Infinite Blue Heaven - A King and A Queen (22 page)

We rode hard, late into the night and stopped only for a few hours at midday, next day.

Two days left

I knew we must reach the northern edge of Korim’s annexed land, before turning back. I had to be sure he did not have a second Garrison or more troops hiding somewhere.

Just after setting off, after our noon halt, we saw a wide valley opening in the mountains to our right. The desert stretched away into the distance to our left, no longer a valley and the wilderness, only gradually became grassy, just west of our spot. I could see nowhere left for troops to hide. We stopped. I looked at the waste ahead of us and could only see parched weeds and sand and grit. A hot breeze blew in our faces and grit occasionally stung our skin.

“There is nothing here.” I said quietly. “Let’s go back.”

We turned and rode hard until late into the night, when, for the first time, we saw a sliver of the new moon.

We rose early and continued riding. We were riding closer to the mountains, on the way back and I turned to Geb. “We are opposite that hind place now, aren’t we?”

Geb thought for a moment. “Yes. I think we must be.”

“I haven’t seen any patrols in the last few hours. Have you?”

“No.” I could see by the smile on his face that he recognised the small chance that we had.

“If you ride straight across to the mountains and keep close to them, you may be out of site of the watchers up there, I said” Pointing up to where we had seen he flashes of light, occasionally.

He nodded.

We rode into camp at last, an hour before noon.

Zhuan-zhuan was waiting.

“Have any of the scouts returned?” I asked him.

“Only two. The two from the east ridge. I will fetch them for you.”

“The ones for the west?”

“Must have been killed, I guess.”

I questioned the two scouts at length. As far as they knew, their compatriots had gone over the mountains and yes, they had seen down into Korim’s camp. They estimated he had, as I had expected, ten thousand men and as many horses. There were a number of buildings inside the camp, some housing horses, and, worse, there was plenty of water, taken from the stream. Perhaps he had dammed it to stop us getting any water. They had seen Korim striding about but could not get anywhere near close enough to take a shot at him.

“The mountain side is crawling with Enemy Scouts.”

“Yes. I know that now. Dismissed.”

To Geb and the others, I said they should get rest. “We have a big day ahead tomorrow.”

“Wake us all in six hours,” I told my guards

I forced myself to take rest too and found it surprisingly easy to sleep.

When I was woken up I felt fully refreshed and immediately started thinking about the plan of attack, as I dressed.

Stepping outside my tent, I saw Geb coming towards me.

“Geb. There is no time to waste. You and your men must leave just after sunset. Get them ready. I will hold a meeting of all the Generals in two hours.”

I had been formulating the plan for the last two days and had it pretty clearly set in my mind, as I had laid it out, drawing in some sandy soil, outside my tent.

“As you know. We attack at midday. Our main goal is to reach the wall and set fire to it.”

“Yedegei, you will take five hundred horses to the east flank, here, where the ground is rough and steep. It will be the roughest assault. I am counting on you to keep moving forwards, to keep the enemy busy.”

“Lord Abdil’khan, yours will the most crucial assault, here on the left flank. I want you to take five-hundred Infantry. Korim will use horses because he has them and because the ground is rougher here, on the flanks. I want him to believe he is strong enough to hold you, because we have a little surprise for him.”

“Zhuan-zhuan, you will take your Infantry up the centre here but these will be backed up by your Cavalry, held back in reserve behind, at the bottom of the slope, here. I need you to move slowly up the hill. Korim has plenty of horsemen inside his Fortress and I am counting on him bringing extra men out to face you, thinking he has got time to retreat, if he needs to.”

“Lord Kazangap. Five hundred of your infantry will stand next to Zhuan’zhuan’s here and march up the centre, forming one long line.”

“Lord Sabitzan and Lord Abutalip. Your two thousand Infantry and those remaining of Yedigei and Abdil’Khan’s will stay in reserve behind this rise here, some way off. You will move all your men into place before dawn so that Korim does not know the strength of our reserves.”

“I will be here with the reserve Cavalry of Zhuan’zhuan. Now the surprise is this. Geb will have his four hundred men concealed where none of the enemy can see him, some miles away. No matter where their spies are, they will not expect him.”

“Geb, an hour before noon, you will ride towards the mountains and keep to their side. We will sound horns in this camp, one half hour before the first attack, at noon. When you hear our horns again, which will sound out the first charge, you will position yourself so that you can arrive here on the left flank, only some ten minutes later.”

“By this time, Korim will have fully committed himself to a plan and I am betting he will consider his defense of this left flank, strong enough.”

“Geb, you will break through his defense here, which should already be weakened by Lord Abdil’khan’s men. When you are through, half your men will continue to the wall and set light to it. And the other half should turn and attack the enemy from behind.”

“If this is successful, Geb, you and your men, and Lord Abdil’Khan and his men, will reach the wall and set up covering fire, at the parapet, to stop the enemy sending down any nasty surprises and keep down the fire from bowmen.”

“When the wall is breached, you will take your men through and get to the gates and open them as quickly as possible. Is that clear?”

There were nods from all heads. There was a lot of thinking going on.

“Alright. It is nearly Sunset. Geb. You leave with your men and one hundred of Kazangap’s in one hour. Kazangap. You will accompany Geb to the valley here and then return. On the way out, I want you all to be as quiet as possible. On your return though Kazangap, make as much noise as you can. Make as much of the moonlight as you can too, to reflect your armour. Perhaps the enemy will not realise that four hundred men have left the camp. That is all. Any questions?”

There were none. Their faces looked grim but determined.

I watched Geb’s and Kazangap’s men leave, then sat down on a saddle, one of a pile of them, with a mug of tea. It had been a long day and I was wondering if I had ordered everything as best as I could.

Ahmed sat down beside me.

“Ahmed. It’s good to have somebody who’s not a military man, to talk to sometimes.” I paused. “Even after all the Military concerns I have, there is something else which worries me.” I looked at him, waiting for him to ask ‘What?’ He said nothing.

“I worry that we are too soft. That maybe we have forgotten how to be fierce, like our ancestors. These men of Korim’s are still like that. They are still fierce. I can see it in their eyes. They are undisciplined, yes. But then there are more of them than they need to defeat us. They could afford indiscipline. And if we cornered them, they would fight like wolves. But would we? Could we?”

“Your men have the same blood coursing in them. And it will come to the boil in just the same way. If it is heated enough.”

I smiled at him. And then slapped him on the back.

“I am going to retire for the night. I just need to speak to Lord Abdil’kahan and Lord Yedigei. I will see you in the morning.”

I found the two Generals and told them to wake me before they left in the morning. Then I retired.

I slept well and then was woken by a Guard. “
Sire!
”

He had obviously been calling me, louder and louder. He smiled bemusedly.

I threw on an over-tunic and wandered outside. The air was actually quite cold. I was grateful for this. At last something was going in our favour. I had often regretted timing the attack for midday but now it would not be so hot.

It was still dark and I had to ask the Guards where the two Generals were assembling their men.

“Just east, Sire.”

I clutched my sides with my hands as I wondered through the long grass. I could see the occasional glint of steel in the faint moonlight and wondering around the rows of men, found Yedigei.

“Ready?”

“Almost, Sire.”

Suddenly my heart missed a beat and I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I had been awake but not really thinking, until this moment. This was the day! We would probably all die, or win the Battle, and the war, today. I said to myself it was a Great day but there was still an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

I found Abdil’khan.

“Are you ready?”

He grunted. “As always. We are just waiting for the young Yedigei’s lazy men.”

I looked at the front rank of the old Lord’s Battalion and I could see the men were scratching themselves, bleary eyed. They looked no better prepared than the other men.

The men were arranged in marching order, in total, 20 men wide and fifty deep, one half Abdil’khan’s and one half Yedigei’s.

On the spur of the moment I decided to say a few words. I walked across the front rank.

“I am going to say a few words, as this may be the last time we meet, for a while. Pass what I say down the lines, as I don’t want to shout this early and wake Korim.”

There were a few chuckles.

“Men. Soldiers. You will be our main reserve and I truly believe you will not even need to fight today. You will be hidden from their view, behind a slight rise, as I am sure your two leaders have already told you.”

I paused so the men could pass on my words.

“Of the main battle I can only tell you this. Our aim will be to set fire to the enemy walls, which are made of wood. This is his great weakness. He expected us sooner and so built his Fortress hastily.”

I paused again.

“I can tell you we have two great surprises for him. We gave two secret forces. One you know about, the other, most of you don’t. We will beat Korim. And we will
win
!”

“Tonight, you will eat the food and wine of Korim and sit at his mens tables!”

I nodded to Abdil’Khan, he called “Forward” to the front rank and the men started marching.

I returned to camp and took an early breakfast.

It was strange but as the minutes went by, I found myself often glancing to the eastern horizon, dreading the rising of the Sun. There was an air of calm activity around the camp. Most men had not been able to sleep too well and so were already up, checking their armour, sharpening their weapons or tending to their steeds. They nodded as I passed, some saluting and others whispering “Sire.” We were a long way from the enemy but no one wanted to speak too loudly. I told myself I had to go and check my own armour and steed, as I may well see combat today and eventually I did. My sword had been prepared by my Guards and it was probably sharp enough but I needed to sharpen it some more, to get familiar with this extension of myself, this thing which would probably stop me from being killed.

I settled down on my bench, with the long straight blade resting on my knees, and took out the sharpening stone. I ran my fingers on the stone, it had been oiled recently. This was good. I then started methodically and rhythmically, to run the stone along the blade’s edges. I noted wryly to myself, hearing the sharp ‘shh’ sound, abbreviated by a ‘rhing,’ each time the stone reached the end of its travel, that this was the first sound of the rhythm of war. I took a long time sharpening the blade. It was double-edged so I had four edges to sharpen. Finally I held it up so the candle-light could catch the edge and I checked it for blemishes. Of course there were many. Many whose history I could remember but none unexpected and none that would be detrimental to its performance. Eventually I sheathed the blade and turned my attention to the rest of my equipment.

I checked too my shield and helmet and the other parts of my armour. When I was finally satisfied, I went to see Arstan.

He nodded to me slightly as I approached. He was not an emotional horse but a steady one. Not fiery but he could be relied on in a tight spot. His footing was sure and if I aimed him straight at a canon and whispered in his ear to assure him, he would charge straight at it. I rubbed his nose and he tried to nibble my fingers, to show he was hungry and wanted a treat.

“Tonight Arstan. You will have all the treats you want. I know it has been hard for you the last few weeks but after tonight, you won’t have any more worries.”

He shook his head up and down once. Whether this was agreement, or concern, I was not sure. I took it as agreement. I ran my hands over his flanks and withers. He shook slightly as I touched him. All seemed in order. He was a little under fed and there were some nasty sores from insect bites here and there but nothing an old war-horse wasn’t used to.

“I will see you gain in a little while.”