A Sea of Skulls (Arts of Dark and Light Book 2)
Page 50
“Even between the border lords and the prince’s levies, we won’t have enough men to beat them.” Marcus looked over the castra, which looked imposing with its wooden walls rising high above the earthen mound. But it was a fortress that could be expected to hold off fifteen or twenty thousand attackers, not three times that number. “I had them build it thinking it would buy the king sufficient time to gather his forces. But if they won’t come to our assistance, what is the point of buying more time?”
“Maybe they’ll get bored and go home.” The baron grinned at his startled expression. “It’s been known to happen.”
“They wouldn’t be here in these numbers now if that was likely, not after the way we already bloodied their ugly faces.”
“That’s true enough, I should say.”
The numbers were bad enough. But what nagged at him now was the unknown factor that was the magical aspect of the battle. He’d shied away from even thinking about it, and he had avoided any serious discussion of it with the blue-robed men he’d seen in Lutèce, but it was a nettle that would have to be grasped, and soon. He could only hope that the cursed kingsmage, Theuderic, had been successful in the mission to which Marcus had set him. While it would be nice to think that Cassabus and his machines would suffice to deal with any unholy threat, as they had been against the goblins, it would be foolish to assume so, especially since they would desperately need to bring the full force of their artillery to bear against the enemy infantry in order to reduce the pressure on his outnumbered men.
“Ave, Valerius!” he heard someone shout at him, and saw that it was Senarius Arvandus riding towards him. The senior decurion was mounted on a big grey, and was bare-headed and unarmored, although he still wore his curved cavalry sword strapped to his belt. Marcus nodded his thanks to the comte and indicated the side of the castra toward which he should ride to have his men’s horses stabled, then greeted Arvandus.
“I have to say, General, I was expecting you to arrive with more than a half-squadron of horse and a fat old senator!” They clasped forearms, and the decurion smiled, but his eyes were dark with concern. “That can’t be all the reinforcements we’ll be receiving.”
“No, I left at once and rode ahead of the prince. I expect he’ll arrive with his army arrive around noon the day after tomorrow. Trebonius is with him; he’s bringing back the silver with Vitalis and the others. Where are the orcs? Are they close?”
“They’re a solid two days’ march away. They wasted a day and half the night sacking a village full of fools who were stupid enough not to flee, then lazed about the next day raping and torturing the survivors.”
Marcus nodded grimly. It was hard on the villagers, to be sure, but their inadvertent sacrifice had probably delayed the invading army more effectively than five thousand Savondese men-at-arms could have managed. He regretted their fate, and yet he couldn’t help welcoming the additional day’s respite it provided. “Do they know where we are?”
“It appears not. The marcher lords have been maintaining patrols in force and hunting down any scouts they encounter. Our own patrols haven’t seen any sign of them within a half-day’s ride.”
“Any skirmishes?”
“None worth speaking of. A pair of scouts from the Second was ambushed by wolfriders three days ago, but they managed to fight their way clear without losing anyone. Another pair of my men surprised a group of scavenging goblins, took two captives, and killed the rest. We couldn’t find anyone who speaks gobbo, though, so Proculus executed them.”
“Pity,” Marcus remarked. Then again, he doubted the wretched creatures would have been able to tell them anything useful. From what he understood of the enemy hierarchy, orcs were not inclined to include goblins in their councils. “Do we have an accurate count?”
“Of the orcs?”
“I thought it might be of interest, yes,” Marcus said patiently.
“The praefectus has worked out what he thinks is a pretty close calculation of their formations. As I recall, the overall count is between forty-five and fifty-five thousand. He estimates six thousand are heavy cavalry.”
Marcus sighed. He’d been hoping the frightened Savondese were exaggerating the numbers they’d reported, but it seemed that was not the case after all. Titus Cassabus was nothing if not precise. Although his cavalry was now fully mounted, he still had only 400 horse to throw against a legion’s worth of boar riders. He would have to hope that between the marcher lords and the prince’s forces, there would be enough knights to ride out against them. Despite more than a week of preparations, he was not sanguine about their chances for success, and he had little faith that any infantry other than the legion would stand against what he had learned were the most powerful, most intimidating cavalry on Selenoth. If he was honest with himself, he wasn’t entirely sure of his legionaries either.
After all, it was one thing to read about an evil-minded creature three times the mass of a horse, and another one entirely to hold your ground as the bloody-minded beast tried to trample you beneath its horny hooves.
He looked out towards the east, past the castra and the laboring legionaries to the peaceful green fields beyond. Somewhere out there was a ravenous horde of monsters, a mighty force bigger than any army Corvus, or Saturnius, or even Magnus himself had ever faced. In three days, four or five at most, his men would find themselves in battle again, this time against an enemy more pitiless than any human foe. In three days, the fate of an entire kingdom would be in his inexperienced, incapable hands.
I am alone and I am afraid and you have abandoned me. If only you will stand by me now! Be with me, Father, he silently prayed, although he could not have said with any certainty if it was his Heavenly Father or his fallen earthly father to whom his desperate plea was directed. Then he looked up, startled, at the sound of a loud caw coming from the sky over his head.
It was a single crow, flying east, towards the distant forest and the invaders. It cawed a second time, and then a third. Despite himself, despite his fears, Marcus found himself smiling.
“You’re flying the wrong way, little friend,” he called after it. “Come back soon and we will feed you well.”
“What’s that?” Arvandus asked.
“A sign,” Marcus replied, watching as the small black shape disappeared. “I dearly hope it is a sign.”
closing time
Fantasy
One Bright Star to Guide Them by John C. Wright
The Book of Feasts & Seasons by John C. Wright
Iron Chamber of Memory by John C. Wright
Moth & Cobweb 1: Swan Knight's Son by John C. Wright
Moth & Cobweb 2: Feast of the Elfs by John C. Wright
Moth & Cobweb 3: Swan Knight's Sword by John C. Wright
Arts of Dark and Light 1: A Throne of Bones by Vox Day
Arts of Dark and Light 2: A Sea of Skulls by Vox Day
A Magic Broken by Vox Day
The Wardog's Coin by Vox Day
The Last Witchking by Vox Day
Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy by Vox Day
The Altar of Hate by Vox Day
The War in Heaven by Theodore Beale
The World in Shadow by Theodore Beale
The Wrath of Angels by Theodore Beale
Science Fiction
Awake in the Night by John C. Wright
Awake in the Night Land by John C. Wright
City Beyond Time: Tales of the Fall of Metachronopolis by John C. Wright
Somewhither by John C. Wright
Back From the Dead by Rolf Nelson
Big Boys Don't Cry by Tom Kratman
Hyperspace Demons by Jonathan Moeller
Mutiny in Space by Rod Walker
Alien Game by Rod Walker
QUANTUM MORTIS A Man Disrupted by Steve Rzasa and Vox Day
QUANTUM MORTIS Gravity Kills by Steve Rzasa and Vox Day
QUANTUM MORTIS A Mind Programmed by Jeff Sutton, Jean Sutton, and Vox Day
&nb
sp; Victoria: A Novel of Fourth Generation War by Thomas Hobbes
Military Science Fiction
There Will Be War Vol. I ed. Jerry Pournelle
There Will Be War Vol. II ed. Jerry Pournelle
There Will Be War Vol. III ed. Jerry Pournelle
There Will Be War Vol. IV ed. Jerry Pournelle
There Will Be War Vol. V ed. Jerry Pournelle
There Will Be War Vol. VI ed. Jerry Pournelle
There Will Be War Vol. IX ed. Jerry Pournelle
There Will Be War Vol. X ed. Jerry Pournelle
Plague Wars 0: The Eden Plague by David VanDyke
Plague Wars 1: Reaper's Run by David VanDyke
Plague Wars 2: Skull's Shadows by David VanDyke
Riding the Red Horse Vol. 1 ed. Tom Kratman and Vox Day
Fiction
An Equation of Almost Infinite Complexity by J. Mulrooney
Brings the Lightning by Peter Grant
Loki's Child by Fenris Wulf
The Missionaries by Owen Stanley
Non-Fiction
4th Generation Warfare Handbook by William S. Lind and LtCol Gregory A. Thiele, USMC
A History of Strategy: From Sun Tzu to William S. Lind by Martin van Creveld
Equality: The Impossible Quest by Martin van Creveld
Clio & Me: An Intellectual Autobiography by Martin van Creveld
Four Generations of Modern War by William S. Lind
On War: The Collected Columns of William S. Lind 2003-2009 by William S. Lind
MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again by Mike Cernovich
The Nine Laws by Ivan Throne
Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth by John C. Wright
Astronomy and Astrophysics by Dr. Sarah Salviander
Compost Everything: The Good Guide to Extreme Composting by David the Good
Grow or Die: The Good Guide to Survival Gardening by David the Good
SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day
Cuckservative: How “Conservatives” Betrayed America by John Red Eagle and Vox Day
On the Existence of Gods by Dominic Saltarelli and Vox Day
On the Question of Free Trade by James D. Miller and Vox Day
Do We Need God To Be Good by C.R. Hallpike
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