It was hopeless.
All Pitt could do was knock his head against the tree trunk behind him and pray to the Ascended One that the armies could retreat north and somehow get across the Broadwater or Branch without losing too many men. He sighed and his breath formed a cloud in front of his face.
He’d left for this war hoping to find glory. Every breath Pitt had taken was towards gaining victory for Brun and avenging the wrongs of the Erlonian Empire and earning medals on his breast for women to admire and to further his family’s future.
He’d accomplished none of it.
In the end, he would die with nothing. He’d be remembered as a general who led his men into a Kurakin trap and lost without firing a single shot. His sisters and mother would have to live with the shame. At least Pitt would already be dead and not have to see it all back home.
Pitt didn’t weep, even though he wanted to. He shivered against the cold of the morning and watched and waited for the Horde hangman to come his way.
They didn’t come for him until well after breakfast. A group of soldiers came out of the camp tents and untied him. They stood Pitt up and held him on his feet.
One of them pulled out a knife and cut the ropes from Pitt’s hands. “You’re free to go.”
The words didn’t register in Pitt’s head.
The ropes dropped to the dirt. Pitt shook his arms and tried to get feeling back to them. He felt wobbly on his feet and knew he must’ve misheard the Kurakin.
Another Kurakin stepped forward. This one had the bars of a captain on his shoulder. “You may go. But we’ll need your coat.”
The cloak was pulled from his back and Pitt hugged himself against the cold.
The captain looked around at his men and smiled again. “Actually, we’ll need your boots too.”
They took his boots and more. Everything but his undergarments. Pitt shivered in the cold and felt the mud sticking between his toes.
A dog on a chain was brought forward. The animal smelled at Pitt’s legs.
Pitt felt the hairs on his neck stand up. A cold wave hit his spine. He now knew what was going to happen.
The Kurakin started laughing when they saw the recognition in Pitt’s eyes.
“We’ll give you a few hours’ head start,” the captain said.
The laughter increased.
Pitt didn’t need to be told a second time. He took off away from the men and ran as fast as he could into the forest. The dog’s barking followed him. The Kurakin continued their laughter as they prepared their horses and weapons for the hunt to come.
Elisa
The morning was bright and chilly. Elisa rode directly behind Marshal Lauriston as he talked quietly with Desaix in the front of the group. Mon was to her left with a bottle clanking around in his lap.
Desaix galloped away from Lauriston to return to scouting. The marshal rode alone at the front now with his head down in thought. Elisa nudged her horse faster to catch up with Lauriston at the front.
“When should we cut east?” she asked when she pulled level with the marshal. She’d assumed they would’ve already moved away from the Broadwater and hidden in the deeper forest, but she trusted Lauriston to make the right decision.
But since the guide’s latest warning to her, she knew something was about to happen. Maybe the group should already be heading east and away from potential danger. She wanted to hear Lauriston’s thoughts on his own plan.
“When we approach Bres, I think.” Lauriston didn’t sound fully confident in the answer.
“And we’ll be able to find the army in the forest?” Elisa knew the Dune Forest to be vast and difficult to traverse.
“The agreed-upon location is Lake Brodeur. That’s on the other side of this part of the forest. The army should be split up throughout the forest, so we may find them sooner.”
“And if their plan has changed?” Elisa’s voice was low. She didn’t want the scenario to be true.
“Then we’ll have to find them some other way.”
They rode some more in silence. Traveling up and down small hills. Passing over small creeks and between thickets and clumps of underbrush.
“Your father would ask me for advice while we were on campaign.” Lauriston spoke at last through a long exhalation. His voice was tired and worried. “We would discuss the next move, the mindset of the enemy general and how to defeat him. He seemed to always know the right answers. For any situation, even against Duroc.”
Elisa didn’t know how to respond. Memories flooded her mind and she felt heat come to her cheeks at the mention of her father. A vision of him riding next to her through the imperial forests outside Plancenoit flashed across her mind. She was younger. She laughed and her hair waved behind her as they galloped through the trees.
“I keep asking myself what he would do right now. What would he have us do?” Lauriston shook his head and stared down the path in front of them. “He wouldn’t give up.”
“No.” Elisa knew that much was true.
Lauriston turned his head and looked at her. She could feel his eyes searching through her own. There was pressure there, like he expected her to have answers. He wanted her to be her father, to save them all in some miraculous and brilliant move.
But there was nothing to offer. Elisa was as lost as the rest of them. She wasn’t her father. She was useless, especially in a war like this one.
“It’s okay,” Lauriston pulled his eyes from hers. “We’ll find a way.”
Elisa fell back behind Lauriston and let the marshal ride alone at the head of the group. Mon continued to sip from his bottle and Elisa lost herself in memories of her father from when she was younger and the world was a simpler place.
Around midday, Desaix came galloping back through the trees with two other scouts. “Kurakin ahead.” Desaix reined up his horse.
Everyone stopped and grew quiet. All of Elisa’s worries disappeared and were replaced with a cold fear.
“How many?” Lauriston said.
“Not sure, not a whole regiment. There’s a dog with them. Almost like a hunting party.”
Both men looked unsure what to make of the information.
“Should we keep moving?” Desaix said.
Lauriston looked back at his line of soldiers. “For now.” He spurred his horse back into motion.
Desaix fell in with the group and they continued moving. After another hour, a second scout came back to report on the movement of the enemy.
“They’re close,” the scout said.
As he said it, the distant howl of a dog came through the trees.
“Coming this way?” Lauriston’s eyes didn’t leave the scout’s face.
“Yes, about the same size as us.” The scout nodded back to the line of their own troop. “They keep changing directions, definitely Kurakin though.”
Lauriston didn’t wait long to think through things. He called out orders to the men immediately and the whole group moved up to the crest of the next hill. Elisa was ordered to stay with a group of the sharpshooters while the rest of the soldiers rode down into the small valley below.
The barking of the Kurakin dog grew louder.
Elisa watched Lauriston lead the men down through the trees. She could see all the way to the bottom where a creek broke apart the forest floor.
The sound of horses came through the trees. Lauriston stopped his group. The dog was no longer barking. Silence filled the forest. Elisa watched the group below them spread along the creek and face north. Lauriston held up his hand at the front of the line.
The dog bark returned, closer now. Lauriston drew his pistol and the rest of the soldiers followed suit. Elisa scanned between the trees but saw nothing.
Something white appeared and bounced between the dark outlines of the trees. The shape turned into a man. Lauriston drew his pistol.
The man wore only undergarments and was covered in mud. He screamed and flung himself onto the ground next to the creek a few feet from Lauriston�
��s horse.
“Help me!” the man yelled. “Help me! Help me! Help me!”
Lauriston
The man fell to the ground in front of Lauriston. His horse tried to shy away but Lauriston gripped the reins tight and held her in place.
He focused on the tree line, where the sound of the hunting dog was coming closer. “Make ready.” He kept his eyes forward while issuing the order to his men.
The soldiers already had their weapons leveled at the far part of the clearing. Lauriston pulled back the hammer on his pistol.
The hunters appeared at a full gallop. They came around the bend of the creek and pulled up quickly. A dog came barreling onward and Lauriston was about to shoot the animal when the lead hunter called it to a halt with a whistle.
Lauriston looked at the hunters. They were wearing thick black furs.
Military uniforms.
Tall bearskin hats.
Lauriston knew the uniform well. He’d hoped to never have to fight them again.
The Kurakin numbered fifteen or so, about the same size as Lauriston’s men. But the Erlonians had their weapons already drawn.
The naked man in the middle still cowered. He pulled himself across the ground closer to the Erlonian side.
One of the Kurakin stepped forward. Lauriston saw the bars on his shoulder. A captain.
“We’ve no quarrel with you,” the captain said. “Leave that man to us and go. There won’t be trouble if you leave now.”
The soldiers behind Lauriston shifted a little. His own horse moved her head in response to the tension between the groups. He didn’t believe the captain’s words for a second.
“Well, shit,” Lauriston said to himself under his breath.
Silence and stillness filled the creek bed.
Lauriston raised his voice so the enemy captain would hear. “No.”
He said the response with force.
The Kurakin didn’t seem surprised. “So be it.”
The men in his group moved their horses two steps forward to draw even with their leader.
Everything sat frozen for a moment. The two groups looked at each other and waited for the other to move first. The dog stood with rigid legs in the middle. The cowering man continued to cower and crawl slowly towards the Erlonian side. The forest was dead silent around them.
The Kurakin charged.
It came quickly and without an order. They moved all at once. Their horses roaring forward. Lauriston yelled and the Erlonians let loose a volley.
Smoke from his pistol shot flew into his face. He didn’t see if his ball had struck the captain. The Erlonian horses galloped forward. Lauriston’s mount churned up mud from the creek.
More shots exploded around him and the thunk of bullets hitting flesh accompanied screams from both sides. Clashes of metal and flesh joined the chaos as the two sides collided.
Lauriston emerged from a cloud of smoke and found the Kurakin captain directly to his right now. The enemy’s right shoulder was bleeding. His pistol was already leveled at Lauriston.
The marshal ducked to the side and slid behind the flank of his horse. He pulled the reins and the animal swerved. He heard a crack and the ball whizzed overhead.
Lauriston continued through the Kurakin line and out the other side. He pulled himself back upright and drew his second pistol as he turned. The Kurakin captain was lost in the smoke.
Lauriston brought his pistol up and fired into the back of another Kurakin nearby. The enemy fell forward on his mount and the body was carried off into the forest by the panicked horse.
There was death everywhere. Horses down and screaming. Men on foot fighting men on horses. Men fighting with fists and no weapons in the mud. Lauriston drew his sword and charged back into the fray.
He swung down on a Kurakin who’d just fallen from his horse. A bullet snapped by his head. He parried an ax swing from a mounted enemy. Mud was flung up into the smoke-filled air.
Lauriston spurred his horse further into the fray and swung down on another Kurakin. The enemy fell with a slash across his face. Lauriston closed the gap on two Kurakin fighting one of his sharpshooters, but before he could reach the soldier, his mount stumbled on fallen bodies and threw Lauriston forward.
He rolled over his shoulder and dropped his sword and landed facing the same direction in a crouch. He turned and saw his horse tumble and come back to her feet and gallop away from the fight. Lauriston scrambled to find his sword on the ground.
He heard hooves and a yell behind him as he grasped the hilt in the mud. He turned and brought the blade up in front of him and parried an enemy horseman’s swing. The force of the attack knocked him down.
He rolled and stood. The horseman made a wide swing around and came back towards him. Lauriston counted the seconds while he drew his pistol. He drew a powder cartridge from his pocket. He upturned it into his gun while keeping his eyes on the approaching Kurakin horse.
The enemy’s sword went up. His horse came closer. Lauriston dropped the ball down the barrel and stuffed the rod in after. The horse was on him. The sword was high above Lauriston’s head and swinging down. Lauriston stepped aside and felt the air from the swing and the horse passing by him and moving on its way.
He went to one knee and pulled the hammer back and fired at the rider’s back. The enemy fell from his horse, dead.
Lauriston dropped his pistol and switched his sword back to his main hand. He spun around and looked for the next enemy. He found them behind him.
Two Kurakin soldiers both with pistols pointed at his chest.
Shit.
One of the Kurakin grinned. Lauriston waited for the shots to come. He kept his eyes open and on the enemy in front of him, his sword held at his side. The rest of the battle fell away and was lost to him.
Crack.
Smoke came from the trees to his right. The two Kurakin went down sideways. Blood spurted from wounds in their heads.
Sound came back to Lauriston. He ran forward and picked up the two enemy pistols. He turned to his right and saw Elisa and the sharpshooters come through the trees down the hill. Lauriston watched Elisa level her second pistol and fire into the back of another Kurakin.
The enemy were on the ground all around them. Moans and screams and the last clashes of swords carried through the haze of smoke. Erlonians stood over fallen Kurakin and finished them off.
The fight was over. Silence returned to the forest and the haze of smoke drifted off on the wind. The Erlonians breathed heavily and many had fallen to their knees. Lauriston felt a tension leave him and he wanted to collapse.
But there was work to be done. Soldiers moved to the injured Erlonians and started dressing wounds. Even through the chaos, Lauriston’s head was telling him to get the wounded and fly from this place. The fight had been too loud and they were too close to the Kurakin’s main army.
He started giving orders. They would gather what they could and bandage up what needed to be bandaged. They needed to move fast.
Lauriston turned and saw the nearly naked man standing at the edge of the group as the Erlonians tended to the wounded. He’d forgotten about the man who the Kurakin had been chasing. Lauriston went over to the man and took off his own coat and put it around his bare shoulders.
“Thank you,” the man said.
The accent rang out in Lauriston’s ears. There was less bite in the words than an Erlonian would use. It made things sound noble and poetic.
Lauriston looked at him in confusion. “You’re Brunian?”
The man gave a nod. “Thank you,” he said again.
Lauriston didn’t know what to think. But answers would have to wait. For now, they only needed to grab the wounded and get far away from here before more Kurakin attacked.
Chapter 17
Don’t poke the sleeping bear.
Lakmian Proverb
Nelson
White sails unfurled and filled with the steady wind. Salt air flicked up over the bow and the ship tacked a
way from the island. Nelson felt free now that he was back on the open sea and away from the stone walls and cold rooms of the fortress.
The same could not be said for Emperor Lannes.
Nelson turned in his seat and observed the emperor staring out the stern windows in the royal quarters as the Brunian ship sailed northward. Lannes turned away and resumed his seat at the desk across from Nelson. The former emperor leaned forward and rubbed both hands over his face.
“I thought you would’ve enjoyed that view for longer.” Nelson nodded back towards the stern window and the receding island fortress on the horizon.
Lannes smiled. “Standing up makes my stomach worse.”
“I see.”
Lannes stole a quick glance back at the sea outside the windows right as the ship lurched over a large swell. He shook his head and went back to staring at the back of his palms.
Nelson chose to let Lannes deal with the beginnings of his seasickness in silence. The king turned inward and gathered his own thoughts. Now was the crucial part of his plan. Now everything would come together and his large gamble would either pay off or doom his side of the war from the start.
King Nelson had chosen to skip the peace summit after his spies in Morada had alerted him to a possible betrayal from within the Coalition. He hadn’t known the details, but enough pieces were there for Nelson’s diplomatic intuition to kick in.
He’d chosen to not attend the summit nor to attempt to stop Leberecht and the Kurakin’s betrayal himself. He’d sailed to Brun instead to meet one of the most fascinating characters the Continent had ever produced. A man who would be useful in the wars to come. A man who was one of the only military leaders alive who could outsmart Duroc and the Kurakin and save the Continent.
A man who didn’t have very strong sea legs at the moment.
The ship rolled over another swell and Lannes took in a deep breath and held it inside. He kept his eyes down. The breath escaped and he dry-heaved once, holding a fist over his mouth.
The Fall of Erlon Page 19
