The Pen and the Sword (Destiny's Crucible Book 2) (44 page)

“Erdelin,
how many of the Eywellese are still with us?”

The
grim-faced commander of the broken right wing answered. “Somewhere between a
hundred and a hundred and fifty. There may be another couple of hundred
scattered to the rear, and many may be running for home.”

Some
Narthani commanders would have replaced Erdelin by now or even had him arrested
for criminal incompetence to deflect blame from themselves. However, Zulfa knew
that Akuyun demanded honest reports, and Zulfa’s evaluation of Erdelin’s
performance would be positive, much to even Zulfa’s surprise. He had had low
expectations of Erdelin, but it had been Zulfa’s plan, albeit approved by General
Akuyun, that failed so badly. Erdelin, given the plan and their understanding
of the Caedelli, had done about as well as anyone else could have in his place.
Although more initiative in responding to the threat to his right might have
saved the day, initiative wasn’t encouraged by the Narthani military culture.

“Colonel
Erdelin, you’re most familiar with Eywell and still have some of them with us.
They’ll know more of the terrain on the way back to Eywell territory.
Therefore, you’re in charge of the lead van. The remaining Eywellese horses
will scout and screen to our direction of movement west. We’ll keep to open
territory to maximize our fire discipline, and it will be a forced march. If
the Caedelli are smart, they’ll harass us all the way back, so we need to move
quickly. I’ll leave you one infantry block and half the artillery. Be sure to
keep the artillery moving. We also need to send riders back to both Eywell and
General Akuyun. The Eywellese are to gather the rest of their horsemen and
provide an obstacle for clan cavalry trying to get in front of us. I don’t
expect the Eywellese to fight if greatly outnumbered, but they are to get at
least five hundred horsemen to us, if at all possible. No dithering is to be
tolerated.”

Erdelin
was about the say something, when Zulfa raised a restraining hand. “I know they
will argue that such a mobilization to reinforce us will strip their province
of protection from the other clans, but I doubt the clans will focus on
anything except us. I’ll send riders to Parthmal to warn our garrison there to
be alert. Their position is good enough to stop the islanders for a few days
until either the Eywellese are gathered in strength or we arrive. I also expect
general Akuyun will dispatch what forces he can to meet us.”

Zulfa
looked down at the map spread before them. “We’ll head northwest to the Bayrin
River and hit it about here.” His finger indicated a bend where the river
turned sharply west. “This point is thirty miles to our rear. Once we reach the
river, we can use it to protect one flank. The river is too wide for their
horsemen to charge across before we could react. That will let our infantry
march in a three-sided defensive formation with wounded, supply wagons, and
other auxiliaries in the middle. The river will also provide water, so it won’t
have to be carried with us. This route will add twenty to thirty miles but will
be the safest.”

Zulfa
turned to his other two immediate sub-commanders. “Ketin, you’ll take half of
the remaining infantry to screen our left column of march and oversee the
auxiliaries within our formation. Metan, you have the rest of the infantry and
the other half of the artillery. Your infantry will be on our right, with the
artillery following behind the auxiliaries. Once we reach the river, you’ll
fall back as our rear guard. We’ll also keep our heavy cavalry to the rear to
discourage direct attacks by clan horsemen and keep the dust out of our
infantry’s lungs as much as possible. They’ll be stressed enough moving as fast
as we need to.”

Zulfa
looked around, waiting for questions. There were none, and he concluded. “Colonels,
I expect this army to be repositioned and moving in twenty minutes.”

The
clans didn’t yet realize it, but the battle of Moreland City was over.

Or
Standoff?

The
Tri-Alliance men reassembled, once well out of Narthani cannon range. Horseless
riders were matched to riderless horses, ownership to be determined later.
Scattered men found their clans and assigned groups, and medicants finished
retrieving the wounded. They were exuberant from the extent of their victory,
and adrenaline had yet to flush from their veins—until they passed within view
of the Moreland charge results. Acre after acre of Moreland men’s and horses’
bodies littered the ground. The Narthani had finally stopped shelling any
attempts to retrieve the dead and the wounded, and medicants searched among the
carnage.

Fortunately,
Seabiscuit needed no guidance to follow the other horses. Yozef accompanied the
withdrawal and reassembly, oblivious to his surroundings. He felt drained, his
body coming down from the last hours, and his head throbbed under the makeshift
bandage. Carnigan grabbed a medicant, who checked Yozef’s head laceration,
pronounced it minor, and closed the gash with eight stitches, each of which
hurt more than the original wound.

They
found Culich and the other Keelan leaders gathered at their original position.
Culich saw Yozef and started toward him. Then a rider pulled up, leaned down
from his saddle, and handed Culich a message. He read it once, then revealed
the contents.

“From
Hetman Stent. His observers on the northern ridgeline report the Narthani are
withdrawing to the west back toward Eywell. Clan leaders are called to Hetman
Orosz’s flag.” Culich looked up, his eyes full of wonder. “I can hardly believe
it. I confess I doubted we could drive them back. May God forgive me my
doubts.”

Shouts
of jubilation rang out among all within earshot, and the word quickly spread
throughout the Keelanders and continued several minutes before Culich quieted
those around him.

“There
are still things to do. Let’s see to the men and horses. Vortig, Pedr, Denes,
and Yozef, come with me to the hetman meeting Orosz has called.” Culich glanced
at Yozef, eyed the uncovered stitched gash still seeping blood, and nodded.

Half
an hour later, they met at the same building as the day before. Clansmen
clustered around the building, along with horses held or staked farther away.
All of the men talked until the Keelanders and their allies rode up, then
voices trailed away. Culich’s guards held the Keelanders’ horses, while they went
inside. As they walked to the front door, men stepped aside, word having spread
how the Tri-Alliance portion of the battle had been decisive.

The
Keelanders and their allies were the last to arrive. Several hetmen rose to
shake Culich’s hand or clasp forearms and slap him on the back. Orosz waited
until Culich sat. “You’ve all heard the news that the Narthani are withdrawing.
Unless there are objections, I suggest we hear summaries of today’s battle,
first from Hetman Stent and then Hetman Keelan.”

“I’ll
report what I and my clansmen have observed,” Hetman Stent began. “First, the
charge toward the Narthani line this morning. You remember we were to pretend
to carry out a mass attack at three points on their line to see how the
Narthani would react and also whether the Eywellese could be lured out of their
position, thus exposing the Narthani left. Our position was to the right of
Moreland, who led the center group. We charged as planned, and I was to take my
cue from Moreland. When we reached where we should turn and ride back and forth
across their front, just outside musket and canister range, I watched Moreland
for his signal. At first, I thought the signal would come any second, then I
saw him raise his sword toward the Narthani. That’s when I realized he intended
to carry out the charge.”

Despite
most of the men already knowing what had happened, hearing it from Stent
brought forth curses.

“I
hesitated too long, then signaled my clansmen and we turned as planned.
However, my delay put us in range of the Narthani fire, and some of my men were
too far to the front and didn’t see my signal. I’m afraid some watched the
Morelanders more than our own leadership. As a result, Stent suffered forty
casualties from the first Narthani volleys.”

Grim-faced
Hetman Hewell spoke up. “Hewell had seventy casualties. I didn’t respond as
fast as Hetman Stent.”

“I’ve
spoken with the senior Moreland leaders still alive,” Stent continued. “Gynfor
Moreland and both of his sons are dead, and the surviving leaders are afraid
there are also more than a thousand Moreland men dead.”

“Merciful
God!” and “Oh God!” were among the exclamations, along with more gasps of shock
and anger.

“Damn
Gynfor Moreland to eternal darkness!” shouted a bitter Hetman Bultecki. “Moreland
getting killed due to stupidity and arrogance is nothing but a blessing, but to
take so many of his clansmen with him, damn him!”

Orosz
spat to one side in agreement. “No Moreland representative is here because
they’re trying to deal with this catastrophe and decide who
can
represent them.” 

The
recriminations and anger continued until Orosz brought them back to the moment.
“Let’s finish the reports. Hetman Stent, please continue.”

“The
second report is from observers I placed on top of the high ridgeline. The
Narthani are withdrawing as fast as their infantry can march toward Eywell and
Preddi. Obviously, for them the invasion of Moreland is over.” With that, Stent
sat.

“Thank
you. Hetman Keelan?” said Orosz.

Culich
rose. “As bad as the news is about the Moreland charge, I think we can take solace
that we drove the Narthani back to their base territory. The effort to see if
we could entice the Eywellese screening the Narthani right flank to leave their
position worked better than I expected, and about two-thirds of them followed
Hetman Eywell into an ambush commanded by Denes Vegga.” Culich gestured to
Denes standing behind him. “At this point I had little direct observation of
the action, so I’ll let Ser Vegga describe what happened.”

Denes,
still begrimed with dirt and powder from the day’s fighting, cleared his
throat. “Hetman Keelan led the Eywellese into our ambush. We opened fire with
muskets and three new artillery pieces made by Yozef Kolsko. We took the
Eywellese completely by surprise, and many of the Eywellese chasing our hetman
died in the ambush. More were killed by Tri-Alliance horsemen who cut off their
retreat. Our mounted clansmen then killed or dispersed the rest of the
Eywellese guarding the Narthani flank. We had planned that if the opportunity
arose, we’d attack the end Narthani block. I’ll not go into detail, but our
attack was successful, and we annihilated that block of infantry. Our horsemen
then overran their artillery position, and we turned some of those guns against
the next Narthani block, destroying it and possibly one other block. We
estimate the Eywellese dead at a thousand and about the same number of
Narthani. At this point, the Narthani pulled back other blocks to form a new
line facing us, and we could see their artillery setting up and cavalry
approaching, so we withdrew.”

Denes
quit speaking. The room was silent while the clan leaders absorbed the report,
their previous dismay morphing into grim satisfaction.

“Somehow
I suspect this summary doesn’t do Ser Vegga and his men enough credit,” Hetman
Adris said. “To accomplish what they did in so short a time I find amazing, and
we all owe Keelan, Gwillamer, Mittack, and especially Denes Vegga our deepest
thanks.”

“Here,
here,” voiced sitting hetmen and standing men, to the accompaniment of fists
pounding the table and feet the floor.

Denes
appeared to want to say something but looked to Culich for permission. Culich
nodded.

“Thank
you for your comment, Hetman Adris. Naturally, I accept them for all the
Tri-Alliance men who fought this day. I also must point out that the original
ideas for our plan came from Yozef Kolsko.” Denes gestured to Yozef standing
beside him. “It was both his advice on the plan and his actions with ours and
the Narthani artillery that deserve major credit for the victory today.”

Many
in the room looked with curiosity at Yozef. A number knew something of him,
some only from rumors, and the rest had never heard of him.

“I
agree with Ser Vegga’s comments about Yozef Kolsko,” Culich concurred. “His
advice turned out to be uncannily accurate, both in the attempt to lure the
Eywellese and to attack the Narthani’s unprotected flank. And don’t forget his
warning about a direct attack on the Narthani line. We all saw the result when
Moreland tried it.”

“That
was Moreland attacking alone,” interjected Hetman Pewitt. “That allowed the
Narthani to concentrate all their fire on one clan. What if we had attacked
across the entire front? Might not the entire Narthani line have collapsed, and
we could have killed them all and ended their threat forever?”

Several
hetmen dismissed or belittled Pewitt’s question, but it was Stent who snarled
an answer.

“Did
you see what happened to Moreland?! They were not just shot from their horses,
but most horses and men were hit multiple times. I saw men’s bodies hit five or
more times. If we had all charged, they would have had to spread their fire out
over a broader front, which means those killed might have been hit only two or
three times, instead of five or six. And, remember, their horsemen never came
into play. If they had fired at all the clans at once, I suspected their horses,
plus the Selfcellese and the Eywellese, would have rolled through our survivors,
and our total losses would have been so bad, we might never have recovered.”

Culich
interrupted before an argument started. “We can argue such points forever. For
now, we should discuss what to do next.”

“What’s
to do next?” questioned Hetman Hewell. “The Narthani are retreating, which was
our objective. Are you suggesting we should try to engage them in more
battles?”

Culich
grunted. “I understand your question, Lordum. For myself, and I believe most or
all of you, there was never any thought for what we would do in the situation
we find ourselves. Our focus was just surviving this day.”

He
stopped and glanced behind him. “Ser Kolsko has given priceless advice so far,
so I now wonder if he might have more insights or suggestions to share with
us?”

Culich
turned in his seat to the men standing behind him.

Yozef
was still recovering: from the adrenaline that had coursed through his veins, first
in fear, then as he became obsessed with details of the battle and especially
the artillery, and finally in reaction to the head wound. He stood beside Denes
and right behind Culich, concentrating on his throbbing head. Nothing said so
far at the meeting had penetrated the fog. All eyes were on him, and there was
silence. After a few moments, Denes elbowed him sharply.

Yozef’s
eyes cleared, and he looked questioningly at Denes. “What?”

“Hetman
Keelan asked you if you had any thoughts about the victory today and what might
come next.”

Yozef
looked surprised at Culich and then around the room. He had heard the earlier
reports, but they hadn’t registered with his consciousness, until now. He
licked his lips and tried to focus.

“The
Narthani are withdrawing but aren’t destroyed. I suspect they’re surprised,
even a little shocked at what happened today. Although today was a great
victory, it’s not the end of the Narthani.”

He
stopped talking and looked uneasily around the room, feeling the eyes of clan
leaders pressing on him.

I
wonder if I should tell them we might have used up all of our luck? Or perhaps
that idiot Moreland deserves most of the credit? If the Narthani hadn’t focused
on the Morelanders, they likely would have responded faster, and the results
could have been far different.

He
decided there was no reason for gloom—yet. The clans could use some confidence.
They would need it for the next Narthani moves.

“They’re
returning to secure territory. We still can’t face them in a field battle, because
they have more experience and cannon. What
should
be done is to harass them as long as
possible. With your greater mobility, you can easily get ahead of them to set
ambushes and pick off scouts and small patrols. Anything you can do to reduce
their numbers will help in the future and further dishearten their men. The
more they respect you as fighters, the less effective they’ll be. I also wonder
if there’s an opportunity to damage some of their infrastructure, such as
supplies or smaller outposts.”

“Parthmal,”
asserted Stent. “We know they have a base at Parthmal in Eywell not five miles
from the Moreland border. I’ve secretly had men scouting the area. There’s a small
Narthani force there, along with Eywellese, and it appears to be the supply
base for this invasion. If a large enough number of clansmen could get there before
the Narthani army arrives, we might be able to destroy it and force the
Narthani farther back into Eywell territory. There may also be supplies, such
as weapons that could be captured for our use. Hanslow, the Eywellese capital,
is not much farther, but there’ll likely be too many Narthani, plus
fortifications, for us to attempt an attack there.”