by Lazlo Ferran
Their savage cries filled the air and penetrated to my soul, as their swords flashed down at our necks.
Suddenly, wherever I looked there were horses’ flanks and it seemed as if the horses themselves were wielding the swords. I entered that world, that state of consciousness where all is loud and yet very quiet, where everything is a blur and yet very clear. We seemed to be dancing as I swung this way and that, aiming my blade at a leg, an arm or an occasional head. We were desperately outnumbered, the odds seemed impossible, of even staying on my feet for one more second. But there was a calmness inside me. I thought I could hear a tune and then realised I was humming it. But what was it? I was sure I had heard it before. We danced on and I felt a sharp pain in my neck. Was this it? Was my neck sliced through? I did not have time to wonder so I slashed at another arm. I could feel something warm, running down my neck. I could see the shrieking, wild face of one of the enemy, far above me, looking down at me and bringing his sword through a long curve, aimed at my head. But I could not hear him. I could just hear this familiar tune. At the last moment but, seemingly taking an age to perform the motion, I moved my head to one side and his blade missed me. Then, suddenly there was nothing left to aim for and the roar of battle became more real. I suddenly realised the tune had been ‘The Princess Lay.’
I looked around to find out what was happening. Why had they stopped? I saw the familiar face of Geb just in front of me and I mouthed the word “Why?”
He pointed to the horsemen, riding away north, and then I noticed perhaps one thousand men, surrounding us with only a narrow gap, where the horses were leaving. Of course, the enemy, surrounded, must have realised they could not win and had left. I looked for Abdil-khan. Yes. He was there and I walked over to him. He was laying on the ground, with a lot of blood seeping from his arm, over the cream-colour of his under-tunic. He smiled up at me.
“Like old times eh? That was fun!”
Perhaps once it would have been fun for me but not now. I no longer had the stomach for it. I smiled back at him.
“Not bad for an old man.” Of course Abdil’khan had been on more campaigns than me and was probably fitter. He was only few years older than me too. He was even old enough to remember me, as a dashing young Cadet, before I had even fought my first campaign, before I was even a soldier, being teased by the soldiers in the rank.
“They didn’t forget you, either,” he said pointing to my neck. I felt the wetness there and the cut. It was not too bad.
Suddenly I was too exhausted to stand any longer and I sank down to the ground. Geb stood over me, leaning on his sword. His helmet pushed back on his head. “Geb. Get someone to take the names of all the men who charged with Abdil and I. They are all to get double rations of food tonight and a double wage of grain for the year.”
I smiled at him too and then closed my eyes. Then suddenly, I changed my mind and I got up to face the men, who had fought with us.
I could not identify them but there were many bloody bodies of the dead and a few of the living, around us.
“All those that fought with us; that was very well and bravely done. It will be known as the Battle of the Watery Knoll.”
I lay down again, for a few moments. My eyes closed and I thought I could not open them again. Then with a great effort, I did. I stood up.
I wanted to sleep so badly but I knew I must get things organised before I did. Then I could sleep.
During the battle, I had seen that, in the very end of the gully, there was indeed a small pool of turgid water. I had not had time to really take it in but now I looked down at in in wonder. Was it safe to drink? It looked clean. And there were no signs of dead animals but then there probably wouldn’t be, would there.
“Bring a horse and let it drink.”
An old white stallion was brought up and contentedly slurped up the water, wagging its tail.
“Nobody drinks for one hour.” I wondered around above the pool and suddenly noticed a patch of darker soil.
“Geb, Ahmed. What do you make of this?”
“It has been disturbed.” said Ahmed. “Somebody has been digging here, would be my guess.”
“Call the engineers.” I said. Some of the Quartermasters men were trained engineers and we relied on them for such things as building bridges, siege engines, catapults and the like. “Tell them to bring spades.”
Ahmed was close by and I pointed to the water. “Do you think it will be drinkable?”
He shook his head. “It is poisoned, for sure. What are you going to do?”
“Ahh. Wait and see. Something my Grandfather told me.”
While we were waiting I gave out orders for setting Camp.
“I want each Battalion to send out patrols of twenty men, at one hour intervals to patrol their half quadrant, about two hundred sachine out. They are to kill anything that moves.”
“Set up the shelters and slaughter the sheep. Each man is to get his fair share. Tell the cook to see to it. The meat is not to be cooked.”
“Also, I want the engineers to build a tower, about three sachine high, from tent poles and with a ladder and platform at the top. They should erect it in the centre of the camp, and a man should be posted on top, at one hour intervals.”
We were at a distinct disadvantage where we were, with the long grass and the land rising away from us, both south and north. The Watchtower would help alleviate this.
Thee engineers arrived and we set six of them to digging the disturbed soil.
After one hour, the horse was still content, swishing his tail, and the hole, with the engineers in the bottom, was about one sachine deep and one in diameter.
“The men must drink,” called Kazangap. “What is the delay? The water is obviously fit to drink. I for one, am prepared to risk it.”
“Wait Kazangap.”
One of the engineers, grimacing, leaning on his spade in the bottom of the pit and gasping for breath, called up. “There is nothing here! We should stop digging.”
“Keep going.”
“Sire. There is really nothing there! Said Geb. I agree. The men need to drink. We all need to drink.”
“Wait.”
The men in the pit complained bitterly but I forced them on. It was after another half-hour and after digging down another half sachine, that one of them shouted.
“Wait. There is something here. Look!”
I called down. “What is it?”
He scraped the sandy soil from something. It seemed soft and furry and writhing with maggots.
The men covered their faces, with their forearms.
“Urggg! It stinks. It’s a cow carcass. The bastard Korim. Poisoned the water!”
Geb said, “You were right!”
“Dig it out and all the soil around it, for a distance of half a sachine. Then dig a trench half sachine wide right down to the water. After that, we will wait for one hour and then, we can drink!”
“Harrah!” A great cry went up and rippled away through the camp.
I must sleep, I thought.
“I am going to my tent. Wake me when the water is clear.”
With that I lay down and slept.
One of my guards shook me awake.
“I tried to call you, Sire but you didn’t wake!” He smiled ruefully at me.
“That’s alright. How is everything?”
“Fine sire. It’s good that we’ve got water. There is a jug for you. All the men are happy now Sire.”
The sides of my tent were raised, as they could be during the mid-day, to let in any breeze that might be around and I could see the legs of men, walking around.
As the guard left, I picked up the leather jug and downed the longest draft of water I could ever remember. I carried on until I felt I could just not drink any more. It felt good.
As I left my tent, scratching myself, in the afternoon sun, I could see that the camp was really beginning to look like a proper Battle Camp. Some men were digging defensive trenches around the per
imeter and the engineers had deepened the channel of the little stream, as far as the edge of the camp. Now, many horses were drinking, downstream as it were, of the men collecting water and even the camels were getting some water at the very far end. Their flaccid humps of this morning were getting harder now and they chewed contentedly on some young grass.
I could hear the sound of sawing and hammering and followed the sounds to see the Watchtower taking shape. It had been ingeniously and economically fashioned from just five tent poles and some scraps of wood, found lying about. The platform at the top was walled in for protection from arrows and had a roof to protect from the sun.
I would not call it durable but it would do for our purposes.
The first man was about to ascend it and I walked over to watch. He gingerly placed his foot on the first rung and to the sound of cheers, he hesitantly and cautiously climbed the ladder. When he stood on the platform, he held out his arms wide, to accept applause, which he got.
“The view is very fine!” he called. “I can see Korim’s home, very nicely. Oh yes. He is taking a bath! Hmm he really does need a wash!”
The men laughed and after a few more moments, he came down. The engineers made a few small modifications and then another man went up. As he came down, I said I would go up.
The view was indeed good and I could see all the land around us. As I turned around through 360 degrees, I could see our patrols, in some places knee deep in grass, criss-crossing the spaces outside the camp. I looked north to the Fortress and studied it. There were two heavy towers either side of the gates, which I could now see were not completely of metal, but were in fact wood with heavy metal banding. The towers had covered platforms at the top, from which I would guess, perhaps fifty archers, on one side alone, could shoot. There were two more towers, slightly lower, one half way along each wall. It looked from here as if the wall to the east was slightly shorter than that to the west but I could not be sure. I could just see the tops of wooden structures, buildings, possibly barracks, poking out above the parapets. Looking again at the walls, I could see two rows of slots, with the occasional glinting object sticking through, below the parapets. These were probably slots for bows. It was an awesome sight. I guessed that perhaps three thousand bowmen could fire at any one time from the walls. At the far ends of the walls, where they met the sloping rock sides of the valley, were structures more like lean-tos than towers. They leaned right against the cliffs. I could see why. Although the sides were steep, below the height of the walls, and covered with loose boulders, nevertheless, determined men could probably climb them and scale the walls here. That is, if it weren’t for the lean-tos. That way was impassible. No. I had to admit, the only weakness I could see, was that the walls were of wood. We could burn them, if we could get to them. I looked at the ground in front of the walls, trying to see signs of pits or trenches, but I could not see well enough, the angle was too shallow. We would need to take a closer look. The ground leading up to the walls was almost like part of the fortress itself and I found myself looking up at one of the most formidable fortresses I had ever faced.
I climbed back down and went in search of company. I didn’t have to look far.
I found Geb, Ahmed, Abdil’khan, Kazangap and Zhuan’zhuan sitting not far from my tent, with their feet in a trough which they’d had someboyd dig, to form a sort of bench on the soft ground. They smiled as I approached.
“Not a very good place for a camp, Your Highness!” said Abdil’khan.
“No. It was the best I could do.”
Abdil’khan raised a potka bottle, made of fired grey clay, to his mouth and drank a long draft.
“Where on Earth did you get that from?” I asked. I could not believe, after we had all nearly died of thirst –that anyone could have saved some potka.
“Oh. You just need to know the right man to ask!” he said.
I laughed. There was something very odd about the idea of a General buying black market potka off of his own men. But these were not normal times.
Six days to go.
The wonderful smell or roasting mutton was wafting from the south. There would be a feast tonight. Now we had water, we could afford to cook the meat.
“Well done. Well done! Said Abdil’khan. Sire, I never thought I would hear myself say this, but that was a very great Victory and you are a Great leader.”
Coming from Abdil’khan, who was never normally complimentary towards me, the use of the word ‘Sire,’ and the word ‘Great,’ was indeed a very great compliment.
“Yes. At last we are here. You said, a few days ago, that you wanted to cut off the heads of the Cerberus. Well here we are at the neck!” said Geb.
“Hah! Yes.” I remembered saying it.
“I thought you had had it though, when I saw those horses charging towards you! I thought there would be many more to follow them!”
“No. That is not what Korim is after. He wants to delay us, harry us as much as possible. Of course, if he could protect his land, that would be better for him but he would not risk many of his troops for this.”
“Come. Sit down and drink with us!” said Zhuan’zhuan.
I gladly sat down next to them and took the bottle of potka. I tasted good, hot, sliding down my throat.
“Geb. I had a look from our little tower. You should take a look sometime. With your keen eyes, you may see more than I.”
“What did you see?”
“I saw a damn big wall. With towers and slots for three thousand men to fire arrows from.”
“Oh. Is that all.” It was Kazangap, sounding downhearted, but it was just his sense of humour.
We all looked at him and he smiled.
“Wooden wall though. That is his weakness.” I said.
I caught sight of Ahmed. We exchanged a knowing glance.
There was a feast that night. Each man ate his fill of meat. When I asked the cook how he had managed this with just the few sheep we had caught, he laughed.
“Some of the men may have slipped out earlier and taken a few extras, that the enemy didn’t want us to!” he said.
There was plenty of water. Some men had even taken buckets of water to wash with.
There was singing and dancing. I am sure Korim could see all this from his walls. I wondered if he had been watching us when I had been in our little tower, watching his Fortress, and if so, what was he thinking.
I sat down near Ahmed and Geb, with a large plate of mutton, dripping with delicious fat.
“What’s the plan now?” asked Geb.
“Wait until tomorrow. Tonight let’s just enjoy ourselves.”
Sometime during the night, my headache finally left me and I slept peacefully after that. I awoke to a bright day, with just the hint of a breeze, coming from the north. Perhaps this was the first sign of autumn and if so it was a welcome one.
I took a stroll around the camp, nodding to soldiers and occasionally stopping to talk. They were unusually polite to me and smiled a lot.
Near the northern edge of the camp, in among the long grass, I saw a fleck of yellow. Parting the grass, for a better look, I saw a tiny, delicate yellow flower. I almost picked it but then thought better of it. The little yellow flower was only bright thing I saw on the battlefield and it had nothing to do with war. It made me think of Shakira for a moment. I wondered where she was and what she was doing.
I briskly walked back to my tent and ordered the Guards to call a meeting of the Generals in one hour. I also told them to call in the Scouts.
We talked outside where we could see the ground to be fought over.
“All you Scouts. I need eight volunteers. I need two groups of four to climb up into the mountains, there and there,” I said, pointing to the mountain flanks, east and west of Korim’s Fortress. “I want two to go over the mountains to meet up with Bulya and two to spy on the enemy camp.”
Nearly all the men raised their hands. I guess it was not surprising, since they thought it would be safer than f
ighting. I did not.
“It will be very dangerous and if you are caught, you will be tortured.”
Some of the hands, hesitantly, lowered. There were still more than eight, raised. I chose eight of the fittest looking.
“The rest of you are dismissed.”
I spoke to the last eight. “You and you, will be the Team Leaders. You will pick who goes right over and who watches the camps. Two for each task.”
The riders going to Bulya, will tell him what our position is, what Korim’s camp looks like from this side, and then, if there is time, you will send one back to tell me of the state of Bulya’s Army. The other two will take up a position above the Fortress and spy for a period of three days, before returning here. I want to know the number of men in the fortress, how they are supplied, the number of horses, what buildings are where, in the camp and any other information you can glean. I will want you to draw maps when you come back. Keep your eyes open for Korim. If, on the last day, you have a good chance to get down to the camp and kill him, do it. A reward of five hundred rubles for any that can do it.
“You leave just after sunset. Any questions?”
There were none.
“Very well. I am sending you now, before we make our battle plans, deliberately. You will not be able to tell Korim anything useful if he tortures you. It may also increase your chance of survival. He will soon see that you know nothing. Now go and prepare yourselves.”
With that, they were gone. I led the generals inside my tent. I told the guards to move a few sachine away from the tent and not allow anyone within that distance, on pain of death.
“Now. Here we are at last!” I said to the Generals, quietly. What we discuss now, is to go no further until I say so. And at any point in the campaign, you are to tell only those who need to know things and only tell them what they need to know. Surprise will be our best ally.
Our first task is to fully assess Korim’s defenses and his, and our, resources. For this purpose, I intend to set off with a few of you tomorrow and twenty of our men in a small expeditionary force up and down the length of this bit of annexed land. Who knows what Korim has hidden from us? The thing that most worries me, is that he may have other forces elsewhere. We will be gone perhaps three days so Geb, Abdil’khan, Kazangap and Yedigei, you must choose your deputies before we leave. We will also take a few scouts and engineers.
