Alarm and mobilisation

I woke up to the sound of a general alarm. We had gotten to sleep very late the night before and I could feel that I hadn't had nearly enough sleep yet. I dragged myself out of bed and out of the barracks and met up with everyone else streaming onto the parade ground. It was still dark, with just the slightest touch of light to warn that dawn was approaching. By the time the entire Hand was formed up, Hand Evans was standing and waiting impatiently.

“Shut up and listen,” Hand Evans shouted. Everyone got quiet very quickly. “We have just got news that the fight has run into trouble. They are besieged in a city on the mainland continent. We are going to have to cut your training short and go to their aid. The cadre and Finger Leaders will meet with me when you are dismissed, the rest of you start packing. That is all. Dismissed.”

I was stunned. Our second phase had lasted just five weeks, the first three concentrating on fighting together as a Hand and then, after our three day break, we had done lots of maneuvering and drills to get us accustomed to the various possible tactical situations that we might face.

I hurried with the others to the mess where an impatient Hand Evans was already locked in furious discussion with some of the cadre.

“Right, everyone here?” Hand Evans asked. He didn't pause for the answer but just continued, “The situation is as I outlined it out there. For now ignore that, we will have some time during the journey to go into more detail. For now we have to concentrate on movement orders. You Knuckles are now officially Finger Leaders. This is no longer a pool of replacements for the Fight, but rather a Fighting Hand. I will remain as Hand Leader, the Cadre members will form part of my tactical HQ and will be available to assist you if necessary. I want you to return to your fingers and ensure that you have your kit packed and ready. We leave an hour from now. We will be heading for the transit base on the coast where we can trans-ship to the mainland. Any questions?”

There were none. Everyone could see that it would be a bad idea to waste Hand Evan's time.

Travel

Two hours later we were on the road. We were all loaded down with a full load of gear and moving at a pace somewhere faster than a walk and slower than a run. It was that heavily loaded shuffle that the British Army calls ‘tabbing’ although slightly faster than that. We had set out from the camp along a pathway that down-river for a short distance before crossing the river at a ford and then turning East.

Once we were settled into the journey, I had time to think about other things.

“[Desrae, how're you doing?]” I asked.

“[Fine thanks Cy. Feeling strong.]”

“[No, I didn't mean that. I was thinking that I got the strong impression that Hand Evans was panicked.]”

“[You don't say {sarcasm}]”

“[Hey. {spank} {smile}]”

“[{smile} Yes, I did find it strange that he was so ruffled. I have no idea why there was such a rush. Apparently it will take us some time to get to where the Fight is, so I am sure we could have taken a bit more time to make sure we had everything we need.]”

“[A bit of a better briefing would have been nice. I am a little concerned about how he reacted. There are to my mind two possibilities; either there is something more serious than we know so far, or he is not a good commander. One of the first lessons I learnt about that was that if you panic, the men around you panic.]”

“[He came damn close to panicing though, didn't he?]”

I could hear my doubts about Hand Evans reflected by Desrae. It didn't reassure me in the least. I reached out to all the other Finger Leaders and checked on how they were doing. They all reported that they were doing fine physically, but all were to a greater or lesser extent worried about what was happening although it was only Lian who specifically said that he was worried about a commander who couldn't hide his panic from his subordinates. We all agreed to keep checking with each other.

Transit

It took us almost two days to get to the coast. We ran all day from sun-up to sun-down, stopping to camp on the bank of a river overnight without even bothering to build temporary fortifications or latrines.

When we reached the coast just after lunch-time on the second day, it was to be greeted by the sight of a harbour built of stone. There were a few small buildings which turned out to be housing for the permanent staff at the harbour and a long low barracks-type building, which we discovered was for the use of ship's crews that were moored in the harbour. There was a small tavern which we were told was off limits to us as we would not be staying long enough to have time off.

We were directed to a field and told to wait. I took the opportunity to inspect all the members of my Finger, making sure that their feet were OK and that they still had all their kit. While I was doing that, S'Alor appeared out of the undergrowth and joined us.

After a wait of about an hour, we were called to board a large ship moored in the harbour. I was fascinated as it was the first time I had been on a fully rigged sailing ship. I didn't get much chance to rubber-neck though, as we were directed down to the lower decks pretty quickly and told to stay there, out of the way of the sailors.

Once out of the harbour, it looked as if we were going to have a problem with sea-sickness, until I managed to move my Finger into battle-mode and focus their attention away from the problem. While we were doing that, I found that two of my Finger members had problems with their inner-ears, both as a result of child-hood infections. I helped them to focus their bodies healing abilities on the problem and our sea-sickness problems disappeared.

We were at sea for about three hours. The sun was low on the horizon when we were told that we were about to enter the harbour on the mainland. It was a town called Port A'maine. All I could see out of the port-hole was what looked like warehouses that butted right up against the wharfs.

Hand Evans spoke to all of us, telling us that we would be put up in the town over-night while arrangements were made to travel the next day. There were dire warnings about what would happen to anyone who got out of hand.