The Grand Crusade (42 page)

He’d wanted to press on to the Midlands and begin rooting Aurolani forces out immediately after the Hawkriders joined him, but political considerations delayed his plan. In Count Wightman’s company, he took the whole of his army into Hawkride, then north. That added six days to his campaign, and while he hardly desired to strengthen Wightman’s position in any way, the fact that he could now draw on Hawkride for supplies did help enormously. In addition, they picked up a number of huntsmen who knew the countryside to augment his scouts.

It struck him as an ill omen that the first day in the month of Toil had him seeking out and slaughtering formations of Aurolani troops in his homeland, but that was how the month of Seed had ended. He’d not realized just how many enemy troops had found Oriosa to be a safe haven. Moreover, Nay and Count Wightman both seemed to be surprised by the numbers themselves.

Erlestoke had to assume that the Aurolani were pushing more troops into Oriosa. He based that conclusion on the unanticipated numbersandthe presence ofkryalniri. Their addition to Aurolani forces had been relatively recent and rather thick in the combat troops sweeping down through Sebcia and Muroso. It made perfect sense for Chytrine to use part of that army to enter Oriosa and prevent his advance.

The prince had long since concluded his approach was not a secret. He hated to admit it, but his father was the prime candidate for the person who would

have betrayed him to the Nor’witch, but he certainly wasn’t alone. He could only hope that enough reports came in to confuse matters. Chytrine would have to overcommit troops to slow him down, which would make Alexia’s task much easier.

It will get us killed all that much faster, however.

A Gyrkyme spear transfixed a frostclaw, though the beast’s momentum ripped the weapon’s barbed head from the ground. It kept coming, but an Addermage cast a quick spell that ignited the spear. The frostclaw’s breath came as a dragon’s might, then it curled up and died, with smoke rising from its muzzle. Elsewhere a rider charged his horse into a small knot of Aurolani, knocking gibberers flying, while a slash opened a vylaen’s skull.

Steadily and onward the cavalry advanced. They moved mostly at a trot, but burst into a gallop as clear ground and the need for a charge presented itself. The Aurolani gave way and their magickers did damage for as long as they lasted. Temeryces proved the most difficult foes because of their speed and hideous weaponry, but arrows, spears, and lances wounded them before they could get close enough to face steel, evening the odds. While they did kill and maim men and horses in equal numbers, they also died in droves.

Erlestoke’s men took to the grim business before them with great heart and passion. In many ways this was the easy bit of warfare, for the enemy was easily identifiable and hopelessly outnumbered. The operation more resembled a drive to find some rogue catamount that had been taking sheep than actual warfare. The Aurolani troops were not men, they were beasts, which somehow made it easier to accept the merciless way his troops slaughtered them.

The ease of victory brought with it a worry that he would have to address later. When they faced whatever army Chytrine sent against him, he couldn’t have his men assuming it would be as easy as this. The Aurolani they were chasing from hills and hollows had no opportunity to show discipline and training. In fact, it could have very easily been half-trained troops who were sent south to scout out his army. The Aurolani leader likely had other, more experienced, troops out there as well, watching and reporting back. Just fighting against the green troops slowed Erlestoke and gave the enemy his measure, while the enemy was able to amass reinforcements and build a force that could overwhelm him.

He dreaded the idea that he would be facing Nefrai-kesh. Others in his command didn’t because Nefrai-kesh had lost Okrannel to Markus Adrogans. While Erlestoke liked hearing that he was the equal of the Aurolani leader, he knew better than to believe it. Not to take anything from Adrogans, it did seem rather apparent that Okrannel had been ceded to the south in an attempt to split the alliance, so its loss in no way represented a lack of competence on Nefrai-kesh’s part.

Even more importantly, Nefrai-kesh, when he was Lord Kenwick Norrington, had been from Oriosa and knew this area of the country well. Every mile further north brought Erlestoke into an area where the enemy knew it intimately, and

through which the prince had ventured but once in the last five years—and that was in haste to return to Fortress Draconis. So while locals could give him information about the land, they weren’t going to see it through a tactician’s eyes, putting him at a severe disadvantage.

To make matters even worse, Erlestoke found himself in a curious position. His very presence was polarizing Oriosan society. Loyalists supported his father, pointing out that Scrainwood had managed to keep Oriosa safe from invasion and war for over a generation. The Aurolani had taken Sebcia and Muroso and had even struck into Alcida and Saporicia, but never Oriosa. The loyalists saw the prince as a usurper who had returned to take Oriosa because his previous realm, Fortress Draconis, had fallen. As they told it, he was really just a foreign invader who had no more love for Oriosa than Chytrine, and his fight with her would be conducted on Oriosan soil, killing Oriosans because they meant nothing to him.

The patriots, on the other hand, were united in their opposition to Chytrine, but Erlestoke recognized that this was not exactly the same as being united in support of his effort. Like Count Wightman, they would be with him as long as his crusade seemed to be in their best interests. If they could get fame and territory out of it, they would back him completely. If at any point it seemed that his effort would fail, their backing would evaporate. Erlestoke would again be reduced to an interloper using foreign troops to oust the king, and they—the true patriots—would fight him for the good of the nation.

Erlestoke would have liked to sidestep all of that by making a pledge that after Chytrine had been defeated he would just return to Fortress Draconis and never again set foot in Oriosa. He had been prepared to do that a month ago when he crossed the border, but in that time his mind had slowly changed. As he traveled through the country, he recognized places from his youth, and they brought smiles. An affection for his nation was rekindled, though that could have just been billed as nostalgia.

No, it was the people who changed his mind. The transformation started with Nay, Rounce, and especially Borell. It had begun back in Narriz. Borell had faced asullancirito save his father, but he had done so with the courage and confidence that were the hallmarks of Oriosan warriors. He reminded Erlestoke of the Oriosans who had refused to evacuate Fortress Draconis, despite being given leave to do so and knowing they were facing certain death. They’d just packed their life masks off with their loved ones and prepared to die defending a pile of rock hundreds of miles from their homes.

The Hawkriders, Count Wightman notwithstanding, had continued to change his mind. Part of the reason they wanted to parade back to their home province before heading north was to show those left behind that they were part of something greater than one of Wightman’s plots. They were joining the prince to rid Oriosa of a scourge that had taken root there a generation before. They weren’t concerned with political ploys and maneuvering, but with making

their nation safe for their children. They were willing to put their lives on the line to do that, and Erlestoke began to feel responsible for making sure the nation would be safe after Chytrine was vanquished.

He could not abandon his homeland the way he had intended. He had to walk a slender line, allowing the fractious lords to underestimate his political acumen, while at the same time cultivating their personal loyalty. Even as he tried to read flows of power and assess the character of those who supported and opposed him, he wished he was back at Fortress Draconis.At least there I knew the enemy easily, what they could do, what they were likely to do, and plan accordingly. Here, I just don’t know.

High in the hills, trumpets began to blare. The first of the Aurolani refugees had reached the infantry and the battle was joined. With the trumpets all the troops would begin to move down, trapping the enemy and exterminating them. Within the hour, well before dusk, the vale would be free of Aurolani.

Preyknosery landed in front of Erlestoke. His blades dripped blood and a fair amount of it had spattered his breast and wings. “There are some Aurolani moving north, but only a small group of gibberers. A handful, no more. I have highfliers watching them.”

“Good, thank you.” The prince nodded. “Some of the locals have suggested another nest up by the lake at Two Rocks. It will take us two days to get up there.”

“We’ll have it scouted.” The Gyrkyme pointed back to the south. “There is a large dust cloud twenty miles back, not yet in the Midlands. It is what you would call a regiment, mixed horse and foot. More are joining them daily. They’re not in a hurry.”

“I’ll send scouts to watch them. I doubt my father is fielding troops against us, but I don’t like having a shadow back there. I’ll wait and see how they react to the nest we got at Oak Grove. That will tell us a lot.”

“I agree.” The winged warrior smiled. “You’re doing very well, Highness. Your troops are learning. By the time we face the big battle, they will be ready.”

“I hope so.” Erlestoke smiled. “Thank you for saving me.”

“My pleasure.”

“I wish there was a way I could reward you.”

“There is.” Preyknosery pointed at the quadnel. “I have mastered many weapons, and would like to learn how to use this one.”

“I’ll teach you myself.”

“You honor me, Prince Erlestoke.” Preyknosery bowed his head. “I once served another prince. I saved his daughter, but was not there to save him. I shan’t let harm befall you as I did him.”

“Well, I hope I won’t give you too many other opportunities to need to protect me.” The prince sighed. “Unfortunately, given what we will face—and despite my best intentions—you will be overworked in that regard.”

fT| error lent Kerrigan’s feet wings and was the only thing that kept him going. Once Resolute had made the decision to head north to rescue both

— DragonCrown fragments, rest and respite became fond memories. He and the princess got the weak and wounded hustled away south. Pretty much everyone knew the courier mission was nothing but a blind, and those who were selected to leave weren’t wholly reluctant to depart.

As the Gyrkyme flew, a hundred and twenty-five miles stood between them and the north coast of Loquellyn. The fragments remained roughly in line with their goal, but were hidden away in an area Trawyn referred to as “the Splinters.” In some long-distant time a glacier from the north had stabbed down into that area, gouging up all manner of rocks. And while plants gradually recolonized the area, Oracle said it was also known in Elvish as “Stone Forest.”

As they hurried north, Trawyn explained why the fragments’ location should give them heart. “The Splinters are sparingly populated. Someone who knows the area can remain hidden for months and even years. There are a few buildings—hunting lodges and retreats for poets—but more than enough caves. Were Loquellyn a human nation, that region would be filthy with outlaws.”

While that did seem a good sign, at least in terms of the fragments remaining out of Aurolani hands, it meant their being able to effect a rescue would be very difficult. Kerrigan took the problem a step further. Whoever had the Vorquellyn fragment had been in its possession for over a century, and no one and nothing had been aware he had it. Kerrigan found it very easy to imagine someone like Resolute hoarding the fragment. Trying to get it away from Resolute would have been difficult, and he figured it would be no less so with its current guardian.

Kerrigan wasn’t certain why, but he did know the thief was male. He also got the impression that he was an elf, but the youth almost dismissed that

deduction as being far too easy. He tried to limit himself to whatever impressions he could sort out from his search spell, and each evening when he cast it anew, he tinkered with it to try to get more of an impression of the person protecting the fragments.

But Kerrigan’s ability to modify his spell was minimal because of the pace they set. Resolute drove them all hard. They kept moving for as much as ten hours at a time. On one day, moving through a river valley, they actually managed to make it thirty miles, if the elven waystones could be believed. Other days they didn’t move any less swiftly, but didn’t get as far because Aurolani activity in the area forced them to wait. They didn’t want to fight as that would draw attention to their group. Once danger passed, however, they were up and off again.

In six days they covered the distance that should have taken them a week and a half. That pace brought them to the southern edge of the Splinters. While the name Stone Forest conjured up images—and the translation in Elvish,Taltentil, made Kerrigan smile—the Splinters really did apply. Most of the rocks had been piled up by a glacier, but hills and hollows had massive stone spikes upthrust through the earth as if they had grown there.

Kerrigan patted a massive boulder with his left hand. “Bok, looking at this, I’d almost figure there was an urZrethi mountain stronghold that was crushed. What do you think?”

The urZrethi scratched at his head. “There were many ruins after the dragons made war on us. It’s possible the ice mountain smashed one. Equally possible, however, is that the glacier gouged the bottom of the Crescent Sea and scraped up the home of thesenyressanü. Could be what you are touching was once their capital.”

Kerrigan shivered despite never having seen one of the creatures. Trawyn’s description of them had been enough to give him fits, especially when Resolute had urged everyone to be careful as they crossed swamps. “It’s probably best there are things I don’t know about.”

Bok smiled. “Ignorance isn’t something to be sought, but a temporary state to be corrected as soon as possible.”