Movement on the Cliff

Andy was surprised. After the way Spartan talked, he figured he was done seeing the fighting. He even resigned himself to asking one of the nurses if there was anything he could do to help. She had only just finished asking his help to check on a patient when one of the doctors came up to them, asking if he was Crusader. Andy nodded.

The doctor handed him a radio. “Spartan wants you up top. Good luck out there.”

“Thanks,” Andy mumbled as he took the radio and left. Someone called him on it, asking where he was. “Sickbay,” he answered.

The voice said it was Sergeant Mathews, and he wanted to see Andy with his squad in less than five minutes. When Andy asked where they where, all Mathews said was on the corner of the northern wall. Andy did his best to work his way there, guessing his steps based on a brief glimpse he caught of a map of the area. He with Mathews and his squad within seven minutes.

“I told you five,” Mathews grumbled.

“Sorry, sir,” Andy answered. “I really don’t know the castle all that well.”

“Not my problem. If I give you an order, you follow it. I don’t care if you’re a special case like those other two. As far as I’m concerned, you’re a grunt just like any other.” Mathews handed him a set of binoculars. “What do you see up there?”

Andy looked. The cliffs were a good distance from the wall, enough that he could imagine several campsites in the space between them and the castle. Maybe even big enough to hold a small village. The light told him the sun was coming up unseen somewhere, but the sides of the cliffs were still obscured slightly in shadow. The tops of the cliffs weren’t easy to see, covered up by the squad’s lower vantage point. To his left was a big curved cliff, the length of the castle’s grounds, and from its top drifted smoke. In the other direction, he only saw trees protruding from the top. There was nothing out of the ordinary, but he also wasn’t sure what the ordinary was.

“Are we looking for something?” he asked. He stumbled slightly as the castle shook from another 50mm round.

“Khardis,” Mathews said. “Spartan’s expecting them to come at us from the cliffs, too. At least that’s my guess. He just told us to keep an eye out.”

Andy let out an exasperated sigh. This was just busy work, like whenever Jackson had him triple check the inventory back at work. He didn’t know why he was doing it. He wasn’t a soldier, why was he even listening to Mathews’s orders, or Spartan’s for that matter? The binoculars left his face.

“I’m not doing this,” he said. “I don’t have—”

Pop. Andy felt a small disturbance in the air next to his head. His heart rate immediately shot up and he dropped behind the parapet for cover. Mathews and the others did the same, but they stuck their heads out so they could still see the cliffs.

“Where’d it come from?” Mathews asked.

“I’m not sure, but I just saw a glint over there.”

“Does anyone else see anything?”

“I’m pretty sure I saw some movement up by that big tree a few minutes ago. Thought it was just an animal, but now I’m not too sure.”

“Make yourself useful, Crusader. Call it in.”

Another pop sounded, causing Andy to jolt and almost drop the radio when he was taking it out. “W-we’ve got enemies,” he stammered. “Up on the cliffs.”

“What cliffs?” came the response.

“Um... the north?”

Responses came through at that; mostly men telling others to either look at or head to the north. Mathews unslung a rifle from his shoulder, taking aim. Another pop. He fired, then ducked down again. The floor beneath Andy rumbled. This wasn’t a shot from the Warmonger, he’d grown accustomed to that over the night. This was something else. The others noticed it, too. Mathews looked toward the front of the castle.

“Ask what that was, kid.”

Andy relayed the question.

“Someone shot it down! I repeat, somebody shot down the Warmonger!”

The men in Mathews’s squad smiled and began celebrating while staying under cover.

“It crashed into the castle,” came another voice.

Andy heard it, but he wasn’t sure about the others. The men were still ecstatic over the airship being brought down, but Mathews at least acted like he heard something. He shushed them before requesting a repeat of the message.

“The Warmonger crashed into the castle.”

Everyone was silent.

“This is Spartan. Where did it crash?”

“Southeastern part of the castle.”

“Is it stuck, is it falling down, what’s happening?”

“It’s stuck, sir. Looks like they can still offload whatever soldiers they have.”

“Send some people to take a look, but be careful.”

“Roger.”

Andy turned his head to Mathews. The sergeant shrugged. “Not our problem right now,” he said. “Put our eyes back on that cliff.”

Andy peeked out. He couldn’t see anyone above, and his heart rate just continued increasing its speed. He was certain he would suffer cardiac arrest if he stayed there. He needed to leave. Going prone, he began to crawl away from Mathews toward the stairs descending into the courtyard below. This Drügeldorf fellow must have really liked those things, he thought as inched his way closer. He felt a hand wrap around his ankle. It was Mathews. Andy ignored the looks he was getting from the others.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Mathews said. “You’re not abandoning your post, boy.”

“I can’t do this, I’m just a civilian.” Andy fought back tears. He could live with them thinking he was a no-good coward. He could actually live several decades with them thinking that.

“Then stay cowarding behind the parapet with the radio in your hand. But you’re not running away.”

Nodding, Andy swallowed. “Okay.” It wasn’t really okay as far as he was concerned, but Andy figured he didn’t have much room to argue. He slid himself back to where he was and sat back up against the stone.

“Sir,” said one of the soldiers, “I think I see someone coming down.”

Mathews looked for himself. “There’s more than one. Start firing! Kid, call for the other watchers to fire on that cliff!”

Andy passed along the order, breaking the whole north end of the castle into gunfire. He clutched the radio close like it was a lifeline back home. How he missed his simple days of hating Jackson.