Scepters (22 page)

The
rest of the day was a blur, with exercise after exercise, and only a two-glass
break between morning and afternoon sessions. By the time Alucius released the
two companies—only slightly past midafternoon, because he had not wanted to put
too much strain on the mounts—both trainee companies had learned, in general
terms, the additional oblique maneuvers that Alucius had brought back from his
captivity in Madrien and adapted for Northern Guard use, as well as a few
others that had been used only by the Fifth and Twenty-first Companies of the
Northern Guard.

At
some point, Alucius wanted to send off a letter to Wendra. That was all he
could do to reassure her that he was thinking about her and Alendra, but he had
a great deal of planning to do. Also, he was well aware that anything he wrote
and dispatched from Krost Post would have to be short and say little beyond
expressing his affection.

As
he rode back to the stable, dust-covered, tired, and hoarse, he couldn’t help
but wonder what the marshal and the colonel had discussed and how it would all
play out.

Septi
morning was cloudy but dry, and as he reined up the gray on the maneuver field,
waiting for Captain Deotyr and Captain Jultyr, Alucius could almost feel the
resentment from a least some of the lancers in the two Southern Guard companies
as they formed up—carrying the rattan wands. He had not talked with Marshal
Frynkel, as had decided that it would be better for the marshal to seek him out
than to seek out Frynkel immediately. Alucius’s orders did not mention a
specific time when he was to leave for Hyalt, and he did not want to leave
until he and Fifth Company had had more time working with the two Southern
Guard companies.

Within
moments, Feran had brought his mount up beside Alucius. “Fifth Company is
ready, sir.”

“Thank
you. Do all your squad leaders know what’s necessary?” Alucius asked quietly.

“All
I had to tell them was that the Southern Guard was most unimpressed with the
Northern Guard.” Feran’s voice was dry. “I did add that the Southern Guards
didn’t seem to understand that you were trying to protect them, and that it
might be wise to reinforce that point. Show the southern boys that they needed
that protection.”

Alucius
nodded slowly. “Good. I wish it were some other way, but Colonel Jorynst’s
attitude has made this more difficult than it had to be.”

“You
mean that he can’t believe that we’re fit to command good southern men? Sir?”
Feran snorted.

“Something
like that.”

“How
do you want to handle today?” asked the overcaptain.

“Might
as well start with squad-on-squad. One set of squads at a time, so the others
can watch. Alternate. Your first squad against first squad of Twenty-eighth,
second squad against second squad of Thirty-fifth until we go through five
drills. Then, we’ll take a break. Say a half glass, but we’ll see. Then, we’ll
reverse the order… Your first squad against the first squad of Thirty-fifth…
That will mean your men have to work twice as hard.”

“They
can handle that.”

Alucius
remained on the gray, watching and
waiting
as Deotyr
and Jultyr formed up their companies, then rode forward.

“Twenty-eighth
Company, present and accounted for, sir.”

“Thirty-fifth
Company, present and accounted for, sir.”

“Fifth
Company, present and accounted for, sir,” added Feran.

Alucius
accepted the reports with a nod, then said, “Good morning, Overcaptain,
captains.”

“Good
morning, sir.”

“We’ll
be doing squad-on-squad drills this morning…” As Alucius explained, he studied
the three officers. “… and once we’ve had a run-through of the first five
skirmishes, the men will get a break, while I debrief you on each squad’s
performance. Then, you’ll get some time
to
work out
things with each squad and squad leader, and a break for rations and water.
Then, we’ll go through another set of squad-on-squad skirmishes…” As he
finished the outline of the day’s training exercises, it seemed to Alucius that
Jultyr’s attitude combined understanding with resignation. Deotyr seemed
resentful and bewildered. Feran managed to conceal an ironic amusement.

After
he dismissed the captains to make ready, Alucius rode farther toward the center
of the maneuver area so that he could watch more closely.

“First
squad, Fifth Company, ready, sir!” called Feran.

“First
squad, Twenty-eighth Company, ready, sir!”

“Commence
exercise!” Alucius ordered.

He
watched intently as the first squad from Fifth Company wheeled, then rode
toward the first squad of Twenty-eighth Company. Within moments, most of the
recent trainees were either rocked back in their saddles, had lost their rattan
wands, or had suffered blows that would have been crippling had they faced
lancers with real sabres. Alucius had anticipated that some additional training
would be necessary, but he had not expected such a poor showing.

He
let the skirmish go on for a time, long enough that it was clear to most that
those raw lancers in Twenty-eighth Company would have been slaughtered.

Then
he rode toward the swirling melee, raising his voice and projecting command, “Break
it off! Now!”

“Re-form!
First squad break and re-form!” came the command from Faisyn.

“Re-form!”
echoed the squad leader from Twenty-eighth Company.

Alucius
watched, but it appeared as though all of first squad still held their wands.

After
the dust settled, and the two first squads had cleared the center area, Alucius
called out. “Second squads! To the center of the field… Commence exercise!”

Once
more, the results of the quick skirmish were overwhelmingly in favor of Fifth
Company’s second squad, but the lancers of Thirty-fifth Company’s second squad
generally managed to hang on to their weapons, and a few even parried or landed
blows of their own.

Alucius
tried not to frown as the morning wore on, but the pattern set in the first two
skirmishes held consistent for the last three. Twenty-eighth Company was
hopelessly overmatched, while Thirty-fifth resembled trained raw lancers.

As
the last of the morning drills broke off and the two fifth squads reformed,
Alucius caught sight of a Southern Guard officer riding away from the maneuver
field. He wasn’t certain, but he thought the man was Fedosyr, and he wondered
exactly why the other had been watching the drills.

Alucius
made a mental note to himself about Majer Fedosyr as he rode toward
Twenty-eighth Company, loosely formed up in the northwest corner of the field.

He
began his debrief with Captain Deotyr and the first squad leader. “Captain,
squad leader… the first thing that I noticed was that too many lancers in your
squad were leaning back in their saddles . ..” After going over the general
observations, he moved on to specific points.

Then
he repeated the process with Captain Jultyr.

After
that Alucius called a break. The companies dismounted, tying their horses to
the railings on the east and west sides of the maneuver field.

Alucius
turned his own gray to the northeast, where he reined up at the very north end
of the railing. There he dismounted and took a long swallow from one of his
water bottles. Shortly, Feran joined him.

“What
do you think?” Alucius asked the older officer.

“Thirty-fifth
Company will be all right. Jultyr’s solid. Not outstanding, but solid.
Twenty-eighth Company…” Feran shook his head.

“They’ve
made it harder for us,” Alucius suggested. “Normally, you just rotate
replacements into an existing company. Except for the squad leaders and
captains, they’ve formed two complete companies out of trainees. So we get to
train them, and when it’s all over they either get two trained and experienced
companies, or they haven’t lost an existing company.”

“Why
do we always get deals like this, sir?”

“Because
a lot of the Southern Guard doesn’t like the Northern Guard. We cost them a lot
of lancers and officers over the years, and they haven’t forgotten—or forgiven.”

“Have
we?” asked Feran with a laugh.

“We
haven’t forgotten, but I hope we’ve enough sense to put it behind us.” Alucius
fished out some hard travel bread and chewed on it, wondering just how many
more difficulties that he hadn’t anticipated would raise their heads.

After
the midday break, the afternoon skirmishes went in much the same way as the
morning, except that Twenty-eighth Company’s results were even worse, with two
lancers breaking their sword arms. On the other hand, Thirty-fifth Company’s
three squads did a slightly better job against Fifth Company and also managed
to hold discipline and a semblance of ranks.

Alucius
went through another long series of debriefs with the captains and their squad
leaders, and it was well past midafternoon when he finished those and ordered
the companies to form up.

“How
do you think they’ll react to today?” Feran asked.

“You
probably know better than I do,” Alucius replied. “What do you think?”

“My
guess is that the trainees—I guess they’re lancers now… they’ll start to accept
the fact that they have something to learn. The captains, I don’t know. Deotyr
will do what you want, but he won’t give much leadership. Jultyr… he can
probably lead, but I can’t tell whether he’ll make it hard or not.”

“It’s
your job, for now, to find out and see what it will take with Jultyr,” Alucius
said.

“I
was afraid you’d say that.”

“And
one other thing…” Alucius smiled tiredly. “Once everyone is formed up, I’m
going to announce a complete gear inspection in one glass. That includes Fifth
Company.”

Feran
smiled in return. “Fifth Company should be set. I held one yesterday.”

“The
others may be set, but…”

“You
don’t think so.”

“I’d
like to think so,” Alucius said.

He
waited for a bit longer, before ordering, “Captains, forward!”

The
three officers rode from before their companies, reining up in a line three
yards short of Alucius.

“Captains,
Overcaptain.”

“Yes,
sir.”

“You
and your men have a glass and a half to get set for a complete mount and gear
inspection outside the barracks. Uniform will be standard field dress. Gear
will be full deployment equipment. That includes all officers and men in all
three companies.”

“Yes,
sir.”

“That
will be all.”

After
the three turned their mounts, Alucius listened as they rode back to their
companies.

“…
think he is…” muttered Deotyr.

“…
he’s in command, Deotyr… better realize that…” answered Jultyr. “He’s got a
nasty job to do, and we’re the ones…”

A nasty job indeed
, Alucius reflected, as he turned the
gray back to the stable, but nasty jobs seemed to be his legacy.

On
Octdi morning, a day with hazy clouds rather than the heavy overcast of the
previous day, Alucius had just led out the gray from the stable, but had not
mounted. He and Feran stood by their mounts.

“You
still intend to work with Twenty-eighth Company?” Feran asked.

“For
now. You seem to be working things out with Jultyr.”

“He’s
seen enough to realize what you are. He also asked. I told him you’d entered
service really young and been a militia scout, a Matrite captive, and then a
squad leader, and all the militia history.” Feran smiled. “I think he was more
impressed that you were a squad leader for the Matrial and escaped.”

“If
that’s what he likes, that’s fine.”

“If
I might ask…” Feran began…”about the inspections?”

“The
same as the drills. Sloppy gear in Twenty-eighth, what you’d expect of decent
raw lancers in Thirty-fifth.” Alucius could sense someone coming, and he turned
to see Marshal Frynkel walking alone across the paved courtyard of the post
toward them. Alucius waited, hiding a smile as Feran eased away.

“Majer?”

Alucius
looked at the marshal. “Sir?”

“I
have been talking with Majer Fedosyr. He is rather distraught about your
exercises of yesterday. Most distraught, I would say.”

“Sir?”

“He
feels that it was highly unfair to place lancers just out of training against a
battle-tested company of veterans.”

“I
would agree with the majer, sir,” Alucius replied. “That was exactly why I did
it. Battle isn’t a question of fairness. It’s a question of who’s more skillful
and who’s better trained and better led. The sooner these new lancers
understand that they’re no match for experienced lancers, the sooner they’ll be
ready to listen and to learn.”

“I
had told the majer that I thought that was your rationale.” A faint smile
crossed the marshal’s face. “He feels that you may have an image of all
Southern Guards as being less… able.”

While
Alucius harbored some suspicions along those lines, he wasn’t about to voice
them. “I don’t believe I’ve ever said or even hinted that, sir.”

“Nonetheless,
the majer is quite concerned.”

“I
appreciate his concerns, but I need to have these lancers ready to accept more
rigorous training and understand why it’s necessary.”

“In
fact, the majer would like to uphold the ability of the Southern Guard in a
demonstration match against you.”

“Is
that necessary?” Alucius asked cautiously. Although he’d mentioned to Feran the
possibility of such a match against the best blade in the two companies, he’d
decided against it as unnecessary when the skirmish exercises had turned out
the way that they had.

“The
majer believes it is necessary, and since he does, and since it is likely that
many follow his views, I fear I must concur.”