Legacies (44 page)

“Guess that's a good idea,” came a dry voice from behind as Yular and five of his troopers rode up behind second squad. Yular eased his mount through the field beside the lane and then up alongside Alucius.

Alucius shook his head. “You're in command, now, acting senior squad leader Yular. Second squad stands ready.”

“You only lost one trooper. They got Vylor. Only three men from Lokyl's squad left, they're back here with your men. Lokyl wasn't one of them.” Yular glanced back at second squad. “You didn't suffer too bad.”

“We went up the side. Caught them between us and the explosions,” Alucius explained.

Yular laughed. “Did something like that, took that little ridge, just enough cover. Figured it didn't matter how we went, just so we did. How many do you think they have left?”

“Saw more than a company of foot…we got maybe thirty…forty. But they had another company of horse coming in.”

“Don't think we got more than twenty, thirty at the outside. They were waiting for us.”

Alucius nodded. “We were lucky.”

“You mean…with their powder blowing up? Wondered how that happened?”

“I don't care,” Alucius said. “I'm just glad it happened. We'd have been chewed up.”

Yular glanced back. “More than we were, you mean?”

Alucius suppressed a wince. “Much more.”

“You're probably right.”

The surviving troopers had almost reached the western end of the windbreak, just short of the north-south high road, less than a hundred yards ahead. Alucius did not sense any Lanachronans nearby, or following. That was fine with him. He turned in the saddle. “First squad! Second squad! When we reach the road, let third squad take the lead!” He looked back at Yular. “You're in charge, sir.”

Yular shook his head, a tight and rueful smile on his face.

Alucius looked westward, half surprised to see that the sun was just dropping behind the trees in the distance beyond the fields on the west side of the north-south high road. Had the fight taken that long? Nearly two glasses? It hadn't seemed that long.

He also realized something else. Every muscle in his body seemed to feel weak and trembling.

As second squad—and the remnants of first squad—followed him back toward Senob Post, the smoky orange light of burning power and equipment already fading, the acrid scent of smoke and death trailing them, Alucius could pick up the murmurs.

“
…knows
where things are…”

“…been picked off like targets if we'd gone straight up…”

“…did the mission, didn't we?…most of us came back…better than first squad…”

“…not complaining…rather be in his squad…”

“…don't say anything then…”

Alucius had to use every bit of concentration to stay in the saddle, every last bit. He hoped he wouldn't disgrace himself by collapsing. But he couldn't do that. He couldn't.

The next morning, before breakfast, Alucius was still shaky, but determined not to let anyone know that as the squad leaders met with Tymal. Even the air in the open space felt warm and confining.

Tymal glanced over the nine squad leaders. “For the moment, the three troopers in first squad will be attached to third squad. I've already let them know. That will bring you up to full strength, Yular.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The scouts have reported that the Lanachronans have set up defense berms around their main camp, and they've pulled back from the Barrow Mounds. There's still smoke rising there.” Tymal shook his head. “The first three squads…however it happened, the captain is grateful.” The senior squad leader paused. “She wants a personal briefing from you two, Alucius and Yular, right after morning muster.

“Have your squads stand by, ready to mount and ride out in less than a half glass.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now…go get something to eat. You might get a midday meal, and you might not eat for days. Make sure your men know that as well.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I'll see Alucius and Yular right after muster, and we'll go see the captain.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you think the captain wants?” asked Alucius as he and Yular walked toward the mess.

Yular shook his head. “Be happier not meeting with her.”

“So would I,” Alucius admitted.

“Probably be all right, now,” Yular said. “They need every one of us.” He snorted. “More than every one of us.”

For that, Alucius suspected he could be grateful. He did take Tymal's advice and ate everything that he could stuff in himself. The food helped his shakiness as well. Before he knew it, he was mustering second squad in the courtyard, under a sky that was silvered light green, and promising yet another too-hot late spring day.

“Second squad. Fall in.”

With all his remaining troopers in place, Alucius turned and waited.

“Squad leaders, report!” Tymal ordered.

There was a momentary silence, until Alucius realized there was no first squad. “Second squad, all present and ready, sir.”

“Third and first squad, present and ready, sir,” Yular announced.

“Fourth squad…”

“Fifth squad…”

After the reports, Tymal was brief. “You're all on stand-by. Have your mounts saddled and your gear ready. We could be going out to fight in a quarter glass—or not for days. The captain would rather not fight until our reinforcements arrive. We don't know what the Lanachronans will do. They took some losses yesterday. Without their cannon, they may need some time to regroup. We can't count on that. So be ready.” After a pause, he added, “Dismissed to stand-by. Saddle your mounts.”

“Second squad, dismissed to saddle up and stand-by.” Alucius turned and headed to join Tymal.

Yular was right behind him.

The door to the captain's spaces was open.

“Come on in, squad leaders. Close the door behind you.” Captain Hyrlui did not rise from the chair behind her table desk. Even more of her hair was white, Alucius thought.

Once Tymal and the other two were inside, she began. “Yesterday's raid was more successful than we could have hoped. Yet…I'm a bit surprised. According to the acting full squad leader's report, the Lanachronan powder supplies exploded just
before
you began the attack. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir,” Alucius answered.

“Yes, sir,” Yular concurred.

The captain looked at the two squad leaders, and then at Tymal.

“Do any of you know how the powder supplies of the Lanachronans exploded?”

“No, sir,” offered Tymal. “Vylor might, or Lokyl…but they didn't make it back.”

“No, sir,” added Alucius, shading the truth, because he didn't know
exactly
how.

“No, sir,” said Yular, “except it happened just before squad leader Vylor gave the command. It was almost like he was waiting. He kept looking at the squad leaders, and then at the Barrow Mounds…”

“I see.” The captain's left hand dropped to her wide belt, and Alucius could feel the slightest pressure on his torque. Not on his neck, but on the torque. Yet he could tell that the captain had very little Talent. Still, she had enough to use the nooses on the belt.

Alucius felt very chill, and even shakier, inside. Vylor had probably suspected Alucius of something—or Yular thought Vylor had. Either possibility was bad enough, and the pressure from the captain reinforced Alucius's concerns. But why was there pressure on his torque? Or wasn't the captain that discriminating in her Talent use?

“You're not saying that Squad Leader Vylor had anything to do with this?” asked Hyrlui, looking at Yular.

“No, sir. I'm just telling you what I saw. Could be that I saw more, because I was the squad leader farthest back and where I could see everything.”

Hyrlui nodded slowly. “However it happened, we're fortunate. The Twentieth, Twenty-Fourth, and Thirtieth horse companies are less than ten vingts to the north, and the Fifteenth Foot is less than a day behind. Still…the casualties were…” She tilted her head slightly and leaned forward over her table desk. “Vylor led squad one, is that correct?” The captain looked directly at Yular.

“Yes, sir. He took the center. That was where the most fire was.”

Hyrlui looked at Alucius. “You had the north side, squad leader?”

“Yes, sir. The way the side of the hill sloped, we could ride almost halfway up before anyone could get a clear shot at us.”

“So you had more troopers when you reached the top?”

“Yes, sir. We had a better field of fire, too. We took out close to forty of their foot.”

“How many did you lose?”

“One, sir.”

Hyrlui frowned, then turned to Yular. “You fared almost as well. Why?”

“There was a bit of a ridge near the top of the south side, sir. Anyone around it couldn't fire directly at us. So we got most of the way up before more than a handful of their rifles could get a clear shot.”

“What about the middle section? The one where squad one attacked?”

“They had a clear field of fire, sir,” Yular said. “I wouldn't have wanted to ride that slope.”

“I see.” Hyrlui studied the three.

Alucius could not feel the captain using Talent, but outside of the screening officer at Hieron, when he had still been injured, and not thinking so well as he should have been, and the tariff officer, Undercaptain Gerayn, he had not been that close to anyone else who had any great Talent.

The captain looked at Yular. “Would you have said it was unwise to attack the center?”

“I didn't have any reports, sir. I didn't know. Once we got to the top, it was pretty clear, but you can't act on what you don't know until after the fight, sir.”

Hyrlui focused on Alucius. “You have a reputation…squad leader. What do you think?”

“I was told to take the north side, sir. I looked for the quickest and safest way. When we got to the top, it was clear that first squad had taken heavy fire, sir. From below, we couldn't see where they had their foot positioned.”

The captain stood. “Thank you, squad leaders. I hope you will be as effective in the days ahead.”

The three filed out silently.

They were a good fifty yards down the corridor before Tymal spoke. “You both handled that very well.” He stopped. “See that what you said stays exactly the same.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Better check your men. I'll be by shortly to keep you posted.”

Alucius and Yular kept moving toward the squad leaders' wing to pick up their gear.

“You know that a frontal assault was a hog-stupid thing.” Yular said quietly. “The captain knew it, too.”

“I thought she felt that way,” Alucius offered, “but I'm still new at this.”

Yular laughed. “You won't be able to plead inexperience too much longer, Alucius.”

“Probably not.” Alucius grinned. “But let me do it so long as I can.”

They both laughed.

Octi morning, right after muster, with all the companies still on stand-by, Alucius and the squad leaders were summoned to another briefing in the large meeting hall. Alucius noted almost twenty squad leaders of various ranks that he did not know—clearly those from the three horse companies that had arrived the afternoon before. There were also more officers on the dais, including a gray-haired overcaptain who stood immediately beside Captain Hyrlui on the dais.

Captain Hyrlui stepped forward and began immediately. “First, I'd like to welcome the officers and squad leaders of the Twentieth, Twenty-Fourth, and Thirtieth Companies. We're very glad to see you. Second, I'd like to introduce Overcaptain Catryn. She has assumed overall command of operations here in Zalt, and reports directly to the Matrial. Overcaptain Catryn.” Hyrlui inclined her head to the older woman.

The overcaptain stepped forward, offered a warm smile, and nodded her head to Hyrlui, and then to Dynae and Marta. “Thank you, captain. Those of you here in Zalt have borne a heavy burden. I wish I could say that it will get lighter soon. It will not. The Lanachronans have completed rough fortifications around their camp, and they have dammed and diverted Spring Creek, in order to cut off water to Zalt. However, the reservoirs here are full, and water is not likely to be a problem any time soon.

“From what we can tell, the easterners lost slightly more than a company of foot along with their cannons. The raid cost us a little more than a squad and two squad leaders…”

Alucius was surprised to hear the Lanachronans referred to as easterners. He'd always thought of them as southerners, but Lanachrona was definitely east of Madrien.

“…We do not know with absolutely surety, but we expect that they will be sending even more forces from Tempre as quickly as they can. Whoever controls Zalt controls the access to Southgate, and if either Dramur or Lanachrona gains control of Southgate, it will cost us dearly. That's not just in golds. We'll be pushed into a defensive position.”

Alucius frowned. For perhaps the hundredth time, he wondered why, if Madrien was so worried about Lanachrona, the Matrial had attacked the Iron Valleys?

“The Matrial had hoped that it would take some time for the young Lord-Protector to consolidate his power in Tempre…”

With that one piece of information, it all made sense to Alucius. The Matrial had felt that the Iron Valleys would fall to someone. She had hoped for an easier and quicker victory there before the Lord-Protector could act. That would have secured a more defensible border all along the River Vedra and allowed Madrien to concentrate on the south where it faced challenges from both Dramur and Lanachrona. The Lord-Protector's actions also made a sort of sense. He didn't want to see Lanachrona denied access to the sea, and strangled on three sides by Madrien.

Unhappily, there was little Alucius, particularly as a junior squad leader, could do about anything, even if it all did make more sense.

“…Captain Hyrlui will be meeting with the undercaptains and squad leaders of Fortieth Company immediately after you're all dismissed…”

Overcaptain Catryn concluded, “I am pleased to be here, and look forward to working with you to assure the future of Madrien.”

Once more, Alucius led the way out of the meeting room, fairly certain that there were few if any squad leaders with less time in rank.

Captain Hyrlui's spaces were crowded, with nine squad leaders, two undercaptains, and Tymal standing before her table desk.

“We're still outnumbered,” Captain Hyrlui said. “A direct attack on the Lanachronan position would bring heavy losses. But we cannot allow them to remain or to develop their position there. The overcaptain brought some engineers. We have reservoirs. They do not. Farther to the east, there are several places where Spring Creek can be diverted. We will do that. Without water, they will either have to move to water, or attack away from their prepared positions. If they move, we can raid or attack, depending on how they move. If they attack us, we have the prepared positions.” Hyrlui smiled grimly. “Our task is to escort and protect the engineers and their equipment, while they change the flow of Spring Creek.”

“How soon?” asked Tymal.

“As soon as we can. A glass or less. Assign the squads as you see fit, and let me know.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

After that very short meeting, Tymal gathered the squad leaders in the northeast corner of the mess, wasting neither time nor words. “Here are the basic assignments. Alucius, second squad is going to be the scout patrol. Your mission is to scout, not to kill easterners. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yular, you're going to be the actual van squad. Pahl and Gholar—fourth and fifth squads will cover the engineers…”

As Tymal went through the assignments, Alucius fretted. It was more than clear that Tymal had a good idea that Alucius had some abilities in looking out for danger. Was the senior squad leader making his assignments on the basis of the past—or did he have a better idea of what Alucius could do?

Then, in the current situation, what else could Alucius do? Desertion more than a thousand vingts from home didn't look appealing, especially not in the middle of a war. Neither did fighting battles against the Lanachronans.