The Temporal Knights (47 page)

“You want to pull off for the night Colonel?” Private Dosland asked as the caravan idled on the edge of the roadway.

The Colonel remained quiet for a moment and then started as Lieutenant Otsaka rapped his knuckles on the window.

“We’ve made great time Colonel…that road was a godsend.”

Lemay nodded. “How big is London at this time?”

Otsaka frowned. “Hell if I know,” he answered and looked to Sir Elid who shrugged and then to Sir Ceorl.

“How many people in London?”

“London….ah Lundenwic,” he finally said but also shrugged. “Many…”

“Hang on,” the Lieutenant said and moved back down the caravan. Five minutes later he returned. “The computers are telling us maybe five thousand…maybe less.”

“No shit,” Lemay answered. “We could be in Rochester in another hour or so then.” He glanced at Otsaka and then Dosland.

“Let’s do it,” the private answered and both his superiors concurred. Less than a minute later they were once more on the move.

It took them just under two hours. Though the people of London were mostly asleep at one in the morning, the roads through the town were horrendous and at times very narrow. One of the trucks even took down a porch roof as it squeezed through one of the tighter sections. Luckily, the citizens of the town, those that were awake, kept hidden and well away from the noisy monstrosities rolling past their homes.

Sir Ceorl warned them when they were within a mile of Rochester, and Lemay ordered the caravan off the road and led the group up and over a large hill. There, they found a small grove of massive oak trees and made camp under their enormous branches. They hid the vehicles as best they could, but the trees were spaced well apart to give room for their prodigious canopies. In all, the trip took just over eight hours, but they’d made it in a single day. The three locals, Sir Ceorl, Harden and Sir Elid stood together still a little shocked that they were already
outside Rochester. They expected the Americans to make camp, catch what sleep they could and wait for the morning. But this was not to be so. Instead they heard Colonel Lemay barking orders even though everyone seemed to be working on something and Ceorl wondered if the strange men ever tired. 

“Corporal Garraty,” the Colonel yelled as he supervised the placement of the trucks and hummers around the enormous tree trunks. He wanted all avenues of approach covered by at least three high powered machine guns. If the Earl managed to launch an attack their way during the rescue attempt, they would pay very, very dearly.

“Yes Sir.”

“I want a bug up and flying over Rochester in ten minutes…and get Sir Ceorl, he has a remarkably detailed memory of the fortress layout and of the town itself. He’ll help you with your orientation,” he ordered and then moved off without waiting for an answer. “Let’s get a safety perimeter established and I want eyes on that road at all times...let’s have no surprises people.”

Sir Ceorl, for his part, was every bit as impressed with the speed and efficiency of the soldiers as he had been with the speed of their vehicles. He knew something of fighting and fighting men, and understood that it was no easy task to get them to work together as a unit without a lot of complaining, backbiting, and unwanted advice. It was especially true when the men were not directly in the heat of battle, but these Americans worked together as if they had been born to do so, and absolutely no one questioned the orders of Colonel Lemay. Sir Ceorl was captivated by the energy and discipline displayed though it was well into the night. He was standing slack jawed in the middle of camp, mesmerized by the well orchestrated activities going on around him, when the man named Garraty approached him.

“Sir, when was the last time you were in Rochester?” the Corporal asked and pulled out a neat little book with perfectly white pages, and some sort of strange quill. Sir Ceorl eyed the notebook enviously for a brief moment.

“About a year ago...na, mayhap it twas closer to half,” the knight answered, but then his curiosity got the better of him and he reached out and took the little book from Garraty. It was very well made with a fine twist of metal near the top of the book to hold all the little white pages in place but also allowed for rapid turning, and it fit in the palm of your hand.

“Most excellent,” Sir Ceorl exclaimed and handed it back to the Corporal. Then he began to recall all he could about the town and the Earl’s fortress, which was located about half a mile south of the town on a steep hill. The fortress was called Rovescester, and Sir Ceorl remembered that the view from the wooden ramparts was indeed grand, quite like looking down on the whole of Kent. He talked on and watched as Garraty scribbled down all his recollections nearly as quickly as the knight could utter them, and though Sir Ceorl could not read the man’s writing, he did not doubt that Garraty was able to decipher the scratch.

“Does this road go directly to town?”

“Yah.”

“Does it go on directly to the fortress?”

“Na, it goes on to Canterbury, but there’s a track that leads up to Rovescester,” Sir Ceorl explained.

“How many gates does Rov…Rovischester have? Are there large trees around the fortress? Is the castle exposed on all sides, or does it back to a cliff, a river, or other natural barrier? How many men will the castle hold? Will the town’s people fight if Sir Eadwulf is attacked?” On and on the questions went until Garraty was sure he had all the information Sir Ceorl possessed. Garraty was finally satisfied and smiled at the knight from Warwick, who was still dazed by the thoroughness of the soldier before him. He was sure that his Lord, Sir Æthelred would have just charged forward and immediately lay siege to the enemy and then asked questions later.

“Thanks for your help,” the Corporal said sincerely, and on impulse reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out another small notebook. He handed it to Sir Ceorl. “Here…for you.”

Sir Ceorl took the notebook gingerly, as if it were gold.

“Forsooth?”
He asked, very surprised and happy.

Garraty laughed.
“Forsooth. Come, I think you will enjoy this,” the Corporal said, liking the young knight. The Corporal led him first to a truck where he retrieved several cases of equipment. He handed one of them to Sir Ceorl, who took it without question, not offended in the least that he was expected to do common labor. Among these men there seemed to be little privilege awarded by rank. The Colonel worked just as hard as any of them and because work was expected the men seemed to do it all very naturally. Everything about these men was a puzzle to Ceorl but he found he enjoyed being around them and learning about their strange ways. On their way out of camp they bumped into Sir Elid as he was finishing erecting a tent. Private Dosland released the knight so he tagged along, equally curious.

They walked out away from the quickly growing camp, clear of the tall trees, and into a nearby field. The night was very dark and still, lit only by a sliver of moon. Once away from the camp Corporal Garraty set his case on the ground, opened it and took out a small hand held video monitor, then he took the case Sir Ceorl carried and opened it, revealing a flat, round, bluish-white disk about two feet in diameter.

“This is a bug,” Garraty told the knights, but they both looked at him blankly, for they had no knowledge of such things.

“Actually it’s a UAV, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle,” but this didn’t explain it any better than his first statement. Garraty noticed their vacant looks.

“We’re going to fly it over the town and fortress and see just what the Earl and his men are up to.”

Sir Elid frowned. “Ye canna fit on that thing!” he exclaimed, having visions of Garraty shrinking himself in size.

Garraty laughed. “Unmanned, means no men. It operates without a pilot, or more precisely without a pilot on board. I’ll be flying it with this,” he explained and held up the remote control.

“See under here,” he said lifting the disk from its case and pointing to a large ridge that ran along the bottom of the contraption, “are five different cameras, and each will give us a distinctly different view of what’s going on below. It’s all run by computers and very sophisticated.”

Sir Ceorl looked at him like he was the village idiot, but Sir Elid had learned enough over the past few weeks so as not to question the claims of the Americans, so he simply nodded.

Garraty flipped a switch on the side of the UAV, enabling it, and then handed it carefully to Sir Ceorl, who held it far away from his body, as if it were a snake. The Corporal then picked up the remote and played with the knob at its center and flipped a few switches, all the while watching the vehicle to make sure the craft responded properly.

“How would you like to launch it?” Garraty asked, and Sir Ceorl nodded, having absolutely no idea what the soldier before him was asking.

“Hold it gently on the bottom like this...keep it well away from your head so the propellers don’t get you when I start them up, then when I give the signal, toss it up into the air.”

“Tis going to fly?” Sir Elid asked, growing very excited.

“Yes...ready?” he asked Sir Ceorl and stepped a few feet away as the knight raised the bug above his head as he’d been shown. Garraty flipped a switch and the propellers started. Sir Elid backed away, and Sir Ceorl cringed at the noise and vibration the foul thing was making, but he did not drop it though he sorely wanted to do just that.

“Now throw it gently and smoothly up into the air...do it with some force though,” Garraty knew his instructions were vague, but also knew that the UAV could take off from the knight’s hand if necessary.

Sir Ceorl did as he was told. He pushed the living thing into the air and let go. The tiny engines roared louder and the thing flew straight up into the night sky and was quickly lost in the darkness. For a moment they could hear it buzzing overhead, but soon even that was gone.

Sir Elid was disappointed, but Sir Ceorl was just confused. Both knights dropped their gaze and looked questioningly at Corporal Garraty but the man was not even looking up into the sky, rather he was peering down at one of the cases. They walked closer and looked over his shoulder at the small monitor. At first neither was sure exactly what they were looking at, but after several long moments and a bit of explanation, Sir Elid realized that they were looking down from the contraption. There were figures on the screen all alone in a field. They were not men, but rather men figures lit bright white against the black background.

“These
be men?” he asked, confusing the young knight from Warwick all the more. Try as he might Sir Ceorl could not make heads or tails of the strange light box Garraty gazed into. The entire episode was utterly disappointing to him.

“Yes,” Garraty answered with a laugh. “It’s us.”

“Tis na really us’n?” Elid said with a frown.

“Yes, we are looking down with a technology called infrared. It allows us to see better in the dark using the natural ambient light,” Garraty explained then asked Sir Ceorl to move off, then around them in a big circle as Sir Elid watched, amazed. “The UAV is directly overhead...I’m just performing the final calibration to make sure everything is functioning properly. Now you move about while Sir Ceorl watches.”

Sir Elid did as he was told and Sir Ceorl was equally impressed, though not completely convinced. Corporal Garraty then set the “bug” in an endless loop while he took the remote and headed to the command tent, which was already completely erected and functional. Once there he plugged the remote into a larger console with many monitors and sat down before the controls. Colonel Lemay, Lieutenant Otsaka, and Captain Gardner entered soon afterwards.

“All set sir,” Corporal Garraty said without turning, Sir Elid however quickly came to attention and saluted the Colonel, while Sir Ceorl just nodded.

Lemay returned the salute with only a wisp of a smile then moved into place behind Garraty, Otsaka and Gardner at his side.

“Excellent, take the bug out of its holding pattern and find the road if you can.
Sir Ceorl, can you lead us into the town of Rochester?”

The knight nodded, though he was not sure just how he was to manage this. He kept his doubts to himself and watched growing more amazed by the moment as the camera from above first showed him a bit of the camp then the Lundenwic road.  The road came through as a dark line against the brighter light of the living trees, bushes and grasses.

With practiced ease, Corporal Garraty steered the bug over the road and it was soon racing away from camp, and then with surprising clarity its cameras revealed a town below.

Rochester was a large town with over fifty distinct buildings. Not surprisingly at this hour, the streets were utterly deserted of people, but the bug did detect a pair of dogs sniffing about in an alley. Both Sir Elid and Sir Ceorl now stared at the screen, completely enthralled.

“It’s big,” Otsaka commented, concerned.

“Tis a large place, the crossroads betwixt Lundenwic and Canterbury to the east, with another main road leading west to Winchester, then on to Shaftesbury,” Sir Ceorl explained.

“Circle here and have the computer record and map the town,” Lemay said. Garraty nodded and quickly typed in the commands. Two minutes later the town of Rochester was digitized and moments later several detailed maps smoothly rolled out of a nearby printer. Then, following Sir Ceorl’s directions, the Sergeant steered the bug south along the main road and moments later it flew over the fortress of Rovescester. It was not a true castle by rights and was made largely of wood, though it did have a stone keep off center to the south. True stone castles would not appear for another three hundred years with the arrival of the Normans. Still it was an impressive structure complete with main gate, ramparts and towers. There were only a few guards on the walls, and there were men moving below in the courtyard plus a number of horses and dogs as well. Amid the scene were two things which concerned the Colonel and his men. One was the fact that there was the inner stone keep. It came complete with its own gate and high walls within the confines of the outer wooden walls. Second, there appeared to be a large contingent of tents outside the wooden ramparts to the east where hundreds of men had made camp.