Arcanum (20 page)

“It’s a piss-awful day, huntmaster, but we must strike sooner rather than later. We’ll stop here. When the wagons catch us up, we’ll arm ourselves and take back the town. When you have quite recovered,” said Gerhard, snorting a short laugh, “I’ll need you to scout ahead again.”

“As my lord commands.”

Gerhard went to ride on by, but he stopped again right next to Büber. “The other hunter: Nagel?”

“Nadel, my lord. No sign of him.”

“The man better have a good excuse. I see no reason to be lenient with failure.” The prince’s smile soured to a frown. “We should have had more warning.”

Gerhard flicked his heels, and the prince’s horse extricated its hooves from the mud with a sucking noise.

Finally satisfied that he wasn’t being watched closely, Büber slung the crossbow over his shoulder and gingerly cupped his balls. He gasped and groaned, but from what he could feel, he still had two.

He picked up the fallen crossbow bolts and retrieved his horse before heading back to the road. Both of them, he decided, would be better off walking. It took a while.

The woman in white was waiting for him.

“You could have killed me, you witch,” said Büber.

She looked amused. “But I didn’t,” she said.

“I had to jump out of the way. It was coming straight for me!”

She sighed, and decided that, as they weren’t going anywhere, she may as well dismount.

“Yes. That would be because the Teuton was right behind you, waving his big sword at your exposed back.” She squared up to him. That was difficult, since he had a lot of height on her, but it didn’t deter her for a moment. “Perhaps I should have left you to get sliced open. But then again, you’re not the only one who’s a decent shot. At least I hit what I aim at.”

“I hit him,” he objected.

“You hit his horse.”

“Do you know how difficult that was?”

“No. Neither do I care, because what I did was much harder. I had to miss you as well.”

“The fuck you did. I had to duck!”

“No, I had to count on you ducking at precisely the right moment. Which you did. Just.” She folded her arms and smiled up at him. “Any later and I’d have ended up looking a complete idiot.”

“But … but … That burnt thing out there could have been me.”

“Good job you ducked then. Anything else you’d like to say?”

Büber’s crossbow had started to slip off his shoulder, and he angrily pushed it back up. “Plenty. Do that again and I’ll…”

“What? Not duck just to spite me?”

“Just to … yes. And gladly.”

“And how is your precious manhood? Hopefully some sense has been knocked into it, because clearly it’s the organ you use to think with best.”

“This,” said Büber, “this is exactly why men do the fighting, and the women stay at home.”

“If this woman had stayed at home, your headless corpse would be lying in the mud over there.” She nodded towards the field, then looked him up and down. “We’re all worth more alive than dead, Master Büber. You can thank me later.”

She led her horse away, and left him fuming.

Nikoleta watched the men with the wagons, saw how they laboured to keep their carts on the road, how they took every opportunity to rest on their steering polls, how hunched their backs were, how slow every necessary movement was. How tired they all were.

Even with the wagons parked – propped up with a frame under the ever-turning front axle to keep it clear of the ground – the men slopped and slipped about their duties.

The spearmen that accompanied them were in little better state. They had pushed and shoved and goaded for the miles between Simbach and Obernberg. It was nothing that a few hours’ rest and a hot meal and chance to dry off wouldn’t have cured, but they weren’t going to get any of that.

Gerhard was determined to attack at once. A fool could see the lack of wisdom in such a decision. The Teutons were in a far better position than the Carinthians. In fact, they were in exactly the position the Carinthians should have been in. It should have been the Teutons cold and miserable on the road, shuffling nervously into their armour and fumbling with their weapons, dreading facing men who had turned out of a soft bed that morning and eaten a bellyful of meat.

For the first time, she found herself wondering if Gerhard was the best person to lead Carinthia in these new, interesting times.

“Signorina?”

“Signore Allegretti.” He looked different now. Somehow, more business-like: the floppy hat and the rich clothes had gone, replaced with a plate-sewn coat and a half-helmet with nose-guard. Both looked well used.

He held out a rough linen tunic and a long canvas overcoat. “This was the best I could do, signorina. They have the benefit of being dry, but little else. Also this.” He produced a brimmed leather hat and added it to the pile. It was wet, and clearly he’d taken it from someone else’s head. “More important that you, rather than him, keep the rain from your eyes.”

“Thank you,” she said, and took them from him. There was nowhere private to change, just a few trees. For decency’s sake, she ought to take herself away, but that would draw more, not less attention to herself. And it wasn’t like any of the men here would so much as dare to comment on her nakedness, let alone try to take advantage of it.

Unlike the hexmasters, these mundanes were terrified of her. Good.

“Turn around, Master Allegretti.” She put the clothes on the rail of a nearby wagon and shook the tunic out. It was a man’s, but it would fall to past her knees. More importantly, it wasn’t white.

She gripped the hem of her robes and peeled herself out of them, leaving them a soggy mass on the wagon. The cold rain on her tattooed skin made her shiver, and she dragged the tunic on over her head, quickly covering it with the coat. She wrung as much water as she could out of her hair, and topped it with the hat.

“Done.”

Allegretti turned back to her. He said nothing.

“Well?”

“You look like a sorcerer in a long coat. But perhaps from a distance it will do.”

“Is nothing ever good enough for you, Allegretti?”

“Nothing is ever perfect, signorina. No plan, no scheme, no deception is foolproof. The question is, will it serve its purpose? In our case, probably. I would prefer it if you cut your hair: it makes you obviously different.”

Unconsciously, she reached up and touched her hair, tugging on it. She’d worn her hair short, back in Byzantium. That she could grow it out was a mark of her control over her own life.

Other things: her height – she was shorter than most short men, but there were still some boys among the wagon train. Her shape – but she’d bound her breasts tightly that morning, and she wasn’t so top-heavy that the coat didn’t disguise them.

Allegretti was worrying over nothing. She could easily pass as a boy if she tucked her hair up under her hat.

“No,” she said. “That stays.”

“As you wish. Master Büber and two of the earls have ridden on ahead. Our attack will commence shortly.”

“And this attack? Conducted to the old rules? March up to the enemy, cut them down and, when they run, hunt them like rabbits?”

Allegretti shrugged. His plate-laden coat was heavy with absorbed water. “More or less. The spears will advance, flanked by the horse. You and me and Gerhard and Felix will ride behind the spearmen. Very Roman.”

“What will the Teutons be doing?”

“They will try not to engage with us, initially. They have bows and will use them. Their baggage train will be close by – Signore Büber is looking for it – and we need to close with that. They will make every effort to protect it, and they will melee with us at that point.”

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine it. The Teutons travelling with the wagons would defend them, even it was just women and children. It would mean, when the Teuton horsemen charged them, the Carinthians would most likely be fighting both at the front and the rear at the same time.

“Is it a good plan, Master Allegretti?”

“It is not the worst I’ve heard. At least our lord realises that the town itself is unimportant. A lesser general would fight their way into the centre, only to find themselves surrounded. By seizing their baggage, he forces them to fight us. If he destroys it, they are destitute so they will continue to fight long after the moment when they should retreat.”

“But? I can hear it in your voice.”

“We run the risk of being overwhelmed. Every casualty we suffer is critical. Spearmen are only strong in numbers. If we have too few, they cannot support each other, and then it comes to their individual prowess as fighters.” Allegretti looked over his shoulder at the nearest knot of spearmen, huddled together and talking in low voices. “These are not hardened warriors, practised in the shieldwall and the schiltrom, bloodied in battle and strong of heart. We must be ready to act, if it becomes necessary. These things can fall apart in moments.”

A shout called the infantry to order, and they lined up in a field, three rows deep. They looked less fierce than they should have done. The horses split into two groups, which only served to show how few of them there were, and arranged themselves at either end of the line.

Gerhard and Felix came riding down the road towards them.

“See the flower of Carinthian manhood, Master Allegretti? The battle’s as good as won.”

“As you say, my lord.”

Felix looked excited and nervous, and Nikoleta thought that he had absolutely no idea of what was going to happen. The boy held an oval shield on his left, his cavalry sword already unsheathed on his right, steering his horse with his legs only.

“You seem eager, young Master,” she said.

He beamed back. “Who wouldn’t be? This has to be the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Felix—” started Allegretti, but Gerhard interrupted.

“Gods, now’s not the time for one of your lectures. The boy’s got his blood up! Like his father, and his father’s father before him.” He banged his fist against his own shield. “Where’s my huntmaster? We need our target.”

Nikoleta untied her horse and slopped onto the back of it, while Allegretti resolutely remained on foot. At least the heat from the beast kept her warm.

Finally, Büber appeared over the hill, with only one of the earls behind him. They were riding at speed, then slowed to an energy-saving trot once they drew closer.

He was out of breath as he tried to explain to Gerhard.

“In the centre. Market square. They’re all there.”

“Where’s Bruckner?”

“It wasn’t easy, my lord. We had to get almost into the town. They’ve placed wagons across the roads to the square.”

“Barricaded themselves in, eh?” The loss of an earl didn’t seem to bother the prince unduly, so Nikoleta assumed he was a person of no great importance. “A static target.”

“The wagons only. The Teutons are riding out to meet us.”

“Good, good,” he said, despite that not being part of his plan at all. They were now trying to take a defended position.

“How many roads into the square, Master Büber?”

“Two. One this side, the other to the north-east.”

“And, like the town squares in Juvavum, tall houses on each side?”

“Yes,” said Büber. He leant heavily on the horn of his saddle and wiped the sweat from his forehead. His exertions had opened the cuts on his face again, and even the arrow wound was weeping.

“Like a castle, then, and just as in the stories, the gates will be blasted inwards and we’ll take the keep by force.” Gerhard wheeled his horse around. “Mount up, Master Allegretti. Carinthia is at war and every man will do his duty.”

He and Felix rode into the field to take up their positions, and Allegretti walked silently to his horse. He gave it a pat on the neck, and swung himself up.

“Every man?” she wondered out loud.

“Perhaps he has forgotten you are a woman, in the same way he has already forgotten how many drunken evenings he has enjoyed with the late Earl Bruckner.”

The other earl went to join his assigned group, and Büber slowly straightened up, hauling in more air. “This. This whole thing…”

“Is madness?” offered Allegretti.

“There’s too many of them. Even for you.” He looked at Nikoleta as he spoke.

“That remains to be seen.” Three of the four Teutons they’d already killed were laid out, headless, by the side of the road. The fourth, the one she had incinerated, had been left where he’d fallen. No one had wanted to touch him. “I’ve no particular wish to die, but neither will I counsel despair,” she said. “The dice are cast; let them fall where they may.”

“So said mighty Caesar, who had all the armies of Rome behind him.” Allegretti reached across his body and drew his sword. “I would rather the gods’ honest earth under my feet than this contrary animal, but my lord decrees I ride rather than walk.”

He followed in the direction taken by Gerhard, and Büber shook his head violently. Spray from his hair and face flew off in all directions.

“I have to protect you,” he said. “That sounds even less likely than when Allegretti first suggested it.”

“Then there’ll be little more for you to do today,” said Nikoleta. “Be grateful that your work is done.”

He snorted. “Of course it is. I’ll believe that.”

“The advance has been sounded. We’re late.”

“Oh, arse.” Büber dragged his head up and indicated that Nikoleta should go first through the gap in the wall. She trotted off and slid into line next to Gerhard. On his other side rode Felix, and then Allegretti.

“Where are your robes, Mistress?” asked the prince.

“A simple subterfuge. I thought it wise.” She left Allegretti’s involvement out for the moment. Gerhard’s continual sniping at his son’s tutor was wearing, and she was much less likely to suffer his sarcasm. Teachers were replaceable. She, uniquely, was not.

Across the fields, in the distance near the town where the buildings ended and the farms began, there were horsemen. Enough of them to resemble a swarm of flies.

They were sufficiently closely packed for Gerhard to look at her again.

“Just over half a mile, my lord. Not a range I can make.”