The Hordes of Chanakra (Knights of Aerioch) (26 page)

Kaila nodded. “Each of the two can take three aspects, the promise of youth, the strength of maturity, or the wisdom of age.  They are two, Koreb and Mira, but they are each three as well.

“Treva also walked the world, but her love was given to the plants and animals and the rocks and waters, and mankind had little to do with her.”

“I see,” Kreg said. “Go on.”

“Where the Twins walked, there was good for they guided all justly and all who saw could perceive their glory and know them for Gods.  But where they did not walk, Baaltor whispered to the hearts of men, and great evil grew in them.  When the Gods walked among men, you see, they knew goodness but did not grow the strength to withstand evil.  So when the Gods walked elsewhere, evil came to men and took them.”

“Like overprotective parents.  Their children get into trouble when the parents aren’t around.”

“Just so,” Kaila said. “So it was that there was always evil in the world and the Gods grew weary for when they went to stem the evil at one place, it sprung forth again, ever stronger, at another.

“One day the Twins returned to a place from which they had long been absent and one stood before them to challenge them.  The man who challenged them was a wizard deep in the counsels of Baaltor.  His name was Verro, which means “the mighty” and he was the mightiest wizard the world has ever known, saving only the First Wizard.

“Behind Verro stood a great host, a host of wizards and warriors.  No one knows how mighty a host of wizards could grow for few are able to best Baaltor in the challenge and gain the power of magic.  But a mighty host there was, not only of warriors and wizards, but men and women, children scarce able to hold weapon and the old scarce able to walk without leaning on a staff.

“The Twins were wearied from their great labors so when Verro challenged Koreb, he drew forth his sword of light and struck Verro down and slew him.  Seeing what Koreb had done, the others did not flee but stood forth and did battle against the Gods.  Koreb fought and slew all who would challenge him and at his side fought Mira.  None stood against them and none fled.  None who challenged them lived.

“When the battle was done, the Twins looked at the many dead around them and wept for none had survived, neither man nor woman nor child.  On seeing this, Koreb cried, ‘I have become the thing I feared!’ And Mira wept too and said, ‘I, too.  How Baaltor must laugh at this sight.’

“No one knows what counsel the Gods took after that day.  Some say that Jandak, one of the First Gods, called across the void to a God of another world, whom Jandak had befriended before the world was made, and took counsel from him.  But no one knows.  What is known is that since that day no more do the Gods walk among men.  They speak instead to the hearts of those who will heed their words and guide men subtly that men may learn to fight evil both within and without.”

Kaila laid one hand on either side of Kreg’s face and turned it toward hers. “So even the Gods cannot stop all evil.  You do what man may do, the best you can do.  You grieve over your losses, it is true, but do not punish yourself because you are not more than mortal, that you are not more than the Gods themselves.

“We fight, Kreg,” Kaila continued. “We stand between the people of Aerioch and those who would do them harm.  Some, even among the nobility of Aerioch, forget that with our station comes duty, a duty to protect.  My father tells me that we cannot protect all the weak and helpless in the world and he speaks true.  And so our duty is to strive to protect those who come under our hand.  And when, in our human way, we fail, we shoulder the burden anew and redouble our efforts for the future and take comfort that not even the Gods can protect all, however much they may wish they might.”

“I hear you, Kaila, but...”

“But it is a hard lesson to learn,” Kaila said. “I know it well.  It is a lesson that still bites me to the core of my soul as I struggle with it.  But that only means that you are a good man, perhaps the finest I have ever known, and it pains me to see you hurt so.”

“If only I were home, I wouldn’t have to deal with this.”

“If you were home, would you be able to make such a mark upon the world?  Shillond believes that you were brought here by magic.  I do not believe so.  The Gods have called you here, Kreg; I am certain of it.” She took his hand and pulled him to his feet. “Come.  Rest.  I have seen that you have had little enough of rest these last few days.  Rest and I will keep watch that none may disturb you.  And tomorrow, with renewed strength, you and I will find a way to fight the evil that we face.”

“Fear not for us,” Kreg said, a hint of smile finally playing about his lips, “fear rather for the evil we face.”

Kaila smiled in return. “Greatest effect for least effort.”

#

Rain was again falling five days later.  With the northern Schahi army approaching, Kreg had moved to the center of the army’s line to make maximum use of whatever protection against magic he could offer.

It was still odd, Kreg thought, to look back and see the rain and clouds stop halfway to Callens.  The last boatload of refugees had already departed that morning.  All that remained was to wait for enough ships and boats to return for the army to depart en masse.  If the Schahi would stay away long enough, they wouldn’t even have to fight.

About noon a scouting party rode in at full gallop.

"Enemy sighted," the lead scout said, his chest heaving as if he had run the distance himself. "Two hours."

Kreg nodded and turned to the trumpeter who stood close by. "Stand ready," he said.

As the trumpeter sounded the signal, Kreg looked anxiously at the preparations.  The ditch was complete. In front of it they had dug a latticework of pits, interspersed with sharpened stakes.  No cavalry charges would cross that field, at least not quickly.

Over the entire field, Kaila had men lay a thick blanket of oil-soaked straw.  To prepare that, other men had gathered all the oil available in Callens, even slaughtering the livestock and rendering them for the fat.

The Schahi arrived on schedule.  The Meronans had repulsed three attacks when the orange glow behind them told Kreg that Shillond had lit a huge bonfire.  That was the signal.  Kreg called to the trumpeter "Fall back.  Light the fire."

As the command went out, hundreds of archers selected specially prepared arrows. They dipped the arrowheads into lit torches and lofted them, flaming, into the oil-soaked hay.

Kreg grinned as flames climbed skyward.  Shillond was not the only one who could command fire.  He made his way down the hill to join the tail end of the army as it marched to the coast.  The flames would prevent pursuit long enough for them to escape.

#

"You have accomplished little less than a miracle," Shillond said to Kreg aboard ship.

"Miracle?" Kreg said, "The miracle is that we didn't lose more than we did.  How many did we evacuate?"

"Close to a hundred thousand," Bertan broke in.  "Almost half the people in Merona!"

"A hundred thousand." Kreg shook his head. "A hundred thousand more mouths for Aerioch to feed."

"Be not discouraged, Kreg," Kaila said. "You have won a great victory."

"Victory?" Kreg snorted. "Retreat is not a victory.  Evacuations don't win wars." Kreg stopped and shook his head. "They just don't."

"Mayhap Callens is not a victory," Kaila said, "but you have added near on twenty thousand to King Marek's army by this evacuation.  No small thing, certainly."

"She's right, Kreg," Shillond said.

"Where's the Seer?" Kreg asked, changing the subject.

Shillond's smile told Kreg that he had not fooled Shillond. "I sent him ahead with the first boatload.  He hopes he can attune to Aerioch so he will be able to See there as he could in Merona."

Kreg nodded.

After a short silence, Kreg said, "Everyone's still keyed up over the magnitude of the escape, downright euphoric.  Once that fades, morale is likely to go with it." He shook his head. “What am I going to do now?”

The tip of land on which Callens sat stretched into the narrowest section of the strait between Merona and Aerioch.  Crossing the strait took from just after noon until sunset.

A crowd met them at the beach, demanding to know what they were to do now that they had left behind homes and livelihoods.

"Those of you who can fight I hope will join Aerioch's armies," Kreg said. "The rest, I don't know just yet.  We've got a few days, thanks to the supplies we brought.  I'll work out what to do."

The crowd clearly did not like Kreg's answer but they were not ready to riot, not yet.  A dozen Meronan knights sufficed to keep them from troubling Kreg.

"We'll have to separate them," Shillond said. "Spread them about the kingdom.  That way they won't overburden any one province."

Kreg nodded. "Kaila?"

"Shillond speaks wisdom." She pointed to where the Meronan army was building their campfires. "We must also take counsel on what to do with yon army."

Kreg sat on the sand, leaning against a rock. "I don't know." Who needs them most?  Bryon in the east?  Faron in the south?  Or Keven in the west?  Or maybe we should leave them here?  If I send them to the wrong place and we have to send them somewhere else, the war could be over before they finish marching."

Kaila snorted and started to speak.  Kreg waved her to silence and pointed.  Someone was approaching along the beach.  As the figure neared, Kreg saw that it was the High Seer.

"May I join you?" he asked.

"Sit," Shillond said.  Kaila moved closer to Kreg to make room for the Seer in their circle.

"Perhaps I can help you with your problems." The Seer dropped into a cross-legged seat on the sand.

Kreg cocked an eyebrow at him.

The Seer smiled. "You forget, young man, the magic I wield.  Of course I know what you have been discussing.  Shillond has erected his defenses against enemies, not friends."

Kreg glanced at Shillond who nodded. “I thought it best to leave the Seer able to follow us.”

"Although it is good that you, young Kreg, are permitting magic to work at the moment or even my powers would not work," the Seer said. "You are an enigma to me.  And that is odd in the extreme to one with my skills.  I am accustomed to certainty and there is nothing certain about you.  The Gods have touched you and there is the mark of another I don’t know.  Most strange."

"You said you might help?" Shillond urged.

"Quite right.  I have succeeded in attuning to Aerioch.  I think I can find places where extra hands would be welcome so you can send the people in groups to those places.  For the army, you can leave me here with them.  I will set a spell of hearing on you.  When you know whither you want them to go, simply speak it.  I will hear and so inform them."

#

Kreg shivered on the back of his horse as he, Kaila, and Shillond rode into Keven's camp.  During the ride from the coast they had already encountered the first snowfall of the season here in the western mountains.  Winter would soon be upon them.  Despite the gathering darkness, Kreg agreed with Kaila's decision to press on.  With Keven's camp so close he did not want to spend another shelterless night.

"Add Merona to the list," Kreg said to Keven when they met him. "I managed to save most of the army, but we lost the island."

"Along with King Efrij the Foolish, I hear," Keven acknowledged.

"Whatever you do," Kreg said earnestly, "don't say that where the Meronan troops can hear.  I've spent a lot of time building Efrij up as a hero."

Kreg paused.  When he spoke, his voice dripped irony. "Efrij, strong and noble, led a courageous yet doomed charge to buy much needed time for the remainder of the army, sacrificing his life in defense of his subjects." He laughed once. "That's the story I have circulating.  It keeps morale high and that's more important than the truth.  I just hope it doesn’t lead others to make their own doomed charges." He gestured down at the camp. "What do you have here?"

"We hold," Keven said. "We have driven the forces of Schah from our borders and they pass us not.  We can hold, but soon our warriors must return to their homes lest their crops rot in the fields.  And then what becomes of us?"

"I may have more good news for you," Kreg said. "The army I bring is twenty thousand strong, but in addition we have their families: wives, children, parents.  More mouths to feed, true, but also more hands to help in gathering the crops.  The High Seer of Merona came with us and he's sending them where we need them most.  That should let us keep the armies in the field through the winter if need be."

"Aye," Keven said. "That it will."

"Where do you want the Meronan troops?" Kreg asked. "They've had a week's rest in the north and I think they'll be reliable."

Keven led them to his tent.  Charcoal braziers in the corners glowed a warm red, keeping away the early winter chill.  Keven unrolled a map of Aerioch and the surrounding kingdoms on the table in the center.

"We are strong in the east and in the west," he said. "In the south strong garrisons hold both Elam and Trevanta.  Neither city can withstand a prolonged siege but they can hold until we can send reinforcements.  Thus, the only unguarded avenue of attack is from the north.  With Merona in Schahi hands, that is a danger that must concern us although our navy shall protect our coasts.  The winter storms will be upon us soon and not even weather witching can wholly avert them.  Even so, it likes me not to leave the north unguarded."