The Shasht War (20 page)

"It's a risk. That plague came from the native people somehow."

"Bah, stop calling them 'native people.' They are not people. They are nothing but sodomistic monkeys, and we are going to kill every last single one of them."

"You have that woven piece, some carvings of theirs. We're even drinking this beer they made. You know that they aren't just monkeys."

"Well, of course not, but we have to believe that so we can do what we have to do."

"It isn't essential to exterminate the natives."

"According to the orders from Aeswiren himself, it is essential. The Emperor's advisors have delved deeply into the histories of ancient times. They say that in the event that we meet a native folk, of whatever kind they may be, we must exterminate them. Any fragment that we leave to survive, will revive in time and threaten our hold on the new lands."

"They were peaceful folk until our arrival."

"Well, they haven't been very peaceful since," snapped Heuze. He wanted to bask in his triumph, not worry about the fornicating monkeys. Or even a renewed outbreak of plague.

Filek shut up, thirstily drained his beer, and called for another. He had more surgery ahead of him that day, two leg amputations, and a spearhead removal from a chest, but his tolerance for beer had increased markedly since the beginning of this campaign.

Indeed, he was fit, tanned, and far tougher physically then he'd been on the day they'd come ashore four months earlier. Every day of that time had been filled with a crisis of some kind and the challenge had done him good. Filek had taken to the life of an army on the move. He hadn't expected to like camping, but he had, and the country they'd marched through had been extraordinary.

Forest covered the terrain, like nothing any of them had ever seen before. Sometimes the roads gave out and became mere trails in dark woodland. The trees were enormous, far larger than any he had seen in Shasht. At other times they overlooked great sweeping vistas of wooded hills and vales. And almost everywhere the land was virgin, untouched except in the river bottoms, where the natives made their dwellings among a multitude of ponds. It was exhilarating to march through this bountiful land and breathe in the scents of forest and meadow.

"This was a splendid victory," said Heuze, since Filek didn't seem to appreciate what he was supposed to say.

"Indeed, sir. A very clean one, few casualties, until today."

"Well, it's not possible to storm a walled city without suffering some casualties."

"No, of course not. I understand that, sir, but you see, as a surgeon, busy sewing up our wounded men, I see it all from the point of view of the casualties."

"Of course, of course, perfectly understandable. That's why I enjoy your company, Filek. You're not like the rest of these butchers."

Filek knew well why the admiral liked his company. The army was headed by dolts, since all the brighter officers had long been weeded out by the secret killers of the Hand of Aeswiren. So Filek offered the only chance for good conversation that Heuze was going to get.

"Well, sir, have we taken the entire city now?"

"No, not yet. The pestilential enemy have retreated into a kind of fortress sector of the inner city."

"Monkeys that build fortresses?"

"Shut up, Biswas. They're monkeys and that's that."

"If you say so, sir."

"I do. And we're going to loot this place of theirs and then burn it. Just like we did with the one we took last year. We'll send up a pall of smoke to terrify the fucking monkeys."

"Yes, sir, if we must."

"But first we'll help ourselves to their finery. There are some amazing things to be had."

Filek heard the greed in Heuze's voice. Filek had seen the shimmering woven mats, the carvings in wood and stone, and the paintings of country landscapes that decorated the homes of the natives. Beautiful work, of a quality beyond anything he'd ever seen before. He knew the market in these goods was already strong, just within the fleet. Once these things could be auctioned in Shasht, their value would grow exponentially. The admiral's liberality in regard to loot was sure to be popular with both men and officers.

"Stay and dine with me, Filek. I want to show you something. Going to be an excellent dinner. My hunters have brought in a dozen deer. The game in these hills is absolutely breathtaking. Our hunters can barely contain themselves. Two hundred ducks were taken the other day, from a single lake."

"Thank you, sir, I will. It's been warm work today, and I have a few more operations to undertake later. A good meal would set me up properly."

Soon afterward the slaves brought in the first course. Grilled breasts of duck, sauced with fresh-squeezed blood and served with wild mushrooms.

It was delicious. That was another thing about this expedition, thought Filek as he chewed. The food had been wonderful. After years of getting by on mush and fish, they were eating well on the bounteous game of this new land.

The admiral was still caught up in his plans for the army.

"Now that we've taken this place, I intend to burn it and turn back to the coast. I prefer that we operate in reach of the fleet."

"Wisdom, sir, if you don't mind my saying so."

Heuze nodded, smiling. "These duck breasts are sensational, aren't they?"

"Wonderful."

"And I've got something to show you afterward that will astonish you. Yes, even you, the connoisseur from old Shasht."

They gulped down beer and duck breasts.

"What news is there from the fleet?" asked Filek. "I forgot to ask."

"Not much. The monkeys have not troubled them in the slightest. No fire ships this time."

Filek felt a twinge at the mere mention of those things. The thought of his daughter left behind on the ship, alone, troubled him enough. He had appointed his young deputy Tomak to become fleet surgeon in his absence. But Tomak could not protect her from fire ships.

"Has the post packet come yet today?"

"Yes, there are some letters for you."

Filek always enjoyed receiving letters from his intelligent daughter even if she was also rebellious and wicked for not obeying him and agreeing to wed Wurg Gembeth. She wrote every day and always found something witty and uplifting to say.

"Anyway, the timetable I'm thinking of is to spend the next couple of days here, letting the men loot while we see if we can reduce this fortress. Then we'll burn the place down and march to the sea. Along the way we'll burn all their places that we find. We'll make them remember us, by God."

Filek heard the admiral's thirst for vindication in the history books. He knew that historians would not treat him well for the conduct of the first campaign the previous year. Or for the earlier campaign this summer. But now Heuze had taken a more active role in command, and victory had followed victory. Now the army was ready to follow up with a great raid to the sea, burning villages and cutting down the enemy and piling their heads in the ruins.

"You know, Filek, when the historians come to write of this campaign, your exploits will be mentioned, too." Now Heuze was being generous, in his way, incorporating Filek into his grandiose projection of the future.

"Thank you, sir. I merely serve to the best of my ability..."

"You have improved the survival rate among our wounded enormously. With your techniques, your 'science' as you call it, we will... Ah! Take a look at that!"

The slaves had brought in a haunch of roasted venison. With great gusto Heuze carved slices of the meat for them. It was sauced with fat and juices and eaten with some sauteed greenstuffs.

"Excellent, what, Filek?"

"Excellent, sir."

"You shall establish a great hospital, Filek. Generations of future colonists here will revere your name. Whereas I, I will fade slowly into obscurity. Just a famous general who won some crucial battles."

"Surely not, sir?"

"Well, not unless I take some steps that I'm not sure I should take."

"You mean?" Filek's eyebrows shot up. Heuze was planning a takeover again, he was sure. With some solid success under his belt, Heuze was in a much stronger position now.

Instinctively they leaned close together so they could whisper. Any listeners to their conversation outside the tent would hear nothing.

"I think the time may be coming when we must unseat the priests. Perhaps even Nebbeggebben."

Filek leaned back, not particularly surprised. He knew Heuze had been thinking along these lines for a while.

"Wonderful meal, sir."

"Yes, indeed. And your hospital will extoll your virtues, Filek. Your dedication to science and medicine and so on..."

"Our hospital will have your name carved on the lintel, Admiral. I promise you that."

"Why, that's very noble of you, Biswas. A very noble offer, your health, sir!"

They drank and returned to their meat. When they'd finally finished, Heuze pushed his plate away and clapped his hands.

"Bring in my special find."

Two men returned shortly, dragging a small figure behind them on the end of a chain.

They shoved it into the center of the tent and held it fast between them.

Filek gasped, it was a female of the monkeys, a "mor" as Simona insisted they be called. Filek had seen very few of the females, since they were not usually captured, and when they were, they were killed for meat. He'd dissected one female corpse. The reproductive tissues were very similar to those of women.

But his reaction now was to more than simple femaleness, for this "mor" had an entrancing beauty that struck him at once. And even more intriguing was how similar to a young woman she was. She had the same weight to the hips, the curve of the thigh and breast. The same swell in her movements that spoke of fecundity and sexual attraction. The face was inhuman, of course, the nose much too small, the eyes too far apart, the lips too thin, the eyebrows much too large, but still there was beauty. She had a regal poise and a profile that reminded him for a moment of a female cat. Indeed she moved her lean muscles like a cat, too.

"Extraordinary, sir. I've never seen anything quite so wonderful, so strange..."

"It's not just her looks, man, which I'll grant you are astonishing. This one was seen doing acrobatic tricks. We think she's some kind of trained monkey!" Heuze dissolved into mirth at his own, weak humor. Filek smiled, truckling unashamedly. But at the same time he had other thoughts.

If the young mor were presented without the soft grey fur that covered her from head to toe, except for an area around her face and the palms and soles of her hands and feet, he would have had to accept that her body was that of a woman. Include the strange face, and he would say she was a woman with a tiny nose and overlarge eyebrows, but still a woman of a sort.

"Isn't she amazing?" gloated Heuze. "She has such a strange, devastating beauty. Don't you think, Filek?"

"I do, Admiral, I really do."

"I have tried to force her to do her tricks, but she will not. Only when we put her in the pen with the others and she thinks we're not watching. Then she does the most amazing things."

"She seems like a woman to me, sir."

"Ho-ho, better not let the ladies hear you say that, my friend. This is just a monkey, Filek. No woman of Shasht would perform these acrobatic exercises; it would be too undignified."

"Yes, sir, but still, her hips, her breasts..."

"Yes, indeed, there is the very obvious, femaleness of her body. Rather sexy really, sort of like a cross between an alley cat and a ripe young whore. I wonder if the imperial family will decide to use her. The sexual characteristics are very similar to our own. You know their reputation. That Aurook is said to be a cocksman of epic proportions with endless lust. And then there's Aeswiren himself. His legend is equally well marked."

Filek blanched. Aeswiren was a man of propriety, it was said. He had three wives, but treated all well and equally. But his sons, particularly the sons of his second wife, Alchia, were the rotten fruit of the dynasty. First Nebbeggebben and then Aurook, had won reputations for evil behavior.

Looking at the beautiful creature, Filek felt his heart torn by pity, but he kept his feelings to himself.

"Yes, sir, of course. Our Emperor is first in all things."

Heuze chuckled. "Well said, Biswas, well said. But I think I will send this one to the Emperor. After our great victories it is time we sent back another ship with some more trophies and a full report. And this particular creature will be among them.

"Astonishing. The Emperor will revere you for it, sir."

"Yes, I rather think he will be amazed by the things we will send him."

Filek understood at once that the admiral referred to the mysterious little scroll that Simona had brought back from her sojourn among the monkey folk. That scroll was a message to the Emperor. Filek knew that Heuze had read the thing, and that it had produced some kind of dramatic effect, but the admiral had been closemouthed about it ever since.

"Amazing things," murmured Heuze, lost in reverie.

"As I've said, sir, I find it hard to think that 'monkeys' could produce such things."

"Stow it, Filek, they're monkeys. Man is the spawn of the Great God. That's the official line, and that's what we're sticking with. These creatures are just chaff, trifles, animals of no more consequence than pigs or chickens."

"If you say so, sir."

"But there's no doubting her appeal, eh? Look at the insolence in her. She won't meet my eyes. If I didn't want her unmarked and fresh for the Emperor, I'd have her whipped for that."

Heuze was obviously excited by that thought. Filek shuddered. The admiral was his protector but he had a few too many rough edges for Filek Biswas's liking.

"Another thing, Filek? I've been thinking that we need to send someone back who can describe the land here in the proper way. Your daughter has seen much of it. She could tell the Emperor her tales of life among the monkeys. That would amuse him, I'm sure."

Filek's heart leaped. Going back to Shasht? Simona would give up her right arm for that opportunity. And part of Filek was overjoyed at the thought. Another part was not, since if she went back she would never be wed to his advantage.