Steam Legion (29 page)

What in God’s true name?

“Their weapon is not so powerful at this range,” his Adjutant said as he guided his horse up alongside.

“Perhaps, but I have a more important thing to consider now.”

“What is that?”

“There are no horses pulling their chariots, Zinval!” he growled. “How are they moving!?”

The other man stared for a long moment, jaw slack as he pondered that question, only to close when another plume of smoke erupted from the chariots on the far bank.

They looked up instinctively. “Shields!”

****

The bolts slammed into the ground between the riverbank and the road, again missing the enemy formation, but this time the stone ball blew a hole through a shield. Dyna could see a commotion in the ranks and knew they’d scored some kind of hit. Working out the angles and force was still largely a matter of trial and error, but she was already beginning to design a planetaria in her mind specifically for the task.

For the moment, however, she’d do what she could with what she had.

“Raise the elevation, four more degrees!” she called. “Cinch the front plates to best tension! Cannon three, loose when ready!”

The hiss-roar if the third cannon building pressureWoW erupted into the rushing roar of the weapon firing a few moments later. Dyna ignored the curses coming from Sensus as he struggled to keep the rattling chariot running a straight line and kept her eyes on the bolts fired from the cannon as they reached the apex of their path and began to fall back to earth.

The enemy threw up their shields again, but this time her aim was on target and she almost imagined she could see a halo of blood erupt when the stone came down on one man’s helm. It was impossible to say for certain at the range they were operating, but she counted it as a solid hit. The bolts came down into the enemy formation, more chaos exploding where they struck as men went down and dragged others with them.

Dyna bared her teeth at the victory and quickly set her planetaria to the best current settings. Now that she had their range, she could use her planetaria to adjust the angles automatically as they moved.

“All cannons to the same elevation as three! Load with best tension on the forward plates!”

Dyna shoved her planetaria into her belt and crawled forward to where Sensus was grunting and struggling with the controls of the chariot. “How are things going?”

“They could be better,” he gritted out through clenched teeth.

“You’re doing great. Want a fulltime job?”

His next words were remarkably coarse, vulgar, and to the point. Had he said as much to her back at the Library, she’d have had him strung up by his thumbs and whipped to within an inch of his life. Here, though, she just laughed at him and pointed on up ahead.

“The ambush should be within the next mile, Sensus,” she said. “We’ll do what we can do to keep them focused on us. Hold us steady as long as you can!”

“Steady!?” he blurted, incredulous. “In this thing? On this
road
?”

She just grinned at him. “Just do what you’ve been doing. It’ll be fine!”

He swore at her again and kept swearing as she clambered back to where the Immunes had just finished reloading. As it turned out, placing the balls and bolts down the barrel was child’s play compared to manhandling buckets of water up into the top boiler. She was impressed that they were doing as well as they had, actually.

“How much water do we have left?”

“Not much more,” the closest Immune admitted. “Maybe enough for another boiling, my Lady.”

She nodded, unsurprised. Bolts and cannon balls were easier to store in this sort of situation, after all. With one eye on the far bank, she made an adjustment to the planetaria as the far road arced away from the river somewhat. All it took now was a twist to one dial, however, and she knew the angles that should be correct if she wanted to engage the enemy formation again.

“Alright, we’ll choose our next moment for best effect,” she decided. “Cassius and the rest should be just up ahead. I believe it would be best if the enemy were, shall we say, not in the clearest state of mind, yes?”

“At your command, my Lady!”

She smiled widely at the response and checked the enemy formations again while comparing it to their own. The river was widening here, pushing them farther apart, and she would have to judge the distance correctly if she wanted her next shots to land on-target. All she had to do, however, was get that distance right. Her planeteria, a geared calculation device, would automatically give her the angles she needed if she adjusted the distance dial correctly.

Well, assuming her mental calculations were right at least. Dyna’s own planetaria wasn’t designed for these calculations precisely; she’d originally built it to calculate angles and tolerances for her own projects, and not every dial was sized correctly for the work she was currently doing.

So for now, she was adjusting the numbers in her head, using the planetaria to brute force as much of the calculations as possible and doing the rest on the fly.

Dyna was well aware that her attacks were, at best, mild annoyances to the enemy formation. From the Zealots’ point of view, in fact, they probably reeked of desperation. She knew, however, as they did not, that Cassius and the rest of the forces she had levied were waiting just ahead, according to the original plan, and any distraction for the enemy here was an advantage Cassius would be able to use when the time came.

They were moving along at a good marching pace, which, by her guess, would bring them into the general area of the proposed battle site within just another few minutes at most. Dyna decided that she would hold on to her last easy shots from the weapons until the latest possible moment.

All the better to sow some confusion and chaos in the enemy ranks.

****

Cassius scowled as he looked over the fortifications they’d put into place along the road on the east bank of the river. He would have ideally preferred to engage the enemy from the west bank, raining arrows on them while they crossed the river and hitting them as they clambered up the bank. Unfortunately, that strategy would also have given the enemy the option of entirely refusing battle, moving farther along to the north and crossing at an undefended position.

So he’d crossed his own force at the shallows of the slow bend in the river and set them to digging in at a point where the enemy would be given the decision of offering battle or reversing the path and retreating back toward the bridge. Between the light trees on one side and the river on the other, Cassius knew that there was no other way for them to move as a cohesive force. Taking the army off the road and into the trees and fields beyond would fraction them, destroy their effectiveness as a unit.

Of course it won’t do much for our own, either, but at least my men have orders in place to cover such an eventuality.

In the distance, a hissing roar could just faintly be heard, like the squall of some great beast.

“Did you hear that, Centurion?”

Cassius nodded. “The steam cannon. I did not believe that they were so loud.”

“They are not,” the Immune said, grinning. “Message from Aelia came through. The Lady Dyna has elected to pursue and, apparently, harass the enemy formations.”

Cassius frowned. “How in the Gods’ names would she have done that?”

“That wasn’t in the message,” the Immune said apologetically, “but at a guess, I would say that they left some of the cannons on the chariots.”

That did make sense, Cassius had to admit, but that would mean that she was actually using those weapons on the move.
Gods. That would be an amazing capability, but…is it possible to do as much with any accuracy?

Scouts from down the road then caught his attention, running at full speed in his direction. From the urgency of their pace, Cassius really didn’t need to hear their report to know what they had to say.

Here they come.

“Everyone!” he hissed. “Stand at the ready. Archers! Notch your bows, but do not draw them just yet.”

If he strained now, Cassius could just imagine that he could hear the enemy footsteps as they marched. A force of such size didn’t move silently, and before long, he was certain that it was not his imagination at all.

When the lead element marched around the bend in the road, Cassius lifted his fist high and gave the signal to his archers, who immediately draw back their bows. He let them come as much around the bend as he dared, knowing that every instant that passed would give them more chance to spot his men, recognize the situation, and prepare a defense.

It came as a surprise, then, that just as he called the order to fire, a huge plume of steam erupted from the far side of the river, and the roar of the dragon’s breath sounded the start of the battle.

****

“Adjust elevation, plus three degrees,” Dyna called out, adjusting the planetaria and making final calculations in her head. “And put air to the bellows!”

The Immunes obeyed, slowly cranking the heavy barrels up and pumping the air furiously into the lit braziers under the weapons.

“My Lady! I see our soldiers!”

Dyna twisted to see what Sensus was speaking of and spotted it quickly herself. Cassius had crossed over the river and arrayed his forces for the coming battle. She nodded, her jaw setting as she recognized the moment was upon them.

“Loose the water!”

The hissing roar of the pre-boil erupted around them, filling the air with the sure knowledge of what was to come as the water striking the super-hot lower boiler was very nearly vaporized instantly. The pressure quickly closed the valve to the top boiler, and the stone plugs that filled the only escape were held fast by the bolts that were pressed tightly between them and the brass tension plate sealing the barrel shut.

This pressure spiked quickly, growing until it reached the critical point, and then exploded out of the barrels with amazing force.

Too amazing, Dyna and the others quickly found, as the two chariots being towed were rocked back onto two wheels by the expended power. They teetered precariously for a seemingly interminable instant, and Dyna barely managed to find her voice as she started and twisted in response to the cries of shock and fear from the Immunes under her command.

“Jump!” she screamed, hearing the wooden axels groan and splinter under the weight.

The Immunes jumped, tumbled, and scrambled as the wheels broke first, crushing into splinters under the remarkable weight and power of the cannons they held. The carts crashed to the ground, the weight of the entire mass abruptly fetching the automated chariot up with enough force to throw Dyna against the boiler.

The metal sizzled against her flesh, causing her to twist away and throw herself from the chariot, while Sensus was pitched forward and introduced to the front of the cart, face first. Dyna rolled along the ground, sliding to a halt not far from where the entire column of carts ground to a similar stop, and she found herself sucking in air greedily to refill her lungs to replace what had been lost in the fall.

She groaned as she rolled to her hands and knees, still gasping for air, and shook her head to clear it, but the ringing pain forced her to stop that in short order.

“Immunes,” she croaked. “Immunes!”

Dyna pushed herself to her feet, stumbling to the chariot, where Sensus was cradling what looked to be a broken and bloodied nose but nothing worse. She could see three of the Immunes picking themselves up just behind them, but her eyes fell quickly to spot one who had been pinned by the cannon he served when it fell.

“Immunes! To me!” she yelled, lunging for the cannon.

Her hands burned as she leaned into the brass tube, the heat of the barrel only a fraction of the brazier but still enough to sizzle the sweat off her hands as she put her weight into the bronze and brass, dug her feet in, and still found it completely unwilling to move.

A body hit the cannon at her side and the metal started to shift slightly, but even with the combined weight of two of them, the sheer mass of metal was stubbornly insistent on crushing the man beneath.

It was only when the other two Immunes put their weight into the tube as well that they managed to shift it off the stricken man, toppling the cannon to the roadway as they gave one final heave. Dyna dropped to her knees by the crushed man, but it was clear at a glance that there was nothing she could hope to do.

Air was bubbling through blood as the man’s breath rattled in his chest. His eyes were half lidded while his head lolled slightly without any strength to the muscles. She closed her eyes, shaking her head as she rose up to her feet again.

Even were we in Alexandria by the hospital itself, there would be no real chance.

She snarled, slamming her fist into the overturned cart with enough force to bloody her knuckles and do little else other than relieve some of her fury with herself.

Should have thought of that. No one ever fired from a chariot before, but I should have seen it anyway. The power in these cannons is unreal.

She looked over the edge of the cart, eyes on the far bank of the river, where the two standing armies were just about to clash. Sidelined now, Dyna slammed her hand down onto the cart again in frustration.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Dyna growled, pushing off the chariot, and broke into a run as she headed for the river crossing. She grabbed her blade from the chariot as she passed, dropping it into her belt loop without pausing.

“My Lady!” Sensus yelled after her. “Where are you going!? Don’t be crazy! Come back!”

She ignored him, one hand on her sword pommel as she ran to keep it from banging against her legs.

I refuse to stand where I am useless!

Her vision was blurring as she ran, something she viciously put down to smoke or dust in her eyes as she blinked it away and kept on moving.

Chapter 23

Cassius couldn’t believe the opening Dyna had served up to him, not even when he saw it with his own two eyes. That disbelief, however, did not stop him from taking full advantage of it.