Deadly Wands (38 page)

“Apparently, the Khan was not getting the
quantity and quality of troops he expected, so he raised the reward
for your head.”

“So that’s how Genghis convinced ten thousand
marathoners to take me on,” Billy said, almost to himself. “Given
my lunatic rantings, I must have seemed suicidal. How much am I now
worth?”

“One thousand gold tons,” Jack answered,
hating how much he enjoyed taking this cocky punk down a peg.

Given the knife suddenly twisting in his
stomach, Billy couldn’t keep his expression neutral. If alone, he’d
have rolled over and cried himself to sleep. “I suppose I should
feel flattered.”

“What’s with all the Mongol uniforms?” Jack
asked, pointing to a pile of them in another room.

“Since we have to search their corpses for
valuables, we may as well take their uniforms. We send them weekly
to this ingenious Italian matron who has some special laundry soap
for removing blood stains. They even smell good. We have to go a
week without bathing, so the base stinks pretty bad.”

Jack wondered how many days he could stay in
this tiny hole before he blasted his own head off. “I bring good
news. Free Europe has pushed the Mongols out of France. Since we
won Spain, thousands of Europe’s best quads have signed up.
Apparently, everyone wants to fight alongside you. They want to see
the master at work. The Spanish and French governments are freaking
out, over losing their best guys, but they can’t blame you because
you’re almost single-handedly beating Jebe’s armada in the coldest
place in Europe.

“The Europeans adore you. I’ve never seen
anything like it. Apparently millions are thanking you when they go
to bed. When someone arrives to distribute your latest weekly
rantings, the hysterical crowd mobs the poor guy. If you have any
idea how Paris or Madrid feels about you -- most of Europe now
feels the same. Since people think you’re gonna die on the Alps,
every quad is being pressured to come to your rescue. I’ve seen
videos of crowds literally tearing apart quads who treat your death
disrespectfully. Entire schools are invading dueling arenas to beg
the quads to help you. You know, before it’s too late.

“Anyways, we’re being flooded. We’re
organizing them as fast as we can. Those Indian cousins returned
with a thousand super-quads and we took the best Americans and put
them into their own super-quad battalion. We normally assume we
must replace 10% of the marathoners every year, but they suffered
so few casualties that we found ourselves with too many.

“So we have two American marathon divisions,
five European marathon battalions, five super-quad battalions, and
thirty thousand conventional quads.”

Billy pointed to a backpack full of death
sticks. “Those are the best wands we’ve taken from their
marathoners. Give them to whoever is closest to reliably flying a
thousand clicks. I need as many long distance quads as possible.
I’d also like to borrow those African marathoners. After all, I’m
paying their salaries.”

“I wish I had more of them myself -- in
Egypt. They’re facing more enemy units on both sides and must still
fly down those running our blockade. By cutting off Africa, that
division is bankrupting the Empire.”

Displeased, Billy sipped his hot soup. He
lost a lot of weight because the cold sapped his appetite. Maybe it
was the thin air, but he could no longer taste anything. Worse yet,
he had trouble sleeping. He sometimes trembled uncontrollably for
hours, reliving himself crawling through frozen earth to un-bury
himself. It’s hard to sleep underground when dreaming of being
buried alive. Yet he did it without ever taking a day off.

“Invent a crisis to justify sending the
American and European marathoners to Grandma in Africa. Have her
fly here as soon as possible. Then lead your conventional quads
here slowly to rescue me. While the Mongols focus on you, I’ll
smash Jebe with Team Red before you even get here.”

Billy leaned forward and gently patted his
ancestor on the shoulder. “Now tell me why you’re really here. What
could possibly scare you so bad?”

Jack leaned back, annoyed Billy could read
him so well. “Genghis has called up all veterans who retired less
than thirty years ago. That must be a few million quads. He’s
raising a huge new force in Kiev and another at his flight school
in Mongolia.”

“Kiev? Why not train them somewhere
warmer?”

Jack shrugged. “Kiev is the Empire’s
breadbasket. The Russians have been restless, they just had a huge
grain harvest, it sits on many trade routes, and the Dnieper River
is the fourth largest in Europe, which makes supplying the armada
easier. The Scandinavians assume they’ll be attacked first.”

Billy agreed: “They’ll overwhelm Scandinavia
once it gets warm enough, then sweep south to wipe the continent
clean. How many total graduates will American University have by
spring?”

“At least a quarter-million half-marathoners
and one hundred fifty near-marathoners. The next marathon division
is another year off.”

“Have the Americans wait for me in Alaska,
and have them stop any non-Americans crossing the Bering Strait. I
don’t want the Mongols to know the force next year will be so much
bigger. How large a force is the Khan raising in Kiev?”

Jack felt his sphincter tighten. “A million
quads, with even more two-wanders to carry supplies. I’ve sent
Prince to find out what he can and to get the Scandinavian and
Russian marathon divisions ready.”

Billy leaned back against the wall, smiling,
not knowing he looked like a deranged madman.

“A million enemies makes you happy?” Jack
sneered.

“The Khan is making victory easier by
separating those willing to shoot us. Genghis likes to brag that he
has millions of veterans. Like Pompey, he says he can call them up
just by stomping his boot. And that’s how we identify who we must
kill. We don’t have to kill those who don’t join him. To win this
war, we only need to eliminate those willing to kill us. Anyone we
can persuade to not fight against us is someone we don’t have to
kill. And we should let them know that. Let’s call for a general
amnesty to encourage pro-Mongolian quads to stay out of the war,
and see what that does to the Khan’s recruitment. They don’t have
to fight for us, just not against us.”

This damn kid is brilliant, Jack thought,
without saying so. “Foreigners make up most of the Mongol Air
Force. We could cut the Khan’s reserves in half! An amnesty may
save us from having to kill a million or more quads.”

They quickly did a video together promising a
general amnesty to anyone who stopped fighting them, but warning
that anyone in Mongolia, Manchuria, the Stans, and Siberia would be
shot on sight. Jack never doubted that governments would honor it
because the Red Baron was now the face and voice of the
resistance.

“Jack,” Billy said before his ancestor left.
“I need to give you something.” The boy tapped wands to transfer
something. “I just gave you authorization for an account with over
one thousand tons of gold in Global Bank in Paris.”

Jack’s face went slack with fear that the
Baron thought he’d soon die. “Why give me so much money?”

“If we destroy Jebe and the armada in Kiev,
all of Europe will declare independence. But they’ll fight each
other rather than settle their affairs. I want you to spend that
money to unite them against the Mongol threat. Tell them Genghis
Khan is coming. Bribe them into signing mutual defense treaties,
non-aggressive packs, and free trade agreements. Make them settle
borders around distinct peoples with common language, history, and
culture. Fund massive infrastructure projects to those kingdoms
that will loan you their battalions because Genghis Khan will be in
a killer mood when he gets to Europe. He’ll burn all of Europe if
he can. I need you to field a huge force to deter him.”

“Me? Where the hell will you be when Genghis
Khan invades Europe?”

Maybe it was just the freezing weather, but
Billy flashed him a cold-as-ice smile that chilled Jack to the
bone.

CHAPTER 49

Upon arriving in Italy, Grandma sent Princess
to bring Billy and his battalion off the mountain. Billy wept with
joy upon seeing his friends. In contrast, Billy’s scrawny frame and
overly emotional weeping scared the hell out of them.

“You look half-dead,” Grandma said by way of
greeting.

“It’s great to see you, too, Grandma. I
expected you earlier.”

“A storm delayed us three days. What’s the
plan?”

“Well, I may smell like roses, but my troops
need a hot bath. We should turn in early, wake up around midnight,
then bomb Jebe into the tenth century.”

At midnight, he gave his final orders to the
battalion and company commanders:

“Jebe knows Jack is coming, so he’ll have
something dangerous planned. Expect the unexpected. I want everyone
to wear these great-smelling Mongol uniforms to confuse them. We’ll
attack from the west instead of the east so they mistake us for
reinforcements. The super-quads will take out the sky patrols, but
hidden sentries will still sound the alarm before we’re in position
to bomb. Our true surprise will be our numbers. When scouts see
thirty thousand quads, they’ll assume we’re reinforcements.

“I want the first battalion to bomb the Mer
de Glace glacier because a lot of Mongols are hiding under the snow
in front of it. The next four battalions will drop their shrapnel
bombs on the structures. The other battalions should blanket the
camp and drop your bombs wherever Mongols pop up out of the snow.
Shoot them before they get off the ground.

“Grandma, circle high with the super-quads,
broken into companies flying figure eights around the perimeter.
I’d not be surprised if Jebe has hidden a battalion or two over a
ridge to take us by surprise.”

A few minutes later, as the commanders
briefed their teams, Billy took Princess aside.

"I think I'm farthest along," she said
proudly, caressing her bulging belly. He had not yet told her about
his babies with Marie or the English and Irish women.

"If it's a boy I want to name him Wilhelm,
and if it's a girl, Elizabeth," Billy said, knowing he better state
his preference now, as she’d obsess over her own choices.

"Then I get to name the next two!"

"Then I get to name the three after that!" he
retorted with a smile.

"Then I get to name the four after that!"
They laughed together, so comfortable with each other.

“Battle is no place for a pregnant woman,” he
said softly, scared for her. “What if we have a prodigy that shoots
flame out of your you-know-what?”

She instantly hardened. “I’m going.”

And that, was that.

The Mongols scattered their ger huts to
minimize the bomb hits, but the sheer volume of munitions canceled
out that strategy as the whole valley vaporized, sending up snow
geysers and turning tons of ice into slush. Warned by alert
sentries, Billy watched thousands of quads exit hidden huts buried
in snow. The Americans gleefully fell on them.

Flying requires wand use, which warms and
heals, so his troops were relatively limber and awake, despite the
bitter cold night. The Mongols, on the other hand, woke up
abruptly, could not know the tactical situation, while cold,
sleepy, and scared.

Billy had no doubt that Jebe prepared them
for just this moment, but several weeks had passed since then.
Billy had accustomed them to hourly raids so that most sleepy quads
could not appreciate the gravity of the situation until too
late.

Circling above the battle, Billy searched for
the nasty surprises that Mongols were famous for. And he didn’t see
them. Instead of making him feel better, it bothered him, so he
rose higher to see beyond the vast camp.

And not a moment too soon. An aerial battle
broke out to the north. Billy screamed a warning as he sprinted
across the sky, confident his super-quad companies would follow. By
then another fight started to the south. He overtook one of his
companies, signaling the commander to follow him. They cut across
another and raced together to the fight. Far to the east he heard
the echoes of another battle.

Just a click ahead, one of his companies
jumped a larger group of enemies, judging by the fireballs
illuminating the night sky. His two companies banked sharply left
to attack from the rear. He noticed a third company rushing to
follow him, so he slowed down so they could catch up.

The three companies flew in a line,
descending at an optimum angle to fire in a fall stabilized by
their boot wands. The angle made all the difference. Because they
flew in a 10 X 10 formation, instead of just the front ten quads
firing, every quad could shoot. Six enemy companies rose to attack,
but better wands and greater height gave Team Red twice the
range.

His three hundred descended enough, so Billy
signaled them to rise in an arc over the enemy. At least one enemy
company anticipated this, so Billy raced ahead to cut them off. He
flashed his wands so they’d concentrate on him. Now all he had to
do was survive the next minute, dodging and shielding until his
troops could destroy them.

Because his super-quads could fly faster,
they could stay out of range of those behind them while shooting
other enemies who didn’t see them.

Reinforcements arrived, so Billy raced to the
next closest fight. He saw an enemy unit chasing a friendly one, so
he did his infamous scream and, sure enough, the dummies turned to
face him, although he was still too far away. He let the enemy
come, then blew past them. When every second counts, those fools
just lost several minutes. Billy saw a Mongol company descending on
his troopers, so he fired a volley. The fireballs had to travel too
far to hurt, much less kill, but the heat wave made them break off
their attack to identify the unseen threat.