Arms-Commander

LXXV

The lands of northern Tryenda held the same kind of rolling rises as Cardara and the area south of Lornth, but the ground itself seemed less fertile, with occasional rocky outcrops, more meadows with sheep and scattered cattle, less cropland, and far more forested areas. The air was heavy and damp. Saryn kept blotting her forehead, face, and neck, and her undertunic was soaked through by midday on fourday.

Part of that was because of her own extra efforts in trying to find better ways to fuse the flow of order and chaos in the air into a flowing, sliding curtain that would hold against the chaos-bolts of the white mages. She could now shield both squads, but not for all that long, at least not without exhausting herself. Since she doubted that any chaos-mage she might face would conveniently go away when her flow curtain failed, she’d begun to work on her technique to put it together. At least, if she could raise it quickly, she might be able to hold it just long enough to deflect fire-bolts and then raise it again…if she could develop the proper technique. Or…she might be able to raise it just where the fire-bolt was aimed.

While she took several long swallows of water and rested, she studied the road and the fields and scattered woods through which they were riding. After a time, she realized that she had seen few tracks on the road, except those of her own outriders, for the last five kays, but she also hadn’t sensed anyone around-not closer than two kays, at least. Abruptly, it hit her, and she wanted to pound her own forehead.

“Squads! Halt!” she ordered.

As soon as the guards came to a stop, she dismounted, then knelt and studied the sandy, dusty surface of a road whose spring ruts had long since been softened by a hot summer and the passage of hoofs, feet, and wagon wheels. Close inspection showed only traces of one set of cart wheels and two set of hoofs. The dust showed faint wavy lines…covering deeper imprints.

Saryn frowned…They dragged branches. But why bother? The roads always have some horse men…unless there are lots of riders…

The entire situation screamed of ambush…but how exactly should she handle it?

Klarisa glanced down at Saryn.

“They hid their tracks. It’s hard to tell, but I’d guess several companies rode this way. Not today. Yesterday or the day before. The locals must know, because there haven’t been many riders or carts since then. They’re keeping their heads low and hoping things blow over.” Like Zeldyan has been, but some troubles don’t ever blow over. They just get worse.

The hidden tracks suggested that a number of riders had used the road, but it couldn’t have been too many because there were no obvious marks on the shoulders and no deep wagon traces. No wagons meant few supplies, and few supplies implied that whoever was riding either intended to live off the land or wasn’t hostile. Given the intrigue and double-dealing that Saryn had already seen, she suspected the former…but suspicions were only that.

“Call in the outriders!” Saryn swung back up into the saddle.

After the three outriders had returned and gathered around Saryn, Klarisa, and Yulia, Saryn cleared her throat. “There are armsmen somewhere ahead of us. There could be several companies. Whenever you near a ridge or a higher place in the road, I want you to slow down and move up just enough to see what lies beyond. If you see any sign of anything that looks out of place or any sign of armsmen, slip back down and make your way back here. Don’t raise any dust in doing it. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ser,” came the chorus.

“We’ll also need a place to rest, or to bivouac, where there’s clean water.”

Once the three had headed out again, Klarisa looked to Saryn. “How far away do you think they are?”

“More than two kays, but less than eight, because that’s about how far Tryenda is from here. That’s a bit of a guess, though.”

“Would they not be closer? I cannot believe they would sweep the road for ten kays.” Klarisa raised her eyebrows.

“They might, if they were told some women were after them…and they’d get a certain…pleasure…or reward, or something like that. Besides, they’d want quarters in the town.”

“They would.” Klarisa nodded, but there was a certain anger behind the gesture.

That was fine with Saryn.

Given what awaited them ahead, there was no point in pushing the horses, and Saryn slowed their pace to an easy walk. Even so, they covered almost two kays before the outriders returned, and Saryn halted the squads to confer with the scouts and the two squad leaders.

“What did you find out?” she asked.

“It’s hard to tell for certain, ser, not without being seen,” offered Chayara, the stocky older outrider-from somewhere in Gallos, as Saryn recalled. “There’s a woods on a rise to the right of the road, and there are cots below it. There’s no one in the cots, and it’s harvesttime here. That doesn’t seem right. There’s no one on the road, either.”

“How far do you think the town is?”

Chayara shrugged. “I couldn’t say, but I’d be guessing it’s less than a few kays beyond where the road turns west beyond that wooded ridge.”

“Is there anywhere we can make camp out of their sight?”

“There’s a tiny stream over the next rise, and it winds sort of west…” offered Leisi, the youngest outrider. “There’s a big woods there.”

Saryn turned to Klarisa and Yulia. “I’m going back with Chayara and Hanira. You take Leisi and the squads along that stream and behind or around the first rise. If there’s no place suitable to make camp, just wait there. Otherwise…that’s where we’ll stay. No fires. None.”

“Yes, ser.”

Saryn nodded to the outriders. “Lead on.”

They covered slightly less than two kays before the road angled to the left around a slightly larger rise covered in scrub and grass that looked to have been overgrazed.

“The road’s too open,” said Chayara. “We just went uphill here, by that path next to the stone fence there.”

“Thank you. Follow me.” Saryn extended her senses before she reached the top of the rise, but she reined up the mare short of the crest once she saw how open the ground was there. She closed her eyes and concentrated, building up a better picture from what she was sensing.

Chayara had been right. There were empty cots in the vale below the rise where Saryn had halted. Above those cots were armsmen and mounts-possibly two companies, although all were concealed in the trees, which comprised more of a managed woodlot than a true forest.

Could all the armsmen be there for a reason besides rebellion…or an ambush?

She considered what she knew. Lord Mortryd had been very clear in his missive to Zeldyan that he had barely a company of armsmen to his name. The tracks she had sensed were for far more than a single company, and that suggested several more companies’ worth of armsmen waiting somewhere beyond. She very much doubted that Mortryd would send all his armsmen kays away from his hold if he were under attack.

So…Mortryd was under attack by those waiting in ambush, and those waiting wanted to ambush any forces sent to relieve Mortryd…or good Lord Mortryd was part of the rebellion, and the missive to the regents had been a ruse. Saryn would have bet on the latter. Either way, it didn’t make much difference so far as those armsmen the outriders had sighted were concerned. Saryn and the guards needed to deal with them.

Saryn continued concentrating, trying to relate the exact positions of the armsmen who guarded the road. There was one squad drawn up in readiness-or semireadiness-just behind the first line of trees on the ridge overlooking the road that led into the town of Tryenda, and behind them, under cover, was at least a company.

Still, there had to be others…but where? Most likely, they were quartered in the town, another kay or so to the southwest…if her maps were correct.

She opened her eyes and looked to the outriders. “We can head back to the others.”

“Yes, ser.”

Saryn turned the mare, urging her back down the east side of the rise, thinking about how they could deal with the armsmen.

The woods weren’t that thick, more like a woodlot, and she thought that, if she attacked before dawn through the woods, hitting the sentries with the archers, then the camp itself, that might be enough to scatter the first company. Then…if she moved her squads across to the other side of the ridge…

She nodded. It should work.

And if it didn’t, they had the high ground and a way to retreat-even if she really didn’t want to think about that possibility.