Free Warworld: The Lidless Eye by John F. Carr, Don Hawthorne

didn’t ram the wall. If we give them enough time,somebody will think of doing that.”
    “Then let’s not give them the time,” the Baron replied. He turned to the communications officer. “Get the coordinates of their main body and put it on the air to Fort Kursk.”
    The man disappeared at a run. Most of the other officers also left to organize the counterattack that would follow a successful missile strike. John didn’t want to think about the aftermath of an unsuccessful one, or if the coordinates were slightly off.
    The communications officer came back. “They’re firing two salvos, both time-on-target for extra effect.”
    “Gary Cummings always did like those little frills and flourishes,” muttered the Baron. But he was moving toward the gate as he muttered.
    John followed his grandfather toward the hundred and fifty armored men now assembled by the gate. Most were already mounted on their big horses. One unsuspected virtue of armor, he discovered, was that it discouraged his knees from knocking together. There had to be more than three thousand armed men out there; even if the missiles took out half of them that meant the short end of ten-to-one odds…
    One of the sergeants came up to him and pointed at his Gauss gun.
    “Better leave that behind, Marshal. No damned good in a close-range firefight. They’ll be all over ya faster’n shit before you can aim.”
    He handed John an Ekaterinagrad Arsenal 7mm assault rifle, or at least a clone of one, with a fifty-round magazine.”
    “I thought bayonets were strictly for ceremony,” John said.
    “They’re good for riot work, too. That’s what we’re going to be facin’ out there, ‘long as those friggin’ rockets land on their heads, not on ours. Don’t be afraid to use your sword, either.”
    John raised his rifle and shook his head. I should have thought of that myself . It was only now sinking in that this was a real battle with real people killing and dying, not some solido show he could turn off when he got bored.
    It had better damn well sink in fast , he told himself, or I’ll be lucky to survive this battle, never mind the next. And there would be a next one .
    Light brighter than any sunlight Haven ever saw flooded the courtyard. John closed his eyes and opened his mouth, but the blast wave still made his ears ache. He opened his eyes to see dust and small pebbles flying over the battlements. The banner on top of the tower stood out stiff from its pole, until the pole itself snapped off. The ground quivered like a drumhead, and Hamilton needed the sergeant’s grip on his upper arm to stay on his feet.
    Before the first blast had died away, the whole sequence came again, shaking the ground. This time part of the wood firesteps on the east wall collapsed. Nobody was on them, though, and only one man was close enough to be hit by flying lumber.
II
    King David Steele, who was seated in the last surviving armored car, on the top of the ridge facing Whitehall, cursed loudly as the second blast’s roar died down. “That conniving bastard Cummings! What does he think he’s doing, crossing me like this?”
    Newly-minted General Keene shrugged. He’d been under Steele’s thumb long enough to know there was no arguing with the King. As for rational explanations, if they didn’t fit Steele’s worldview, they were dismissed out of hand. Frankly, to his mind the black cloud of smoke that covered the battlefield was a grisly reminder of just how bad things had become. And so quickly!
    “Well, Cummings just made a grave error by supporting the losing side,” Steele continued in full rant.
    Keene only nodded. From what he could see of their positions, through the broiling smoke and debris, the battle appeared to be just about over. Just don’t send me down there to rally the troops , he prayed. While it was true that he’d had military training as a major in the Imperial Marines, it was also true that he’d been stuck with garrison duty on