part0041

“Me too,” Shades said. He held a tank shell in his hand. “It’s exciting playing with an explosive egg. You must come from a fascinating world.”

“You have no idea,” Abraham replied. He’d removed several shells from the tanks that had invaded them. The shells looked like giant bullets, more or less. With all the Henchmen gathered around him at ground level, he ran his finger over the tip. “Put them nose first inside the barrel. When they fire the tank guns again, they’ll kiss. And then boom . No more tank.”

“No more tank,” Dominga said with a nod. She carefully loaded two tank shells into a leather satchel. “I like it.”

Tark loaded two shells into his own satchel. “I like this idea too. I can’t wait to see those iron devils go boom.”

The Henchmen chuckled.

“We are going to beat those demons, aren’t we, Captain?” Horace said.

Yeah, we’re going to get them. But we are going to need one heck of a distraction.” He addressed Sticks, Shades, Tark, and Dominga. Each of them had two shells. “You listen to me. If they sniff you out, tuck tail and get out of there. We’ll find another way. Do you understand?”

The squad of four nodded.

“Come on.” Abraham moved toward the tunnel the tanks had created with the Henchmen clustered behind him. The eight tanks remained stationed on the battlefield with their guns still pointed at the Shield of Steel. “Any time now. Iris!”

Iris pushed her way past the others to the front. “Yes.”

“Do what you have to do to give them some cover.”

“Of course.” Iris grabbed Dominga by the hand. “Come with me.” She led them to the other side of the tank.

“Horace, bring the horses up. We need to be ready to go,” Abraham said. His heart pounded, and he was lathered in sweat. “Man, this is a bad idea.”

Solomon wandered into the tunnel and peeked at the sky. “It’s a good night for the attempt. Lots of clouds. No moon. Pitch-black. It might work.”

“I’m still waiting to hear some better ideas.”

“Well, you’re asking the wrong person.” Solomon patted Abraham on the head. “How’s your gut feel?”

“Huh, never better.”

The tank guns fired more shells into the Shield of Steel, and the great wall shook. New dust stirred.

Abraham flexed his hands, looked back down the tunnel, and said, “It’s showtime.”

Horace led two horses to the front. Bearclaw, Vern, Cudgel, Prospero, Apollo, Skitts, and Zann towed their own horses behind them.

Abraham took a horse outside by its leather reins and climbed into the saddle. The horse jumped, stamping its hooves.

“Easy, boy, easy.” He led everyone outside.

Iris caught up to Abraham and said, “They are ready.”

He looked down over his shoulder. The armor and clothing of Sticks, Shades, Dominga, and Tark had sprouted tall grasses all over. He moved toward Sticks.

“Don’t say it again. We are all in this together,” she said.

“I know. Just remember my orders. If they sniff you out, tuck tail and run.” He scanned the row of tanks. Seventy-five yards of open field lay in front of them and another hundred yards behind them. The enemy army continued to keep its distance from Kingsland’s ranged weapon defenses. “Otherwise, you know what to do.” He stretched out his fist.

Sticks bumped his fist with hers. “We got this.”

Abraham led the horsemen along the base of the Wall toward the Shield of Steel. Up top, the torches that lit the night had been extinguished, leaving them in the shadows that were black as night. They crossed over from one side of the gate to the other. In the rear, Zann carried a burning torch.

The tanks in the field remained stone-cold quiet. Only the rustle of the tall grasses could be heard.

“Send up the flame.” Abraham grabbed the torch tucked into his saddle.

Zann lit Skitts’s torch, and Skitts lit Prospero’s. From the back to the front, one torch was lit after the other.

Abraham moved forward for all to see. “Follow my lead. All of you remember the chant, don’t you?”

The grim-faced men nodded.

“After that, we’ll scream our heads off like a wild bunch of Indians. ’Cause if we are going to go out, we are going to go out in style.” Abraham used to watch a lot of westerns with his father and grandfather when he was a boy. There would be scenes where the Indians would charge out in a showy fashion, posturing in front of settlers and armies in a show of intimidation. He was fool enough to try the same thing today. “Time to ride out, Henchmen.”

They formed a row and meandered on horseback toward the line of tanks with their torches held high in their hands.

Abraham cast a sideways glance. He could barely make out Sticks and the others, forty yards away, low crawling over the grasses. Ahead, the tank turrets didn’t move. The wind whistled over the tanks’ gun barrels. He stopped the horse line twenty yards away from the front end of the tanks.

The torch flames flapped in the wind.

Abraham fished a stone out of a saddlebag. He hurled it at the tank where he’d seen Big Apple last. “Listen up, you little billy goat! I’m going to give you to the count of ten to surrender, and if you don’t, I’m going to do worse to these tanks than I did to the others. One! Two! Three! Four!”