Demontech: Rally Point: 2 (Demontech Book 2) (24 page)

As evident from the preceding precis, an army’s command pyramid can be quite high. This does not appear to be the case with the Jokapcul army.

The Jokapcul army currently engaged in conquest of all the nation states and city states on the southern portion of the continent of Nunimar is by reputation, and most likely in fact, the largest army ever fielded in all of history, and one would expect that it would have the tallest command pyramid of any army that ever existed. In fact it appears to have the shallowest pyramid of any large army known to history.

The officer corps of the Jokapcul army has only two ranks, to wit, kamazai and something akin to knight (the actual word has no direct translation). The CIC of the Jokapcul army is the strongest, most belligerent, most ruthless of the kamazai and is titled the Kamazai Commanding. Other kamazai report directly to the CIC kamazai. Each of those subordinate kamazai is in command of a corps of knights, many of whom are in command of troops, units of one or two hundred enlisted men and have subordinate knights under them. Which knight is in command of a troop and which are subordinate is sometimes determined among them via trial by combat.

When two or more troops are required to act in concert, the kamazai might appoint a knight other than one of the troop commanders to be in command over them or he might appoint one of the troop commanders to overall command. Sometimes command of the joint troops is determined via trial by combat between or among the commanders of the troops involved. If more than six troops are required to act in concert, a kamazai is generally appointed to command them. Thusly, the size and command structure of units below the level of what most armies call “divisions” and above the size normally known as “companies” is highly fluid, which simultaneously confers upon the Jokapcul army a flexibility and an instability absent from most other armies.

A particular peculiarity of the Jokapcul army is the status and function of the noncommissioned officers. Unlike other armies, Jokapcul sergeants are never placed in command of units smaller than a platoon. Any time a smaller unit is required to function independently of a larger unit, a knight is placed in command of it, even to the extent that an officer might be in command of a single soldier. The sole responsibility of sergeants in the Jokapcul army is to assist the officers by supervising the soldiers in carrying out the commands of the officers. Sergeants may perform duties as servants to kamazai, but never assist or advise them on matters pertaining to the soldiers. Furthermore, sergeants and soldiers are never trained in how to function in the absence of officers giving them commands; they must always have orders from officers to follow. The result of which is, without its officers, a Jokapcul unit of any size is incapable of fighting as a unit but only as individuals.

A final note regarding the command structure of the Jokapcul army is necessary. The preceding description applies only to the army in the field. The army in garrison and on staff has a more conventional structure with kamazai and knights being assigned to a variety of superior and subordinate positions by the commanding kamazai, and determination of superior and subordinate is never decided by trial by combat.

James Military Review Quarterly
is pleased to welcome to our pages with this article the highly renowned Scholar Munch Mu’sk, Professor of Far Western Studies at the University of the Great Rift. Scholar Mu’sk has long been recognized as a leading expert in Far Western studies ever since his doctoral thesis,
Sea Raiders on Matilda, Local Brigands in Disguise or Invaders from Beyond the Horizon?,
was published in chapbook form.

Two hundred yards of open, plowed ground separated the fence from the southern edge of Eikby’s cleared area. Because of the orchards, the town itself wasn’t visible from where the road left the forest; the fence was obvious.

“Do you have caltrops?” Spinner asked as they examined the open area.

Captain Stonearm shook his head. “I can have a smith make some.”

“Good idea,” Haft said. “Put more than one blacksmith on them.” He didn’t look at the guard captain, his eyes were focused on the forest, looking to see how deeply he could see into it.

“Right away, Sir Haft,” Stonearm answered sarcastically.

“Would you please, Captain,” Spinner said more diplomatically.

Stonearm nodded and signaled for a guard lancer to take a message into town.

They headed back through the gate and calculated bow ranges.

“They’ll probably assemble halfway to the fence before they charge,” Haft said. “That’s in range of our bows. We can take some of them out before they begin their charge.”

“It’s also in range of
their
bows,” Spinner observed. “That means they can shoot our archers before they charge.”

Haft thought about it for a moment. “I think you’re right. The archers should be back farther and not fire until the Jokapcul begin their charge. We’ll be able to cause them casualties before their archers can start shooting at us.”

They started laying out trenches and pits forty yards inside the fence.

In another hour a blacksmith and his apprentice were turning out caltrops. They were simple constructions: two pieces of iron rod, each three inches long, bent at a right angle in the middle and crossed together, then heated in the forge and hammered until they welded together. When finished they had four points arranged so that no matter how they were dropped they settled with three points down and one straight up. The rods were cut at an angle to begin with, so there was no need to spend time sharpening the points. They were too small to cause a fatal injury except by accident, but were long enough to be cripplingly painful to a charging horse—or man—that stepped on one.

Then they began planning the evacuation of Eikby—until they were interrupted.

“Stop! Stop!”
the mayor screamed as he rode his carriage into the southern defenses. “Everybody, stop working!”

“Who let him out?” Haft snarled, and turned away.

Workers looked up at the shouts, some stopped their labor to watch what was happening. The carriage stopped near the small group of leaders and the mayor jumped out of it, almost stumbling in his haste.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded of Captain Stonearm. “What do you think you’re doing?” His eyes were wild and spittle flew from his mouth. His cassock was misbuttoned, and his gilt medallion chain of office was askew. He removed his floppy hat to wipe his brow, jammed it back on crooked.

Stonearm bowed. “Lord Mayor, the Jokapcul are in Penston. They will be here soon. We must prepare proper defenses with which to meet them.”

“The Jokapcul!” the mayor shrilled. “You expect to fight the
Jokapcul
?”

“We expect to
defeat
the Jokapcul,” Haft said in Zobran.

The mayor glared at him. “I don’t need foreigners making decisions and causing death and destruction for my town.” The mayor turned back to Stonearm. “Stop all work immediately. Dismantle the defenses.
If
the Jokapcul come, we will do
nothing
to give the impression we are hostile to them. We will welcome them and give them anything they ask for!”

“Lord Mayor,” Spinner understood enough of the mayor’s words, “the Jokapcul will ask for blood and slaves. Are you willing to let your people die or be turned to slavery without a fight?”

“You are a foreigner here,” the mayor snapped. “What we do is not your business.” He snorted. “We didn’t even have any trouble with the bandits until you arrived!”

“Excuse me, Lord Mayor,” Stonearm said firmly. “Before they came, the bandits bled Eikby at will.”

“They killed no one, they destroyed no property!”

“At the price of keeping the town and its people poor.” Stonearm waved his arm at the landscape. “This is a rich land, this should be a prosperous town. It’s not. Instead, all the wealth that by rights belongs to the good folk of Eikby has been handed over to the bandits without complaint. Because you weren’t willing to resist.”

“They would have killed us!” the mayor screamed. “They would have raped and murdered and taken everything!”

Haft shook off the restraining hand Spinner put on his arm and said harshly, “The Jokapcul are worse than the bandits. They will leave you even less—and they
love
to murder and rape.”

Stonearm ignored Haft; he folded his arms across his chest and slowly shook his head. “If the guard was properly trained, the bandits would have been afraid to attack. We could have joined forces with other towns and driven them out.”

The mayor stepped back, startled by the captain’s further insubordination. His wild eyes steadied and he gave his guard captain a long, hard, look before saying, “I always thought it was a mistake to appoint you to your position. You are dismissed. If you are not gone from Eikby by the time the Jokapcul arrive, I will hand you over to them.” He seemed to have forgotten that he’d tried to arrest Stonearm already and failed when the guardsmen refused to raise hand against their commander.

Stonearm returned the mayor’s look, then slowly looked around at the men and women of Eikby who had halted their work on the defenses to watch and listen. Their faces showed nothing of their thoughts, but some gripped shovels or picks as though they were weapons, others angrily clenched their fists. Two or three shook their heads.

“I’m tired of bowing down,” one woman said just loud enough for her words to carry to the group around the mayor.

Stonearm looked back at the mayor. “I haven’t been here long, but in that time I have come to like this town, its people, and its land. I have heard too many tales of how the Jokapcul treat the people they conquer. If I leave as you wish, then I will be abandoning the good people of this town to be enslaved or raped and murdered, and their town burned to the ground. That’s what the Jokapcul do.”

“He’s right,” Spinner said.

Haft joined in, “If anything, the horror that will come upon Eikby will be worse than he says.”

Fletcher nodded his agreement. “I’ve seen what they do.”

“But we can’t resist!” the mayor said.

“We
must
resist,” Stonearm said firmly. “And we must evacuate the town, try to move everybody to safety north of here before the Jokapcul arrive.”

“No! You will anger the Jokapcul as these strangers have angered the bandits. Captain, leave now, today, or face the consequences!”

Stonearm took a deep breath, and said solemnly, “Lord Mayor, I have never done anything like this before, and it grieves me deeply to do it now. But I must, because this town and its people who I have come to love will suffer greatly if I don’t.” He turned to two nearby guardsmen who had halted in their work and signaled them to come to him. He turned back to the mayor and said, “Lord Mayor, I hereby place you under arrest on charges of gross dereliction of duty and treason to the people of Eikby.”

The mayor gaped at him with shock.

“Take him to his house and mount a watch on him,” Stonearm told the two guardsmen. “He is not to leave his quarters without my express permission.”

The two guardsmen looked at their captain, one nervous, the other with a slowly growing grin.

The grinning one slapped his fellow on the arm. “You heard the Captain.” To the mayor, “Sir, come with us, please. And kindly do not resist. Except for letting the bandits bleed us, you haven’t been all that bad a mayor and I don’t want to get rough with you.”

Sputtering, the mayor let himself be led back to his carriage and taken away to imprisonment.

When he was gone, Stonearm looked at the others and shrugged. “He should have known better after what happened before.” He turned to the laborers, most of whom had already resumed work on the defenses. He waved a hand and the others got busy. Many looked happy at the turn of events, most worked with more will than before.

They didn’t want the evacuation to be a panicked flight; if it was to be successful it had to be orderly. That meant people had to leave in groups guarded by armed men—the bandits were still out there. But none of the company’s fighters or the Eikby Guard could be spared to escort the evacuees. Was there a place the townspeople could assemble that wouldn’t require dividing the forces?

“Up there,” Captain Stonearm pointed, “at the foot of the mountains. There’s a narrow, steep-sided valley with only one entrance. A few men could hold it against bandits for a long time if they had to.”

Spinner and Haft looked where the captain pointed, then grinned at each other.

“We established that as our rally point when we first entered Eikby’s clearing,” Spinner explained.

“It stands out; we figured people could easily find their way to it if we ran into trouble and got scattered.”

Stonearm chuckled. “You picked a great place without realizing it.” He looked northward for a moment. “I think we can move half of the people up there in good order over the next two days without cutting into the number of people we have building the defenses. Or stripping the troops we need to defend with if the Jokapcul show up sooner then we expect.”

“Captain, this is your town, your people. We’ll leave that up to you.”

“If you don’t need me here just now, I’ll get started on it right away.”

But the evacuation turned out not to be as easy as the guard captain had thought. Word had spread through the town about the anticipated approach of the Jokapcul. Some people were already in flight to the north—others to the east or the west. Others scoffed at the danger, certain that the defenses under construction and the fighting men who would man them were enough to defend the town.

Silent came back the next afternoon. He expressed admiration for the progress on the defenses, then gave his report.

“I arranged mounted scouts in ten relays between here and Ceaster.” This was the next farming village to the south, halfway to Penston. “When the first pair sees the Jokaps, they’ll count them and see what they do in Ceaster. Then they’ll go fast to the next pair and change horses. They’ll change horses with each pair in order that their mounts will still be fresh when they make their final sprint to us. When the second team sees the Jokaps, they’ll count them to see if any stayed in Ceaster, then head north, changing horses along the way. And so on. That’ll get word to us fast.”