Legacies (47 page)

“Follow second squad!” snapped Yular.

“Follow third squad!”

Someone was listening to his orders, Alucius realized, and even if only three squads did, it might help. He glanced over his shoulder. From what he could tell, all of the reduced Fortieth Company had responded. He glanced forward again.

The massed front of the Lanachronans looked like a wall of blue, nearing all too soon.

Alucius swung Wildebeast more to the west. “Column line! Column line!”

Again, the squads followed.

The Lanachronan force was at least as large as the one attacking from the east, and Alucius felt that Fortieth Company was riding against a stone wall, even if that wall happened to be riding toward them.

As the distance narrowed, Alucius calculated, waited, then called out the order. “Fortieth Company! Wheel to a line! Wheel to a line, and fire!”

The wheel was broken and irregular, and Fortieth Company stretched across something like two hundred yards and was little more than a hundred yards from the advancing easterners. But it stood between the easterners and the unprotected Matrite flank.

“Fire at will!”

Crack! Crack!

So solidly were the Lanachronans massed that every Fortieth Company shot seemed to take one of the easterners down. So many easterners were there that it seemed to make little difference, except perhaps by creating a slight delay—and buying some time for the overcaptain to reorganize the Matrite troopers.

Still, Alucius saw no point in sacrificing men needlessly.

What would save Fortieth Company from total annihilation, if Alucius happened to be right, would be that the Lanachronans were riding, and it was far harder to aim a rifle accurately while riding, and that they were massed while Fortieth Company was spread into a line with open space between riders and mounts.

Alucius counted, carefully, watched as the Lanachronans neared, and then shouted out another order. “Fortieth Company! To a column! To the right! Charge! Sabres at the ready!”

Alucius would have liked to have brought Fortieth Company to the western side of the attackers, but that would have left them too exposed to all of the front rank of the easterners for too long. The eastern side it would have to be.

Alucius pushed Wildebeast back eastward and to the fore of the column, where tenth squad was, and found himself at the tip of the all-too-small wedge that was Fortieth Company, aimed at the front of the right flank of the easterners. If
…if
he had judged correctly, they could sweep behind the Barrow Mounds, and then strike the right flank of the other eastern force on their way back to rejoin the main body of the Matrite forces.
If…

Forcing that thought from his mind, Alucius concentrated on the point of attack—a squad's length from the flank of the Lanachronans. For the briefest of moments, he glanced to his left, where the west side of the Lanachronan force had slowed. Why had they slowed? That thought, too, he pushed away, focusing solely on the Lanachronans before them, again trying to force himself into the image of death and destruction, sabre gleaming.

Abruptly, as he was within less than ten yards of the Lanachronans, several troopers broke. Not many, but enough that Alucius drove Wildebeast through that narrow opening, his blade flashing. Behind him, Fortieth Company followed, seemingly like a red-hot blade through rotten spring ice.

Then, the company was clear and to the east of the Lanachronans.

Pushing aside thoughts of how many troopers had fallen, Alucius swung due east, and, once they were separated by a good three hundred yards, dropped Wildebeast into a fast walk. While he worried about the time it might take, he knew he could not push his mount, or any of the others, without a bit of a breather.

Alucius glanced to his right, up at the Barrow Mounds, where he could still see traces of blackened ground. Even at a quick walk, it seemed as though less than a quarter glass had passed before Fortieth Company broke from behind the southeastern corner of the Barrow Mounds. Ahead was a swirl of mounts and men.

Alucius turned in the saddle. “We'll strike their right flank as close to our forces as we can! Pass it back!”

All too soon, Fortieth Company was almost upon the Lanachronans. Although he felt sore all over, Alucius once more lifted the sabre as Fortieth Company struck the right flank.

“From the rear! They're everywhere!” The accented Lanachronan was loud enough that Alucius could understand it clearly.

From everywhere? That made no sense, but Alucius had no time to worry about that as he slashed through the awkward defense of Lanachronan trooper trying to turn his mount and twist in the saddle simultaneously.

Fortieth Company made it almost within three hundred yards of the original line of battle before it was slowed into another man-on-man melee. But this one was different, because the Lanachronans were fighting merely to escape, caught between Alucius's unplanned flank attack, and Twentieth Company and another company.

Alucius kept moving, trying to avoid being caught from behind or from his right side, striking where he could, parrying where he had to, and trying to keep the company together as he could. Then, as battles always seemed to end, he found that there was no one left to strike, no one remaining whose blows he needed to parry.

He looked around, surprised that the sun was well into midafternoon. Bodies lay everywhere on the trampled and churned fields that had once held promising green sprouts. From what Alucius could see, there were at least two fallen figures in blue for every one in green, perhaps even more.

To the east, the straggling remnants of the attackers rode slowly back along the southwest high road. Wildebeast stood stock-still, panting, as did most of the mounts of Fortieth Company. Alucius was breathing almost as hard as Wildebeast. At least, that was the way he felt.

From somewhere out of the confused mass of Matrite troopers, a single officer emerged and rode toward Alucius—Undercaptain Taniti.

“Fortieth Company! Re-form!” Alucius called out.

Slowly, the remnants of the company coalesced into squads, and then the squads formed into the company. Alucius took a quick glance, guessing that no more than half of the company's original strength remained.

The undercaptain rode deliberately, allowing the company to reform. She reined up several yards from Alucius, studying him.

“Fortieth Company, sir.” Alucius wasn't about to claim the company was ready for anything.

“Well…squad leader. You managed to disarray two separate Lanachronan forces in the same battle.” Taniti studied the company. “Costly disarray.”

“Yes, sir.” Alucius saw no point in arguing. They had made it through, and he had his doubts that anyone could have survived if Fortieth Company had merely stood and waited to be caught between the two Lanachronan forces.

“I don't believe you're the next most senior squad leader, Alucius.”

“No, sir, but we lost Gholar just as they attacked, and I couldn't find the captain.”

“We lost her, too,” Taniti said quietly. “And Undercaptain Kryll.”

“I'm sorry, sir.”

“Don't be. You did what you thought best, and it actually helped the overcaptain's strategy. Less than a handful or two of the attackers from the north survived.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Alucius was sure he looked as blank as he felt. He had no idea what Taniti was talking about. All he knew was that his shoulder ached, as did his right thigh, and most of his body. His tunic was splattered and stained, with assorted rents and cuts.

He'd survived another battle, and, hopefully, the last one for a time, since the undercaptain had implied that there were comparatively few Lanachronan survivors. And, once more, there was so much he hadn't known.

By Sexdi morning, clouds and a light rain had swept over Zalt. Undercaptain Taniti was commanding Fortieth Company, and Pahl was acting senior squad leader. Jumal and Hastyr—the two survivors of Rask's eighth squad—had been transferred to second squad under Alucius, and the eight remaining squads of Fortieth Company were mustered in the courtyard. All of the companies had taken heavy losses. Twentieth Company had been reconfigured into five squads, and some were not even fully manned.

Alucius stood on the barely damp stones of the courtyard before his six-trooper squad and reported, “Second squad, present and ready, sir.”

“Third squad, present and ready…”

After receiving the muster, Pahl addressed Fortieth Company. “The road patrols and scouts report that the easterners have withdrawn well behind the border and may be returning to Tempre. The overcaptain feels that there will be other attacks later this summer, but it is likely to be some time. The rotation pattern for free days will continue. Third squad is on road patrol today, fourth tomorrow. Second squad is assigned to stable duty today, third squad tomorrow…That's all. Dismissed to your assignments.”

“Second squad. Dismissed to stable duty.” Alucius turned to see Pahl at his shoulder.

“Overcaptain Catryn and Undercaptain Taniti would like to see you in the overcaptain's spaces, Alucius. It's nothing to worry about.”

“Yes, sir.” Alucius had his doubts about that. Seeing senior Matrite officers always had risks for him. “Now?”

“Right after muster, they said.”

“I'm on my way, sir.”

Alucius re-entered the main barracks building and walked toward the officers' wing. What did they want from him?

Inside the overcaptain's spaces, the two officers sat on one side of a wide table desk, talking to each other, the overcaptain in a straight-backed wooden arm chair, Undercaptain Taniti in a straight-backed armless chair. They both looked up.

“Come in, squad leader, and close the door, please,” said Overcaptain Catryn.

Alucius complied.

The gray-haired overcaptain looked tired, with dark circles under her slightly bloodshot eyes, and even a faint gray tinge to her face. She nodded toward the stools opposite her on the other side of the table desk. “Please sit down.” Her eyes dropped to several sheets on the desk before her.

“Yes, sir.” Alucius sat.

The overcaptain studied him for a long moment, and Alucius could sense the faint wash of Talent, not so powerful as that of a herder, but definitely Talent. Finally, she spoke. “You're a very able squad leader. Very few squad leaders have shown the presence of mind that you have consistently demonstrated.”

Alucius waited. The overcaptain had not asked a question, and the less he volunteered, the better.

“You are also by far the youngest of the squad leaders in any of the companies here in Zalt. How did that happen?”

“I don't know, sir. I was raised where I had to be alone a lot and where I handled animals a lot. They can't talk to you, and you have to watch out for little things. I've just tried to watch for little things here. It seems to work.”

“What sort of little things?”

“Questions, I guess, mostly, sir. You'd told us that the Lanachronans had more troopers than we did, a lot more. I didn't see them. So I kept looking for signs of where they might be.” Alucius shrugged. “That sort of thing.”

The overcaptain laughed. “So simple…and yet so profound.”

For a moment, Alucius thought she might add something, but she did not. Undercaptain Taniti watched Alucius like a eagle might search for prey. Alucius smiled good-naturedly, waiting.

“Twice, according to Undercaptain Taniti, you've taken charge when there was someone senior to you who could have. Why did you do that?”

“Begging your pardon, sir, I didn't want to in either case. But no one else did take charge, and we would have lost more troopers standing and waiting for someone to act. As soon as I could, I let the next senior trooper take command.”

Taniti nodded at Alucius's last statement.

“With all this, you've never been wounded,” the overcaptain said mildly.

“Sir, I've had cuts and bruises, as many as the next trooper. And,” he added slowly, “I was wounded back when I was captured.”

The overcaptain paused and lifted one of the sheets, reading the one behind it. “That does answer a few questions.”

For some reason, Alucius could tell that she was pleased. Pleased that he could be or had been wounded?

“I'd like to be the first to inform you that, based on your performance, you have been selected to be promoted to full squad leader.” The overcaptain smiled.

The undercaptain extended several sets of the crimson double chevrons.

Stunned, Alucius took them. “Thank…you, sir.”

“There is one minor difficulty, squad leader.”

Alucius had a feeling about that. In any arms force, there were difficulties.

“You're more than capable, but you're also very young for the rank. For that reason, it's best that you be transferred to another company and another post. You're immediately detached from Fortieth Company to prepare for that transfer. There will be a convoy returning to Hieron the day after tomorrow with some of the recovering wounded who are injured enough to be mustered out and some of the empty supply wagons. You'll be one of the road squad leaders. The officer in charge of the convoy will be Captain Gerayn. Once you get to Hieron, you'll be interviewed there, and then assigned to a new company.”

“Yes, sir.” Alucius could sense, both in words and feelings, that more had been left unsaid.

“You may go, squad leader, and congratulations.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Please close the door on your way out.”

Once he had left the room, closing the door as requested, Alucius paused outside the door, bending down as if to adjust his boot, his hearing boosted by his Talent.

“There's something about him,” said the overcaptain. “It's as though he's too gray, like his hair is a gray that's almost black. He sees too much for a trooper that young.”

“Everything he said was true,” pointed out Undercaptain Taniti.

“That's bothersome, too. He needs to be screened by someone in Hieron.” There was a pause. “Either way, we've done our best. If he passes the Matrial's screen, he'll be assigned to another company as an assistant senior squad leader or to some detached duty, like a messenger or scout patrol. And we'll have a good squad leader when we don't have enough. If he doesn't…we'll have stopped trouble.”

The words faded away, and Alucius slipped to his feet and walked briskly down the corridor. He would have liked to hear more, but he had certainly heard enough.

In some ways, it was better than it could have been. If he could engineer a good escape. If he could learn more about his Talent…and use it…So many ifs…

In the meantime, he was going to check with Pahl, to make sure someone was watching over second squad. Screening or not, he still didn't like leaving things unfinished, even as a captive trooper and squad leader.