Read Online Chasing the Phoenix by Michael Swanwick - Free Book Online Page B

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    On the fifth day of fighting, Darger and Surplus stood at the fore of the main encampment, atop a slight rise, watching the white puffs of rifle smoke dotting the mountains to either side of the valley and the movement of cavalry and infantry between them. The desperate fighting was rendered sluggish and quiet by distance. Rifle fire crackled gently and the boom of ordnance was as soft and muted as faraway thunder. It was clear to Surplus that the Mountain Horses troops held the advantage and would not be surrendering anytime soon.
    Then a team of rocket soldiers brought up the Red Arrow missile and fired it straight and true down the center of the valley to the enemy’s defensive wall. There was a tremendous explosion when it hit, and through the ensuing smoke could be seen a gaping hole. With a roar, the Abundant Kingdom cavalry charged toward it.
    Almost simultaneously, flames appeared on the forested mountain slopes to either side of the pass—lit by hidden arsonists whom Powerful Locomotive had sent out during the night. The flames merged, forming walls, and gunfire ceased as the snipers fled the conflagration.
    For a time, it looked as if the battle would be settled then and there, for the smoke from the forest fires flowed down into the pass and was carried by the wind straight at the defensive wall, making it possible for the Abundant Kingdom’s forces to advance on it in obscurity. But then sortie gates at either end of the wall opened and troops of cavalry emerged. The famed mountain horses raced up the slopes with an agility no normal steeds could match. Riding behind each cavalryman was a sapper, and these were dropped off some distance before the advancing flames to chop down trees and build firebreaks. Then, riders crouched low, the mountain horses sped fearlessly through the burning trees as no ordinary mount would even have attempted. Once through, the cavalry hunted down and killed all the Abundant Kingdom soldiers they could find, whether arsonists or otherwise.
    In their wake, meanwhile, the sharpshooters were returning to the mountainsides to resume sniping from slopes the fire had passed by. At the same time, a steady blind pounding from the Mountain Horses artillery forced Ceo Powerful Locomotive to turn back his men rather than lose them altogether. They retreated to the earthen ramparts their own sappers had thrown up just beyond the range of effective gunfire.
    â€œIt is as I have always heard,” Surplus said. “War is indeed a stirring spectacle and a rousing entertainment.”
    â€œFrom this vantage, it could scarcely be improved upon,” Darger agreed. “Though I imagine it feels otherwise to the poor chaps actually caught up in it.”
    â€œThat is why I try to avoid field hospitals, prisoner of war compounds, mass graves, and all such locations, which I am certain I would find distressing were I to expose myself to them.”
    â€œThat is quite wise of you. It is of paramount importance to keep up one’s morale.” Turning his back on the pageantry with obvious reluctance, Darger said, “I must return to my mathematical studies.”
    â€œAnd I,” Surplus said, “to the business of making myself a living legend.”
    *   *   *
    THE CAMP was a lively and varied place. Many of the soldiers, especially the younger officers, stood at its fringe to watch the progress of battle, as Surplus himself had just been doing. But most went about the everyday business of any military encampment: polishing brass and leather, cleaning weapons, grooming horses, butchering aurochs and stewing their meat, writing up requisitions for new supplies, operating stills they hid from their superiors, gambling away their pay chits on dice games or rat fights, and so on. Surplus made his way directly to the flogging post, where he was amiably greeted by the officer on duty, a stocky woman of cheerful disposition.
    â€œWelcome back,