I seated myself and looked at those gaunt hard faces. They were animated with fresh hope. My tongue clove to my mouth. Well I knew these captains. Most of all did I know how Sir Roger’s eyes danced — when hell was being hatched!
“Have you learned what and where the principal castles of this planet are, Brother Parvus?” he asked me.
“Yes, sire,” I told him. “There are but three, of which Ganturath was one.”
“I can’t believe that!” exclaimed Sir Owain Montbelle. “Why, pirates alone would—”
“You forget there are no separate kingdoms here, or even separate fiefs,” I answered. “All persons are directly subservient to the imperial government. The fortresses are only lodging for the sheriffs, who keep order among the populace and collect the taxes. True, these fortresses are also supposed to be defensive bases. They include docks for the great star ships, and warriors are stationed there. But the Wersgorix have fought no true war for a long time. They’ve merely bullied helpless savages. None of the other star-traveling races dare declare open war on them; only now and then does a skirmish occur on some remote planet. In short, three fortresses are ample for this whole world.”
“How strong are they?” snapped Sir Roger.
“There is one hight Stularax, on the other side of the globe, which is about like Ganturatfr. Then there is the main fortress, Darova, where this proconsul Huruga dwells. That one is by far the largest and strongest. I daresay it supplied most of the ships and warriors we see facing us.
“Where is the next world inhabited by bluefaces?”
“According to a book I studied, about twenty lightyears hence. Wersgorixan itself, the capital planet, is much farther off than that — farther away than Terra, even.”
“But the far-speaker would inform their emperor at once of what’s happened, would it not?” asked Captain Bullard.
“No,” I said. “The far-speaker acts only as fast as light. Messages between the stars must go by spaceship, which means that it would take a brace of weeks to inform Wersgorixan. Not that Huruga has done so. I overheard him speak to one of his court, to say they would keep this affair secret awhile.”
“Aye,” said Sir Brian Fitz-Wilhiam. “The duke will seek to redeem himself for what we have done, by crushing us unaided ere he reports anything whatsoever. ’Tis a common enough way of thinking.”
“If we hurt him badly enough, though, he II scream for help,” prophesied Sir Owain.
“Just so,’ agreed Sir Roger. “And I’ve thought of a way to hurt him!”
I realized gloomily that when my tongue had cloven to my mouth it knew what it was doing.
“How can we fight?” asked Bullard. “We’ve no amount of devil-weapons to compare with what sits out on yon field. If need be, they could ram us, boat for boat, and count it no great loss.”
“For which reason,” Sir Roger told him, “I propose a raid on the smaller fort, Stularax, to gain more weapons. ’Twill also jar Huruga out of his confidence.”
“Or jar him into attacking us.”
“’Tis a chance we must take. Come worst to worst, I’m not altogether terrified of another fight. See you not, our only chance is to act with boldness.”
There was no great demurral. Sir Roger had had hours in which to jolly his folk. They were ready enough to accept his leadership again. But Sir Brian objected sensibly: “How can we effect any such raid? Yon castle lies thousands of miles hence. We cannot flit thither from our camp without being fired upon.”
Sir Owain raised mocking brows. “Maybe you’ve a magic horse?” He smiled at Sir Roger.
’No. Another sort of beast. Hearken to me…
That was a long night’s work for the yeomen. They put skids under one of the smaller spaceboats, hitched oxen to it, and dragged it forth as quietly as might be. Its passage across open fields was disguised by driving cattle around it, as if grazing them. Under cover of darkness, and by God’s grace, the ruse was sufficient. Once beneath the tall thick-crowned trees, with a screen of scouts who moved like shadows to warn of any blue soldiers — “They had the practice for it, poaching at home,” said Red John — the work was safer but also more hard. Not until nearly dawn was the boat several miles from camp, so far off that it could lift without being seen from Huruga’s field headquarters.
Though the largest vessel which could possibly be moved thus, it was still too small to carry the most formidable weapons. However, Sir Roger had during the day examined the explosive shells fired by certain types of gun. He had had it explained to him by a terrified Wersgor engineer, how to arm the fuse thereon, so that it would go off on impact. The boat carried several of these — also a disassembled trebuchet which his artisans had constructed.
Meanwhile, everyone not toiling with this was set to work strengthening our camp defenses. Even women and children were given shovels. Axes rang in the nearby forest. Long as the night was, it seemed even longer when we labored thus exhaustingly, stopping only to snatch a piece of bread or a wink of sleep. The Wersgorix observed that we were busy — it could not be avoided — but we tried to conceal from them what we actually did, lest they see we were merely ringing the lesser half of Ganturath with stakes, pits, caltrops, and chevaux-de-frise. When morning came, with full daylight, our installations were hidden from view by the long grass.
I myself welcomed such backbreaking labor as a surcease from my fears. Yet my mind must worry them, like a dog with a bone. Was Sir Roger mad? There seemed to be so many things he had done awry. Yet, to each successive question, I found only the same answer as himself.
Why had we not fled the moment we possessed Ganturath, instead of waiting till Huruga arrived and pinned us down? Because we had lost the way home and had no chance whatsoever of finding it without the help of skilled space sailors. (If it could be found at all.) Death was better than a blind blundering among the stars — where our ignorance would soon kill us anyway.
Having gained a truce, why did Sir Roger run the gravest risk of its immediate breach by this attack on Stularax? Because it was plain the truce could not last very long. Given time to ponder what he had observed, Huruga must see through our pretensions and destroy us. Thrown off balance by our boldness, he might well continue to believe us more powerful than was the truth. Or if he elected to fight, we should have our hands strengthened by whatever arms were seized in the forthcoming raid.
But did Sir Roger seriously expect so mad a plan to succeed? Only God and himself could answer that. I knew he was improvising as he went along. He was like a runner who stumbles and must all at once run even faster so as not to fall.
But how splendidly he ran!
That reflection soothed me. I committed my fate to Heaven and shoveled with a more peaceful heart.
Just before dawn, as mist streamed among buildings and tents and long-snouted fire-bombards, under the first thin light creeping up the sky, Sir Roger saw his raiders off. They were twenty: Red John with the best of our yeomen, and Sir Owain Montbelle as chief. It was curious how that knight’s often faint heart always revived at the prospect of action. He was almost gay as a boy when he stood there wrapped in a long scarlet cloak, listening to his orders.
“Go through the woods, keeping well under cover, to where the boat lies,” my lord told him. “Wait till noon, then fly off. You know how to use those unrolling maps for guide, eh? Well, then, when you come to this Stularax place — ’twill take an hour or so if you fly at what seems a reasonable speed hereabouts — land where you have cover. Give it a few shells from the trebuchet to reduce the outer defenses. Dash in afoot, while they’re still confused; seize what you can from the arsenals, and return. If all is still peaceful hereabouts, lie quietly. If fighting has broken out, well, do what seems best.’