Chapter Twenty-Six, 'Haelvan's R&D rangers'

The sun was setting. In the valley below them the shadows had already fallen. A day before, the valley had met night with a gentle breeze through Maris's vineyard. For the defenders of the monastery it was not to be as peaceful as the previous night.

"Nethen."
"Yes sir."
"Take your squad through town and evacuate them to the cellars. By force if you must; I'll not have civilian casualties if they can be avoided, and if it takes injuries to obtain it so be it."
"Yes sir commander."
"And Nethen."
"Yes sir?"
"My name is Haelvan. It's the name my mother gave me, it's the name my wife called me, and I'd prefer if you used it too."
"Thank you sir, Mr. Haelvan that is."

Commander Haelvan examined the reports from Apprentice Henders, nice kid but it didn't take a genius to see that he wasn't, the device had worked fairly well in lab tests. Field testing would be the next step anyways, and at the very least he'd have a chance to get rid of that ugly mug the major had gotten him last Junsrew. He'd just have to give the men a heads up about sticking limbs near the breech of the thing. Last thing he needed in the middle of a battle was a soldier dying in a manner he'd normally call a 'training accident'.

"Commander sir, I mean Mr. Haelvan sir."
"Back already Nethen? How did the civilians know to evacuate themselves?"
"It's been almost three hours sir. I was coming to tell you we've spotted the enemy sir."
"And have you seen the warlock?"
"No sir. But we did see a company of heavily armored warriors near a sedan on Jim's knoll."
"That the one with the little magnolia on it, or the one with the mistletoe on the rock?"
"The magnolia sir"
"Out of effective magical range, it would appear our friend Kron has elected to let this be a battle of steel. The gate is secure?"
"Yes sir, you closed it yourself as always; the key is in your right breast pocket in your brown jacket sir."
"Sneaky little iron devil would be there wouldn't he? Do they have any equipment, are they setting up camp?"
"They have a basic ram sir. I think the warlock intends to take us by storm sir."
"Course he does, warlocks are like that. Overconfident, probably has a promise of victory from a Shaditha or some such nonsense. Is all of our stuff and people in position?"
"Yes sir, right where you ordered them sir."

Nethen looked down unhappily, "Almost everyone, Rytger stuck his arm in it; he's in the infirmary sir."
"I'll have to mention that to Magus Brenn. I told him he should have a drum or belt of some sort to feed in ammunition. Having magnets that powerful in a tube that wide is just asking for some dope to stick his arm in it and launch it down range at speeds in excess of five-hundred Kilometers per hour."
"One-thousand three hundred and ninety six kilometers per hour in excess sir."
"Is that faster or slower than the time it took him to lose his arm?"
"Exactly the amount of time sir."
"I hope someone at least made money on it."

Haelvan rose and opened the door out to the grand hall. The men were assembled there, those not on the walls anyways.
"I expect a fair number of you already heard about Rytger."
There was a murmur of agreement, a few winces as those who hadn't heard were enlightened by their comrades.
"Needless to say, don't put any part of your body somewhere your liable to lose it. That goes for the battle too. I don't speak from personal experience, but I expect being killed in battle would hurt. Clearly none of us want to get hurt, am I right?"
More murmurs of agreement.
"Right, now before you just go hide in a corner I want to remind you of something. Downstairs are civilians. Like yourselves civilians do not like to get hurt. But unlike you civilians do not have the training, equipment, or good pay that makes you a soldier. If you hide, they will get hurt, and they will not pay taxes, and you will not get anymore training, equipment, or good pay. So hiding is also not an option, can we agree on that?"
A few people agreed, most of them were just quiet and bored looking. Nethen liked the commander, Mr. Haelvan that is, but he just wasn't a very good speaker. Brilliant, the argument he was laying out was simple enough for a child and summed up why they were fighting perfectly, but very droll nonetheless.
"So I recommend that you do as your told and hurt them; that way they don't hurt you, or the civilians. Now get to your stations, and don't put your hand in any of the magnet tube things," He consulted Apprentice Hender's report, "Rail-cannon, it's called. I wonder why."

"Commander sir, I mean Mr. Haelvan."
"Did I ramble again?"
"Only a little sir; you were much better than last time sir."
"How many do you think will hide?"
"Sergeant Willikins, Trooper Gordon, and Trooper Jentes sir. Everyone else was here last time, or at least they've wanted a chance like this since the war sir."
"And you Nethen, will you hide?"
"I'll never leave your side sir; I'd follow you to hell and back if I could sir."
Haelvan stopped and twitched a little.
"Sir, was it something I said?"
"Partially, it reminded me of someone. But more importantly, do you smell that?"
"The Ga-Vok are not known for their hygiene sir."
"No, it smells like thunder, silver, blood on the wind, and high tide in the desert. Nethen, I've smelled it before. What you said just reminded me where I know it from."
"I reminded you of your wife sir?"
"My wife never smelled like thunder, or anything in a desert. She always liked the sea, and there was more of an arcane fragrance to her magic. But our daughter smelled like that."

Nethen sighed; this was a terrible time for another one of his nostalgic moments. It was quite surprising when he didn't get nostalgic.

"You'd have liked her, I know how you've always said how you like redheads. She'd be about seventeen now. I think, if we survive, I'll say a prayer for her. If I don't, could you?"
"Of course sir; it would be an honor to complete your last request."
"Really lieutenant, you shouldn't say things like that. It makes you sound crazy, like you're in a movie or something."
"I like to think of it as a romantic tragedy sir."