Sovereign Stone (13 page)

“Make it the enemy’s death. Let them suffer the pain. I command you to survive today’s battle so that you can fight the battle tomorrow. Then survive tomorrow so you can return to your families. The enemy is fighting for ambition and power. They seek subjugation and plunder. Their cause is small and unworthy. They deserve to lose.

“We fight for the safety of our families. We fight to preserve a world where love and life can thrive. We deserve to win. Prepare your Rangers. We ride in an hour.”

In unison, a hundred officers saluted, fist to heart. Duane stepped onto the back of the wagon and began calling out orders. Less than an hour later, the legion of Rangers was moving north to skirt the enemy forces and drive deep into their territory.

Alexander sat on his horse and watched the units moving off across the open plain. “I’ll be riding with your company, Duane,” he said. “Oh, and you’ve been promoted. My father will be commanding all of the forces of the Ruathan army, so you’re in command of this legion now.”

Duane was genuinely surprised. “Thank you for your confidence.” He looked like he was about to say more but thought better of it.

***

They rode for nearly a week before they reached the lands governed and protected by Headwater. The legion separated into a hundred companies and each went their separate way according to their assigned areas of operation. Rally points were defined and standing orders were issued.

A day later, Alexander lay on his belly, with Duane on his right and Isabel on his left, looking over the crest of a small hill. Their company of Rangers was mounted and ready to ride but hidden from the road beyond. Scouts had reported that a food convoy was traveling up the road from the estate of a minor noble beholden to Headwater. It was late afternoon and they’d been waiting an hour or so for the supply train to come into sight.

The convoy was a hundred wagons long, packed heavily and moving slowly, with an escort of twenty soldiers on horseback. This would be the first engagement for the company of Rangers, and Alexander was glad to see that the odds were stacked decidedly in his favor.

When they returned to the company, Duane split the force into two units so they could attack from different directions. Several minutes passed, then Isabel opened her eyes, breaking contact with Slyder. She nodded to Alexander and Duane. Alexander gave the command and each unit spurred their horses into a gallop. Alexander led his unit around the front side of the hill to charge directly at the advancing column, while Duane led his unit over the top of the low hill to come at them from the side.

The enemy soldiers saw Alexander first and formed a column of cavalry four wide and five deep. They were armed with heavy spears and shields. Alexander led fifty Rangers in a loose formation. The enemy clearly thought their heavy weapons and larger horses would give them the weight they needed to defeat the lighter armor and smaller horses of the Rangers.

The Rangers fanned out to give the enemy less of a target. The enemy didn’t break formation; they charged with raised shields and lowered spears. Alexander drew his sword. It felt light and sure in his hand. He watched the soldiers hurtling toward him, and calm settled into his soul. He was in a fight and he had a blade in his hand—but not just any blade. He held the Thinblade, the Sword of Kings.

The Rangers loosed a volley of arrows. Most were deflected by the enemy’s shields but a few found their way to their targets. Abigail drove her arrow straight through the shield of a lead rider and into his chest. The enemy cavalry expertly avoided the fallen in their midst and re-formed into a column.

A moment later a volley of arrows from Duane’s unit caught them on the flank and thinned their ranks by half. The column broke under the chaos and the soldiers charged into the larger force of Rangers without the strength of a cohesive formation.

Alexander picked his first target and barreled toward the onrushing soldier. They locked eyes and the enemy raised his shield and his spear in preparation for the strike. By unspoken agreement, they would pass each other on the right. The engagement happened with blinding speed. Alexander slapped the flat of his blade against the haft of the spear to push the point past his shoulder and then swept his blade into the enemy shield. He knew the Thinblade was a thing of wonder and surpassing power, but he was shocked at how terrifying that power actually was in a fight.

His blade hit the face of the enemy shield and sliced through it at a diagonal angle, cleaving the soldier’s arm off between the elbow and wrist. Then it caught the soldier across the chest and cleaved him cleanly in half. His arms came free as the blade passed through him like a sharp knife through paper. He came apart in a spray of blood, pieces of his body thudding to the ground one after the other.

The soldier behind him watched the spectacle in terror and surprise. He was so shocked by what he’d just witnessed that he was unable to make a clean strike with his spear. Alexander leaned over the neck of his horse and the second enemy spear passed just inches over his back. The moment the tip passed, he sat up and swept his blade back toward the enemy and cleaved his head off with a single stroke.

The charge faltered and the next enemy Alexander faced didn’t have much momentum behind him. He moved in on horseback and expertly jabbed at Alexander with his long spear. The point glanced off Alexander’s dragon-steel chainmail and tore his shirt. He flicked the Thinblade through the haft of the spear and took off the first three feet, then spurred his horse forward and thrust through the enemy’s shield and into his heart.

He turned to see a spearman intent on running him through topple off his horse from a clean stroke by Anatoly’s war axe. The battle was over as suddenly as it had begun. A few of the Rangers sustained injuries but none were lost in the fight. The enemy soldiers were dead to the last man, most with arrows sticking out of them. Duane set to work rounding up the men driving the wagons and securing the horses of the fallen soldiers. Lucky tended to the wounded Rangers, and Isabel scouted the horizon through Slyder’s eyes for any additional threat.

Alexander stood before the group of teamsters. They were unarmed and looked like simple workmen. They had fear in their eyes.

“Who will speak for you?” Alexander asked.

There were several nervous moments of silence before a burly man with grey hair raised his hand.

“Very good. Stand up and tell me your name,” Alexander commanded.

The man stood. He was shorter than Alexander but outweighed him and had broad shoulders and a barrel chest. “I’m called Arlo,” he said nervously.

“Hello, Arlo. My name is Alexander. I am the King of Ruatha.” The man’s eyes widened. “Headwater is making war on New Ruatha and I’ve come to see to it that Headwater loses.”

“Lord Alexander, I’m just a teamster,” Arlo said. “I drive a wagon to support my family. I don’t want no part of any war but I have to do what the Teamsters Guild tells me or I’ll lose my chit.”

“What do you mean you’ll lose your chit?” Alexander asked with a frown of confusion.

“Elred Rake, Master of Headwater, has decreed that no man with a skilled trade can work unless he belongs to a trade guild. If I don’t do as I’m told by the guild, they’ll take my chit away from me and no one will hire me to drive their wagons.” He held up a copper coin with a horse stamped in the face of it. “I need my job. Guild jobs are the only ones that pay well enough to feed my family.” The men all around nodded in agreement. A few held up similar copper coins.

“Elred Rake won’t be running Headwater for very long.” Alexander drew his sword and held it so the men could get a good look at it. There were murmurs and gasps from the crowd. “People have the right to do whatever work they can get so long as they obey the Old Law. As for you men, I have no desire to harm you, but these supplies are meant to feed the soldiers advancing on New Ruatha. I’m curious, where exactly were you taking these wagons?”

Arlo hesitated. “If I tell you that, I’ll be killed by Rake for sure.”

Alexander pointed the Thinblade at him in silent threat. The man started trembling.

“Please don’t kill me, Lord Alexander. I have kids that need me,” Arlo begged as he fell to his knees.

Alexander lowered the blade and spoke more softly. “Arlo, I don’t want to hurt you, but I need to know where these supplies were being taken. You are serving a master who is waging war against the Old Law. He’s serving the interests of Prince Phane. I’m trying to protect the people of this island against the suffering that will engulf us all if Phane wins. You have a choice to make. You can side with me and serve the Old Law and the cause of life or you can choose to serve Elred Rake and Prince Phane. There is no middle ground. And Arlo, as much as it pains me, I will kill you if you choose to serve my enemy; then I will make one of your fellow teamsters kneel over your corpse and I will ask him where you intended to take your cargo. I’ll have the answer to my question—but you’ll still be dead.”

Another man stood up. “Lord Alexander, my name is Bradley. Please don’t kill him, he has a family he’s trying to protect. If he tells you what you want to know, Rake will hurt his kids and make him watch.”

“Sounds like Elred Rake isn’t very well liked,” Anatoly observed. Many of the men nodded their heads.

“What do you propose, Bradley?” Alexander asked.

“I’ll tell you what you want to know on two conditions.” Bradley looked nervous and afraid, but he held his ground and didn’t waver from Alexander’s glittering gaze.

“What are your conditions?” Alexander asked with a hint of menace in his voice.

“Let these men live and give me safe passage to New Ruatha. I just want to live my life. I hate Rake and all his rules and meddling. I just want a place where I can work and earn a living. I don’t have a family, so Rake can’t do nothing to me if I betray him.”

Alexander smiled and nodded. “Bargain struck. These men can leave, on foot, with water and food for the walk back to wherever they came from. You will show us where you were headed and then I’ll send you to New Ruatha.”

Bradley smiled. “Thank you, Lord Alexander.”

Another man stood, then another, then several more. Seventeen of the hundred teamsters stood and looked around at each other for a moment before one spoke. “Lord Alexander, can we come live in New Ruatha, too? None of us have families, so Rake has nothing on us. We all work hard and we just want to make an honest living.”

Alexander scrutinized their colors for a moment. They were all simple people without ambition or guile.

“Very well, you will all be given safe passage to New Ruatha. As for the rest of you, I will allow you to return to your homes, but know this: Headwater is waging war against Ruatha; if you continue to act in service to Headwater’s aggression, your life and liberty will be forfeit,” Alexander said.

A few of the men still sitting looked with hate and anger at those who had chosen to flee Headwater, but most looked envious at the thought of being free of Rake and the trade guilds. Once the majority of the teamsters were sent on their way, Alexander spoke to the rest.

“We’ll be taking these supplies to a rally point where we can resupply the Rangers operating in the area. You will help move these wagons under supervision of the Rangers and then you will be escorted to New Ruatha. Bradley, you will take me to the destination of this supply train. Once I’m satisfied, you’ll be given safe passage as well. We have a few hours of light left. I want these supplies well off this road before dark.”

Duane snapped a salute and started issuing orders. Within minutes, the teamsters and the Rangers were organized and driving the wagons off the road and toward a preset rally point that would serve as a good forward base of operations.

***

Bradley led Alexander and his companions to the enemy supply depot. He said he’d made three similar trips from the outlying estates to bring food, weapons, and tools for the war. The supply depot was huge. They stopped well short and Isabel sent Slyder in to take a closer look. She reported that it was a giant staging area with at least a thousand soldiers guarding it. From the way she described it, Alexander surmised that it was the central supply depot for the entire Headwater army.

They made it back to their base of operations by late afternoon of the next day. Duane had secured the area with a trench and a low berm wall just inside it. The wagons were lined up neatly and the Rangers were busy conducting an inventory of the captured supplies. Duane met Alexander at the entrance of the fortified encampment.

Alexander dismounted, appraising the work that had already been done. “Looks like you’ve been busy,” he said, taking Duane’s hand.

He nodded. “I’ve sent out scouts to look for any enemy activity in the area. Looks like most of Headwater’s soldiers have been called to the main assembly area, so the small towns and estates in the area are relatively unprotected. I’ve sent forward observers to watch over three different roads and sent riders to find the other companies working nearby to let them know about this forward base.”

“Outstanding,” Alexander said. “We have a target. Bradley has shown us the location of a huge supply depot. It looks like it might be the main staging area for food and equipment for their entire army.”

Duane whistled. “Did you see what kind of garrison they had?”