'What about the middle section? The one where squad one attacked?"
'They had a clear field of fire, sir," Yular said. "I wouldn't have wanted to ride that slope."
'I see." Hyrlui studied the three.
Alucius could not feel the captain using Talent, but outside of the screening officer at Hieron, when he had still been injured, and not thinking so well as he should have been, and the tariff officer, Under-captain Gerayn, he had not been that close to anyone else who had any great Talent.
The captain looked at Yular. "Would you have said it was unwise to attack the center?"
'I didn't have any reports, sir. I didn't know. Once we got to the top, it was pretty clear, but you can't act on what you don't know until after the fight, sir."
Hyrlui focused on Alucius. "You have a reputation… squad leader. What do you think?"
'I was told to take the north side, sir. I looked for the quickest and safest way. When we got to the top, it was clear that first squad had taken heavy fire, sir. From below, we couldn't see where they had their foot positioned."
The captain stood. "Thank you, squad leaders. I hope you will be as effective in the days ahead." The three filed out silently.
They were a good fifty yards down the corridor before Tymal spoke. "You both handled that very well." He stopped. "See that what you said stays exactly the same." "Yes, sir."
'Better check your men. I'll be by shortly to keep you posted." Alucius and Yular kept moving toward the squad leaders' wing to pick up their gear.
'You know that a frontal assault was a hog-stupid thing." Yular said quietly. "The captain knew it, too."
'I thought she felt that way," Alucius offered, "but I'm still new at this."
Yular laughed. "You won't be able to plead inexperience too much longer, Alucius."
'Probably not." Alucius grinned. "But let me do it so long as I can." They both laughed.
Octi morning, right after muster, with all the companies still on stand-by, Alucius and the squad leaders were summoned to another briefing in the large meeting hall. Alucius noted almost twenty squad leaders of various ranks that he did not know—clearly those from the three horse companies that had arrived the afternoon before. There were also more officers on the dais, including a gray-haired overcaptain who stood immediately beside Captain Hyrlui on the dais.
Captain Hyrlui stepped forward and began immediately. "First, I'd like to welcome the officers and squad leaders of the Twentieth, Twenty-Fourth, and Thirtieth Companies. We're very glad to see you. Second, I'd like to introduce Overcaptain Catryn. She has assumed overall command of operations here in Zalt, and reports directly to the Matrial. Overcaptain Catryn." Hyrlui inclined her head to the older woman.
The overcaptain stepped forward, offered a warm smile, and nodded her head to Hyrlui, and then to Dynae and Marta. "Thank you, captain. Those of you here in Zalt have borne a heavy burden. I wish I could say that it will get lighter soon. It will not. The Lanachronans have completed rough fortifications around their camp, and they have dammed and diverted Spring Creek, in order to cut off water to Zalt. However, the reservoirs here are full, and water is not likely to be a problem any time soon.
'From what we can tell, the easterners lost slightly more than a company of foot along with their cannons. The raid cost us a little more than a squad and two squad leaders…"
Alucius was surprised to hear the Lanachronans referred to as easterners. He'd always thought of them as southerners, but Lanachrona was definitely east of Madrien.
'… We do not know with absolutely surety, but we expect that they will be sending even more forces from Tempre as quickly as they can. Whoever controls Zalt controls the access to Southgate, and if either Dramur or Lanachrona gains control of Southgate, it will cost us dearly. That's not just in golds. We'll be pushed into a defensive position."
Alucius frowned. For perhaps the hundredth time, he wondered why, if Madrien was so worried about Lanachrona, the Matrial had attacked the Iron Valleys?
'The Matrial had hoped that it would take some time for the young Lord-Protector to consolidate his power in Tempre…"
With that one piece of information, it all made sense to Alucius. The Matrial had felt that the Iron Valleys would fall to someone. She had hoped for an easier and quicker victory there before the Lord-Protector could act. That would have secured a more defensible border all along the River Vedra and allowed Madrien to concentrate on the south where it faced challenges from both Dramur and Lanachrona. The Lord-Protector's actions also made a sort of sense. He didn't want to see Lanachrona denied access to the sea, and strangled on three sides by Madrien.
Unhappily, there was little Alucius, particularly as a junior squad leader, could do about anything, even if it all did make more sense.
'… Captain Hyrlui will be meeting with the undercaptains and squad leaders of Fortieth Company immediately after you're all dismissed…"
Overcaptain Catryn concluded, "I am pleased to be here, and look forward to working with you to assure the future of Madrien."
Once more, Alucius led the way out of the meeting room, fairly certain that there were few if any squad leaders with less time in rank. Captain Hyrlui's spaces were crowded, with nine squad leaders, two undercaptains, and Tymal standing before her table desk.
'We're still outnumbered," Captain Hyrlui said. "A direct attack on the Lanachronan position would bring heavy losses. But we cannot allow them to remain or to develop their position there. The over-captain brought some engineers. We have reservoirs. They do not. Farther to the east, there are several places where Spring Creek can be diverted. We will do that. Without water, they will either have to move to water, or attack away from their prepared positions. If they move, we can raid or attack, depending on how they move. If they attack us, we have the prepared positions." Hyrlui smiled grimly. "Our task is to escort and protect the engineers and their equipment, while they change the flow of Spring Creek."
'How soon?" asked Tymal.
'As soon as we can. A glass or less. Assign the squads as you see fit, and let me know."
'Yes, sir."
'Dismissed."
After that very short meeting, Tymal gathered the squad leaders in the northeast corner of the mess, wasting neither time nor words. "Here are the basic assignments. Alucius, second squad is going to be the scout patrol. Your mission is to scout, not to kill easterners. Do you understand?"
'Yes, sir."
'Yular, you're going to be the actual van squad. Pahl and Gholar—fourth and fifth squads will cover the engineers…"
As Tymal went through the assignments, Alucius fretted. It was more than clear that Tymal had a good idea that Alucius had some abilities in looking out for danger. Was the senior squad leader making his assignments on the basis of the past—or did he have a better idea of what Alucius could do?
Then, in the current situation, what else could Alucius do? Desertion more than a thousand vingts from home didn't look appealing, especially not in the middle of a war. Neither did fighting battles against the Lanachronans.
Two days later, under the midmorning sun of early summer, a sun that, with a cloudless sky, promised almost blistering heat by later in the day, Alucius and second squad rode along the narrow canyon road. The old road wound back toward the southwest high road, following the path of Spring Creek. Alucius pushed back his felt hat and blotted his forehead with the sleeve of his tunic, then eased the hat back forward to shade his eyes from the intense sunlight.
Second squad was headed southward toward the southwest high road. Alucius judged that they were less than two vingts away. Second squad's patrol duty was simple—to warn the rest of Fortieth Company if any Lanachronans appeared, particularly any forces of a size to present a danger to Fortieth Company and the engineers. The engineers—working to shift the course of Spring Creek—were two vingts behind second squad to the north and a good seven or eight vingts eastward of where the southern boundary road crossed the high road. Occasionally, Alucius c
ould hear muffled explosions as the engineers moved soil and rock.
He glanced to his left. The ground, half rock and half sandy soil covered with brown pine needles, rose steeply enough that twenty yards into the pines, the roots of the trees were yards above Alucius's head. Then, the pines became fewer—because the uneven slope gave way to a series of sandstone escarpments, out of which grew but scattered and twisted pines. On the right, the ground—also heavily wooded—dropped sharply to the narrow creek. Beyond the creek farther to the west, the broken and sheer sandstone rose even more steeply than on the east side of the road. Alucius disliked the narrowness of the canyon, but it would be another vingt or so before it widened into something more like a wooded valley closer to the high road.
So, far his Talent had shown him little besides deer, a mountain cat, handfuls of rodents and birds. He'd felt no other people—troopers or others—and there were no signs of the brownish green wood-spirits. Still, he kept scanning the trees on both sides of the road, and the narrow creek running to the right of the road, a good five yards below the road level. In the next day, the engineers had said, they hoped to turn the existing creek into a dry streambed that would deny the Lanachronan camp its water supply.
Alucius blotted his forehead again, and then reached forward for his water bottle—the first one, although, with the creek near, he didn't have to be quite so careful, at least until the engineers completed their work. He took a long swallow and replaced the bottle in its holder.
Behind him, he could hear some of the murmurs of the squad.
'… pick us?"
'… better than sitting around back there, waiting for someone…"
'… was a scout… want someone who knows what to look for…"
Another quarter glass passed, and the creek kept flowing, but Alucius had heard no more explosions behind them. Were they far enough south that the detonations didn't carry? Or were the engineers doing something else?
Then, faintly, Alucius could sense riders… a good distance away, too far for his Talent to feel anything but their presence. He eased out the water bottle and took another swallow.
Before long, he could tell that the riders were headed up the canyon toward them. He held up his hand. "Squad halt. Quiet."
From what he could tell, the oncoming riders—he felt there were two, Lanachronans with black auras—were less than two vingts away, and heading northward toward second squad. He shook his head. "Nothing. Squad forward."
He leaned forward in the saddle and patted Wildebeast on the shoulder, then settled back and tried to sort out what he could do if the Lanachronans kept closing on second squad. He had less than a quarter glass to decide.
He glanced ahead, looking for a spot where cover would be possible. Taking second squad into the trees on the east side would keep the on-coming riders from immediately spotting the Matrite troopers, but the pines were set far enough apart that, once the riders were within a hundred yards, the easterners could easily make out the troopers of second squad. About a hundred yards ahead of second squad, farther south, the road and the canyon curved slightly eastward, just enough that a rider coming north would not be able to see into the trees until he passed the gentle curve.
'Squad halt." Alucius turned in the saddle. "There's someone riding this way. If you look closely, you can see a little haze or dust over the road. There's no real cover from a distance. Armon, you and I are going to slip forward, riding along at the fringe of the trees here. The rest of second squad—you're to pull back at least ten yards into the trees here, and wait. Hansyl… you're in charge."
Yes, sir.
'If there are a lot of riders, we'll be back in a hurry." Alucius grinned. "And then we'll all be in a hurry. If there are only a handful, and we can, we'll let them ride past us, and try to capture them. Armon and I will close from the south." Alucius looked at Hansyl. "If anything happens to us, you're acting squad leader."
'Yes, sir."
'Now… into the trees." Alucius looked to Armon. "Ready?"
'Yes, sir."
Alucius guided Wildebeast toward the left shoulder of the road, until his shoulders were almost brushing the pine branches. The two rode another fifty yards before Alucius eased his mount around a pine trunk and slowly worked his way southward, until they were just short of the point where the southernmost part of the curve in the road ended.
Alucius studied the pines and then edged Wildebeast farther east, but to where he had a clear line of sight at the road—from behind a thick pine trunk that afforded some cover. "We'll wait here. It won't be that long."
'Yes, sir." Armon had also eased his mount behind a pine trunk.
'If they ride past us without seeing us, we'll follow. If they shoot, we shoot back."
'Yes, sir."
Alucius blotted his forehead once more, before taking out the water bottle for another hurried swallow. Then he waited, knowing the two Lanachronans were still approaching and almost within sight.
Another quarter glass passed before two dim figures appeared on the road, their mounts raising but small clouds of dust. Alucius swallowed. "Rifles ready. Just in case."
'Yes, sir."
The two Lanachtonans, standing out in the bright midday sun in their blue uniforms, continued to ride toward the two Matrite troopers half hidden in the pines.
For a time, Alucius thought the two scouts might ride past without noticing them. But the eyes of the lead rider, less than fifty yards south of Alucius, swept across the pines. Then his head turned back, all too casually, even as he grabbed for his rifle and hissed something to the second trooper. He raised his rifle and ducked, even while aiming toward Alucius. The second fumbled for his rifle.
As the first Lanachronan fired, Alucius raised his own weapon and squeezed off a shot, willing it to hit. The Lanachronan pitched back in his saddle, his rifle flying free, and the void of sudden death flashed past Alucius. The second trooper wheeled his mount, clearly trying to flee.
Alucius took two more shots before the man flailed out of the saddle, also dead.
Alucius lowered the rifle slowly, then turned to Armon. "There aren't any more. We need to drag the bodies into the trees. See if they had any dispatches, orders, anything like that." Without saying more, he turned in the saddle and began to ride toward the two dead Lanachronans.
After a moment, Armon followed.
The two rode side by side for almost fifty yards.
'Sir…?"
'Why did I shoot the second trooper?" asked Alucius. "What was I going to do? Have him ride back and report that we're up here along the creek? Have them send a company or more?"
'If the engineers do their thing… they'll find out."
'But they won't know for certain, and we won't be here when it happens, outnumbered, with our forces split."
Armon was silent.
Alucius reined up by the first body, then dismounted and handed Wildebeast's reins to Armon. He picked up the dead man's rifle and extended it to Armon. Then, he turned over the trooper, a dark-haired and bearded man a good ten years older than Alucius, probably an experienced scout. He carried nothing in the way of orders or dispatches, and Alucius dragged the body into the trees, a good ten yards back and uphill. He was sweating profusely and breathing heavily when he finally walked back to the narrow road and remounted Wildebeast.
The second rider was far younger, and more muscular. Alucius swallowed. For a moment, the dead trooper had reminded him of Vardial. Was Vardial still alive? Serving in the militia? Alucius swallowed again before quickly searching the body, and then dragging it into the trees.
His eyes burned for a moment as he laid the figure beside a tree. Then, he blinked and took a deep breath before walking quickly back to Armon. It took him longer to find the second rifle, beside a pine tree root on the western side of the road.
Both Lanachronan mounts had stopped two hundred yards south of the second trooper. Alucius managed to project enough reassurance to keep them from spooking ag
ain, and, without being asked, Armon took charge of the riderless horses.
Then Alucius and Armon rode slowly and silently back northward, around the gentle curve in the road. Absently, Alucius noted that Spring Creek still flowed unabated.
'Hansyl!" Alucius called as they neared where he had stationed the squad. "Second squad! Form up."
As the troopers eased their mounts from the pines and onto the road, Alucius could hear some of the comments.
'… two mounts… four shots… just shot 'em…"
'… think this is leschec… a game?"
'Form up!" Alucius repeated. "We're headed back to the engineers."
The afternoon, as he had feared, continued to get hotter, and he drank more water, sweated more, and collected more road dust.
Alucius kept his eyes and ears—and Talent-senses—out searching, but for the entire ride back upstream, for more than two glasses, he could find no sign of anything except wildlife, his own troopers, and, as they neared the work site, the engineers and Fortieth Company.
Tymal had clearly posted lookouts, because he rode out alone in the late afternoon to meet second squad. His eyes widened at the sight of the captured mounts trailing the squad, and he reined up, waiting until the squad neared before speaking. "Squad Leader Alucius. I'll need a word with you."
'Yes, sir." Alucius turned in the saddle. "Second squad, hold here." He shifted his weight in the saddle and urged Wildebeast forward on the narrow road. Behind him, he heard some of the murmurs.
'… in for it… wager Tymal told him not to shoot anyone."
'… what was he going to do… let 'em ride back and tell where we are .
'…had to doit…"
'… doesn't miss much…"
'What happened?" Tymal's voice bore equal traces of resignation and curiosity, but his eyes were intent and focused on Alucius.
'We ran into two Lanachronan scouts. We'd hoped to surround and capture them… but they saw us and fired, then tried to escape." Alucius shrugged.
'You shot them both?" asked Tymal.
'There wasn't any way to catch them," Alucius replied. "There weren't any others with them. No tracks of other mounts nearby. They were under orders to get information and report back. I couldn't let them get back with it."
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