them while they sack our towns.”
“Like the village in the woods near Salvation.” Fade’s voice was soft, but etched in bitterness, as if the memory ate at him.
“How does that impact our strategy?” I glanced between them, willing them to volunteer some insight. Stalker had known the most about planning assaults, yet I had to push forward.
Thornton wore a tired look. “If you’re right, then the ruthless thing to do would be to circle around to Appleton and hit their weak point.”
“The females and the brats,” I breathed.
Silence fell, as we all contemplated the value of such a strike. Greater numbers wouldn’t matter so much then, as we’d be facing weaker opponents. Nursing Freak females and offspring weren’t exactly defenseless, but they couldn’t compete with trained soldiers like us. The brutal nature of the attack might break the enemy’s fighting spirit, but it might also fuel their hatred, making them determined to exterminate humanity at any cost.
Ultimately I shook my head. “I can’t wage that kind of war.”
“Even if it’s the only way to win?” Tully asked.
The decision hurt, but I stuck to it. “No, we’ll find another way.”
Fade added, “We don’t know that much about Mutie culture. All of them might be trained to fight, so we could hit Appleton, only to find the females and brats are every bit as ferocious as the ones pillaging our towns.”
Spence nodded. “Plus, I’ve seen some momma bears defending their cubs, and believe me, you do not want to mess with them.”
“In some ways,” I said, “Muties are more like animals. So it stands to reason they wouldn’t react like humans if we attacked territory they’ve claimed.”
“A hit-and-run campaign would serve best. Like in a book I read.” Morrow wore a thoughtful look, as if he were trying to remember more details. “We have to keep our units lean and mobile. We’ll move faster since our squad’s still pretty lean. So we rely on Stalker’s scouts to provide us with good intel, then we strike, kill some, and disappear. We use the land around us, the darkness, every advantage we can muster. Because this will be a long fight.”
I gave a quick nod. “Excellent. You’re in charge of tactics.”
Morrow stared at me. “I’m just a storyteller.”
“You’re not. One of these days I’m going to ask where you found all of these books you’ve read, but right now, we need to plan.”
Everyone agreed with that, and Morrow shared everything he could remember about that tale. Unlike The Day Boy and the Night Girl, we didn’t have a copy of the war strategy book, so I had no way of knowing whether the smaller army achieved victory in the end. But it was the best idea we had.
In the morning, we broke camp. To my annoyance, it took longer than it should, and I vowed to work on that. The men needed to pack their gear in less than five minutes. I couldn’t have them wandering around complaining about a night on the ground. So I set Thornton on them, as his thunderous scold was far more impressive than anything I could produce; and I had no experience yelling at people anyway.
I sought Morrow before we moved out. “Would you take over the scouts? They need a leader and I think you’d serve. But only if you’re willing.”
“You put a lot of faith in me, Deuce.”
“Are you saying I shouldn’t?” I had noticed his silent movements, his careful grace. While he might not be as adept at slinking in and out of the shadows as Stalker had been, Morrow would be a fair replacement.
With a wry smile, he shook his head. “It’s an honor. I’ll do my best to keep them safe.”
“I know. Now go get me some intel. We can’t move far until we know for sure which way the Muties are heading.”
It was a tense wait by the riverbanks. Company D occupied the time in drills. I put Fade, Tully, and Spence to supervising the sparring sessions. It was odd seeing normal townsfolk learning to fight, but they were all willing. Gavin worked particularly hard, hanging on every word Spence uttered. The brat had incredible heart to make up for his lack of size; each time his partner knocked him down, he came up swinging, and occasionally, he surprised somebody with his ferocity. I could tell he had a grudge to work off against the Freaks, and his anger troubled me, not because he was upset over the loss of his parents, but I feared it might get the best of him at the wrong time. Rage would get him killed.
I pulled him out of his current match and sat him down. He glared at me with green grass eyes, furious in his dirty face. “What? I was holding my own. And he’s bigger.”
This boy couldn’t be more than fourteen years old, and his small size made me wonder if he was younger. “How old are you?”
“I’m over the recruiting age. You set that at thirteen.”
“I know. Just tell me.”
“I’ll be fifteen in a few months,” he muttered.
He seemed so young, maybe because the Topside world tried to protect its young more than they had done down below. It felt like much more than a year and a few months separated us. I guessed his world had been very different before the Freaks changed so much, Winterville panicked, and Dr. Wilson spread his poison.
I made my tone hard because I knew he wouldn’t respect me if I was tender with him. He didn’t want that, and couldn’t handle it. This boy was after blood, not kindness. “If you get yourself killed fighting like a cow with two left hooves, you won’t live to see the Muties in the ground. Is that what you want?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Sir,” I corrected. “In this army, it doesn’t matter what people have in their pants. Now get back in there and use your head, not just your fists.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tegan came over to me as practice tailed off. “He reminds me of someone.”
She had been less obvious about her anger, kept it locked up inside her, but I’d seen her fury when I first found her in Gotham. She’d let it out with each blow of the club; Tegan hadn’t fought smart back then, either. The staff suited her better.
“You stay back,” I cautioned.
“I know. I’m second line of defense and full-time medic. I won’t be in the vanguard.” She stared into the fields, watching the wind blow across the leaves. “It’s unnerving to be out here, isn’t it? Not knowing exactly where our enemies are.”
I knew what she meant. The wilderness was quiet apart from the chirps of birds and the chitter of insects, the burbling rush of the river behind us. Springtime had greened the grass as far as the eye could see, but just over the next rise, could lurk violence and death. Despite myself, I shivered, hoping the scouts returned soon.
By noon I had my wish. They had done their work well and Morrow made the report. “They’re moving northeast of here. From what we can tell, they’re heading for Lorraine.”
“Then we need to follow them, wait until they camp, and strike when they’re asleep.”
“Let’s fight fire with fire,” Fade said.
“Did we bring along any liquor?” Tully asked.
Since drinking left soldiers sloppy and careless, the answer should be no, but when we searched the packs, we found six jugs. I left Thornton verbally reaming the men who had violated the code of conduct while the others carted off the contraband. Tully popped the cork on one and sniffed it.
“It’s strong,” she said. “This will do nicely.”
“For what?” I asked.
“We can make fire bombs. And with some rags, I can set my bolts on fire. These will scatter the Muties, induce panic, especially if we strike while they’re asleep.”
The remainder of that day we marched according to the scouts’ directions. At Morrow’s orders, they were constantly running back and forth, carrying messages about this portion of the horde. It wasn’t the whole army I’d seen camped in the fields outside Salvation, but they didn’t need all of their forces to take smaller towns. It made sense for them to protect the territory they’d already claimed—and at the moment, I didn’t have sufficient numbers to take back Appleton, but I could keep them from overrunning Lorraine. Come nightfall, we were three miles from our intended target.
“Tonight, it’s critical that you follow orders. Kill on the perimeter and fall back. Make them chase you. Anything that increases confusion and decreases visibility, do it. And run if you need to.” I raked away the grass until I had a patch of dry dirt to serve as a map, then I etched some directions. “This is where we’ll regroup. They may follow, trying to force a fair fight. We won’t give it to them. This is where our forest starts, and if necessary, we’ll fight in retreat. Ideally, though, we’re going to hit them, kill as many as we can, then vanish. That’s the plan.”
“Any questions?” Thornton asked.
There were a number and he fielded them as I strode away. I hoped I sounded confident and prepared when my heart was pounding like a drum. So much depended on my instincts being right; I had no doubts that this needed to be done, but maybe I had no business attempting it. Who am I to lead these men?
“I’m with you,” Fade said softly.
I wanted so badly to turn into his arms, but I was afraid he’d recoil—and it wouldn’t be a good way to behave in front of the men, either. No doubt Tully and Spence were deeply in love, despite the fact that she was a good ten years older, but they never touched, never kissed where anybody could see. I just saw it in the way he gazed at her, like he’d fall over and stop breathing if she ever quit looking back.
“It’s normal to be scared,” he went on, “and I’m glad you are. It makes me feel better about the butterflies in my stomach. This will be the biggest battle we’ve ever fought.”
“Thanks.”
Though his arms remained at his sides, Fade whispered, “This is me holding you. And this is me, kissing you for luck.”
That put a smile on my face. Maybe a battlefield was no place for such attachments, but I couldn’t put away those feelings. He was part of me like my shadow.
“This is me, kissing you back.”
“Deuce!” Morrow shouted. “I need you.”
My eyes met Fade’s and clung, and that look said so many things, and then I strode away to handle last-minute inquiries about troop deployments. The camp the Freaks had chosen offered us higher ground on a ridge above, so that was where I meant to plant our riflemen. Tully planned to start the fires, and six soldiers would carry the firebombs, which could be lobbed as far as somebody could throw them.
Just after moonrise, Company D moved out. A silver sliver in the sky, the moon cast barely enough light to keep the rest of the men from stumbling over their feet. For me, it was fine, and I could’ve navigated with my eyes closed. Which meant I was on point with the scouts to make sure the ambush went off smoothly.
I crept up over the rise, my stomach in knots. I hadn’t seen so many Freaks gathered in one place since I ran from the horde, saving Fade. Fear boiled up in the form of bile, acid in my throat, but I swallowed it down. You’ve taken enough, I told the monsters silently. This is all you get. This is where the end begins.
After spotting the best vantage points, I set the riflemen in place. Once the fires started burning down below, it should help with targeting. After all, it didn’t matter where they shot the Freaks; bullets never felt good going in. Once Tully was in position with the gunmen, I crept down to join the others.
“Thornton,” I whispered. “You have command of the infantry. Don’t let the inexperienced ones get swept too far into the mob.”
“Will do my best,” he said with Longshot’s familiar salute.
Thornton wasn’t the only man I’d seen use that gesture; it was common in the territories, a way of showing respect without acknowledging any superior rank. Yet it was inexpressibly poignant to see that just before the fight of a lifetime, a sign that Longshot was here watching over me. Maybe that was nonsense, but I’d take the hope of it because then I could imagine being united someday with the people I’d lost. If nothing else, it bolstered my courage, so I was able to give orders in a tone firm enough to make them believe we would triumph.
“The enemy’s sleeping, men. Bring the pain.”
Escort
From the first fiery bolt, the battle went according to plan.
We got a bonus when the field caught, creating an inferno of snarling panic. The Freaks fled from the blaze and ran straight into our blades. Between the dark night and the bright fire, they hardly saw us as they died. The firebombs exploded in the center of the camp, immolating a number of the monsters. On the ridge, riflemen picked them off as they scattered. In the chaos, we killed them with impunity, until they realized how few we were and then they charged. I couldn’t let them surround us. My men didn’t have the experience to win at such steep odds.
“Sound the retreat,” I shouted.
Morrow piped out the notes warning the squad to fall back to the agreed location on the forest’s edge. The men responded, aware our tactics didn’t allow for a stand-up fight; we meant to kill as many as possible before luring them to more advantageous terrain, where we’d fare better against superior numbers. Fade was nearby, so we fought together as we gave ground. I stabbed and slashed, careful not to turn my back on monsters that might impale me from behind. Thornton shot one over my shoulder and I turned. Fade ran with me, full out, until we put the war zone behind us. I counted as the soldiers stumbled in. In the end, we lost ten men. Well enough, I hadn’t expected to defeat them in one ambush.
“How many did you get?” I asked the men, after they reached our rendezvous point.
The tally was close to a hundred—and I smothered their urge to cheer. It was a solid achievement, one third of the enemy’s number. We fell back into the forest thereafter and these Freaks apparently weren’t bound by the deal we’d made with the others, which confirmed they were part of the horde. They hunted us through the trees, but in such terrain, they couldn’t fight as a mob, so we picked them off. Company D fought in constant motion, never letting them rest. On the sixth night, the Freaks fell back to set up camp in the grasslands beyond. There were only a hundred of them left by then, but I had no plans to offer them a fair fight.
Two weeks into the conflict, other problems plagued us. Between the Freaks in the area and our own men, it was difficult to find game. Fishing helped a little, but time spent on provender, as Thornton called it, left less time for evading their attacks and for planning our own. The situation had to be addressed before it got worse.
Before I could resolve that crisis, Morrow brought grim news. “There’s a trade caravan heading from Gaspard to Soldier’s Pond. My scouts think the Muties we’ve been harassing intend to hit it for supplies before circling back to Lorraine.”
“We can’t let that happen,” I said. “Let’s move.”
That began a hard march east with little food and less sleep. Company D was thin and exhausted when we met the traders on the road. I expected them to greet us with rifles, but word of our exploits had spread, and they actually recognized the banner Momma Oaks had made. Most days, Gavin carried it proudly, the pennant flying in the wind.
“Oi, Company D!” the lead driver called.
“You intend to hang us too?” I joked.
Laughing, the man shook his head. “The guards are still talking about that, you know. I wouldn’t expect a warm welcome in town anytime soon, but stories are different on the road. Vince Howe and John Kelley have only the best things to say.”
“We’ll get you to Soldier’s Pond,” I offered, “but you’ll have to help feed us.”
I hoped they could spare us something in Soldier’s Pond since a good number of our men came from there. If not, we could surely share the traders’ rations while we protected them.
The trader nodded without hesitation. “I can make the meal stretch to porridge if you can augment with fresh meat.” There was some grumbling from his men because they’d expected skillet cakes, not gruel, but he leveled a stern look on them. “Do you want to live? This area’s crawling with Muties.”
He was right; only the skill of our scouts had let us reach the caravan before the enemy, and to get to Soldier’s Pond, we had to circle the forest because of the wagons. There would be ample opportunity for them to hit us before then. A knot formed in my stomach because the last time we’d guarded supplies like this, Stalker died. I couldn’t handle losing anybody else. But I put my fears aside and informed the men that we had a new goal—and at the end, there would be some rest in Soldier’s Pond. That roused a weary cheer from warriors who had been subsisting on plants and berries. I didn’t know about them, but I was starving and so weary of wild-leek-and-mushroom soup. It had been days since I’d eaten more than a scrap of meat, choosing to give my share to the soldiers instead.
“You’re too thin,” Fade had said, when he caught me doing so. “You can’t keep up your strength if you don’t eat.”
“I am,” I’d muttered.
There just wasn’t much to be had. Between constant fighting and laying ambushes, then moving fast enough to stay out of reach, we didn’t have time to hunt properly or bring down big game, assuming the Freaks had left any. There should be moose and deer, but it had been a week since the scouts saw any tracks. There was only smaller game like rabbits and squirrels, less worth the trouble of catching because it took so many to feed the soldiers. Sometimes we skinned them and put the meat in the pot for flavor along with the leeks, potatoes, and mushrooms, but it wasn’t enough nutrition to keep us strong.
“I can’t wait to see my family,” a man said.
“Me either.”
I left them to the talk of happy reunions, as long as they fell into formation when Thornton barked the order. And they did. My soldiers were young and old, male and female, but they all had courage to spare. We marched alongside the wagons with the Company D banner flying high; and it was dusk when the monsters came.
This was their first chance to strike at us in the open, a risk I’d known we were taking when I decided to protect the caravan. But if they got hold of these supplies, people in Soldier’s Pond and Gaspard might starve, plus it’d strengthen the enemy. I couldn’t let that happen. I recalled what Dr. Wilson said about how hunger made them digest their own brains. If we kept them from finding new food sources, they’d get dumber and easier to kill. They came at us in the loping run now so familiar to me, but there was no smell at all, except the sweat of unwashed soldiers and the general reek of the mules.
“Formation C,” I shouted.
Thankfully, our drills had prepared the men for a number of contingencies, and they arrayed themselves with foot soldiers in front and riflemen in back. Tully vaulted on top of a wagon, then pulled Gavin up beside her. From on top of the crates they opened fire, gunning down two to start the bloodshed off right. The animals screamed in terror but the drivers sawed at the reins and didn’t let them bolt in panic. I waited at the front, braced to receive their charge.
I had Tegan on one side and Fade on the other. She knocked one down for me, just like she used to do for Stalker, and I stabbed it through the neck. Tegan smashed one in the face as Morrow ran it through, and on my other side, Fade fought with economical grace, his moves a dodge and weave that never left my flank vulnerable. I stayed tight too, my blades spinning in the purple light. I lost count of how many I killed, but I heard Tully shout she was out of quarrels. A few riflemen said the same, and they pushed forward to fight with their knives.
Blood gushed, like spilled wine across the pub floor in Otterburn. The monsters knew they had to win this fight, so they never broke and ran, not even when Fade slew the last one with a blade straight through the heart.
The victory cost us twenty men, however. Before we moved, Company D dug another mass grave to keep scavengers away. Tully spoke the words on our behalf because I was too tired and I had nothing to say. As we shoveled dirt on their bloody faces, I noticed how young some of them were, a few barely meeting my age limit.
You did this. You took these boys and girls away from their mothers.
“But I didn’t kill them,” I whispered.
The words didn’t assuage my guilt. When we moved on, we were a bleak, unhappy group, and the thin gruel we ate for supper didn’t cheer anybody up. The scouts found us a clear path to Soldier’s Pond thereafter, and while they saw smaller groups of Freaks prowling the hills nearby, none of them dared to attack. I was exhausted beyond description when we saw Soldier’s Pond on the horizon. A weary huzzah came from the men, but they didn’t look good. Many had developed sores; their shoes and boots were in rags, so their feet bled as we marched.
My dream hung in tatters, and though we were doing some good, I was failing at keeping my men safe and healthy. I didn’t have the experience for this, but the problem was, nobody did. Humans had cowered in their settlements for so long that they had forgotten how to fight without terrible potions and mysterious poisons. The only information we had came from Morrow’s stories—and I still needed to ask him about those.
There should be time in Soldier’s Pond.
The guards came out to meet the wagons, offering safe escort, and that was just as well, as I didn’t think my men had any fight in them. The townsfolk might complain about us appearing to gobble up their provisions, but they wouldn’t have these trade goods from Gaspard without us. And Soldier’s Pond was far from self-sufficient.
“Thank you,” the trader said as the caravan passed the town’s defenses. “We’d have died on the road if not for your men.”
His name was Marlon Bean, and I expected him to add his story to the ones circulating from Vince Howe and John Kelley. In the long run, their goodwill might save Company D, but for the moment, I merely nodded and led the soldiers to a much-desired homecoming. The guards had all kinds of questions, but I hushed them with an impatient gesture. It wasn’t until I saw Tegan’s brows go up that I realized how used to command I had become.
I frowned at her as I called, “I’m giving all of you forty-eight-hours’ leave. The mess is over there … stick with a local if you don’t know the way. Once you’ve eaten, find the bathhouse. Then locate a bunk and get some rest. Some of you need your wounds wrapped or bandages changed. I don’t think anybody’s likely to die overnight, so see Tegan and me in the morning. We’ll fix you up. That’s all. And enjoy the break.”
The men surged off, grateful to be out of the wilderness. I knew how they felt.
Fade beckoned with a stern look. “That order to rest goes for you too.”
Since I was dizzy by this point, I let him tow me toward the mess. If we were off schedule, I’d make the cook open the kitchen myself. Fortunately, however, Colonel Park was on top of things. She met us in the hall and she had two extra workers in tow so they could make more food quickly. As usual, it was tasteless, but we were all so hungry I would’ve happily eaten a bucket of the mushroom porridge they gave us down below.
As we ate, I realized belatedly that we’d sat in a cluster of officers. Nothing so formal had ever been declared, of course, but I always turned to Fade, Tegan, Thornton, Tully, Morrow, or Spence when I needed something. And here we sat, nobody else at our table. I wouldn’t have sent anyone else away, but I guessed the others figured this was our inner circle, and we had clever plans to make. Or maybe they just wanted a break from the lot of us. I listened to the conversation with half an ear; it was an important issue, but I lacked the drive to tackle the problem straightaway when I had forty-seven hours of freedom.
“We have to ask all towns in the territory for a tithe,” Thornton was arguing.
Morrow protested, “But we can’t make them give us supplies.”
Spence scowled, gesturing with his spoon so that he was in danger of losing the stewed poultry and dough he’d scooped up. “We can refuse to protect them if they choose not to.”
It sounded hard, but maybe he was right. If they weren’t willing to tighten their belts and donate to the soldiers keeping the horde at bay, then they could deal with the consequences. In so many ways, I’d bitten off more than I could chew; some days, only pure stubbornness kept me pushing forward when I felt so stupid, the least suitable person to be leading Company D.
Morrow shook his head, however. “Fear and intimidation won’t serve long-term. They’ll only come to see us as tyrants, the reasons their families are going hungry.”
“There’s also the matter of hauling provisions,” Fade said. “If we have wagons full of supplies, rather than just what we each carry, then it slows our movements. And we lack the numbers to face the horde head-on.”