Errant

by Armas, Florian

  “You are not doing it for me. You are doing it for people that are close to both of us, and for yourself. However wrong everything looks to you right now, I appreciate what you are doing, and we need you.” There was a moment of silence, then the sound of heavy boots stepping on the stones, coming closer to me.

  Ah, how I wish to leave just to prove you wrong, but you are right. Like a mirage, the road to Mehadia was waiting in the valley, pointing to my only future that had a meaning, and a new idea came to me. I did not bother to share it with Mohor. “The proof of your appreciation is there,” I gestured back to the door of the empty cell. “I should have killed Bucur yesterday, when I had the chance.”

  “And what stopped you?”

  “Sometimes I make mistakes.” It will not happen again.

  “No one is without mistakes, but you did the right thing, and you know it. You don’t disturb the balance of power during a war.” Mohor rested his hand on the stones, in the same position as me, his eyes watching me keenly, and I could not understand why; he already knew that I had agreed to bet my future on his army.

  “Tell that to Bucur and Big Mouth.”

  “I told them.”

  “You told them the same in Severin, and we saw the effect yesterday – no wonder that many are no longer listening to you.”

  “I will deal with this at the proper time. This is not that time.”

  “You will never deal with it. I stayed one month in your jail for nothing. They tried to kill your army commander and you are just juggling philosophy. I did not expect you to execute Bucur for treason, even though he deserved it, but you should have put him in jail. You freed a traitor because you are afraid. You are afraid even to recognize that Big Mouth provoked all this on purpose, and you have no idea why he did it. Your soldiers see your weakness. Your Knights see it too. Why do you want to be a Grand Seigneur, if you can’t master a Knight?”

  “What makes you think I want to be a Grand Seigneur, or that I want an alliance, or this war and the others to come? Our lives are driven by necessity, not wishes. Sometimes they might align. Just sometimes. If I look back over the past few years, Jara is the only thing that happened to me fitting both. Nothing else. Give the order to burn the castle and prepare the army for marching. It’s your army.” Mohor leaned against the arch, and his hand gestured toward the road in the valley. The mirage was still there.

  I went down the stairs, and Mohor did not follow me. Not that I cared. The first one I met downstairs was Vlaicu.

  “I am sorry.” He apologized for freeing Bucur, a guilt that was not his, and I just patted his shoulder. “What should we do now?”

  “Empty the castle of people and set the fire.” Most of the locals had left already – they were not many, it was a small castle with no city around it. “We leave in two turns.” I glanced east: a half-disc of sun was shining over the hills.

  As usual, things took longer, but we still left early in the morning. Behind us, void of people, the castle was burning, sending thick columns of smoke into the blue sky. Visible from far away, they were telling the story I wanted.

  “A wolf’s head,” a voice shouted behind us, and curiosity make me stop the horse and turn. The whole army did the same. Far above us, the wind was playing, turning the smoke into the ghost of a giant wolf, its large open mouth menacing the land for a few moments, then it vanished in formless patches of white-gray color.

  “It pointed to Mehadia,” I said loudly, reacting to whispers of bad omen that could sap the morale of the army – there were many Frankis superstations I still did not know. “A good sign. We will attack like the wolves. Fast and deadly.”

  Someone put his hands around his mouth and imitated a wolf’s howling – it was quite accurate, and laughter filled the air, all the tension vanishing as fast as it had appeared.

  “Riders!” Vlaicu shouted, pointing in front of us, and everybody turned again. “Ours,” he added quickly; it was Vlad and his four scouts.

  “We found a place,” Vlad informed us, stopping his horse in front of me.

  “Good,” I said without explaining why it was good – only Vlad and I knew what I wanted. Mohor’s eyes questioned me, but I ignored him.

  The army moved again, at moderate speed, Vlad and his scouts joining the other five riders in front. A second group followed, Mohor, Big Mouth, Vlaicu, Valer and me. After us, Mohor’s Knights and the rest of the army.

  In the afternoon, we came to a small road going right, through the forest, and Vlad signaled me – it was the place he had found, a high hill with a bald top, surrounded by forest.

  “We go that way,” I shouted back to the army, pointing on the right, and moved my horse on to the smaller road. It was too early for camping, so my order looked contradictory. Big Mouth protested, but Mohor followed me in silence, and in a short time the army disappeared into the forest, in a long column.

  At the end of the forest, there was a small plateau before the hill climbed steeply to its top. Invisible from the main road, the place was a perfect hiding place.

  “We camp here,” I said to Mohor.

  “Isn’t too early?” he asked, slightly surprised. “The night is still far off.”

  “We stay here for five days,” I answered, and sensed Big Mouth ready to jump on me. For whatever reason, he just gaped, saying nothing.

  “There had better be a good reason for this,” Mohor said.

  “See the smoke?” I pointed back to the castle; the columns of smoke were now even higher in the sky. “It carries a message. I want that message to reach Mehadia, and all the Knights between here and there. Not that it will be seen from Mehadia, but mouths will spread the word, and fear will work for us.” That was the idea that came to me in the morning inside the tower, to wait until the fruits of fear ripened. I stared at Mohor, and he nodded slightly in acknowledgment. “Camp!” I shouted, and the soldiers moved to occupy the plateau.

  When everybody found a place, Valer took me aside. “Any chance I can take over the left wing?” he asked. There was no more money for him to get, but his next buyer would see his promotion in a favorable way.

  “No,” I said. “Your men move into the main column.” He was not pleased, but no trace of feeling surged on his face.

  “I understand,” Valer shrugged.

  I bet you don’t. “You will be my third in command.” The position was at the same level as a wing commander. There was a peculiar order in Mohor’s army that defied the normal ranking. The Seigneur was the commander, but Mohor was not a fighter, just an intelligent man knowing his limits, so he usually did not interfere. The Spatar was the next in rank, but technically I was the commander, and Vlaicu my second in command. Without saying so, Big Mouth’s position was somehow established as the third in command, a thing that he would never forget – there is always a need to have a back-up chain of command, if someone is killed in battle. There is no time for council and nominations in that case.

  “Thank you,” Valer answered simply.

  Soon, after Mohor’s tent was raised, the council was summoned, and the usual ten people filled the main room.

  “We need a new commander of the left wing,” I said. “To replace our little snake that ran away. He’s your son,” I glanced at Big Mouth. “So you take the command from him. Your men move with you to the left wing. Valer, you return to the main column, and help Vlaicu.” It was a way to say that he would become the third in command without saying the word.” If Mohor was not happy, I could not tell.

  “I am Spatar,” Big Mouth protested loudly, yet he did not contest my right to take decisions. “What should I do on the left wing?”

  “Fight. Are you afraid?” I didn’t wait for an answer that would not come. “We need to control both sides of the road. See that hill?” I pointed through the open entrance to the hill over the road. “Take your men and occupy it.” I did not really need the thing strategically, but I needed Big Mouth out from the secret councils in Mohor’s tent, of which I was not
part.

  Undecided, Big Mouth glanced at Mohor, who nodded slightly, and in a half turn, he left the place with seventy-five soldiers, forty his own men.

  I have to take care of your men, I thought, staring after the disappearing column. To clip your power.

  Ten days later, on the road to Mehadia, two teams of scouts arrived back at the same time: Vlad’s and the mercenaries. Two hundred men strong, Mehadin’s army was gathered somewhere south of Mehadia, and my first thought was that he wanted us to besiege his castle, while he would attack us from behind. The size of his army was larger than expected after a big defeat, and in a veiled way, I pointed out to Mohor that Mehadin had a better control over his Knights. A second army, one hundred men strong, was coming from the north: Orban’s soldiers.

  “We attack Orban’s army first,” I told the council, and waited for Big Mouth to protest and suggest the opposite, attacking Mehadin. To my surprise, my proposal was met with silence; everybody seemed to agree with me. “We have two or three days to find a battlefield that favors us. They are fewer, but that doesn’t mean we should fight them just anywhere. I don’t know of a good place on the road, so our scouts must find one. Vlaicu, wing commanders, prepare the army to ride. We leave in one turn.” As usual, the one turn turned into three, but we still left in the early afternoon.

  A day before meeting Orban’s army, we stopped at the boundary of a valley that lay in front of us, the road going down in a moderate slope, through a large meadow. To the sides, two forests lay, and they were what I needed for my trap.

  “Aron,” I said in the war council, “you take fifty troops, and seize the middle ground between our position and the bottom of the valley. We must make them give battle, while the rest of us hide in the forest.” Orban had established commanders, and there was a good chance that seeing an army four times larger they would retreat, refusing the fight. “Vlaicu, chose those fifty, then take a hundred and fifty and go into the forest on the left, three hundred paces down from Aron’s position. We must encircle and crush them. If we are lucky, none of them will escape to return to Arad with news. I take the hundred remaining and hide in the forest on the right.”

  “I command the wing. Why should I take the middle?” Big Mouth asked.

  “They know you well,” I said, hiding my glee. “They will come after you.” There was the hidden implication that Orban’s soldiers would attack just because they knew what a poor commander Big Mouth was in a battle and that closed his big mouth. “If they don’t attack, because they are tired or weak, you charge.”

  After the council, I took Vlaicu aside. “Those fifty... Choose only Knights who are close to Big Mouth and their soldiers.”

  “I see.” A thin smile spread on Vlaicu’s lips; he understood immediately that Big Mouth would take the most losses and his position would be weakened.

  “And you charge only after I attack.”

  The next day, Orban’s cavalry entered the valley and stopped the moment Big Mouth’s soldiers appeared in sight. They were not aware of us gathering here, we had captured all their scouts – I had sent five teams, each ten men strong, to clean the road, and leave the enemy with no insight about the valley. For a moment, I was afraid the S’Arads would turn back, but in the end, they did not, and climbed toward the forest on my side, arranging themselves for battle in a position that would force our soldiers to attack uphill.

  “Stupid Spatar, charge them now, before they get on higher ground,” I growled, but Big Mouth missed the chance to attack when the enemy was in a lower position.

  More minutes passed with no move from Big Mouth, and I could not send a rider to press him without revealing our position. Then it happened, our troops moved, attacking the S’Arads who, at the last moment charged down too, the slope playingto their advantage, and the clash happened in near silence; we were too far away to hear the battle cries.

  “Move north through the forest!” I shouted, and led my soldiers forward, some three hundred paces, to fall behind the S’Arads who, absorbed in the fight, could not see us moving. The S’Arads’ strategy to climb aside, and Big Mouth indecision put us in the wrong position.

  “We should charge,” Mohor said, worried; things were not going well down in the valley.

  “Not yet, we need to get to their rear, and surround them.” I repeated what I had said in the council.

  We charged, two minutes later, when Big Mouth turned his horse to run, and the army was faltering. “Look, Mohor,” I said loudly enough to be heard by many soldiers, “the man you wanted to redeem himself is running from battle again.”

  The S’Arads saw us, and half of them turned disciplined to face the new threat, easing the pressure on our wing. Then Vlaicu left the forest too, and the S’Arads split into two wings, attacking Vlaicu and me, while a group of ten tried to sneak between our forces. Six of them escaped, and the ten scouts I left at the end of the valley moved out from the forest to intercept them. The remaining S’Arads gathered in a tight, round pack, like a giant hedgehog.

  “Archers!” I shouted just before the clash. There were twenty archers with me, at the end of the column, and twenty with Vlaicu. The first arrows flew over our heads, hitting the enemies a few moments after our swords met. From the other side, another shower of arrows flew, as Vlaicu got my message. Surrounded by a larger force, the S’Arads fought to the last man.

  “Everybody back!” I shouted, after the last standing S’Arad fell. I was in the middle of the battlefield, among many fallen bodies. “Vlaicu, see to the wounded.” There were seven soldiers from the guards that I recruited as caretakers for the wounded, and two mercenaries from Valer’s personal fighters were well trained too. While the rest of the soldiers retreated, the caretakers moved on, searching for the wounded, and they were not few. “Then distribute the spoils.”

  “We are a bit late.” Vlaicu pointed to some ten soldiers that had already started to rob the dead – all of them belonged to Big Mouth.

  “You are wrong, Vlaicu,” I smiled. “It’s the perfect time.” I spurred my horse forward toward the soldiers, who jumped back when I got closer. “Get away!” I growled. “We take care of the wounded first.”

  “We received orders from the Spatar,” the one I knew was the Chief of Big Mouth’s guards growled back, confirming that it was a deliberate move.

  “Big Mouth has no authority to give orders here. The coward ran from the battle again. Get out or fight with me for the spoils. I don’t mind taking down ten lizards like you.”

  Their chief nodded to them, and attacked me without hesitation, another sign that everything was planned. I parried the strike with my short sword and the long one cut off his hand. I could have killed him, but it was not necessary; Big Mouth had lost his Chief of the Guards (a man without his right hand is no longer a soldier), and the other nine retreated fast – they resembled their Knight master.

  “Those ten will receive nothing,” I said to Vlaicu. “Report when you finish treating the wounded and counting the dead.”

  When things calmed down, I saw Mohor and Big Mouth talking together, away from everybody else. Big Mouth was gesticulating wildly, yet slowly Mohor calmed him.

  What did you promise him, Mohor?

  I was expecting Mohor would talk to me too, before the council – Big Mouth’s men had attacked me. It did not happen, even though it was the second attempt on my life during the campaign, and an army must have some discipline, even after the battle ends.

  “We have forty dead,” Vlaicu reported in the war council, “and seventeen wounded. I am not talking about small cuts. Four of them are in bad shape. The S’Arads lost ninety-eight soldiers here, and another four were killed by our scouts at the end of the valley. Two of them escaped.”

  Orban has good soldiers. Maybe Mohor understands now what a good army looks like. The S’Arads were largely outnumbered, yet they still killed forty of our soldiers – I did not expect to lose so many. “It will take them four days to arrive in Arad,” I said.
“If Orban wants to send another army, it can’t arrive here sooner than two weeks. We have enough time to tackle Mehadin, but it will be tight to take Mehadia in such a short time. We leave tomorrow. If the wounded are not able to follow us now, leave ten soldiers with them.” I glanced at Vlaicu, and closed the council.

  Mohor avoided me again after the council, and our relations were colder for the rest of the campaign. I chose not to bother him, but I enhanced the security around me using Vlaicu’s guards and Valer’s mercenaries, and he did not miss it. In a second development, most of the Knights reacted in the same way; they never contradicted me in the council, but my attempts for dialogue hit a wall.

  “Big Mouth is stirring the Knights against you.” One evening, Vlaicu took me aside.

  “Then I shall leave him to lead our brave Knights in the battle.”

  “It’s not that,” Vlaicu said thoughtfully. “No one is contesting your right to command, but the war will end at some point. That’s the moment you should foresee. When the war ends, politics takes over and they don’t like it when some young nobody gives the orders. I apologize if... For them I am nobody too. We don’t have a title to snub others with.”

  It took us three days to reach Mehadin’s army, and we stopped in the evening, at a distance that would not allow a battle until the day after. There was a castle not far from us, and I sent fifty riders to go around the walls and make our presence known; until now no Knight had surrendered, as I had hoped after burning two castles. Today is the last chance, I thought, staring at the fortress, built with good walls on the edge of a tall hill. Not easy to conquer this one…