Ashes of a Black Frost

FIFTEEN

Blood will spill this night,” Konowa said. The assembled soldiers grew quiet. Konowa let that thought hang in the cold air for a while. Only a few flakes were falling now, which seemed to make the night darker, more sinister. Even though it was hell to march through, there had been something oddly comforting about the snow.

Konowa turned and looked toward Suhundam’s Hill. It had to be clear to every soldier present that it wouldn’t be an easy nut to crack if they had to take it by force. Faced with the prospect of assaulting a fortified position on a rocky hill definitely focused their attention.

Konowa continued. “His Majesty has asked me to convey his best wishes in the coming hours and knows you will do your best. He is currently deep in study, pouring over the many documents and artifacts that were recovered from the library in hopes of finding ways to defeat the Shadow Monarch and break the oath. While this is unlikely,” he quickly added, knowing it was the best lie he had to offer, “there is always hope. And cunning.”

“Lieutenant Imba,” Konowa announced, drawing a few murmurs of feigned surprise from the ranks. Imba stepped forward and turned to look at the gathered troops.

“Some of you are no doubt aware that Lieutenant Imba has been with us since Nazalla, serving quietly among the ranks. I’m sure you’ve guessed the reason for this subterfuge by now.” Konowa was certain, in fact, that they hadn’t because he was crafting his reasoning as he spoke. “The enemy is wily, and they can no doubt pick out myself, His Majesty, and the Viceroy from some distance. This is good. They will see all of us march toward Suhundam’s Hill and believe the entire regiment is coming straight at them. They’ll be in for a surprise.

“Two soldiers will dress up like the Viceroy and myself and march with the regiment with Lieutenant Imba in actual command. The Prince will remain to the rear and appear to be. . incapacitated.” Konowa doubted he’d be able to remember all these lies if ever called to explain this later. “While the regiment goes forward I, along with the Viceroy, will lead a group of ten men across the desert and climb the hill up a secret pathway. If necessary, we expect to catch whoever is in the fort completely by surprise.”

As plans went it sounded pathetic and Konowa was trying to think of an alternative when he noticed the bustling sound of the regiment had quieted. He turned as Private Renwar appeared out of the dark.

Neat trick. Konowa kept his expression neutral.

“Where would you like me?”

Konowa looked past Renwar to see if he could detect any of the fallen, but it was too dark to see. He felt relieved. “Private Renwar,” Konowa said, ignoring the fact the soldier hadn’t formally addressed him, “I wasn’t sure if you were still with us. Your. . charges, have been rather absent of late.”

The air cooled around them, an impressive feat considering the already freezing temperature. Konowa refused to be intimidated. This is still my regiment.

“We are here, but even in death there is a cost to battle. The pain we suffer grows. To kill Her creatures compounds that pain. It’s my duty to ease their suffering.”

The use of the word “we” struck Konowa. He’s really going over to the darkness. Aware of the regiment hanging on every word, Konowa had no choice but to keep things light. “A noble attitude, and one we all share, living and dead. That said, we all still have our duty. I need you to continue leading the column toward the fort. If there’s going to be a fight, I’d like the. . others to create a distraction while my group sneaks up on whatever might be up there from behind. Is that understood?”

“There is no need. We can kill every living thing in our way,” Renwar said. There was no emotion in his voice. It was a simple statement of fact. Konowa couldn’t tell if it was meant as a larger threat or not, but it was chilling regardless.

Konowa sensed the unease building among the troops. He bowed his head for a moment as if in deep thought then raised it, revealing a big smile. “Well of course we can, we’re the Iron Elves,” he said, deliberately raising his voice and putting on a big smile. He turned and caught the eyes of some of the soldiers, nodding his head in recognition even though in their bundled state he couldn’t tell one from another. “I pity any foe who opposes us this night, especially any villainous rum casks or wine barrels we might find up there.”

Heads nodded and a few soldiers even cheered. Any chance for rest and drink, no matter how brief or where the respite might come, was always welcome. RSM Aguom looked to Konowa to see if he wanted him to instill some order, but Konowa shook his head. Let the lads enjoy the moment. Their dead comrades followed them everywhere led by the increasingly unsettling Private Renwar. Even Konowa wasn’t immune to the growing sense of dread that hung around them like an invisible fog. No, if the troops could find some joy among all this horror then Konowa wanted them to wring every drop out it.

“Any chance there’ll be any women up there, too, Major?” one of the soldiers shouted out.

“That depends,” Konowa said, pausing for effect.

“On what?” several soldiers asked at the same time.

Konowa made a show of adjusting his shako on his head and straightening out his uniform. “On if you find female rakkes attractive.”

Laughter rolled from the ranks, a release of tension by men knowing that in the next hour they might very well be dead, or worse. Konowa casually looked over at Private Renwar. The soldier’s face remained impassive, his gray eyes locked in on Konowa’s.

You and I have a problem.

Konowa held on to his smile, grinning so hard his jaw ached. This is my regiment, and don’t you forget it. “At the very least they make good rugs,” he continued, letting his gaze slide away from Renwar’s unblinking eyes. “Lads, the truth of it is, I don’t know what we’re going to find up there, but whatever it is, I absolutely know you’ll handle it.” Konowa motioned to Aguom to take over and the RSM started barking orders.

Konowa turned and walked a short distance away. He doubted his speech was worthy of Rallie’s quill, and that disappointed him. Her readers back home wanted to hear about glory and adventure, and he understood that, but it was the quiet, impromptu little talks like the one he just gave that made the difference. Throughout history it was small banter, a quick laugh and nod of understanding among a few tired, hungry, and scared soldiers like these that turned the tide and won the day. Maybe if more folks back home knew that they’d be less eager for the empire to push its boundaries further. The truth of it was, talk of queen and country sounded good when you were far from danger and warm and fed and chatting up a barmaid and no one, except maybe her husband, was lurking in the shadows waiting to bash your head in. Out here, however, with rakkes threatening to tear a soldier’s throat out with their fangs and claws, dark elves shooting vicious black arrows, and sarka har learning new and more lethal ways to kill, it didn’t have the same impact. The call of duty that every soldier did carry with him deep in his gut like a precious white diamond was nothing more and nothing less than the desperate hope to live to see another day. Wake up to a new dawn enough times and one of those days a ship would take you back home. Walking off that gangplank and setting up shop in the nearest tavern, a soldier could spin tales of derringdo leavened with a touch of modesty about how he wasn’t really a hero, which only made him sound even more of one. The soldier had been there, and everyone else hadn’t, and they knew it. The screams might still echo somewhere deep in the soldier’s skull and a loud noise might make him start and reach for the musket he no longer carried, but the audience around him would see a gallant warrior, a man who had stood before the enemy and held his ground. Even the stingiest bartender would slide him another round with just the smallest shake of his head indicating that his money was no good there. Konowa had experienced that more than once when on leave, but as good as it felt, his heart yearned to be back with the regiment, somewhere out in the wilds, wherever that might be.

“It is a bit steep, isn’t it?” Viceroy Alstonfar said, startling Konowa.

“Sorry, what is?”

“That,” Pimmer said, pointing up at Suhundam’s Hill.

Konowa realized he’d been staring at the hill without realizing it. Now he looked at it and began to realize the challenge that lay ahead. Suhundam’s Hill looked like a mountain that had been shorn off a much taller mountain and then dropped smack in the middle of the desert. Rock slivers thrust up from the desert floor in sharp lines of gray, black, and white to form a pointed pyramid towering several hundred feet above the ground.

“Steep? It’s a bloody mountaintop without the rest of the mountain,” Konowa said. “Why couldn’t the stupid bugger go and get himself killed heroically on a nice piece of flat sand and not a place where a mountain goat would think twice about climbing?”

“They don’t actually have mountain goats in this part of the world,” Pimmer said helpfully. Konowa turned to glare at the Viceroy, who kept any other observations to himself.

Konowa paled at the thought of climbing up there, not the least of which was the knowledge that the higher he went the farther he had to fall back down. Still, there was no other choice, and at least this plan gave them an advantage. Most of the men were probably uneasy with the idea of his handing over the regiment to an until then unknown junior officer from another regiment while he took a small group on what could be a suicide mission.

Konowa would never say it in front of them, but he wanted to reach the fort before the regiment, especially before Private Renwar and his legion of the dead.

If the original Iron Elves were up there, Konowa hoped he could deal with whatever issues might arise and keep tempers cool.

If he was with the regiment and Renwar, there was no telling what could happen.

Rallie had mentioned Renwar’s calling of the shades when they had departed Nazalla and the slaughter that had ensued, and that was before he had become their de facto leader. Now, the scared wisp of a boy commanded a power of incredible violence, or at least appeared to. Konowa thought it equally possible the Shadow Monarch had more control than Renwar thought.

When Konowa was completely honest with himself he wondered how much that was the case with him as well.

“The men are ready,” Pimmer said, his voice a theatrical whisper that sounded louder than if he’d just spoken normally.

Konowa put on a brave face and turned to see who the RSM had chosen. Deep down Konowa wanted that crusty old dwarf and his ragtag group of misfits, but they were gone, perhaps forever. Konowa inspected the assembled troops.

“An excellent cross-section of men if I do say so myself,” Pimmer said. “Every one of them up to the task ahead.”

This was too much for Konowa. He turned to stare at the Viceroy. “You know these men?”

Pimmer nodded solemnly. “I made it a point to learn the names of all the soldiers in the regiment. The variation in ethnic backgrounds is remarkable.”

Konowa couldn’t tell if this was the man’s attempt at humor or sarcasm. “You know their names? All of them?”

“Certainly. It’s one of the reasons I joined the diplomatic corps. Memory like a jar of honey,” he said, tapping a finger against his temple. “Everything sticks.”

Even though he was certain the Viceroy meant nothing by it, something about his smile irritated Konowa.

“Fair enough,” Konowa said, taking a few steps in the snow and letting the sound of his boots crunching on the metallic flakes soothe his nerves. He marched in a small circle and came back to where he’d stood before, a smile now fixed to his face. “All right, here’s the drill. We’ll double time it across the open ground until we get around to the far end of the hill. There’s a secret path there that will lead us straight up the backside of the rocks and into the fort.”

Instead of waiting for questions he simply turned and started trotting. He could have walked, but all the time standing around had allowed the cold to seep into his bones and he was freezing. He quickly realized, however, that moving across snow laden with metal ore was like trying to push through icy cold, liquid pain. Cursing under his breath, he slogged his way forward, swinging his legs from the hip as he pushed through the fresh snow. The sound of heaving breathing sounded in his ears and a moment later Pimmer was trudging beside him.

“Follow me, Major, I’m built for this kind of thing,” he said as he moved past. Not to be outdone, Konowa tried to stay in step but was quickly left behind as Pimmer surged ahead. The soldiers quietly stepped out from behind Konowa and followed the much wider path left by the Viceroy. Leaving his wounded pride in a snowdrift, Konowa followed suit as the last soldier passed him by.

“I never knew it snowed in the desert,” the soldier said, slowing to keep pace with Konowa. He was short and stocky and looked like a butcher’s apprentice with his red cheeks and double chin. He’d wrapped himself in two robes, one red and one beige which made it look as if his stomach had been slashed open.

Konowa snorted. “It doesn’t. This is just for our benefit, Private. .”

“Meswiz, sir. I was just thinking it’s a shame Miss Tekoy isn’t around to work some of her weather magic is all.”

Konowa said nothing. After a few more steps, Meswiz got the hint and carried on ahead of him. Konowa let him go, then moved over onto the well-trodden path set by Pimmer and found the going much easier. His feet, which had been frozen, now felt like they were on fire. He was certain an evil mix of sand and metalized snowflakes had fallen down his boots and were currently grinding the soles of his feet to pulp. He kept his head down as the wind blew more of the gritty mix around them. Konowa wondered what it must feel like to be wearing a caerna in weather like this, but after the initial shock of being issued the cloth wrap back in Elfkyna, the regiment had taken to it as a source of pride. It was one more thing that set them apart from the rest of the army, and that was something to be proud of.

Konowa was still thinking about that when he walked straight into the back of Meswiz. “Sorry,” he muttered, reaching up to adjust his shako as he looked up to see where they were.

A black mass loomed before them. He craned his head skyward. The swirling snow only added to the illusion that he was looking up at a mountain, and the effect was not welcome.

Konowa blew on his hands to get some warmth back into them. The wind rattled about the foot of the hills, chaffing at the rocks in a grating whine. “Load muskets and fix bayonets,” he said, grounding his own musket and loading a ball and charge. For a moment, there was only the well-drilled movements of men loading their weapons, and Konowa felt at one with them, and more important, at peace. The scrape of ramrods down barrels drifted to his ears like music. He smiled as his shoulder twinged with the effort of jamming the ball home. He kept at it until he heard the satisfying thud of it setting against the charge at the bottom of the barrel. Drawing the ramrod out, he nodded to himself as he hefted his musket. This he understood. This was why he lived.

“I think it best that I lead,” Pimmer said, his voice cutting through the wind. Konowa locked his bayonet into place with a solid click and felt more than heard ten bayonets lock into place at the same time. This wasn’t a parade ground, no sergeants were watching, yet the men had timed their movements to the second with his. Konowa risked a look and saw ten brothers before him.

“Your keenness is impressive, Viceroy, but there might be more than booby traps ahead. For all we know, the place could be crawling with rakkes or something worse,” Konowa said, remembering the flying sarka har. “If we lose you, we lose the only person who can read that map of yours. I’ll lead, and you’ll follow me.”

“Major, we can’t afford to lose you either. I’d like to take the lead,” Private Feylan said. His voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but there was determination in it. “The Viceroy can call out any warnings to me as we approach them. Like you said, we don’t know what’s up there.”

“You only get corporal’s stripes if you’re alive to sew them on,” Konowa said, admiring the determination in Feylan’s voice. “We’re walking into the complete unknown. The first man up these steps is the one that’s going to meet that unknown head on.”

Feylan ran a finger around the collar of his jacket. “Someone’s got to be first.”

“So it seems,” Konowa said.

Even in the dark, the determination in Feylan’s face was apparent. He stood up a little straighter and just a hint of frost fire glittered on his bayonet. “The thing is, we’ll take this fort, then make for the coast and board a ship and then it’s off to the Hyntaland. When we get there, we put paid to the Shadow Monarch once and for all. With Her out of the way a fellow can think about his future. Mine’s out at sea on a ship. So the way I see it, the sooner we climb these steps and find out what’s up there, the sooner we are to being done. Sir.”

Emotion caught in Konowa’s throat and he turned his head. He sees a future after this. He sees hope. Konowa turned back and coughed before speaking. “Viceroys wanting to lead, lieutenants hiding in the ranks, and privates wanting command of a ship of the line. Why not? Very well. Private Feylan has the lead,” Konowa said, looking at the soldier with something close to fatherly concern, “but I want you to stay close and listen hard to Viceroy Alstonfar. This isn’t the wide-open sea. We won’t be able to cross the T going up this path. The only way we’ll able to fire in support will likely be over your dead body, so keep both eyes peeled and your ears perked.”

Feylan came to attention and saluted. “You can count on me, Major.”

Konowa nodded as he looked at the other soldiers. “Same goes for all of you. Eyes wide, mouths shut, and ears on swivels. If all goes well we’ll find the place empty, but we might not.”

“It could be your elves are still there, too,” one of the other soldiers said.

It was a thought that Konowa was doing his best to banish from his mind. For reasons he wasn’t entirely sure of, he hoped his elves weren’t up there. Now that he’d come this far in search of them, he wasn’t ready to see them again.

“Probably have a nice fire going, maybe even a hunk of meat roasting on a spit. Wait, do elves eat meat?” a soldier asked. His voice squeaked, and Konowa doubted the lad was a day over eighteen.

Pimmer turned as if preparing a long sermon on the dietary habits of elves, but Konowa growled and the man simply adjusted his saber and kept his mouth shut.

He turned back to the map and his face brightened immediately. “Private Feylan, the first three hundred steps appear to be clear of any dangers, but the three hundred and first might put a cramp in your plans for a bridge of your own.”

“Can you tell what it is?” Feylan asked. Konowa admired the way his voice barely shook. Maybe the private was cut out for command after all.

Pimmer shook his head, bringing the map in closer until his nose was almost pressed against it. “Could be any number of nasty things, I’m afraid. Won’t know for sure until we get up there and have a look around. I would suggest you pay close attention to your count as we ascend.”

Konowa could tell by the look on Feylan’s face that his confidence was waning.

“Just count quietly to yourself and take it slow,” Konowa said to him, giving him a wink. “We’ll be doing the same just to be safe. When you get over two hundred stop where you are and we’ll check the map again. Just to be sure,” he said, looking over at Pimmer who was now turning the map upside down.

“What? Oh, yes, always wise to measure twice and cut once,” Pimmer said, then his mouth dropped open. “Goodness, that’s not offensive to you, is it, what with the inference about cutting wood?”

“Viceroy, when it comes to trees, I say cut twice and to hell with measuring.”

Pimmer started to smile, then stopped and decided to look down at his map again. After a moment he gave it a quarter turn. “Ah, that’s better. Yes, now it’s making sense.”

Konowa lowered his voice as he tilted his head to get Feylan to lean in. “On second thought, stop when you get to a hundred steps.”