Horde

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.”