Portals of Infinity: Book Five: Demigods and Deities

by John Van Stry

  Holse nodded, "Yes, Your Highness," and started going over both what we knew, and what we suspected.

  It was going to be a very long winter.

  Fourteen

  Holden Border

  Start of the Spring Campaign

  The weather was terrible, it was raining fairly hard as we crossed the border into Holden, but that's better than the snowstorm that was now raging up in Hiland. This late in the year snow was almost unheard of, but a freak late storm had swept through just as we were leaving. We'd had to ride hard for several days in order to outpace it.

  "I can't believe the weather we're having," First Carso said to me as we passed through one of the small border stations Holden maintained on the road. Rachel hadn't bothered to build a new one after the Mulanders fell, seeing as negotiations to unite the two kingdoms had started before she could order one to be built.

  "I'm just glad we got out of there when we did," I told him. "Another day and we'd have been snowed in for at least a week."

  "Probably longer. Good thing the queen sent the army down months ago. With a storm like that messing up things, it would be a month before they got organized and sent out."

  I nodded, "I think the days of the Army operating exclusively out of Hiland are pretty much over."

  Carso nodded. "I'm almost ready to split the First Cavalry into the First and Second," he told me. "I'd like far more soldiers, but I need to start the whole process soon so I can split off a second command and get them trained and used to working by themselves."

  I looked back at the line behind us. We had over four thousand cavalry soldiers with us. At this point, the only thing holding back the size of the cavalry now was the number of mounts available. Trading was still going on with the Mowoks, though with their war last year the number of mounts delivered had been less than usual, but a large breeding ranch was in the works, and several small ranches were already in operation.

  "How big do you want each unit to be?" I asked out of curiosity.

  "About five thousand, we could them break them up into company groups, like we do with the regular army."

  "So you think ten thousand will be enough?"

  First Carso shrugged, "I'm not so sure. I know that her majesty wants to get the size of the army down, for cost reasons, but I think I'd like to see twenty thousand cavalry and probably an equal amount of foot for our standing army."

  "What if we beat Barassa?"

  First Carso laughed, "That's after we destroy Barassa! We're just getting so large now, that we're going to have to station troops in different parts of the country, so if we're attacked, we can do something about it."

  I grinned and shook my head, droplets flinging off the edge of my hood. "That's the reason for good intelligence, Carso, if we know what our neighbors are up to, we can move our army where it's needed, when it's needed."

  "Yeah, that's what General Holse keeps telling me. But I still prefer to have the troops available, it takes weeks to raise the levy, and then we always need to train them, those idiots never seem to remember anything we teach them during the yearly drills."

  "Yeah, I guess I can understand that. How soon do you think we'll be facing Barassan troops?"

  First Carso shook his head and turned to glance at me as we rode in the rain. "If they're smart they'll attack Marland now, with the snow up north, they'd figure we're paralyzed."

  "They have to know that we moved our army out before the winter came," I said looking back at him.

  "But our troops aren't in Marland, they're in Holden, and after that little fiasco with their god a couple of years ago, Holden sealed the border and they've been patrolling it pretty aggressively."

  "I don't know, it would be a pretty bold move, I'd expect their weather to be even worse than ours."

  "Perhaps, but after all the failure they had last year, bold is what they need."

  I signed and nodded. Holden wasn't a terribly large kingdom; you could walk across it in a week, if you kept up a good pace and stuck to the roads. We would get to our destination in two days at our current rate, less if we rushed.

  Holden was mostly situated in the coastal mountain range, with salt marshes on the other side of the mountains near the sea. With the shape of the coastal range, it lay in a valley that was incredibly fertile due to all the rainfall. Even the sides of the hills were terraced, and they grew a tremendous amount of grains. The shape and close proximity of the costal range also provided a formable barrier to attacks from the east and northeast.

  While the coastal range may not be a very high one, the ocean facing sides where rather shear and the winds coming off of the ocean could be quite fierce at times. However to the west there were no natural barriers, and hence that was where the former Mulander army had always come raiding from.

  Marland lay along the river, on the opposite side from Barassa, between Barassa and Holden. Marland was actually twice the size of Barassa, but the eastern half of Marland, where the river neared the sea, was mostly swamps. The western half of Marland was better land, and that part of the country was more prosperous, but Marland had never entered the slave trade, preferring a more agrarian economy.

  That had worked fine, when Barassa was more interested in staying home, or looking north when it looked anywhere at all, and the Mulander's army was not up to having yet another enemy on their borders, especially as Marland's army was larger than theirs back then, so Marland got off easy.

  But Barassa had expanded as far north as they seemed to be interested in going and their economy desperately needed slaves, and Marland had much better and more productive farmland than the city-states to the north. So Marland was next on the hit parade.

  "Messenger!" One of the forward scouts called out.

  "Well, I doubt this is any good," First Carso said, and waved the lone wolat rider over. Changing the military messengers over to riders from runners had been a good idea that General Holse had pushed through years ago.

  "First Carso?" The rider asked.

  "Yes," First Carso said and held out his hand.

  The messenger handed him a scroll tube. "I've been told to await your response, Sir."

  First Carso nodded, "Wait back there," he said and pointed to a spot far enough away to let us converse in private.

  I moved my mount closer to his, and waited for him to read it.

  "Just as I suspected," he said and handed it over to me.

  I scanned it over quickly, Carso's hunch had been right; Barassa had moved troops across the river and were attacking the easternmost Marland town that lay along the river. "So they've started their attack on Marland. Well, I guess that speeds things up a bit."

  "It will be interesting to see if they press westward immediately, or secure the town first."

  "How hard is it to get troops across the river?"

  First Carso shrugged, "I have no idea, we know that it's pretty deep, and the current is fairly quick, but we've never done it, and we don't know anyone who has. They just may be striking now to secure a place to land their troops."

  I nodded; it made sense from what I knew.

  "I'm thinking we should continue on to our original destination and meet up with the troops there."

  I nodded, "I agree. It's too early for us to ride to Marland's defense, obviously."

  First Carso waved the messenger over. "Tell your commander to sit tight, and we'll be there tomorrow. Probably not all that far behind you.

  "And ask him to try and get numbers on the enemy. Dismissed."

  "Yessir!" The messenger said and saluted, then rode off.

  First Carso then waved a couple of his sergeants over and filled them in on what had transpired.

  "Let the men know that Barassa has attacked Marland, we don't foresee any fighting soon, but nevertheless, the war has started, and every male should keep his eyes open and his wits about him."

  "Yessir!" they said and saluted, then returned to the ranks to pass the word.

  "Who do you think
Marland will ask for help first?" First Carso asked as we started to ride again.

  "Rachel," I replied. "They never helped Holden against the Mulanders, so King Charles won't lift a finger, and I'm sure they know it."

  "Sounds about right."

  "I just wonder if we'll ride into Marland as saviors, conquers, or victors."

  "Why not all three?" First Carso said and then laughed at the expression on my face.

  But I guess he was right, why not all three?

  We rode into the main camp the next morning, we'd only stopped twice to rest the mounts and feed them and the troops. Everyone was wet, tired and unhappy, the rain still hadn't let up.

  The camp itself was rather nice, the army had been here for three months now, and had taken the time to set up a decent fort. There were palisades around the entire camp, a corral for our mounts, and large tents for command and operations.

  We left the sergeants and junior officers to get the men settled, and I joined First Carso and his staff over at the command tent.

  "First Wyland," First Carso said as we entered the tent, "allow me to introduce my staff," Carso went down the line, and when he was finished he came back to me, "And I believe you have met William before?"

  First Wyland had been pressing palms with each of the staff as introduced; when he came to me he smiled rather happily. "Of course! I was with the heavy foot that day we won against the Mulanders! It is a pleasure to serve under you again, Champion Will!"

  I smiled and we grabbed arms after touching palms, "Just Will, please, First Wyland. Champion is such a mouthful."

  First Wyland laughed and nodded, "Of course, it's not like anyone doesn't know who you are, right?" He turned to the others and gestured to the large table in the tent. "Please, be seated. I'll send one of my men out for hot food as I go over the current situation with you."

  We all smiled at that, and settled around the table as he filled us in. The Barassan army was still pacifying the town, but that looked like it would soon be over. Troops were still being shuttled across the river; apparently Barassa only had five ships of their own, and could move maybe a thousand troops at a time.

  "So they attacked now, during bad weather, to secure a safe place to land their troops?" I asked.

  First Wyland nodded, "That's what we think. It hadn't occurred to us that they had so few ships to move troops."

  "So, how many trips can they make an hour?" I asked.

  "From what we have observed so far, only one."

  "Only one? That means it'll take them a week to move their army across the river!"

  "Closer to two, we don't think they'll continue to move their army across during the night."

  That stopped me a minute.

  "They're launching a major attack, and they can only move maybe ten thousand troops a day, into the battle."

  First Wyland and his staff nodded.

  "So it'll be what, a week before they can attack?"

  Everyone looked at me, curious.

  "The people running Marland may not be military geniuses, but they can get their entire army down there in what, two days? Three?"

  "We expect them to be ready to attack the day after tomorrow. We expect to have reports back from our scouts tomorrow to confirm this, but we know that the town did send for help."

  I nodded, "So Marland's army, which is what, sixty thousand?" I saw heads nod. "Okay, so Marland's army will come in and attack in two days, and have a better than two to one advantage over Barassa, defeating about a third of the Barassan army, and putting an end to the war before it has even begun?"

  I noticed the shocked expressions on all of their faces.

  "Barassa is not that stupid," First Carso said.

  First Wyland face-palmed and shook his head. "Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. We missed their main invasion force!"

  "So the Marland army is walking into a trap," First Carso sighed.

  "How many troops do we know for sure were landed?" I asked.

  "It looks like six thousand were there when I got my last report, the town wasn't terribly large, a force of three thousand could have taken it without too much trouble," First Wyland said.

  "And if this is just a diversion, they'll probably stop reinforcing it." First Carso added.

  I sighed, "So we have two questions: one, where is their army. Two, what do we do about it?"

  "Why we tell the Marland army about it!"

  I thought about that a moment. From Rachel and Holse's point of view, the purpose of the Marland army was to cut the Barassan army down to size, so we could defeat it, if it came to a war for us to take it over. But if they were ambushed, there wouldn't be much size cutting.

  On the other hand, we wanted the Marland army to be weak enough so that when all was said and done, Marland could easily and painlessly be annexed into Rachel's kingdom.

  Everyone was looking at me. As the Prince Consort, or whatever the hell I was called, I outranked everyone here. Being Fel's champion also pulled a lot of weight. It was up to me, which was why Rachel sent me here in the first place.

  I sighed, "We need to send a messenger to the Marland commander, tell them what we suspect, tell them that we think the main body of troops have either already landed, or that they're going to land after Marland's troops are committed.

  First Wyland nodded, "I'll get on it right away, Sir," and he ordered one of his men to get a messenger, while he sat down with another to detail the message.

  "You weren't thinking of letting them get slaughtered, were you, Sir?" First Carso leaned over and asked me softly.

  "If I didn't consider the option, and how that would affect our plans, Rachel would skin me alive," I whispered back. "Being married to the queen is not always easy or simple. I have to make the kinds of decisions she does at times."

  First Carso nodded slowly, "I guess I can understand that. But she wouldn't really skin you alive, Will."

  "I reincarnate, Carso, and she knows it. If she got sufficiently mad at me, who knows what she'll do. When she threatens to kill me, understand that she means it, because she knows I'll be back."

  I could see his eyes had gotten rather wide, and his lips had gone rather pale.

  "Welcome to the down side of being a champion," I said with a smirk, "who is married to a queen who does not take 'no' for an answer."

  "You must really love her to put up with that kind of abuse," He said with a weak smile.

  "Yes, I do."

  There was some further discussion on where the rest of the Barassan army might be hiding. It broke down into two camps: the smaller group thought that they had already crossed, further east in the swamps and salt marshes and were sneaking up through there.

  That idea I thought did have merit, but I personally didn't think it was practical, nor did I think the Barassan army had that level of commitment.

  The larger group felt that the Barassan army was further west, and that once Marland's army was lured out to attack the supposed main landing, they would do a mass crossing, and fall on the rear of the unprepared forces of Marland.

  That would leave Marland's capitol city completely undefended, and would destroy most of Marland's military might in a single blow.

  I made the recommendation that if Marland's army moved east, that we should move to occupy Marland's capitol city immediately, as it would take our forces two days to get there.

  And then I went to bed.

  When I woke up six hours later, the rain had stopped and the camp was a hive of activity, it had gotten rather cold however, but at least the sky was clear, though it was now late in the day. I went and hit the mess tent, I noticed that the rest of the cavalry was waking up and also getting fed. After I'd eaten I went over to the command tent to find out what was going on.

  "So what's the situation, Wyland?" I asked.

  "We'll be striking camp and heading west in another hour, as per your recommendation, Sir."

  I looked around and resisted the urge to swear. I'd forgotten that an
y 'recommendations' I made were considered 'orders'.

  "Do we know what the Marland Army is doing?"

  "Initial reports having them heading east, Sir."

  "Will or William is fine here in the command tent Wyland," I sighed. "I'm dependent on your opinions, and if you keep 'sirring' me, I'm not sure I'll get them."

  "Yes, Will," he said and nodded.

  "Do we know if they got our message about a possible ambush?"

  "Not yet, but we sent two separate riders, so we're fairly sure it will get through."

  "Are the Barassan's still reinforcing the town below?" Our camp, being located high on the coast range did have a rather commanding view of the river valley, so those with the keenest eyes were watching the movements below.

  "Yes, they are. But the army on the far side of the river does not appear to be as large as some of my scouts think it would be, if it was the full army."

  "So what is your opinion?"

  First Wyland paused a moment, "I think they mean to put up a good defense of the town, so when the main body of the Barassan army falls on the Marland forces from the rear, they will be able to crush them on the open fields west of the town."

  I thought about that a moment and nodded, "Makes sense. Apparently Barassa's generals learned a few things last year."

  "It would appear so," First Wyland agreed.

  "Now what I wouldn't give to know just how big of an army they have in the field this year." I sighed.

  "It is the subject of a lot of debate, isn't it, Will?" First Carso said joining us in the command tent.

  "I'd bet on smaller," First Wyland said.

  "Oh? Why?" I asked curious to hear his reasoning.

  "Boats cost money, if they're going to cross in a large group; they're going to need a lot of boats, so that means less money for mercenaries."

  I nodded, "Well, I hope that's true. Have we received any word from the Holden forces on their plans?"

  "They'll be joining us at the border, prior to our move to occupy or defend Marland," First Wyland said. "We received their response to your orders just a few minutes ago."

  "So they're under our command?" I asked surprised.