trouble in Svardovia 21, holiday bonus

 

 

Chapter 21

 

“Prince Dmitry! And… Who is your companion? What has happened to…” Thorndyke tailed off, terrified to ask.

“Safe,” said Dmitry. “But we need to go over the big rock – Herman and I came ahead to try to find help, and thank the Good Lord, we found the best kind of help.”

“I’ve been patrolling in hopes of signs of you,” said Thorndyke.  “I saw heaps of camp fires on the mountainside, and was wondering if you were hidden amongst them or if it was an army pursuing you; but it did not look regulated enough to be a Germanic army.”

Dmitry laughed.

“They are digging for gold,” he said.

“Gold! The is no gold in the Galassian mountain range that I know of,” said Thorndyke.

“No, nor me; but my Sophie is brilliant, and, dressed as a little boy, she managed to let people find out about a map she had supposedly found where gold had been discovered.  We left in the midst of a mass exodus of villagers and stranded train travellers alike, including some of the soldiery, to head off into the foothills and up the mountainside with tents, blankets, shovels, and all the equipment needed to cross a mountain range in inclement weather, as much as to go prospecting. Only the weather turned, we turned aside to get in the cover of the former cutting, and heard Herman here. He and his men… and others… were just abandoned by Ferdie. One crew shot themselves.”

Thorndyke shook his head.

“We heaved out a few this end,” he said. “Including some trying to stay quiet for fear of what would happen to them.”

“Oh, well, if you have some vehicles, we brought the heat-ray weapon with us for no good reason,” said Dmitry.

“But you have the prototype of the improved version if you took it from the prototype machine the Archduke had,” blurted out Herman.

“Well, considering the amount of trouble the dratted thing has caused us, I am glad of that, though I confess, I hate the idea,” said Dmitry. “But maybe we can learn to counter it.”

Thorndyke was not about to tell the prince about how liftium was flame retardant in front of his new friend, but he looked forward to telling him later.

And he set a course to bring them over the lump of rock, and sent out a pair of boats, one to land, and the other to guard it and its precious human cargo.

 

oOoOo

 

Karol perked up out of half a doze as the day wore on. They had been passing the time telling stories, true ones and fictional, to keep their minds off their unenviable position, but the air was close and stuffy, and the urge to doze was considerable.

“Listen!” he said. “I hear a kerosene engine… I know that note, it’s one of the ‘Thunderchild’s’ boats!”

He  dodged out through the canvas covering, and waved.

And the boat was coming down.

Soon, the refugees were in the boat, and flying up to the bulk of ‘Thunderchild,’ where they were taken to the hospital, able to bathe, and put on nightgowns, and get into real beds with clean sheets.  Telling the story would be for the morrow, and their new friends still on parole.  And the prototype heat-ray now out of their hands, safe, and able to be examined.  By whom and where, Sophie no longer cared.

But she did slip out of her own bed to find Dmitry, and climb in with him, and there the nurse found them in the morning, clinging to each other.

 

oOoOo

 

Kurt asked to speak to his uncle, and came away from that interview chastened. He went in search of Dmitry, and went on one knee to swear vassalage from henceforth until the end of time.

“Of course, old man, but for goodness sake, get well first,” said Dmitry. “You like machines? Well, we need something like those crawlers but with arms and hands on.  If your Gargantua had had hands, some of you might have dug your way out, and certainly those not buried could have helped you more.”

Kurt was filled with ambitions.

 

oOoOo

 

Once the greater part of the admitted part of the story came out, Dmitry and Sophie were once again the darlings of the principality, for protecting everyone from a dangerous enemy.

The Gaumont Company approached the prince to ask if they might make a movie of the daring rescue of himself by the princess-to-be, and another about their daring seizure of a secret weapon.

“Yes, to the first, no to the second,” said Dmitry. “I have no desire for all we got up to to become known to a potential enemy who might use it against us.”

Sophie met the girl who was to play her in the film, and privately thought her too wishy-washy to represent her; but she had big, dark eyes which were appealing to the public, and the director seemed to think she would do well.

As a matter of record, when the film was being shot, the following spring, and Sophie had been invited on set, she was so disgusted with the wailing of the Leading Lady having hysterics over performing ‘impossible’ feats, that Sophie took over as stunt double, something Gaumont tactfully refrained from mentioning in the credits.

 

Before this, however, the wedding was back on, and Sophie had to be refitted for her gown, having lost weight during their rather frenetic escape. But this time, a date was set, and invitations were sent out.

The bride was radiant, and the groom handsome, she in her version of the traditional gown for a Krasnytsyan bride, with flowers in her hair, and he as Colonel-In-Chief of the combined forces. The world’s press was there, and it was generally acknowledged that Princess Sophie was far lovelier than ever Princess Victorina had ever been. And the faithful Magda became a lady in waiting and was Sophie’s chief bridesmaid.

 

 

The King of England, and his lovely queen, came to the wedding of the Prince of Krasnytsya and his English bride, and was introduced to Yon, who had been collected by Karol, and the simple man’s cup overflowed. He was given the title ‘Knight supporter of the crown’ which Dmitry invented just for him; it went with a stipend, which would be administered for him to see that he never wanted, when he was too old to care for his goats. Herman and Helmut were seen in society, and accepted as friends of the prince; and nobody bothered too much about their former nationality. They worked with Kurt to produce a walking machine which was more an engineering machine than a war machine, though it could be equipped with weaponry. The heat-ray was researched, taken apart, analysed, and finally turned into a rock-cutting mining machine.

Ferdinand was invited to the wedding, but refused to come.  He eventually agreed to a treaty to renew the railway line, because the trade route was too useful. And the tunnelling machine was brought from England to go through the mountains, not round; and the tunnel was made just too low for any Gargantua to walk along it.  It was also easier to guard the border.

It was said that when Ferdinand discovered that his favourite toys could not walk along the line, he had an apoplexy; but in any event, he did not survive more than a week after the completion of the new line.

 

oOoOo

 

In future years, Svardovia and Krasnytsia were to be bases which proved a deterrent to Austria’s mobilisation over the assassination of their archduke, and World War One was averted by a very narrow margin.  And the flying ships of Krasnytsia were instrumental in the rescue of the Tsar’s family when the Russian people rebelled; and they lived out their lives in comfortable, but definitely confined, exile, in Baba Gora Castle, where they could not irritate anyone.

 

Sophie presented Dmitry with four children, two boys, and two girls, named Eduard, Karol, Magda, and Maryla. They all did national service in the navy, and Karol went on to become admiral of the wholly Krasnytsyan fleet, lifted entirely by Liftium since Krasnytsya was rich in its raw materials. 

 

Fin

Simon is hoping to finish the Unwanted elves over the holiday but on the expectation that he will still be tinkering with the last chapter,  which he [in theory] on, I thought I'd post the expanded version of 'the fan' and another short which follows it. I have the first volume of a fantasy set in a bronze age world completed, so it's fantasy all the way at the moment. I have so many georgians and regencys started! and I've got the first story arc of the next Black Falcon completed too, and half a dozen connected stories for Copper's Cruise. so, enough to keep everyone entertained for a few months, so I am working seriously on the first weather book which is coming close to completion. I'm on 1816 of years 1811-1820 and have just done a radical reformat as Windows 11 totally loused up what I had - it took me nearly a week working full time to get that untangled. 

 

 

trouble in Svardovia 20

 

Chapter 20

 

Dmitry and Herman Schultz climbed out of the window and out into the cold, snowy world outside. They carried bottled water with them, and a can of pineapple each, for the sweet energy as well as the juice, and a bar of chocolate between them. Sophie was busy grating chocolate with her penknife into melting snow to heat as much as the engine would heat it, to have at least a warm, sweet drink of sorts.

“We appreciate this,” said Helmut.

“We’re glad to share your heat,” said Sophie. “Stealing your weapon was a bit of an impulse; we wanted to make sure to kill Zbignevosky and destroy any secrets he had about our people, because he was a nasty piece of work, and we knew he was likely to try to bomb our wedding.”

“He does sound unpleasant,” said Helmut. “And so you’re the people who took the prototype?”

“I don’t know; we took the one which was in the Archduke’s stable yard,” said Sophie. “And the wretched machine ran out of diesel, so we took off the weapon to see if there was a way to counter it.”

Helmut started laughing.

“You have the only working version of the improved heat ray which will fire more than once,” he said.

“Really?  Well, that’s amazing,” said Sophie.

“I expect we should be doing something to destroy it,” said Helmut. “But I cannot think that it is a good weapon; it is contrary to God’s law.”

“I am glad you think so; I would most certainly urge Dmitry never to use such a thing,” said Sophie. “It is a wicked sort of thing. But as you are Christian, shall we all pray for Dmitry and Sergeant Schultz to safely find aid?”

“I am glad to do so,” said Helmut. He and the two gunners bowed their heads. Svetilina and Karol crossed themselves, in the eastern fashion, and each gave up silent prayers for the two brave men battling through snow on a most uncertain surface.

 

oOoOo

 

“I suppose,” managed Dmitry, as they scrambled through snow, “That at least the earth has frozen and stabilised the slump somewhat. Let us pray it does not thaw, for that could wreak havok.”

“Indeed,” said Schulz. “Highness, would it trouble you to call out every thirty feet or so? In case there are any other souls trapped and still alive? I… I was terrified, but I thought I heard voices, so I shouted…”

“We’ll do better than that, we’ll poke our tent pole walking staffs through the earth and tap for metal,” said Dmitry. “Incredible as it seems, it is possible that the strength of the armour has preserved an air pocket inside other Gargantua.”

They found the next vehicle, and dug away enough to reach the window. Dmitry crossed himself.

“The poor devils have all shot themselves,” he said. “I cannot blame them.”

“No, nor I,” said Schultz. “We cannot afford time to take their identity.”

“No,” said Dmitry. “I think one more might be possible to get too, this side of the top of the mountain; nothing under that would survive.”

Schultz nodded; and they continued on. The next machine was apparent for the barrel of a Nordenfelt, which was raised; someone perhaps had jerked back on the controls in shock as the avalanche hit. Dmitry pushed his pole through the earth, and banged on the metal roof.

He was about to shrug, when there was a weak banging back.

“Well, we dig,” he said. They had one shovel and an axe, and it must do to reach the top of the metal monstrosity, and then find the window.

“I have the hatch to the engine compartment!” said Schultz. “The machine is turned to the side!”

“That will be easier than trying to get in the window,” said Dmitry. “I think you had a pocket beneath the surface into which more fell, breaking your window.”

“I don’t know; it was all very confused, but I don’t say you’re wrong, sir,” said Schultz.

“Call me Dmitry; in this weather we are equals against a common enemy,” said Dmitry.

“Then call me Herman, please; it will be less confusing, for Helmut is my brother.”

They managed to open the hatch, and Schultz went down first. Dmitry followed.

One side of the cab was stove in, and the gunner that side crushed. Two of the other men had shot themselves, but the fourth, scarcely more than a boy, fell sobbing on Herman.

“Come on son, you’re going to be all right,” said Herman.  “My… Dmitry, what are we going to do?”

“We left the radio in your Gargantua, just in case,” said Dmitry. “Let me see if I can get this one going.” He turned the ignition, and the diesel engine coughed into life. “Good, that’s a start. Any protocol to getting another vehicle?”

“No; they are very simple, all on one frequency. Press the button and transmit.”

Dmitry did so.

“Calling refugees, calling refugees; we have one more survivor, repeat, have one more survivor. Can you fetch him? Over.”

“Roger, wilco, over and out,” said Karol’s voice.

“Get the boy dressed in as many coats as he can from his dead fellows,” said Dmitry. “Do you have any water or iron rations?”

“Yes; we ate ours,” said Herman, opening a panel. “Here is still some beer, and cheese, and sausage, and rather stale bread.”

“In water with conserve it will make a meal,” said Dmitry.  “Listen, lad! Stay calm. My friend will take you to a safe place for the time being; and we are going to get help. You will go with him, and share out your rations. Here, have some water, and some chocolate. Have you been eating at all?”

“No, I did not know there was food,” sobbed the boy.

“Well, you will be given food, and everyone will share,” said Dmitry. “What is your name?”

“Kurt; Kurt Von Hönen. I was to learn how to drive the machines,” said the boy.

“He’s our general’s nephew,” said Herman.

“Well, he’d better behave, or he’ll be walking home alone,” said Dmitry. “Right, come on, Kurt; out of the top and you can start off towards Karol, who is coming to rescue you, so he does not have to go as far.”

“Yes, sir,” said Kurt, submissively, glad to be told what to do. He was weak and ill-looking, but he had the will to live, which would take him a long way.

They saw him out, and walking in their footsteps back the way they had come. The figure of Karol was a small moving shadow in the distance; but at least visible, and a target for the boy.

“We will have to move to the side of the block there,” said Dmitry. “Jesus-Joseph-Maria, but it’s big.”

“Well, I didn’t put it there,” said Herman.

“Oh, good man, you have humour still,” said Dmitry.

“Much is restored in heaving that boy out,” said Herman. “But you are right; nothing would survive that lump falling on them.”

They huddled up against the lump of rock to take a drink, and eat some chocolate, then pushed on, going to their right as the wind was blowing largely from their left. Above them was the stark scar where the peak had broken off. Dmitry crossed himself and prayed for the poor souls in the Gargantua who were caught underneath it.

“When we have got to the other side of this, we’ll technically be in Krasnytsya,” said Dmitry.

“I am sure it will make the chocolate taste better for you,” said Herman.

“Hell, yes,” said Dmitry. “Do you have any family other than Helmut?”

“Only my ex-wife,” said Herman. “We married too young, and it was only a year before love had turned to hatred. I did not have the ambition she wanted, and was too fascinated with smelly machines; and she as always wanting things, as tokens of my love. We parted ways, and I should not be sad never to see her again. Why, are you inviting us to stay in Krasnytsya?”

“I can always use good friends I can trust,” said Dmitry.  “Stand by; the wind will buffet us as we come out from behind this damned rock.”

The wind did buffet, but there was no snow this side.

“Well, I’m damned, weather in mountains is always peculiar,” said Dmitry.  “Four miles more, my friend, and I am sure there will be our people. It fell a lot deeper and with more rocks this side; I don’t fancy the chances of anyone under that lot.”

“No, nor do I; this is all rock and rubble, and very hard to walk on. The other side was mudslide with rocks in.”

“I’m going to send up one of the flares we made,” said Dmitry.  “We used the powder from ammunition and made three flares using the pasteboard which came as wrapping for the chocolate. It’s not going to be wonderful, but I hope it will make enough smoke to have someone see it.”

“It’s worth a try, rather than break our ankles on that,” agreed Herman.

They propped up the makeshift rocket in the rocks, a tail made from a stick Dmitry had cleaned of bark, shavings of spruce gum in with the gunpowder to smoke plenty. Herman held his coat open as a wind break whilst Dmitry kindled a match.  The rocket went up, trailing smoke. It did not go very high; but the smoke was dense.

“Well, we can but hope,” said Dmitry. “Come, friend Herman, let us tramp with great caution. I suspect it will take all the hours of daylight to cross this uneven plain.”

Herman grunted agreement.  They had little enough spare breath to talk.

 

oOoOo

 

 

The brief burst of radio transmission had been picked up by one Private Hansi Tanner, who had been one of those getting the evacuated Gargantua onto the flatbeds.

He reported this to his officer.

“Listen, son,” said his officer, “You open up that radio, and say that if anyone can hear you, to do what they can to save themselves, or kill themselves quickly, because nobody is coming. And if any of us tried, we’d be courtmartialled; and I don’t know about you, but I have family.”

“Yes, sir,” said Hansi. He had been told what to do, however, and he did it.

He got no reply, and sighed, wondering if he had imagined it.

The refugees in the cabin had listened to his stumbling explanation; and they now included Kurt Von Hönen.

“They have given up on us all?” he gasped.

“This is what you get when you have such a bastard for an Archduke as Ferdie,” said Karol. “And plainly the two in your own vehicle who shot themselves, and the four in the other vehicle, knew what the chances of a rescue might be. I can guarantee that those near the front will have been dug out if life persisted.”

In this he was correct, and the Krasnytsyan army had dug out the crew of two vehicles who were able to send messages begging help, and had done their best to investigate if others survived, managing too to rescue one stubborn crew who were afraid of what would happen to them. All agreed, it was no way to die, being slowly suffocated. Though it had helped that the stubborn crew were subdued and groggy by lack of clean air.

“We are not treated as men, but as cattle!” cried Kurt.

“Welcome to the world of those of us without a ‘von’ to our names, little rich boy,” said Wilhelm.

“I will talk to my uncle about this… if he survived,” said Kurt.

“Do you want to enlighten the baby, or will I?” said Wilhelm to Johan.

“He knows in his heart,” said Helmut.

“Things should be changed!” cried Kurt.

“Bless you, Kurt, plenty have tried before, and failed,” said Helmut. “Are you not aware that the Gargantua are for crowd control, and designed to be used on our own people? My brother, Herman, and I were transferred without much choice in the matter from the vehicle maintenance corps.”

Kurt bowed his head.

 

oOoOo

 

“Sir!  We saw a trail of smoke – it looked like a very small rocket flare,” said one of the ratings to Thorndyke.

“Steer a course towards it,” said Thorndyke. “Dmitry is resourceful, and so is Miss Harmon. We can hope that it is they. If not, well, we still should rescue any distressed enemy.”

They headed along the line of the former cutting, somewhat above it, the ‘Thunderchild’ being wider than the cutting.

“Sir! Two figures, walking!” called the lookout.

“Only two?” Thorndyke’s heart plummeted.  “Send down a boat to pick them up; have a few marines, just in case.”