“They just did a two-day march to Maldon, rested one day, fought, and now you want them to do another force march?” asked Tiny. “They won’t be at their best if they have to fight as soon as they get here.”
Will’s jaw clenched. “I know. But we don’t have a choice. Otherwise we’ll lose two divisions and the war. Make sure they know that. They’ll grow wings if they have to, to save their brothers in arms.”
Janice looked uncertain. “Are you sure? I get the feeling you’re just trying to get me out of the way.”
“He isn’t,” said Tiny firmly. “Will was in the Second with me. We stood shoulder to shoulder with a lot of them. They’ll run the whole damn way if they have to.” He met Janice’s eyes for a moment, then turned back to Will. “I can’t go, though. You’ll have to go with her.”
“There’s no way you can get through to the First,” said Will, “and she shouldn’t be alone on the road.”
“Too bad,” interrupted Janice. “John’s right. He’s too damn big. Thunderturnip can’t handle him on his back that long. I’m small, and my horse can carry me all day.”
Tiny nodded. “See?”
She faced Tiny then. “And you won’t be able to sneak anywhere without Will’s magic. I’ll ride alone.”
Tiny stared at her for several seconds, a strange mixture of anger and resignation showing in his eyes, but he couldn’t argue the point. Finally, he nodded. “Miss Edelman is right.”
Will saw her expression when Tiny called her ‘Miss Edelman.’ It was as though someone had thrown cold water on her. Janice went to her horse and started to saddle it. When Tiny moved to assist, she warned him away with a stern look. “I can saddle a horse just fine, Mister Shaw. I’ll be back as soon as possible, Will.”
A few minutes later, they stood watching her dwindle into the distance on the northern side of the river. “What’s wrong with you?” asked Will.
“Nothing,” said the squire, his tone flat.
“Really? Because I’ve never known you to be such a jackass before,” he replied harshly. After a moment, a thought came to him. “Is it because that way is safer than east?”
“She isn’t who I thought she was,” said Tiny hollowly.
Will gaped. “This is actually about the puppy? She was just trying to be practical.”
“That’s what they always say.”
“What about me? I think she was right. Don’t you have any judgment left to spare for me?” demanded Will angrily.
Tiny seemed to deflate, and when he turned his eyes on Will they were filled with a quiet sadness. “You can say whatever you want, but I know you, Will. You make mistakes sometimes, but your heart always comes first. Maybe you say she’s right, but you didn’t act accordingly. You told your aunt where the line was drawn. You did that first, rather than calculating what it might cost.”
“So, based on that, you think I’m wonderful, but she’s some kind of monster?”
The big man shook his head. “No. I know most people are like that. She’s not bad. It was my mistake for putting her up on a pedestal and thinking she was better than the rest.”
“You’re screwed up,” said Will. “And that means something coming from me. A few hours ago, you couldn’t stop making doe-eyes at Janice, and now you hate her.”
“I don’t hate her, Will. I could never hate her. I was just disappointed. I thought we had a future, but I can’t see myself with a woman who would give up a dog just because times might be hard.”
“What the hell? That’s a mighty big leap! How do you go from the one little thing she said to suggesting she’d get rid of the family dog? I know you’re not that stupid.” Will stared at his friend, then something clicked in his head. “Is this about something your mother did, or your father?”
“Just leave it alone, Will. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Will had the strong urge to punch his stubborn friend in the jaw, but Tiny was too big for it to be practical, and if he used magic instead it would just be pure abuse. You’ll talk about it sooner or later, he thought, or I’ll find a way to beat the piss out of you until you do.
Chapter 43
“You what?” demanded Tiny.
“I can’t bring you with me,” repeated Will. “Or Plum and Thunderturnip. I can move much faster and with less chance of detection if I’m alone and on foot.”
“You’re telling me I’m useless?”
Will looked at the horses. “Are you calling them useless too?”
“Don’t try and shift the subject,” growled his friend.
“I’m not. The same thing applies to them. You wouldn’t say they’re useless, but they definitely aren’t suited for this, so stop whining and find a good place to hide. Make sure you can see the crossroad from wherever you pick.”
Sullenly, his friend asked, “Why?”
“So I can see it too,” said Will. “Just because I’m leaving you behind doesn’t mean I don’t have a use for you. I can see any place where I have a close friend. That means you, even if you’re acting like a child currently.”
“Don’t push your luck. How can you see where I’m at?”
Will explained his astral travel, though he had to keep it as brief as possible. Then he outlined the rough plan he’d made. “Once I reach them, I’ll take command and make sure they don’t blunder into the ambush. It might not be easy with the other enemy force pushing from the other side, but I’ll find a way. Starting tomorrow afternoon, I’ll check on you every three or four hours to see if anything has changed. As soon as I see the reinforcements have arrived and are ready, I’ll turn First and Third around and we’ll hit the ambushers.”
Tiny looked thoughtful. “It sounds good, but how do we coordinate with you on this side? You may be able to see us, but we have no way of knowing what’s going on where you are.”
“You’ll just have to assume I can stick to the plan,” said Will. “If you have something specific to say, write it out in big letters on the ground. It has to be close to you, though. Basically, if it isn’t close enough for you to read it, I won’t be able to read it. Other than that, keep your ears open. As soon as I know the Second and Sixth have arrived, I will start moving them this direction. When you hear sounds of fighting, you’ll know it’s time.”
“If we can hear you.”
“You will,” said Will. “I may have one of the least useful talents a wizard could have, but you will definitely hear me.”
Tiny nodded. “You’re right.” As Will started to walk away, he asked, “I don’t suppose you have another loaf of that bread, do you?”
Will did, but he wasn’t in the mood to share. “You have your travel rations, and mine, since I’m leaving the horses here.”
Of course, the dried meat and biscuits they carried weren’t very pleasant to eat, as Tiny quickly pointed out. “They taste terrible.”
“Think of it as penance,” said Will.
His friend glared back. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Other than be an asshole,” Will declared. “I don’t know the story, but you’ve let your past problems affect your judgment. Janice isn’t the person that hurt you, and judging her for trying to be rational isn’t fair.”
“You don’t understand.”
Will’s temper flared and he took three long strides, until he was face to chest with his overlarge friend. He jabbed his finger against Tiny’s breastplate with enough force to disturb his balance. “I’m trying to keep you from making a stupid mistake, and I’m the world’s biggest expert on mistakes!” Then he stomped away. Before he was out of earshot, he looked back and added, “Reflect on what you’ve done, or no more steak for you!”
He fought the urge to break into a jog after that. If Tailtiu was correct, he only had a handful of miles to travel, ten at most. Although he could probably keep up a running pace for that long, even in armor, it would exhaust him for no good purpose, and it would make stealth much more difficult.
A brisk step was all he would nee
d. With a thought, he camouflaged himself and silenced his clothing and armor. Smoothing his aura the way he had learned from watching Darla took a little more effort, but he was beginning to get much better at it. The two spells and one wild magic technique made him practically invisible, though he still needed to be cautious around enemy casters. The spells were visible as a distortion of turyn around him, though Darla’s technique went a long way to making it much harder to detect.
In the back of his mind, he worried about both Janice and Tiny, though perhaps more for the big warrior. The crossroad didn’t offer many hiding places, and Tiny was one of the most visible people imaginable. Thunderturnip certainly didn’t help matters either. His friend would need to move as far from the road as possible and use the scrubby trees in the area for cover.
But if he screws it up and gets spotted… Will dropped the thought there; it didn’t bear considering.
Keeping his eyes and ears open, Will was surprised at how effective the enemy illusion was. Even though he was alert for it, he didn’t spot it until he was within twenty yards of the enemy sentries. If he hadn’t been forewarned, he might have blundered right into them. He consoled himself with the fact that it was likely easier to spot from the air. The casters were ground-bound, and they tailored their illusions accordingly.
The first illusion Will had ever seen had been Arrogan’s, the day his grandfather had used it to conceal a road leading to his mother’s house. This illusion was similar in some ways, but the big difference was that it closely matched the natural turyn of the area. A regular illusion was impossible to spot with the mundane eye, unless it was poorly crafted, but it stood out easily to the turyn-sensitive eyes of a mage.
This one had been put together in an incredibly sneaky fashion. Demonic turyn, being antithetical to life, generally stood out even more sharply, but the Shimerans had found a way to use it to their advantage. The base spell seemed to draw the vital forces from anything in the area, primarily the plant life, and some of that turyn was used to produce the illusion, but a tiny portion of the void turyn was used to cancel out the turbulent flows that bled out around the edges.
The net effect was to make the illusion very difficult to spot at a distance, though it became easier for Will once he got a feel for its strange and particular patterns. His biggest question was whether it had been crafted by humans working in concert with demons, or whether the demons had simply done it themselves.
Once he realized he was about to blunder into the enemy pickets, Will froze in place and took several minutes to study his surroundings, trying to discern the enemy layout around him. The nearest sentry post held two men, and fifty yards along in either direction were two more. Will could either move along the line to try and find the end so he could circle past them, or he could slip between them and attempt to pass directly through.
He was confident enough in his skills that he decided to push straight through. Not only would that be the fastest course, but it would give him a close look at the enemy forces. It was riskier, and if the enemy soldiers were densely packed, it might wind up being disastrous, but he liked his chances. Will knew from his own time in the army how they would likely be arranged. Even if they were set for an ambush, they wouldn’t be holding a perfect shield wall while they waited. The men would be resting in place, sitting or standing with their respective units arranged in a rough order.
The lines wouldn’t form until the final horn was sounded. Then, assuming they had a similar level of discipline, the men would step up and form lines, shields, spears, reserves, and skirmishers. The reserve lines could be two or even three deep, depending on the relative length of the formation. The skirmishers usually stood at the rear, though they were frequently the first to see combat, for they would slip forward to harass the enemy before solid contact was made, throwing their short spears or javelins before retreating to the rear again.
At least that was how the Terabinians organized themselves, and while they hadn’t had an open-field battle with the Patriarch’s army yet, Will knew the Darrowans followed similar principles.
Unfortunately, his short period of self-education hadn’t dwelled much on the Shimerans, so if the soldiers here were actual mercenaries, they might use an entirely different setup. He hoped it was just the magic users that had come from Shimera, for that would mean the overall troop numbers were still in their favor.
Walking slowly, Will passed between the sentry positions. He had to stop twice, when something snapped under his feet. The silent armor spell didn’t do anything for sounds emanating from contact with objects beyond the user, such as the ground. There were higher-order spells that did, but it had never been enough of a problem for Will to invest the time in learning one. Fortunately, the sounds weren’t enough to stir the sentries from their places.
Once he was past them, Will slowed and finally stopped when he could see the main body of the enemy. Definitely not Darrowans, he decided with a grimace. Dark robes and void turyn caught his attention here and there—Shimeran priests, with their attendant demon familiars.
The soldiers were geared differently. He didn’t see anything like the skirmishers he was familiar with, but there was an abundance of crossbowmen. They were lightly armored, relying on boiled leather cuirasses on their torsos and similar greaves to protect their legs from the knee down. They lacked much in the way of padding.
From what Will knew, the leather was a poor substitute for a gambeson, but it made sense considering the warmer climate in their native land. The crossbowmen stood behind the main lines, which consisted of similarly armored spearmen, and a type of heavily armored infantry that Will had never seen before.
The heavy infantry didn’t rely on leather, but on steel plate instead. They lacked shields but made up for it with breastplates, helms, greaves, cuisses, vambraces and more. They were protected from head to toe with steel. Will could see that the backs of their legs were only lightly protected, and their helms were open faced, but even so, they were much better protected than the Terabinians. In place of shields they carried heavy, two-handed weapons: great swords, heavy axes, and two-handed war hammers.
Throw them into a general melee with us and we’re in trouble, but as long as we hit them in formation, they don’t have a chance, he decided. Large, swinging weapons didn’t do well in close quarters, as you were always endangering your companions. Consequently, the Shimerans would want to break through the Terabinian line as quickly as possible. If they could get into the middle, the odds would heavily favor them. But if Terabinian discipline held up, the Shimerans would be in for a bad time.
The crossbowmen were only a minor factor, in his opinion. Unless the Terabinians were caught unaware, their shields and padded gambesons would prevent most of the damage the crossbowmen could do. Will had been shot often enough to know. Still, it’s nice to have mail as well, he thought, looking down at his armor. He wished it was possible to give the same protection to all of his fellow soldiers, but time and money simply wouldn’t allow it.
Walking through the enemy groups was definitely possible, but there were Shimeran priests scattered here and there. Will worried about keeping active spells up while trying to slip by them. Darla’s technique was helpful, but if any of them were reasonably attentive, he thought he’d be spotted. Instead, he tried the opposite, dismissing the camouflage and silent-armor spells and just relying on the Arkeshi turyn technique.
His heart sped up, until it felt as though it was trying to beat its way out of his chest. He was now completely visible, and his armor easily marked him as an outsider to anyone who might look at him, but he no longer stood out as unusual to magical senses. Based on his previous experiments walking around the markets in Cerria, it should work, so long as he didn’t do anything to draw attention to himself.
Trying to keep his breathing slow, Will began to walk.
No one paid him the slightest heed. He moved at a casual pace, stepping around men whenever one happened to get too close. On
one particular heart-stopping occasion, a crossbowman looked directly at him, seeming to meet his eyes, but a second later the man’s attention drifted, and he looked away. Don’t look at me, thought Will, I’m no one. Nothing to see here.
Will was almost free and clear, close to passing by the last squad in his path, when a priest who was talking loudly backed out of the group and stumbled into him. He couldn’t understand the man’s language, and when the fellow looked at him for a moment and seemed to curse him, Will simply nodded apologetically.
And then, miraculously, the priest turned and began to continue on his way. Will began to breathe again, until he saw the man’s demon familiar turn to stare at him. The creature was small, the size of house cat, with the shape of a demented monkey. It studied him with malice in its eyes, then opened its mouth and spoke in clear, unaccented Darrowan. “You’re dead, human.”
Will wasn’t sure what kept him from jumping clean out of his skin, or running, but he didn’t. Instead, he took two more steps forward and one to the side, carrying him clear of the gap between groups and out of the priest’s line of sight before the man could turn around. He heard the Shimeran say something to the demon, though he couldn’t understand what was said. Assuming the man didn’t speak Darrowan, he was likely asking the demon to translate.
If the monkey-demon was alerting its master, then Will was sure the alarm would go up, which meant he had only seconds to do something. He’d already passed through the enemy formations, so only the outlying sentries on this side remained between him and where his own soldiers were. If I stay here, they’ll find me. If I run, they’ll see me for sure.
But at the moment, the only priest in his vicinity was the one whose demon had threatened him, and Will was moving steadily sideways to make sure that ever more soldiers stood between them. With a thought, Will restored his camouflage and silent-armor spells, and then he ran.
A few seconds later, someone shouted behind him, but nothing happened after that. Will kept running, streaking between the sentries and on to the freedom that lay beyond. If they noticed him, none of them said anything. Once he was fifty yards distant, Will stopped and listened, but there were no unusual sounds. In his mind, he could almost imagine the demon warning its partner, only to face an angry rebuke when no enemy was there to be found.
Disciple of War (Art of the Adept Book 4) Page 39