"They've got more stick in them than I looked for," Sarkis said with a grimace. "Either they put the real soldiers who defected in the middle or ..." He let that hang. Krispos finished it mentally: or else we're in more trouble than we thought.
Unlike the infantry, the imperial horsemen stayed and fought. But they had no better luck at dislodging the stubborn heretics. Curses rose above the clash of iron on iron and the steady drumming of the rain. Wounded men and wounded horses shrieked. Healer-priests labored to succor those sorest hurt until they themselves dropped exhausted into the mud.
Time seemed stuck. The gray mat of clouds overhead was so thick, Krispos had no better way to gauge the hour than by his stomach's growls. If his belly did not lie, afternoon was well advanced.
Then, not far away, shouts rang out, first in the squadron of Haloga guards and then from the Thanasioi. Through the confused uproar of battle came a new cry: "To me! For the Empire!"
"By the good god!" Krispos exclaimed. "That's Evripos!"
At the head of a couple of dozen horsemen, the Avtokrator's second son forced a breach in the heretic's barrier. In amongst them, he lay about him with his saber, making up in fury what he lacked in skill. Half the Halogai poured into that gap, as much to protect him as to take advantage of it in any proper military sense.
The result was satisfactory enough. At last driven back from their barricade, the heretics became more vulnerable to the onslaught of the better-disciplined imperial troops. Their confident yells turned suddenly frantic. "Push them hard!" Krispos shouted. "If we break them here, we have an easy road on to Pityos!" With its major city taken, he thought, how could the revolt go on?
But the Thanasioi kept fighting hard, even in obvious defeat. Krispos thought about the prisoner he'd ordered tortured, about the contempt the youth had shown for the material world. That, he saw, had not been so much cant. Rear guards sold themselves more dearly than he would have imagined, fighting to the death to help their comrades' retreat. Some men who had safety assured even abandoned it to hurl themselves at the imperials and their weapons, using those to remove themselves forever from a worldly existence they judged only a trap of Skotos'.
Because of that fanatical resistance, the imperial army gained ground more slowly than Krispos wanted. Not even more daredevil charges from Evripos could break the heretics' line.
Sarkis pointed ahead. "Look, your Majesty—they're filing over that bridge there."
"I see," Krispos answered. Ten months out of the year, the stream spanned by that ramshackle wooden bridge would hardly have wet a man's shins as he forded it. But with the fall rains, it not only filled its banks but threatened to overflow them. If Krispos' men could not seize the bridge, they'd have to break off pursuit.
"They took a long chance here, provoking battle with their backs to the river," Sarkis said. "Let's make them pay for it."
More and more of the Thanasioi gained the safety of the far bank. Yet another valiant stand by a few kept the imperial soldiers away from the bridge. Just when they were about to gain it in spite of everything the heretics could do to stop them, the wooden structure exploded into flame in spite of the downpour.
"Magic?" Krispos said, staring in dismay at the heavy black smoke that poured from the bridge.
"It could be, your Majesty," Sarkis answered judiciously. "More likely, though, they painted it with liquid fire and just now touched it off. That stuff doesn't care about water when it gets to burning."
"Aye, you're right, worse luck," Krispos said. Made from naphtha, sulfur, the foul-smelling oil that seeped up between rocks here and there in the Empire, and other ingredients— several of them secret—liquid fire was the most potent incendiary Videssos' arsenal boasted. A floating skin of it would even burn on top of water. No wonder it took no notice of the rain.
The last handful of Thanasioi still on the eastern side of the stream went down. "Come on!" Evripos shouted to the impromptu force he led. "To the ice with this fire! We'll go across anyhow."
Not all the men followed him, and not only men but also horses failed him. His own mount squealed and reared in fright when he forced it near the soddenly crackling flames. He fought the animal back under control, but did not try again to make it cross.
That proved as well, for the bridge collapsed on itself a couple of minutes later. Charred timbers splashed into the river and, some, still burning, were swept away downstream. The Thanasioi jeered from the far bank, then began vanishing behind the curtain of rain.
Krispos sat glumly on his horse, listening to the splash and tinkle of the storm and, through it, the cries of wounded men. He squared his shoulders and did his best to rally. Turning to Sarkis he said, "Send companies out at once to seize any nearby routes east that remain open."
"Aye, your Majesty, I'll see to it at once." After a moment, Sarkis said, "We have a victory here, your Majesty."
"So we do." Krispos' voice was hollow. As a matter of fact, Sarkis' voice was hollow, too. Each seemed to be doing his best to convince the other everything was really all right, but neither appeared to believe it. Krispos put worry into words: "If we don't find another route soon, we'll have a hard time going forward."
"That's true." Sarkis seemed to deflate like a pig's bladder poked with a pin. "A victory that gets us nothing is scarcely worth the having."
"My thought exactly," Krispos said. "Better we should have stayed in Videssos the city and started this campaign in the spring than be forced to cut it off in the middle like this." He forced himself away from recrimination. "Let's make camp, do what we can for our hurt, and decide what we try next."
"A lot of that will depend on what the scouting parties turn up," Sarkis said.
"I know." Krispos did his best to stay optimistic. "Maybe the Thanasioi won't have knocked down every bridge for miles around."
"Maybe." Sarkis sounded dubious. Krispos was dubious, too. Against a revolt made up simply of rebellious peasants, he would have had more hope. But Livanios had already proved himself a thoroughgoing professional. You couldn't count on him to miss an obvious maneuver.
Krispos put the future out of his mind. He couldn't even plan until the scouts came back and gave him the information he needed. He rode slowly through the army, praising his men for fighting well, and congratulating them on the victory. They were not stupid; they could see for themselves that they hadn't accomplished as much as they might have. But he put the best face he could on the fight. "We've driven the bastards back, showed them they can't stand against us. They won't come yapping round our heels again like little scavenger dogs any time soon."
"A cheer for his Majesty!" one of the captians called. The cheer rang out. It was not one to make the hillsides echo, but it was not dispirited or sardonic, either. All things considered, it satisfied Krispos.
He rode up close to the bridge. Some of its smoldering support timbers still stood. Evripos looked across the river toward the now-vanished Thanasioi. He turned his head to see who approached, then nodded, one soldier to another. "I'm sorry, Father. I did my best to get over, but my stupid horse wouldn't obey."
"Maybe it's for the best," Krispos answered. "You would have been trapped on the far side when the bridge went down. I can't afford to lose sons so prodigally." He hesitated, then reached out to whack Evripos on his mailed back. "You fought very well—better than I'd looked for you to do."
"It was—different from what I expected." A grin lightened Evripos' face. "And I wasn't afraid, the way I thought I'd be."
"That's good. I was, my first time in battle. I puked up my guts afterward, as a matter of fact, and I'm not ashamed to admit it." Krispos studied his son in some bemusement. "Have I gone and spawned a new Stavrakios? I've always expected good things from you, but not that you'd prove a fearsome warrior."
"Fearsome?" Evripos' grin got wider; all at once, in spite of his beard and the mud that streaked his face, he reminded Krispos of the little boy he'd been. "Fearsome, you say? By the good god, I like it."
"Don't like it too well," Krispos said. "A taste for blood is more expensive than even an emperor can afford." He realized he laid that on too thick and tried to take some of it off: "But I was glad to see you at the fore. And if you go through the encampments tonight, you'll find out I wasn't the only one who noticed."
"Really?" Krispos could see Evripos wasn't used to the idea of being a hero. By the way the young man straightened up, though, the notion sat well. "Maybe I'll do that."
"Try not to let them get you too drunk," Krispos warned. "You're an officer, you need to keep your head clear when you're in the field." Evripos nodded. Remembering himself at the same age, Krispos doubted his son would pay the admonition too much heed. But he'd planted it in Evripos' mind, which was as much as he could do.
He went off to see how Katakolon had fared in his first big fight. His youngest son had already disappeared among the tents of the camp followers, so Krispos silently shelved the lecture on the virtues of moderation. He did seek out a couple of officers who had seen Katakolon in action. By their accounts, he'd fought well enough, though without his brother's flair. Reassured by that, Krispos decided not to rout him from his pleasures. He'd earned them.
Krispos had urged Evripos to go through the camp to soak up adulation. He made his own second tour for a more pragmatic reason: to gauge the feel of the men after the indecisive fight. He knew a certain amount of relief that none of the regiments had tried to go over to the foe.
A fellow who had his back turned and so did not know the Avtokrator was close by said to his mates, "I tell you, boys, at this rate it's gonna take us about three days less'n forever to make it to Pityos. If the mud don't hold us back, mixing it with the cursed heretics will." His friends nodded in agreement.
Krispos walked away from them less happy than he might have been. He breathed a silent prayer up to Phos that the scouting parties could discover an undefended river crossing. If his men didn't think they could do what he wanted from them, they were all too likely to prove themselves right.
Even though he'd not fought, himself, the battle left him worn. He fell asleep as soon as he lay down on his cot and did not wake until the gray dawn of another wet day. When he came out of the tent, he wished he'd stayed in bed, for Sarkis greeted him with unwelcome news: "Latest count is, we've lost, ah, thirty-seven men, your Majesty."
"What do you mean, lost?" Krispos' wits were not yet at full speed.
The cavalry commander spelled it out in terms he could not misunderstand: "That's how many slipped out of camp in the night, most likely to throw in with the Thanasioi. The number'll only grow, too, as all the officers finish morning roll for their companies." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than a soldier came up to say something to him. He nodded and sent the man away, then turned back to Kripos: "Sorry, your Majesty. Make that forty-one missing."
Krispos scowled. "If we have to use half the army to guard the other half, it'll be only days before we can't fight with any of it."
"Aye, that's so," Sarkis said. "And how will you be able to tell beforehand which half to use to do the guarding?"
"You have a delightful way of looking at things this morning, don't you, Sarkis?" Krispos peered up at the sky from under the broad brim of his hat. "You're as cheery as the weather."
"As may be. I thought you wanted the men around you to tell you what was so, not what sounded sweet. And I tell you this: if we don't find a good road forward today—well, maybe tomorrow, but today would be better—this campaign is as dead and stinking as last week's fish stew."
"I think you're right," Krispos said unhappily. "We've sent out the scouts; that's all we can do for now. But if they don't have any luck ..." He left the sentence unfinished, not wanting to give rise to any evil omen.
He sent out more scouting parties after breakfast. They splashed forth, vanishing into rain and swirling mist. Along with Krispos, the rest of the soldiers passed a miserable day, staying under canvas as much as they could, doing their best to keep weapons and armor greased against the ravages of rust, and themselves as warm and dry as they could—which is to say, not very warm and not very dry.
The first scouting parties returned to camp late in the afternoon. One look at their faces gave Krispos the bad news. The captains filled in unpleasant details: streams running high, ground getting boggier by the hour, and Thanasioi out in force at any possible crossing points. "If it could have been done, your Majesty, we'd have done it," one of the officers said. "Truth is, it can't be done, not here, not now."
Krispos grunted as if kicked in the belly. Agreeing with Sarkis that he wanted to hear from his subjects what was so was one thing. Listening to an unpalatable truth, one that flew in the face of all he wanted, was something else again. But he had not lasted two decades and more on the throne by substituting his desires for reality: another lesson learned from poor wild dead Anthimos.
"We can't go forward," he said, and the scout commanders chorused agreement. "The lord with the great and good mind knows we can't stay here." This time, if anything, the agreement was louder. Though the bitter words choked him, Krispos said what had to be said: "Then we've no choice but to go back to Videssos the city." The officers agreed once more. That did nothing to salve his feelings.
The Thanasioi tramping into the keep of Etchmiadzin did not look like an army returning in triumph. Phostis had watched—had taken part in—triumphal processions down Middle Street in Videssos the city, testimonials to the might of his father's soldiers and to the guile of his father's generals.
Looking down from his bare little cell in the citadel, he saw none of the gleam and sparkle, none of the arrogance, that had marked the processions with which he was familiar. The fighting men below looked dirty and draggled and tired unto death; several had bandages, clean or not so clean, on arms or legs or heads. And, in fact, they'd not won a battle. In the end, Krispos' army had forced them back from the position they tried to hold.
But even defeat hadn't mattered. Instead of pressing forward. the imperial force was on its way back to the capital.
Phostis was still trying to grasp what that meant. He and Krispos had clashed almost every time they spoke to each other. But Phostis, however much he fought with his father, however much he disagreed with much of what he thought his father stood for, could not ignore Krispos' long record of success. Somewhere down deep, he'd thought Krispos would deal with the Thanasioi as he had with so many other enemies. But no.
The door behind him swung open. He turned away from the window. Syagrios' grin, always unpleasant, seemed especially so now. "Come on down, you," the ruffian said. "Livanios wants a word with you, he does."
Phostis did not particularly want a word with the Thanasiot leader. But Syagrios hadn't offered him a choice. His watchdog stepped aside to let him go first, not out of deference but to keep Phostis from doing anything behind his back. Being thought dangerous felt good; Phostis would have been even happier had reality supported that thought.
The spiral stair had no banister to grab. If he tripped, he'd roll till he hit bottom. Syagrios, he was sure, would laugh the louder for every bone he broke. He planted his feet with special care, resolved to give Syagrios nothing with which to amuse himself.
As he did every time he came safe to the bottom of the stairs, he breathed a prayer of thanks to Phos. As he also did every time, he made certain no one but he knew it. Through the years, Krispos had gained some important successes simply by not letting on that anything was wrong. Even if the tactic was his father's, Phostis had seen that it worked.
Livanios was still out in the inner ward, haranguing his troops about the fine showing they'd made. Phostis could wait on his pleasure. Unused to waiting on anyone's pleasure save his own—and Krispos'—Phostis quietly steamed.
Then Olyvria came out of one of the side halls whose twists Phostis was still learning. She smiled and said to him, "You see, the good god himself has blessed the gleaming path with victory. Isn't it exciting? By bei
ng with us as we sweep away the old, you have the chance to fully become the man you were meant to be."
"I'm not the man I would have been, true," Photsis said, temporizing. Had he still been back with the army, half his heart, maybe more than half, would have swayed toward the Thanasioi. Now that he was among them, he was surprised to find so much of his heart leaning back the other way. He put it down to the way in which he'd come to Etchmiadzin.
"Now that our brave soldiers have returned, you'll be able to get out more and see the gleaming path as it truly is," Olyvria went on. If she'd noticed his lukewarm reply, she ignored it.
Syagrios, worse luck, seemed to notice everything. Grinning his snag-toothed grin, he put in, "You'll have a tougher time running off, too."
"The weather's not suited to running," Phostis answered as mildly as he could. "Anyhow, Olyvria is right: I do want to watch life along the gleaming path."
"She's right about more than that," Syagrios said. "Your cursed father can't hurt us the way he thought he could. Come spring, all these lands'll be flowing smooth as a river under Livanios, you bet they will."
A river that didn't flow smooth had won more for the Thanasioi than their soldiers' might, or so Phostis had heard. He kept that thought to himself, too.
Olyvria said, "It shouldn't be a matter of running in any case. We won't speak of that again, for we want you to remain and be contented among us."
"I'd also like to be contented among you," Phostis answered. "I hope it proves possible."
"Oh, so do I!" Olyvria's face glowed. For about the first time since she'd helped kidnap him, Phostis longingly remembered how she'd looked naked in the lamplight, in the secret chamber under Videssos the city. If he'd gone forward instead of back ...
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