Richard Tuttle - Army of the Dead

“I know,” sighed Cardijja, “but what else can we do? If we stay in the jungle, we must fight huge spiders and little people with poison darts. The very thought terrorizes our men. If we merely flee to the plains, we will fall prey to the tribes and their horsemen. We will lose a tremendous number of men to reach the forest, but the jungle creatures will not pursue us, and the horsemen will be at an extreme disadvantage there.”

“Our men could certainly hold their own in the forests,” Luggar nodded in agreement. “In fact, that is just the terrain we need to defeat the horsemen. If we can lure them into the forest after us, we can turn this war around.”

“That is what I was thinking,” smiled the premer. “I would prefer to wait until daylight to cross the plains, but I fear that will not be an option.”

“Daylight would allow more of our men to survive the attacks from the horsemen,” agreed the general, “but you indicated that you thought the spiders would not wait until dawn.”

“They won’t,” assured the premer, “and that is what bothers me. I am looking for a way out of the jungle without exposing the men to the tribesmen.”

General Luggar gazed down at the map and frowned in silence. Finally, he tapped his finger on the map.

“What if we start moving the men along the edge of the jungle?” Luggar proposed. “They could stay close to the plains and move northward. That would make the open area between the jungle and the forests a bit smaller.”

“It would also spread our men out greatly,” replied the premer, “but I was thinking of doing just that when you arrived. The problem, as I see it, is that those still in this camp when the spiders strike will most certainly be lost. We will have decreased our numbers greatly.”

“Then we are best to start as soon as possible,” replied the general. “We are going to lose thousands of men no matter what we do. This plan is the best option that we have, unless we send more men deep into the jungle. That might keep the spiders busy until dawn.”

“Where would you find the men to follow such an order?” questioned the premer. “I am not sure if you have spent much time this night walking around the camp, but I have. Our men are ready to throw down their weapons and bolt for the plains. We would have been better off if the spiders had killed all of the men sent into the jungle. Those few hundred who escaped have caused morale to plummet. If you can find some volunteers, I will take them. Otherwise, we start moving out immediately.”

“We might as well start moving out,” sighed General Luggar. “You are right about the mental state of the troops. They want out of this jungle.”

“Give the orders, Luggar,” stated Premer Cardijja. “Make sure that the men understand what we are doing. I don’t want any of them getting lost.”

Premer Cardijja followed the general out of the tent. He watched Luggar walk off and then his eyes rose skyward. The sky was a mass of black, and the smell of rain was in the air. He cursed the lack of moonlight and called for some men to dismantle his tent. For an hour the premer walked slowly around the encampment. Everywhere men were preparing to leave. He smiled sympathetically and nodded to the soldiers, but most of them averted their eyes. It was clear that they were ashamed of their fear, but Cardijja felt for them. They were trained soldiers, but none of their training had prepared them for what this jungle held. He offered words of optimism and support to the soldiers, and some of them reacted with false bravado, but most of the soldiers merely nodded and smiled in return. Cardijja had become much like a father to most of the soldiers. He was known to be strict and severe with punishment, but he was always considered fair, and the men appreciated that.

By the time Cardijja reached the sentries at the western edge of the encampment, a long line of soldiers had already started to leave the camp northward. An hour later screams ripped through the camp from the east. Cardijja hurried towards the eastern perimeter to verify his suspicions. He met General Luggar half way there.

“Now we will see if you are right,” commented the general. “I have ordered horses readied.”

“It is sooner than I would have hoped,” frowned the premer. “With this foul sky it is hard to tell how late it really is. Let’s see what this disruption is all about.”

The premer and the general hurried eastward. They were still far from the perimeter when they halted. The screams ripped through the air, and soldiers ran for their lives. Cardijja squinted into the darkness. He saw movement, but he could not identify anything other than red-clad soldiers running past him.

“Look!” gasped Luggar as he pointed off to the right.

Cardijja followed the general’s finger and stared into the distance. He could not see anything but blackness. Suddenly, distant campfires appeared. Cardijja rubbed his eyes to make sense of what he was seeing. He could not imagine who would be lighting the distant campfires. It took a few moments for the truth to register. His gaze rose upward, and he saw a huge black mass moving eastward. He shuddered at the size of the spider. Campfires in the distance winked out as the spider’s body blocked them from view.

“Others are coming towards us,” Luggar shouted with fear. “We need to retreat now.”

Cardijja swiveled his head and saw the large blobs of black coming out of the darkness of the jungle. Some soldiers on the perimeter tried to attack the creatures, but most of the men turned and ran, their screams joining the chorus from all over the camp. The surge of retreating soldiers nearly mobbed the premer and the general. Cardijja grabbed Luggar by the arm and pulled him.

“To the horses,” he shouted over the screaming. “Our men cannot fight such beasts.”

The officers ran along with the retreating soldiers. When they reached the area where the premer’s tent had stood, they mounted their horses and raced across the encampment to the west. They halted at the edge of the jungle as terrified soldiers tried to flee onto the plains. The sentries forcibly corralled the fleeing soldiers and forced them to join the column heading northward. Cardijja swiveled in his saddle and viewed the terror-stricken campground with disgust. Fleeing soldiers were knocked down and trampled by others. Some men became human infernos as they stumbled into fire pits and ignited themselves.

“We waited too long,” General Luggar said softly.

“We moved as quickly as we could,” Cardijja snapped while inwardly conceding that the general was correct. “If we had not already begun the evacuation, we might have lost everything.”

* * *

General Luggar rode towards the vanguard of the column, the soldiers stepping off the beaten trail to make way for the officer. When he reached Premer Cardijja, he slowed alongside him.

“Are the spiders still attacking?” the premer asked, his voice weary with fatigue.

“Only the stragglers,” reported the general. “It does make the men keep up with the column.”

“Delightful,” scowled Cardijja. “How many did we lose?”

“It is hard to tell,” sighed Luggar. “Maybe thirty or forty thousand.”

“Forty thousand?” gasped Cardijja.

“And half of your generals,” nodded Luggar. “The spiders seemed to go out of their way to pursue anyone riding a horse. I had to run from several of them.”

“And we have not even crossed the plain yet,” frowned the premer as he looked at up at the lightening sky. “I think we should begin that portion of the trip within the hour.”

“I will see to it,” offered the general.

Cardijja watched General Luggar ride forward. The premer pulled his horse to the side of the trail at the first opportunity and allowed the column to march past him. He gazed at the weary soldiers as they passed by, their shoulders slumped and their heads hung low in exhaustion. Even one hundred and sixty thousand strong, they barely resembled an army any more. Cardijja closed his eyes and sat patiently waiting for the order to exit the jungle.