Imager’s Battalion

31

After breakfast on Lundi, Quaeryt sought out Shaelyt and drew him aside into a dim parlor in the hold house.

“What is it, sir?”

“I had a chance to talk to Undercaptain Voltyr the other day, but not you. He said you had made some steps toward developing the ability to shield yourself. How much progress?”

“I can harden the air so that I cannot break through it. That tires me so much that I can only do it for perhaps a third of a quint.”

Quaeryt nodded. “That’s a good start. Can you make the air less hard, so that you can push a sabre through it, but only with great effort?”

“I have not attempted that, sir.”

“You should. That should take less effort. That way you can hold the shield for longer.”

“What good will that do, sir, if I might ask?”

“First, the longer you can hold shields, the stronger you will become. Second … have you seen what happens when an arrow or a blade strikes water? How far does either penetrate?”

Shaelyt frowned, then smiled abruptly. “Thank you, sir.”

“You need to keep working every day, and you might pass that on to Voltyr.”

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s all for now. You need to get ready to move out.”

Once Shaelyt had hurried off, Quaeryt made his way out to the west courtyard for morning muster. After that, while the companies were readying to head out, he returned to the hold house study to meet with Skarpa and Meinyt.

The commander’s first words were to the point. “The scouts I had out early this morning have discovered more Bovarians. Another regiment, half foot, is marching toward Villerive.”

“Where did they come from if they’re on this side of the river and marching away from us?” asked Meinyt.

“I’d guess they were stationed along the eastern end of the Bovarian border with Antiago. That dispatch indicated every regiment in Bovaria was being called in.”

“They had to have left before the battle at Ferravyl,” said Quaeryt. “If they came from there, they had to cover twice as much ground as we have to reach Villerive.”

“That could be. It doesn’t change anything. It’s another regiment we’ll have to fight. There’s no telling when they might stop and take a stand, either.”

“Not before Ralaes,” offered Meinyt. “They’ll need a day or longer to recover.”

“That’s only if they’ve traveled from the border,” Skarpa pointed out. “For all we know, they could have been much closer. They could be waiting four milles west of here.”

“What formation do you want this morning?” asked Quaeryt.

“The one with Fifth Battalion as the van.”

After receiving quick status reports from the two subcommanders, Skarpa dismissed them to make ready for immediate departure. Quaeryt reclaimed his kit from the bedchamber he’d used and hurried out to meet with Zhelan and the company commanders to let them know that Fifth Battalion would again take the lead in departing Laesheld.

Two quints later, when Quaeryt rode out through the weathered limestone gates and onto the river road once more, he felt that the air was slightly cooler, most likely because of the scattered rains of the previous days, but the crystal clear skies suggested that the day might end up as hot, if not hotter, than the previous days. He glanced ahead where the second of the squads dispatched as scouting parties disappeared over the crest of one of the low rolling hills that flanked the River Aluse, although with each mille they rode westward, the hills had become less steep, and now resembled gentle rises.

From what Quaeryt recalled of geography studied years previously, the midlands of Bovaria, stretching from the hills that ran from Kephria to the western end of the Sud Swamp northward almost to the eastern end of the Montagnes D’Glace, were largely flat and fertile, and the River Aluse ran through the midsection of that fertile area.

Fifth Battalion had barely covered a mille when Skarpa rode forward and joined Quaeryt.

“Have you seen anything? Have the scouts reported?”

“No, sir.”

“The Bovarians won’t let us ride into Villerive.”

“I’d think not, but who knows where they’ll take a stand?”

Skarpa shook his head and said nothing more.

Quaeryt listened to the undercaptains riding behind them, trying to hear what they were saying. For a time, the talk was about the rain and the strangeness of Laesheld. Then the comments drifted more onto the campaign.

“… seems like the Bovarians are letting us get too close to Variana…”

“… want to draw us in…”

“… commander and subcommander must know…”

“… subcommander knows more than he says…”

“What’s he done lately?”

That was Threkhyl’s voice, louder than it should be, as always, Quaeryt reflected.

“Besides keeping a score of troopers from getting hurt with all those traps, you mean?” asked Voltyr cuttingly.

“… not that special…” muttered the ginger-haired undercaptain.

“… and some imagers aren’t that bright, either.”

The last comment was murmured in such a low voice that Quaeryt barely heard it, but after that, for a time, none of the undercaptains spoke, not loudly enough for Quaeryt to overhear.

Another glass passed. While the day warmed, Quaeryt had to admit that so far it remained pleasant. Ahead, the road turned to the left, paralleling a narrow strip of water upstream of where it entered the River Aluse. Right after the turn, the dirt road was replaced by narrow stone paving, if ancient and worn. The waterway was so narrow that it had to be a canal, although it now appeared abandoned. The canal separated the river road from a wooded island or peninsula. Quaeryt couldn’t tell which yet. There was only a narrow strip of brush in front of the line of shorter trees just ahead on the south side of the island. The land north of the canal and the ground where the river road ran once had to have been joined, Quaeryt felt, because they were almost the same level, and the first trees were less than a hundred yards from the right shoulder of the road. The slopes down to the almost stagnant water on each side of the ancient canal were steep, and Quaeryt could see the remaining riprap that still faced the slopes in places between the bushes and grass.

Why was there a canal here? With a paved road? He pulled out his map, but there was nothing that showed either the island or the canal.

“There’s nothing on the map that shows this,” he said to Skarpa, riding to his left. As he spoke, his eyes took in the area to the south on the map, and after a moment he nodded.

“What? The stream?”

“It looks like it was once a canal. It might be left from the time of Naedara. This part of the road, too.” Quaeryt almost smiled because he’d been able to figure that out.

“You’re the scholar. If they could build this, whatever happened to the Naedarans?”

“In some ways,” replied Quaeryt, “we’re their descendants. They were the first to worship the Nameless. There are still buildings in Ruile that they built, and supposedly they settled most of the larger towns south of here.”

“So what happened to them?”

“No one really knows. Some think it was because the Red Death wiped out most of the people in their towns, and then the Bovarians finished them off. Others claim that…” Quaeryt paused, because he thought he heard hoofs moving more quickly, as if someone was riding quickly along the shoulder of the road. He looked back, then saw Major Calkoran riding toward them, almost at a gallop, on the river-or canal-side of the road.

“What is it?” asked Skarpa.

“Major Calkoran’s riding hard to catch us.”

In only a few moments, the Khellan officer pulled in beside Quaeryt, just as first company drew abreast of a stand of shorter trees that grew almost to the edge of the far side of the old canal. Quaeryt looked past Calkoran to the isle. Something about the trees …

“Subcommander!”

“Major…” Quaeryt wasn’t certain what the Khellan officer had in mind.

“Subcommander, Commander! You must turn south, off the road. Now!”

“Why must we turn?” asked Skarpa.

Calkoran gestured toward the canal. “Those are not trees. They are-”

At that moment, a sound like rolling thunder swept across the column, and Quaeryt was rocked sideways in his saddle from impacts on his shields. Even as he struggled to right himself, he expanded the shields to cover those around him, hopefully the imager undercaptains as well.

“All companies! To the south! Off the road!” ordered Skarpa.

Quaeryt looked to the canal. Where there had been trees was a company of musketeers, each one with a heavy musket on a stand, with an assistant beside him.

Another volley followed, with smoke billowing up from the line of Bovarians.

“Imagers! Smoke and pepper into musketeers!” called Quaeryt. “Make it acrid and foul and thick!”

Quaeryt pulled the mare onto the canal side shoulder of the road, and began to image iron darts at the musketeers, one after the other.

“Threkhyl, Shaelyt, Voltyr! Image iron darts into the second line of musketeers!”

Another volley from the musketeers tore into Quaeryt’s shields, and he had to grab the front of the saddle to stay on the mare. He could feel himself getting light-headed, and he paused for a moment from imaging darts and grabbed for his lager-filled water bottle. Several swallows later, after the impact of another volley of musketry, he thrust it back into the holder and looked around, discovering that he and the imager undercaptains remained alone on the road.

You should have thought about that.

“Keep imaging at the musketeers! Don’t let a one survive!”

The fourth volley from the Bovarians was ragged, and Quaeryt could see a good half company of the remaining musketeers withdrawing into the taller trees. Others hurried forward, keeping low, to drag the musketeers wounded by the imagers’ iron darts back into the trees.

Quaeryt kept imaging his own iron darts at any musketeer he could see, trying to ignore the incipient light-headedness.

There was no fifth volley from the musketeers because there were none in sight. Quaeryt thought he might have killed or wounded close to thirty of the Bovarians, and the other imagers together might have accounted for almost as many.

Quaeryt watched for a moment, grabbing his water bottle and taking several swallows as he did, to make certain that the musketeers had indeed withdrawn. Then he turned in the saddle and looked toward the undercaptains.

“Sir! Akoryt took a musket ball!” Voltytr called. “There’s blood everywhere.”

Quaeryt rode over to where Voltyr had eased his mount in beside Akoryt. As Quaeryt moved his mount to the other side of the wounded undercaptain, he could see immediately that the musket ball had hit Akoryt in the upper right side of his chest. There was considerable blood, but it wasn’t spurting. Akoryt’s eyes were open, if glazed, and his breathing was labored.

What can you do?

Quaeryt swallowed, then leaned toward the injured man, concentrating on imaging out the ball, and immediately imaging into the gaping wound something like soft clean cotton. Then he glanced around. “Shaelyt. Get him to the surgeon. That way…” He gestured toward the south. “I got the musket ball out, and his wound is packed with clean cotton. Make sure the surgeon knows that.”

“Yes, sir.”

Quaeryt turned the mare and looked across the ancient canal, but there was no sign of the Bovarian musketeers. He urged the mare southward toward where the others were re-forming. In moments, he reined up beside Zhelan. “They’ve already cleared the isle, it appears. Every musket stand is gone. Do you know our casualties?”

“Thirteen men are dead, ten wounded,” replied Zhelan, “most from first company.”

“Make that eleven wounded. Undercaptain Akoryt took a musket ball in the chest.”

Zhelan glanced at Quaeryt almost in disbelief.

“Imagers aren’t invulnerable, especially less experienced ones,” said Quaeryt.

“How badly is he hurt?”

“Badly. I don’t know how severely, but he was having trouble breathing.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

Quaeryt finally caught sight of Skarpa. “I’ll see what the commander wants, but keep them well back from the canal. The Bovarians might fire from the trees.”

“Yes, sir.” After a moment Zhelan began to issue orders to move the battalion farther south.

Quaeryt rode toward Skarpa and reined up.

“Fifth Battalion took most of the fire, Subcommander. How bad was it?”

“Thirteen dead, eleven wounded, including Undercaptain Akoryt. He looks to be in a bad way.”

“I had a feeling about today.”

Quaeryt forbore to mention that Skarpa had had a bad feeling for the last several days.

Skarpa shook his head. “Musketeers, no less.”

“The imagers took out almost half a company of them,” Quaeryt said.

“How did they do that?”

“Imaged iron darts into them.”

“Ha! Good for your imagers. Might give them second thoughts. Except it won’t. They’ll still fear Kharst more than us.”

Quaeryt had no doubts about that. But isn’t it somehow terrible that fear of one’s leader is greater than the fear of death at the hands of the enemy? That suggested, in another fashion, just how important it was for Bhayar and Telaryn to succeed.

“We’ll see what the scouts discover, but I’d wager that the musketeers are withdrawing by boat already.”

“You think so, sir?”

“Be most surprised if they weren’t. Muskets and musketeers are too valuable to leave unguarded and outnumbered. They’ll pull them back and use them against us again.”

And again, thought Quaeryt.

“If that’s so, we’ll form up and keep moving.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll tell my officers.” Quaeryt slowly rode back toward Fifth Battalion, but caught sight of the red banner that marked the surgeon, and turned his mount that way.

When he neared the banner, he saw Voltyr and Shaelyt. Both looked pale as he reined up beside where they stood holding the reins to their mounts.

“How is he?” asked Quaeryt.

Voltyr shook his head. “The surgeon-he’s really a senior squad leader who’s a field surgeon-said you’d stopped the bleeding, sir. Mostly … but that wasn’t enough. Something with the lungs. He stopped breathing.”

“He just gasped and gasped,” said Shaelyt. “Then he didn’t anymore.”

Quaeryt didn’t hide the wince. Yet what else could you have done? After a moment he said, “We’ll need to form up again. The commander wants to keep moving.”

“Yes, sir.”

As Quaeryt turned the mare back toward Fifth Battalion, he couldn’t help thinking, Should you have started training all of them on shields earlier? But that wouldn’t have helped Akoryt, because he couldn’t have developed enough strength as an imager to hold shields all the time, and the attack had come without warning. Almost without warning.

With that thought, he turned his mount toward second company and Major Calkoran.

The major was waiting for him.

“Subcommander, sir … your imagers … they kept us from greater casualties.”

“They did. Undercaptain Akoryt took a musket ball. He died.”

“I am sorry for him … and for us. He will be missed.”

For a moment Quaeryt was stunned by Calkoran’s coolness. He had to remind himself that the major had suffered incredible losses and seen far greater slaughter, and that the death of less than a score of men and a young officer could not compare to what Calkoran had experienced. “Major … how did you know they had musketeers on that island?”

“I saw those strange trees. Except they are not real trees. Each is a … screen … around the musket stand. The Bovarians used them to hide their musketeers in Khel,” said Calkoran, adding, “Or something like them. The muskets … do not fire accurately, either uphill or downslope. They are terrible when they can be fired in mass across a level ground, and where they cannot be charged quickly.”

Terrible … Quaeryt could see that. Four volleys into first and second company, and in a fraction of a quint, thirteen men were dead, and another eleven were wounded. Fourteen dead, now, with Akoryt.

Without the imagers-again-the results could have been much worse.

But the question of shields lingered in the back of his mind.

After he finished with Calkoran, Quaeryt rode to the front of first company, his eyes going to the trees on the north side of the road and the canal, not quite seeing either. You tried to protect them … you just didn’t think about muskets in a side volley. He shook his head again.

No matter how much he told himself that in the few weeks he’d had the imagers he couldn’t have taught them what it had taken him well over a year to learn and develop, he had the feeling that Akoryt’s death … and perhaps those of others … would haunt him.

But he did need to give the others a better chance. They might surprise you.

One way or the other …

He glanced northward again, for a moment.