Fervor

SCENE XXXVI: Fervor

Andy figured he was doing well enough getting the men off the wall and out of the way. Two more were in the room with Johnson, and he was busy helping the fourth man in there when the call came saying no medics would be sent. Andy demanded to know why.

“Didn’t you hear? New orders say to retreat to the main corridor of the castle. The Khardis are inside.”

Andy cursed. He didn’t hear that. At the same time, he saw none of the others make a move to flee the wall. There were others with radios, he could see the brick-sized devices hanging from their belts. He finished getting this current man into the room before heading toward Mathews. Andy caught his attention after he ducked down to reload.

“What is it?” he growled. Blood was dribbling down his face.

“The orders, sir,” Andy answered. “Everyone’s to head toward the main corridor of the castle.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, kid, but we’re not exactly in a good position to fall back.”

Andy clambered up the stairs and did what he avoided doing for the last ten minutes: he looked over the parapets. It was a swarm of Khardis out there on the grounds, all gunning at the wall. Trees, rocks, and a couple old buildings all served as their cover. The snipers unreachable by those in the library were again firing down from the cliffs. Having forgotten a little bit of his fear while he was moving injured men, he now found it welling back up inside.

Mathews stared at Andy while he looked. “Yeah. We’re not leaving.”

“What about those injured men?” Andy pointed at the room. All along the wall were even more, an ever-increasing number alongside the increasing number of dead. “What about the others?”

“I can’t afford to cart them all off to the hall. If you want to drag them all the way down there, be my guest. I have to keep the enemy from getting over this wall.”

“They’re already in the castle!” Andy pleaded.

“From the other end of the castle,” he countered. “That will be the only direction they get in from.” He shot at a man behind a rock, dropping him.

And here I thought soldiers obeyed orders, Andy thought. “Could we at least get the injured out of here?”

Mathews grabbed Andy’s shirt collar. “I can’t afford the men. That is final.” He let go.

Andy had quite a lot he wanted to say, although he didn’t have the courage to say it then. He may not have been a soldier, but it was obvious they were losing this fight. There were far more guys out on the grounds than there were on the wall. Add to that a few snipers no one seemed able to take out and the end result came together very clearly.

He walked over to the nearest injured soldier, a man clutching his gut and writhing on the floor. Andy wished he had the strength to pick the man up when all he could do was what he’d done every time: wrap his arms around the shoulders and pull. The man screamed, something about his injury must have made it excruciating to be dragged. His cries were ignored in favor of getting him to safety, even when he had to suffer the bumpiness of the stairs. Andy got to the door, and requested one of the others’ help. Johnson offered his aid, heaving the man through the doorway.

Hiding from the snipers behind a wall, Andy pulled out his radio. “We need medics on the north side. Mathews isn’t moving, none of them are. There are men hurt up here, please, send someone!”

“Of course Mathews isn’t moving,” came an exasperated voice. “Hold tight, we’ll send some people up. We have reports of snipers still up there, can you confirm that?”

“Yes, there are still snipers in the cliffs.”

“Are all the injured on the wall?”

Andy looked at the five men in the room. Johnson was trying to comfort the man with the bleeding stomach. Was it Andy’s imagination or was there more blood on his uniform than before? “Most of them are. I’ve... I’ve been trying to get them down.”

“Keep doing that. We don’t want our medics getting taken out.”

Andy swallowed. “I think I can do that.”

“What’s your name kid? I don’t recognize your voice.”

“An—” He stopped himself. He must be starting to get tired. “Crusader.”

“Lieutenant Hall. Keep at it, Crusader. I’ll see if I can talk some sense into Mathews for you in the meantime.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Andy did just as he said he would. Again and again and again he went back up to the wall, doing his best to avoid the enemy’s shots. He didn’t mind the shrieking of his muscles when he moved men down, nor did he pay any attention to the pain in his side. One more, he kept telling himself, just one more. A couple times he saw the grounds, noticing more Khardis were down each time. However, their drop in numbers paled compared to their own. At one point he caught sight of Mathews arguing into a radio. Andy didn’t spare any time to see if Hall was making any progress with him.

After a little over ten minutes, a handful of men came rushing into the courtyard. Recognizing their uniforms, Andy flagged them down and pointed to the room he was stashing men in. The room had a couple other closed doors inside. Andy assumed one was for a closet while the other may have led into a corridor. One of the medics confirmed that, and immediately turned to consult with another. The second medic began rattling off what sounded like directions.

“Help us get a few more down.”

“Okay.” Andy was certain that first medic was the leader based on how he talked to the others.

Andy, saying nothing, kept doing what he had for nearly thirty minutes now. He didn’t have the heart for all this killing and death around him, so it really was all he could do. Not once did he stop long enough to realize he’d been working at this with more fervor than the last three jobs he had back home.