The Tomb of the Tagosa Kings

Part Four

"What is your assessment of the situation?" Halraen asked of Elraes as the pair walked away.

Elraes was thoughtful as he replied, speaking slowly.  "We are in a bit of a tight spot with no way out.  On the flip side we have an easily defensible position."

"Have you ever been in a breach before?"

"No sir."

"Consider yourself lucky.  It'll be like that if they try and force their way in here," Halraen stated grimly.  "A right charnel house."

"We'll have some advantage with the light.  They won't be able to see us back down the corridor, while they will stand out as they enter the cleft."

"Unless they wait until night, or throw torches down or until the smoke from the powder gets too thick," Halraen pointed out.  "If you were in their position, what would you do?"

"Depends on how much time they have.  If they aren't in a rush they can simply keep us penned in and wait until we are weakened from a lack of food and water."

"And if they are?" Halraen asked him.

"Then they assault us until we are overwhelmed," Elraes replied.

"If they are in a hurry somewhere, and I think that is likely, then it is doubtful they would wish to take the heavy casualties it would require to dig us out.  They are up to something, such a large force and with guns."

"You would think that they would have realised the war is lost."

"Lieutenant, until the Carnaci movement is destroyed, the Nacatori will never give up.  So assuming they can't wait to starve us out and they can't afford to assault us, what options does that leave them?"

"Collapse the entrance?" Elraes suggested after a short time mulling over the question.

"That is my gravest concern.  Bury us in here and move on.  Maybe we could dig our way out if that happened, but I wouldn't count on it."

Then the crackle of musket fire came from the entrance again.

It was the screams from the Nacatori that first alerted Harry and the others perched atop the debris mound to the oncoming rush.  Down the length of the cleft came boiling a mass of men, bedecked in colourful robes, chanting their war cries.

Harry swiftly brought his rifle up, aiming down into the mass of men approaching.  "Fire!" he yelled, pulling the trigger.  The butt of his rifle slammed back into his shoulder as flame and smoke leapt from the barrel.  Amongst the screaming mass a man fell as the shot cut him down.  Then the other soldiers of the Queen's Own opened up with their muskets.  In the tight confines the Nacatori were funnelled and at the short range they fired they could not miss.  The front rank of the charging enemy tumbled, the rest continued over the fallen forms of their companions.

"Muskets, muskets!" Harry bellowed.  Those waiting below hurriedly passed up their muskets even as the charging Nacatori had reached the base of the debris and had begun the scramble up.  A second volley rang out loud in the tight confines, the smoke from the shots thickening in the air and more Nacatori fell.  One howling raider was touched by fate and remained unwounded by the volley, continuing the scramble upwards.  Harry reversed the musket he held, standing up high and brought it slamming down viciously, the butt crunching down onto the raider's head.  The man dropped like a stone, sliding back down the rubble.

The muskets continued to crash, shot after shot as more men passed up their muskets and received the fired ones to reload.  The Nacatori had begun returning fire and one of the soldiers alongside Harry fell backwards with a bullet through his eye.  The smoke from the constant firing became thick and choking in the confined space, shrouding vision and even the chamber of the tomb became misted with it.