Right. Then. Were missing Larsen, the captain, and the copilot. The Hendersons are on Bessie. She waved at Mrs. Henderson, who was tangling her hands in the horses mane and holding her husband in front of her. She could barely reach around him, but she nodded grimly. The Hendersons are riding Bessie, and Dennis will be riding the other horse, with Mickey. Is that everyone? She began her litany again, pointing at each one in turn. That leaves me, Ernie, Robert, Mr. Rand, and Clinton to find our own way to the rails, but we can do that, cant we, gentlemen?
Larsen! Dennis called once more.
This time she smacked him, hard across the face. He held his breath.
She said, If you open your mouth once more, Ill slap it clear into next Tuesday. Now hush yourself. Im going to go find Larsen.
You are?
I am. You, on the other hand, are heading west, so help me God-if only to get you away from us, because youre going to get us shot. Clinton, kindly help this fellow get on that horse and then the rest of us can get moving, too.
Clinton nodded at her like a man who was accustomed to taking orders, then hesitated briefly, because he was not accustomed to taking orders from a woman. Then he realized that he didnt have any better ideas, so he took Dennis by the arm, led him to the horse, and helped him aboard. The student did not look particularly confident in the absence of a saddle, but hed make do.
Dont you let him fall! Mercy commanded.
Clinton slapped both horses on the rear, and the beasts took off almost cheerfully, so delighted were they to be leaving the scene. The remaining members of the ragtag party had no time to discuss further strategy. No sooner had the horses disappeared between the trees, headed generally west, than the southern side of the fighting line met them at the road.
The soldiers rushed up with battle cries, leading carts with cannon, and crawling machines that carried antiaircraft guns modified to point lower, as necessary. The crawling machines moved like insects, squirting oil and hissing steam from their joints as they loped forward; and the cannon were no sooner stopped than braced, and pumped, and fired.
On the other side of the road, the northern line was likewise digging in. Soldiers were hollering, and in the light of a dozen simultaneous flashes of gunpowder and shot, Mercy saw a striped flag waving over the trees. She saw it in pieces, cut to rags by shadows and bullets, but flying, and coming closer. All around Mercy, soldiers cast up barricades of wood or wire, and where cannon felled trees, the trees were gathered up-by the men themselves, or with help from the crawling craft, which were equipped with retracting arms that could lift much more than a man.
Some of the soldiers stopped at the strange band of misfits beside the road, but not for long. A wild-eyed infantryman pointed at the ruins of the cart and hollered, Barricade!
In thirty seconds, it was hauled out of the road and then was further dissected for dispersing along the line.
Clinton was back in his element, among his fellow soldiers. He took Gordon Rand by the arm, since Gordon seemed the least injured and most stable male civilian present, and said, Get everyone to the back of the line, and then take them west! Ive got to get back to my company!
Everyone was shouting over the ferocious clang of the war, now brought into the woods-which compressed everything, even the sound, even the smell of the sizzling gunpowder. It was like holding a battle inside someones living room.
Gordon Rand replied, I can do that! Which way is west again?
That way! Clinton demonstrated with his now-characteristic lack of precision. Just get to the back of the line, and ask somebody there! Go! And run like hell! Their walker is getting closer; if ours dont catch up, were all of us fish in a barrel!
Most of the party took off running behind Rand, but Ernie hesitated. Nurse? he said to Mercy, who was looking back down the road, the way they had come.
Were still missing the captain, and the copilot, and Larsen. She looked at Ernie. I told Dennis Id try and find him, and I mean to. Go on, she urged. Ill be better off by myself. I can duck and cover, and Ive got my red cross on.
She mustered a smile that was not at all happy.
Ernie didnt return it. He said, No way, maam. Im staying with you. Im not leaving a lady alone on a battlefield.
Youre not a soldier.
Neither are you.
It was clear that he wouldnt
be moved. Mercy sized that up in a snap; she knew the type-too chivalrous for his own good, and now he felt like he owed her, since shed done what she could to take care of his hand. Now he was bound to take care of her, too, or else leave the debt to stand. Yes, she knew that kind. Her husband had been that kind, though she didnt take the time to think about it right then.
Suit yourself, she told him. She lifted up her cloak, pulling the hood up over her head and adjusting her satchel so that the red mark stood out prominently. It wasnt a shield, and it wasnt magic, but it might keep her from being targeted. Or it might not.