Their arrival marked the beginning of our travels.
CHAPTER 39
Ava and the majority of her men sat hidden just behind a long tree line, half a mile outside of Imbal, a Southern Kingdom city captured by the Kartans to increase their dead army. She had ordered a hard march fearing that the Kartans would accomplish their mission and move on before they got there. The men were recovering by sleeping, sipping water, or gnawing on pieces of dried beef.
She winced at their obvious fatigue. None complained, but they didn’t need to for her to recognize how hard she had pushed them, arriving almost a full day sooner than expected. They had managed the grueling pace due to a spell she had cast to increase their focus and energy.
Ava had let the spell wear off a few hours outside of town as she rebuilt her own reserves. The waning aftereffects worsened her men’s exhaustion. But it was a necessary risk in her mind.
Of course, had the enemy attacked us upon arriving, we’d likely all be dead.
Well-trained or not, a soldier’s weariness affected decision making even if only by leaving them a second slower which could be all that determined life or death. Thankfully, the last couple hours had seen her men regain some of their strength and stamina, especially as she had recovered enough to cast a low-grade spell to counter the one from earlier, aiding their recovery.
Ava glanced up to the two men who sat high above in tall trees, studying the town through spy glasses. She had Margo checking in with them regularly.
Additionally, she had tasked Eder with scouting Imbal on foot so they better understood their odds. Ideally, she would not have sent him in alone, but she worried that the enemy sorcerers might be able to detect a larger group. As it was, she put a low-grade spell of concealment on Eder to help him move about.
Holding the spell while also attempting to recover before the battle forced her to drop her personal shields completely. She felt exposed without them.
Sergeant Margo inched his way up beside her as she waited on the edge of the tree line, staring at the tall grass separating the wooded area and the north side of Imbal. He whispered, “See him yet?”
She heard his worry. And, had she not still felt Eder through her concealment spell, her worry would have matched his.
“No, but he’s close and moving faster.” She gestured up to the two men with spyglasses. “What are they seeing?”
“Not much. The buildings are blocking their line of sight. The graves must be on the south side of town. They catch some movement here and there on the streets, but very little. I can have them circle around for a better view, if you’d like?”
“We’ll wait for Eder’s report before deciding anything else. Danso thought the graves were on the south side too. This land was conceded to Kartan shortly after the war began, so we won’t be expected from this side of town. Are they confident they’ve spotted all the posted sentries?”
Margo pointed. “Yeah. Two atop that building. And then three more there next to an old stable. We should be able to take them out without hassle.”
“Eder’s moving faster,” she said, feeling a ripple in her spell. “He’s almost here. Come on.”
Despite Margo’s assurance that there were no Kartan guards nearby, she still carefully moved through the wooded area. Ava had learned long ago, that the best way for a soldier to stay alive was to never grow comfortable. Just as her attention was on Eder, it was possible that the enemy had someone creeping up on them under a similar spell.
Eder emerged at a crouch from the chest-high grass pale as a ghost. He straightened only after moving into the trees and cracking his back. Margo handed him a skin of water that the scout emptied in one long chug.
She frowned. “You all right?”
He lowered the skin, and gasped. “Mostly. Though I’d be better if that had been whiskey.”
“What did you see?”
“Worse than what we saw before. Worse than I imagined.”
He cast his eyes at the ground as if lost in thought. Margo took a small container from his waist, uncorked the top and offered it to Eder. “Here you go, kid.”
Eder frowned, but took a long pull. He coughed while pulling the container away, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“How’s that?” Margo asked.
“Much better,” he rasped. “Where did you get it?”
“In Batna. Been saving it for an emergency. Felt like this was close enough to qualify.”
Eder handed the container back to Margo, not fully grasping what that had meant to the Sergeant since the young scout had not actually served in the Turine army.
Keeping small containers of strong whiskey had become a habit for many soldiers as they entered battle. The thought being that if they ended up suffering a mortal wound that did not kill them instantly, the alcohol would help them ease their pain until they died.
Ava regarded Margo. She had known soldiers who fought vehemently against others who had even jokingly tried to take that comfort away. Yet the sergeant had given his up freely.
“You ready?” she asked Eder.
With a nod, he began. “There’s a little over two hundred Kartan soldiers just as previously reported. More than half have shovel in hand, digging up graves like farmers in a field. Another couple dozen are carrying out the harvested bodies to three Noval sorcerers who are cleaning up the dead. There are actually five sorcerers in total. The other two are Bozrathan, I think. They’re walking among the dead already standing on their own.” He paused and gave a shake of his head, paling before Ava’s eyes as he recalled the sight. “Most of the bodies they’re digging up are in pretty bad shape, far worse than what we’ve seen before. Some are so far gone that the blasted things are literally falling apart after being ensorcelled. I watched an entire leg come off one when it tried to take its first step. In those cases, the sorcerers pick up the pieces and throw them into a big pile, even as the pieces keep convulsing and moving.” He shivered. “The pile is too big for me to guess how many are twisting and sliding about.”
“Xank-be-damned,” whispered Margo.
Ava thought a curse to the Turine god of death was more than fitting given the circumstances.
“Yeah,” said Eder. He met Ava’s eyes. “About necromancy . . .” he started.
Ava didn’t really have time to start answering questions, but she could tell that she needed to humor Eder for his nerves looked fraught.
“. . . is it really that person in there again? Or is it just what’s left of their body? Like a puppet or something? Because if it is really them . . .”
He didn’t have to finish the thought.
How awful would it be to be stuck in such a state?
“Honestly, I don’t know. No one in Turine did with certainty, which was another reason why the High Mages stayed away from using it much. The Southern Kingdom people believe that disturbing the dead before the body decays hinders the soul from getting to paradise. That’s why they react as they do to the dead.” She changed subjects realizing her last comment would only give her men pause in handling the dead army, something they couldn’t afford. “You said there were ranks of dead. How many?”
“A couple thousand. Far more than what they could have gotten from Imbal alone based on the condition of the bodies I saw them pulling from the graves.”
“So they’ve already harvested other towns then,” said Margo.
Ava recalled the letter she had found on the enemy and their plans. Ao-be-damned, the enemy could have tens of thousands at their disposal elsewhere.
She squatted and cleared off a patch of dirt. “Start giving me the layout.”
“What!” said Eder. “You’re not still considering an attack?”
Ava took a stern tone, in no mood to discuss the matter. “We have orders.”
“But that was before. Look, I know we’ve acc
omplished a lot, and I’ve seen you do a lot of things I once thought impossible, but—”
“Our orders haven’t changed.”
“But—”
“Here,” said Margo unable to hide his frustration as he thrusted the container back into Eder’s hand. “Finish it off, kid.”
Ava watched Margo’s mouth twist as Eder chugged the contents without hesitation.
Margo took a knee beside Ava, pulling Eder down with him. “Now, start talking and don’t make me regret that.”
Eder wore a look of confusion, reiterating her earlier thought about how he didn’t understand exactly what Margo had done for him.
He picked up a stick to draw the layout of the southern area of Imbal. Ava had him repeat everything three times. She couldn’t risk missing a key piece of information.
“Like I said, that’s all I know,” said Eder as he swayed a bit on his heels.
Normally, she would have never allowed the man to drink as much as he had before a battle. Tyrus would have been livid. But she was not Tyrus, and getting Eder to think more rationally was of greater importance.
Besides, I know a few tricks that Tyrus never really liked me to use.
Ava ordered, “Strip off your armor and shirt, then sit down. Margo, get a full skin of water ready. Actually, make it two.”
Eder frowned. “Huh?”
“You’re getting drunker by the minute. Can’t have you running into battle like that. I’m going to help you get the alcohol out of your body.”
“You can do that?”
“I can do a lot of things,” she said with a wink, immediately regretting the gesture as Eder blushed.
Good grief. Of course he had to take it that way.
Once Eder stripped, she took her time with the spell. Rushing through it too quickly, could kill the scout, though she kept that to herself.
Years ago, Ava had figured out that heating up someone’s body temperature would cause them to sweat out alcohol in a fraction of the time usually needed. She had developed the spell as a favor to Ira who had gotten carelessly drunk with Hamath the night before an important mission. Ira had barely managed to keep his feet when he’d begged Ava for help. She had told him it was safer to just stay in camp, but the man hadn’t accepted that answer. He couldn’t have had the rest of their unit go off without him, especially because he’d have to explain the truth to Dekar.
Ava bit down hard to cast aside the thoughts of her old squad mates. The last thing she needed was a distraction.
The smell of alcohol-laced sweat seeped from Eder’s skin. She didn’t push it too hard, just enough to clear his mind from the worst of the whiskey. Margo doused Eder periodically with water from one skin to keep him cool and dilute the smell that could give the man’s location away. He forced Eder to drink from the other skin to replenish his body’s moisture.
“Done,” said Ava after a couple minutes.
Margo swore, “Prax’s balls, talk about a waste of good whiskey.”
Eder drained the last of the water then said, “After this is all over, I’ll buy you all the whiskey you could ever want.”
Margo smiled wide. “Boy, I don’t think you realize the mistake you just made.”
Ava gave Eder another minute to wipe the sweat from his body and redress.
“Margo, rouse those sleeping and gather everyone together. We need to go over how we’re going to do this.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You already got a plan?”
I got something, she thought, rolling Eder’s report around in her head. Not ideal by any means, but ideal would mean returning to my family and leaving all this behind.
“I do.”
“And you don’t want to wait until nightfall?”
“No. We attack during daylight while most everyone is focused on digging and hauling bodies. Besides, time is becoming more crucial all the time. We need to accomplish our mission as soon as we can and then get back to Danso.”
After everyone gathered, she began. “Listen up. The attack will come in four phases. The first will be four large squads in a general advance. I want roughly ten yards between men before we all come together at the edge of the high grass closest to town. This will take some pressure off me and reduce the risk of their sorcerers picking up my concealment spell. Each leader will wear a small charm so I can track you.
“For the second phase, each squad will hold their position while Margo leads a small unit to take care of the sentries posted on the north side of town. After the lookouts are down, Margo will give the signal and we begin phase three.
“We’ll advance in four groups. Groups one and four will skirt the outside of town, while two and three move through the streets. Avoid enemy contact at all costs. If you can’t, kill quietly. We don’t want to raise an alarm before we reach the southern edge of town. Phase four will begin there. We’ll take out the sorcerers first which should then eliminate the dead army.”
“Then it’s only us versus two hundred plus soldiers,” someone snorted.
“It don’t really seem fair to them,” another added.
She grinned. Ava could have kissed the man for keeping the mood light. “I’ll make myself known here,” she said, using Eder’s earlier drawing as a guide. “My first attack will be with everything I have against the two sorcerers who I think are controlling the dead. My hope is I’ll be able to penetrate whatever defensive shields they might have up before they know what hit them.”
“Won’t that leave you a target for the other three?” asked Margo.
“Yes. And that’s intentional. If I become their focus, even if just for a moment or two, it should give unit one the opportunity to move in on their position. Try not to make yourselves known too soon. Unit two, once you see the three sorcerers commit to me, launch that last destruction cylinder we still have at those digging the graves. Hopefully, it’ll take out quite a few of their regular soldiers and collapse some of the holes around them. Before the dust settles, move in. Unit three, follow right behind unit two at the same location. Take advantage of the enemy’s confusion and move in.”
“A nice slaughter,” someone chuckled.
Margo snapped. “Don’t get cocky. They’ll still have numbers on us as well as shovels and spades. Might not be a sword, or a spear, but they’ll kill you all the same with the right person wielding them.”
“You’ll also still need to be mindful of the other three sorcerers,” said Ava.
“We’ll be decoys too?” asked the officer from unit two.
“Just long enough for them not to pick up on unit one moving in from the front. It’s all going to happen fast. I attack the two sorcerers. The three in turn attack me. Unit two throws the cylinder. That should create more confusion and distract the three sorcerers from Margo’s course, especially as units two and three charge. More than likely, the sorcerers will split their efforts.”
“I still haven’t heard what unit four will be doing,” said the sergeant of that unit.
“You will sneak in from behind and wait for Margo to attack,” said Ava. “Then your men will rush in to join them. With myself, unit one, and unit four all attacking at once, I’m hoping that two or three will not face any direct assault from the sorcerers. Once all of the sorcerers are down, all effort goes to supporting units two and three.” She turned to those two officers. “If things turn sour, just do what you can to hold until then.”
The two officers gave an “Aye.”
Margo stood. “Come on, boys. Time to go make our commander proud.”
She smiled inwardly as the Turine soldiers followed his lead and formed up.
I am already proud.
CHAPTER 40
Ava had faced poor odds countless times during her military career. Tyrus’s success as a squad commander had made that way of life almost a given. When they became an elit
e unit, their missions became even more dangerous. Yet, they had managed success or at least survival time and again.
Her own odds had been just as awful when she’d led the survivors from the military outpost through one dangerous series of events after another. The missions she led since taking part in the Southern Kingdom war were no different.
Though even these odds are at a new level of crap, she admitted while creeping through the waist-high grass while the afternoon sun hung overhead.
She kept that thought to herself. It didn’t need to be vocalized, least of all from her, even if she knew others felt the same. She needed to exude confidence and bear her burden alone. For a moment, she wondered if she was becoming like Tyrus.
No. I’m not saying I won’t ever talk about today with anyone. It will just be at a more appropriate time.
Despite the chances her company faced, Ava knew that the two basic rules of any battle remained constant. Deceive and confuse when at all possible. She had known some idiot commanders who only employed those techniques when they had to, preferring instead to defeat an opponent through sheer force or numbers. She had never understood that logic. Even when every advantage seemed to be yours, it always made sense to look for the approach that would minimize casualties.
Ava halted just outside of town, taking a moment to enjoy the breeze that rustled the high grass around her while she waited for the remainder of her men to reach their position. She felt four vibrations on her arm as her squad leaders touched their charms.
She licked her lips then whistled a low birdcall, smiling inwardly as she did. Tyrus had often used various animal sounds to give signals, but birdcalls as her father once used to hunt with were something her brother could never master. She could almost hear Hamath giving Tyrus a hard time for his animal sounds. Even those he had perfected were not above Hamath’s joking. She had never been as fond of Hamath as her brother had been, but she found herself missing him.
Or maybe just the familiarity from the past. She thought of what her former squad mate had become. Even though Tyrus said Hamath redeemed himself in the end, she could not forgive the man for his time as a raider.
Forever Soldiers: The Tyrus Chronicle - Book Four Page 34