“With the lake ahead, it might be a crossing point,” Stazor offered. “Even evil has to stop for water.”
“Go up the eastern side with your men,” Zodiac told the scout. “Have another team go up the west side. If this is a crossing point for them, they will have some kind of watch set.”
“Yes, M’Lord,” The scout turned his horse and galloped off.
Stazor pulled his helmet off and wiped the sweat from his brow. “What if scouts find both sides are watched? Dare we split our forces?”
Zodiac shook his head. “Not here. Once they find us, they are going to throw everything they have at us. We’re getting pretty close to home.”
“I pray to Odin that evil has gone further south,” Stazor said. “Our two thousand are strong, but every one will be needed when we get to this city.”
Zodiac looked back over the long column that wound through the shallow valley. Three abreast, they went back as far as he could see. He knew all too well, though, that once the fighting started numbers didn’t matter as much as how well they were used. Decisions and information either made or broke the battle.
“If needed, we’ll travel hard to avoid any battle we don’t have to fight.”
Stazor, who thought avoiding any evil thing was a sign of cowardice, didn’t like to admit Zodiac was right. He consoled himself with “We’ll clean up the stragglers on the way back.”
“Right,” Zodiac agreed. Giving a look around, he added, “We may as well stand down until the scouts find something.”
Stazor called for a dismount. In unison, the entire column of knights swung one leg over and got off their horses. Here and there, squires ran back to the wagons to get water. No one rested, but stood ready to leap back in the saddle at a moment’s notice.
Scanning the horizon, Zodiac tried to visualize every way the enemy could come at them. The shallow rises would each hide only a few dozen. Dragons or anything airborne would be seen coming from very far away. Even those damn ballistas would launch their spears into the air, so they would have some warning. Duncan, or one of the other wizards, would know if evil was hiding by magical means. On this open grassland, surprise was out of the question.
An hour later, two scouts rode back at a full gallop. One was trailing a horse with an empty saddle. The scout he had talked to before pointed as he slowed his horse.
“They got a fort on the east side! They got horses, and they’re coming!”
Immediately, Stazor was back in the saddle, calling out for the knights to ready lances.
“How many?” Zodiac asked as he locked his visor down.
“A bunch! Two, maybe three hundred men, armed and armored. They can‘t be but a few miles behind me.”
Zodiac waved for his men to come forward. “Governor, take your knights and meet them. We’ll set up the second rank.”
Stazor nodded and lifted his lance. Guiding his knights, he led them to form a long line across the marching path then turned them as one to continue on at a walk. Zodiac made the second line with his cavalry and set the rest of his infantry with bows in a third. Taking up places directly behind the archers, the wizards and druids fanned out. Squires and priests stayed with the wagons and waited for the wounded to be brought in.
The knights held their lances high; the banner of each company fluttered at the tips. When a cloud of dust grew and moved toward them, Stazor tipped his lance down then up, and they moved into a trot. Once the oncoming riders were in sight, the lances dropped. The knight charged.
The band of oncoming horsemen was large--Zodiac guessed about three hundred riders. Upon seeing the knights, the semi-orderly lines broke into chaos as some wheeled their mounts and fled. Before the knights could reach them the entire band had turned and was galloping away as fast as they could go. The Paladian knights followed, but the enemy horses were faster than the heavily barded mounts of the knights.
Zodiac called a charge just to keep up with Stazor. He had the archers race back to the wagons, knowing that as quickly as the enemy now fled they could swing around and attack from the side. He didn’t want anyone left behind.
Eventually, the knights came back, but they still held a long front. Stazor slapped his visor up, glaring toward where the enemy had gone.
“They’ve no stomach for a fight!” he growled.
“Or they’re just tiring out our horses for later,” Zodiac told him. “This trip has been long and dull--let them get a bit closer next time.”
Stazor glanced at the line of knights. The horses were panting; a few had begun to froth at the mouth. Even heavy warhorses could not run far loaded down with their barding and the knight’s armor. “You’re right, my friend. It’s been so long since I’ve taken the field my enthusiasm has cost us the fight.”
“I don’t think they planned on fighting. They’ll spread the word we’re here, so we better get moving and take that fort.” Raising an arm in the air, Zodiac called out, “Glier! Take the lead. Everyone, move out!”
Glier rode by with his troops. The rest formed back up and moved out at a trot. After traveling another hour, they found the lake. Ahead of them, enemy scouts retreated as they started up the east side. Not long after they passed the end of the lake, the watchtowers of the fort rose above the land.
The fort was not very large. It was a square earthen structure Zodiac guessed was a hundred yards to a side located on the lakeshore. The gate was made of logs lashed together and was raised with ropes. Surrounding the fort was a dry moat, probably with spikes or sharpened sticks at the bottom. Atop the walls, men and hoarcs waited behind a log parapet.
Stazor was immediately for storming the fort. Zodiac thought about leaving some men to lay siege and moving on, but it wasn’t good tactics to have an enemy fort at your back. Storming the stronghold didn’t seem a good idea either. He knew they probably had those damn spears, and the cost was not worth such a small gain. He decided to send a probing sortie with a company of cavalry and two wizards. Once they had the fort surrounded at a respectable distance, he ordered the attack.
Two hundred horsemen charged in at an angle. He watched as they closed and traded arrow fire with the defenders. Other than a few lightning bolts from his wizards that toppled the watchtowers and a burst of fire to set the gate ablaze, no magic was used. When his men retreated, he noted their losses had been light--only twenty had been hit, and seven of those got back to be healed by the priests.
With the success of the first wave, he sent in infantry to lay down a constant barrage of arrows against the walls to keep the enemy from putting out the gate fire. Again, his men did very well. The gate fell into burning chunks of charred log. Beyond, the open courtyard was full of figures turning over wagons to make a secondary defense. His archers moved closer, and the defenders used catapults to throw rocks at them. His men closed right to the edge of the moat and traded short-range arrows. More were being killed now, but it looked like the defenders suffered greater losses. A scout came back and reported that the moat was only ten feet wide, an easy jump for a horse.
Something bothered him about the fort. They had no wizards, no spears, and their defenses were inadequate. Taking the fort was too easy for his liking; they hadn’t even brought out their horsemen.
Glier rode up beside him. “The gate is down, and we’ve got enough room to ride right in. Cavalry through the opening and infantry climbing the walls, we’ll have that fort before dinnertime.”
“That’s what bothers me. We know they must have more powerful weapons. Why aren’t they using them?”
“Maybe they sent them all to Elrad. After all, that’s where the war is,” Glier offered.
Zodiac shook his head. “I don’t like it. Send in our cavalry and finish it off quick. Don’t hang around in there--get the place burning and get out.”
“Right.” Glier nodded and rode off, calling for his troops to gather.
Zodiac rode to the hillock where Stazor was watching the battle with a group of his knights. He was now thinking this fort
might be a diversion. While they had their attention on it, the enemy was probably massing for the real battle. It would not be a total surprise, of course; but it would catch them thinned out in a long semicircle. The only thing he was glad of was that all the druids and supply wagons were safely tucked away in a valley.
He had reached the base of the hillock and started up when a series of loud explosions rocked the ground. Thinking of the fort first, he looked that way. The fighting had stopped for a moment as his men there also searched for the source of the noise. He spurred his horse to gain high ground so he could see what was happening.
On the top, the knights were looking behind him and pointing. He turned to see smoke rising from where he knew his own men were. Only it wasn’t fighting men hidden in that valley, but the druids.
A large number of horsemen appeared over a ridge behind him. The lead riders swung what looked like slings as they charged, flinging globes that sailed into the valley again; and more explosions rocked the area.
Stazor was already barking orders to his knights to form up and surround the raiders.
“Collect your men! We’ll reform at the southern tip of the lake!” Zodiac shouted to him then galloped back to his own men.
More explosions sounded, this time to the north. Right after that, he happened to be looking at the fort and saw his cavalry racing to the gate. Several spears shot up and out of the fort, ripping into them. Pilgyns emerged from the banks behind the fort and charged. A vlak sprang over the wall and attacked a group of his men.
It was a trap, and he had fallen into it. He got back to his observation point and found more pilgyns charging out from the lake. His men in front of the fort were being decimated by explosions. Duncan had gathered a score of infantrymen around him and was turning back the spears and globes that came near him. The soldiers around him shot at the advancing pilgyns. Near the northern end of the fort, another group tried to run from the vlak that was slashing them.
The battle spread as small groups of hoarcs and pilgyns came from their hiding places behind what he thought had to be every low area on the plains. As his men retreated from the fort, horsemen poured out of the burnt gate. Quickly figuring the new odds, he thought that at best they were now evenly matched in numbers. In weapons, his side was coming up short.
Zodiac rode hard, consolidating his troops. Gathering the remains of Glier’s cavalry, he broke through a phalanx of pilgyns to help a troop of embattled elves. In the midst of the battle, he formed most of them back into ranks. Fighting along the way, they got to the valley where the druids waited.
The area was blasted; robed figures and their guards lay everywhere. They checked every body, but the ones who hadn’t been killed by the explosions had been run through. Even the wounded had been slaughtered.
The sound of hooves approaching geared them up to fight another enemy force. Zodiac breathed a sigh of relief as instead Pynlee led a band of horsemen over the rise accompanied by three knights. Seeing him, she rode up and waved her sword the way they had come.
“We got quite a few and split the others up. The druids are dead, or gone to ground. The enemy went off to the west to reform.” Waving at the knights, she said, “This is all that is left of Sir Glandow’s knights.”
Zodiac knew Sir Glandow had commanded a full company of a hundred-twenty knights when the day started. He hoped they had killed at least that many to suffer such large losses. Adding the group Pynlee brought in, he now had just over three hundred on hand. “Have you seen Stazor?”
Pynlee glanced at her sword. “Yes! I know there are more coming from the south!” Returning her attention to Zodiac, she said, “He’s headed for the fort to help there. Duncan is still holding out at the southwest corner.”
“Hey!” an elf called from a nearby rise. “Enemy cavalry coming, three large groups.”
Wheeling his horse around, Zodiac rode up to him. The group to the right was coming out on a rise, the center pack of about fifty was on flat land and to the left a mass flowed into a dip. He dropped below the top and shouted, “Everyone not mounted, man this rise! Pynlee, when they get close come up on the right with your men. I’m going to swing around and flank them on the left.”
Leading half the cavalry, he stayed in lowlands until he got to where the enemy’s left flank should be. Getting his men into a line, he waited until he heard the oncoming force then charged up and out. The enemy had the same thought he did. They also were coming up out of a dip a scant thirty feet away. Instead of charging at their side, he met them head on.
They collided in a clash of steel and battle screams. Zodiac slashed one across his middle as he passed then gouged a second. The third one he met had a lance and caught him on his hip, unseating him. He flew back off his horse, pain filling his right leg.
On the ground, he staggered to his feet. Not having time to check to see how badly he was wounded, he balanced on his left leg. All around him the battle raged. A dismounted man wearing the black coat of the enemy staggered toward him. The man had lost his sword and came at him with a dirk. Although Zodiac still had his sword, he couldn’t move to press an attack. Any weight on his right leg threatened to topple him.
The man seemed to sense this. He moved to the right and began to circle. Zodiac hobbled around to keep the man in front of him. The man thrust again and again, feinting. After each, he jumped to one side then the other. Following him was difficult--each time Zodiac managed to face him the man would move the other way.
Zodiac made a show of bending over and howling in pain. Not all of this was pretense--his right leg was sending shocks of pain through his whole body. As he hoped, the man leapt to strike. He twisted and thrust up, catching his attacker low in the torso. The man’s chain armor didn’t hold, and the blade broke through.
It was all he could do to jerk his blade free. The force of the movement put too much weight on his leg, and he fell to his knees the same time the other man did. From all fours, he swung at the man’s head, slicing off a chunk of scalp. The man winced as he fell prone then passed out.
Adrenalin got Zodiac to his feet. The battle around him raged, just as much on foot now as on horseback. A group of black-coated men pulled one of his horsemen to the ground and stabbed him to death. Not twenty feet away, four of his cavalry ganged up on a rider and slashed him until he fell dead out of the saddle.
“Zodiac is mine!” came a high-pitched scream from his left.
As Zodiac turned to face the shouting lancer, the enemy lowered his weapon and charged. The voice sounded like that of a woman. In this fight, there was no chivalry, only friend and foe. He braced himself, watching the lance. The rider moved the tip on purpose to make it hard for him to know exactly where it would strike. The face was bearded; the eyes shone with murder.
Zodiac had no plans on standing still, though. Given the choice of being run through or run over, he opted to take his chances with the horse. Just before the lance was on him, he dove in front of the animal, thrusting his sword up into its chest.
The impact slammed him back as the horse screamed. His vision blurred as he tumbled to the ground, the mortally wounded horse falling over him. He felt a snap in his left knee and a grinding in his hip as it rolled atop him. His arm was wrenched back then thrown over his head. When he finally came to rest he was staring at sky.
Whether he tried to move or not, the pain was unbearable. He couldn’t draw a breath, let alone cry out. Amid the chaotic battle, the man with the lance lay half under the dead horse, screaming in pain. He had time to notice this just before he passed out.
***
Zodiac came to in agony. Burning pain filled his legs; his shoulder felt like someone had ripped his arm off. He drew a breath to moan, and his back and chest stabbed with fresh agony. He exhaled the bit of air he had drawn in with a creaking groan.
A face appeared over him. The young squire wiped his forehead then offered him a drink from a horn-shaped bag. He got enough water to wet his lips. Swallowing h
urt almost as bad as the rest of him. Looking down, he saw both legs and one arm were in splints. His armor had been taken off and piled on the ground at the end of the blankets.
“We were routed, M’lord,” the squire explained. “The lake is in enemy hands. Governor Stazor has sent riders to search for more survivors.”
He barely was able to draw enough breath to live. “How bad,” he mouthed.
“There are six hundred in camp, M’lord. Most are wounded, some badly. We lost thirty this morning from their wounds.” As if to anticipate his next question, the squire added, “All the priests are dead. The druids, too, we think, and most of our food supply was destroyed. The extra horses were killed or driven off.”
Zodiac understood why so many warriors were left. The enemy was smart. Instead of just killing the men in the field, they had concentrated on destroying their support. Without food or healing, their army would cease to be effective in a few days. Even if they did scrape together enough men for a sizable attack, they could not sustain it. The enemy, on the other hand, had the lake nearby and plenty of time to wait them out.
He lay back and stared at the sky. In Newburg he had known they weren’t prepared. They had gotten the townspeople out, which was at least a partial victory. This was different; they were as ready as they could be. What it came down to was that he had fought two major battles and lost both. The explosive magic evil was using gave them an edge he couldn’t counter. Wizards could cause similar magic, but it would take a hundred wizards to match what evil was carrying with them.
Low rumbling sounds came to his ears, the sound of far-off explosions. He wondered what poor fellows were being ripped apart this time. The number of explosions increased, as if another major fight was going on. It wasn’t a few occasional noises but a constant pounding. A rapid run sounded a bit hollow, over a dozen at once.
Had Stazor committed to another attack? He leaned up to see the ridge to his left was lined with men watching intently and pointing. What was Stazor fighting with? By the sound of it, he was being ground into paste. Stazor was brave, but his lack of battle sense now was destroying any hope of survival.
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