Imager’s Battalion

12

For another three days, Skarpa led the southern army westward. At one point, the river road ended at a swamp, and it took most of Samedi for Fifth Battalion and the regiments to make their way through marshy ground, fields, and along paths barely wide enough for a single rider before they reached another section of road … that lasted for ten milles before they had to detour yet again, a delay made longer by the need to replace the axle of a wagon that collapsed at the narrowest part of the path they followed when they tried to get around a section of the road washed out years before and never repaired.

The imagers were of little help, because none of them had any experience with wagons, and imaging, Quaeryt was reminded, required a knowledge of what needed to be imaged … or a great deal of time and experimentation. In a bitter sort of way, Quaeryt realized that he knew far more about how bridges were constructed than he did about wagons and axles.

Unfortunately, there was enough of the clayey soil in the rugged area they crossed on Samedi and Solayi to create mud, so that his boots and his trousers below the knees were mud-spattered, as were the lower quarters of all the horses.

Given the sorry state of men and mounts, Skarpa did not call on Quaeryt to conduct services for the Nameless on Solayi evening, but after locating a rocky and sandy area on the edge of the river, he had the regiments and Quaeryt’s battalion clean up themselves, their mounts, and their equipment.

Lundi dawned slightly cooler and drier, and the condition of the south river road improved as well, so that there were only occasional patches of mud.

“The road’s better because we’re nearing Rivecote Sud,” said Skarpa, riding beside Quaeryt.

“I still wonder why Kharst let the roads get so bad.”

Skarpa shrugged.

“Do you think they’ll use the cable ferry to send troopers across to stop us?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. They might not even know we’re here, but I don’t think we’ll be that fortunate.” Skarpa laughed. “I’m not even sure how we managed to get here.”

“We haven’t seen any new signs of Bovarians or their scouts,” Quaeryt said.

“That only means they haven’t left tracks where we could see them. Even if they didn’t send out scouts, some of the locals might have passed on word.”

“Or some of the troopers who survived the flatboat sinking.”

“Someone did. One way or another. We’ll likely run into some opposition before long.”

Quaeryt glanced at the fields on the south side of the road. While the cots and outbuildings were less ramshackle than those he’d seen on the two previous days, they were still placed comparatively far apart, and there were places where the only thing that seemed to grow was a big-leafed ground cover that swallowed everything. Or was the plant so hardy that it was the biggest problem for the locals? “It should be a while yet. The cots are so far apart that I can’t believe we’re that close to even a village of any size.”

“I wouldn’t think so … but, with Bovarians, how would we know?”

Are people that different? Quaeryt did not voice the thought.

By the time they had ridden another glass, the cots and barns were larger and closer together, and looked more prosperous, some even with brick and mortar walls and slate roofs. The scouts returned and reported that the outskirts of the town were less than two milles away. They also had observed a force blocking the road just outside the town.

Skarpa called a halt and ordered the troopers to arms, then sent out more scouts in all directions. “Doesn’t make sense to put a small force on the road outside of the town.”

“Are they trying to delay us?”

“Might be. They also might be trying to use the cable ferry to bring over more troops.”

“Or destroying it to keep us from using it,” suggested Quaeryt. “Could we advance slowly, while you have Fifth Regiment circle the town and move in from the southwest?”

“That was my thought. I’m waiting for Meinyt.”

Scarcely had Skarpa finished speaking than Meinyt rode up the shoulder of the still-narrow road and reined up facing the commander. “Sir?”

“I have a mission for you.”

“You want us to circle and attack from the west?”

“See if you can take the cable ferry. Before they cut the cables, if you can.”

“Yes, sir. Is there anything else?”

“Try not to make a mess of the town or the people, but don’t hazard your troops.”

“We’ll do what we can.” Meinyt nodded. “Anything else?”

“No. You know what to do.” As Meinyt rode off, Skarpa turned to Quaeryt. “Let’s start our deliberate advance.”

A half mille later, after rounding a curve in the river road, Quaeryt and Skarpa were at the end of a gentle slope. Three-fifths of the way up a slope covered in low bushes, grass, and patches of dirt were the Bovarians, a ragtag force arrayed behind a makeshift line of pikes embedded in the small earthen berms that had to have been hastily piled up across the road and for some fifty yards on either side-until they reached stands of trees and brush. In the center was a company or so of regular Bovarian troopers, or at least men wearing those uniforms. On either side were men and even youths in gray shirts with bows and spears. Quaeryt even saw several ancient halberds. Another fifth of a mille behind them were several houses, and a row of shops.

“This could be a slaughter,” said Skarpa, “unless they’ve got another force hidden.”

“What do the scouts say?”

“They’ve circled the town. They can’t find any sign of any other forces.”

“There have to be other tricks that they have in mind,” offered Quaeryt.

“My thought as well. They want us to attack. There’s straw all across the ground, and most likely pits with stakes concealed there.” Skarpa smiled ironically. “Or they want us to think that there are.”

“What if we don’t attack? What if we stand off and shoot arrows into them?”

“We’ve only got one squad of archers,” said Skarpa. “Almost all of Bhayar’s archers are on the other side of the river. Can you and the imagers do something?”

Quaeryt studied the berms and the pikes embedded in them. There was nothing there that could burn, and he really didn’t want to fire the buildings behind the defenders. “We could probably kill a few at a distance, but not enough to make a difference.”

“Could you do anything to make them less able to fight?”

Quaeryt frowned. He’d put oil under the boots of slam-thieves, imaged bread into mouths and throats, and used imaging in a variety of lethal ways, but except for the ice rain, most of his imaging had dealt with only a single person at once, or at most a few.

In the momentary silence, from behind him, someone sneezed-loudly.

Sneezing … of course … if we can do it. He concentrated, trying to image pepper flakes on the back of his hand that held the reins.

The fine black pepper appeared in a small circle.

Then he turned to Skarpa. “We might be able to do something.” He turned in the saddle. “Shaelyt, how long can you deflect arrows?”

“For a time, sir.”

“Threkhyl … you’re one of the stronger imagers. How far away could you image something that doesn’t weigh too much, say … a chunk of wood the size of a dagger?”

“A hundred yards, maybe two.”

“All right … now can you image pepper, just a small amount … ground fine, into your hand?”

A puzzled expression crossed Threkhyl’s face.

Shaelyt tried to hide a grin.

“Go ahead. I need to see if you can.”

“Ah … I might be better with the red peppercorns.”

“You might, but I want the kind that cause people to sneeze.”

“I could do both.” Threkhyl frowned.

A cloud of fine red and black flakes appeared above Threkhyl’s hand.

“Good,” said Quaeryt. “Now, get rid of it, gently.”

Threkhyl wiped his hand on his trousers, and even though most of the pepper was well below his face, he sneezed several times, once violently. “What…?”

“We’re going to move forward, slowly, until we’re close enough to image a cloud of pepper dust over the Bovarians.”

“Why not just charge them?” demanded Threkhyl.

“Because we’re still a long ways from Variana, and Commander Skarpa and I would like to arrive to fight the important battles with as many of our troopers as possible. Besides, most of the men in that group are locals, graybeards, and youths.” Quaeryt was guessing about the graybeards, but he’d seen the locals and youths. “If we charge them directly, most of them will die, and we’ll still lose men, and the Bovarians won’t lose any of their seasoned troopers.”

Skarpa cleared his throat, then said quietly, “You’ll still need troopers. They’ll attack you and the imagers immediately if you ride up alone.”

“I know,” replied Quaeryt in a low voice, then raised it. “Major Zhelan, Undercaptain Ghaelyn, forward!”

Both Zhelan and Ghaelyn rode up beside Quaeryt as if they’d been expecting the command, and they probably had, Quaeryt thought.

“Sir?” asked Zhelan.

“I need first company to escort the imager undercaptains up that slope. We’re planning a surprise, and if it works, there may not be much fighting. If it doesn’t, Major, you’ll have to charge the locals. I think there are staked pits across the slope, but if first company and the imagers can advance slowly, we may be able to see and avoid them.”

“They have a pike line, sir,” said Zhelan.

“If you have to charge, leave first company with me and the imagers on the slope and cut to the north side and try to circle back behind the pike line.”

Both Zhelan and Ghaelyn nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Quaeryt looked to Skarpa.

“We’ll support you as necessary, Subcommander.”

Quaeryt understood what Skarpa hadn’t said-that any failure was on Quaeryt’s head, if only between the two of them, because commanders always got the credit … and the blame. Quaeryt also knew that Skarpa really didn’t want a slaughter on his hands.

Almost half a quint passed before Quaeryt got the word that Fifth Battalion was in position and ready, time that he had used to offer detailed instructions to the imagers. He turned to the undercaptains. “Keep a line abreast behind the first ranks of first squad.” That meant right behind him, although he didn’t say that. Then he nodded to Ghaelyn.

“First company … forward.”

The troopers rode forward at a walk.

First company and the imagers were within two hundred yards before a handful of arrows arched out from behind the berms, falling short by a good thirty yards.

“Shaelyt, don’t try for any arrows until we reach where those fell.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Imagers, except for Shaelyt, no imaging until my command.”

“Yes, sir.”

As soon as the front rank crossed the ground where the arrows lay, another flight of shafts arched toward them. No more than a score, but all of them vanished.

That impressed Quaeryt.

A second volley followed, and those vanished as well as first company and the imagers continued forward. Quaeryt prepared to extend his own shields across the width of the front rank, not that he wanted to unless it was necessary.

“Threkhyl, image pepper.”

Quaeryt added some pepper of his own, and a fine cloud drifted down on the waiting Bovarians.

Another volley of arrows arched toward the company, loosed just before the imaging, and Quaeryt extended his shields, which was just as well, because only half the shafts vanished from the sky. The others dropped harmlessly onto the dirt and grass in front of the company. Quaeryt could feel some strain, but he wasn’t light-headed … not yet.

“All imagers, more pepper!” he ordered, imaging a second cloud of finely mixed red and black pepper across the middle of the uniformed Bovarians. “First company! Forward! At my pace!” He didn’t know a command for the deliberate pace he wanted.

For a moment the fog of pepper was so thick that it appeared like a cloud.

As he led the company toward the sneezing, coughing mass of defenders, Quaeryt could see a line of pits, not covered well, but obvious enough to a rider moving slowly. “Beware the pits!”

As first company moved forward, a handful of uniformed Bovarian troopers realized that the pepper was mostly where they were and dashed forward into clearer air, their blades out. Some of the uniformed troopers lifted blades, and a few of the locals waved and thrust a few pikes and spears wildly, but it was obvious that few could even see or react. Then, most of the locals in gray threw down whatever weapons they had and ran for the stand of brush and trees to the south side of their line.

“Fifth Battalion!..” came the order from Zhelan.

“Forward!” Quaeryt heard Skarpa’s command. “Deliberate pace. Beware the pits!”

As he continued to ride forward, imaging yet more pepper, Quaeryt could see the confusion, blindness, and sneezing among the defenders, and when first company neared the line of pits, he called to Ghaelyn, “Have them hold, arms ready!”

“First company!”

Within a quint, the skirmish was all over. The defenders, those who were able and had not already fled, found themselves attacked from behind and pushed toward their own staked pits. Only a handful even tried to fight.

Quaeryt hoped too many of those had not been killed or badly wounded, because he doubted most had really been true Bovarian troopers. Nonetheless, he held the imagers and first company in readiness just in case.

After a time, Skarpa rode over, and Quaeryt rode from his position to join him.

“You know that pepper trick won’t work against regular troopers?” said Skarpa.

“I know. They’ll have too many archers, and they won’t let us get close enough.” Quaeryt smiled. “But it might work in close combat when matters are not going well.”

“You have a nasty turn of mind, Subcommander. It was a good tactic for this.”

“I hoped it would be.”

While the troopers of Third Regiment continued to round up the uniformed Bovarians, who looked to Quaeryt to be more of a militia or a local guard of some sort, Quaeryt studied the edge of the town, far too neat to have been supported by the gaggle of cots and small holders to the east. That suggested that they would find more prosperous lands along the south side of the river farther to the west, because the cable ferry wouldn’t have been developed or used without trade and people going back and forth.

A courier rode toward Skarpa from the center of the town, reining up beside the commander. “Sir … Subcommander Meinyt has captured the cable ferry tower. There was little resistance.”

“What else?” asked Skarpa.

“Even before we reached the tower, sir, the Bovarians had cut the cables.”

“Thank you. Tell the subcommander we will join him shortly.”

“Yes, sir.” The courier turned his mount and rode back up the brick-paved street.

“The Bovarians were watching from the north bank,” said Skarpa. “They don’t want us to be able to reinforce Deucalon.”

“They couldn’t even see the fighting,” said Quaeryt. “They must have cut the cables when they saw Meinyt’s men reach the cable tower.”

“We’re likely at least two days ahead of Deucalon,” said Skarpa.

“How do you figure that?”

“We had a day on them to begin with, and I know how Deucalon moves. That means we can take a day here and rest the men and the mounts.”

“You don’t think he’ll try to send a messenger across the river?”

“He knows the terrain. There’s no way to get a messenger and a mount across from where he likely is so that the messenger could catch us until we’re both west of Rivecote. That’s another reason to wait.”

“Orders?”

“He suggested it before we left. Besides, we need to get the town in order.” Skarpa grinned. “You have much more experience with that than anyone else.”

Quaeryt offered a mock-groan. “You would remember that.”

“So … what do you suggest to begin?”

“Patrols on all the streets, half squad size. No violence against people unless they start it. Name-calling isn’t violence, but inciting others to violence is … We need to get that word out to the people immediately as well…”

Skarpa nodded and listened.