Strength of Swords (First Cohort Book 2)

by M. R. Anthony

  I could recall the discussion we’d had and I nodded my head in acknowledgement. He continued.

  “What if there is only one Saviour, Tyrus? What if she lives as long as there is hope that she lives? And if the vessel that is her body is killed, she lives anew in a different vessel?” he asked.

  “Do you think it’s true?” I asked. “If she lives again, there is hope for us yet, Jon. Hope that the men we lost here in Gold will not have died for nothing and that we still have something to fight for!”

  “I am certain it is true, now that I have felt her,” he said. “Her aura is unmistakeable even when you have not felt it before. She is the Saviour and she lives again in Blades.”

  My mind reeled with the possibilities and I laughed, a mixture of bitterness and elation. “Why did she have to return in Blades? Why not here in Gold, in the body of a girl in the ruins, where we could find her tonight and protect her properly this time?”

  “Ask yourself why not in Hardened instead, where we would have to travel for thousands of miles and search the streets of the Emperor’s capital in order to find her.”

  I realised the point he was making, but it didn’t make me feel any better. Was her appearance in Blades down to nothing more than chance, or was there a purpose behind it, I wondered? The Duke’s capital city was not a friendly place for his allies or his enemies alike. Everyone in the First Cohort knew the city well. It had once been a lively and vibrant place, full of industry. After many decades, in which the Duke had stripped it of fighting-age men and taken his pick of the children, it was a shadow of what it had been. It was no longer a place to live in and grow old.

  “Will the Duke find her?” I asked. “Or can she keep herself hidden?”

  “Warmont will find her eventually,” he replied. “He seems to have a talent for it, no matter how well-concealed she might be. He found her before, though I do not know how much effort it took him.”

  “Will he even realise that she lives again?” I asked.

  Ploster shrugged. “I don’t know, is the simple answer. Our previous conversation threw up the possibility that there may be more than one Saviour. Who knows how long Warmont has dwelled on the subject in the high rooms of his keep.”

  “And what of the Emperor?” I asked. “Malleus is hard to fool and even harder to hide from. I wonder if he is already aware of these events.”

  “The questions are irrelevant for now, Tyrus,” said Ploster with a sad smile. “You know what we must do and where we must go.”

  I knew very well the answer to that. New purpose slammed back into me, expanding the space in which I held my anger and sitting comfortably alongside it, like the two were lifelong friends. I heard in Ploster’s words a chance to escape from my own failure to protect our lady. I had truly feared that I had ruined everything we had fought for and that my inaction had made the deaths of my men worthless. If I had been given longer to think and reflect, I would have known that the deaths of my men had not been in vain, for I had seen the peace in their faces as they had died. I didn’t believe in an afterlife, but it was my greatest wish that if there was one, that my men would have found forgiveness there.

  I had a soldier sent out to summon my lieutenants to my room. Both were still out on patrol, so I had to spend almost an hour waiting impatiently, striding up and down the five paces across the room’s width a hundred times and more. Eventually, Ploster raised a hand and bade me to sit in case I wore a hole in the floorboards. Lieutenant Sinnar arrived first, shortly followed by Lieutenant Craddock.

  “How goes it on the streets?” I asked. The new business was of greater importance, but we had time to conclude everything we needed to.

  “Quiet, Captain,” said Sinnar. “Everyone who’s alive is staying indoors and I can’t say that I blame them.”

  “Same experience here, Captain,” said Craddock. “If Leerfar is still in Gold, or if she’s left her men behind in force, then they’re too well-hidden for us to find in an overnight search. I’ve heard a few isolated reports about her soldiers, but nothing to indicate we’ll have serious trouble.”

  “Anything else from our scouts?” I asked.

  “Nothing of concern, sir,” Craddock responded. “We’ve got about twenty men on the tail of the Duke’s fleeing army, but I’m not even sure you could call it an army any more. There’re two thousand left. Maybe fifteen hundred, maybe three thousand, depending on who you listen to, but there’s nothing there that could be organised into a credible threat.”

  “Could they turn our own tactics against us?” I asked, referring to how we’d dispersed our forces around the town, hitting Warmont’s men where we could, and always moving to keep ourselves alive when they sent in their greater numbers to nullify our threat. I already knew the answer.

  “Not a chance, Captain,” said Craddock. “They’ve got no fight in them and no organisation. Even if Leerfar’s somewhere out there, trying to marshal them into a cohesive force, she’s not got the capability to do what we just did to her.”

  Craddock was a good man and a superb officer. He’d read the situation in the same way that I had – Leerfar Backstabber’s talents were great, but she wasn’t a skilled commander of soldiers. She’d lost the battle, but in killing the Saviour, she’d claimed a prize far, far greater than any she or the Duke could have imagined. I had great doubts that she’d risk herself again by returning to inflict further casualties on what she’d have thought was an already defeated foe.

  “I’m sure we were all aware that our chances of locating Leerfar tonight were remote at best,” I said. “But Corporal Ploster has brought me news of enormous significance.” I looked at Ploster, allowing him to deliver the shock. He duly obliged.

  “The spirit of the Saviour has emerged in Blades,” he said. “The hopes of these lands have shown themselves capable of resisting even the death of our lady’s vessel of flesh and blood.”

  Another man than Ploster might have given his information in snippets and tried to eke out as much surprise from his listeners as he could. Ploster wasn’t that man and now that he was over his own daze, he set about imparting as much of his knowledge as he could. I saw Craddock and Sinnar’s shock as they absorbed this new information and considered the possibilities. It was Sinnar who spoke first.

  “When are we going to get her?” he asked.

  I laughed at that, in genuine amusement. I could see that Craddock had meant to ask other questions, building up to that one, but Sinnar had distilled the information to its essence and followed up with the only question that logic would allow him to ask.

  “Soon, Lieutenant,” I said. “Very soon.” There wasn’t much of the night left and I was sure that everyone present would have a good idea of how soon was soon. “But we need to speak of other matters first.”

  “What about the remnants of our regiments, and the new men from the coast? What will they do if we leave them?” asked Craddock, referring to the soldiers that our lady had brought from the cities of Septic, Bunsen and Demox.

  “If our army falls apart, or the men drift away, then we’re back to the start once more,” I said. “The coastal cities will be divided and easily picked off one by one.”

  “How long till the Duke can get his numbers back here?” asked Sinnar. He didn’t need to ask whether or not Warmont was capable of mustering sufficient men to take these cities again. The Duke appeared to have a bottomless pit of men he could call upon, and though they weren’t all trained or battle-hardened, there were still sufficient veterans to beat his new boys into shape and formation.

  “Weeks,” I said. I wished I could have said months, but in all honesty, I couldn’t see that our enemy would wait that long. Warmont was a decisive man, especially when it came to defending his lands and he needed little excuse to send his armies to war.

  Sinnar and Craddock thought about it for a little while, before Craddock spoke up. “What’s the plan, Captain?” he asked.

  “Some of us are going to Blades,” I
told them. “And some of us are staying behind to hold things together here. I’m going to take twenty men with me and find the Saviour.”

  “Captain, you can’t go,” said Craddock. “There is no point in risking yourself on such a mission.”

  “Lieutenant Craddock, a few weeks ago, I entered Gold for the first time with our lady and a handful of men, to find out the lay of the land. I had cause to chastise myself for putting myself into that situation, when I had hundreds of men whom I would have trusted equally with the task. I believe that my foolish pride and craving for excitement goaded me into doing something that I should not have undertaken. I’ve asked myself the question in case I am falling into the same trap, but in all truth, I have little choice but to go.”

  “There is always choice,” said Craddock. I could see he was going through the motions and already knew how determined I was. Nevertheless, they deserved an explanation, since they had trusted me to lead them this far.

  “You are correct, Lieutenant Craddock. I could stay here in Gold and send off a number of the First Cohort to retrieve the Saviour, with a reasonable expectation that if I selected the men wisely, they’d be successful in their mission. However, that would not be the best choice to make in the circumstances. Since we’ve arrived in Gold, my time has been spent on the tedious administrative duties necessary to keep things ticking over.”

  Lieutenant Sinnar opened his mouth to say something and I raised a hand to silence him. “Yes, there have been some minor distractions in my administrative work – Warmont’s First and an invading army amongst them, but in reality, I am not well-known to the majority of the men who have recently joined with us.” I referred to the men from Treads, and those men from Gold who had defected from the Duke’s army in order to fight with the Saviour. “Lieutenant Sinnar – the men from Treads have accepted you as one of their own. You have fought with them and you have trained them.”

  Sinnar nodded in acknowledgement. Neither of my lieutenants would pretend something in order to try and salve any disappointment I might feel about not being known to every soldier. Given time, everyone in the Saviour’s armies would recognise me and accept me, but time was something we were sorely lacking.

  “And Lieutenant Craddock, you have had far more exposure to the men than I have had. The new men know you better than they know me.”

  In the house-to-house fighting that had ensued in Gold, it was Craddock who had found himself in command of a much larger number of men than I had. He’d also been the one to lead hundreds of them in a withdrawal from the town once the fires had started and it became clear that we’d lost.

  “Are we both to stay in Gold, Captain?” asked Lieutenant Craddock.

  “That is what I want you to do,” I said. “I am giving you two the hardest job of all. You must hold together the men we have, as much as you are able to. It is likely that the Duke will be able to send sufficient new men to overwhelm our forces before I can return from Blades. You must not allow him to destroy or disperse our armies.”

  “Even if we have to abandon Gold?” asked Craddock.

  “Do as you must, Lieutenant. There is little worth saving here now.” I chewed on my lip, thinking. “These are our lady’s people, but I must hope that the new Saviour does not find out that we have abandoned her town, if that is what it comes down to. If you must evacuate the people and withdraw, then that is what you have decided and you will have my approval to do so.”

  I didn’t know if what I was suggesting would anger the Saviour, or even if she would share any memories or knowledge of what had transpired so far. As far as I was concerned, Gold was no longer important from a strategic perspective. Its ability to house and supply Warmont’s troops had been severely curtailed. Most of the power in the north now lay in the coastal cities. Far to the west there were other towns – Church, Fallow, Sinew and Flense, but they were much too far distant to chance finding out who they supported. Our numbers were thin enough as it was, to risk spreading them even thinner by sending a force to the west. I was a military man and that was how I thought, but wasn’t ignorant enough to think that there might not be other viewpoints on the subject that I should pay heed to. Still, I had no plans to second guess myself, based on what the Saviour may or may not think.

  I was pleased that neither Sinnar nor Craddock had a raft of questions for me, not because I didn’t want to answer them, but because it meant that both were aware of what was expected. I am sure they had worries and doubts, but I had no concerns that either would be found wanting. I didn’t even need to tell them that Craddock was the senior of the two and that Sinnar should bow to his judgement. They’d get the job done in the best way they could and I would have been no more confident of success had it been me in charge. Or perhaps I’d have been a little more confident had it been me in charge. After all, a man has to have some pride in his abilities.

  “Captain?” asked Craddock with a slight hesitant tone to his voice. “Would there be any benefit if we passed round word that the Saviour is alive?”

  The question had already occurred to me, but I wasn’t certain of the best answer to it. There wasn’t a man in Gold who didn’t know that the Saviour had been killed, but only a few of them had seen her body. I’d pondered if it would be worthwhile spreading information that she’d only been badly wounded and that her magic was keeping her alive. The men needed to believe in her and that need might have made it easy for them to overlook the eye witness accounts of the damage her body had suffered.

  There was also the second consideration as to whether or not we should tell the men that one Saviour was dead and a new one arisen. A new Saviour, awaiting rescue by the men of her armies. I didn’t have certainty in either of the options.

  “Lieutenant Sinnar? What’s your opinion on the state of the men?”

  “Captain, they’ve come here to fight. Not for the Saviour and certainly not for the First Cohort. They’ve chosen to fight in order to free themselves and their families from the Duke’s depravations.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Do you think we no longer need the Saviour?”

  He looked confused for a moment. “That’s not what I’m trying to say, Captain. We need the Saviour to rally more men from Warmont’s lands and to hold them together under her banner. I just don’t think the men’s purpose will vanish immediately. They’ve taken a bold step to defy the Duke and they know what will happen to their towns and cities if they return home and pretend that they’d never come to Gold.”

  I knew what he was getting at. The death of a leader did not always lead the affected side into a definite loss. It could often be a mortal blow, but I’d seen armies and causes survive and come out stronger for it.

  “Nevertheless, I think we need to give the men something,” I said. “They have to feel that their future holds something good, rather than being nothing more than a rear-guard action until the Duke inevitably overruns their cities, burns their homes and murders their children. I want you to sow whispers that the spirit of the Saviour cannot be killed simply by destroying her body. Tell the men that her spirit survives and that she is fighting to return to this world so that she can lead them again.”

  We all looked a bit doubtful at the plan. The men were desperate for hope, but they weren’t stupid enough to believe anything we told them. At that moment, Jon Ploster, who had remained mostly silent throughout the conversation, spoke up.

  “Captain Charing, I think you might need to confide your plans to Lieutenants Faye and Trovis. They are the ones who will likely have the greatest influence over how the men from the coastal towns and those native to Gold will react to the events which have unfolded.”

  “Very well,” I said. “Corporal Ploster, would you have them brought here?”

  Wherever these two had been, it didn’t take Ploster long to find them and summon them to my office. I hadn’t spoken to Lieutenant Faye for some time. She smiled a grim smile and nodded a greeting. Lieutenant Trovis had been an invaluable asset in the
fight for Gold, but I’d not had the opportunity to speak with him since. Had things not taken such an unexpected turn, I’d have had more time on my hands to deal with important matters like debriefing my officers.

  We talked and I told them about Ploster’s discovery. They were both surprised, but neither was shocked. I guessed that the news was welcome to them – a sign that the war wasn’t over almost before it had begun. I trusted them both and neither gave any indication that they’d let me down, with each agreeing that they’d use the information as a carrot to keep the men under their command in line.

  I asked Lieutenant Faye if the relief forces from the coastal towns had brought with them any baggage which I needed to be aware of, by which I meant officers who might cause a problem in the coming weeks. She told me that she’d taken over command of the new men after they’d started the journey to Gold. It had been the Saviour’s instruction. I imagined Faye would hear one or two dissenting voices, but she didn’t seem overly concerned, professional soldier that she was.

  “When are you leaving, Captain?” she asked.

  “Today,” I replied. “And very soon.”

  With that I dismissed everyone apart from Jon Ploster.

  “You’re coming with me, Jon,” I said.

  “I’ll be better placed in Blades than here in Gold, trying to bully a reluctant army into hanging together on a promise that might never be kept,” he responded.

  “I would give my eye teeth to have Sinnar along with us. More’s the pity he’ll be needed here far more than he will be on a long run to a hostile capital city.”

  “I hear he’s gained something of a reputation for ferocity amongst the soldiers.”

  I knew he meant the men who were not of the First Cohort. We were all aware what Sinnar was capable of. “He has and it’s condemned him to his duties here, rather than with us in Blades.”

  “Have you chosen who is coming with us?” Ploster asked.

  “I have an idea, only I can’t be certain if they are all alive,” I replied with sorrow. I rose to my feet. “Come on Jon. Let’s go and choose our rescue party.”