The Grand Crusade (71 page)

Tagothcha stood knee deep in the water and looked at Adrogans. “I saved you once, but that was in exchange for the gold you gave me. Release my sister, and I shall be deeply in your debt.”

“I’ll find a way to collect.”

Theweirunlaughed, then bent to bring his face to Phfas’ level. “We have a kinship, for you are bound to the stuff that gives me life. You think that your removal from your home has weakened that connection. Is Zhusk water different from any other? The air? The earth?”

The diminutive shaman smiled slyly. “Sweeter; much sweeter.”

“But it is the same.” Tagothcha opened his arms. “What you seek is here, too. You long for your home, but your only distance from it, from theyrun, is in your longing. Open yourself and you will find them here. You are of the world, not just the Zhusk. Believe that and you will find you are not alone.”

Phfas’ face contorted in all manner of interesting expressions, then ended with widened eyes. “Thank you.”

The sea spirit turned to Kerrigan and raised his left hand. Flowing up through it came the wand Kerrigan had offered when they left Loquellyn. “You may find this useful.”

“Probably, but I gave it to you.” Kerrigan bowed his head respectfully. “I knew the consequences of throwing it away.”

“Yes, but my wife bids I give it back to you. To help you save her sons.”

Kerrigan accepted it. “I’ll do that.”

Theweiruntook a step back. “Know that if your bodies are washed into me, you shall be venerated. All speed to you, and all death to your enemies.” He opened his arms, then his body simply flowed down into the water.

Kerrigan smiled and tucked the wand into his belt. “We’re here.”

Adrogans shook his head. “I would have settled for a long sailing. Sun’s got two hours before it goes down. We have to move inland and bring our dragonels with us. We’ll find the enemy, get set up, and get ready to kill.”

The young mage looked at theSvarskya. “Too bad we can’t float it up the river and use its dragonels.”

“If we could, we’d not be here, since then his sister would be free. I’ll leave a skeleton crew on it to fend off Aurolani ships that come to investigate.”

Phfas ran a hand over his chin. “Theweirunwas right. Theyrunare here. The Aurolani have a fortress, very close. Svarskya is also close.”

Adrogans hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Thesullancirifrom the Ghost March is here, too. Not very distant. Let’s move.”

The army moved inland slowly. The scouts reported contact with Aurolani troops consisting mostly of light infantry and several dragonel batteries. Orders were issued for the wholesale slaughter of the troops. And Kerrigan and the sea mages were able to magickally silence and send to sleep enough of the enemy troops that the batteries in the woods west of the Aurolani position fell without alarm. The Alcidese Wolves moved into the Aurolani positions, added their own dragonels, and two hours before dawn had forty dragonels ready to shoot.

Kerrigan stood with Adrogans at the edge of the forest as dawn came. “General, don’t you want to get word to Princess Alexia about your position?”

“Do you have a manner that can guarantee it won’t be intercepted? We’re very vulnerable here. I know how we’ll signal her, but it won’t be in advance. It can’t be.”

Kerrigan nodded. Up on the hills overlooking the southern bank of the dry Eirsena, the southern army began to assemble itself. Ranks upon ranks of warriors, including a number of urZrethi, arrayed themselves across the face of the hill. Cavalry with horses in shimmering armor and warriors fleshed in metal took their places in the grand formation. Alexia’s army was larger than any host he’d seen assembled, and the sheer majesty of it awed him.

In the Aurolani fortress, drums began to pound. A trio ofsullanciriappeared on the tallest hill, then the Aurolani troops poured from their hill forts and filled the trench extending west. Behind Kerrigan came the creaks of dragonel carriages being shifted as the weapons were sighted. The acrid stink of burning match cord reached his nostrils.

Adrogans raised a hand. “Time to let Alexia know we’re here.”

“But how

”

The Jeranese general smiled. “When these dragonels speak, she’ll get the message.”

His hand dropped, and all along the line match cord plunged into touchholes. Fire and smoke jetted and hissed, then the main charges detonated thunderously. Tongues of flame roared from the muzzles, and their cargo of metal sped forth. All the dragonels, save the eight southernmost, had been trained on the trench. Their firing line ran at an oblique angle to it, but their fire raked it with grapeshot. Troops packed tightly in the trench simply evaporated as the metal balls blew into them.

Those at the southernmost end of the position had been aimed at the dragonel battery capping the trench. Three swept the hilltop with grapeshot, killing the crews. The other five had been loaded with eighteen-pound iron balls that smashed carriages and dented dragonels.

Though his ears rang with the thunder of the shots, Kerrigan could still hear bugles blowing on the southern side of the line and drums thundering opposite them. Agitare shouted orders for the dragonels to be reloaded as southern troops began to pour down the hillside. Aurolani dragonels shot prematurely but still skipped balls through formations, killing a few. Southern cavalry swept toward the west to exploit the gap, but a lot of Aurolani troops appeared to the east, at the base of the dam holding the Eirsena back.

Adrogans nodded solemnly. “A fine start to the day. Now we’ll finish it.”

Kerrigan smiled and looked up at him, intending to agree, but a wave of nausea passed over him. Before he could say a word, his knees went weak, and darkness stole his sight.

The eruption of dragonels from the western woods shocked Alexia. The possibility that something had been hidden there had haunted her. The scouts she had sent out had run into Aurolani screening forces, all but confirming some trap lay in that direction. After all, she would have had something nasty hidden there were she in Nefrai-kesh’s position, but the sheer ferocity of the attack, the number of dragonels employed, and the surprising premature commencement of it dropped her jaw.

Then she saw where the shots hit and further surprise shook her. In one quick strike, dragonels had shredded the defenders on the western edge of the fortress.

All of a sudden the play of the battle unfolded. Nefrai-kesh would have to push the troops on the east around. If he could threaten her flank, she couldn’t drive troops around to the west to exploit his weakness. To prevent him from doing that, she had to plug the gap between the dam and the eastern trench.Which leaves those troops in a position to be shot by the draconetteers on the dam and in the trench.

But she had no choice. She glanced at Peri. “Go to Prince Erlestoke. Tell him his troops are to hold that gap. Immediately.”

“Yes, sister.”

Perrine took wing and landed beside the prince. He listened, then turned to a signalman. The bugler to whom he gave orders blew loudly. On Alyx’s right flank, the prince’s people surged forward even as Aurolani drums pounded out the orders for Tythsai’s people. The draconetteers on the dam prepared to fight, and Aurolani troops filed through that gap to intercept Erlestoke’s troops.

Alexia caught a black shadow out of the corner of her eye. She pointed to the

dam. “Maroth, clear that dam.” In an eyeblink the metal dragon vanished, but she did not see him reappear at the dam.He’ll come through. He must.

She reined her horse to the left, then ordered a signalman to blow orders. She commanded the cavalry and heavy infantry on the left to head into that gap even as more Aurolani moved into the trench. As her troops moved, she had another bugler call on the troops in the center to shift west, which opened a gap in her line between the center and Erlestoke’s formation.

That sort of opening would be fatal to her if exploited, but unless Nefrai-kesh’s troops could battle past Erlestoke’s army, they’d never get to it. If they did

If they can do that, the battle is long since lost.

Crow rode over, armored in dull grey mail with a green Oriosan tabard over it. “Things have changed. What’s the new plan?”

Alyx’s violet eyes half shut. “We shift to the west, and when Nefrai-kesh turns his dragonels to the action on the east and the west, we smash right up the center.”

Crow stood in the stirrups and took another look at the battlefield. “That will take hard riding and a lot of luck.”

“But it will be a surprise.”

“So it will.” He smiled. “When it’s time to go, promise me one thing?”

“And that is?”

“In the race to kill Nefrai-kesh, you won’t lag too far behind.”

Something else moved in the smoke through which Chytrine advanced. The fleshless Panqui leaped at her, splashing her scales with his blood. He grabbed her lower jaw and pulled himself onto her muzzle, holding on tight. She shook her head, spattering the rest of them with his blood. The Panqui’s claws scored a scale, then tore it away.

It clattered on the ground, and Chytrine howled. She jerked her head more violently, upward this time, which the Panqui had not expected. The bleeding creature lost his grip and flew up, then Chytrine snapped him out of the air and devoured him in a gulp.

“Lombo, no!” Sayce reached a hand out, then drew it back and sat down hard. Tears glistened on her cheeks and cut trails through the soot.

Chytrine looked down at them and started to speak, but Resolute’s right hand flicked forward. The poisoned bladestar hit the corpse-white flesh beneath where the scale had been torn off. She shrieked sharply, shook her head once, then delicately raised a paw to pluck the tiny weapon free.

“I have seen these many times before. Alas, your poison has no effect on me.” The dragon shook her head. “What did you think you would do when you got here? Did you think I would let you kill me? I have lived for centuries—far more time than you have known combined—and I have learned so much more than

you. I am so much more powerful than you, too. Do you have magick there you want to employ against me, Resolute? Please, do your best.“

The Vorquelf shook his head and raised Syverce. “None of us are fools.”

“No? You’re here. In my lair, about to die. That is foolishness by any reckoning.”

“We believed a prophecy would come true.”

“It didn’t.” Chytrine raised her head, stretching her long throat, and snorted flames into the Grand Hall’s vaults. Then she brought her head back down, and looked along her serpentine snout at him. “Your champion is dead. To the south your army will be shattered. I will go from here to Vorquellyn, get those pieces of the Crown, collect the others, then the dragons will give me what they possess. It is over, though you did well.”

Trawyn crouched beside Sayce, resting her hands on the woman’s shoulders. “So you reward us by making ussullancirP.”

“Some of you, perhaps. Resolute will be magnificent. To have the fruit of Sayce’s womb born of asullanciri, that will also be spectacular. The rest of you will die.”

Resolute felt his flesh crawling and pulled the point of his sword around to hover over Sayce’s heart. “I can guarantee you won’t get your wish.”

“Silly elf, you can guarantee nothing.” Chytrine raised her right paw and curled the claws through the air.

A jolt shook Resolute. All of the tattoos on his body began to glow an angry shade of red, which was something he’d not seen before.Aurolani magick is red. He tried to move, but found himself paralyzed. Then, much to his amazement, his right arm swung the blade away from Sayce and pressed it beneath Isaura’s right breast.

“That’s right, Resolute. All the magick, all the lore that went into giving you those tattoos and that power, whence do you think it came?” The dragon laughed almost warmly. “I expected you and your people for decades, and I found a way to guarantee you would not hurt me. You have been mine for ages and did not know it. Now, I think, it is time you do my bidding directly.”

The instant he heard Alexia’s orders, Erlestoke knew his day was likely to end shortly, although it would seem as if it had taken forever to do so. He snapped orders to his signalman, who translated them into bugle calls. Ahead of him the infantry began to move. Tightly packed and heavily armored, they clanked forward, their voices rising in song. Standards flew high and swords glittered in the morning light as men marched toward death. Beyond them, on the enemy line, draconetteers and dragonel crews busied themselves.

Erlestoke turned in his saddle. “Count Storton, I want your sprinters going straight up that eastern hill. Jullagh-tse, the same goes for your people. You just

have to get up there fast. They’re going to be shooting at us as we come in, and they’re not going to have time to shift aim. Your people are literally running for their lives.“

Both of them acknowledged the orders and sped off to their troops. Erlestoke signaled the cavalry around to the east and saw that Wheatly was already bringing the irregulars up to plunge into battle after the infantry. The prince gave him a salute, then started the cavalry trotting forward. Drawing Crown, he raised it on high, then snapped it down.

Digging his heels into his horse’s flanks, he started a headlong charge down the slope. Behind him came just over two regiments of horsemen almost evenly split between light and heavy troops. As they galloped forward, some of his guardsmen moved to the fore, closing ranks around him, and leveled their lances at the massed Aurolani infantry in the gap. The Aurolani clearly would have preferred to stay in place to take the charge, but the pressure from behind kept pushing them forward.

Erlestoke recognized how their precarious position benefited his troops.At least, in theory. Infantry that is not set in position, bristling with spears, is fodder for a cavalry charge. His people should be into and through that first battalion as if it were nothing more menacing than grass stalks.

But there were many other things to take into account, such as the dragonels that were already shooting up the middle. On his left, as his horse crested the far bank of the Eirsena, he watched a dragonel crew lever their weapon around so it could bear on his troops. Part of him wanted to protest how poorly they were working, but he held his tongue.