Interregnum (68 page)

He pointed a finger at Sabian. “Now get out of my sight!”

The commander carried out an extravagant salute and turned on his heel to leave the tent and marched out into the night, growling. Nothing was worth this.

Part Six: Imperium

Chapter XXXI.
           

           
Darius took a deep breath to steady himself. The army had been down on the plains now for two days and had begun to move slowly and steadily toward the sea and the inevitable clash with the army of Velutio. The Emperor was, despite his lifetime’s study of the great campaigns, amazed at the incredibly slow speed at which a full army travelled. The infantry were not as fast as the cavalry, obviously, but the entire army was forced for move at the same speed as the slowest unit among them which turned out to be the siege units and wagon trains that toddled along at the back as though out for a country ramble. The commanders of the army seemed to be taking it all very stoically and Darius tried to be patient, but the fact that Velutio’s army was reputed to be moving with a worrying swiftness kept preying on his mind. Tythias had tried to explain that this was because they had foregone siege units and engineers in favour of speed of travel and that they required no wagon train as they had been in foragable lowlands their entire time, rather than in bare and inhospitable mountains like the rebel force. Also, Velutio had allies and vassals everywhere that provided their army with supplies as they moved, whereas all the allies the rebel army had were travelling with them on their route.

He sighed and glanced around himself at the others. They rode quietly, their faces expressionless as the noise of thousands of men and horses blanketed them and the dust rose like the column of smoke from a forest fire.

“How long ‘til we reach Silvas’ palace?” he enquired of Caerdin, who rode alongside at the head of the column.

“We’re almost there now. We’ve been on his land for an hour now. You’ll see the top tower of his palace over the ridge any minute…”

Darius nodded and turned to face their destination again just in time to see three of their mounted outriders come galloping over the hill and rein in urgently in front of the command party. The scout officer saluted and coughed a little in the resulting cloud of dust.

“Your majesty… Silvas… he’s under attack.”

Kiva reined gestured to one side and the scouts and command party both moved off the road onto the springy loam while the slow procession of military might plodded and trundled past. “Details, man!” demanded the general as soon as they were out of the way.

“Dunno sir. It’s not Velutio’s army. There’s maybe three or four different uniforms down there. They’ve not got much in the way of cavalry, but there’s quite a lot of infantry. They’ve got tents set up half a mile away, but they’re swarming around his walls and there are a couple of siege towers and a battering ram floating around among them.”

Tythias rumbled deep in his throat. “Can you identify any of them?”

The scout shook his head. “No, sir, but they’re a mix of men wearing black, green and blue.”

“That could be just about anyone” the one armed commander grumbled.

One of the scouts saluted and spoke up. “Sir… one of the tents I saw had a flag. It was black with silver trim and had a rearing bull standing on a tower.”

“Ah.” Kiva smiled. “Lord Tilis shows his colours now. I thought he’d stay damn close to Velutio. He doesn’t like to stick his neck out for anything. Velutio must have sent him in command of two other lords to make sure Silvas didn’t get to join us. Silly bastard. If he’d just asked instead, Silvas might’ve joined them willingly, but still; all the better for us.”

The general wheeled his horse and looked up at Darius. “Your permission, highness?”

Darius nodded and Kiva grinned, turning back to Tythias. “Get your cavalry marshalled and take them out to the east. I want you to cross the river over by the mill and get in position in the ditches there. If you do it right you can get behind their camp and a few hundred yards from the fight without them even knowing you’re there. I doubt they’re concerned about their rear lines; they’ll be concentrating on the job at hand. When you hear the trumpet signal to advance, take out their camp and form a cordon around them with your light cavalry. What you do with the heavy cavalry’s up to you.”

Tythias nodded and, grinning, wheeled his own horse before charging off to find his cavalry captains. Kiva turned to face Brendan and Sithis. “We’ve not got time to bring the whole army into position. Get the two lead regiments and draw them up a few hundred yards away below the crest of the hill. When we move in, Sithis, you’ll take the first regiment down into the centre of the fight and aim for their command units. If you can get to them, take out their officers. If they offer surrender, take it. As much of this is public relations as it is war. You know what to do.”

“Brendan, old friend,” he smiled. “You take the second regiment and make directly for the front entrance. I need you to take out that battering ram and form a perimeter outside the gate to hold the enemy away. If all goes well, once the units are all in the melee, you’ll be able to close up like a swinging door and push them back against Sithis’ regiment. Tythias’ cavalry will be there keeping them hemmed in for you and I suspect he’ll have battered their morale with a few cavalry charges by then.”

“Athas,” he continued, turning to the large dark-skinned man. “You need to get all this lot halted and make sure they don’t move forward and get involved in the fight. If there’s any way you can get the bolt throwers out to the crest, do so and get Filus’ third regiment to give you cover. Can you do that?”

Athas grunted. “It’ll be at least ten minutes before we can get the bolt throwers out to the front, even using all the manpower we have. They’re at the front of the siege column, but that’s behind eight regiments of footmen. Will ten minutes be enough?”

“It’ll do,” the general replied. “To be honest I thought it’d take a lot longer than that. Tythias won’t be in position for at least five more minutes himself, so it should work out nicely. Once you’ve got them in position, pick your targets carefully.”

Athas nodded as Brendan gave his commander a grin that Kiva recognised as a sort of hunger and nodded. “An’ what’ll you be at, sir?”

Kiva smiled. “I will be taking young lord Pelian and his men, along with a select few units, to deal with those siege towers. Once they’re down and the battering ram’s out, Silvas is safe. The man’s stood up against our enemies for us and we can’t let him down now.”

There were nods of agreement from around him and Kiva squared his shoulders before reaching down to draw his sword. Darius noted briefly the look of pain that passed across the general’s face as he bent to one side and feared for a fraction of a second that the man would fall from the horse. However, Caerdin recovered so fast no one else seemed to have noticed. “Let’s move!” the general cried, and the command party went about their business.

As Darius watched the column fragment, he wondered where to place himself. He knew Caerdin would disapprove of his getting involved in the front lines of the battle, but he could hardly be seen to be standing idly by as his army fought. Gritting his teeth, he dismounted and walked over to Sithis, where the swordsman was giving orders to his regiment.

“I’m going to be joining you, Sithis. I know you don’t approve, but I’m joining you anyway so don’t think of arguing.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, highness” the swordsman replied, beaming.

Kiva watched with a frown as the Emperor dismounted and took a position alongside the first regiment with his sword drawn. Well, perhaps the lad was right. Watching their Emperor fighting alongside them in battle would do more for the army’s morale than an extra thousand men. Young Pelian rode alongside him, looking eager. The general worried about inexperienced people who eagerly anticipated blood and violence. They were usually either psychopaths or dreamy youths hopelessly lost in a romantic notion that would soon be ripped from them among steel and blood. Gritting his teeth, he turned to the young man. “Lord Pelian. Gather your men and have them assemble just below the ridge to the left of Sithis’ regiment.”

Pelian nodded once and veered off to the side, bearing down on his own officers. Kiva turned the other way and headed for a small unit of men in full uniform walking out to the grass at one side. The crossbowmen, though they’d been combined at an operational level with Filus’ archers, were serving under no specific officer. In fact, Filus’ archers tended now to travel with them and their unit had a sort of autonomy that Athas disapproved of mightily. However, since Filus now commanded the third regiment, no commander had been assigned to the archers. This had been a mere oversight until Tythias’ skirmish in the rocks below Hadrus, and Filus had continued to command both groups but, since Tythias’ report of how well the crossbowmen had handled themselves, Kiva had taken more of an interest in them. Now he considered the archers an independent unit and allowed them their semi-autonomy in return for their ability to work and act as a perfectly-organised and balanced unit. Whatever that prat Phythian had done, he’d trained his men well and they seemed to have no crisis of conscience serving in the army of his executioner. Kiva called out and waved them over.

“Get your entire unit up behind the crest of the hill alongside lord Pelian’s men. I’ll be up there taking command of the small group. Move out!”

Bearing out his opinion of them, the crossbowmen and their archer comrades immediately fell out with no other order having to be issued and made their way to the target location. Kiva smiled. If only Phythian had thought further than his purse in the first place he could have been leading them now.

He waited until the last unit was on the move and turned his mare to the front of the column. With a slap to her hide he cantered for a moment until he was ahead of the army and then slid gracefully from her back and tied her to a tree. As he wrapped the reins around a branch, he turned away from his men. No need for them to see the signs of exquisite pain that flitted across his face at the sudden jarring of organs. He grumbled and, looking around to see make sure he wasn’t being watched, lifted his tunic to examine his side. There was a tiny bulge in the skin as though it were filling with liquid like a waterskin. Damn. It was too early yet. He must have a word with Favio after the fight. Mercurias was too motherly over his unit, but Favio might be persuaded to help rather than hinder. With another wince, he turned and drew his sword.

Walking steadily out from the shade of the tree, he made his way directly toward the gathering troops at the crest. With a last mental calculation, he took his place in front of the two groups, alongside the young lord Pelian. Taking his flint and tinder from his belt pouch, he struck a fire among some moss and bracken on an old milestone. “Here’s what we’re going to do, people. You archers need to keep this fire fed. In a couple of minutes I want you to dip in your oil flasks and prepare to fire burning arrows into the siege towers. I want a concentrated barrage on the tower we can see from here. I want you to make sure the fucker’s burning properly before we move on to the next one. Once it’s truly on fire and they’re having to sort out the crew to put the fires out, we’ll move you onto the second tower. You’ll then be left with a small defence unit as the rest of us move in to make sure the first tower stays down.

There was a chorus of nods around the general and a couple of the crossbowmen bent to collect twigs and foliage to add to the small fire on the milestone. Kiva watched in trepidation for another minute or so until the entire group settled and units stopped manoeuvring on the road. He gave a wave to the small group of heralds at the front of the column. Seconds later a complex trumpet call blared out and the infantry units began to move over the hill. Around Kiva the archers, their missiles doused in oil, dipped the tip into the flame and watched the arrows and bolts leap to life, wreathed in fire and deadly. Stepping a couple of paces forward, they could see over the crest of the hill and spotted the siege tower jammed up against the powerful walls of Silvas’ fortress-like palace. Without waiting for the order, the unit released their bolts and arrows and the various missiles thudded into the siege tower with a crash, followed by a deafening roar as the flames immediately took the dry wood. The men inside filled every floor, with the top group fighting the defenders for a means of egress onto the wall. There was a shout of alarm and burning bodies fell from the upper levels.