Golden Sword

Chapter 7

Keika was at Devin's side immediately, tearing off his armor and tunic to get to the wound. It was not mortal, but he was bleeding out. She compressed the gash together with her hands and looked up at Sergeant Major Davis. "Bandages! Get me bandages and something to bind him. We have to stop this bleeding or he will die." Within moments, she was handed cloth torn from uniforms or clothing with which to staunch the loss of blood. She used two belts to tightly compress the wound to keep it as closed as possible. Although unconscious, he moaned in pain when she did this.

As fortune would have it, a small pre-plague hospital happened to have been located within the perimeter of the lake and was still in reasonable condition when Mercedes and her people established Mercedium. Although none of the equipment that required power could be used, the roof was still intact, and it had plenty of beds. Much of the material was still useful, so, after reestablishing a fledgling medical staff, it was maintained for its original purpose and had been renamed Mercedium General Hospital. It was located down the hill to the southeast of the castle. She had to get him there immediately.

Scooping up his limp two hundred pounds like he was a small dog, she ordered, "Open all the doors between us and the outside." Men rushed frantically to obey her commands. As the way was made clear she carried him out of the castle. She would have jumped with him in her arms, but was afraid he might not survive the g-force on landing. When she was beyond the main gate, she broke into a full speed run and was at the entrance to the hospital within seconds. There the medical staff ran up to place him on a gurney and rush him into surgery. The doctor on duty viewed the wound before he was wheeled away and checked him briefly. "You got him here in time Princess, thank you for your help. We will take over now." She nodded, thanked the staff and ran out of the building and back up to the Mercedian War Room.

There the staff meeting had continued. The king and his staff were mulling over how to stop the EOP, as the Empire of Paradise was now being called, from continuing unchecked down the road to Mercedium. She walked in and told everyone that Devin appeared to be in no major danger, for which they were all thankful. They made room for her at the map table. "What have you decided?" she asked. Harold shook his head, "Not much. We were waiting for you. I have sent messengers to immediately recall the 2nd and 3rd Armies from their positions, but it will take almost two weeks for them to make it here at best."

"The first thing we need is intelligence." she said. "We have to know what they are going to do next as soon as possible. Now, on the other hand, if I were the commander of our enemy force, the first thing I would do is to send recon forces down the road to see if anything faced them following the destruction of 1st Army. We have heard nothing about the fate of Crown Point. What forces do we have at hand?" The king and his generals looked at each other. "Well," said the king, "We have the Royal Horse Guards, which is a unit comprised of two hundred fifty of the best cavalrymen in the country. They are actually my unit. Then there is the Mercedium City Guard, but they are strictly a garrison unit, not really equipped for field duty. There are a few local militia which we can call up.......perhaps a total of a thousand men, semi trained. We can put out a call for volunteers, but they would be slaughtered if put into combat against these monsters without training." Keika nodded, "Call up your militias and go ahead and make the call for volunteers. They can be used as a workforce, or in support of combat troops. We can train them as we are able. I will send back a message to the Legions of 1st Corps to start their march here as soon as they are properly supplied and to not wait for the formal formation of the Corps itself, we can do that here. May I assume command of your Guards unit?" The king nodded his assent.

Keika had been talking without really thinking. Everything had been automatic. Suddenly she realized that all eyes were upon her, no one else apparently had anything to add, nor was there any disagreement. They were all men of varying ages, as young as Eric and as old as...well, old...and they all stood waiting on her next words....waiting on the words of an eighteen year old girl. In fact, she and Valerie were the only women in the room. Inside, she became nervous, but she did not allow it to show. Her eyes met Eric's. He smiled encouragement, support and nodded for her to continue, do what made sense, seize the opportunity, and guide the next critical steps in Mercedia's defense. Her military mind had been honed in school and on the field. She was now a veteran, and had an exceptional grasp of strategy and tactics, as well as a vast photographic knowledge of military history. If anyone was fit to lead, it was her....despite her youth.