Ойкумена / Oikumena: Глава 23

Chapter 23 "Always yours"

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Camrad_RIP 17.07.23 в 14:20

Lena wrapped herself more tightly in the hide of something bear-like. It was given to the travelers, one for every two people. The precaution had been wise. As the sun set, the woolen shirts and blankets did not save them. The captain said the ship had entered the cold current specifically to kill woodworm mollusks that might have somehow penetrated the cracks in the copper plating but had not yet burrowed deeper. So they'll have to be patient for a couple of days, just a precaution.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:03

It looked more like a two-masted drakkar than anything else, but Elena called it a galleon because of its complicated sail system. There wasn't even a lower deck as such, just a hold for goods and supplies and the captain's cabin. All the crew and passengers, about forty people at the moment, were accommodated in the open air.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:04

It didn't fit with the stories about developed shipbuilding and the centuries-long history of mainland trade. But after thinking about it, Lena concluded that everything was natural. The continent was one. There were no extensive overseas possessions - so there were no transcontinental routes, for which it would be necessary to build a real sailing fleet, as in her world. Ships sailed either along the coast or not too far from it, so there was no reason to complicate the design.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:07

Interesting ... because the Ecumene, strictly speaking, is not the world as a whole, but only a continent. Are there other continents?

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:08

The cold was compounded by the dampness. Lena and Shena could not even huddle together for warmth. The routiers huddled around a hearth in the shape of a large bowl under a grate and on a brick base. Such a hearth could be used for heating, cooking, but its main purpose was to light and signal by throwing combustible mixtures into the fire, giving a column of fire of different colors. There were two hearth lights - fore and aft.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:09

Lena pulled her fur tighter, replaying the conversation with Kai over and over in her mind. And at the same time, noting the word "scrolling" itself already seemed a little alien to her, inappropriate. Tape scrolling is from the world of technology, tapes, and numbers. Here it is simply "remembering," recalling..... That's what it means to get used to and adapt, you don't realize it, but you adjust to the new life step by step.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:11

Kai didn't say another word to her, only glanced at her silently as Lena jumped into the boat after Shena. It wasn't a good look, both sad and disgusted. It was as if the swordsman had cut the girl out of his life, and closed the notebook with a short history of their communication. Lena avoided meeting eyes with the knight, feeling awkward, although there was no reason for awkwardness. But still... it didn't feel right. Elena gritted her teeth and forbade herself to think about it. For now, anyway.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:12

"I don't want to go back," she said quietly into her pelt as if drawing a line under her heavy musings. "I want to live in the city. In a big city, where it's warm, and there are lots of people."

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:12

"And rightly so," Shena said, snuggling closer to Lena so not a single particle of warmth was wasted. "This life isn't yours."

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:15

It was getting weird and curious. Kai had said almost exactly the same thing, suggesting to stay. But what if, uh.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:15

"How about we don't go back?" suggested Lena quietly, frightened by her radicalism. She didn't even utter it but rather moved her lips as if everything could be blamed on the wind afterward. It was he who tore the quiet, inappropriate words from her lips.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:06

"Maybe," said the spearwoman. "But we have to think it over carefully."

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:00

"Really?" The healer couldn't believe it.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:01

"True," Shena replied sleepily. It looked like fatigue and sleep had taken its toll on her after all. "We'll talk tomorrow."

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:02

The excitement came over Lena like a wave in a storm, but it left just as quickly, taking the rest of her strength. She closed her eyes and drifted into slumber. She saw mountains, a plain bordered by low hills that looked like grave mounds. The day was bright, rainless but overcast, moderately warm with a slight chill. It was a good time to fight. The heat and the sun would not wear down the soldiers, and the wounded would be a little better.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:04

The battle is coming.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:16

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Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:16

This vision, too, was crisp and clear, without any effects of darkened consciousness. Lena was startled by a new psycho-attack, but no one was breaking into her mind, drowning her in the streams of other people's heartache. Just visions, an image that unfolded in several directions at once. And Lena understood what was happening, even though she had never seen a real battle in her life.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 10:24

The battle was coming, and the columns came out of the camps in a thoroughfare, snaking like hordes of ants on the trails. The opponents had little cavalry, so it was mainly infantry that had to fight. Not militias, not vigilantes, and not "spears," but real infantry, organized, able to fight in formation, companies, regiments, and battles.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 11:37

Here come the lance men though it is more correct to call them pikemen. They mix with the halberdiers. Halberdiers with someone else ... The division is conventional - long shafts are crowned with a variety of tops, but all are equally terrible in their purpose. All of them very shortly will begin to kill and maim. There are peaks, which until then are pointing to the sky, and everything else.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 11:49

And there were swordsmen and archers, or rather starters. They would go ahead, and start a fight, trying to disperse their "colleagues" from the opposite side, and then break up the enemy formation to restrain maneuvers. Here, too, a variety of people have gathered. Some bare-assed beggars don't even have a jacket, only an axe and a shield on a rope. And there are serious men in three-quarter armor armed with two-handed sabers or poleaxes. There are not many archers, not many archers either, mostly crossbowmen, even knights-shooters from the south, and the latter are unusually numerous.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 11:53

The military mechanism is turning its gears, the opposing armies are well organized, and everyone knows in advance where his place is determined. The columns are unfolding, thickening at the same time. Lena knows that on the one hand, the regiments are called "battalions" and on the other "tercias", although they are organized in roughly the same way, in the same likeness - squares, and rectangles, bristling with pikes.

Camrad_RIP 18.07.23 в 11:54

There are five battalions, although usually there are three. But this time is special. The armies are enormous. Not since the days of the Old Empire have so many soldiers been gathered on one field. There are a lot of soldiers. They can't be lined up in three huge regiments without losing control. So five. Battalions move traditionally, in "oblique" order, so that the rightmost advanced forward and accordingly will strike first, the rest go from right to left at an angle, each next slightly farther than the previous, insuring against a flank attack. Tertia is built by a broken line. They are also five, one per battle. One-on-one, soldier on soldier, regiment on the regiment. Today everyone will see his enemy and look him straight in the face.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:10

The green grass, not high, just filling with spring freshness, is withering, trampled by heavy boots. And now the banners are unfurled. Not the squadron banners - those have long since fluttered in the faint wind - but the standards of the parties.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:13

The Batalias are marched under a banner featuring a stylized red moon on a white background. And the red color is not just paint. It is generously mixed with the blood of fellow fallen heroes collected after each battle to renew the pattern to lead the living through new battles to new victories. The second is black, with white symbols. They are known to Elena but are completely incomprehensible. No Kingdom has ever raised such a flag. The symbols are arranged in a triangle. At the top is the lithe "an lagha", meaning "law". At the bottom, at the corners, are the signs of the plow and sword. The standard seems tattered, sewn on a live thread. And at the same time, it does not cause pity and disdain as an ordinary badly made thing. On the contrary, in this form, the banner awakens hatred in opponents, the desire to destroy it at any cost. Why is it so important?

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:18

The battle had already begun. The advance parties were clashing, hovering in front of the main force like gnats over water on a hot day. The infantry squares are coming at each other, the stomping of countless feet merging into a rumbling roar as if an ocean wave were crashing in. And the infantry pressure itself is like a tsunami wave preparing to storm the shore. The drums beat, strengthening the spirit and setting the rhythm of the march. Barbarian trumpets howl under the banner of the moon and battle flutes call out from the black standard.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:34

The pikes are lowered - before they were carried on their shoulders because of their heaviness. Now infantry rectangles no longer look like a revived forest. The first crisis of the battle had come to the convergence of the pikemen.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:34

It is very hard to step into a forest of spears, behind which halberds are already raised to strike. Your place in the ranks is fixed, you feel the shoulders of your comrades on either side, and they will cover you. But that means you have nowhere to go. You're marching step by step right into the pikes. You can't retreat - a coward would be killed by those behind you to take a gap in the ranks. Only forward, hoping for armor, dexterity in handling weapons, but most of all - luck. Because when there are three or even four or five spears per soldier in a line, only Pantocrator can save you. Or magic, if you know how to make or from whom to buy the right amulet, an enchanted shirt, or a small spirit protector hidden in an artifact from the Wastelands.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:36

As a rule, one of the sides cannot withstand the fierce terror and loses the will to win even before the fight. The remnants of courage are enough only for the first clash, after which they begin to flee. This is how most battles involving the Red Moon end. And it happens - and often - that regiments flee without waiting for a pike strike. But not this time. The tercias will not retreat, and everyone realizes it. The armies that meet on a cloudy morning are like duelists in God's judgment. One may die. Both may die. And one thing that will never happen is that two will leave the battlefield alive.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:38

It will not be a battle. It will be a bloody massacre that will be the stuff of dark legends for those who survive it.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:38

Crossbows were already reaping the harvest from both sides, but they could not stop the convergence. Keeping order, the regiments advanced to the roar of martial music and the shouts of their commanders. Step by step, the lats of the front ranks glistened like snake scales, holding death at the tips of their pikes, in the axes of their halberds.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:40

They converged almost simultaneously along the entire front, and a fusion of terrifying sounds rose to the sky. The clang of metal, the crunch of breaking wood, but above all and most terrible of all, the inhuman howl of the dying and wounded. The first ranks lay under the mutual blows of the wall of spades. And almost immediately, a clang joined the cacophony, as if hundreds, thousands of blades, axes, and halberds were striking metal. The armored infantry clashed in merciless hand-to-hand combat, chest-to-chest.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:48

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Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:39

It was truly frightening, so much so that Lena snapped out of the dream like a cork out of water, gasping for air. In her ears, she could still hear the horrible, freezing moans of so many people who had been killed or badly maimed in a few moments. But still, that was just another vision. And Lena knew for certain that these were not events of the past. The dream showed her the future, or rather a fragment of the whole, a link torn out of a long chain of events. And the vision was also imbued with a sense of the incredible enormity of the events. Tens of thousands of warriors on each side, and this when a few hundred-foot soldiers are already considered a mighty force, capable of storming cities... Not individual cities or routiers, not even Bonom families and alliances - entire nations had to squeeze every possible opportunity to raise and arm such armies.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:51

Who will meet on the unknown field? Whose fates will be decided by an unprecedented battle? And what are the banners who will fight under them? With the moon being more or less clear, it is a long-standing symbol of mercenary infantry from the Mountain Confederation, not without reason. Their battle cry is "Where the Moon is, there are Mountains!". But the black and white banner... She'll have to ask around carefully.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:53

The Drakkar creaked and seemed about to fall apart. But that seemed to be the normal state of a wooden sailing ship, a complex structure of thousands of planks assembled on a skeleton of spars and stringers.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:54

It was rough. Not too rough, but just on the edge between "noticeably" and "a little scared." Lena was pleased to discover that she was not seasick, but a few of the routiers and Biso were less fortunate - they were already throwing the remains of their dinner overboard.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:55

Shena was falling asleep behind her, her cheek pressed against Lena's shoulder, so she was afraid to move to disturb her friend's sleep. The air was filled with moisture - not enough to rain or gather into a veil of fog, but it gathered in beads of tiny droplets on every surface, soaking into the fabric, serving as a conduit for the cold. Lena thought she should take some cloth or a scarf to wrap around her waist.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:56

The sentries kept vigil, and that was comforting. Fuel had been thrown into the signal plates, and now long tongues of white flame burst from the grids. However, the light literally faded into the surrounding darkness, illuminated it with glossy highlights, and dissolved without a trace. It was as if the Drakkar were floating in a tunnel or a cave.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:57

The captain strode grimly to the bowsprit, occasionally shouting to the helmsman across the ship. At his command, the lights on both masts were lit, this time magical, wind-driven lights. Their light couldn't get very far, either.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 10:58

Fire... And the cave... Something connected with the dungeon, a vague memory stirred in Lena's subconscious, but it couldn't get out. It remained an aching splinter - it was necessary to pull it out, but it couldn't be caught.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 11:09

Shana shuddered, not waking up, wrapped her arm around her friend, and squeezed her tightly. Probably a bad dream. Lena pulled the fur higher, covering them both, thinking that women must be like vagrants who had to sleep outdoors.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 11:22

It rained. Very lightly, more like a mist too heavy to hang leaning on the air. The signal powder was tossed into the hearths, coloring the fire red. A few small drops on the planchette, right in front of Lena's nose, gathered into one, reflecting a purple flicker like the purest ruby. And in Lena's mind, it was as if a spring had snapped from its stopper, spinning rapidly with a chain of memories and associations.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 12:01

... They fought in the dungeon, dark and damp. Amidst the drops of water that fell from the high stone vault - impossible to see even in the light. Not men and monsters, but men with men, desperately, so fighting in the last hour, when there is nowhere to run, and the only thing left is to kill or be killed ...

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 12:02

Not in a dungeon. Not in a cave. On deck, in the darkness, lit by red lights, in the rain.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 12:03

And in the semi-darkness surrounding the ship, straight ahead and to the right of the eagle's head that replaced the bowsprit, there was an inky-dark silhouette. It was rapidly approaching, and it was not the helmsman's mistake. The oncoming vessel was approaching, driven by an insistent, stubborn will. No... not approaching.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 12:05

The enemy was about to ram the Drakkar.

Camrad_RIP 19.07.23 в 19:20

Several screams merged into one united cry, full of fear and warning. Immediately afterward, the black ship slammed into the Copper Flagship. The impact was on the starboard side, in the Drakkar's cheekbone, and the crunch of the broken plating spread over the churning sea, just like the sound of spikes breaking from Lena's vision. The girl was slammed against the bulwark. Her lower backstabbed with a pain that made Lena blind and deaf. And from the enemy's side, which was higher than the "flagship" at least half a man's height, the boarding hooks were already flying.

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 12:09

It didn't take Santeli long to realize the depth of the catastrophe. In fact, he didn't need any time at all. He realized it all at once. The pirate ship had somehow unknowingly found them in the boundless darkness. The "ghost" was at least one and a half times bigger than the "flagship" and was probably full of fighters. It was useless to jump overboard, even if you could swim - far from the shore the cold water would inevitably kill the swimmer. It followed that the crew would repel the attack or die. Taking into account the inequality of forces - surely they would die unless they asked for mercy at once, then maybe there were still chances...

Camrad_RIP 22.07.23 в 12:11