Haydn of Mars (30 page)

The next morning, early, Kerl and four good soldiers, including my friend Masie, made ready to go down to Burroughs.
 
It was first light.
 
They were each outfitted with good horses, but little in the way of provisions.

“We will be back by nightfall, with your friend Jeffrey and with an army!” Kerl announced.

Xarr concurred.
 
“Good.
 
We have many plans to make on your return.”

“Yes,” Kerl said, smiling.
 
He turned to me, and said for everyone to hear, “And a betrothal ceremony among them.”

“What's this?” Xarr said in surprise.

“My Queen and I are one,” Kerl said, grinning.
 
“Last night we made our vows to one another.
 
Tonight we will have the party.
 
Make sure you wear your best tunic, and that the wine steward brings only his best.
 
I will bring more wine and provisions for a party from Burroughs.”
 
He shook a money bag tied to his saddle.
 
“Only the best.”
 
He shouted, “Your Queen is married!”

There was a cheer from all those awake and nearby.

Kerl locked eyes with me.
 
“Till this evening, my Queen.”

“Till then,” I answered.

“You glow,” he said, in a lower voice.

I nodded.
 
“I will wait for you to return.”

“And I shall hurry!”
 

He turned his mount, and the four horses began to long steep climb down the winding switchback trail to the waking city below.

When they had left I turned to see Xarr's eyes on me, as well as Jamie's.
 
Jamie looked stunned, and the old general had a raffish look on his face.

“So...” Xarr said.

“Yes,” I answered, and then I laughed.

Xarr turned away.
 
“It's about damned time, my Queen.”

For the first time in months that seemed like years, my heart was as light as those around me.
 
The early scouts reported no movement in either F'rar army, so the day was given over to preparations for my wedding ceremony.
 
I did not believe so much festive bunting could be produced by a traveling army.
 
As if by magic, Brenda and her cohorts produced hunted game ready to be spiced and cooked, and wine long hidden for a special occasion.
 
Though (no surprise!) Beth was also an excellent seamstress, in her stead Bertie, Brenda's husband, did nearly as well.
 
In fact, it was said after he had produced a wedding gown from one of the gaudier tent flaps, that he may even have outdone his rival this time.
 
Though it was stiff and smelled of canvas and harsh weather, it felt like silk and lace to the wearing.

Musicians were produced from among the ranks, and an orchestra of sorts, which started out sounding like sick kits but were more than serviceable by the end of the morning, was assembled and made ready.

I looked forward to this evening as I had never looked forward to any day in my life.

By mid afternoon my anticipation had grown to the point where I began to bother Xarr like a child.

At first he laughed, reporting that a rider had reported that an army nearly five thousand strong was now on the march and that Kerl was staying behind to round up even more – but, late in the day, he had troubling news to impart.

“I don't know what to make of this, my lady,” he said.
 
My scouts report that the army to the north is pulling far away from the city at great speed.

A bolt of ice went through me.
 
“And Ceres's army?”

“They hold to the west of Burroughs at twenty kilometers.
 
They have been active with their air machines, but only near their camp in maneuvers.”

Ten minutes later he came to me with an even deeper frown.
 
“No movements in troops, but our radio machine near Ceres's camp reports from our spy within the F'rar camp that a single airship is headed for Burroughs as of a half hour ago.
 
Perhaps a peace emissary–”

“Get them out!” I shouted, suddenly, intuitively, knowing what was about to happen.
 
“Get Kerl and his troops out of the city now!”

Xarr looked at me with confusion.
 
“They are nearly assembled.
 
They should be on their way in an hour or so–”

I found myself crying, which only confused him more.
 
“
Get them out now!
”

“It is imposs–”

It was then I heard the whine of the airship, and ran to the bluff in my wedding gown now streaking with tears.
 

The first soldiers of our new army were just making their way into camp, and behind them was a mass of men climbing up the hillside.

At a distant sound, they stopped as one to look at the sky.

“
Kerl!
” I screamed as I saw the tiny dark distant blip approached the city below at a great height.
 
I could imagine my love looking up at it in either comprehension or confusion.
 
“
Oh my husband–!
”

It was then that a flash of light made the day go away.
 
I closed my eyes as the concussion made the ground shake and then roared up the mountainside to hit me with a blast of heated air that knocked me to the ground.
 
At first I could not see and thought I was blind.
 
But I was not.
 
My sight came back though now I cursed it.

There were cries of alarm around me; the blast of hot wind had torn the party bunting.
 
Now a blast of dust roared up the mountainside, knocking down soldiers like flower petals bent by the wind and then a cloud engulfed us all...

I awoke choking on dust.
 
I was covered head to foot in fine red particles.
 
There was a strange smell in the air, like dried, smoked meat.
 
Around me others were getting to their feet, coughing.
 
Someone was crying.
 
I heard someone hoarsely call my name.

I stood, and brushed myself up as I walked through the settling cloud.
 
I bumped into someone hunched over, retching.
 
It was a soldier, and he looked up at me uncomprehending.

“What happened–?”

“I don't know,” I answered.

The day became brighter as the dust cloud settled: the sun, a dim yellow coin, grew brighter and now the sky came back.
 
There were high clouds.

I walked to the edge of the bluff and looked down.

I swore: “My creator.”

The cloud was settling down the mountainside toward Burroughs, which was still swaddled in dust.
 
As the dust retreated it revealed an army of men struggling to their feet.
 
They began to trudge sluggishly up the mountainside.

The cloud settled, settled...

I waited for Burroughs to reappear.
 
The dust moved in lessening eddies, clearing away...

There was nothing but a dust-filled crater where the city had been.

“Kerl...” I whispered, and knew that he was gone, annihilated, along with Masie and Jeffrey and the many thousands of others who had lived there.

Xarr joined me, wiping his eyes.

“Where...?”

“It's gone.
 
And with it my husband.
 
This was Talon's doing.”

A runner covered in dust approached Xarr.
 
“General, the F'rar army to the west is moving.
 
So are the remnants to the north.
 
They are both heading this way, sir.”

Xarr stared at him in disbelief.

“Sir...?” the runner said, waiting.

I spoke up.
 
“Keep track of their movements.
 
Report any change.
 
I'll need reports on the half hour.
 
Do they have another weapon like the one that was dropped on Burroughs?”

“Our spy in their camp says that was the only one.
 
But they have a tent with parts, possibly for another.”

“Very well.
 
Do as I told you.”

He stared at me for a moment, and then bowed.
 
“Yes, my Queen.”

He moved off, and I turned to Xarr.
 
There was bitterness and anger in my voice.

“Get the new soldiers organized as fast as you can.”
 
I looked out at the place where my husband had died.
 
“Outfit them and organize them.
 
We will destroy Ceres's army before he gets here.”

I remember very little more about that day, except for the coppery smell of blood in my nostrils.

We had gained more than four thousand soldiers, and we used them to good effect.
 
Their thirst for blood was as great as mine.
 
They had seen their homes and families wiped from the face of Mars, and they fought with appropriate vigor.
 
Xarr organized them well.
 
But when our charge down the mountainside toward Ceres's approaching army began, each man and woman heard not the cries of battle in his ears but the singing of bloodlust and vengeance.
 
I am ashamed to admit I heard the same.
 

The lower mountain was clothed in a thinning forest of junta trees.
 
We came screaming out of them like madmen, a line of four thousand straight at Ceres's army, which had barely time to organize themselves into ranks.
 
We were among them before they could react, cutting them to pieces, driving deep into their numbers.
 
The red earth was stained with red F'rar blood, and my own lungs were hoarse with screaming war cries.
 
At one point I came face to face with Ceres himself, and cut him down without thought, then the F'rar to either side of him and behind.
 
At his end there was only terror in his eyes.
 
The battlefield was littered with bodies like a quarry with stones.
 
Xarr himself reached Talon's tent, where the fat scientist cowered in a corner like a dog.
 
He was taken alive, and told Xarr in a trembling, pleading voice that what had been dropped on Burroughs was a concussion bomb, huge in destructive power.
 
Another lay partly assembled, and he offered it to our use in exchange for his life.

While Xarr was prodding Talon toward me across the battlefield at the point of his sword a group of our new soldiers, natives of Burroughs, spied him, surrounded him and ran him through repeatedly with their swords.
 
Xarr told me later he could not recall the faces of the men who had done this.
 
I did not press the matter.

And then, finally, as if long years had passed, the cries of battle died out.
 
The sun was low and melancholy on the distant mountains.
 
I sat contemplating my blade, red with drying blood.
 
I felt hollow inside.
 
The countryside was littered with dead F'rar bodies.
 
Their tents had been razed to the ground, their vehicles confiscated or destroyed.

No healthy prisoners were taken – they fought where they stood, or were cut down like wheat before the scythe.

The wounded cried, as if the ground itself were weeping with pain.

Xarr approached me.
 
He was weary with effort, and looked older than the old soldier he was.
 
“There are many wounded F'rar, my lady,” he reported.
 
“Shall we put them to the sword?”

I looked up at him, and shook my head slowly.
 
“We are not butchers, Xarr.
 
Attend to them.”

“But my lady...” He gestured toward the distant ruins of Burroughs.

“
I said we are not butchers!
”
 
Anger rose in me like frustration.
 
“Haven't you seen enough blood today, Xarr?
 
To vanquish the F'rar must we become them?”

He bowed shortly.
 
“As you wish.”
 
He moved wearily off, giving orders as he went.

I looked up, and saw that our entire army was facing me where they stood in silence.
 
I tried to focus on them but could not.
 
Then one soldier raised his blade and shouted, “Queen Haydn!”
 
The others followed suit.