Chapter 61: Chapter 61
Images of what the people of Oklasaw looked like had filled Mother White’s mind since she was a small girl watching videos of reenactments from battles in the past during her earliest military classes. It had been years since the Motherhood had waged war against these particular hooligans, but she had a distinct idea of an Oklasawian’s appearance, their patched clothing, mostly denim and flannel, rotten teeth, dirt and grime covering them, as well as their backward ways of thinking that made her confident the representative she’d be meeting with was sure to be ignorant and a waste of her precious time.
She’d agreed to meet with the delegate from Prime Minister Westley Heath’s government, though. Despite the fact that there was nothing the person could say to change their minds about coming over the river. The tracking device tripped by Mist Gretchintown earlier in the day was giving off a clear signal as it headed west, not a direction she would’ve assumed the rebels would be traveling, but then, so far they’d surprised her more than she cared to admit.
The meeting would take place on a boat in the middle of the River Red, allegedly neutral territory. The Mothers had all of the boats at their disposal on the way, but none of them had arrived yet, so White, Jaguar, Scorpion, and a few others would use the partially constructed bridge to board the vessel. It wasn’t ideal; White would feel more vulnerable on an enemy nation’s boat, so far from home, than she would if they could meet on terra firma, possibly in her own nation’s capital. That wasn’t an option. She had over three thousand Military Mothers lined up along the shore, waiting to open fire should the ragamuffins make a move to violence. As far as she could see, the Oklasawians had made no move to amass troops of any sort. She’d be surprised if they even had any to call up. They certainly didn’t have the sort of gun power she did. Still, visions of herself falling overboard, being forced to swim to shore, or being shot and flung over the side, made her hesitant. When the delegate had made the request that the Mothers disarm themselves before they come aboard, she’d refused that portion of the agreement.
About fifteen minutes before the scheduled meeting time, activity drew her attention on the other side of the body of water. At first, it was merely the sound of vehicles in the distance. Then, she began to see figures appearing on the hills across from her. Dressed in greens and browns, some of them were hard to make out. Even with the help of her eye scopes, they blended in so well with the countryside, she couldn’t make out whether she was looking at men or women, how many of them there were, or much else about the Oklasawians. She could tell one thing for sure, though. They were armed.
With a deep breath, she signaled for Scorpion to join her. “Make sure that our forces have guns trained on every one of those enemy troops.”
“Yes, Mother,” Scorpion said, her chin thrust forward as she listened for her commanding officer to continue.
It alarmed White that there were so many, possibly three or four hundred, though they weren’t anywhere close to matching her troop for troop. Their appearance was also unsettling. Not only was their clothing different than she’d expected, those she could make out handled their weaponry with a practiced skill. Perhaps she’d underestimated their readiness for combat.
The roar of an approaching engine caught her off guard. She looked down the river, expecting to see a boat, despite the fact that the engine sound didn’t seem to be coming from that direction. It wasn’t. A moment later, a vehicle came over the rise in the land across from her--on ground. She was baffled but didn’t allow her face to show any consternation. A few theories passed through her mind; maybe the boat would come later. But this vehicle resembled a boat, besides the fact that it wasn’t in the water and was moving anyway.
Gasps of awe and surprise sounded behind her as the troops watched the vehicle continue into the water. White was also shocked that the vehicle was capable of making the transition. Some of the cries around her, which sounded quite unMother-like, seemed to come from women who expected the truck to sink. It didn’t, of course. It floated and continued on its way. Clearly, this was some sort of a carrier capable of land and sea mobility.
The vehicle moved fluidly through the strong current, making its way toward the bridge the Mothers were rapidly putting together to cross the body of water. It was a platform bridge, one that snapped together. The side closest to her was anchored in well, and the bridge itself was halfway finished, as far as length was concerned. The railings had not been added. When it was finished, in a matter of hours once this conversation was over, it should be able to handle the weight of several dozen land riders at one time, but it would not be able to handle their larger transporters. They’d have to find another way to get those across.
“Where is the device?” White asked Scorpion as they began to walk toward the bridge.
“Still moving in a westerly trajectory, going an average of approximately forty-five miles per hour,” she replied, following White to the bridge. Jaguar had been speaking to some of the troops but rushed over to join them as White inspected the anchor of the bridge. It would be slightly dangerous to walk across the wavering platform without the railings on either side, but Mother White would show no fear. Near the end of the bridge, the boat waited. The Oklasawians, two men and a woman near the edge of the boat, were armed with long rifles, holsters on their hips implying they carried more than one weapon each. She couldn’t blame them for keeping their guns visible since she had insisted on bringing hers. She had to assume they wouldn’t pull them unless she did. If she needed to, White’s martial arts skills would allow her to defend herself and unarm many of them in a matter of seconds. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that; she needed to get on her way before President Violet called requesting to know what was taking so long.
Stepping onto the bridge, White kept her head up, despite the movement of the bridge moving left to right, up and down, with the river, swollen from the recent rains. She listened carefully to the footsteps behind her. Some of them sounded uneasy. Then, a bit of a shout and a splash. She turned to glance over her shoulder. One of the women meant to accompany her to the end of the bridge and wait there, Mother Fox, splashed into the water on the left side of the river. Mother White paused, took a deep breath, and kept walking. She’d fallen on the side of the bridge that would push her into the closest platform. She could grab onto it and pull herself out. Or she could drown. Mother White was indifferent. Someone so incompetent and embarrassing may as well dive down to the bottom of the river, find a large rock, and hold on until she blacked out.
At the end of the platform, White waited for the troops aboard the boat to welcome them aboard. “Mother White?” a short woman with blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun on the back of her head asked. She was wearing the same mix of brown and green clothing as White had noted in those amongst the trees. By the looks of her, she wasn’t much older than the fugitives.
“Yes, and this is Mother Scorpion and Mother Jaguar.” She had to assume the other two were standing there without taking the time to turn around.
“Come aboard, please.”
A man offered his hand. White looked at it and scoffed, leaping across the distance and grabbing hold of the outer wall of the boat before swinging her legs over. The Oklasawians had their fingers ready on their triggers, stepping back, as if they thought she might attack them. She moved aside so that Jaguar and Scorpion could board. Jaguar managed the same way she had but then turned to help Scorpion who was less athletic. The hell any of them were taking the hand of a man.
Witnessing the exchange in glances between the two enemy soldiers, White said nothing. She didn’t feel the need to explain her position.
“Representative Douglas is waiting for you in the cabin,” the woman said, gesturing with her rifle and then walking toward what appeared to be a small room behind the steering column of the vehicle.
White followed, pretending the swaying of the boat was nothing unusual to her. Jaguar and Scorpion followed. The rest of their party stayed on the end of the bridge, at the ready. White wasn’t sure who she would be meeting with, but when the woman opened the door to reveal an older man with dark hair, graying at the temples, wearing a similar outfit as the others on the boat, a contemplative smirk on his face, she narrowed her eyes. Of course, they would expect her to meet with a man. No doubt the prime minister, also a man, was trying to make a point.
“Representative Douglas,” the woman said, “this is Mother White, head of the Michaelanburg Military.”
“Thank you, lieutenant,” the man said. The two exchanged some sort of a salute, lifting one hand to their foreheads, and then the woman soldier left, leaving only the representative with the three Mothers.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me,” Douglas said. “Please, have a seat.”
There were only two seats in the small space, and while standing seemed awkward, and slightly dangerous for someone like White who had no sea legs, she wasn’t about to sit amicably across from this man. “No, thank you,” she said, “I prefer to stand.”
He cleared his throat. “Very well. I understand you are attempting to track some young people you believe crossed into our territory a few days ago. A couple of women? Maybe two men as well?”
White nodded. “We will be tracking them, hunting them down, and taking them back to Michaelanburg where they will stand trial for crimes against the state.” Not that it was his business. She wouldn’t bother to tell him two of the escapees would be shot on sight. Again, not his concern.
Douglas, who had chosen not to sit when she had declined and clearly had better balance than she did as it didn’t seem as if he were fighting the current at all, folded his hands and looked down. “What you are asking, Mother White, is for us to stand back and allow you to bring your military vehicles, weaponry, even overland surveillance devices into our land. Surely, you can understand why we would find that impermissible.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Our issue is not with you or any of your citizens, assuming that no one else attempts to assist the rebels. We are even willing to overlook the misstep of whichever of your citizens it was who carried them across the river under cover of night. But we will have our citizens back.”
Douglas ran a hand through his hair. “Mother White, we understand you want your citizens returned to you. The problem is, we don’t know where they are. And we aren’t about to have you and thousands of your troops tearing through our farmland, threatening the safety and security of our citizens while you look for them.”
“That won’t be a problem,” she assured him, attempting to smile. It was difficult. Even looking him in the eye, when it was clear he thought he was so much better than her simply because he had a penis, was a struggle. “One of them has tripped a tracking device. It will take us only a matter of hours to find her once we cross the river. We assume the others will be with her.”
A dismissive shake of his head had her biting back the urge to pull her weapon and end him. “We cannot allow that either, I’m afraid. Why don’t you allow us to make the search? If we find anything, we will notify you.”
“That will not happen, Representative Douglas. I’m not here to ask your permission to cross the River Red. You wanted to speak to me, so I’m telling you, we’re coming. You can either move aside and let us find the rebels, or you and your people can soak your land in the same color that names the river that forms your border.” Her voice was even, but her tone was clear. This was not a negotiation.
He met her gaze for a few seconds. Mother White didn’t blink. He looked away first. “Very well, then. I will take your message to the prime minister. While we do not condone the way you treat your citizens, any of your citizens, but most especially the male population of Michaelanburg, you should understand we do take threats to our own borders quite seriously. You should also understand that you will not find the state of the military of Oklasaw in the same disarray it was the last time your forces showed up alongside the Red River. We are prepared to fight, and it will not be an easy battle. For you.”
One side of Mother White’s mouth pulled up in a crooked grin she could not hide. “That is music to my ears, Representative Douglas. I welcome the fight.”
He breathed deeply, exhaling in a way that let her know he wasn’t frightened either. If it meant war, then that’s what they would have, but Mother White was determined to find Rain and the others. If she got to take out a few hundred hill people in the process, all the better.
Without awaiting a sendoff from the delegate, she turned on her heel and headed back outside of the cabin, determined to reach shore quickly so they could continue to work on the bridge. She’d give Prime Minister Heath a few hours to make his decision because she had no choice, but once that bridge was completed, the Mothers would be crossing the river.