Sword Masters

by Selina Rosen

  "Yes," Arvon said as if more than a little surprised.

  "Now let it go. Let it fall . . ."

  "That doesn't seem right," Arvon interrupted.

  "Just do it," Tarius said with a sigh. "You drop it. It hits the ground, it busts, and the beast is loose within you. Open yourself up to it. Let its blood mix with yours. It is you and you are it, there is no diffrence between the two."

  Anything else she said was lost to him. Arvon felt dizzy, as if he'd had way too much wine. There was a sense of falling and then being snapped upright just short of hitting the ground. His skin seemed to be exploding, like the feeling you got when you put on a shirt that was way too small for you. When he opened his eyes, Tarius smiled at him approvingly, her canines glowing in the moonlight.

  "Arvon, my brother. You are the Katabull."

  * * *

  The next morning their scouts reported that the Amalites seemed more than usually quiet. Still, Tarius made the men stay at the ready all through the day.

  Tarius and Arvon sat with Dustan and Harris having a late lunch.

  "Why do you suppose they wait?" Dustan asked. "They outnumber us ten to one. They could easily take us."

  "Perhaps their gods told them not to attack yet," Tarius said jokingly. Then added seriously, "Perhaps they wait for still more reinforcements. The Amalite army is huge."

  "Why wait then?" Harris asked. "It doesn't make sense. They could crush us with the men they have here now, and their fresh troops could ride against our reinforcements when they arrive."

  "The Amalite scout we caught earlier today said, after a little coaxing, that there was a Katabull in their camp last night." It was Hellibolt who spoke as he neared the fire, and both Tarius and Arvon gave him heated looks. "See, boys, the Amalites believe that if you see the Katabull at night you'll die the next day." He smiled broadly at Tarius and Arvon. "Perhaps for them it's true, hey, Tarius?"

  "Don't fill these young men's heads with your foolish chatter. Away with you, Hellibolt, go tell the future of some other soldier," Tarius commanded.

  "Ah! But the spirits have commanded that I tell yours, dear Tarius. In three days time you will commit an act that will finish the cycle you started when you saved the life of your partner through extraordinary means. The coming act combined with that one will surely cause your downfall. Take care that you do not rob fate of its true prize, for if you do, you will become the prize instead." That said he tossed something into the fire and walked away.

  "What a creepy old fool," Dustan mumbled. He immediately dismissed anything the old man had to say because Gudgin had despised him, and anyone Gudgin had hated, Dustan was going to hate on principle. It was his way of respecting Gudgin's memory.

  Harris was a peasant by birth and highly superstitious. He did not dismiss the old wizard's words so quickly. "What did he mean, Tarius?"

  Tarius shrugged as if she hadn't given his words a second thought. "Who can tell? He is an old fool who talks in riddles." However she did not for one minute dismiss his words.

  "What did he throw into the fire?" Dustan asked, noticing it had a funny shape and stench. He pocked at it with his sword. When he saw what it was he jumped screaming. "Bloody hell!"

  It was a human ear.

  "Crazy old coot," Arvon hissed.

  Tarius smiled. "I guess the Amalite didn't want to talk."

  * * *

  That night both Arvon and Tarius ransacked the enemy camp. First they sat safely outside the camp and carefully picked off the now far greater number of guards. When they had killed two dozen or more and the camp was running around in panicked circles, they had run in with their swords swinging. The Amalites scattered before them. Not even one man stood and fought. They killed, they burned, and then they took off before any of the Amalites changed their minds and decided to stand and fight.

  * * *

  Early the next morning Tarius stood with a looking glass at the top of the plateau watching the Amalites below. "Damn! There are more coming in even now. What in hell are they playing at? Do they hope to come at us with their entire army?"

  "Why don't you tell me?" It was Persius and his entourage.

  Tarius had heard them coming and wasn't startled by his presence. In fact she even took her own sweet time turning to face him.

  "That's what it looks like to me," Tarius was thoughtful. "Stewart's troop came in last night under cover of darkness, and Jamison should arrive tonight, however . . ."

  "What?" Persius asked.

  Tarius took a map from her pocket and spread it on the ground. She pointed to different areas as she spoke. "This is us, and here are the Amalites. We have the advantage of high ground, but they have the river which gives them not only protection on that front, but a ready water supply. They could very easily cut off our water supply by deploying troops in this area. We have to fortify this area to secure our water supply. Then we have to split our forces, sending Jamison and Alexander along this route. They should lay in wait here and ambush any new troops that come to join the Amalites."

  "But that will leave us badly out numbered here, and we can't expect them to hold off their attack forever," Persius said.

  "Aye, but Thomas' unit will join us here in four days time. It's the only chance that I can see that we have of defeating the Amalites. Jamison and Alexander's units can stop not just Amalite reinforcements, but also cut their supply lines. An army of that size consumes a lot of food, and they are out of their country. Stop the supply lines, and they fight on empty stomachs."

  Persius nodded. "So what do we do next? Wait for them to attack?"

  Tarius looked thoughtful again. "No. We have to attack now so that they won't catch on. Make them think that we have sized them up and have decided to attack them now before they can get any more reinforcements. Hopefully their intelligence has found out less about our plans than we have about theirs. Our crossbows and longbows outdistance anything that they have, so I suggest we set a shield wall here with archers here. Pikes and spears here and here, and horse men here in the center of it all. Try to draw them out and make them go into the river. When enough of them have waded into the river the archers will retreat, the shield wall will open, and the horsemen will attack in the river. The shield, pike, and spearmen will then run up to the bank of the river and attack them before they can reach shore. Meanwhile, I will have taken my troop and gone to the west. There is a low spot in the river there and we can cross with ease and come in behind their camp."

  "It's a good plan," Persius said. Once again he went to the center of the camp and laid out the plan to the men as if it were his own.

  Tarius led her troop, with Arvon and Brakston taking control of the left flank, and Derek and his partner, Heath, taking the right. Derek had balked at being put under Tarius's command when he'd arrived with Stewart the night before. But when he got dirty looks and harsh words from everyone he complained to, he soon shut up. Now he was just worried about being in command. After all, by all rights he hadn't even finished his training yet. They needed good swordsmen on the front so badly that they were running boys through the academy as fast as they could. A lot of less than exemplary swordsmen would have their chance at a title because of the war.

  Tarius heard the sounds of war in the distance and sped her troop up. Their horses pounded down on the north flank—the rear of the Amalite camp. The Amalites were totally unprepared for the attack on their flank. At first Tarius and her men mowed right through them. Then suddenly they ground to a near halt. Tarius jumped from her horse and stood on the ground, swinging her sword around her head, and shouting orders that her men only half heard. Without her hand signals, no one would have been able to carry out her orders. Harris and Dustan reined their horses in hard beside her and helped her fight off the Amalites, who seemed to be hitting her in waves.

  "Ride on!" Tarius screamed, ordering Harris and Dustan to fall in behind Arvon and Brakston. Tarius ran into the battle on foot, hacking and slashing every Amalite she cam
e across. Most of the Amalite horses were being used on the front line no doubt, and so most of the Amalites they encountered were on foot. However they were like lice. For every one you picked off, ten more seemed to appear in its place. Tarius continued running through them, hacking and slashing. An ugly red gash had been opened across her right cheek, and blood ran freely down her face.

  They were being engulfed; there were too many of them. It was that same feeling you got when you dove too deeply. Those few awful seconds when you wonder if you can get back to the surface before you have to take a breath.

  Tarius spoke a word she had never thought she would speak in battle. "Retreat! Retreat!" She whistled for her horse, and he came running. She jumped on, then watched as her men rode out first. Harris and Dustan waited for them, and they were the last to run out. They headed back for the river. Naturally, the Amalites followed.

  "Harris, Dustan ride on. Send Arvon back to me."

  Harris looked at the angry mob behind them in amazement. "But Tarius, you'll be hacked to pieces . . ."

  "Do it!" Tarius ordered.

  Harris nodded and he and Dustan doubled their pace.

  Tarius waited till she had reached the top of a little hill where the trail was narrow, and then she turned around. She jumped off the horse and called on the night. Within seconds she was the Katabull. There were no archers in the group that had chased them, and very few horsemen. Tarius ran at them, growling like a beast, and the Amalites froze for a second. Someone screamed a command, and they came at her again, although they did so with less than usual enthusiasm.

  They were no match for the Katabull. When you threw a blow at her one place, she wound up several feet away in another. She ran over and on and up them. She kicked them in the face hard enough to force part of their nose out the back of their heads. Her sword decapitated or maimed with every swing. When a second Katabull, bigger than the first, arrived on the scene, they could no longer be ordered to fight. They turned and ran like frightened children.

  Tarius licked the blood off her hand and changed back.

  Arvon gave her a look of disgust. "That's human blood," he said.

  "No. It's Amalite blood. We don't have time to hunt rabbits. I suggest you do the same. We have to go help Persius because there are even more of the bastards than we thought."

  Arvon made a face and licked his hand. Then he smiled at Tarius as he changed. "Um, tastes like chicken."

  "Just come on," Tarius ordered.

  * * *

  So far, Tarius's plan for the front line was working. But no matter how many of the bastards they killed, they just seemed to keep coming. Tarius ran in beside Persius and reined her horse in tight.

  "We've got to retreat. We can't hold them in the open. Our only chance is to go back to the plateau. I've already positioned the archers. From there we can hold them off."

  "For four days? Most of our troops have been sent west!" Persius was in a near panic.

  "Only three more days—don't forget that most of today is gone," Tarius said with a half smile.

  The Jethrik army retreated to the base of the plateau. The Amalites followed and arrows fell on them like rain.

  Tarius dismounted, took a spear from a dead man and took his place behind the shield wall. "Press!" she ordered. The shield wall moved forward. The Amalites were falling, taking heavy casualties from the accurate rain of death. They started to retreat The Jethrik archers ceased fire, and the foot soldiers stopped their press.

  "Who called a cease fire!" she screamed. She made a sign in the air with her spear. "Keep firing! Chase after them."

  "But . . . Their backs are to us," Harris said from where he had been fighting at her shoulder.

  She didn't have time to explain herself. "Push, damn it! I said push!"

  Only about half of the archers continued to fire, and the foot soldiers were hesitant at best.

  The Amalites were on the run.

  "Halt!" Tarius screamed. She pushed through the shield wall to stand in front of them. "What the hell are you doing? When I give an order I expect it to be followed."

  "You can't ask us to stab a man in the back!" someone screamed.

  "Don't you understand? This is a holy war to them. They think their gods want them to do this to us. Do you think for one minute they would hesitate to stab you in the back? No they would not! They would go into your homes . . . " Tarius paced back and forth now. Even screaming, not all of them heard her, but it would filter through the ranks eventually till everyone knew what she said. " . . . they would rape your women and kill them, they would slit your children's throats and burn your homes to the ground. They would burn the fields so that anyone who did live through their attack would starve. And now because you didn't have the nerve to do what needed to be done, we did not get the edge we needed. Can you not see how badly out-numbered we are? If we fall here, those things will over-run your country and destroy it. They are like locusts. Kill one and three more will appear. Kill a dozen and a hundred will appear. This is war, haven't you learned by now that it isn't glorious? How many more of our men have to fall before you realize that this is not a game, and you can't play by any rules? We had the chance to even our odds, and you let them get away!"

  The men all looked at their feet. Tarius just shook her head, walked back through the ranks and started up the plateau. Harris fell in behind her.

  "I'm sorry, Tarius. I was as guilty as the rest. My heart also wasn't in it. I guess I didn't think . . ."

  Tarius wasn't listening, she was mumbling to herself. "If I had ten Kartik soldiers, men or women, it wouldn't matter. If I had just ten, I could win this war. Stupid people, there are no ethics in war! There is only what works and what does not work." She started talking in a sissy voice. "I can't shoot people in the back; that's just wrong. We have to be on equal footing, too, and also have the same weapon. It has to be fair."

  Tarius was funny, and Harris laughed in spite of himself. But when Tarius glared at him, he looked at his feet.

  "They set a trap for us. A magic trick that got Gudgin and a lot of other good men killed. Was anyone thinking about that when they let the Amalites flee to re-group? What makes that any better or worse than killing them from behind?"

  "Nothing, I suppose," Harris said. "For a moment I questioned your judgment, I'm very sorry . . ."

  "Don't apologize. It's hard to get away from ideas that have been beaten into your head since your youth. Just don't let it happen again." She looked around suddenly. "Where's Dustan?"

  "He stayed with Arvon and Brakston." Harris smiled. "I think he's sweet on Arvon."

  "Is he?" Tarius asked in shock. She hadn't noticed. Of course she hadn't noticed a lot of things in the past few days. Something about narrow escapes from death, climbing over piles of dead bodies and being soaked in blood three to four times a day tended to wipe all other thought from Tarius's head. She certainly didn't understand how love could bloom in all this carnage. "Are you sure?"

  Harris shrugged. "Admittedly I don't understand a man's attraction for another man, and I'm not very experienced when it comes to romance. However, when one person constantly asks questions about another person, when they find reasons to be around that person, when they purposely physically run into them, and when they ask if that person is taken . . . Well, I've seen all that with you and Jena, haven't I?" He grinned at the look on Tarius's face. "Oh, yes. I think even I now recognize when someone is stupid for someone else."

  "I was never stupid for Jena," Tarius defended.

  Harris laughed loudly and patted Tarius on the back. "Oh, yes, you were. You still are. All I have to do is say her name—Jena . . . and see? There is that stupid, far away look. Admittedly, she was more stupid . . ."

  "Don't call Jena stupid!" Tarius growled out, glaring at Harris.

  "Sorry. But that does sort of prove my point, doesn't it? I can call you stupid, and you merely protest. But if I suggest that Jena's stupid, you're ready to hit me." Harris smiled and look
ed smug. "I myself plan never to give my heart to any woman. I shall be now and forever a swordsman. Married to my sword and in the service of my knight."

  It was Tarius's turn to laugh. "Oh, yes. I once sang that very song myself, and now look at me. By your own words, I am now stupid in love. It happens, and like a sword that finds its mark, it is too late to duck after you have been struck."

  She stopped, whistled for her horse and waited for him to get there.

  "You got your horse at the same time as I got mine. So why does yours act like a well-trained dog, and I have to hunt mine every time I dismount him and leave him untethered?" Harris asked, suddenly glad that he had a reason to change the subject. He didn't want to talk about it any more. Tarius was unique. He saw Harris as a whole man. He didn't understand that others didn't. Tarius didn't see the obvious; Harris would never have to worry about that particular "blow" hitting him, because no woman would ever chase him down the way Jena had chased down Tarius. No woman would ever want him. "So, what's your secret?"

  "Well, first I rarely let anyone else feed or water him. And second," Tarius reached into a pocket in her pants and pulled out a fist full of greens. She held them out to the horse and he greedily devoured them. "I watched him eating and found that he had a fondness for this particular clover. So now every time I see it I pick it and put it into my saddlebags. I keep enough in my pocket so that I always smell like the clover to him. Every time he obeys a command I give some to him." She patted the horse, and taking hold of his reins she started to pull him along.

  Harris just smiled and followed. "You have a trick for everything."

  "The Kartik people live by their wits. The Kartik lands are never quiet. There are windstorms that will tear apart a house. Rain that falls in buckets or not at all. We live at the land's will. If we didn't have tricks, we would die out. We are clever only because we have to be. We aren't born clever, the Kartik land makes us that way," Tarius said.

  "If it's so horrible, why would anyone live there at all?" Harris asked.

  "Horrible! There is nothing horrible about it. It is the most beautiful of places. Plants grow there that you have never seen, and birds and animals of such magnitude and beauty that one never wants for sound or color. Nothing is dull on Kartik. There are few laws, but those are strictly upheld and enforced by the people themselves." As Tarius spoke, her voice took on a dream-like quality.