War Bow

by P. S. Power

  “Prince Robarts, Prince Erold. Worthies. Thank you for coming. We had a message that you were to arrive soon. From Master Tolan? He passed it to Captain Horner, directly, using communications magics.” Then, a bit oddly, the man smiled at Anders, directly and waved. “Master Brolly! We’ve set a tent for you, next to mine, as per instructions. There’s another for Prince Robarts... I’m afraid that Prince Erold...” He looked ashamed then, for some reason. “We only have the three large tents. We’ve moved command into mine, but that leaves us a bit short.”

  It was interesting, since several of the knights looked ready to begin fighting over the slight. Anders looked at the giant tents and shrugged.

  “We get two of these?”

  General Coelder nodded, seeming strained.

  “That’s right. Not splendid conditions, for such esteemed personages, but we are at war. I would have had something built, but we’re moving camp in a few days, due to the conditions here. That...” He glanced at the ground under the wagon and went a bit wide eyed then. “You can turn the mud back into dirt? How? More to the point, can you do this on a scale large enough for us to march forces out? If we can do that, the Yansies won’t have a chance right now.”

  Anders winced, but understood the basic idea. If they could stand on firm ground to fight and the other side was in knee deep muck, there would be a clear advantage.

  Prince Robarts nodded and spoke in a deep, almost regal, voice.

  “Master Brolly can, within certain limits. It’s vastly hard work for him, so we need to use that sparingly for the time being. He did most of the road behind us for the last two hundred miles though, to give you an idea of what might be done. We’ll work on that in a bit? For now, I think you have some gifts.”

  Anders had to scramble then, to get all of the things going to the General directly. There was help, since several of the squires moved to make certain nothing was dropped or damaged. The box of spirits for the man was fine, as well as some tins of sweets, and a delivery of blankets and healing herbs and alchemical aids to maintain health.

  It wasn’t a vast amount of things, but that and some letters for the men, as well as the General himself, were what they had for him. A similar bundle for the other two camps as well, of course. The General smiled, pleasantly enough at what had come for him.

  “Perfect. Thank you, Master Brolly. This is most appreciated and the men will enjoy their portion as well. Now, we should get you all settled, somewhere.” His face tightened again, with the knights moving their hands toward their weapons, as if that would aid anything.

  Anders simple waved at one of the tents.

  “We’ll put everyone in these. It will be a bit close, with all the armor in the other wagon, if we need to put that inside. We can place those out here though, on firm ground, if that won’t be in the way too much? That settles the people, if not the animals.”

  They had a place for those, off to the south, away from the camp, a good way. That was to keep the smell from being too bad, Farad assumed. Not that the camp, which had tens of thousands of men, was any better at the moment. That they hadn’t lost half of them to disease so far was incredible, given the visible conditions.

  Prince Robarts gave him a look that was oddly tolerant, given that the plan was to pack him away with ten other people when he clearly deserved his own accommodations.

  “Very well, Master Brolly. We should see to those things then. We’ll meet in an hour, General?”

  That got a bow, and Anders was set to running, trying to get things settled with the animals. Several military men tried to come and take all the horses away, as well as the oxen, but that wasn’t going to happen. Not with knights and squires in the mix. They all insisted on seeing to their animals themselves, which required more firming of soil and better drainage, before they were happy with where their animals would be spending the night.

  The two wagons, his and the large armor filled one, as well as the medium sized cart, were stored outside of his tent. The idea being that no one would get into his things that way. Not without it being noticed, at any rate. It probably wouldn’t work, but the less theft they had to deal with, the better.

  Still, an hour later, Anders was waved to follow Prince Robarts, with Prince Erold walking alongside his brother. They got Sir Humphrey as well, though the other knights weren’t allowed inside the main tent, for some reason. Probably a simple space consideration, since it was half filled with military men already. Including Captain Horner, who waved at him when he entered.

  “Brolly! I see you made good time. Is Fola with you?” There was no anticipation in the words, since she clearly wasn’t standing outside, on the front lines.

  “Back in the rearward camp. The road should hold firm for a while, so you should get away to see her, if possible.” He knew it might not be, of course.

  The General waved for them to sit. There weren’t enough chairs for everyone, but the ground was dry so Anders moved back and to the side, leaving those to the people who would be needed for important planning issues. He was there to memorize and learn about people, after all. That didn’t really take him being directly involved in the planning sessions.

  Prince Erold apparently felt something similar, so moved in alongside of him. That got a few strange looks from the military men there, though several of them did the same thing, instead of standing the whole time. They were mainly lower ranked officers. That left real seating for six. It was worked out, after a few moments.

  Then the General nodded at Captain Horner.

  “We’ll hurry here, so that you and the other men with family can go and see to them. Now, we’ve been at something of a stalemate, due to the weather, over the last days. We get to have Master Brolly now though? For the rest of the war?” He smiled then, clearly understanding that wasn’t going to be happening. He chuckled though. “We have some other magic users here. Mainly those who specialize in healing and two wizards, for our reconnoitering needs. No combat-oriented mages, however. Certainly no one willing to go to the battle lines to back us there.”

  Half of the military men looked baffled, but the older man waved in his direction.

  “This is Master Brolly. Unlike most of our magical forces here, he’s a combat veteran. Also the man King Mathias sent to us, to ensure good communications. More importantly to us, he can dry the roads, using magic. That means we might actually be able to send a small squad or two out, in the coming days. If you’re willing, that is, Master Brolly?” He waited then, as if the answer might be no.

  Anders didn’t get to answer, since Sir Humphrey did it for him.

  “We need to rest him for a few days. He did most of the hunting and gathering of food, along with magical duties for us, as we traveled. We’ve pushed him a bit. His main task here is to get to know your selected men, for communications. Six of them, if possible. You directly, General, and those others here who are willing and chosen.” He glanced at the men there and shrugged, his lips curling into a smile. “That means he can kill you at a distance, if he needs.”

  The words weren’t that helpful, since a lot of people feared that kind of thing, in a way that didn’t make much sense. For some reason, the General laughed.

  “Death comes for all men. No one here will fear it from Master Brolly, in particular. I believe that means assigning people to spend time with you, Master Brolly? We could do that while we prepare for that mission, in a few days?” He was pushing for that part of things, but Anders tilted his head and then nodded. It was a lot of work for him, but if he got to rest first, should be possible.

  “That will work well enough. Whom will I be working with?” He glanced around the tent, as if the right men would be there already. That wasn’t the case at all.

  “We’ll have them sent over, as soon as we’re finished here. Now, let me get the maps.”

  Over the next hour they were given a quick overview of the battles that had taken place so far, as well as where the Yansians were encamped and their rou
gh numbers. Unlike at Sapphire Lake, their forces slightly outnumbered the other men in the region. At the last battle Anders had been at, they’d been outnumbered five to one. He had to like the sound of the current situation better.

  Then, quickly enough that it had to be an established plan, the General pointed out a pathway he wanted to use for attack.

  “This road, well, it’s more of a dirt track the locals use in the summer. Right now, it’s fine, since no one has ridden it much. The ground is soft enough that it’s not worth bothering with, to be honest about it. If we could place, say, three hundred men on it, on foot and say, fifty horse? I don’t know how well you can hold the road firm...”

  Anders didn’t either, but Prince Robarts shook his head. That got the General to frown, until the man spoke.

  “He was able to get a slow caravan with hundreds of horses, other animals and a hundred pulled wagons clear each day. We can probably send in, oh, ten thousand men, in a similar space? Five thousand on foot and two hundred horse, at least. Then the road will soften behind them, so if we have to retreat, Master Brolly will need to be ready to do it again. A lot of it will come down to movement speed. The faster we can travel, the more troops we can take with us.”

  The General smiled then, in a way that indicated he’d just been delivered a gift.

  “Ah! That’s impressive, then! Not that getting even a few hundred men to the right place wouldn’t be. So, we can march ten thousand fast foot and call it two hundred horse, and hit them here. This camp is bordered by a stream on one side and their horse field on the other. The wizards tell me that it’s even worse than our own, at present and that the men and women there can barely move at all. If we can have a firm place to stand, and hold the horse back, instead of charging, the bow can take a lot of their forces, costing us very little.”

  They worked out the plans then, fairly quickly. The main point was that the other side didn’t have many people at that location, only about four thousand and reinforcements couldn’t reach them in time to give real aid, if their side could move in quickly enough. The plan wasn’t a kind or fair one, but it made sense and would have them be the ones at the advantage, this time.

  The only real issue was that General Coelder wanted to make certain Anders could work with the numbers of men and animals promised by the others. He was careful in his words, since Prince Robarts had already claimed he could do it. Rather than act offended, or worse, as if he didn’t understand what the man needed from him, Anders simply nodded.

  “I’ll firm the camp here, in the morning? If I don’t push too hard, it should be all right. That way you can get a sense for what can be done or not, before we go.”

  That got a relieved sigh from the gray-haired man. His thin face looked pleasant, as well.

  “Thank you, Master Brolly. I know it’s an inconvenience for you.”

  It was, but he probably would have ended up doing the work anyway, just to keep himself from being too annoyed with the situation they were in.

  After a bit, they were dismissed, with runners being sent to collect the needed men for the communications magic. Anders moved one tent over, but was out front, where they had a fire pit, when the six men he was supposed to get to know presented themselves. He’d assumed they were all going to be youthful, and probably of low rank. The men who could be ordered into doing magical things, who didn’t have any say in resisting such things.

  Instead, the men, and two women, weren’t in uniform at all. Well, one of them was, being a cook. One that Anders recognized, from Sapphire Lake.

  “Corporal Derry!”

  The man lit up when he saw him there, clearly recognizing him.

  “Master Brolly! I didn’t know we was getting you back in. Just that I was being put on a special message duty, using magic. I don’t, right told, know how to do that kind of thing. My mother has the gift and passed it along to me, but she never did much with it, so I never learned.” There was a look then, as if he might be in trouble for being less than perfectly trained in magic.

  The others there looked a bit stiff about it as well.

  “You won’t have to know how to do anything, really. I just need to learn who you are well enough that I can send words into your ears, at a distance. I have a trick for it. Now, I’ve worked with Corporal Derry before, but I don’t know the rest of you yet. I’m Anders Brolly. I mainly handle messages for the King, and run errands, right now. I’ve been learning to use magic for a bit. Mainly in the magician style, but also wizardry, from Master Tolan and some illusion, time permitting.”

  One of the women there, who was a bit older, having some gray mixed with her brown hair and a lined face, made a slightly disgusted sound.

  “You’re learning from Master Tolan, directly? He’s one of the finest wizards in the world... I guess that explains why we’ve been put under a young boy, then. That’s a bit of an insult, isn’t it? Not that I expect the High Wizard to come and see to us himself. Still, sending an apprentice isn’t really up to standards, is it?”

  Anders bowed to the woman, using first courtly. She didn’t do it back or even nod, just seeming baffled at the move, instead.

  “You aren’t under me at all. I’m here for a specific reason and will be gone in a few days, so that portion shouldn’t worry you. Are you all magic users?” It made some sense for that type to be put into play, he supposed. Even a cook made sense, given that they weren’t in as high risk of a position as some of the other soldiers might be. That way they wouldn’t die before passing messages as often. The same was probably true of the healers and other folk.

  They all nodded, though one of the men, at the far end, looked red in the face.

  “I work with the animals. Tending them and using a bit of healing to make sure they aren’t left sick or too worn. I don’t know that I’m the best man for such a job as this. Whatever it is. Hearing voices.”

  He smiled then.

  “You really won’t have to do much. I’m mainly here for General Coelder. If he can’t be reached for any reason, say if he’s distracted or gone from the camp, or dies in battle, then we’ll go with the rest of you to take messages or pass them to whoever ends up in command. Corporal Derry, first, then from there to each of you. I’ll go over what that’s like, with each of you. First, I need to learn about you though. So, let’s find a place to sit and do that? Tell me all about yourselves.” He was going to have to do a bit more work than it sounded like, but most of it would be memorizing the people with him. Driving who and what they were into his very soul.

  They talked for hours, stopping only to make the late meal. The others had tasks to get back to, but clearly didn’t want to complain about being allowed to sit and chat for a while. Especially doing it in a place that wasn’t mainly mud. He stood and bowed to each of them, one at a time.

  “I might need to meet with you more than this, but I’m not certain. Can you be free tomorrow, as well?”

  There were reluctant nods then, as if they didn’t really want to be bothered with him, but they all agreed to come back and meet with Anders after the mid-meal. Not that his plans weren’t a bit different than that. After making a full meal and eating more than his share, he settled on his bedroll, sitting with his legs crossed under him, like he used to do in his first life, when learning how to memorize large works.

  Moving into the halls of memory removed the sense of exhaustion and slight illness he’d been dealing with for the last week, and replaced it with a blissful calm. A nothingness that sang to him with familiarity. After no more than a moment or two, he walked to the hallway where he kept his magical learning, then down to the end, where there was an offshoot, that led him to what seemed like intensely real statues of people. His mother was there, near the front, next to Princess Aisla, who was the very first entry there. Depak Sona was near them, next to Master Tolan.

  He moved down several places, to find an empty pedestal, where he placed a very good image of Corporal Derry. Then he tucked everything
he knew about the man into that space, along with a new name for him, Derru. Then, once he drove that idea into his mind nearly a hundred times, and could feel that he had it, each of the others that he’d met that day were given the same treatment. He didn’t stop there, adding in Mary, from the trip, just in case he ever needed to contact her at a distance. He nearly added Betha, knowing her well enough for that kind of thing, then didn’t.

  After all, one of the things he knew about her was her unease when it came to magic. She was a kind enough woman, most of the time, but she wasn’t one who would hear a voice in her head and assume that it was just a boy she’d met once, talking to her from a distance.

  The hardest person to add for him was General Coelder. He’d spent some hours around the fellow, but the truth was that the man hadn’t exactly given over his life story or tried to form a friendly connection with Anders. That meant it took a lot longer for him to sink into Anders’ memory in a way that meant he could be contacted, later.

  By the time he was finished with all the work, it was well and truly night out. Even the camp outside was quieter, if not truly silent. Instead of going directly to sleep, like many of the others in his tent had, he pulled himself up, got his bow, and did his daily exercises, even if he truly didn’t want to bother with it. Then, trying to be careful, he checked the world around him for attack or hostilities.

  It was on that second one that he nearly lost his focus. There was no massive attack plotted, but thousands of people in the area were readying themselves for violence. Not against the enemy, either. Most of them were focused on other people on their own side. Petty grievance was the most common reason, but also suspected theft and too much teasing.

  A few of the people were even a bit upset with him, as it turned out. He nearly didn’t want to look at those, since he feared that it would be one, or more of the knights or squires, or even the princes, having become annoyed with him.

  Instead, when he risked looking, he found that it was only the people he’d learned of earlier in the day, who were mainly thinking that they truly had been put under the command of a little boy, even if he’d explained how that wasn’t true already. Corporal Derry wasn’t one of those, but General Coelder wasn’t truly happy with him.