by Simon Brown
It was all something to do with the Sefid. But she was in control of the Sefid, so that was all right.
The wire door to the aviary clanged shut.
‘Just in time,’ Lerena said, standing up and dusting the soil off her knees. She studied the space between her plantings. ‘Room for at least one more.’
27
After heading south for two days the Hamilayan fleet turned northeast towards Sayenna; a small fishing boat saw the southern horizon fill with its sails and cut loose its nets to run close-hauled before the wind to give Sayenna a half-day’s warning.
When Arden and Velan, standing atop the keep, saw the fleet for themselves, they knew they were lost.
‘How many transports?’ Arden asked Velan, who had the glass.
‘I count fifteen at least.’
‘How many soldiers can they stuff on one of those?’
‘They’re not all alike, but I’d say they were carrying five thousand troops or more. Less if cavalry makes up a reasonable fraction.’
‘I’d rather do without the cavalry.’
‘Horses don’t travel well by sea, especially over such a long distance, and even if they survive need days to recover their land legs.’
‘If we’re forced to retreat across the plains to Kydan, their cavalry will cut us to shreds, no matter how many days it takes. How about warships? What sort of a pounding are we in for?’
Velan lowered the glass. ‘Too many for us to handle, even if you’d not ordered our squadron to make for Kydan. They’ll do us true and proper if they think we mean to resist. The keep will go for sure, and a good part of the foreshore, although they’ll try to save the docks.’
‘If we fight them street to street, how long can we hold them?’
‘A day, if that. Sayenna is not big enough to slow down that large a force for longer, even if they go house to house. And if we force them to do that, they’ll be brutal about it; it won’t be just our soldiers who die.’
Arden sighed heavily. He had dreaded this day as surely as he knew it would come eventually, but he had hoped for more time, even a year, to ready the city. But the Hamilayans had stolen an advantage by moving far more quickly than anyone had expected. The first thing Arden had done when the alarm was raised was order his small squadron, the large warship Karhay and schooner Kayned, to leave as soon as possible and take a long course to Kydan to avoid the enemy, together with any local merchant ships that could sail with them, including the converted Herris.
‘What about the longgons we took from Herris?’ he asked Velan. ‘Will that slow them up?’
‘There are not enough of them, Arden, a dozen against the enemy’s hundred or more.’
‘We can’t leave them for the enemy to have, and we can’t drag them away with us.’
‘So we’re leaving?’ Velan asked.
Arden grunted. ‘I don’t see we have a choice. We’re not strong enough to resist them for more than a day, and only then by risking the city and its inhabitants.’
‘In that case we should spike the longgons from Herris so the Hamilayans can’t take them back. Or better, overcharge and block them to blow the barrels.’
‘Fine. Before you see to that, get your four best riders together with extra mounts. I want two of them to take a message overland to Prefect Poloma Malvara in case our ships are caught, and the other two to escort Quenion and Councillor Fleetwood and her children back to Kydan. I’ll get things organised here. And hurry, I don’t want to be around any longer than we have to.’
*
‘Perhaps it would be best not to go the direct route,’ Captain Ainchell said.
‘What do you mean?’ Rodin returned, reluctantly looking away from Sayenna. Try as he might, he could not see any real defences in the town other than a handful of longgons on either side of the harbour. At least four, maybe more, but not many, he was sure. What disturbed him was the total lack of preparation for an invasion. There were no sandbag defences, no wagons across streets, no flags flying from the keep. A few of the inhabitants were staring at the fleet from the foreshore and from the roofs of houses, but as far as he could tell, all were civilians. It was almost as if whoever was in charge had decided to offer no resistance at all.
‘I mean I cannot believe the town is as open as it looks.’
‘What would you suggest?’ Rodin asked carefully.
‘Disembarking a party south of the town.’ Ainchell pointed to a stretch of low coastline about two miles away from Sayenna. ‘Let the party advance on Sayenna from landward. If there are any surprises they can retreat more readily. If the town is as open as it looks they can signal us from the keep.
‘How long would that take?’
‘The party does not have to consist of more than a company or two, that’s only a single transport. If we start now, we will be finished by noon. If all is well, by night you and your entire force will be on dry land, safe and sound.’
There was something in Ainchell’s tone that rubbed Rodin the wrong way, as if the captain was suggesting he was a fool if he did not take his advice but a coward if he did.
Still, the delay would not be inordinate, and at this stage of the invasion the most important thing was to get his army on land and intact.
‘Very well.’
*
‘I’m not going.’ Heriot Fleetwood crossed her arms and set her feet apart.
‘This is stupid,’ Arden said. ‘I need you to go to Kydan. You can explain the situation to Poloma and the council.’
‘You don’t need me for that. Send a soldier. I know nothing of war and tactics and strategy. I could not tell the council if we were being invaded by infantry or dragoons or pumpkins.’
‘Now that’s nonsense,’ Arden said. ‘Besides, what of Sookie and Berrat? They must be safe.’
Heriot’s face clouded. ‘I did not say they should not go to Kydan. And don’t use my children to blackmail me, Arden Hassouly.’
‘Governor Arden Hassouly. I am in charge.’
‘And I am not going. I have fought by you in two battles and will not run away from a third.’
Velan, who had been half listening to the argument and half keeping an eye on the enemy fleet, said, ‘Some of the ships are splitting off.’
‘On their way to Kydan, perhaps?’ Arden asked.
‘I’m not sure . . . but they seem to be swinging towards the coast.’ He looked down at the ground in thought. Then chuckled to himself. ‘They don’t believe their luck.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘They’re going to land some troops south of the town.’
‘How many?’
‘Hard to say. A single transport, I think.’
Arden’s face appeared to lose some of its customary grimness. ‘That’s obliging of them.’
‘I know that look,’ Heriot said. ‘What are you thinking?’
Arden turned back to her. ‘I’m thinking you should do what you’re told and get to Kydan.’
Heriot’s arms remained crossed.
‘Right,’ Arden said.
‘Right,’ Heriot repeated.
Arden sighed heavily. ‘I wish you could stay. It isn’t possible.’
Heriot tried to stare him down, but Arden was not budging. ‘If this was Karhay, you would let me stay.’
‘If this was Karhay we would have nowhere else to go. But this is Sayenna. You are not a trained soldier. You do not know how to shoot a firegon and reload it in sixty beats. If you are here I will worry about you all the time instead of worrying about defeating the enemy.’
‘I still think –’
‘Councillor, your duty is back in Kydan.’
Heriot moved back a step. He had never used that voice with her before, although she had heard him use it with others.
‘This is my city, my responsibility. I am governor. You will go.’
Heriot nodded dumbly, turned on her heel and left to join her children and their escort.
Arden watched after her
for a moment, then drew a deep breath.
Velan cleared his throat. ‘So, what’s the plan?’
*
Rodin was surprised how easily the troops were disembarked. The captain of the transport used his ship’s two longboats to carry off twenty soldiers at a time. In ten trips two whole companies were onshore, their captains and ensigns organising them into columns. The land rose gently away from the sea to a thin run of trees that stretched from Sayenna’s outskirts all the way south, covering the coast like the sleeve of an overcoat. Beyond that there was the hint of wider, more open spaces, and he remembered that according to his charts and maps this part of the New Land was mainly grassland from Sayenna up past Kydan itself, perhaps even dwarfing in size the plains of Hamilay between Omeralt and Somah.
‘Maybe the whole army should get off here,’ he suggested to Ainchell. ‘We would have more room to manoeuvre.’
‘That would take days, your Highness,’ Ainchell said. ‘A single ship unloading its cargo is one thing, but to have thirty transports doing the same thing at the same time and on the same stretch of coastline would be a nightmare. Much better to have them lining up at the docks in turn and disgorging your army right in Sayenna.’
Rodin said nothing. Ainchell was probably right; at least in naval matters he was reluctant to gainsay him. But why ‘disgorge your army’ instead of ‘disembark’? It made it sound as if his soldiers were going to be vomited onto land.
When the longboats returned after delivering the troops ashore, the transport and the two warships Ainchell had set as escort rejoined the main fleet.
‘Now we wait,’ Ainchell said.
*
Arden wanted to see if any enemy cavalry disembarked. If cavalry was put ashore, it would delay the Hamilayans that much longer while the horses were exercised to get them used to being on land again; but cavalry would make Arden’s plan too risky and he would order a general withdrawal, his small force covered by Velan and the dragoons.
‘No cavalry,’ Velan said after the transport and its escort moved away. The two companies left behind were starting to move inland, in column formation, their firegons either shouldered or slung. ‘They are overconfident. Their infantry will have no screen, and no ability to reconnoitre. They’re not even putting out a skirmish line. If this was the old frontier between Hamilay and Rivald, they would all be dead by nightfall.’
‘This is not the frontier,’ Arden said, ‘and they will still all be dead by nightfall. You have a man on the longgons in the harbour?’
‘In a manner of speaking.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I’ve got Quenion on the longgons.’
Arden said nothing.
‘She insisted on staying,’ Velan continued. ‘She thought, too, that if one of us stayed behind then the people would understand we mean to return.’
Still Arden said nothing.
‘She is waiting for our attack. When she hears the firegons, she will set off the charges. Then, when Sayenna is captured, she will pretend to help the enemy. She may give us an extra day or two.’ Velan swallowed. ‘Besides, she refused to leave.’
Arden nodded. There was nothing he could do about it now. And Velan was right; if Quenion was able to misdirect enemy efforts, it would help their retreat.
Neither man moved right away. They were well hidden behind the tree line that marked the hinterland between the coast and the plains beyond, and it would be a while before the enemy was close enough to make them out. Behind them were three companies of well-trained, well-armed and very eager Sayenna soldiers and the small force of dragoons left them by Gos Linsedd. The rest of his soldiers, a company of half-trained militia, were already making their way north along The Wash together with wagons of supplies and most of Sayenna’s treasury.
‘Time for you and your dragoons to swing around behind. Tell the foot to load their firegons and lie down. No one must make a sound. No one must be seen.’
‘When do you want the dragoons to move in?’
‘I’ll leave that up to you. You’re the soldier.’
*
Velan had begged her to leave, which pleased her mightily, but Quenion was adamant. She would be useless on the retreat, and was not a soldier. Her place was here, in her home, doing what she could to throw enemy plans astray. Unless they killed her, of course, which was always possible. On balance, however, she thought any commander would be pleased to have someone of her ability and knowledge on hand, especially if they were convinced she could be of real use; how to do that was a problem she and Velan thought they might have solved. Unless they killed her outright, of course, which was also always possible.
Damn. Maybe she should have gone with the army.
But then Arden would have needed someone else to order the longgons be destroyed at the appropriate moment. No, much better to stay at home.
The sky looked clear. It was going to be a nice sunny day. She could hear birds whistling and playing around the keep, even from down near the harbour. She looked out to sea, but the enemy fleet was not so close yet that she could make out individual ships without the advantage of height.
Everything was going to be all right. It was a lovely day for a war.
*
The ensign leading the first company north towards Sayenna could easily see the city’s keep but wondered why there was no one there looking back at him. He thought the keep would give an excellent view of the whole area and a long way out to sea, which made the absence of any lookout doubly mysterious. Perhaps the inhabitants, who seemed to have given up any idea of defending the city, were afraid the fleet would target the building. They were probably right at that; it was certainly what he would do if he was in command.
Alas, he was only an ensign, although if he kept his head down and his mouth shut he might very well progress up the ladder and be able to order things like ‘Fire! Destroy that keep!’
‘Fire!’ shouted a voice up to his left. A staccato rippling and whistling and slapping and shouts of pain.
Confused, the ensign turned to see what had happened, only part of his mind screaming for him to get down. He saw a bank of dark cloud rolling down from the trees. Then that word again.
‘Fire!’
He felt his right arm tugged behind him, and an instant later the most excruciating pain in his elbow, then an even greater pain in his right side. He looked down, saw blood bubbling out of the hole in his jacket, felt one lung filling with a terrible tide and fell to the ground.
*
‘What was that?’ Rodin cried. He ran to the port rail and looked back the way they had come.
Captain Ainchell joined Rodin and lifted his glass. ‘By the Sefid! Where did they come from?’
‘Who?’ Rodin demanded.
Ainchell handed the prince the glass, and Rodin looked through its small circle towards the stretch of coast where they had disembarked the two companies. At first, nothing, but then a wisp of grey smoke floated into his field and he turned the glass towards it. Dark smoke hung like a curtain in front of the tree line, and before it, like a show staged for his entertainment, his soldiers were dropping dead to the ground.
‘I don’t understand,’ he said weakly.
There was a loud explosion in front of them, from the direction of Sayenna, followed by five others in quick succession, their echoes washing over the waves and sending flocks of seagulls screeching into the sky.
*
The longgons were blown off their mounts, their muzzles peeled back like the skin of some black fruit. There was surprisingly little smoke, but Quenion’s ears were ringing. Gradually she started to hear again, first the sound of birds, then the sound of children crying in the city behind her. She paused only long enough to make sure her accomplices, good loyal Sayenna stevedores all, were unharmed. One by one they waved to her and left to go home to await whatever happened next.
For her part, Quenion took her time. She knew the enemy fleet would be twice as cautious now
, and probably not enter the harbour until the next day. Sayenna was free for one more night, and she intended to spend it in the keep, alone, with a little wine to salute her friends who were even now fighting for their lives.
*
Velan brought his small half-troop around as soon as he heard Arden give the order to fire. He shook his head, finding it hard to believe just how far that man’s voice carried, then with a shock remembered he had heard that same clear-rung tone once before, when he was besieging the island of Karhay three years before. How odd that they were enemies such a short time ago, and now allies and friends. Rather the latter, Velan thought.
Even as the firegons rattled off, he and the dragoons had exited the trees some two hundred yards from the enemy column and were slapping their mounts into the charge. Velan gave no more thought to Arden or history, but lowered his sabre and tried to keep its point aimed at the first Hamilayan soldier in his way. The soldier turned and dodged aside just in time; Velan did not break his charge to go after him, but swept on, slashing at enemies as he passed them. As he lost momentum he heard his dragoons galloping past, breaking what was left of the enemy’s formation.
Another shout from Arden, ‘Down the hill, boys!’ Velan reined in and looked up just in time to see the Sayenna infantry drop their firegons, draw hangers from scabbards and swoop down on the already demoralised enemy, the giant Arden first among them.
*
Rodin watched the massacre without flinching or turning away. He knew it was all over when he saw the cavalry break from the trees south of his column. At that point there was nothing he or anyone else could do to save their soldiers. In clipped tones he ordered Ainchell to despatch warships to bombard the area in the faint chance they might kill one or two of the enemy, but it was the only blow they would get in that day. As it happened, by the time the warships were in position to fire a broadside, only the dead were left on the battlefield, although they were soon joined by crows and foxes.
