part0046

The troglin was standing beside the tank that had crashed into the Wall a day earlier. Aside from the blackened scorch marks from the pitch, the tank was still in serviceable condition.

“Can we drive it?” Abraham asked.

Solomon held a large tank-operation manual, which looked like a pocket paperback book in his huge hands. He thumbed through the pages and squinted. His long finger ran over the lines. “I don’t think it’s so complicated. There appears to be a sequence to start the ignition, but the driving will be… kinda easy, I guess.” He scratched behind an ear. “Things have really changed since I’ve been gone. All of the buttons, lights, and gauges are so tiny.”

“So, do you think that you can squeeze in there and drive it?”

“Me? I can’t jam myself inside there. It’s going to have to be you or someone else that we can train.” Solomon tucked the book underneath his arm. “If they were able to train those other people, then I don’t see why we can’t do the same. We might have to do it on the way to the castle, though, seeing how time is pressing.”

“Agreed. And it won’t be all about the tank either. We have more rifles. That should do us some good.”

Sticks and Shades had gathered up four more assault rifles from the soldiers inside the tanks. Canisters of ammunition had been inside the tanks too. They had set up a pile of munitions by the campfire.

Abraham patted the tank’s hull. “I find it interesting that these electrical systems operate in this world. My beer truck died moments after I drove through the tunnel. Heck, I can’t remember if I even tried to start it again.”

“These are diesel-fired engines. No reason it would work an entire electrical system,” Solomon said.

“Yeah, that’s true. But I doubt the GPS system will work.”

“I’ll explain later. Come on.” He led Solomon back to the Henchmen’s camp and stood in front of the fire. “Everyone gather around.”

The tight group formed a semicircle around him.

“I want to make sure that we are on the same page. We’ll ride with the King’s Guardians and soldiers back to the House of Steel. And when I say ride, I mean on horseback and inside the iron chariot. Do I have any volunteers to drive it?”

The Henchmen exchanged many uncertain glances.

Shades and Skitts stepped forward.

“Good,” Abraham said.

Four assault rifles were standing up butt down like a teepee, and he picked up one of them out of the pile.

“We are going to be doing some on-the-job training on the trip down south. I want all of you to learn how to shoot these weapons. Four of you will be assigned to take care of these weapons. Now I can pick, or you can volun—”

Dominga jumped forward. “I want one!”

“Me too,” Tark said, lifting his hand.

“Anyone else?” Abraham asked.

Vern spat into the fire. “I’ll stick with my sword. It’s like Ruger taught us—it’s the best weapon in the world.”

“Aye,” Bearclaw agreed. “I’ll be having at them with my axe.”

“Regardless, every man and woman here is going to learn how to use them.”

“Sorry,” Solomon said, “but I don’t think my finger will fit inside the trigger guard.”

Abraham nodded. “We won’t get a whole lot of practice in because we need to save ammo, but all of you are plenty apt. You’ll figure it out. Once we near Kingsland’s border, we’ll begin recon. Prince Lewis’s troops will stay behind, waiting on our report. As I understand it, the Gond are tribal, so they don’t know each other so much outside of the tribe. When we roll in, we are going to look like them.”

“Some of us are a little small to be taken for barbarians,” Shades said.

“Yeah, well, I think some of us can fit the bill. We’re going to slap on black paint and ride to the castle on the tank.”

Shades flicked a fly out of the air and said, “The Gond might be as brawny as they are stupid, but they can have a good nose for things. I’d be very wary of that plan. But I’d say that you have a fifty-fifty chance to fool them.”

“We are going to get a close look at their forces, get a head count, and report back to Lewis.”

“If they have hundreds of those guns,” Shades asked, “how do we expect to beat them?”

“We have a tank, guns, and wits, and the King’s Steel on our side. We’ll figure it out when we get there.”

“We can kill them,” Horace said. He tapped his spear butt on the ground. “The Henchmen will kill them all.”

“Well said.” Abraham set down the rifle. “Any questions?” He scanned their hard-eyed faces. “Good. Let’s roll out.”

To everyone surprise, Solomon, Shades, and Skitts fired up the tank and got it moving. Shades and Skitts could be heard giggling like children inside.

Abraham led the group on the southern road back to the House of Steel. Horace and Sticks resumed their places beside him in the front. All of them rode horses. Dominga and Tark scouted ahead. They moved day and night, stopping only for a few hours of shut-eye before moving again. With the slow-moving tank, they needed to cover as much ground as possible when they could.

The bridges on the roads wouldn’t hold the tank at a few junctions, but the rivers and streams were shallow enough for the tank to plow straight through. Abraham watched the surge of water rising over the tank treads as he waited for it to cross the river.

“It’s a mighty beast,” Horace said.

They were only one day away from the House of Steel. Abraham shared all his thoughts with his Henchmen and even Prince Lewis too. He wasn’t certain, but he got the feeling that Prince Lewis might be coming around. He seemed to show gratitude, and the smart-aleck remarks to Abraham had subsided.

“If I depart, make sure to tell Ruger everything I’ve told you. Don’t leave a single detail out,” Abraham said.

“We won’t,” Sticks said in a voice that seemed more sad than neutral. She seemed to have a hard time looking at Abraham.

“Horace, why don’t you fall back a moment,” he said.

“Aye, Captain.” Horse slowed his horse.

Abraham moved closer to Sticks. Their thighs bumped as they moved forward. “What’s on your mind?”

She kept her eyes forward on the green hills in the distance and said, “Nothing.”

“I know you well enough by now to know that isn’t true. It’s Ruger, isn’t it? You don’t like him?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

“So, something is bothering you? Just let it out. We never know when we might get this chance again.” He wanted to be fair and address this strange love triangle. He had Mandi back home, whom he felt deeply for. Sticks had more than grown on him, but he’d never seen her laugh. Then there were Queen Clarann and Princess Clarice. The queen was Ruger’s lover, and Clarice was his daughter. It all would have made for a great time-travel romance series. But with Sticks, he didn’t see any point in putting the matter delicately. “Listen, Sticks, if I go, I’m really going to miss you. And if I stay, I’d like to stay with you.”

“How easy for you to say.” She spurred her horse into a trot with her hips bouncing on the saddle.

The haggard-looking Prospero wandered alongside Abraham, smacking his lips and sucking his teeth. With his eyes on Sticks, the man who never said anything said, “I bet that saddle’s happy.” He led his horse away.

Abraham let out a silly laugh. A bright sun ring with black spots formed in his line of sight. Then he shielded his eyes and fell out of the saddle.