Wall of Spears (45 page)

‘Not good enough,’ Edmund said immediately. ‘We need every man we can save.’

‘How do we do it then? My lads are riding some very tired horses. We’ve been pretending to charge all afternoon, then fought a rearguard action. I can’t get much more out of them.’

Edmund looked at the sky. ‘It’ll be dark in two turns of the hourglass. They won’t be able to chase us then.’

‘They can do a lot of damage in half that time,’ Wulf warned.

Edmund turned and peered down the road, where stone walls marked the sides for the next mile or so.

‘Then we use what we have. Some of the men marched away in good order, brought their crossbows with them. We’ll line them up here with your boys behind. They can ride double to get away.’

‘I don’t think any of us will be getting away,’ Wulf said softly.

Edmund was stopped from answering by a small party galloping towards them.

‘By the stars above, it is the queen,’ he gasped.

Mildrith was accompanied by a pair of mounted servants, their saddlebags heavily laden. Edmund guessed they were filled with the luxuries he had seen in Ward’s tent the night before.

‘Captain Edmund! Where is my son? Where is my husband?’ she demanded. ‘I heard rumours …’

‘Those were not rumours,’ Edmund said stiffly.

‘What do you mean?’

‘My lady, your son, Prince Wilfrid, and husband, King Ward, were both killed by the elves.’

‘No!’ She swayed in the saddle, looking deathly pale. ‘He promised to bring him back to me!’

‘He tried, my lady. He led a desperate charge to save your son. But the elves used magic to bring him down.’

‘Perhaps they hold him still, perhaps if we offer them …?’

Edmund steeled himself. ‘They were waving his head at us, impaled on one of our own spears.’

Mildrith gripped the reins tighter. ‘Then we must take revenge. I shall take command and I expect you to support me.’

‘My lady, King Ward named me as his heir, and ordered me to take charge,’ Edmund said.

‘You? But there is not a scrap of noble blood in you! The throne should be mine and the nobles will support me, as they will not support you.’

‘But the army is with Captain Edmund. And that is all that counts right now,’ Wulf said.

‘We shall see about that,’ Mildrith said furiously.

Edmund was saved from finding the right words for her by the arrival of the Velsh.

Sendatsu was relieved to see Edmund had imposed some order on his men and they were marching away, towards the dubious safety of Cridianton. He was less pleased to see Queen Mildrith arguing with the two Forlish officers. She would only complicate things — and they were going to be hard enough as it was. He had been thinking as they rode away from the bloody battlefield and could see only one way forwards. Huw, Asami, Rhiannon and Gaibun had agreed, with varying degrees of reluctance. Now he had to persuade everyone else.

‘Good work,’ Sendatsu told them as he rode up. ‘Now we need to find somewhere close to the city where we can make a stand tomorrow.’

‘A stand? With what? We just got smashed, if you weren’t paying attention,’ Wulf said caustically.

‘I was watching, as were you. And the elves used up almost all their arrows. That is their main weapon gone. And we will have more men to replace our losses. The Velsh will be brought down by magic, and we shall also arm your slaves, the ones from the southern armies you defeated —’

‘Madness!’ Mildrith snarled. ‘Who are you to suggest such a thing?’

‘It is the only way. Ward is dead. Unless we do something desperate, we will soon follow.’

‘They will never fight for us,’ Edmund said. ‘We destroyed their cities, defeated their armies and made them slaves. And it was me who did much of that, under Ward’s orders.’

‘Well, we won’t tell them that,’ Sendatsu said. ‘But they will fight for freedom and the chance to have magic in their lives. They will fight when they learn that I shall be leading you.’ Sendatsu stared carefully at the Forlish officers as he spoke.

There was stunned silence, broken first by Mildrith.

‘You? A dirty elf? Why would they follow you?’

‘Because we need a leader who is above the petty fights between your people,’ Sendatsu said forcefully. ‘The Velsh and Forlish hate each other, the southern countries don’t trust each other and they all hate the Forlish as well. If one of you tries to command, we shall end up with the same problem we had today. We were on the same side but we were working for different aims.’

‘What do you mean by that? Did you not give us the magical protection you promised?’ Edmund growled.

‘And are you going to tell me you weren’t still planning to conquer Vales when the elves were done?’ Huw fired back.

‘See? This is what I mean. I must lead you tomorrow, if we are to fight together,’ Sendatsu insisted.

‘Forlish soldiers will never follow an elf. And I will not see my husband’s work destroyed to feed your arrogance and lust for glory,’ Mildrith told him.

‘Everything will be destroyed if you don’t do exactly as I say. All of you,’ Sendatsu declared, looking at Huw as much as the Forlish. ‘You need to make me your leader or we shall walk away and leave you to Sumiko’s mercy. Your men will follow if they see you obeying my orders.’

‘This is even more ridiculous than the idea a commoner could become king of Forland!’ Mildrith snapped.

Sendatsu stared into Edmund’s eyes, willing the man to agree. Unless they came together tomorrow, they would be finished.

‘And you really think we can win?’

‘I know it. I have the plan that will defeat them,’ Sendatsu said.

‘I thought you were confident before, had a plan for today?’ Wulf pointed out.

‘I did,’ Sendatsu admitted, ‘but King Ward had other plans. If he had not ridden out recklessly, we would still be there now, holding the elves back.’

He saw Edmund and Wulf exchange looks.

‘You had better not be thinking of agreeing to this!’ Mildrith warned.

‘We have no choice,’ Edmund said heavily. ‘He is right. We are defeated otherwise.’

Sendatsu bit down on his sigh of relief.

‘If Ward was here now, he would see you impaled for your treachery! He will betray us and let the elves win. How can you trust him?’

‘Because we have no choice!’ Edmund roared at her, silencing everyone. ‘Sendatsu is right. We have to try anything and everything. And freeing the slaves does not hurt. If we lose, they will only become slaves to another master.’

‘But the city walls. They were built to withstand siege by Ward’s father —’

‘Siege by a human army. The elven magic will reduce them to rubble, and everyone inside the walls. Besides, to fight there will doom the people of Cridianton. We do what Sendatsu says.’

‘You will pay for this. The nobles will never allow you to rule after handing power to an elf,’ Mildrith told him, her voice shaking with anger.

Sendatsu leaned over and grabbed her reins, sensing she was about to ride back to the city and begin causing trouble. She recoiled from him, staring in revulsion at the blood splashed thickly over his arms and chest.

Her two servants urged their horses forwards but Gaibun intercepted them. His hands were empty but he was also painted with dried blood and he tapped his right thumb on his sword hilt and smiled.

Sendatsu forced Mildrith to look at him. ‘I know what you must be going through, having lost your son and husband, seeing your dreams turned to dust. But I swear to you on the life of my own children that I do not seek to rule you. And we still need you.’

‘What does that mean?’ Mildrith hissed.

‘We need you to stay with the army. Tomorrow, before we fight, they need to see you, so they can remember all they have lost and what they need to avenge.’

‘And I cannot cause you trouble in Cridianton if I am here,’ Mildrith said. ‘I am not a fool.’

‘No. But you will stay with Captain Wulf.’

‘I thought I was fighting a rearguard action here to protect the rest of you?’ Wulf asked, pointing to the stone walls that lined the road.

‘There’s too many elves for that. They’ll just ride around you. We need something else, a river or a small wood, something we can fill with crossbowmen and use the trees as weapons if the elves get too close.’

‘There is a bridge, perhaps two miles down the road, beside a stream. That would serve,’ Wulf said.

‘Good. We can hold them there, let the rest of the men get away without sacrificing hundreds.’

‘We shall be pushing it to get there before the elves are upon us,’ Wulf warned.

‘Then we must stop talking and start moving,’ Sendatsu said crisply. ‘Wulf, take the queen and get her away. Sumiko cannot capture her, because she will use her against us.’

Sendatsu looked at Wulf, who in turn looked over at Edmund. Edmund nodded and Wulf urged his horse forwards.

‘We shall treat you like the queen you are, my lady,’ Wulf said. ‘If you would come with me, we shall get you away to a safe distance.’

‘Why is she not staying with me?’ Edmund asked.

‘Because you are coming with me, Huw, Asami and a Velsh Magic-weaver back to the city, to get the slaves. Gaibun will take care of the rearguard.’

‘Another elf!’ Mildrith snorted.

‘One who slowed down Edmund’s advance on Dokuzen by enough so that you lost there,’ Sendatsu replied sharply. ‘You also need to send a patrol out to the east. The cavalry that were with Ward, whose horses were driven away by magic, will have their beasts back under control by now. We need to find them and lead them back. They could be the difference tomorrow.’

Edmund signalled to the marshals, pointing to his aide, Orsa, who had been by his side since that fateful march into Dokuzen.

‘Orsa, take a dozen of these marshals and cut out to the east. Ride all night if you have to, but find them.’

‘Sir!’

‘Come on then. We shall be cutting it fine,’ Edmund said, not looking as Orsa grabbed marshals at random, making them throw off their gaudy red tunics.

Sendatsu let go of Mildrith’s reins and she followed Wulf docilely enough.

‘She will be trouble later,’ Edmund said.

‘She can be as much trouble as she likes later. We just need to get through a few more days.’

‘Can we really beat the elves with what we have left, as well as a bunch of slaves and Velsh?’ Edmund asked softly.

‘Of course,’ Sendatsu said. ‘You have to believe that, or it cannot happen.’

‘Easier said than done.’

‘First stage is to give them back confidence. We need to hold them up and win a small victory. That will change how they all feel.’

‘A small victory? You think holding back the elves from slaughtering us for a few hours will change everything?’

‘Yes. Now come on, we are wasting time we don’t have.’

‘Sergeant Caelin! There is a bridge a couple of miles down this road. Get to it and hold there — the Velsh will join you and use magic and your bows to hold back the elven pursuit.’

Caelin did not have much breath to reply, so merely saluted as Captain Edmund rode past with a couple of Velshmen, an elf and that elven woman who had taken Hild. He wanted to ask her about the girl but then they had rushed away.

‘Sounds like another shit job. We attract them like flies,’ Ruttyn muttered.

‘Are you saying we smell like shit?’ Harald said. ‘Or did you just mix up your sayings?’

‘Well, you stink.’ Ruttyn cleared his throat and spat. ‘And how is Velsh magic going to stop a few thousand elves on horseback?’

‘Do you think anything else is?’ Caelin said. ‘Keep marching. If we don’t get there, we’re dead men.’

The Velsh rode alongside and behind them, moving slowly as they rode double, a young warrior and a Magic-weaver on each horse.

‘I heard they fought well today. Held their own against the elves, while that Sendatsu was unstoppable,’ Ruttyn said.

‘No, that was us.’ Harald chuckled.

Caelin could feel the tiredness among the men around him. They had marched hard, fought hard and then run — and now they were being asked to march harder and fight harder that night, with no prospect of victory. He sensed that some would simply give up and sit there on the side of the road waiting for death, or maybe run and hide. But he did not know what to say to keep them going.

‘Sergeant!’

He looked up to see the Magic-weaver called Rhiannon riding beside him, holding on to the reins with one hand — and Hild with the other.

‘She spotted you and nearly jumped off the horse to see you! Would you like to carry her for a while?’

Caelin broke ranks and walked across to them, heedless of the others. Behind him, men stopped and watched, the story of how Caelin had rescued the girl from the march south and fooled all the officers being whispered around — and growing with the telling, as well.

‘Sag!’ Hild cried in delight.

‘Wouldn’t you rather ride?’

In answer, Hild wriggled free and Caelin had to step forwards to catch her as she jumped.

‘Does she have any milk left?’ Caelin asked.

A smiling Magic-weaver behind Rhiannon tossed down the bladder, which still felt half full.

‘Smelly!’ Hild said, wrapping her arm around his neck.

‘There’s always the horse,’ he offered.

‘No,’ she told him.

The men clustered around him as he walked back through them and out to the front.

‘Sing!’ Hild said.

‘She’s going to know some strange words when she goes back to her mother,’ Harald said.

Men laughed at that, then someone started up a marching song and they began to walk again. But it was a completely different feeling now, and Caelin felt sure none would drop out — and all would fight.

‘A clever move,’ Gaibun said as Rhiannon rejoined him.

‘They needed something,’ she said with a shrug. ‘I’ll take her back later, if we need to run.’

‘We won’t run. Sendatsu said we have to stop the pursuit, give the Forlish a little victory, so they forget about the defeat. Well, I might not be the great leader Sendatsu is, nor understand how small the human memory is but I know how to use the ground. Ride ahead with me and we’ll see what we can do.’

As promised, a wood stretched across the road, which was forced to go through the trees by a boggy stream, crossed by a crude log bridge. Beside them, Forlish soldiers hurried past, crossing the bridge or splashing through the stream.