Dec., 1888. Yemen
Our Adventurers - Ava, Blake, Costorari, Davis, Forester, Lok, Penrington, Po, Smith, Steele - plus the Omani Qidan made their way across the plain of Yemen with the dozen horses they had taken from its king's stable. Riding was almost impossible for Po and Forester, while even the others had to concentrate, having had little practise with riding with only bridles and no saddles. Voronika took Po on her horse while Lord Ava coached Forester.
The plain of Yemen was a high triangular valley with Sanaa at its base. The valley, some 3000 to 3500 feet above magnetic mean, pointed East (towards the dry Wadi Hadramaut and Oman). Qidan estimated that the first Omani city was about 600 miles from Sanaa, some three weeks of steady riding. On the bright side, winter was the light-rain season so neither monsoons nor desert heat would incommode the fugitives.
During the first day of riding, Po washed three times and fasted to purify himself. Fasting was not difficult; the Party had brought no provisions and the fields through which the group rode seemed planted with the coffee beans for which this corner of Arabia was famous. The fugitives did manage to strip an apple and a pomegranate tree clean. [See Apology 2. ]
Resting in infrequent copses dotting the farmlands, the Party debated its options. Qidan explained that Yemen received assistance and old model rifles from France. Oman had no rifles. Blake proposed that Anglia start an arms trade with Oman; Ava noted that previously Oman had always said, "Go away." The hypothetical gave way to the practical. Qidan recommended bypassing the towns of Yemen, most of which clustered around rocky points from which forts surveyed the countryside. The forts would house 50-60 fighting men. He also recommended avoiding horse patrols and glittery birds. The fact that the horse patrols of 6-12 soldiers would have rifles made Penrington's eyes glitter dangerously. "Primitive and crude, but effective," he envisioned.
Needing food and more disguise for the Party's menfolk, on the second night Qidan proposed entering a small village. "Buying food will be a problem," he stated flatly. Miss Costorari enthusiastically suggested, "Then we will 'liberate' it." The Omani, the gypsy and Mr. Penrington proceeded to plan such an expedition. Someone asked if we had any money to leave behind in exchange; Miss Costorari jiggled one of her pieces of jewelry. Dr. Davis, although approving the need to pay, warned that the jewelry would be recognized thus leaving a trail of the Party's passing. Penrington snorted, "Who cares about a trail. They are going to be following us one way or another." As the "liberators" prepared to set out in the dark from the group's hiding place, Mr. Blake - recalling the doctor's ability to seem invisible - suggested that she go along. Miss Costorari immediately and emphatically spoke up against the suggestion, having apparently made her own personal assessment of Qidan's methods and goals.
Qidan proved extremely stealthy in the dark; Penrington's skills were put to the test to not lose the Omani. They could see one guard near the cluster of four buildings. Penrington and Qidan attacked the guard. Penrington noted that Qidan's knife found its way to a vital spot in the guard. "Unnecessary," the hunter thought to himself, and shrugged, unconcerned about the fate of natives. Qidan lifted the latch of the first door. Snoring issued from within. Penrington watched Qidan slip in and permanently silence the sleeper, then the hunter motioned for Miss Costorari to follow them in. Food (dates, flour, and some bread), robes, and two belt knives were confiscated. Penrington was disappointed (but not surprised) to find no firearms, but he did take some poor-quality rope. As they left, a dog barked somewhere in the village.
Meanwhile, having prowled the copse, Smith and Steele returned to their small encampment. They each noticed that they had soot on one boot, indicating that they'd passed through an old campfire in their perambulations. They decided to wait for the "liberators" to return before investigating. So Miss Costorari's skill determined that the place had been used many times, the fire being carefully made and equally carefully put out. "A patrol regularly camps here," she guessed and suggested that the Party remain and set an ambush. Penrington demurred, gesturing back at the village, "They'll figure out we've been here, but can't do anything if we're not here. When they wake up they'll find the dead and report to the patrols. Let's get going." Po looked shocked at the hunter's words. Miss Costorari and Mr. Forester proceeded to try to hide the Party's tracks. Po tried to protest the deaths but Qidan informed him that Yemen and Oman were at war. Davis was a little dazed at the ungentlemanly-like nature of war.
Smith said, "I am a bit surprised that Po makes an issue of it now, as opposed to making an issue of killing people in the past. We have killed people before, directly and indirectly."
Po protested, "Before, we never made plans to kill anyone. All the killing was in self defense or some approximation thereof."
"This is strategic self defense," muttered Smith.
As the group progressed, Miss Costorari offered Po some dates which he refused. Confused at the vegetarian's attitude, the gypsy asked, "Dates and fruit won't do for you?" Po replied, "They are the fruit of murder." Steele, too, found hardship in being a fugitive. The fuel available for him was mostly cedar and other fragrant woods which tended to generate a lot of ash, making a disagreeable diet for the mechanical man. Qidan insisted on keeping fires to a minimum, so most camps were cold and poorly fed, despite scavenging. Over the course of the next two weeks, Dr. Davis watched in concern as Mr. Blake and Po, neither of whom had ever lived before on the edge of survival, each suffered [a point of] damage that she could not cure magically; only rest and proper nourishment would do. [Smith also took a point of "exposure damage", but managed to hide the fact from the doctor. :)]
Smith muttered, with a sardonic smile, "So, why are we following the directions/ orders of yet another stranger in this Party?"
Davis smiled back, and answered gently, "Because - despite Abdul's betrayal - we still need a native guide in hostile territory. Is one who volunteers - and can lose his life to the Yemeni as easily as we can - less to be trusted than one we hire? Possibly not. But we may have to choose between absolute suspicion and simple caution."
[See Conversations in Yemen.]
As the second week of flight neared its close, the Party was sure that it had seen — always from a distance — and avoided an increasing number of patrols. There seemed to be a lot more searchers out now. Qidan noted a Bedouin custom, "The classic time for an ambush is while your quarry is eating." Davis reflected that she had never seen him eat in anything but a rapid wary manner. Forester made an agreement with Steele that, if the Party were in danger from a patrol, the radiologist would make both himself and the mechanical man invisible, in order to make the Party, as a whole, less conspicuous. Po claimed that he could make everyone seem part of the landscape if they were to keep very, very still. Someone noted that the horses would still likely give the group away.
Smith asked about Forester's proposed tactic, "Actually, in combat it is that the best tactic? In many ways making Mr. Steele invisible is the least useful to us; he has the highest defenses, and we WANT people shooting at him. Also, he has trouble scaring people away if he is invisible? Much better is to make Dr. Davis invisible, and let her mind blast the bad guys? When trying to hide from a patrol it is a fine idea; although the horses and Mr. Smith are harder to hide, we are bigger!"
Po nodded, "You have the right of it in hiding from a patrol. It is primarily a 'if people got too close' thing, isn't it?" The Chinese boy looked questioningly at his tutor.
Smith muttered, "If they get too close, if they would have spotted us, then we want Mr. Steele to go chop them up into little pieces. Having him be invisible isn't a "bad idea". We should all be invisible all the time; and the horses too. But Mr. Steele makes the least use out of being invisible; he has the best armor and damage reduction."
After one lunch, such skills were put to the test. Forester spotted a patrol of some dozen riders about a mile ahead. Penrington also glimpsed a flash of light above the troop that could be a mechanical bird flying. Smith said that, if such a bird could be captured, he would take it apart and determine its capabilities. Blake offered to put the patrol to sleep, but, recognizing the temporary nature of sleep, the fugitives determined to hide off the path in another copse where Miss Costorari's skills at concealment and Po's ability to create "another seeming" would provide an effective disguise. Penrington, for a moment, was torn by his desire for his favourite weapon, but admitted that, "With a week more to ride through hostile territory, we must get off the road." The patrol rode unmolested down the road. A mile behind them was another patrol.
Qidan said that the path was now too heavily guarded and that the most convenient places to cross had forts with 25 or so soldiers. He recommended stealth and evasion, suggesting that the fugitives should now cut up into the hills to the NNW, cross over to the desert and thence back down to the Hadramaut. The hills down to the Hadramaut were riddled with caves. The inhabitants of the Hadramaut intimidated both Yemeni and Omani. The Party had enough water, he assured all, to risk it.
So, climbing into the hills, some of the Party discussed the presumed nature of the mechanical birds. It was likely that the Prince was not the only Yemeni who controlled such devices; it was, after all, a known "Yemeni style" of magic. In the dark of night, the Party led their horses down the hills towards the desert.
Morning greeted the travelers with a bright red sunrise over a sea of crimson sand dunes. Mr. Forester could not refrain from taking a photograph. A shimmer of heat rose, revealing shapes, some of which appeared to the Party to be djinn-like. A stop was called during the hottest part of the day, some relief being found in the shelter of a shallow cave. Comparisons were made to the desert of Timbuktu [which might have made a good point for telling Ava and Forester more about the Party's previous adventures, but we didn't], but Qidan assured the group that this desert got much, much hotter, in the summer. Travel continued later along the hill line.
Miss Costorari called out that she could see a plume of dust a mile or so west behind the Party. The cloud resolved itself into 25 camel riders, riding single file, rifles glinting in the sun. Mr. Blake estimated that the Party could ride for 18 hours without killing their horses and, although horses are faster than camels, in the long run the camels would win the race. Penrington chose a defensive spot for the Party. At about half a kilometer, Mr. Blake tried to put the pursuers to sleep. After a time [24 points of Drain], one camel rider raised a horn and sounded an alarm. Smith tossed one of his "peaches" which bounced in front of the camel caravan and exploded into a storm of micro-fibre springs, entangling the entire line. "Cosmic SUPER String springs," Smith announced complacently. A second plume of dust was seen coming from the west, further behind the first group.
All her senses alert, Dr. Davis looked towards the second plume and realized that she could hear horns blowing both from that direction and from the east -- as well as an answering horn from somewhere further up in the hills above the party. She tried to warn the others, but Penrington and Qidan were already riding rapidly towards their entangled prey. Miss Costorari rode after. The marks of an invisible Steele (carrying Mr. Forester) could be seen trudging after Penrington, and Smith ran on before. The doctor asked the radiologist, "Will they also fall asleep?" Blake answered, "Not if I turn it off when he gets there." Po used his minor clairvoyance sense to check the tangle and reported that none seemed to have escaped and none were struggling. Mr. Blake stopped his spell after it had done 65 points of Drain.
Before they could reach the entanglement, Miss Costorari and Penrington noticed the demi-figure of a djinn shimmering in the haze, coming at them from the desert. The gypsy called out a warning and moved towards the supernatural figure, drawing her sword. All her trailing companions slowed to prepare for combat. At 15 hexes of distance between them, the djinn threw a spinning glowing energy sword at Miss Costorari who barely dodged the skimming blade. The djinn vanished. The gypsy, balked of her prey, shouted, "He's gone invisible! Well, Grandfather, where is he?" The djinn reappeared behind her and brought down a gleaming scimitar; Miss Costorari's sword clanged in a block. "Pathetic!" she taunted in Arabic, "You can't even hit a girl!" The djinn swung again and critted the gypsy in the chest (7 & 21), stunning her.
Penrington, seeing the gypsy sway in her saddle, drew his sword. Redirecting his horse, he rode to intercept, screaming imprecations. Viewing the conflict from her distance, Dr. Davis cast an Ego Flash at the djinn. The djinn swung again and Penrington blocked. In passing he noticed that the creature's eyes were squeezed shut. Dr. Davis, uncertain of her spell's effectiveness, cast another. Miss Costorari and the djinn swung simultaneously, and the gypsy crit hard with her magic sword. Penrington, too, swung just as the creature again vanished. A scimitar fell to the ground; the hunter had disarmed the djinn.
Miss Costorari and Penrington dismounted, standing back-to-back as Smith and the invisible ones moved to acquire camels. They were a little daunted to find that Qidan had been before them: the first rider's throat was slit, his rifle appropriated. Forester discovered that the camels were too deeply asleep to be useful, so he and Miss Costorari contented themselves with cutting water bags, rifles, and cartridges out of the entangling springs. Penrington, too, claimed rifles and ammunition.
The plume of dust to the west resolved into a line-abreast troop of riders, moving rapidly with intent to fire at about 200 inches, beyond effective rifle range. Penrington looked back (south) at the hill and made out yet another set of attackers up the hill; he tried to signal Blake and Davis. Mr. Blake, "I don't think I can get a sight up the hill from here. Po?" However, the Chinese boy, glowing in the lotus position, had gone into a deep Clairvoyance state, searching for the djinn. Abruptly, Po stood, "The djinn is that way - 40 inches." His listeners were shocked to realize that the invisible creature had covered most of the distance between themselves and their compatriots in so short a time.
Po created an illusion of a glow which he "painted" atop the djinn. Mr. Blake targeted the glow and blasted the area with his DeSolid-attack (7 & 21). Dr. Davis tried an Ego Attack but failed. The djinn became visible - a man's blue torso over a rapidly-moving whirlwind - and threw another scimitar. Blake aborted and turned on his force field. The djinn's sword clattered off the hill behind the radiologist. Dr. Davis again flung an Ego Attack while Lord Ava drew his sword and moved close to defend the lady doctor.
Meanwhile, the desert-bound group created a sleeping-camel barricade. Penrington noticed that the rifles had no ejector and thus would take a phase for each reload. Steele volunteered to be rifle-loader. Forester started running back towards the hills and, spotting the djinn, yelled a warning. Smith tossed another entangle at the western attackers which only slowed them somewhat, as they were not hampered by a sleep spell as their compatriots had been. The fighters beat a strategic retreat in Forester's footsteps. [Qidan managed to kill six sleepers before the retreat was called.]
Po, "I've lost contact with the djinn!" The djinn again became invisible although Po's glow remained. Po did not think that the glow still followed the djinn and turned to cast his Defensive spell on each of his companions: Ava, Davis, Blake, and Lok. However, the djinn shimmered again out into the desert. It would seem that the spells opposing it had caused it some harm and it wanted reinforcements.
As the Party regrouped, Davis told of the horns she had heard. "We are in a trap," Penrington grated. "The sound you heard to the east may have been an echo. We should go east."
Smith asked, "How many groups do we think there REALLY are? What is our plan?"
Po: "Either running away from or towards something. Staying and fighting can't possibly get us where we want to end up "
Smith: "Why not? We eventually kill off enough troopers that there is no one left to chase us. And we get a herd of camels to ride. We can take out 2-3 groups of 25 per day. Doesn't mean we shouldn't run away if we have a reasonable goal in mind; but currently the plan seems to be 'oh no, horrible terrible soldiers, run away with no real plan'? Short term goal, run away. Long term goal, run away. Technique to implement both, run away. Seems the plan is 'run away and hope something good happens'?"
Next Run: Fight or Flight?
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II
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