Cera and Thalia gave him an almost imperceptible nod and his confidence grew.
“Any ideas anyone?”
A newcomer to the Ryzck might have been surprised at the question, believing that for him to be inviting input displayed an inner weakness and lack of confidence but this was far from the truth.
Ryzcka Vandiel welcomed input from his subordinates and was always ready to listen. The fact that he had asked the question was an indication (to those who had served under him) that he had already come up with a solution.
“The grass is long all the way to the hill so we could crawl through it, being careful not to be seen,” suggested Cera.
“That might work if some of us create a diversion and others crawl through the grass to rescue the Lind,” added Rodick.
“Two diversions,” offered Zeb. “That way the enemy’s attention will be divided.”
“That’s good,” agreed Vandiel. Zeb’s suggestion was exactly what he had been planning. “Dafid, you take the Third Vadryz to the north. Jenna, you take your Fourth Vadryz to the south. You know what to do. Make plenty of noise. Thalia and Cera will make the frontal attack with the Second and the First. I’ll be with them.”
“What about Lastair and me?” asked Monika, who with her Lind, was responsible for communications. Without the need for Mlei’s telepathic abilities her position had been made temporarily redundant. Lastair was Holad, the medic attached to the Ryzck. Although not members of a Vadryz, both were good with a sword. Indeed, no one served with the Vada unless they were proficient with sword and knife. Weaponsmaster Alkin always refused to graduate any person into active service until they had passed his stringent tests.
“Attach yourself to Thalia.”
Vandiel turned to Artem.
“Permission to continue?”
Artem smiled a slow smile.
“You may proceed,” he answered. “There is one important condition. When I blow the whistle three times, you must stop immediately and when I say stop I mean at once. The moment you do you must remain very still and not move at all. It is imperative that you obey this order if you don’t want to get injured.”
Thalia and Cera exchanged a look.
This sounded as if their ‘rescue’ could be very dangerous. What was Artem planning? What sort of weapon did the ‘enemy’ intend to use?
Thalia was absolutely convinced that the exercise was very similar if not the same as the one her friend Katie had faced with the other members of the Fifty-first Ryzck. The ‘enemy’ was armed with crossbows!
She felt a roiling in the pit of her stomach.
Great Andei’s Pawprints! What has Artem planned for us?
* * * * *
The mock rescue began without any surprises or incidents. The thirty-five vadelns moved up the hill carefully and managed to stay under cover. The area was liberally sprinkled with bushes and long grass which made concealing their bodies much easier than it would otherwise have been.
The members of the First and Second Vadryz were beginning to think they might just make it - the other two Vadryz were making plenty of noise when wild and terrible things began to happen.
First, small charges of blast-powder started going off in front of them. The charges weren’t large enough to do any damage but they were very loud.
The vadelns began urging each other to keep their heads down but to keep going.
“We’re almost there,” mouthed Thalia to Monika. “Keep moving forward.”
Both young women jumped as a particularly loud charge went off almost at their feet.
Monika gave a yelp and began to crawl faster.
Then they heard a noise they had never heard before. It was a rat-tat-tat sound and it appeared to be coming from all directions at once. It left an odd, echoing ringing in their ears which made it hard to think.
A terrified Monika lay down flat and tried to bury her head in the grass. Her hands were over her ears but like Thalia, who had done the same thing, she was discovering that her actions were doing little to lessen the noise and discomfort. She began to whimper. Thalia edged over and gave her a shake.
“Wh … wh … what is it?” screamed Monika in a panic.
“I don’t know but I’m going to find out,” answered a grim faced Thalia.
The whistle blew three times.
Thalia froze although she was thinking thoughts too murderous to speak aloud. They were all directed at Artem.
* * * * *
“Our fighting methods are changing,” announced Artem once the shocked vadelns, reunited with their Lind had gathered around him. “You have just experienced the effect of a new weapon our artificers have been making.”
“But what was it?” asked Thalia, throwing Artem a most unfriendly look. “It scared me witless!”
“All in due time,” Artem answered, with a challenging gaze at Thalia as if he was daring her to question further.
She lowered her eyes but was not notably subdued.
He sighed and hoped she would understand when he got the chance to explain.
Cera noticed the look and also the way in which Thalia blushed and broke eye contact.
“Enough to say that you all learned a lesson,” Artem continued. “The Vada are not invincible. You are not invincible. Change is coming and you must ready yourselves to meet it head on.”
A tight lipped Ryzcka Vandiel nodded curtly.
“I think I want to learn more about all this now,” he said.
“Tomorrow,” Artem promised. “Susa Malkum has requested that all Ryzckas attend him at first light. He will explain then. As for your Vadryzkas, their presence is required at Second Bell in the large classroom at the edge of the cadet barracks when their questions shall be answered.”
“But …” protested Vandiel.
Despite the angry words that followed, Artem refused to say any more and the practice session ended with Vandiel, Zandya in tow, storming away in a towering rage.
* * * * *
It was Fifth Bell on the day after the ‘practice’.
As they walked, the two women could hear the chimes coming from Stronghold’s watch-tower.
“Any idea why Artem has requested our Ryzck and the Fifty-first to join him back in the classroom?” asked Cera.
“Requested? That’s a strange word to use.”
“Commanded if you want to be picky about it but I think the situation is getting odder and odder. And Artem looks worried.” Cera cast a sly look in Thalia’s direction but if the latter had seen it, she didn’t react.
“I don’t see anything odd about it,” answered Thalia. “He wants to discuss further what we learned at Second Bell and about the new weaponry which we experienced yesterday.”
“Did you meet him for midday meal?” Cera pressed.
“No I didn’t. He couldn’t come, an unexpected meeting and he was called away to it.”
“Where to?”
“I have no idea Cera so stop asking.”
“If I’m perfectly candid about it, the whole thing is beginning to scare me really badly,” Cera admitted. “Xei feels the same.” She cast an affectionate look in his direction.
“Josei is a lot calmer about the situation than I am and …”
“And?” prompted Cera.
“I believe I’m reaching an understanding about the reason behind why the Diaglon insisted that the Vada should not be disbanded when we got here. We’ve all been worrying about it. Traditions shall be upheld and all that tosh. It sounded false at the time.”
“You believe we are going to have to keep on fighting, that there is something around here that is dangerous for us to fight.”
“Cera, you know the Lind mind-set, to protect and to fight for who and what must be protected and fought for. The Diaglon think the same. The Vada was formed to fight for what is good and right. Think of our oath.”
“It is indelibly carved into my memory.”
“Recite it for me now.”
Cera began a
nd Thalia joined in half way through.
“For and by the Honour of the Vada, we do solemnly swear that we will support and defend the rtathlians, lands and the inhabitants of Lind, Vadath and Argyll against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that we will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that we will obey the orders of the Susyc of the Armies of the North and the orders of the Susas, Ryzckas and Vadryzkas appointed over us, according to regulations. So help me the Lai.”
They could ‘hear’ Josei and Xei mentally reciting it as well, like an echo within their minds.
Thalia took a breath.
“See? ‘All enemies, foreign and domestic’. That’s what we swore to do.”
“But there are no enemies, foreign or domestic here on Tak,” insisted Cera.
“Have you forgotten the Dglai Wars?” queried Thalia. “Our ancestors fought invaders from the stars. I’m beginning to think that there might well be others out there.”
“More renegade Dglai?”
“I don’t think so. Worse if anything. Yesterday’s demonstration was Artem’s way of getting his point across. The Vada must change its weaponry and tactics if it wants to survive. Swords are no match for these whizzing metal things that were being fired at us.”
Cera gulped.
* * * * *
“So what exactly is it?” asked Thalia, standing beside Josei and looking with bemused interest at the object Artem was holding in his hand.
“It’s called a ‘fire - arming - weapon’,” answered Artem. “Firearm for short.”
“But what does it do? And what are these small, long, round metal things?”
“Are they what was being fired over our heads?” asked Vandiel.
“They are what the firearm fires out when you press the trigger.”
“Like a crossbow?”
“Not at all like a crossbow,” Artem answered. “The rounds, these small, long, round metal things, go much faster than a crossbow bolt and you don’t have to keep reloading. Every time you fire the next round pops into place ready for the next time. You know how long it takes to reload a crossbow.”
They all did. The larger ones could take as long as a quarter bell to reload. This was why the crossbow was not a standard weapon issued to Vada personnel except for those on garrison duty.
“Are they as accurate?” asked Cera.
“No, but you can fire around twenty of them one after the other.”
“But are they as accurate?” repeated Cera.
“No. Not yet, at least not as accurate as a full-strength crossbow fired by an experienced crossbow-archer. The designers and artificers are still working on the accuracy but they can do a lot of damage. If one of these enters your body you will die or at least suffer debilitating injuries.”
“So we are going to be issued with these, these, these, firearms,” said Dafid.
“And trained how to use them,” agreed Artem. “We’ve built a firing range not far from here where you will practice in safety.”
“Are all the vadelns getting them?”
“The Fifteenth and the Fifty-first Ryzcks to start with, the other Ryzcks as more become available. They take time to make. Now everyone take a seat and we’ll begin the lecture.”
Everyone settled down and prepared to listen to what Artem had to say. As Thalia took her seat she noticed that there were others present in addition to the officers and their Lind of the Fifteenth and the Fifty-first. Susa Malkum and his Lind Freya were there and also old Weaponsmaster Alkin and his white-haired Lind, Sandya. There were Larg present too, sitting quietly beside the Lindar Susas belonging to the nearby rtaths of the Lind.
“Now, we all know the range and accuracy of crossbows. The effective hunting range, that is, the range at which the target can be brought down, is approximately thirty lind-lengths. The larger ones can send a bolt as far as two hundred and fifty lind-lengths but cannot hit the target with any accuracy. In fact, often the bolt misses the target by a considerable margin.”
Artem paused to take a breath.
“The round expelled by a firearm can travel three hundred lind-lengths and hit a target with a considerable amount of accuracy depending on the skill of the firer. Unless it hits, it can travel as far as a thousand lind-lengths, perhaps more, before it falls to the ground. Added to this is the fact that twenty rounds can be fired one after another with no need to reload.”
There was a collective gasp from the human section of the audience and some surprised yelps from the Larg and Lind who lived with their own in the Nadlians and Rtathlians.
“Most of you have seen them in action. I’m now going to explain how they work. I’ll start with the rounds - the ammunition. The rounds are made of metal, mostly brass and sit within this little object, which is called the ammunition clip. It’s called a clip because it fits inside the handle. Watch.”
He pushed the ammunition clip inside the handle. It went in with an audible click.
“It won’t fire,” he reassured his audience. “The artificers have incorporated what they are calling a stop switch. When it’s on the firearm cannot fire.”
Thalia wasn’t the only vadeln present to share some relieved, telepathic words and feelings with their Lind. After their experiences of the day before, Thalia wasn’t even sure that she wanted Artem to flick the stop switch to ‘off’ - ever.
“By themselves, the rounds are harmless,” continued Artem. “Unless the explosive unit is in place, even if the rounds are in place and the stop switch off, you could press the trigger hundreds of times and nothing would happen.”
He placed the firearm on the table beside him, picked up a small, metal box-like item with a ‘U’ shaped end and held it in front of him.
“This is the explosive unit. Inside it is a hammer that sits in place over the top of the handle. It provides the power to fire the round. The ‘U’ shaped end is the end that attaches to the top of the handle”
“I don’t quite understand,” said Susa Malkum, putting into words what the others were thinking.
Artem had been expecting this and he had his answer ready.
“With the firearm,” he explained it slowly and carefully. “The hammer inside the unit ignites the back part of the round and the force generated makes the round travel up the barrel and out towards the target the person holding the firearm is aiming at. When you squeeze the trigger, you release a burst of energy that hits the hammer. I know this sounds rather complicated but …”
“What you are basically saying is that you attach the explosive unit to the top of the firearm above the handle …” said Cera.
“… then you insert the clip inside the handle …” continued Thalia.
“… and then you point and fire it,” finished Malkum. “I think we’ve got that. We don’t really need to know about the science behind it.”
“But we do need to know how to dismantle it, clean it, put it together again and fire it,” added Dafid, a broad grin on his face. Dafid always got enthusiastic about new things. “How does the mechanism work?”
Artem smiled in recognition of Dafid’s enthusiasm.
“The hammer sits in position in line with the barrel. You release the hammer by squeezing the trigger. The spring attached to the hammer, this bit here, throws the hammer forward so it hits the back of the round. The primer explodes, igniting the explosive, which drives the bullet down the barrel. I don’t want to make it too complicated but as it moves backward, the hammer presses down on a metal spring in the handle. The pawl connected to the trigger pushes on this ratchet and rotates the cylinder.”
“What’s a pawl?” asked a mystified Thalia.
“It’s a hinge which one can adapt to fit into a notch in a ratcheted wheel,” Dafid answered with a grin.
“Quite right Dafid,” Artem commented with another smile of approval. “At least someone was listening during the science and technology classes and not falling asleep.”
“I still don’t understand,” growled Vandiel.
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“Perhaps I can make it clearer. When the trigger is squeezed, not pulled, this action releases the hammer, then the spring forces the hammer forward. The firing pin on the hammer hits the primer at the back of the round and explodes, igniting the explosive. As the explosive mixture burns it releases gas. The pressure of the gas drives the round down the barrel. As the first round heads down the barrel, the second round jerks into place and at the same time, the end of the round pops out through the side. I know it’s a difficult concept but tomorrow we’re going on to the firing range where you will practice firing and see for yourselves. Now, I want you to learn, as Dafid said, how to take it to bits and put it back together again correctly. You need to practice it again and again and until you can do it quickly and with your eyes closed.”
* * * * *
The firing range had been built in a valley two bells run (for the Lind) northeast of Stronghold. It had been chosen because it was a valley with only one entrance and the end and sides were made up of high, sheer rock. It was one of the most inhospitable, inaccessible areas within travelling distance of Township.
Across the open end a sturdy fence had been built with a gate in the middle. Red flags had been placed in sockets all along the fence.
As Thalia rode through the gate, she surmised that the red meant danger and was meant to warn off the occasional passer by. She snuck a glance at the woman riding at her side, her friend Katie of the Fifty-first Ryzck. Katie made a face back.
Everyone was nervous, even the Lind.
Artem and Larya were waiting for them beside a solid-looking cabin, together with a small group of artificers.
Beside them sat a sturdy wagon on four wheels with a tarpaulin cover. The approaching vadeln-pairs could see the humps and bumps of boxes underneath it.
“Dismount everyone,” Artem greeted them. “Larya is going to lead your Lind away a safe distance.” He pointed to an earthwork behind him. “The next bell or so is going to get rather noisy. They’ll be able to see from there. Now, gather round.”
Josei nudged at Thalia.
: Go on : he telepathed as he turned to follow Larya and the safety of the redoubt. Thalia found herself leading her nervous Vadryz towards where Artem was waiting.