Five hours later, Denes faced two more decisions. One was easy and expected, the second more difficult and unexpected. They reached Ponth only to find earthworks thrown up around the town of three thousand, with people still digging, as they watched just out of musket range.
“Like I told you, Colonel. A pisser,” said Sixwith. “There’s got to be a couple of hundred fighting men, in addition to what look like other citizens helping dig. If we attack, we could probably overrun them, but it’s not certain and we’d take casualties. Getting the seriously wounded back to Keelan would slow us.”
“We won’t attack Ponth. And with what your forward scouts report, there’s no time to waste here.”
Sixwith’s forward scouting company had circled Ponth and pushed a few miles farther into Preddi, until they skirmished with what appeared to be Narthani cavalry escorting wagons of infantry headed to Ponth. The company commander gathered his men and withdrew.
“Get your men turned around, Major. I think we’ve done all we can, and it’s time to get our asses back to Keelan.”
Denes looked to their right. Nearby was the leftmost company of Major Kildorn’s battalion. Beyond, he made out the next company, though he hadn’t seen Kildorn for more than an hour. He turned to an aide. “Ride and find Major Kildorn. He’s to pull his men together and follow in column. We’re moving fast back to Keelan.”
Twenty minutes later, Denes wasn’t sure how fast they’d be moving and cursed the Oroszian major. He waited for the last of Kildorn’s companies to form up on the road back, when Kildorn arrived leading a dozen wagons loaded with people, thirty or more horses carrying double, and many of his men with people riding behind them in their saddles.
“What the fuck is this, Kildorn?!” Denes roared.
“The company came on a slave camp five miles north of here. They were being kept in terrible conditions and were used to work all the farms in the area. The company was loading them on wagons when I got there.”
Kildorn looked alternately defiant and desperate as he talked. “We didn’t even take them all. Some were in such bad shape, they couldn’t have traveled as fast as we need to. A few were too scared to come with us, especially Preddi who’d been slaves for years.”
“God’s curses, Kildorn,” said Denes, sounding desperate himself. “Taking them will put all of us in danger.”
“What the hell did you want me to do?! Leave them? Even if I wanted to, I doubt the men would have allowed it. These are mainly Caedelli, for God’s sake.”
Denes shook his head, sighed, and guided his horse along the line of wagons. Kildorn was right about the people’s condition. All were lean, some nearly emaciated, and many bore scars and bruises. Ages ranged from children no more than eight years old to gray-haired men and women whose age could have been anywhere from forty to eighty, depending on how long they’d been enslaved and how severe the conditions.
“Damn, damn, damn,” Denes muttered. He rode back to where Kildorn and other leaders waited.
“All right. We’ll have to take them with us, but they’ll have to keep up. I’ll have no argument about this. If it comes to a point where we either leave them or risk getting all of us killed, we leave them.” Denes’s tone and harsh expression brooked no argument.
“Yes, Colonel,” said Sixwith. “We understand and will see they don’t slow us.” Sixwith gave Kildorn a warning look. Kildorn nodded reluctantly.
“Sixwith,” said Denes, “send a couple of riders hard toward the support camp. Tell them what’s happening and that we’re bringing . . . how many of these people are there?”
“About three hundred,” answered Kildorn.”
“Have the riders tell them we’re bringing three hundred slaves we ‘rescued’ from the Narthani, and we’ll make the best time we can.”
Inside Ponth
An hour later, Colonel Erkin Ketin entered Ponth soon after his lead cavalry company ensured the town was secure. Akuyun had charged him with making contact with the islander raiders, assessing their numbers, and, if possible, pursuing.
“You don’t think their scouts saw more than your company, Captain?” Ketin asked the company commander.
“I can’t be positive, Colonel. My forward men say the islanders turned and galloped away, as soon as they saw those men. The next company was well out of sight, still not through the forest when the islanders came on us.”
Ketin was pleased. “If that’s the case, then they don’t know exactly how many of us are after them. From what the officer in charge of the Ponth men says, they have something like a thousand men. They also saw a few cannon we can assume are cavalry versions, probably 6- to 8-pounders.
“We have enough men. I’d like to force them to stand and fight, although to do that we have to close with them. Also, General Akuyun plans to divert Brigadier Zulfa’s force to land behind them, although the general doesn’t know whether Zulfa will be back in time. We know he was supposed to sail from Swavebroke yesterday. We can assume the islanders came straight across the Eywell coastal plain and will head back the same route toward Keelan. If Zulfa does block their route, we might catch them between us.
“Major Torvik, I want you to take two companies and ride hard to Neath. The Eywellese are supposed to have a standing hundred-man force based there. Gather them up and fan out, paralleling the raiders’ route, picking up as many more Eywellese as can ride and shoot. Your task is to be on their flank, in case they try to turn north or northeast. Also, if we can get them to stand to fight, you might have opportunities to come at them while they’re busy with us or Zulfa.”
“Major Seljunk, keep our militia cavalry organized as best you can. I realize some of them aren’t the best horsemen, but don’t let them lag.”
Preddi City
“I’m afraid your instincts were right, Okan.” Sadek Hizer’s voice was full of regret, not congratulations. “I know you weren’t convinced we should stir the clans up, when the rest of us weren’t as worried.”
“I had reservations,” said Akuyun, “but it didn’t take all of you too long to get me to agree, and it still was my decision, so the consequences rest on me.”
Akuyun kicked a trash receptacle across the room. It hit a wall, and paper and various discards exploded in a fountain of debris. He paced to the window, hands clasped behind him, while he regained his composure. The empty harbor held his attention, as he went through a mental checklist taught to him many years ago by a captured Fuomi priest. By the eighteenth step, he felt calm enough to turn back to the assessor.
“The raids into Eywell and Preddi are obviously not intended to hold territory or win any battles. They just want to show us they can do it. As for Erdelin, that’s either retaliation for striking at their hetmen or another warning or both.”
The semaphore message of Erdelin’s death had shocked Akuyun. He hadn’t liked the man, but Erdelin was competent. Moreover, to strike right at the heart of the Narthani command structure showed daring and determination.
Akuyun couldn’t help but imagine his family’s house being attacked by assassins. His guard would now be doubled from eight to sixteen men, and two men would accompany Rabia and both of their children wherever they went. He also sent a semaphore message to Colonel Metin in Selfcell to be on the alert.
“So you think the raids and the strike on Erdelin were . . . what?” asked Hizer.
“While I’d prefer to think of them as pure retaliation, I’m afraid I see more behind it. The clans didn’t simply retaliate after our attacks. They prepared all of this well ahead of time. Think about it. Two separate thousand-man raids and going after Erdelin, all within days of our attacks? No. It was all in place before we moved. If I speculated, I’d say they had already considered the possibilities and prepared their attacks in response. No matter what they did or didn’t anticipate, the result is the same. Those are the last offensive actions we’ll take against the clans until we get reinforcements from Narthon.”
Hizer sat back in his chair
. “I take it you now think it likely the High Command will send more resources?”
“I’m afraid the only other option I see is abandoning the entire Caedellium objective. If we give the clans too much more time, we might see them seriously coming after us here. Even though we control the seas around the island, they are going to eventually control the land. With their larger numbers and them now making cannon, it’s only a matter of time before they judge their position strong enough to come after us.
“If I was them, I’d start by cutting out Eywell. The clan’s already shaken by the losses at Moreland City, and with Erdelin’s death and the damage done by these two raids, the clan isn’t too far from collapse. Many of the Eywellese could pull back to Preddi Province, but we never fooled ourselves that every member of the clan was pleased by Brandor Eywell’s alliance with us. It won’t surprise me if we hear of Eywellese running to the other clans and asking to be taken in.”
“Would other clans do that?” asked Hizer. “After what Eywell has done?”
“It would be the smart thing to do,” Akuyun replied. “And the clans are making far too many smart moves for me. But this is all for the future. We need to deal with the now. In Hanslow, what’s done is done. Erdelin is gone, and Major Jurna seems to have moved quickly. He reports the city calm, despite the clans’ ability to evidently walk in and kill a Narthani commander. He’s acting decisively against the raid. He didn’t ask my permission to go after them, only informed me of his general intent. I’ve had my eye on him for some time, and this will tell me whether I promote him and leave him in charge or send in another officer.”
“What if headquarters doesn’t send reinforcements? What then?”
Akuyun had anticipated the assessor’s question, and despite their good relations, he couldn’t be sure of Hizer’s response to what Akuyun saw as the only alternative.
“I believe the High Command is competent enough and my reports comprehensive enough that they will see the futility of continuing the mission with what we have. If I’m wrong, then there are hard decisions to make.” Akuyun paused and looked Hizer in the eye. “Dangerous decisions. I’m not throwing away the lives of all my men, and Narth knows how many of the hundred thousand civilians we have on the island, to blindly follow orders I know to be suicidal. In that case, I would order Admiral Kalcan to start ferrying the civilians back to Narthon.”
Hizer’s expression didn’t change, nor did his tone convey an opinion. “Even if contrary to direct orders?” he asked softly.
Akuyun stood on precarious ground. Although it happened rarely, a mission’s assessor could, under what he deemed extraordinary circumstances, relieve a commander. Both men knew they danced around a fire pit. Akuyun knew Hizer could remove him from command, and Hizer knew how respected Akuyun was among all the men. Would Hizer act against Akuyun? Would Akuyun arrange a fatal accident before Hizer could publicly remove Akuyun? Hizer could, theoretically, rule that the High Command was not fully aware of the situation on Caedellium and could support Akuyun, though that itself would be a move with unpredictable consequences. So many unknowns.
CHAPTER 38: SKIN OF THEIR TEETH
Eywell Province, Thirty Miles from Keelan
Denes Vegga’s serious worry began when Kildorn’s rear scouts reported in.
“It’s a large Narthani force,” said Kildorn. “My men say they’re five miles behind our last company. Before they were chased away, they confirmed at least a battalion of cavalry and cannon, and more dust rising behind the units they could see.”
“I think we have to assume a Narthani force at least the size of our own,” said Denes. “Our problem is, they aren’t shepherding three hundred slaves.
“Major Sixwith, send two more riders to the support camp. Tell them to kill the horses, if they have to, but get to the camp fast as they can. Warn them we’re being pursued by a significant Narthani force and will push our horses to the maximum.”
“Do you expect them to send help out from the support camp position?” asked Major Kildorn.
“No,” said Denes, who then turned back to Sixwith. “Your riders should say I’m not asking anyone from the support camp to move forward, only advising them of the situation. While I’m sure they’re alert, we don’t know that other Narthani or Eywellese aren’t headed this way. The camp needs to be ready for whatever happens. Tell them that, at this pace, we’ll be three or four hours behind the riders.”
Gulf of Witlow
“That was an unpleasant surprise,” Brigadier Zulfa remarked.
He stood beside Admiral Kalcan, who had returned to the aftcastle of Kalcan’s flagship. The two men had been hailed by one of the cutters picketed to intercept the squadron returning from Swavebroke.
“Yes,” Kalcan said, “I’m afraid Okan’s gut feeling about our actions may have been too prescient, and we might regret our arguments that convinced him. He must be right that the clans had plans in place to respond to our actions. This will almost certainly restrict us from any further land action against the clans. I can still harass them from the sea, but you won’t be able to pull enough men away from defensive postures to carry out major actions, as we did at Swavebroke.”
“We can still salvage all this,” argued Zulfa, “if we can land behind the islanders who reached Ponth. We destroy this group, the clans might not try the same tactic again.”
“I wouldn’t be optimistic, Aivacs. We’re two hours from where I’ll anchor the ships. We’ll still have to get the men and cannons ashore. You’ll be completely on foot, since we didn’t bring any horses back with us.”
“All we have to do is set up a blocking position to delay them. Ketin is hot on the trail, and Akuyun wrote that a small Narthani and Eywellese force is racing to get into a flanking position. We can serve as an anvil, with the other two forces hammering the islanders.”
Support Base, Eywell Province
“Well, fuck!” Yozef exclaimed in English, after hearing the rider’s message from Denes. Mulron Luwis didn’t need to have the words translated, because he was busy expressing similar sentiments in Caedelli.
“You said there were two riders sent,” Luwis said, addressing the messenger. “Where’s the other one?”
“When we were about halfway, we decided we risked both horses giving out, so we drew sticks and I won. I took both horses and, about ten miles back, turned loose the one I was riding and continued on with the second horse. The other rider is on the road, waiting to be picked up.”
Luwis groaned. “Why the damnation did they take along three hundred slaves?”
Yozef put a hand on Luwis’s shoulder. “We weren’t there, Mulron. I assume the men found them and couldn’t bring themselves to leave them as slaves, not when they had a chance to transport them back.”
Understanding is not the same as approving, Yozef thought to himself. Denes succumbed to a classic leader fault by letting emotions decide, instead of logic.
Not that he blamed Denes. Yozef was honest enough to admit that in the same situation, he might have done the same. He couldn’t bring himself to cast aspersions when he himself might have been guilty of an emotional decision. For two days, he’d castigated himself for sending Balwis off to kill the Narthani colonel in Hanslow. In retrospect, he couldn’t be sure that pure anger and thirst for revenge at the attack on his home and family hadn’t made him too eager to send Balwis and the others. He felt even worse when he learned that Wyfor had gone with Balwis, despite having just lost two fingers.
“The only relevant question now is not why Denes did what he did, but what should we do?” said Yozef. “How are they transporting the slaves?”
“Mainly in wagons from the slave camp or from farms,” the messenger replied. “Most are overloaded for the number of horses pulling them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some haven’t broken down. The rest are riding double with our men.”
“We can’t leave this position,” said Mulron. “We’re dug in here, and it’s too good a defensive posit
ion.”
“Maybe we can send wagons and horses forward to meet Denes,” Yozef suggested. “We don’t need the wagons we brought. We can dump everything out of them. If the rider is right, our wagons can hold more people, and we have full teams, so the weight of the load won’t be a factor.”
Mulron put his lower lip between his teeth, while he chewed over Yozef’s proposal.
“What about men?” Yozef asked. “We can’t just send wagons and drivers. They’ll need enough escorts, in case they run into Eywellese.”
Luwis scowled. “I hate reducing our strength here, but you’re right. The wagons can’t go naked. What do you think—one company?”
“I’d rather send two companies,” Yozef said, “but I’ve got a bad feeling the Narthani coming after Denes aren’t the only ones we have to worry about. I think we need to send pickets farther north and to our rear, just in case. Maybe a company’s worth, to be sure nothing slips by them. That leaves us two companies short here, so I think one company is all we can risk sending with the wagons. We should also send a rider to Denes to alert him that the wagons are coming. It might change how hard he pushes the ones he’s got.”
Ketin
“Colonel,” said a young lieutenant with the company leading the column, “a forward scout just reported. They’ve made contact with the islanders. They’re only three miles ahead of us.”
“They may be only three miles away, but they’re also only fifteen miles from leaving this flat terrain and getting into broken hills, where we wouldn’t be able to envelop them. Not only that, I remember some rock and boulder fields a few miles before that. That’ll make it harder to get around them. At that point, to stop them from reaching Keelan, we’d have to go straight at them, and only a fraction of them could defend some position, while the rest escaped. Lieutenant, get back to your unit and tell the captain to push his horses and make contact with the islanders. Do whatever he can to force them to stop and fight. I’ll bring up the rest of our men as fast as I can.”
Heavier Than a Mountain (Destiny's Crucible Book 3) Page 52
