The Storm's Own Son (Book 1)

by Anthony Gillis

  As they left, Adriko watched them, riding quietly in thought.

  For his part, Talaos considered what he'd heard. From his old readings of maps and travelogues, he knew Teroia, Idrona, and Kyras were the three largest of the fourteen major cities of Hunyos. Idrona and Teroia were coastal cities, naval powers, and historical enemies. He'd gathered from conversations with Adriko and others that each of those two cities was arguably the center of their alliance.

  Teroia was the southernmost of the three, and the allied army at Avrosa was largely gathered from cities and towns near it. In turn, Avrosa itself was the only major city in Idrona's alliance in the south, and Adriko had told him Sanctari was there to try to knock it out of the war. The even larger enemy army from central Hunyos was no doubt intended to stop that.

  Kyras apparently fielded the largest army in Hunyos, but a substantial part of its forces, and those of its allies, were said to be occupied farther north, facing a group of cities allied with Teroia and led locally by the city of Lazla. The borders between the cities on one side or the other were far from neat, but it could still be said that Teroia and its allies faced a problem of divided armies and divided fleets.

  It also meant that barring a breakthrough at sea, there would be little or no direct help against the army now coming their way.

  Then his thoughts were interrupted as Adriko moved suddenly into action.

  "Lurios, Drevan, Talaos... let's have a talk," said their captain, motioning them to join him at the side of the marching column.

  Adriko dismounted, walking his horse beside Talaos, then Lurios and Drevan did the same. He motioned them close.

  "Well, so much for our fine walk in the sunshine..." he said. He paused, then went on. "I needn't point out to you gentlemen that six hundred swift cavalry is five hundred more than we have. Of even greater significance is the fact that our two hundred slow infantry are two hundred more than they have. Mathematics do not favor us in regard to any plans to outrun that vanguard.

  "There is also the supply caravan up ahead to consider, and the bellies it will fill, particularly if the army at Avrosa gets pinned between the city and the enemy..."

  Lurios and Drevan took on grim expressions. Talaos felt a thrill run through him.

  "You can see where this is going," continued Adriko. "You might also recall that stretch where the hills come down to the coast. The point where the road crosses them might make a defensible enough spot to hold the line."

  Lurios spoke, his voice as polished as his appearance. "I believe the spearmen could hold for quite some time, if we were properly formed on high ground and had support at the flanks."

  Adriko looked thoughtful. "The irregulars, being irregular, will take the hills on either side of the road. Those men in the supply caravan up ahead can be put to work, and will probably have tools. If we're really lucky, they'll have shovels intended for siege use at Avrosa. A trench in front of us would cut down the power of cavalry charges."

  Drevan, short, strong, and energetic, asked, "What do you want our cavalry to do?"

  "Ride hard ahead out of sight until you get to the opposite slope of the pass. Then, stay in reserve, until the right time presents itself," replied Adriko. "With a defensible position, six hundred against three isn't so bad. I think we could hold. Of course if they decide to sit tight instead, somewhere nearby but out of reach, we end up involuntarily waiting for the main force. And twenty thousand against us doesn't look so good."

  He then turned to Talaos. "Thoughts on you and the Madmen?"

  "We could go around behind them," answered Talaos, ideas turning in his mind.

  "And give them a gentle nudge?" smiled Adriko. "I think as well, that if they do decide to sit tight, they'd be setting up a camp, and you have a little bit of history in that regard."

  Talaos arched an eyebrow, and made a faint smirk.

  He then considered that the sooner they started, the better their chances of getting around without being noticed, and the more possibilities might present themselves.

  That, he thought, and the thrill of it called to him.

  "I'd hate to keep them waiting," replied Talaos.

  Adriko, stopped, surveying him with mild surprise and considerable approval. "Right. Off you go then..."

  ~

  The Madmen made their way across the gentle, rolling, light woodland west of the road. Small copses of trees alternated with stretches of open meadow or pasture. Further inland, and further from the depredations of armies, were distant flocks of goats or sheep, and thin trails of smoke from unseen village chimneys. On their right, toward the coast, was the wide expanse of packed dirt that constituted the coastal road, beyond it the plains and shore. The afternoon sun was lowering in the blue western sky, while far to the east, clouds lingered over the sea.

  Among the eight men, one seemed distinctly unimpressed with the vistas around them.

  "Hey sharp-eye, any sign of the bastards?" Kyrax asked Imvan.

  "No," replied Imvan, walking with Talaos at the front of their little column.

  "Taking 'em long enough. Those donkeys they're riding?" continued the other.

  "Give them a little patience, Kyrax," interjected Larogwan, as he trudged next to the other across a gully. "They are on duty, you know, raiding and killing such of ours as they find."

  "You're starting to sound like Adriko too..." joked Vulkas, stepping across the gully in one great stride.

  "What's wrong with Adriko?" added Firio, confused, as he lightly darted across.

  Halmir, next to Firio, tilted his head with a quizzical, serious expression at that, then leapt across the gully. As the group strode across the open ground beyond, he seemed lost in brooding thought, but at last answered, "What is wrong, yet a source of strength, is that Adriko has the heart of a warrior, but the mind of a trickster, and these two are in conflict within him."

  "What the hell..." replied Kyrax.

  Epos, in his helm and walking steadily behind the others, said nothing.

  They went on for a while in the golden afternoon sunlight. The wind blew gently, as if war was a faraway thing. The conversation died down, replaced by watchful silence. Then, Imvan pointed, and Talaos gave the signal to stop.

  "There it is," said Imvan.

  Talaos looked where the Hillman had pointed, and there was a distant column of dust, vast amounts of it, coming south along the road. The would-be predators, he thought. He'd see what could be done about that.

  "Eyes open, men! Let's get under better cover," he said.

  They took up a position well back from the road, behind a little hillock crowned with tall bushes. After a short while, the enemy came into sight. Peering through the twiggy trunks, they observed the advancing column.

  "There's our prey," he said, grinning his feral grin.

  "Yes, all, ah... I'd guess more like eight hundred of them, at least..." whispered Larogwan.

  Talaos silenced him with a raised hand, but then with a smile and in a low voice, added, "Reality exceeds our expectations."

  At the front was a body of scouts, unarmored men on fast horses. Some of them were fanned out across the countryside near by the road. Then there was a gap of a half mile or so. After that followed a vanguard of light horsemen much like those in Adriko's force. Behind that were a small body of heavy cavalry with plate armor even on their thighs and upper arms.

  Close behind the heavy cavalry were a group of officers with plumes, high crests, and gilded breastplates, and with them horsemen carrying the banners of several towns and cities. One man in particular caught Talaos's notice. He wore a sort of tabard over his armor, decorated with what looked in the distance like circular sigils, a silver band around his head, and a long silver wand at his belt in place of a sword. His horse had small saddlebags of complex design.

  Talaos had seen men like that before, and it boded ill for the upcoming battle. Magus.

  Following the command group was a small baggage train of light unarmored pack horses,
and then a long line, the main body of light cavalry in chain shirts, or leather reinforced with plates. Most had oval shields and long spears. Last of all, trailing by perhaps a quarter mile, were another half dozen scouts. As the last of the enemy army dwindled under clouds of dust, Talaos motioned his men close.

  "They should be coming in sight of our lines at the pass any time now, and they'll have a decision to make. You know what options they'd usually have, and it is our job to make those options harder. But, they also have an option we didn't know," he said.

  Expressions grew tense.

  "They have a magus with them in the command group."

  Several men groaned.

  "A Magus?" asked Halmir.

  "A sorcerer, someone who has learned to work magic through study," answered Talaos.

  "Ah. We have a few who do things like that. This is a problem," replied Halmir.

  "Part of the problem is not knowing what exactly he can do," continued Talaos, "beyond that he's riding with an army, and so it's probably useful in battle."

  "Well let's go kill the goatsucker before he gets the chance to show us!" snapped Kyrax.

  "Exactly," answered Talaos with a sudden laugh. "The trick is when and how. Let's start following them and seeing what presents itself."

  Talaos stood up without further explanation and the others followed. Together, they turned south again behind the enemy column. They kept low and behind whatever cover could be found, out of direct sight of the road. As they went, the sun dropped to the level of the hills to the east, and the light faded from golden to red.

  At last, in deepening shadows along the rolling ground and amidst the scattered trees, Talaos led them closer to the road, close enough again to take a direct look. There a scene presented itself like a siege in miniature.

  The line of hills ran in a diagonal out to a spur of land along the coast. The spur itself was a tangle of seaside cliffs and jagged rocks. At the lowest point in the hills, the road ran up through a gentle pass, and down the other side. Elsewhere, the hills were wooded at the top, with steep, gullied, gravel-strewn north faces. Talaos thought, as Adriko had, that it looked like moderately difficult terrain for infantry, but very treacherous for cavalry.

  Adriko had not been idle. He'd dug a trench and thrown up a wide earth rampart at the top of the pass. Both extended a little bit around the hills on either side. Spiked stakes had been driven into the outer face of the rampart. Atop the rampart was a palisade of stakes, and behind it the massed Aledri spearmen with shields locked and spears ready.

  The captain looked to have gotten hold of additional bows, perhaps from the supply caravan, and equipped some of his irregulars with them. The latter were now perched up on the hillsides. There was some sort of work still going on, among the trees on the higher slopes of the hills, but Talaos couldn't see what it was in the fading light.

  In front of that little fortress was arrayed the enemy army. They'd formed up in orderly squadrons across the road and the plains on either side. The heavy cavalry was at their center. Behind the main line was the command group. On the far side, to the left of command was the baggage. Nearer, to command's right, four large torches topped tall posts in a square around what looked to be the magus. He himself had set up some sort of table full of objects in the center of that square. On either side of the group including command, baggage, and magus, was a squadron of cavalry, and there were three more behind.

  A few scouts were inland, riding slowly and carefully along the relatively flatter land some distance from the base of the hills. No doubt, thought Talaos, there were more on foot looking for usable routes in the hills, and who knew where else. He'd have to be careful.

  Even from this distance in the deepening twilight, Talaos could see that a lively discussion was going on among the enemy officers. No doubt about what to do next.

  Talaos turned to his own men, close by and quietly watching the same scene.

  "All right, Madmen, we're going to do this good and slow. You can see the big gaps between those squadrons on guard, but they're cavalry on open ground, not a bunch of bandits surprised in their own camp. The dark gives us lots of cover, and we'll need every bit of it."

  "I'll find us a path," said Imvan, eyes already alert.

  The Hillman led them on a winding, carefully chosen way in the gathering gloom. As they went, Talaos considered with some pride that they'd grown stealthier and better coordinated doing this kind of travel. It was good, as for all the darkness, they wouldn't have mist and thick forest on their side this time. For a long time, their hidden route also meant they had no good view of what was going on at the pass. When finally they came to a place, the end of a low rise where they did, matters had changed.

  "The bastards are trying a night attack!" said Kyrax, managing to whisper and snarl at the same time.

  And so it was, saw Talaos. In all the conversations about tactics and war he'd had with Adriko and the more experienced soldiers, he'd heard little to suggest large battles were good ideas at night. Masses of soldiers became easily confused in the dark, and coordination was tricky. For that reason, they were rare, unless one side was short on time or sure of victory.

  But there they were. The pass was wide enough that a full squadron of twenty horsemen could ride abreast, and the enemy had five hundred of theirs in a column, with the heavy cavalry at the front. As Talaos watched, they began to move forward at a slow trot.

  Behind the advancing five hundred was a reserve of two hundred more at the ready.

  Some of the senior commanders were up with the cavalry column. One, who appeared to be the overall leader, remained behind. He was an older man with a high black and gold crest on his open faced helm, a gilded solid steel breastplate, and a richly decorated red cloak on his back. With him were an officer in black and gold and a small bodyguard of heavy cavalry. Messengers galloped in between on dispatches.

  There was another thing. The magus was now standing at the center of a large circle lit with fire. The four tall torches formed corners a few feet outside the ring. Talaos got a better look at the man. He was clean shaven, with chin-length, graying hair under his silver circlet. Under his strange tabard of sigils he wore a silver breastplate and a long white tunic. He held his long silver wand, almost a staff, in his right hand, and his raised left hand circled in peculiar motions.

  "Looks like we're going to have to make our own opportunities," said Talaos. "If we can use stealth to get close enough to kill that magus, we will. Otherwise, we'll try to draw out some of their cavalry and get ourselves horses."

  The men nodded with grim smiles. As Talaos moved on, they followed. At first there was some whispered discussion of terrain and tactics. Then they fell silent, well out of earshot of the enemy. Overhead, the last twilight vanished, and night fell.

  Ahead, the column of cavalry was advancing in ordered ranks and with no sense of hurry.

  The spearmen on the earthen rampart were readied for battle in close-spaced ranks of their own. On the hillsides, the irregular archers and a few footmen waited. All told, only about half of Adriko's company were visible.

  Talaos sped up, moving gracefully through the dark. The others followed, leaping quietly across little gullies and through stands of shadowed trees. The moon, indifferent to all, shone silver overhead, but far away in the east, the black clouds had grown brooding.

  Something else was happening.

  Where the magus was circling and gesturing his outstretched hand, little lines of brilliant golden fire appeared; complex geometric lines in a circle in the air directly before him. Then the magus raised his staff skyward, and up from it flowed a kind of faint, flickering red fire. Higher and higher rose the flames, and as they rose they grew stronger.

  So much for stealth, thought Talaos. He broke into a sprint. He ran in great leaping strides, faster and faster. The others tried to keep up, running fast and well over the dark, uneven ground beneath, but gradually at first, then ever further, they fell behind.
>
  The enemy cavalry were still moving slowly forward, only now reaching the lower slopes of the pass. Talaos focused his attention on the magus. He felt life, power, and will rise within him. The distant, slow-gathering, storm called to him. Or, he thought, perhaps he called to it. He felt the ground flying past beneath his feet and air against his face as he hurtled onward. He felt like an arrow in that wind, a javelin hurled at the enemy.

  High in the air above the magus, the column of fire was roiling in circles. It grew brighter, as if being fanned in a furnace. It had stopped rising, and at the very top it was roaring like a massive bonfire, flames licking in all directions.

  Talaos sped on. He reached the end of any sort of cover, and passed out onto the coastal plain. The magus was still far away. Some distance behind the magus was the rearguard of sixty cavalry, and between him and Talaos were twenty more horsemen on guard.

  The roiling flames above the magus now condensed, flowed, and began to form a shape. Great burning wings spread on either side. The fire took the form of a great bird of prey, like an eagle made of flames, though a hundred times larger.

  A scout spotted Talaos, wheeled, and rode hard back to his army with horn blowing. The squadron of horsemen guarding the nearer side of the road turned to look, then with shouted commands from their officer, turned in formation to face Talaos. Of the three squadrons in the rearguard, the nearest did the same.

  Alone, Talaos raced across the plain.

  The great eagle of flame overhead now began to move slowly forward, flickering and roiling, more like a fire in motion than a bird. The spearmen at the pass looked up at it uncomfortably. Some of the irregulars took cover or retreated up the hillsides.

  Talaos focused on the magus. The man was moving his left hand in a new way in front of the floating circle of golden fire. Talaos had thought the eagle of fire was some sort of creature or spirit summoned with magic, but he saw that it moved in exact time with the mage's hand, like a puppet and its puppet master.

  He decided to cut the strings. Faster and faster he sprinted toward the enemy.