The Battle for Skandia (17 page)

“I understand what you have in mind, Ranger,” he said. “Trust me. It's a good idea.”

“Good man,” Halt said quietly, then he turned to face the question he knew was coming from Erak.

“And what will we be doing while Olgak and his men are having all the fun?” the Jarl asked.

“We're going back to Hallasholm to start preparing a reception for our friends down there,” Halt told him. “And while we're at it, we might send another half dozen parties out to harass the column the way Olgak will be doing. Everything we can do to slow them down will help us.”

Erak shuffled his feet in the snow. He looked, Halt thought, remarkably like a child who has been told he must hand over his favorite toy.

“You could do that,” he said finally. “Maybe I should stay and give Olgak and his men a hand.” But Halt shook his head, the ghost of a smile touching the corners of his mouth.

“I need you back with me,” he said simply. “I need your authority behind me if I'm going to be able to get things organized.”

Erak opened his mouth to reply, but Olgak interrupted.

“The Ranger's right, Jarl,” he said. “You'll be more valuable at Hallasholm. And besides, you're getting a little long in the tooth for this sort of work, aren't you?”

Erak's eyes widened with anger and he started to say something. Then he noticed that Olgak was grinning broadly and realized that the younger man was joking. He shook his head warningly, glancing at his own broadax.

“One of these days, I might just show you how long in the tooth I am,” he said meaningfully. Olgak's grin widened. Halt regarded the two of them for a moment, then, slinging his longbow over his right shoulder, he turned and led the way back to where Abelard was tethered, along with the pony that Erak had reluctantly ridden when they came on this scouting expedition. He gathered Abelard's reins in one hand and turned back to the troop leader.

“I'm sure you'll do a good job, Olgak,” he said. Then, glancing sidelong at the still indignant jarl, he added quietly: “You're obviously a very brave young man.”

GENERAL HAZ'KAM, COMMANDER OF THE TEMUJAI INVASION force, looked up from his meal as his deputy entered the tent. Even though Nit'zak was by no means a tall man, he had to stoop as he came through the low opening. The general gestured to the cushions that were scatted on the felt rug floor and Nit'zak lowered himself to sit on one of them, uttering a sigh of relief. He had been in the saddle the past five hours, checking up and down the length of the Temujai column.

Haz'kam shoved the fragrant bowl of meat stew that he had been eating across to the other man and indicated for him to help himself. Nit'zak nodded his thanks, took a smaller bowl from the rug between them and scooped several handfuls into it, wincing slightly as his hand made contact with the hot food. He selected a large chunk and scooped it into his mouth, chewing heartily and nodding his appreciation.

“Good,” he said finally. Haz'kam's concubine—the general never brought any of his three wives on campaign with him—was an excellent cook. The general considered that ability of far greater importance during a campaign than any physical beauty. He nodded now, belched softly and pushed his own eating bowl away. The woman moved quickly forward to remove it, then returned to her position against the curved felt wall of the tent.

“So,” the general asked. “What did you find?”

Nit'zak screwed his face into an expression of distaste—not at the next morsel of food, but at the subject matter he was about to report.

“They hit us again this evening,” he replied. “This time in two places. Once at the tail of the column. They stampeded a small herd of horses there. It'll take half the day tomorrow to recover them. Then another group came in from the coastal side and burned half a dozen supply wagons.”

Haz'kam looked up in surprise. “From the coast?” he asked, and his deputy nodded confirmation. Up until now, the nuisance raids mounted by the Skandians had been launched from the thickly wooded hills inland from the narrow coastal flatlands. The raiders would dash out, strike an undefended part of the column, then retreat into the cover of the forests and the hills where pursuit would be too risky. This new eventuality complicated things.

“They seem to have several of their ships at sea,” the deputy told him. “They stay out of sight during the day, then steal in after dark and land troops to hit us. Then they retreat to sea once more.”

Haz'kam probed with his tongue at a piece of meat wedged between two back teeth. “Where, of course, we can't follow them,” he said.

Nit'zak nodded. “It means now that we'll have to cover both sides of the column,” he said.

Haz'kam muttered a low curse. “It's slowing us down,” he said.

Each morning, hours were wasted as the massive column formed up in disciplined ranks for the day's march. And, of course, once the march began, the pace was limited by the slowest sections of the column—which were the supply carts and the baggage train. It had been much faster simply moving as one vast mass.

Nit'zak agreed. “So is the problem of having to screen the camp each night.”

Haz'kam took a deep swig of the fermented barley drink that the Temujai favored, then handed the leather drinking skin to Nit'zak.

“It's not what I expected,” he said. “They're far more organized than our intelligence had led us to believe.”

Nit'zak drank deeply and gratefully. He shrugged. In his experience, intelligence was usually inaccurate at best and dead wrong at worst.

“I know,” he said. “Everything we'd heard about these people led me to believe that they would simply attack us in a frontal assault, without any overall strategy. I'd half expected that we'd be finished with them by now.”

Haz'kam pondered. “Perhaps they're still gathering their main force. I suppose we have no option but to continue as we are. I imagine they'll finally make a stand when we reach their capital. Although now we'll take longer to do that.”

Nit'zak hesitated for a moment with the next suggestion. Then he said: “Of course, General, we could simply continue as we were, and accept the losses their raids are causing. They're quite sustainable, you know.”

It was a typically callous Temujai suggestion. If the loss of lives or supplies could be balanced out by greater speed, it might well be worthwhile opting for that course. Haz'kam shook his head. But not through any sense of care for the people under his command.

“If we don't respond, we have no way of knowing that they won't hit us with a major raid,” he pointed out. “They could have hundreds of men in those mountains and if they chose to change from pinprick attacks to a major assault, we'd be in big trouble. We're a long way from home, you know.”

Nit'zak nodded his acquiescence. That idea hadn't occurred to him. Still, he demurred slightly.

“That isn't the sort of thing we've been led to believe they're capable of,” he pointed out, and Haz'kam's eyes met his and locked onto them.

“Neither is this,” he said softly, and when the younger man's eyes dropped from his, he added, “Have the men keep forming into their sixties for each day's march. And I suppose now we'd better put sentries out on the seaward side at night too.”

Nit'zak muttered his assent. He hesitated a few seconds, wondering if this were one of those times when his commander wanted to continue to talk and pass the drinking skin back and forth for a few hours. But Haz'kam waved him away with a small hand gesture. Nit'zak thought that the general looked tired. For a moment, he thought about the years they had spent on campaign together and realized that Haz'kam was no longer a young man. Neither was he, he thought, as the ache in his knees testified. He bowed his head in a perfunctory salute, rose to his feet with another barely suppressed groan and went, crouching, out through the felt hanging that covered the tent doorway.

In the distance, he heard men shouting. Looking in the direction from which the noise came, he saw a bright flare of flame against the night sky. He cursed softly. The damned Skandians were raiding again, he thought.

A troop of horsemen clattered by him, heading for the site of the attack. He watched them go, tempted for a moment to join them, but resisting the temptation as he realized that by the time they reached the point of the attack, the enemy would be long gone.

THE SKANDIAN WAR COUNCIL WAS MEETING IN THE GREAT Hall. Will sat to one side, listening as Halt addressed the Skandian leader and his principal advisers. Borsa, Erak and two other senior jarls, Lorak and Ulfak, flanked the Oberjarl as they clustered around the table where Halt had spread an immense map of Skandia. The Ranger tapped a spot on the map with the point of his saxe knife.

“As of last night,” he said, “the Temujai were here. Maybe sixty kilometers away from Hallasholm. The delaying raids are having exactly the sort of effect we wanted. The advance has gone from thirty kilometers a day to less than twelve.”

“Shouldn't cavalry move faster than that?” asked Ulfak. Halt perched one leg on the bench beside the table and shook his head.

“They'll move fast enough when they're fighting,” he told them. “But right now, they're conserving their horses' strength, letting them feed and move easily. Besides, now that we've reinforced Olgak's men with another half dozen raiding groups, it's taking them half the day to simply form up, then set up camp again in the evening.”

He glanced up at Erak as he added: “Your idea of sending a few wolfships to raid their seaward flank was a good one.”

The jarl nodded. “It seemed logical,” he replied. “It's what we're good at, after all.”

Ragnak thumped one massive fist on the pine planks that formed the table.

“Raids and skirmishes, nuisance attacks! They achieve nothing! It's time we hit them with our main force and settle this once and for all,” he declared, and three of his council growled agreement.

“There'll be plenty of time for that,” Halt cautioned. “The most important thing is to engage them in a place that suits us—one that we choose ourselves.”

Again, the Oberjarl snarled. He knew he'd agreed to listen to Halt's advice. But these damned invaders had been flaunting themselves in his country now for several weeks. It was an affront to him and to every Skandian and he wanted to wipe the affront out, or die in the attempt. “What's the difference where we fight them?” he said. “A fight is a fight. We win or we lose. But if we do lose, we'll take plenty of them with us!”

Halt removed his foot from the bench and stood straight, ramming the saxe knife back into its scabbard.

“Oh, don't worry,” he said icily. “There's every chance that we'll lose. But let's make sure we take as many of them with us as possible, shall we?” The Skandians, used to bluster and boasting, were taken aback by his cold assessment of their chances for survival—as he had intended them to be.

“They're cavalry,” he continued. “They outnumber us at least four to one. They can outmaneuver us, outrun us. And they'll look for the widest possible front to engage us on. That way, all the advantages are with them. They'll flank us, surround us and draw us out if they can.” He saw that he had their attention. They weren't happy about the situation, but at least they were prepared to listen.

“How will they do that?” Erak asked. He and Halt had discussed this briefing the day before. Halt wanted certain questions to be asked, and Erak was to ask them if none of the others seemed prepared to do so. The Ranger glanced quickly at Erak, but directed his answer to all of the group.

“It's a standard tactic of theirs,” he said. “They'll attack on a wide front, probing, hitting and retiring. Then they'll appear to become fully engaged at one or two given points. They'll stop their hit-and-run tactics and fight a pitched battle—just the sort of thing that will suit your men,” he added, glancing at Ragnak. The Oberjarl nodded.

“Then,” Halt continued, “they will begin to lose. Their attack will lose its cohesion and they will try to withdraw.”

“Good!” said Borsa, and the two other jarls grunted agreement. Ragnak, however, sensed that there was more to come. He didn't comment for the moment, but gestured for Halt to continue. The Ranger obliged.

“They'll give ground. Slowly at first, then faster and faster as panic seems to set in. Somehow they'll never move so fast that your men lose contact with them. Gradually, more and more of your warriors will be drawn out of our line, away from the shield wall, away from our defenses. As they pursue the enemy, the Temujai will become more and more desperate. At least, they'll seem to. Then, at the right moment, they'll turn.”

“Turn?” said the Oberjarl. “How do you mean?”

“They'll stop retreating when your men are strung out and in the open—the strongest and fastest well ahead of their comrades. Suddenly, they'll find themselves cut off, surrounded by the Temujai cavalry. And remember, every one of their cavalrymen is an expert archer. They won't bother coming to close quarters. They can pick your men off at their leisure. And the more they kill the leaders, the more enraged those behind will become. They'll stream out to save their friends—or avenge them. They'll be surrounded in turn. And wiped out.”

He paused. The five Skandians all looked at him, struck silent. They could imagine the scenario he described. They knew the temper of their men and could see how easily such a stratagem could succeed against them.

“This is how they fight?” Ragnak asked finally.