Wall of Spears (40 page)

‘So you think they have enough arrows for just one more of those attacks?’

‘No more,’ Sendatsu promised, with a confidence he did not feel.

‘Then we need your help next time to survive it.’

‘And what if they attack with magic at the same time?’

‘We will worry about that if it happens. Remember — protect my men next time.’

‘I do not take orders from you,’ Huw said.

Ward’s eyes flashed dangerously and Sendatsu took a half-step between them again instinctively.

‘You will do anything I tell you to, in order for this battle to be won,’ Ward said quietly.

‘Not if obeying it means we will lose,’ Huw said stubbornly.

Ward glared at him but Huw locked eyes with the king, thoughts of how his father had died thanks to this man’s orders giving him added strength. Behind Ward, several guards eased out wider, hands on their swords. Behind Huw, Cadel and a dozen dragons turned, arrows on the strings of their bows. The air was suddenly heavy with the threat of violence.

‘King Ward, you can be sure Sumiko is going to do the thing you are most afraid of,’ Sendatsu said into the silence. ‘If she stopped, it was because she could see the havoc the arrows were causing. Next time she will loose them closer, back it up with magic and then send in her warriors while your men are trying just to stay alive.’

For a moment he did not think Ward was going to look away, then he acknowledged Sendatsu and the heat between Ward and Huw suddenly cooled.

‘What do you suggest?’

‘Fight. Hold your lines. We will stop their magic as soon as it starts but we will be unable to stop Sumiko’s warriors cracking your first line.’

Ward hardly looked delighted at that prospect.

‘Is that the best you can do?’ he asked.

‘Did you think this would be easy? Perhaps your cavalry can take some of the pressure off, draw some of the Elfarans away from your shield wall. Use your crossbowmen, hidden behind shields — try to hold them back for as long as possible.’

Again, Ward did not look enthused about the plan. He did not get the chance to say any more, as one of his marshals raced up to him on horseback.

‘Sire, they are advancing again!’ he shouted.

Ward turned his horse viciously. ‘Protect my men,’ he snarled, by way of parting words.

‘Nothing like having allies you can trust,’ Gaibun said lightly. ‘And he’s nothing like an ally.’

Sumiko felt totally in control. Above her, birds circled, flying to be her eyes when she wanted to see what the enemy was doing. Thanks to her Magic-weavers, scattered through the clans, she had but to give an order and it was obeyed. The humans were just standing there, letting her hit them and doing nothing in return. Their cavalry was a nuisance but no more than that, riding impotently around to the side and rear. She had added two more clans to the ones watching them, however, just in case. They were terrified of her archers.

‘Close in. When we are fifty yards away, have them half loose every arrow they have left on the rear ranks of the humans. We shall use magic to crack open the front ranks and then send in the swords. It is time to finish this,’ she told Oroku.

‘Crossbowmen! Move to the second line and begin loosing on the command! First and second lines, protect the crossbowmen!’

The order went down the ranks and Caelin slung his shield over his back and took out his crossbow.

‘So we have to carry the bloody things everywhere and now make ourselves targets as well? What is the point of them?’ Harald grumbled.

‘You need them to be a scout. And you get an extra silver a month for it,’ Caelin said, pulling the string back with a grunt.

‘That would be the pay we never seem to get then,’ Ruttyn said. ‘So we’re basically getting more of nothing?’

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Caelin replied, slipping a bolt into the grooved channel. ‘You’re likely to get a few arrows in return for it.’

‘Well, that’s all right then,’ Ruttyn said, rolling his eyes.

Caelin pushed through the lines until he was just behind the men at the front, men whose shields were heavy with broken arrows. They looked none too pleased at him being there, knowing — as he did — they would draw arrows like flies to fresh shit. Ruttyn and Harald took up positions near him, then the second line raised their shields to try to protect everyone’s heads.

He went down on one knee and peered at the marching elves through a chink between two shields.

‘I’ll say one, two, three,’ he told the men to either side. ‘On two, turn your shields out for a heartbeat, then on three turn them back again. With luck, they’ll never get a look at us.’

The soldiers looked down at him and he shrugged apologetically. ‘Sorry, lads. I don’t believe it either but I thought it might make us feel better.’

He nestled the heavy wooden butt of his crossbow into his shoulder. It was pointless aiming, for the sheer size of the elven advance made it almost impossible to miss.

‘Ready?’

‘Just get it over with,’ someone growled.

‘One, two,’ he counted. The shields whipped open and he pulled the trigger, the string snapping forwards with a crack, making the short arms creak and whipping the bolt away. ‘Three!’ The shields flipped back, casting him into shadow, but he could still a cloud of crossbow bolts flying at the elves.

Sumiko saw the bolts and reacted instantly.

‘Burn them up!’ she told Oroku. ‘And kill the men loosing them!’

The elven host seemed to hesitate as the bolts converged. Many burned up in the air, or plunged into the ground. Others struck home, sinking deep into bellies, chest and heads. None of the elves carried shields and their armour was not able to stop the wickedly sharp broad heads. Dozens fell, most of them screaming, some dead instantly.

Behind the first ranks, those with bows did stop, drawing and loosing before marching on.

‘Protect our warriors! I don’t want any bolts to get through,’ Sumiko ordered.

‘But, High One, that will leave us dangerously weak for dealing with Asami and Rhiannon’s Magic-weavers,’ Oroku ventured nervously.

‘I have a plan for that, also,’ Sumiko snapped.

Caelin grunted as he drew back the string of his crossbow. Ideally he would place his foot in an iron stirrup at the front for that purpose, then lift it back as he straightened his upper body. But, crouched between nervous soldiers, he did not have the room. It made the reloading even slower than usual.

‘Here they come again!’ someone shouted.

‘Who, the elves?’ Harald asked stupidly.

Next moment, men cursed and cried out as arrows thundered into their shields, the noise almost deafening. Caelin looked up to see one splinter the edge of a man’s shield, deflect sideways and whistle past his ear. There was a scream behind him and a glimpse of daylight.

‘Get a shield up! No gaps!’ someone bawled, while the wounded man sobbed and gasped, his breath coming in shudders of pain.

‘We can’t just stand here and take it. We need to get out there and ram it back up their bloody arses,’ someone muttered.

‘Yeah, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, sarge,’ someone said.

‘Ready! One, two,’ Caelin called. The shields flickered open and he just had time to loose a bolt before they whipped back, before he even had time to say, ‘Three!’

‘Give me the time to loose, or you’ll end up with a bolt in your arm,’ he said angrily.

Arrows smashed into shields and, somewhere behind, there was another choking scream, cut off short.

‘If you think I’m opening my shield for longer than a heartbeat, then you’re a rutting idiot,’ the man on his left said.

Caelin concentrated on his crossbow, gasping at the effort to pull the string back.

‘We’ve got to do more. They’re laughing at us as they kill our men!’ Wilfrid raged.

‘We stick to your father’s plan. We have drawn more of the elves away from their main attack and they are using up their arrows,’ the castellan said steadily.

It did not look like it to Wilfrid. Every time a company mock-charged, they left a handful of men behind. The ground was sown thickly with arrows but also with dead and wounded men and horses.

‘They expect us to veer off now. They are aiming their arrows that way. We should charge home now, for they are not expecting it,’ Wilfrid argued.

‘That was not your father’s plan. He knows what to do. Watch for his orders. Until then, obey the ones we have.’

Wilfrid swore in frustration. The elven flank was growing thin, stretching back and around to make sure he and Wulf, over on the left flank, could not strike their sides or rear. He could see himself punching his men through that thin line, winning Forland a great victory and sealing his father’s praise and pride.

‘Patience,’ the castellan said.

Mogosai walked in the front rank of the elven host, holding his face in a mask of fierceness. The front ranks of each clan were filled with the best warriors, Council Guards, Border Patrol and the sons of the nobility, all of them dressed in their finest armour, resplendent in the clan colours. Behind them came the lower classes, wearing armour of varying quality and faded colour, down to the esemono, who carried plain swords and wore simple brown cotton robes with merely a scarf of clan colours.

He kept his face looking angry but, inside, he was wondering what he was doing here. Things had been getting stranger and stranger since the day he had helped Gaibun escape Dokuzen. Back then he had not imagined Gaibun could murder anyone, let alone be a traitor, even though he was from another clan. Gaibun had always been an honourable elf and Mogosai’s respect had only deepened after Gaibun had saved him and the other survivors from the Forlish during the slaughter of Lord Konetsu’s patrol.

The rise to power of the Magic-weavers, the death of the Council and Lord Jaken — these were all concerning. He was most confused by talk that Sendatsu was somehow the mind behind this all. His older sister Kayiko had been married to Sendatsu before her death in childbirth and, in all the years he had known Sendatsu and heard his own father, Lord Ichiro, talk about him, there had been nothing like this. Sendatsu was devoted to Mogasai’s niece and nephew, Mai and Cheijun, and that was about it. Talk of him plotting to bring down Dokuzen was madness. The only thing that made sense was the need to punish the Forlish. Not only had they attacked Dokuzen, but they had killed his father. Like every other warrior in Dokuzen, he had been eager to show the barbarians they should never dare to set foot in the forest again. But, unlike many of the others, he would have been far happier had Sumiko and the Magic-weavers not been leading them. He had been there when Sumiko had killed a warrior for refusing to slaughter women and children and, although he had not used his sword on the humans, he felt ashamed for not standing up to the Magic-weaver.

He caught a glimpse of a crossbow bolt flying in, flat and hard, and ducked instinctively, expecting to feel the shock and agony of its impact — only for a puff of ash to splash across himself and his neighbour.

‘Thank Aroaril for the Magic-weavers,’ his neighbour said heartily.

Mogosai said nothing. It was too late to say anything about the Magic-weavers or what they were doing here. The humans were ready to fight them and there was nothing else to be done. He had loosed nearly half his arrows at them already but now he would be matching swords with them. And soon.

‘They are using magic to stop the arrows and bolts — this could be our chance,’ Asami said.

‘They have to be tiring,’ Rhiannon agreed.

Sendatsu stretched his sore back and shoulder. ‘We have to be tiring as well. And I’m down to my last arrow.’

Cadel joined them. ‘We’re all out as well — nothing left,’ he said.

‘It has taken it out of them. They won’t be able to do much now,’ Rhiannon said. ‘When they attack, we can use magic back on them, see how they like it.’

‘Not straight away,’ Huw said softly.

‘What? Don’t tell me you’ve got a plan to weaken the Forlish before letting them win.’ Sendatsu released his last arrow and then turned on Huw.

‘Why not? Leave Ward in control and he’ll be at the gates of Patcham next.’

‘How many times do I have to say it? We must beat Sumiko first. Do you know what is going to hit the Forlish lines? The first couple of ranks will be slaughtered and torn apart — it is just a question of whether the rear ranks can hold,’ Sendatsu said angrily. ‘Try to be too clever and you will doom us all.’

Huw said nothing for a long moment, then smiled and clapped Sendatsu on the shoulder. ‘You are right, of course. We’ll strike just before the two sides come together.’

Sendatsu stared at him, wondering if Huw was trying to be clever again. ‘I need Rhiannon and Asami with me. As soon as the two sides start fighting, we will cut around the side and drive through the elves, find Sumiko and finish her.’

‘Of course, take them, and the dragons, as we planned,’ Huw said.

Sendatsu was slightly mollified. Huw agreeing to release Rhiannon for his attack on Sumiko did seem to indicate he was willing to be sensible.

‘Come on then,’ he said, stretching his arm and leading the dragons, as well as Gaibun, Asami and Rhiannon, closer to the fighting.

‘Do we even know where Sumiko is?’ Gaibun asked.

‘Rhiannon and Asami will feel her magic. When the two sides come together, she will try to open up the Forlish lines,’ Sendatsu predicted. ‘As the rest of our Magic-weavers try to distract her, and stop her, we will use that to our advantage.’

‘As long as Huw lets them,’ Rhiannon muttered.

‘He might try to delay but he will see within a few heartbeats that only immediate action can stop Sumiko,’ Sendatsu said.

‘What do you want us to do, Lord Huw?’ one of the Magic-weavers, a young man from Catsfield whose name had quite escaped Huw, asked.

‘Nothing, until I tell you,’ Huw said, watching the others walking away. He remembered the battle at Patcham, and again at Dokuzen and how he could sense when one side was about to give. He was sure he could feel that again — and that was when he would commit the magic. That way, Ward’s men would suffer and be pathetically grateful to him, ensuring Vales’ safety. Nothing else mattered.