The Mongrel Mage

by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

  “Something like that, ser.”

  “That sometimes happens with the youngest son.”

  Beltur understood that as well, because he had the feeling that much of Zandyr’s behavior lay in the fact that he was a younger son.

  “Can you tell anything about the Gallosians yet?”

  “No, ser. Nothing except that there aren’t large numbers of people or animals anywhere close to us … to the south, that is.”

  Beltur judged that they’d ridden slightly over two kays when he began to sense the mixtures of order and chaos that indicated larger living things, mostly men, but also horses. He was about to report that when Laugreth turned in the saddle.

  “Can you tell where the Gallosians are?”

  “No, ser,” replied Beltur. “Only that there’s a mass of people to the south of us … and maybe a bit east. Mostly foot.”

  “East? Already? How far?”

  “It’s too far for me to tell.”

  “Let me know when you can.”

  “Yes, ser.” Beltur understood why the captain wanted to know, but he also knew from previous reconnaissance that there wasn’t any way for Second Recon to get to where the Gallosians were and appeared to be moving other than by taking the old east road that Recon Two was already on.

  By the time they had ridden another half kay, Beltur was getting a far better sense of the Gallosians’ position. He also realized one other thing. There was definitely a white mage accompanying them, riding with the handful of men who had to be officers.

  “Captain.”

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t think the Gallosians are a feint. At least, not a complete feint. There are two full companies, if not more, and there’s a white mage with them.”

  “Can you tell if there are more crossing the river?”

  “Not from this distance. The water makes it difficult.” Not as bad as rain, but still hard. “There are only a few men on the east shore, though.”

  “What about the white wizard?”

  “I don’t think he’s one of the most powerful ones, unless he’s shielding himself more fully, and that takes more effort.” A great deal more. Beltur had been required to learn that to become a white, but holding a total concealment that blocked order, chaos, and light was exhausting, even for strong mages, although merely damping order and chaos was considerably less tariffing. He did have the feeling, based on what he had learned from Athaal and on his own, that it was far easier for blacks to shield order and chaos and to hold those broader concealments. He didn’t know for certain, because, he realized, he hadn’t tried since he’d come to Elparta. It’s something you should have tried.

  He repressed a sigh. Once again, he’d realized something later than he should have, but now wasn’t the time to try that out, not when he might need every bit of magely strength he possessed.

  He kept riding, for perhaps close to a kay before he reported once more to the captain. “There’s a company set up about where the road reaches the border, and another company, possibly two, moving east along that other path.”

  “Frig,” muttered Laugreth, almost but not quite inaudibly, before saying clearly, “They’re trying to avoid us, or sending those companies far enough east to draw us away from the river road. If we don’t follow, then they’ll be in a position to flank us whenever they want. That means we either have to attack the one company to get to the others, or climb hills on our side of the border. We can’t afford to attack. Not now.”

  “They’re mostly on foot, I think,” Beltur pointed out.

  “Do they have any wagons?”

  “Not that I can tell.”

  “Then the scouts were right about that. We might be able to stay with them until they decide what to do.”

  “Do you think they’ll cross the border?” asked Beltur.

  “They’ll cross the border. It has to be soon, or they’ll be turning back before long. The only question is when they’ll decide.” Laugreth turned in the saddle, looking back at Vaertaag. “We need to send a message to Third Recon. Tell them that we’re shadowing a Gallosian company. Tell them that I recommend that they continue to the border on this road because another Gallosian company is drawn up just on the other side of the border here.”

  “Yes, ser.”

  Beltur noted that the squad leader didn’t question whether Second Recon could successfully shadow the Gallosians, and in what seemed like moments, a single rider headed back north toward Elparta.

  Laugreth then shifted his weight in the saddle and looked at Beltur. “If we want to stay close to the Gallosians, we’re going to have to shadow them single file. If they have two companies, they’ll outnumber us. We can’t get too close, but we also don’t want them getting to another road heading north while we’re still in the hills. That would allow them to get around us. If we drop back to the flatter land around Elparta, we won’t have any idea where they are, and they could even double back and strike Third Recon.”

  “Yes, ser.”

  “How close do you have to be in order to know what they’re doing?”

  “No more than two kays. One kay is much better. If they get into a thick forest … it might be less than that. And if there’s heavy rain, it might be only a few hundred yards.” Beltur was guessing about that because he simply didn’t have enough experience.

  The captain nodded slowly, then turned to Vaertaag. “Send back that I need Undercaptain Gaermyn.”

  “Yes, ser.”

  Before long, Gaermyn reined up beside the captain and Beltur.

  “Here’s what Beltur has discovered about the Gallosians on our side of the river…” When Laugreth finished explaining the situation, he just waited.

  “Stringing out the company might not be the best way to handle it, ser.”

  “One squad, then,” replied Laugreth, “and pull back the rest of the company to, say, where that other road path forks from the river road?”

  “To begin with. Then, if the Gallosians cross the border farther to the east, we can pull back and make better time heading east across the flatter lands north of the more rugged hills.”

  “And if they double back, the rest of the company can simply move south again to reinforce Third Recon.”

  “Yes, ser.” Gaermyn smiled grimly. “I don’t think they’ll double back. They’ll want to spread us out. Whatever they intend has to be quick because they’re carrying whatever food they have in their packs.”

  “But if we don’t spread, they’ll reinforce their flankers and attack on all fronts. If we do, then they’ll concentrate on our weakest point and try to smash through it.”

  “That’s the way I see it.”

  What both officers didn’t mention, Beltur noted, was that such a strategy was eminently possible because the Spidlarians were heavily outnumbered.

  “Beltur will have to go with you and the recon squad,” said Laugreth. “Which squad do you want to take?”

  “Fifth Squad.”

  Before long, the riders of Fifth Squad were moving eastward up the slope beside the east river road, with Beltur directly behind Gaermyn and only a single scout riding ahead of them.

  When they reached the top of the first hill, Gaermyn asked, “Can you tell how far away the Gallosians are?”

  “Not exactly, ser. The ones we’re shadowing … I’d say we’ve closed a little on them. I’d guess it might be a kay and a half.”

  Another half glass passed, and Fifth Squad was coming down a rough gully barely wide enough for two horses, although they were still riding single file. Once the squad was in a small valley, perhaps half a kay across, filled with sparse browning grass and scattered scrubby bushes, Gaermyn glanced back. “Are they still moving east?”

  “They’re not moving at all, ser. Just a little while ago, they stopped. No one seems to be turning back west.”

  “Let me know if that happens. How far?”

  “Around a kay. I’d judge they’re about two hills beyond the slope ahead of
us at the east end.”

  “At this rate, we might be able to get in sight of them by early afternoon … if the ground doesn’t get that much more rugged.”

  Fifth Squad was halfway across the valley when Beltur noticed a change in what the Gallosians were doing. “Ser … they’re marching again. Now they’re moving almost straight north, and they seem to be moving faster. I think they might have found a road or a long valley.”

  “Frig…” muttered Gaermyn. “Can you find an easier way north so that we can get ahead of them?”

  Beltur concentrated. After a time, he finally said, “If we turn and head north right now, once we get over that ridge there, the one at the north end of the valley, riding will be easier than heading east, but it feels like it’s very steep on the other side of the ridge. When we reach the north end of the valley, we might be better heading southwest over the western part of the ridge we just crossed.”

  Gaermyn studied the rocky escarpment to the north. “If the other side is steeper than this side, we don’t even want to try it. Looks like we don’t have much choice if we want to stay between them and Elparta.” He turned his mount and called out, “This way.”

  In the end, it took Fifth Squad more than a glass to get out of the valley and then down to a stretch of rolling hills. Although the northern end of the ridge bordering the small valley on the west wasn’t as steep as the rock-strewn slope that Beltur had pointed out, it was sandy, with spots where the footing, for both men and mounts, was treacherous, and in several places, everyone had to dismount and walk their horses.

  By the time all of Fifth Squad was riding north along the crest of one of the rolling hills, the sun was almost at its zenith, a white orb in a green-blue sky that didn’t offer as much heat as the bright light suggested, especially given that Fifth Squad was riding into a brisk wind.

  “What about the Gallosians now?” asked Gaermyn.

  “They’re about a kay east of us and a little south of us.”

  “After all that we went through, we gained on them?”

  “They’ve taken more breaks than we have.”

  The older undercaptain frowned. “I don’t like that. They have to have crossed the border into Spidlar by now, and they’re slowing down? Why would they do that?”

  The realization hit Beltur hard. “Ah … it might be that their white mage has been sensing us. He’d know that we only have a squad. They might be waiting to see what we do.”

  “Can he sense you?”

  “I don’t know. Blacks are harder to sense from a distance because they don’t have any free chaos around them, and some whites are order-blind.”

  “You’re saying it’s likely he can sense us, but not you?”

  “If he can sense you, he can sense me. He just might not be able to sense that I’m a mage.”

  Gaermyn nodded slowly. “Then … if we travel on, as if we don’t know about them, we can see what they do. We’re about five kays south of the narrow road that wanders along the foot of the hills to the southeast of Elparta and likely ten kays from the main road between Elparta and Axalt. I’d wager they’ll make for the hill road and move toward Elparta. They’ll likely want to take the road less traveled because they won’t be so obvious. If they do that, we can call in the rest of the company and set up an ambush. If they don’t move west toward Elparta, we may just have to post scouts to watch them and withdraw to Elparta ourselves.”

  That made sense to Beltur, because the marshal likely wouldn’t want one or two companies held away from where the main attack might come.

  For the next half glass, Fifth Squad kept riding, but at a measured walk aimed at tiring their mounts as little as possible. Beltur kept sensing the Gallosians who had remained in one place for close to a quarter glass before resuming their northward progress on a track that looked to be what Gaermyn had suggested.

  Another fifth of a glass passed, and when Beltur reported that the Gallosians were continuing, Gaermyn dispatched a rider with a report to the captain.

  After that, he turned to Beltur. “Can you tell if we’re nearing the road that borders the hills?”

  “No, ser. I can tell that beyond the hills ahead, on the far side, the ground is much flatter.”

  “How far would you say?”

  “A kay and a half. That’s just a guess.”

  Gaermyn smiled. “So far, so good. The Gallosians are still behind us?”

  “Yes, ser.”

  “We’ll head more to the northwest, away from them, as if we don’t know about them. I’d like a bit more space between us right now.”

  Beltur could see that, for a number of reasons.

  Slightly less than a glass later, Fifth Squad reined up on the south side of the hill road, a way barely wider than a path that was even narrower than the east river road. Beltur had already reported that the Gallosians had stopped earlier, about two kays east of Fifth Squad, seemingly on the back side of the last hill before coming to the hill road.

  Gaermyn dispatched one rider to the top of the rise in the road to the east, and another to the south. Then the squad dismounted and settled down to wait, letting the horses graze on the sparse late-season grass.

  A short while later, the senior undercaptain asked, “Are the Gallosians still there?”

  “They are. They’ve made camp or bivouac, I think. They have a few fires lit.”

  “They might stay there one night. That’s likely all. They can’t forage that much here. It’s mostly grasslands, and the locals haven’t brought their flocks this far south quite yet.”

  A good two glasses passed before the scout posted to the south rode back and reported. “The rest of the company is only a kay away, ser.”

  “Just Second Recon?”

  “Yes, ser.”

  Less than a third of a glass later, the remainder of the company neared Fifth Squad. Accompanying the captain and the other four squads of Second Recon was a single large wagon, drawn by two horses. The captain rode immediately to Gaermyn.

  “Supplies?” asked Gaermyn.

  “Extra blankets, too,” replied Laugreth.

  “How did you manage that?”

  “By telling the majer that we needed them so that we didn’t tire out the men and their mounts riding back to keep track of two companies of heavy infantry. The Gallosians now have three companies on the east side of the river. Two foot and one mounted. They were still ferrying more when we left.”

  “You went straight back to the pier, didn’t you?” Gaermyn’s words weren’t really a question.

  The captain nodded. “The more I thought about it, the more I thought it likely something like this would happen. I did post riders where any messenger you sent could be intercepted. Your message confirmed that, but we were ready to move out. Where are those two companies?”

  “Beltur says they’re two kays east of here…” Gaermyn went on to describe what had happened.

  When the undercaptain finished, Laugreth nodded. “We’ll post scouts a little north of where you have them now. The Gallosians will stay where they are tonight. Then, if they don’t see any of our forces, they’ll form up well before dawn and move west, trying to get as close as they can to Elparta. It’s almost certain that the Gallosians will send a force down the river road at the same time. The scouts with Third Recon say that they think there is a white wizard with the force on the east bank. Third Recon will harass them and inflict what casualties they can as they pull back closer to Elparta. They’ll have to be very careful in how they do that.”

  “Dirt is a very good protector against chaos-fire,” Beltur said. “As long as you keep it between you and the chaos. If they can loft it and there’s no mage to block it…”

  “Then we lose men.”

  Beltur nodded.

  “What’s happening on the west side of the river?” asked Gaermyn.

  “The same as on the east side, but with more men. They’ll try to take the flat land upstream of the piers, then bring down the siege engin
es and hold them there while the forces on the east side try to push us back to the piers. That’s my guess.” Laugreth shrugged. “We can’t do much about that. We’re to keep those heavy infantry companies from flanking the piers.”

  “Just us?”

  The captain laughed. “Why not? We’re only outnumbered two to one, and we have archers and a mage. Also, I’ve had the rest of the company practice riding blind, the way you told me you’d practiced. The rankers weren’t too pleased with being told to close their eyes, but I think we got most of the problems straightened out.”

  Beltur managed not to apologize for not thinking about that. He just nodded. “I hope we don’t have to do that with a whole company.”

  “Hope isn’t much help in trying new maneuvers,” replied Laugreth.

  “Yes, ser.” Beltur suddenly felt like someone had dropped several stones’ weight of bronze on his shoulders.

  “For the moment,” Laugreth continued, “we should get everyone fed.”

  Gaermyn nodded.

  Beltur looked eastward toward the Gallosian forces he could sense, but had never seen.

  LVIII

  Even with two blankets, Beltur awoke shivering twice during the night, thinking more than once before he fell back into a continually disturbed slumber that it was only early fall. Breakfast was cold bread and cheese, but with halfway decent ale, eaten in darkness well before dawn, but after Beltur had dealt with Slowpoke. Whether it was the food, the ale, or just walking around, Beltur began to feel better as he finished eating.

  Zandyr, who had eaten without saying more than a few words, finally said to Beltur, “Do you think the Gallosians will really attack?”

  “By crossing into Spidlar with armsmen, they already have.”

  “No … I mean attack us, Second Recon.”

  “If they’re headed toward Elparta, we’ll probably be the ones doing the attacking. That’s what the captain was saying last night.” Didn’t he or Gaermyn tell Zandyr?

  “Gaermyn said something about Third Squad standing in reserve after the first attack.”