The Charge

This story is based on the decisive victory of the Polish Winged Hussars against the Swedes at the 1605 Battle of Kircholm that was decided in less than thirty minutes.

“The hussars never halt, they ride their horses at full speed, breaking through everything that’s in front of them.”

François Paulin Dalerac, Les Anecdotes de Pologne

No one moved in the thick silence. The two armies, each too stubborn to budge first, eyed one another across the valley. It was a dance that Lacki knew well, the endless waiting and wordless posturing. The space before a charge could break a man. He had seen it often enough. Soldiers pissing themselves and bleeding from their mouths as they chewed their tongues. It was the hardest part, the waiting, being alone with your own dark thoughts. Lacki felt an urge to shit, and he sucked his butt in, relieving some of the pressure from the saddle. He had been fighting his whole life, but still needed to shit as if it were his first charge.

What’s the charge like? his son had asked the day Lacki rode out with his retainers to meet the Swedes. Grown men defecating themselves is what he had thought but didn’t say. Maybe he should have. Glorious, is what came out of his mouth instead. His son had puffed up with boyish…