The Mage-Fire War (Saga of Recluce)
Page 49
“You’re as cynical as I am,” replied Raelf, his words ending with a short sardonic bark of laughter. “What would you suggest?”
“If they’re only sending one or two companies, I’d suggest waiting just north of the two steads on the southern outskirts of town. That way, if they come toward the steads we can engage them there. But … if they’re trying to sneak companies east of Haven by that southern road, we could swing in behind them … and another company could be waiting and concealed where that back road joins the road to Lydiar east of town.”
“That way, we’d have them trapped.” Raelf paused. “That could be as much a danger to us as to them. Cornered rats have to fight. They can’t flee.”
“You’d be a better judge of how they’ll react than I would.” Beltur had to admit that he’d never considered that an enemy might not fight. “What if the company waiting didn’t attack, but held at a distance, then gave the impression of withdrawing, and the pursuing company then attacked, followed by the waiting company?” Beltur hesitated. “That might be hard to work out in practice, though.”
“It might be better to just have a squad in sight, and then have the balance of the company attack from the flank.”
Beltur nodded. He could see how that might be more practical. “Either Lhadoraak or I could conceal the balance of the company so that the Hydlenese could only see the one squad.”
“I’ve already ordered two companies to muster, with another in immediate reserve. If the scouts report that the Hydlenese are heading east we’ll follow your suggestion. Where Mage Lhadoraak will be depends on where the Hydlenese are heading.”
Before Raelf could say more, Beltur spoke. “For this first skirmish, Jessyla will accompany me. After that, we’ll decide what is the best deployment of the three of us.”
“You’re more likely to understand that aspect of the fighting.” Raelf’s tone was cool but pleasant.
“We need to work out to what degree she can use certain new techniques. She’s been in skirmishes before, but she’ll be trying some additional uses of order. Also, with the two of us in one company, that may allow us to take a more active role.”
Raelf raised his eyebrows.
“We have to protect your troopers as much as possible because we’re outnumbered so much. It’s difficult for one mage to both protect and attack. My ability to attack is going to be very limited in large battles.”
“You’re thinking of trying to inflict large losses before any major encounters?”
“Only if I can do it without weakening my abilities later.”
From the corner of his eye, Beltur saw Jessyla’s slight but definite nod to his words.
“We don’t have that many iron arrows and crossbow bolts,” said Raelf. “I’m inclined to save those for a larger attack, but I’d like your thoughts.”
Beltur didn’t even have to think twice about that. “We’ll need them far more in dealing with a larger attack.”
Before Raelf could say more, a trooper hurried into the public room, stopping at the side of the table. “Ser. Trooper Scout Massaat reporting. The Hydlenese have dispatched three companies. All three are heading east on the narrow road just north of the hills. They’re proceeding at a walk.”
“Is that all, trooper?”
“Yes, ser.”
“Then stand by for a return message.” Raelf turned to Beltur and Jessyla.
“You two are to join and support Reynaard and his company. You’ll go to the two steads to block any advance there. Knutwyl and I will take his company and head out east to keep them from establishing another position. Mage Lhadoraak will be with us. Cheld will have the Weevett company in reserve, to head wherever he’s most needed.”
“Where is Captain Reynaard?”
“His company is mustering at the south end of the stable yard.”
“Then we’ll join them immediately.”
At that moment, Lhadoraak appeared. “I got here as quickly as I could.”
“You’re just in time,” said Raelf cheerfully before turning back to the other two. “Tell Reynaard I’ll be there to brief him in a few moments.”
“We can do that.”
As Jessyla and Beltur walked toward the stables, he asked, “Do you think I was right about the iron arrows?”
“Yes. We should make it clear to Raelf that Lhadoraak will need those when we have to fight more companies at the same time.”
“We need to talk to him about how to use them,” said Beltur.
“You need to talk to him.”
“I will.”
After reclaiming their mounts and walking them through the companies forming up, Beltur saw Raelf striding swiftly toward Reynaard, already mounted and talking to his mounted squad leaders. “We’d better mount up.”
Both did so, and when they reached the captain, Raelf looked up, then said to Reynaard, “Here are the mages. You three can talk on the ride out of town.”
In moments, or so it seemed, although it was closer to a third of a quint, Beltur judged, he and Jessyla were riding beside Reynaard as the company rode south from the square.
“They’re only sending three companies. That sounds more like a feint or a ploy to see how we’ll respond,” said Reynaard, adjusting his visor cap over his reddish sandy hair as he studied the lane ahead.
“That’s possible,” agreed Beltur. “They also could be under orders to advance as far as they can. They know they have us outnumbered, and they might figure we’re more likely to engage them on a company-to-company basis. That way, they could send companies until we’ve been bled dry. That’s one reason why we’re here.”
“To keep us from being bled dry?” asked Reynaard cynically.
“No. To make sure they’re the ones being bled dry. We should be able to shield you from arrows, if they try that, and from chaos bolts. We can also conceal your company if it would give you an advantage.”
“I heard that was how you wiped out the recon outpost.”
“They didn’t notice us until we were within fifty yards.”
“There are more trees near the town. They’ll expect us to attack from hidden points.”
“They won’t expect you to be on an open road where they see nothing.”
Reynaard paused. “They might find that unsettling. For a few moments, anyway.”
“There’s also one other thing we can do. We can blind them just before we attack, but only until we’re about to reach them.”
“That’s … rather unusual.”
“When we put a concealment around someone, it shuts off the light. So they can’t see. We can sense what’s happening, but only mages and healers can do that under a concealment. But I’ve realized that if I put a concealment around the enemy, they can’t see. The problem for our troopers is that they can’t see who’s concealed, but doing so just before an attack can be very confusing. So if the Hydlenese seem to vanish … they haven’t. I’m just blinding them momentarily.”
“I think I’d better pass that on to the squad leaders, just so that they know.”
While Reynaard turned and talked to the First Squad leader, including telling him to brief the other squad leaders, Beltur concentrated on trying to sense the Hydlenese, but he only had a vague sense of a large number of men and mounts, and possibly a mage or more, somewhere to the south-southwest.
“If you’re going to insist on attacking personally,” murmured Jessyla, “please keep it brief. Break their line and let the troopers clean up.”
“You can break their line?” added Reynaard.
“Sometimes,” replied Beltur. “That’s if we don’t have to spend too much order dealing with a mage.”
“Do they have one?”
“I’ll know shortly. Well before they see us.”
Once they neared the southern edge of Haven, Beltur began to get a far better sense of the Hydlenese forces. “There’s definitely a force headed this way.”
“I don’t see anyone on the road,” said Reyn
aard. “No dust, either.”
“There’s a force somewhere over two kays away, just north of where this lane meets the back road that leads east. It’s a little far to sense exactly how big it is.”
“Are you sure?”
“If Beltur says it’s there, Captain,” said Jessyla pleasantly, “it’s there.”
“I apologize, but I haven’t worked with mages before, and it’s … strange to have someone tell you something you cannot see.”
By the time Beltur could see the two steads clearly, he also had a solid sense of what they faced. “Captain,” he said pleasantly, “there’s only a company coming this way. The other two are continuing east toward the road to Lydiar. This company only has one mage, and there’s one with the other two.”
“Courier!” called out the captain.
A trooper rode up, matching his mount to Reynaard’s. “Ser!”
“You’re to find Majer Raelf. Tell him that two green companies are riding the back way to the Lydiar road. They have a mage with them. On the double!”
“Yes, ser.”
Reynaard turned to Beltur. “What do you suggest we do now?”
“Let them come almost to the steads. We’ll need separation between the two Hydlenese forces. Let the company coming up the south road seem to attack us. Once they’re committed, we’ll counterattack.”
“It would seem to me that we’d have the advantage if you concealed us, and we attacked.”
Beltur almost felt like hitting his head. He’d demonstrated so many times in the past year and talked so much about concealments that it had totally skipped his mind that Reynaard had no idea about the limitations of concealments. “That won’t work as well. I’ll show you. First, I’ll conceal Jessyla. Just watch.” Beltur placed the concealment around his consort.
Reynaard nodded. “She’s gone.”
“No,” said Jessyla, “I’m here. I just can’t be seen.”
“I don’t see the problem.”
“Now, I’m going to put a concealment around you. You won’t be able to see anything.”
Beltur did so.
“It’s … pitch black.”
Beltur turned in the saddle and gestured. “Squad Leader, can you see the captain anywhere?”
“No, ser.”
Beltur removed the concealment. “Because troopers under a concealment can’t see, moving at any speed is dangerous. It took the Weevett company almost a glass to cover a kay under a concealment, and I had to guide them with ropes. I apologize for not making the problem clear. But you see why dropping a concealment over the Hydlenese for a few moments could disconcert them, and why I don’t recommend an attack or a charge under a concealment.”
Reynaard removed his visor cap and blotted his brow, then replaced the cap. “That does make matters clearer. Much clearer.” He paused, then said, “You plan to conceal us until they get closer, then reveal us and let them attack?”
“I think it would be better to conceal all the squads except First Squad. If they see a whole company appear…”
Reynaard nodded. “I can see that. You’ll let them attack … What if they don’t? What if they turn?”
“Then we’ll need to follow them because they might go east, and that would mean that the majer would be outnumbered. I’d thought that, if they did attack, once we finished with them we’d continue to the back road and move to cut off the other companies.”
“You don’t lack confidence, Mage.”
“Let just see how it goes.”
Beltur studied the road ahead. Samwyth’s stead, more properly Frydika’s now, was only a few hundred yards away. “It will be another quint before they reach the steads. Perhaps the company could move under those trees just ahead for a time. The concealment doesn’t stop the heat of the sun, and for them to wait in the hot darkness…”
“We can do that.”
“Company! Halt. Squad leaders forward!”
Beltur eased Slowpoke into the shade of a tree he thought was a maple, then uncorked his water bottle and took several swallows. Then he blotted the sweat off his forehead. Even at around seventh glass in the morning, he was sweating. Seventh glass on an eightday, no less.
He hoped that it wasn’t a foreshadowing of the entire conflict over Haven.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Jessyla in a low voice.
“This mage doesn’t seem that strong. If he starts throwing firebolts, I’ll take care of the first one, and you try the second one. We’ll work it out from there. I’m going to try not to take out the mage as long as he’s throwing chaos.”
“You’re … oh … because you can…”
“Exactly.”
Reynaard rode over to join them. “I’ve briefed the squad leaders. Now … what do you think will happen if they attack?”
“Once they’re committed, we move toward them, but only at a fast walk. They’ll likely be charging, and their mage will fling firebolts—chaos bolts—at our first ranks. We should be able to divert them. Jessyla and I should be forward, but on the side, so that we can see and sense clearly. Then I’ll charge and smash through their front ranks at an angle. At that point, your men need to speed up and follow me.”
“I thought you were only defending,” said Reynaard.
“I can do this on a company level. It’s far more dangerous and far less successful in a huge pitched battle with lots of white mages. That’s why I want to destroy as many as we can before we get to a mass battle.”
“What if they have a mage as strong as you?”
“This company doesn’t. That’s why I’m willing to risk a charge like that here.”
“You can tell that? How?”
“By sensing the chaos around the other mage.” And by how well it’s marshaled and controlled. But Beltur wasn’t getting into explaining that, not at the moment.
After perhaps half a quint, Beltur could sense that the Hydlenese company was about to come into sight coming over a low rise a little more than a half kay away. “It’s time to get into position. I’d leave the four other squads under the trees. We can conceal them there as well.”
“First Squad! Form up!”
“We should move forward to the open space in front of the stead on the right,” said Beltur. “Your other squads will have time to move up that hundred yards once we drop the concealment.”
Reynaard raised his eyebrows. “If you weren’t as experienced as you are, I’d be concerned.”
Beltur smiled. “You still are. But I’m trying to put as little strain and wear on your men as possible. We’ll need every last one of them before the battles for Haven are over.”
“You sound more like Commander Pastyn than a mage captain.”
Beltur just nodded, concentrating on the road, where he could now see dust.
“There’s dust … They’re moving at a walk.”
For the next half quint, Beltur just waited and watched as the green-uniformed troopers moved toward and then past Vortaan and Ennalee’s stead.
When the first rank of the Hydlenese company was a little less than a hundred yards from the apparently single Montgren squad, a trumpet sounded, and the greencoats urged their horses into a charge.
A chaos bolt arced from the rear of the attacking company and angled down toward the first ranks of Reynaard’s first squad. Beltur dropped the concealment from around the rest of the Montgren company and said, “I’ll take this one. You get ready for the next one.” He immediately used a small containment to divert the chaos bolt into the riders leading the attack, creating a splotch of flame that consumed two horses and riders and set the three riders following aflame.
A second chaos bolt followed the first.
Beltur watched and sensed as Jessyla caught and confined the chaos, then turned it back toward the attackers … but released it too soon, so that the chaos dropped a good ten yards in front of the attackers.
“Frig…” muttered Jessyla.
“I’ll take the next one.”
The fourth was much weaker, and Jessyla barely managed to lob it back onto the riders behind those now leading the charge.
“You’ve got the firebolts for now. Put them on the right side of the attackers, if you can,” Beltur told Jessyla, then turned to Reynaard. “I’m going to cut across their leading riders. When I seem to disappear, your men should charge.” With that, he extended his shields into cutting blades, if not so wide as he’d used before, and urged Slowpoke forward, simultaneously dropping a concealment over the first squad or so of the attacking troopers.
A firebolt arced over him toward the first squad. Beltur sensed Jessyla redirecting it into the middle of the last squad of the attackers, then aimed the big gelding slightly to the right of the middle of the attacking force. He kept low in the saddle, reducing unnecessary shield exposure, and lifted the concealment from the attackers just before he and Slowpoke slashed through the front rank. They plowed through four more ranks; Beltur turned the gelding and cut through two more ranks, then pulled up on the west side of the road and concealed himself as death mists chilled him in a way that wasn’t in the slightest cooling.
A very wobbly firebolt arced in his direction, and because Jessyla would have to wait for it and because the white was running out of chaos, this time he redirected it back at the Hydlenese mage, encircling it with a mass of free order. The resulting fireball destroyed the remainder of the last squad of Hydlenese.
In a few more moments, the Hydlenese were turning their mounts, trying to flee, but the charred forms of mounts and men slowed many of them.
Beltur just removed the concealment, not wanting to use any more effort than necessary.
More than two quints passed before Reynaard rode up and reined in his mount. “That was rather effective. I’d guess that less than a squad escaped.”
Jessyla joined them as the captain finished speaking.
“We need to move on,” said Beltur. “Lhadoraak can shield better than Jessyla, but he can’t redirect firebolts, and I’d wager that the mage with the other companies is stronger than the one here.”