Chapter 22
Considering the size of Sid's army and the technology of Chaos, it was amazing that it hadn't turned into a horde that swept across the countryside in a disorganized manner. For every soldier that saw battle, there were four support people who made it possible for the soldier to fight. Drovers, cooks, butchers, armorers, smiths, carters, and carpenters made up a force far larger than soldiers. Like soldiers, each needed food, water, camp goods, and rest.
A substantial number of wagons were in use. Supplies had to be brought from rear positions to where the men and women of the army were located. The typical supply wagon, with good weather, could manage twenty miles per day. There was a continuous stream of wagon trains moving goods from rear positions to forward positions. Since one could not count on good weather, it was necessary to have seven days worth of supplies within easy access. The entire area occupied by the army was dotted with depots where supplies were cached.
Each wagon required two horses to pull it with a spare pair of horses for every three wagons. Each mounted soldier had a string of three horses that would allow them to ride full time and be ready for battle at a moment's notice. While each soldier and carter had to care for his own horses, veterinarians and horse handlers were required to assure the continued health of the animals. Each horse needed to have its diet supplemented by grain, thereby adding to the logistics problem.
With an army spread over a front that was nearly two hundred miles across, communications was a major problem. It could take a critical message almost two days to go from one end of the front to the other and that required running horses to the point of exhaustion. More mundane communications required seven days to make the trip. The time required to exchange messages forced each division to operate, more or less, independently.
With the number of troops, it was unavoidable that there would be problematic individuals. Rape, murder, theft, and battlefield excesses occasionally occurred. It was often necessary for individual commanders to stand in judgment of someone accused of criminal activity. Trials were short, often less than five minutes in duration, and punishments were severe. With so many of the people former slaves, the one punishment that could bring a camp to the point of riot was whipping. As a result, executions were the common form of punishment for major crimes and hard labor the punishment for minor crimes.
A highly visible trial often set back morale, but that was nothing to three days of bad weather. This was particularly true in forward positions. A long rain turned the ground to mud and left men wet and dirty. Poorly placed tents filled with water leaving men unable to sleep. It seemed impossible to keep hot food hot long enough for a man to enjoy his meal. Even worse, improperly placed latrines often filled with runoff water and human waste ended up floating through camp. Diseases would start to become problematic.
Considering the size of Sid's army, it was amazing that it was holding together. While it might be small compared to the forces fielded by ancient Rome, Persia, and Egypt, it had to be remembered that it had taken hundreds of years for those armies to reach their largest sizes. Sid had taken a small cadre of untrained men and built it up to its current size in less than fourteen months. That was the most amazing accomplishment of Sid's command.
Three days of driving rain followed by an additional two days of constant drizzle was pushing his army to the breaking point. Sid stood at the door of his tent and looked out at the miserable weather. Disgusted, he turned to Fred and said, "This weather is killing us."
"We'll survive the weather," Fred said looking up from his sewing. He was using the time to repair some of his clothes. At the moment, he was sewing up a small tear in his pants.
"The men need a chance to get out of the weather," Sid said looking in the direction of the guards who were standing out in the rain. They were shivering and looked absolutely miserable.
"Or you need to get them into the weather," Fred said returning to patching his pants.
"Pardon?" Sid asked surprised by the suggestion.
"Sure. Get the men out to build a couple of buildings. Use some of the canvas to provide roofs. Make sure that you have rough flooring to get them above the water. That would allow them to get out of the rain," Fred said. He gestured towards the door of the tent and said, "A project like that would get them up and moving rather than concentrating on their miserable situation. The end result would improve their living conditions."
"That's a good idea," Sid said staring out the door.
"What are you doing standing there?" Fred asked with a grin.
"I'm not looking forward to getting wet," Sid answered invoking a laugh from Fred. He knew that he was going to have to get out in the weather. Sighing, he reached over and put on his oiled leather poncho.
Stepping out of the tent, Sid headed over to the supply wagons. Once there, it took him a few minutes to locate an axe. Grabbing one, he turned towards the rows of tents in which wet miserable men were huddled. Striding down the lane between tents, he shouted, "I'm looking for some volunteers."
Men looked out of their tents at their General. All of them groaned; a few stepped out to find out what Sid needed. It was a testament to his leadership that the men gathered around him. When he had several dozen men, he shouted, "We're going to build some temporary structures so that we can get dry. We need a bunch of trees cut down and split lengthwise to form floors. Some of the smaller trees can be used for corners. We'll cover the tops and two sides with canvas. We'll set up some clay fire pots to get some warmth in the area."
The men looked around trying to decide if they really wanted to be out in the rain for the amount of time it would require to accomplish the tasks identified by Sid. Sid didn't wait for them to make up their minds. A minute later, the sound of a solitary ax biting into a tree carried through the camp. As one, the men turned to watch Sid cutting down a tree.
One of the men complained, "It is damned near impossible to complain about that man. You want to grumble, but you can't."
"You know he's going to do the entire job by himself if we don't help."
"You've got that right. He won't ever say a bad word about those who don't join in," another man said watching Sid swing the ax. He sighed at the thought of spending hours out in the rain and said, "Okay. Some of you get axes and join our fearless leader in felling trees. We'll need some ropes to pull the trees out to where we can work on them. Someone is going to have to find the wedges to split the trees."
"Where do you think he plans on putting the buildings?" one of the men asked looking around the campsite. Sid hadn't been too forthcoming with instructions.
"I guess someone ought to go ask Connor. He's in charge of laying out camp," one of the men answered with a shrug of his shoulders.
In ten minutes the entire camp was a beehive of activity as men left the relative comfort of their wet tents to work in the rain. The cooks roused themselves to prepare hot soup over smoky fires of damp wood. Sid was everywhere giving a helping hand where necessary.
It took six hours, but a row of fifteen buildings appeared out of the rain. The floors were made of rough cut wood that would give a person who wasn't careful horrible splinters. The roofs sagged with water and required men to occasionally lift the canvas so that the water could run off. The air was smoky from damp wood struggling to burn despite the assistance from ground seep oil taken from the supply wagons.
As horrible as the buildings were, they served their purpose. The men dried out and got warm. Morale rose and the people gathered in the buildings turned to more social activities such as dice, cards, and story telling.
Sid stood next to one of the clay fire pits holding his hands over the fire trying to get warm. He was the last of the men working to construct the buildings to enter the shelter. The men had moved aside respectfully to make room for him. He smiled at the men around him and said, "Well, that was a perfectly miserable afternoon."
"I don't think I've ever been this wet," another man agreed. He had taken his shirt off and hung it over the fire to dry. His hair was plastered to his head and his pants were leaving puddles of water where he stood. His boots squished when he walked.
Another man came over and said, "They've set up hot showers in one of the buildings."
Sid turned and looked at the man in surprise. He definitely hadn't suggested that. Despite being soaked to the bone, the idea of a hot shower was amazingly seductive. He asked, "Whose idea was that?"
"Your man, Fred, suggested it," the man answered. He gestured towards one end of the camp and said, "There are men standing in line out in the rain to take a shower."
"I don't blame them," Sid said. He shivered when the draft in the room shifted and drove some of the heat reaching him in another direction.
The men around Sid exchanged glances. As one, they moved in and picked him up. The next thing Sid knew was that he was being carried to the building with the showers. The men waiting in line laughed when his escorts carried him past and into the building. To a man they knew that Sid wouldn't cut in front of the line despite the fact that it was his right as General.
Sid was set down just inside the building. Like all of the rest of the buildings, it only had two walls. The walls were intended to keep out the rain rather than provide privacy. It was far warmer than the other buildings since it was lined with clay fire pots.
He looked around at what the men had done. Buckets of water were being heated over fires. There were lines on which clothes were hung over the fires to dry. The rough wood floors were covered with canvas so that one could walk on the floor barefoot without ripping the soles of their feet to shreds. There were four shower stalls rigged so that one could pour a bucket of hot water and have it drain in a soft fall. Sid was impressed with the effort the men had put into it.
A woman behind him said, "Well, get out of those wet clothes General. You're holding up the line."
Surprised, Sid turned and looked at the woman. She was wearing a short sword and he knew that she could use it. She laughed and said, "You haven't got anything that I haven't seen already. Get undressed and I'll hang your clothes. You get two buckets of water. Use one to soap up and the other rinse off."
Rather than argue, Sid shed his wet clothes and went over to one of the shower stalls. Another woman filled the shower head with a bucket of hot water. Sid washed with a bar of soap luxuriating in the hot water. A bucket of hot water didn't last long, but it felt great. He was almost disappointed to have to rinse off. He stepped out and a woman entered to take a shower.
The woman who had directed him into the shower said, "Stand over there and let the fire dry you off. Your clothes won't be dry by the time you are, but they'll be warm."
"Thanks," Sid said and went to stand with a couple of other men. The area was warm with several small fire pots heating the air. The smoke was thick enough to make the eyes water and the lungs burn, but it felt good. A few paces away, a group of naked women were drying off in a similar manner.
"They didn't want to wait for us to get done with our showers," one of the men commented upon seeing Sid look over at the women. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I can't really blame them. It's been a miserable couple of days."
"You're right about that," Sid said. He wondered about the wisdom of having the men and women mix like this. Of course, he did notice that all of the women working in the shower wore weapons in a manner that was highly visible.
"Millie and a couple of the other women are armed to make sure that nothing bad happens," the man said as if reading Sid's thoughts.
Nodding his head, Sid said, "Good idea."
"Putting up these buildings was a good idea," the man commented. He ran his hands through his hair and said, "I'm dry enough. I'm going over to get some soup at the building next door. Then I'll head back to my tent and try to get some rest."
"Take it easy," Sid said watching the man go over to where his clothes were hung. It was hard to believe the difference that the buildings had brought over the men. Another two men came over and joined him in drying off. They were both smiling.
One of the men held a small flat piece of wood in his hand. He dragged it along his body using it like a squeegee. It took him just a few minutes to dry himself off. Sid watched open mouthed. The man said, "It's a poor man's towel."
"I've never seen that before," Sid said.
"Just a little something that I picked up as a kid," the man replied. He handed the stick over to the other man to use.
Sid watched as one of the men pushed up on the canvas roof. Water ran off the side into one of the large noodle pots. The women were using that water to refill the buckets. The cleverness of the people around him in dealing with problems astounded him. He wondered how his fellow students back on Earth would have managed in this kind of situation. He suspected that most would have been totally helpless.
After drying off and dressing, Sid headed over to the building where they were serving the food. The chance to eat out of the rain was too good to pass up. Stepping out, he noticed that Dracos was waiting in line for the showers. As he passed by, he said, "Hello, Dracos. When you are done here, why don't you join me in the building where they're serving soup?"
"Sure, General Sid," Dracos answered. He watched Sid head over to one of the other buildings. His respect for Sid had climbed almost every day on this campaign. He'd thought him crazy earlier that day when he went out and started chopping down that tree, but it took him ten minutes to realize that every man in camp was willing to follow Sid anywhere. He realized that Sid wouldn't ask any man to do more than he was willing to himself. It forced him to recognize that there was more to being a leader than issuing orders.
Sid entered the building just a little wetter than he had left the building where the showers were located. He stood in line to get a bowl of the noodle soup. The soup was quick, easy to make, nutritious, and, most importantly, hot. He was looking forward to getting a bowl. When it was his turn, the woman at the huge pot filled up a bowl and, while handing it over to him, said, "This is real nice. I'm so happy to get out of that tent."
"It was Fred's idea," Sid said giving credit where credit was due. Everyone around him shook their heads and knew that the idea wouldn't have turned out so positive if Sid hadn't taken the initiative to make it a reality. He could have ordered them to do it, but the work would have been performed by sullen irate men and the results wouldn't have been so good.
"Enjoy your soup," the woman said with a smile.
"Thanks, I will," Sid said. He carried the bowl of soup across the room and sat down on the floor to eat it in peace. The soup was thick with noodles in a hearty beef broth. He was pleased to see that there were actually chunks of beef mixed in with the noodles. He held up the bowl and took a sip from it. The soup warmed his insides.
"Sure is good soup," said the man seated on the floor next to him. His bowl was almost empty.
"Yes, it is," Sid agreed. He could hear singing coming from one of the other buildings. Somehow, this entire thing had turned into a party.
"I was getting tired of being wet and sitting in my tent," the man said. Five days of sitting in a small tent and leaving only to pull guard duty had begun to get on his nerves. He might not have wanted to work outdoors in the rain, but it was a break from the routine.
"Same here," Sid said. He took another sip of his soup.
"I'll be heading back to my tent when I'm done eating. I figure there are others that would enjoy a little break from the rain," the man said. He tilted his bowl and drank down almost all of the soup in his bowl.
"I'll be doing the same," Sid said. He watched the constant flow of traffic into and out of the buildings. Men and women were coming in to relax and recover from days spent in their tents. None were overstaying their time in the building. Even the people serving food rotated in and out of service.
Sid had just finished his bowl of soup when Dracos entered the building. He watched Dracos get in line and wait to be served. It pleased him that the young man waited his turn rather than cut into the line. During the first few days, Dracos had used his position to do as he wished without regard to how his actions appeared to him men.
It was a few minutes before Dracos sat down next to Sid with a full bowl of soup. He took a long sip of it and then said, "Oh, that's so good."
"Hot food always tastes better when the weather is bad and the appetite is large," Sid said. The soup had filled his stomach, but more importantly it had boosted his spirits.
Looking over at Sid, Dracos said, "When you and my father said that there was more to a campaign than fighting, I didn't really know what you meant. Seeing what you did today, I think I'm beginning to understand. When this rain stops, your army is going to be ready to move. The enemy's army will probably take a couple of days to get to the same degree of readiness."
"That's right," Sid said nodding his head. It would take a day or two for the enemy to dry out all of their clothes and replenish their supplies. The men would be irritable and difficult to control.
"We're two days behind them," Dracos said.
"That's about right," Sid replied.
"We could be at their camp before they can get their act together enough to fight," Dracos said looking over at Sid to see his reaction.
"I imagine that is possible," Sid said knowing what was going to come next.
"So are we going to march out as soon as the weather is good?"
Shaking his head, Sid answered, "No. I'm going to give our people the chance to get everything together. They'll have to dry out their tents and we'll have to get our supply lines operational again. I'd rather have my soldiers a hundred percent than to hope for a quick victory."
"Why?" Dracos asked wanting to understand Sid's thoughts on the matter.
"I like to avoid surprises," Sid answered. Seeing the puzzled expression on Dracos' face, he explained, "We could end up with a bunch of people getting sick. The worst time to discover that is when we are facing an enemy. We also wouldn't have much of a chance to scout the area. Nothing is worse than fighting from a disadvantage because you haven't taken the time to prepare the battlefield."
"I guess I understand that," Dracos said feeling a little impatient for his first taste of a major battle. They had been moving for more than two weeks and not engaged the enemy.
"The whole goal in war is to survive to the end. The trick to winning a war is to have as many of your people survive to the end as is possible," Sid said.
"What do you mean?" Dracos asked. Like many born of successful men, he didn't really understand the subtleties that were required to become successful.
"Where I come from, we have what we call a pyrrhic victory. That's where you win the war, but have so few people left that you lose more than you gain. You never see the result that motivated the war."
"Oh, I get it. If all these men and women die as a result of the war, it would probably have been better for them to remain slaves. There would be no one free to appreciate the sacrifice that they made," Dracos said.
"That's right," Sid said. A man, soaked to the bone, approached Sid and stopped in front of him. Sid didn't recognize the man, but could see that he was wet, cold, and miserable. Looking up at him from his seat on the floor, Sid asked, "What can I do for you?"
"I'm in charge of one of the supply trains. Our wagons are useless in this weather. We left them where they got stuck in the mud and loaded the horses with about half of the supplies. We packed in a couple of day's worth of food and need to know where to store it," the man answered.
Rising from the floor, Sid said, "Let me help you. We can store the food in some of the empty wagons that are stuck here in camp."
"Thanks."
"When we're done, I'll take you over to have a hot shower and make sure that you get some hot food," Sid said.
Dracos drank down his soup and rose from the floor. Gesturing to the floor, he said, "Why don't you stay here? I'll get a couple of my men to help unload the goods and then I'll get them settled in."
"Okay. While you're doing that, I'll find some of our mounted men to make a run to the wagons and pick up the rest of the food," Sid said.
"I'll go with your men. They'll need someone to take them there," the wet man said with a look of disappointment on his face. The idea of a hot shower and food had really sounded good, but he wasn't willing to send any of his men back out into that weather.
"You won't be leaving until morning, so take your time," Sid said. He headed out to find some men willing to go out in the weather to get more supplies.
Dracos watched Sid leave and said, "It's hard to believe that he's the General, but I guess that's what makes him in the real leader of this army."
The man looked at Dracos and then stared at Sid's retreating figure.
He had arrived at the camp and asked for the man in charge. He didn't
think that they would send him to the General. Seeing Sid disappear
into the dark and rain, he said, "That's one hell of a man."