The Wolf At War

by Terry Cloutier

  I heard a shout as the mounted rider I had sent down the valley turned and raced back our way, his hand waving urgently over his head. The Cardians were coming.

  “You better get going,” I said, turning to Baine. “They’ll be around that bend in a few minutes.”

  My friend glanced south toward the jutting outcrop that towered over the valley. Archers were ascending a network of hastily-made rope ladders hanging down the rock face that led up to a flat section almost three hundred feet above us. The same was happening along the outcrop to the north, where I could see Tyris’ tall form looking down over a ridge as he shouted at the few stragglers still on the ground to hurry. The right side did not have as convenient a shooting platform as the left, however, so Tyris’ men were perched wherever they could gain a decent foothold.

  “You sure I shouldn’t start with their infantry?” Baine asked.

  I shook my head. “No, let them pass. I want those first few volleys to catch their archers by surprise. You leave the infantry to us.”

  “All right, Hadrack,” Baine said, looking unconvinced. He started to go, then paused to point at me. “Take care of yourself.”

  I grinned and nodded. “You too.”

  Baine hurried to the south and grabbed one of the ladders. I marveled at how nimbly and efficiently he climbed upward just as faint horns began to sound from down the valley. Fitz was beside me and I gave him a shove. “Go,” I commanded. “All of you to your posts and may The Mother watch over you.”

  I ran to the center wedge's front line, placing myself between Niko and a stocky soldier that I didn’t know who held two spears. The man grinned at me, revealing two missing front teeth as he handed me one of the spears. “It’s an honor to fight by your side, lord,” the man said, each word whistling oddly. He gestured to a one-handed battle-axe with a sharpened point jammed into his belt. “I’m Pax, and I’ve been itching to cut up some Cardians all morning with this thing.”

  “Well, Pax,” I said as a shadowy line of men appeared around the bend almost half a mile away. “I think you are about to get your wish.”

  The Cardians came on at least ten ranks deep, the crunch of their boots loud in the stillness of the morning air as the steady beat of drums echoed off the valley walls. A flock of starlings startled by the approaching infantry took off in a dark cloud from a stand of hickory trees, swooping up and over the rocks, heading south. I glanced nervously toward my Wolf’s Teeth, worried that they would be seen, but the last of the ladders were even now being drawn up as my men crouched low, hidden from sight from the valley floor. I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Damn, that’s a lot of the bastards,” Pax said with an eager grin as more Cardians on foot and horseback appeared behind the marching infantry.

  The mass of riders held raised lances in their right hands with the butts balanced easily on their stirrups. The iron tips gleamed like a thousand suns in the morning light, with either bright yellow, pale blue, green, or orange pennants tied just below the sharpened points snapping in the wind. Four standard-bearers rode in front of the main body of horsemen, each one carrying a massive flowing banner on a long pole. The banners coiled and rippled like living things over the heads of the men coming up behind. I could see Pernissy’s golden dragon clearly, along with a charging boar on a blue background that I was certain belonged to Lord Boudin. A green banner depicted a roaring lion, and an orange one a strange black, cat-like creature with long fangs and gleaming claws. Those would belong to the two traitorous Gander lords, I guessed.

  A horn sounded three times from somewhere behind the massed horses, the shrill notes rebounding against the rock walls. The Cardian pikemen cheered the horn and locked shields without losing a step. Thousands of archers wearing the familiar bright red capes that I had learned to despise marched in tight formation between the mounted lancers and the infantry. Those archers were going to be a problem unless I could silence their longbows.

  I glanced again to where my Wolf’s Teeth waited. My pikemen would be vulnerable to the Cardian arrows soon, but my archers would be difficult to target as high up and as well-protected among the rocks as they were. The Cardian longbowmen would be lightly armored, if at all, believing that they were safe from our few archers and their smaller bows. But they didn’t know about the Wolf’s Teeth yet, and once my men started shooting, those vulnerable archers would be caught between the advancing infantry and the massed horsemen behind. Cardians were all cowards at heart, and I hoped if enough of those archers fell in the first few volleys, that the rest would break and try to flee, causing mayhem and confusion among the mounted ranks. If the archers stood their ground, and the infantry managed to breach us, allowing the lancers through, then we were finished.

  “Shield wall!” I shouted as the Cardians drew closer. I jammed my shield into the ground as Niko and Pax overlapped their shields with mine. The second rank behind us raised their shields, covering the heads and torsos of the first rank. “Spears!” I cried. Nine-foot pikes with leaf-shaped iron heads lined with steel lowered all along our lines in the first three ranks, clattering into position. The back two ranks would be using the lighter and thinner throwing spears, hurtling them and axes over our front ranks into the faces of the Cardian infantry.

  Many of my men were yelling taunts toward the oncoming Cardians, and then they began to cheer as a soldier from Fitz’s right wing suddenly broke out of formation and ran toward the enemy. I realized that it was Berwin. The thin youth went twenty yards, then paused to shove a spear with my wolf’s banner tied to it into the ground before he raced back to our lines. A roar of approval that shook the valley erupted from my men, then they started to chant, “Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!” as they banged the shafts of their spears against the tops of their heavy, steel-rimmed shields.

  I grinned as I focused on Pernissy’s great yellow banner, certain that I could see the bastard wearing gold-plated armor and mounted on a brown horse behind the first rank of lancers. What was going through his mind as he listened to the chanting of my men? I hoped that it was surprise and fear as he realized that I was here. “I’m coming for you, you bastard,” I growled.

  The bottleneck where we awaited the Cardian army was a quarter of a mile wide, which was roughly thirteen hundred feet. I had calculated that each man with his shield and weapons occupied a little over three feet of space, so once our wedges all locked together, we would have five solid ranks of fifteen hundred men per rank stretching from one side of the valley to the other. Would it be enough to hold back the Cardians? Only time would tell.

  “Stand firm!” I shouted to my men, looking left and right. “We hold this line no matter what, or those bastards will be raping your wives and selling your children into slavery by tomorrow!”

  The Cardian front rank was approaching the lance Berwin had shoved into the ground, and despite myself, I was impressed with their discipline. Only a few overeager fools had broken to charge our lines so far, and those men had died quickly on our spears. I knew their wasted blood was just a taste of what was to come. I wished there had been more of them as undisciplined troops in a shield wall usually meant easy pickings.

  A sharp horn blast sounded from the west, and the advancing Cardians abruptly halted just as spinning black shafts began to fall among my lines. A volley of deadly spears and twirling throwing axes followed the arrows from the Cardian middle, turning the sky black before whistling downward into our masses.

  “Hold your positions!” I shouted. My men were dropping all along the front ranks as steel-tipped arrows, spears, and axes found vulnerable flesh or clattered off shields, helmets, and armor like deadly hailstones. “Keep your shields tight and work together!” I screamed, cursing as many of my men ignored their orders and threw spears back at the Cardians, breaking the shield wall. The man next to Pax was one of them, and he tossed his spear high into the air, then sagged and fell with an arrow lodged in his face above his cheek guard. I heard Pax curse at the man standing behind in the second r
ank, then he grabbed the reluctant soldier and dragged him forward to take the place of the dead man.

  I chanced a quick look past my shield, wondering what my Wolf’s Teeth were waiting for just as I heard Baine’s voice echoing from above. My archers suddenly appeared among the rocks on either side, shooting vengeful shafts down into the midst of the unsuspecting Cardian longbowmen. The waves of arrows coming our way started to falter, though they did not cease entirely as black shafts continued to clang off shields and armor all along our line. I could hear the terrified screams of the Cardian archers echoing off the valley walls and I smiled, while around me, my men shouted their encouragement to the Wolf’s Teeth.

  But then another series of horns sounded over the cries of the wounded and the dying, signaling the enemy infantry forward. The cheering from my men quickly ceased, and our lines suddenly became silent and grim as the very ground we stood upon started to shake beneath the weight of the advancing Cardians. The dark, featureless wall of men advanced in unison step by step toward us, banging their weapons on their shields, while heavy pointed boots raised a cloud of dust that hung over the battlefield. The odd thrown spear or axe was still being sent our way, but my men had regained their composure by now and had tightened up, so little damage was being done. Then, less than thirty feet from our position, a roar erupted from the Cardians’ throats as they charged.

  “Brace yourselves!” I screamed, turning my shoulder into my shield and planting my feet.

  The Cardian front rank of at least two thousand strong crashed into us in a wave of pure hatred, fear, cold steel, and spurting blood. Men collapsed along both front ranks in droves, with Ganders and Cardians spitting curses back and forth at each other as they pushed, hacked, lunged, and stabbed at the opposing lines of shields. The initial charge had snapped many of the pikes on both sides, or they had simply been lost, and now men fought ferociously with secondary weapons like battle-axes, long and short swords, lead-weighted mauls, spiked clubs, and flails. We had initially fallen back several paces beneath the fury of the Cardian onslaught, but despite their superior numbers, our lines held firm. Now it was time to teach these Cardian scum a lesson.

  “Kill them! I cried, tossing my broken spear into the midst of the enemy as I rammed my shield into the opposing shield directly in front of me. I drew Wolf’s Head. “Kill every last one of the bastards!”

  I could see my opponent’s bearded face above his shield contorted into a soundless scream as he swung a mace for my head. I twisted aside, though not fast enough, as his weapon caromed off my helmet with a clang. The blow dazed me, but it didn’t slow my sword arm as I hacked savagely at his exposed face. The Cardian’s eyes widened and he fell back into the mass of his companions as dark blood shot out from his neck, drenching me in its foul warmth. Another man immediately took his place, this one young with odd protruding eyes and a bushy mustache wet with gore. The Cardian stabbed tentatively at me with the spike of a poleaxe, his strange eyes filled with indecision and fear. I snorted in contempt and grabbed the poleaxe below the head and yanked, drawing the man forward onto the point of my sword.

  Cardian after Cardian came at me then, and I hacked them down one by one, moving without thinking as I cut and stabbed. Warm, sticky droplets of blood fell like rain all along the line of struggling combatants from one end of the valley to the other, drenching both sides in a sea of red madness. Pax chortled as he slaughtered men to my right, while Niko remained silent and focused on my left, cutting down one enemy after another with his short sword. The heat became oppressive, with clouds of dust continuing to rise from the thousands of churning boots, clogging airways and mixing with dripping sweat that stung the eyes mercilessly.

  We fought and cursed each other beneath the unforgiving sun for long minutes, the dust finally settling as the ground became wet and slick beneath our feet with piss, shit, vomit, and bloody entrails. My men didn’t give an inch, fighting with the kind of ferociousness that can only come from desperation. We all knew that if the Cardians managed to get behind us, then Ganderland was doomed. We held our position stubbornly as the Cardians threw everything they had at us, then slowly, we began pushing them back into the ranks pressing from behind. The Cardians became entangled with each other in a mass of confused arms, legs, and shields as men cursed and hammered away at friend and foe alike, trying to break free.

  I sensed the Cardian first and second rank was close to breaking, and I raised Wolf’s Head. “Forward!” I shouted. “No mercy! Kill them all!”

  My men cheered as they advanced, tearing into the Cardians as we cut a wide swathe deep into their middle. The Cardians scattered or fell writhing beneath our fury, and for a moment, it seemed as though we were going to carve a hole right through them all the way to the other side. We smashed past the second rank, then the third as well. But then we reached the men waiting in the fourth and fifth ranks, those who had not been fighting for the last half an hour without let-up. Many of those men still had spears, and suddenly we faced a wall of bristling points. Our forward momentum slowed, then stopped altogether. We were stuck and could go no further.

  I realized with dismay that we had come too far too fast, leaving our right and left wings behind in our eagerness to kill the enemy. I glanced over my shoulder, but couldn’t make out what was happening behind me. Had Fignam filled the hole we’d left with the reserves? I cursed myself for allowing my bloodlust to overcome common sense as I glanced to my left, where even now, I could see hundreds of Cardians hammering away at my men like hungry wolves as they tried to break through on my flank. If they got behind us, I knew we would be cut off and eventually overwhelmed.

  I saw a huge man battling twenty feet from me, his square helmet gone as he laid about him with a monstrous maul. It was Guthris, the House Agent who had taken over command from Malo. Blood poured in a stream from a cut along the big man’s temple, but he seemed unaware of the wound as he smashed a Cardian’s shield to ribbons, then grabbed the man by the throat, throttling him one-handed.

  “Guthris!” I shouted over the heads of battling men. The House Agent glanced my way, his eyes bright with the killing-blood. I pointed urgently. “Shift your men to the flank and hold it. We need to pull back.”

  The big man turned to glower at the wall of attacking Cardians as he tossed the corpse aside, then he nodded. He paused to bring his maul down on the back of a Cardian’s head, and then I lost sight of him in the swirling press of fighters. I could only hope his Agents would give us the time we needed.

  “Fall back!” I shouted, turning to Niko and shoving him back the way that we had come.

  The youth immediately began to retreat, but Pax carried on, hacking into the face of a Cardian with his battle-axe, oblivious to my command. Pax finally left the dead man lying in a pool of blood, searching for more prey just as I reached him and grabbed the back of his mail. The stocky soldier hissed in anger, turning on me with his blood-stained axe raised before his enraged brain finally registered that it was me.

  “We have to retreat,” I shouted at him over the wails of dying men and clash of weapons. “We’ve gone too far! We need to go back.”

  Pax just shook off my hand, his face covered in blood. “The fight hasn’t even started yet, lord,” he shouted with a laugh. And then he was gone, throwing himself with a howl against the waiting lines of Cardians.

  I cursed as Pax died almost immediately with a spearpoint in his belly and one in his neck. I backed slowly away, pausing to slash a Cardian’s leg just above the ankle as he struggled with one of my men. The soldier screamed and dropped to one knee while the man he had been fighting skewered him with his spear. Then a Cardian appeared behind the triumphant spear-wielding Gander, and before I could do anything, his sword flashed. The Gander fell even as I lunged with Wolf’s Head, taking the Cardian in the belly. I twisted my sword and yanked as the dying man’s stomach muscles and leather armor clung stubbornly to my blade.

  “Fall back, you bastards!” I cried again t
o my men, putting a boot to the corpse as I pulled in frustration at Wolf’s Head. Another Cardian rushed at me with the head of a broken poleaxe held low just as my weapon came free. I twisted aside in desperation, too slow, and the sharpened steel spike cut through my mail and deep into my side. I bellowed in pain even as I cracked the man on the helmet with the hilt of my sword as he swept past me, the poleaxe ripping from my flesh. My adversary’s helmet shattered and he collapsed to the ground, only to be trampled underfoot by the combatants swarming above him. “Get back!” I roared, trying to ignore the pain in my side as I gestured with Wolf’s Head toward a small knot of my men who seemed frozen in place. I kicked the closest one, setting him into motion. “Get your asses back to our lines!”

  Our retreat became a slow, disorganized affair then, with so many Cardians pressing us from in front and our own men from behind that it was getting hard to move. Soldiers from both sides were pushing and shoving at each other, not able to tell friend from foe in the panicked, bewildering carnage of the battle. A Cardian and Gander were locked in a death embrace in front of me, fighting over a mace. I used my elbow on the Cardian’s face and he gasped and fell back, letting go of the mace. The Gander soldier whirled with the mace, deflecting another Cardian’s sword coming for my head as I skewered the man he’d been fighting, then shifted to cut down the second man. The Gander with the mace smiled wearily at me. “Keep moving,” I growled at him. “We’re almost there.”

  I could see Guthris and his House Agents had shored up our left flank, making quick work of the Cardians who had tried to breach us. A wall of House Agents is an intimidating sight at any time, and the eagerness that the Cardians had displayed trying to flank us quickly waned as they saw their companions being slaughtered by the fearsome warriors. Guthris was in the forefront, creating a wide swathe as he shattered shields, pulverized armor, cracked open heads, and snapped bones with his gigantic maul.