The Flying Warlord Read online

  There were thousands of men and horses on it, rushing across, and while some of them were shouting and pointing at us, they still kept coming. There were men getting on the bridge the moment we hit.

  The impact was enough to knock us all over, and we all went skidding across the splintered deck. As I got up, I saw that we had not punched a hole through the bridge, as I had expected. We had actually tipped it over!

  The part of it that was right in front of us was already in the river, and the roadway was caught by the current. On both sides of us, like water breaking over a dam, the long flexible bridge was pulled slowly over on its side.

  The water was filled with thrashing horses, but with fewer men than you would expect. Not that many of the desert-bred Mongols could swim. Those few that did make it to shore didn’t live long. The captain already had the swivel guns in action.

  But the bridge was still in one piece and we hadn’t gone through it. Tadaos got us into reverse and we backed off the wreckage.

  A crewman ran up from below and reported to Tadaos, who turned to me and said, “The bow is smashed up, but we’re still afloat. Maybe you ought to see about repairing the damage, sir.”

  So I went down to play steamboat repairman, again. On the way, I stopped to tell Piotr to radio the other boats that a bridge could be taken out by ramming. He had already done so.

  The next morning, after the other boats had taken out four other bridges and lost two of their number doing it, it became strangely quiet, all along the Vistula. Some men thought that we had actually won and the enemy had given up. Others were sure that it was some kind of a trick. The planes reported that the Mongols were concentrating in a dozen groups, each a few miles east of the river, but not going back any farther. It was eerie and quiet for the first time in a week. Even the catapults were unmanned.

  Then, the morning after that, an even stranger thing happened. All at once, along the whole river as far as we could tell, enemy troops led their horses down to the frozen banks of the river. Holding on to the horse’s tail, they got the animals swimming across the icy waters of the Vistula, pulling the rider behind them.

  We steamed through them, drowning hundreds, but they were like lemmings and we couldn’t begin to stop them all.

  Tadaos looked at it in disbelief.

  “If they could do that, why didn’t they do it a week ago?”

  “There’s your answer,” Captain Targ said, pointing to the west bank. “Every horse had a man behind it when it went into the water. Only maybe half of those men are still there when they come out.”

  “Good God in Heaven, you’re right! They are deliberately throwing away half of their army just to get across! Who could order such a thing? Why do they do it? Don't they realize that we no longer have anything to fight with?”

  We all shook our heads and watched half of the enemy army die.

  I don’t know. Maybe they ran out of food. Maybe they just got impatient. It's likely they never realized how close to the wire we were. The only thing sure was that the Battle for the Vistula was over and the Battle for Poland had begun.

  FROM THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR VLADIMIR CHARNETSKI

  We set up a system where each platoon “adopted” up to ten of Duke Boleslaw’s troops, at least for dining purposes. Later we had to up it to twelve. More of them were coming in every day, and many had had a hard time finding us.

  The printshop in Cracow made up thousands of little signs that said where our camp was; one of the Big People ran them to Eagle Nest and the planes were soon dropping them on friendly troops who looked lost. It helped, but as it turned out, it also told the Mongols where to find us. Maybe that wasn’t so bad. We wanted to find them.

  Grain was arriving daily from the granary, the first batch brought in by a dozen Big People the first ’day. They'd gone out and taken over the first dozen carts from the slow moving mules, mostly to show Duke Boleslaw that there was nothing to worry about.

  Yet for three days there was nothing to do but wait. Patrols were sent out, but they found little. The area was evacuated, since the refugees that had been through a week ago had finally convinced almost every noncombatant to leave.

  In hours, we’d set up what amounted to a very large city. Carts were hauled a set distance apart and tarps were zippered over and between them for roofs, just like in a training exercise. Hammocks were slung both under the carts and between them, Cookstoves all had their proper place by the streets, and latrines were dug as per the manual. Oh, everything was covered with freezing mud, but that was only to be expected. After the training we'd put our men through, it was hardly noticed.

  Everything was just perfect except for Duke Boleslaw, who couldn’t comprehend any sort of tactics except for charging at the enemy and killing them all gloriously.

  After days of discussion, persuasion, and pleading I finally had to threaten to cut off his food supply if he didn’t let us take part in the fight. Couching it that way, where he was doing a favor for the people who were feeding him, he came around a little.

  The plan we came up with, and after vast trouble got our knightly horsemen to agree with, was that they would locate the enemy and entice them into a trap.

  They would charge gloriously in, slaughter droves of the enemy and then pretend to run away. They would lead the Tartars into a huge V-shaped formation of war carts, who would open up on the enemy with their guns. After twenty minutes, the horsemen would come back and finish the Mongols off. Thus, Boleslaw’s knights would get both first blood and the kill, while we foot soldiers would be content with an assist. I had to use hunting terms with them because their hunting was organized, even if their warfare wasn't.

  One problem with this, as far as the knights were concerned, was that it involved running away from the enemy. I had to convince them that it was a legitimate ruse of war and really a very clever thing for them to do.

  I even promised them a beer while we were shooting up Mongols. Actually, I thought that there was a fair chance that they would have to run away, since all reports from the Vistula said that we would be vastly outnumbered, but I couldn’t tell them that. I just wanted to make sure that they ran in the right direction.

  Another problem was in being able to identify friend from foe. This was difficult enough in a hand-to-hand combat, especially since the riverboats had reported that the Mongols had drawn troops from all of their vast realm, and some dressed not too differently from Polish knights. At a distance, from the perspective of a gunner a half mile away, the problem was serious. Foreseeing this difficulty a year ago, I had caused to be made fifty thousand surcoats, each white with a broad red vertical stripe running up both the front and the back. They were easily identifiable at a great distance, and quite nicely made, since our knights insisted on going into battle looking their best.

  The knights all admitted to the advantages of wearing identifiable clothing. The trouble was that they all had their own family devises and colors, and these were a particular point of pride with them. Many had taken vows to never fight without their family colors, and so felt honor-bound to refuse to wear the surcoats I’d given them. Days were spent squabbling over this point, until the duke at last ordered all his men to wear the red-and-white surcoats, over their own surcoats if necessary, but to wear them or leave the battle. At that, a few of our Knights actually went home, but not many.

  Then we got word that the Mongols had crossed the Vistula, and two days after that, that they were camped five miles away.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Late in the afternoon on the day before the battle, Duke Boleslaw called together all of his leaders, barons and above. This meant that my army was grossly underrepresented, because a conventional baron often had as few as half a dozen knights whereas mine each commanded a battalion of nine thousand men. But there was nothing I could do about it, so we went.

  I’d had a big map made up of the area, and after the duke made a short, boisterous speech, I was surprised that he let me come
up and give a presentation outlining the situation. Many of these men were not good with maps, but most of them had been on patrols throughout the area and were able to understand the situation.

  I showed them how to get from here to there, where our ambush would be set up, what their “retreat” route should be. I stressed the importance of a good night’s sleep, and a hot meal in the morning. And I repeated my promise of a beer if the ambush worked out well, having shipped in forty thousand gallons of beer for the purpose. These men had been dry for over a week and I think the beer was a serious inducement.

  A priest said mass and we all went to communion. I think every man of mine went into battle in a State of Grace. There are no atheists on the battle lines.

  It was dark when Baron Ilya came to me. The weather that had been perfect for the past week, a rare thing at this time of year, was turning bad. Thunder and lightning were crashing in the distance and it looked likely that we would be fighting tomorrow in a cold spring rain. The lightning had been raising hell with the radios since the day before, but fortunately, they had already done their jobs.

  I was with the duke and a few of his friends, boys as young as he was, telling them the story of how Count Conrad and I had once chopped up a caravan of Teutonic Knights and rescued a gross of children that otherwise would have been sold into Moslem slavery. The story went over well, since despite the fact that the Teutonic Knights were nominally the vassals of Duke Boleslaw, they had not come to the battle, saying that they had to defend the northern borders, which was bullshit. The duke vowed that if we beat the Mongols, we would fight the Teutonic Order next. I had the boys in high spirits by the time the last Crossman raced over the hills with shit on his breeches. Two against seven, and they were vanquished without putting a mark on us!

  “Sir, may I speak to you for a moment?” Baron Ilya said.

  “Certainly. Is it something that can be discussed before these fine knights?” These boys were more proud of their knighthood than they were of their higher titles. Knighthood, after all, had to be earned, while their baronies and all had been inherited.

  “I don’t see why not, sir, since it's about the invasion. You know that I lead the battalion of Night Fighters. For four years, we have been training and learning to fight at night, in the dark. Well, it's a dark and stormy night out there, and now's the time to put that training to use! Let me take my battalion out there and shake them up a bit! Me and the boys can be back in time to help out with the battle tomorrow, but give us our chance tonight.”

  I was about to say “Certainly, go see what you can do,” but the duke was talking before I could get my mouth open.

  “Just what is it that you plan to do, Baron?”

  “Well, your grace, we’ll probably surround them in the dark, send in creepers to take out their sentries, then roll grenades under their tents and so on. After that, we'll give them a good shelling to cover our men as they come out, and maybe slaughter their horses while we're at it. We'll get some of the bastards and cost them a night's sleep if nothing better.”

  The young duke was getting progressively more horrified as Ilya spoke, but Ilya wasn’t sharp enough to realize it. Or maybe he was just too bull-headed to care.

  “What a disgusting thing to even talk about! Do you think for a moment that I would allow such a dishonorable thing to be done under my command? I absolutely forbid this cowardly act you propose, and I tell you that you better see a priest and confess again if you want to be in a State of Grace for tomorrow’s battle!”

  “A State of Grace! I tell you that I am a Radiant Warrior and personally blessed by God!” Ilya exploded. “And cowardly? I want to go alone with only nine thousand men against half a million and you call that cowardly?”

  I had to stand up between them to make sure they didn’t come to blows. “Ilya, you damn fool! Shut up!” I pushed him toward the door of the tent.

  “Forgive him, your grace. He’s normally a good man. He's just overwrought. I'll take care of this.” I followed Ilya out.

  As soon as we were out the door, he said, “Sir—”

  “Shut up! Keep your damn face closed until we get back to our camp!”

  Thunder was crashing overhead and the rains had started.

  Once there, I said, “Don’t you have brains enough to not shout at a duke, for God's sake! And especially a duke who could wreck the whole battle plan if he gets a hair up his arse? Didn't your mother teach you anything?”

  “I never had a mother. They said the stork brought me.”

  “I can believe that, judging from your manners! I’ve worked for almost a week convincing that kid that we're not a bunch of crude peasants and you had to prove otherwise in half a minute!”

  “Sorry, sir. What about the raid on the Mongol camp tonight?”

  I took a deep breath, letting my anger subside. “Can you do it so that no one from this camp sees you leave and come back?”

  “In this weather, sir? Easy! The duke’s sentries will never see us.”

  “Then do it. But don’t get caught, or the duke will hang us both!”

  “Don’t worry, sir. It's just like stealing a pig.”

  AS TOLD BY BARON ILYA THE BLACKSMITH

  “So like I was saying, we got us permission to make a little night raid, even if it was sort of an underhanded one. I got the boys out of the sack, fed, and called together. We’d been sleeping during the day to stay in shape, and doing night guard duty until we'd done more than our share by the night before. I'd timed the thing just right.”

  “The camp was quiet when we left, pulling our small nightfighter carts. See, most of the troops fight out of big, forty-three man platoon carts, but in the dark, there’s no way that you can keep track of that many men around you. The most is about six, and you've got to know who your own men are, because everybody else is likely the enemy! So we use a small lance-sized cart, and right then they was unloaded of everything but the gun, ammunition, and grenades that each one carried. We don't use pikes or halberds. In the dark, them weapons ain't worth firewood! But we was pretty good with the knife, the garrote, and the grenade.”

  “I thought we was clear of the camp when we came on an outlying sentry, and you know it had to be one of Boleslaw’s men.”

  “Hold! Who goes there?”

  “Baron Ilya,” I says. “Beer run.” It was the first thing that came into my head. Never mind that I had nine thousand men coming up behind me.

  “Beer? There’s two dozen big carts of beer in the camp!”

  “Yeah, but that’s what our hetman promised you horse jockeys. Now we're going out to get enough for the foot soldiers, too.”

  “What, all that beer for us alone? Well, carry on then.”

  “I don’t figure that man ever knew he had a creeper right behind him and a garrote over his head. I sure would have hated to do him in, but I did promise Vladimir that nobody would see us leave. If he reported that I went on a beer run, well, wouldn't nobody take it seriously.”

  “We had scouts ahead planting markers in the ground, sticks split so the white side showed toward us. There wasn’t no problem finding the Mongol camp. The only surprise was how big that sucker was! It was fully four miles across and they had fires going all around it. No way we could surround this thing the way I told the duke.”

  “Fire line, two yards apart, a gross yards from the pickets, pass it on.’ I says that would put us a quarter way around the camp, and the carts split off by companies to either side of me, forming wings a mile and a half long. The carts were tipped up on their sides and the guns mounted. They wouldn't be needed for a while, but it's always a good idea to be ready. The signal strings were strung up along both wings, and I waited.”

  “I got my telescope out and looked over the enemy sentries. Dumbshits, the lot of them! They was sitting around the fires, staring at the fires and talking. A captain with any brains posts his men so the fires show in the enemy’s eyes, not your own. Those men were about to get a very expensive
education in night-fighting.”

  “Plan eight, red and white flares. Pass the word,’ I whispered to both wings and to the sentry behind me who was sorting out the companies.”

  “It was a while before we got settled into position, but I wasn’t worried none. The thunder and rain covered most everything. We was being quiet mostly out of habit. Them sentries weren't looking for trouble, but that wasn't going to help them none. Trouble had just come looking for them!”

  “It would have been nice if I could have gone in with most of the other men, but we’d proved time and again that the leader had best stay back and direct things, so that's the way I had to play it. That's one of Count Conrad's big problems. He always has to do everything hisself, and there ain't nobody can do everything, not and do it right.”

  “I got four tugs on the right-hand string, saying that the right wing was ready, and a few minutes later, the left-hand string pulled four times.”

  “I gave both strings three long, slow pulls and watched as the first-string creepers went out. These were the one best lance from each platoon, and we had a lot of contests to see who that lance was. They figured it was an honor to be the ones that went out ahead of the others and killed the sentries real quiet like.”

  “I saw the men in front of me in position, but I gave it a few more minutes to make sure that everybody else was ready. Then I lit off a small, red rocket. Count Conrad had made these things as a festival toy, but once I saw one, I knew it was just the thing to signal men in the dark.”

  “If any of the Mongol sentries saw it, they were looking at the rocket and not the men behind them. Just like a machine, six of my men came up behind six of theirs and slipped garrotes over their heads. The wires were pulled tight and most of them heathens didn’t hardly even kick around. Those that did got knifed, but most of them got to die without getting their clothes bloodied. The sentry fires were smothered, usually by piling dead Mongols on them and stuffing the edges with mud and dirt, and it was time for phase two.”