The older undercaptain nodded, thoughtfully, as if his unspoken question had been answered.
Quaeryt turned his mount slightly, in order to address all the imager undercaptains. “The Antiagons have imagers. We don’t know how many, and we don’t know how strong they are. We also don’t know how they will deploy those imagers after what we did in the gorge. They’ll doubtless have Antiagon Fire and catapults. They will have cannon as well.” He ignored the sarcastic expression on Threkhyl’s face. “Until we do know what else they may use, when we first move into range of muskets, arrows, or imaging, you need to hold your shields. It’s more than likely that the stone wall ahead is only the first barrier we’ll encounter as we near the outskirts of the city.”
By the time Quaeryt had finished speaking, third squad had ridden forward, ready to escort Quaeryt and the two undercaptains. Quaeryt turned the mare and eased her over to the squad leader. “I’d like two outriders, but only five yards in front of us.” That was to make sure that they stayed within the limits of Khalis’s concealment shield. “We’ll take this at a fast walk. The two undercaptains will flank me, and you’ll be immediately behind.”
“Yes, sir.”
In moments, the two rankers were leading the group out along the road.
After the first hundred or so yards, Quaeryt ordered, “Concealment shield now, Khalis. Third squad, quiet riding.”
“Yes, sir.”
Almost half a mille later, they came to the end of the curve in the road, and to a point almost even with the highest part of the low hill to the right. Some four hundred yards ahead was the stone wall that extended from the rear of the hill across the road and to the valley to the southwest. Even at that distance, Quaeryt could see that behind the stonework waited troopers in maroon uniforms. Some ten yards behind the stonework were catapults, spaced ten yards or so apart, with more than twenty of them in all.
Quaeryt didn’t see any cannon, but he had no doubt that there must have been some, possibly in the trees on the upper slopes of the hill, trained down onto the open fields on each side of the road and ready to rake the approaches to the wall. Another reason to fire the trees before we start any sort of attack.
He held up his hand. “Squad, halt.” Then he added, “Undercaptains, take a good look at all that.”
The towers immediately flanking the road were square, some ten yards high, and clearly dated back many years, possibly more than a century, as did the two sections of the wall on each side of the towers, a wall that looked to be some five yards thick. The wall between the towers had no gates, and not even embrasures below the crenellations that topped the stonework, and the white stone was definitely much newer.
“Could you flatten that stonework for a width of thirty or forty yards?” Quaeryt asked Horan.
“Be easier to move some of the hill to make a ramp up and around the end of the wall, sir,” Horan finally said.
“How wide do you think you could make it?”
“Wide enough for four horses, I’d think. If they stayed close together.”
“What about bridges over the valley?”
“No, sir. I saw what all of you did at Ferravyl, and it’d take a lot more than that.”
Quaeryt had thought the same, but had his reasons for asking. “And a ramp over the south end of the wall?”
“I could do the north end, and Threkhyl could do the south. He might be able to flatten the wall. He’s still stronger than I am for that.”
But not for shields, I’d wager. “Khalis … could you remove that center section of wall?”
“Yes, sir. That’s less than twenty yards across. Well … less than thirty, anyway.”
Quaeryt couldn’t help but smile slightly, if ironically. A year and a half earlier, he couldn’t have removed one of the wall stones. Now, that was nothing to all but one of the imagers he commanded. He nodded. “Time to head back, outriders, undercaptains, squad leader. Please keep holding that concealment, Khalis.” He turned his mare.
“If I might ask,” ventured Khalis, after they had covered about a hundred yards of the return to Southern Army, “what you have in mind, sir…”
“Anything where we don’t have to attack a walled fortification directly. Do you have any suggestions, Undercaptain?” asked Quaeryt gently.
“If we just removed the front of the entire wall at the base, it wouldn’t take as much effort…”
Quaeryt thought for a moment, then shook his head. “That would just leave a jumble of stone that would be a barrier to us, especially to a mounted regiment…” He let the words drift off for a moment, as something struck him. “Keep that thought in mind, though. It might be a very good tactic if we have to deal with manned high walls in Liantiago.”
“What about toppling their catapults just before we get in range?” asked Horan. “We wouldn’t need shields as much.”
“It’s a good idea, especially if it spreads Antiagon Fire across their ranks, but we’d still need shields against arrows and musket fire.”
As they rode back around the curve, Quaeryt began to image burning hunks of wax into the leaves of the oil nut trees on the hill to the north of the road, concentrating on the southern side, overlooking the approach to the wall and towers. Wax was easier than iron fragments, and he also had no idea exactly where any Antiagons might be … if there were any at all, but he couldn’t believe that there were none on such a strategic position. He might be destroying the grove and the crop of some Shahib, but he didn’t wish to risk Southern Army having to deal with either a concealed Antiagon force or a cannon position that could rake any advance. He kept looking up at the tree-covered crest of the hill as he rode back toward where Skarpa and Southern Army waited-out of sight of the wall and its towers, but certainly obvious to any scouts or troopers on the hill.
Initially, even a half a quint after Quaeryt’s fire-imaging, there were only puffs of smoke here and there, and in many places, the smoke just vanished. In more than a handful, though, perhaps in as many as a double handful, the thin trails of smoke thickened, followed by tongues of flame that expanded rapidly. By the time that the scouting squad was back in sight of Southern Army, patches of the trees were in full flame. Quaeryt didn’t see anyone fleeing the fire. But you wouldn’t. They’d run back toward the wall on the side of the hill away from us.
Before long, the entire hilltop was aflame. Then, abruptly, a geyser of dirt and vegetation erupted from the upper southern side of the hill, accompanied by one large explosion and followed by several others.
For a moment Quaeryt just watched, although he kept riding.
“Why didn’t they fire on us earlier?” asked Khalis. “We were certainly in range even before we went to scout.”
“They weren’t positioned to fire on where Southern Army halted, and I’d guess that because cannon are heavy and hard to move, they worried that they wouldn’t have time to reposition them to cover the approach to the wall. That’s where they could do the most damage because that’s where our forces would be the closest together.”
Skarpa was waiting at the front of first company and gestured for Quaeryt to join him. Quaeryt rode over and reined up.
“I appreciate your taking out that cannon emplacement. It did warn them about some of our capabilities, but they probably know those already.” Skarpa’s smile was rueful. “I don’t see much point in waiting until tomorrow. They might just decide to bring up cannon or something else unpleasant.” Skarpa coughed and cleared his throat. “And most of Southern Army hasn’t fought today. Can your imagers handle it?”
“Here’s what I’d suggest,” said Quaeryt. He began to explain.
When he finished, Skarpa nodded slowly, then said, “That’s fine if they don’t immediately turn cannon and catapults on the attack points.”
“We can’t do much against cannon, except use concealment shields until we begin the attack, but some of the imagers can cripple the catapult towers.” Quaeryt paused. “I don’t know that we can take t
hem all out. They must have twenty of them along the wall.”
“I’d think they’d have more. It is what they do best.”
“They likely do in Liantiago, but here … there’s no protected storage for the fire grenades, and you wouldn’t want them too close together.” Not if you value your troopers.
“That might be why they had the cannon on the hill. Some of the cannon, anyway,” said Skarpa. “If I were their commander, I’d have more set back and ranged to fire over the walls into the approaches to the wall.”
“Then they probably do, and we’ll need to use concealment shields as long as we can and try to advance without raising enough dust that it lingers behind the regiments.”
Skarpa gestured to a junior squad leader. “Commander Quaeryt and I would like to see all the regimental commanders immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
Skarpa turned back to Quaeryt. “You can’t do anything like you did at Ferravyl or Variana?”
Quaeryt shook his head. “It’s not that warm. There’s no rain and no water that near.”
“I don’t pretend to understand why that’s important, but I’ll take your word for it.”
“Massive imaging takes heat.”
“That’s why all the ice and snow?”
Quaeryt nodded. “Without that…” He shook his head.
“The more I learn, the more I wouldn’t want to be in your boots.”
For those reasons, and for others Quaeryt wasn’t about to mention, he was getting more and more uncomfortable in his own boots.
Once the seven commanders arrived, Skarpa laid out the plan of attack, looking around the senior officers when he had finished.
“You realize that coordinating the attack will be difficult using hand signals instead of horn signals,” offered Kharllon.
“I do understand that, Commander,” replied Skarpa, “but it is not necessary for the attacks to be perfectly coordinated. A surprise attack on three points that is not exactly timed is far better than a perfectly timed assault that is anticipated and expected. Would you not agree?”
“Do we have any idea what defenses they have besides the wall?” asked Kharllon, his question making clear the fact that he didn’t intend to reply to Skarpa’s gentle question.
“Some twenty catapults armed with Antiagon Fire grenades, most likely one or two cannon emplacements, and an undetermined number of troopers,” replied Skarpa. “Probably at least three regiments. They have far less experience than your men.”
“How do we know that?” asked Meurn, after looking to Kharllon.
“They haven’t fought anyone in generations,” replied Quaeryt. “Even if they’re well trained, it’s not the same.”
Subcommander Dulaek cleared his throat. “Are we to give quarter?”
“To those who throw down their weapons and surrender immediately,” replied Skarpa. “We’re not interested in slaughtering if it’s not necessary.”
While Quaeryt nodded, he thought, One way or another, that’s not likely to be an issue, not with as much Antiagon Fire behind those walls as needed by that number of catapults.
After several more questions, Skarpa released the commanders to their regiments. Quaeryt remounted the mare and rode back to the imager undercaptains, accompanied by Alazyn, who had said nothing during the senior officers’ briefing.
“You didn’t look all that pleased with Commander Kharllon’s questions,” observed Quaeryt, his eyes on the subcommander.
“He was asking questions so he could cover his back if things go wrong.”
“Another reason why we need to make certain they don’t.” It’s also why Skarpa has him leading one of the attacks.
Once he returned to first company, Quaeryt quickly briefed Zhelan, Ghaelyn, and the undercaptains. “The attack will begin with three separate assaults, each under concealment. Lhandor and Threkhyl, you’ll be with the submarshal and Commander Fhaen. Voltyr and Horan with Fourteenth Regiment and Commander Kharllon, and Khalis, Baelthm, and I will support Subcommander Alazyn and Nineteenth Regiment…” He went on with the overall plan before discussing certain details.
“Voltyr … you need to stay close enough to Commander Kharllon to make certain that nothing slows the attack or goes wrong with it.”
“And remove any unforeseen impediments?”
“If necessary … but only if necessary. You should be able to handle the concealment, and Horan should be able to create a causeway wide enough for Fourteenth Regiment to swing north of the defenders and attack their rear. If you see a cannon emplacement … do what you can. You’re likely to be the one close enough and with the best view for that.”
“Yes, sir.” Voltyr nodded slowly.
“Good. You and Horan head out and join Fourteenth Regiment.” Quaeryt then went over his instructions with Threkhyl and Lhandor before sending them to join Skarpa. Then he turned to Khalis. “You’re going to have to remove as large a section of that wall as you can … but leave yourself enough strength to deal with the catapults.”
“Yes, sir.”
Almost two quints passed before Fourteenth, Nineteenth, and Third Regiments were in position to ride forward. Because maintaining concealment during the entire set of maneuvers would have been far too hard on all the imagers, once Fourteenth Regiment was in place, Paedn’s Fourth Regiment moved up behind it, as did Meurn’s Fifteenth behind Quaeryt and Nineteenth Regiment, and Dulaek’s Sixth Regiment behind Skarpa and Fhaen’s Third Regiment. Fhaasn’s Twenty-sixth Foot was behind Fifteenth, but to the west of the road. The three lead regiments were a good half mille from the wall, with their backups separated from them by several hundred yards. Once the lead regiments had reached a point several hundred yards from the wall, the backup forces were to begin their advance, again in an angled fashion.
On Skarpa’s signal, Khalis raised a concealment shield over the first company and Nineteenth Regiment, as did Voltyr over Fourteenth Regiment, and finally Lhandor over Third Regiment. Quaeryt thought it most likely that most, if not all, Antiagon observers would be puzzled by the concealment because they would still observe regiments in the same general position as before, if fewer in number, and might even think that the larger initial numbers were an imaging illusion. Even if the Antiagon commander did not happen to be deceived, the concealment would make it difficult to determine where the attackers were and what their movements were.
“Forward,” ordered Quaeryt quietly, raising and then lowering his arm.
First company began to walk their mounts toward the central section of the wall, but at an angle, since Quaeryt and Skarpa had positioned all the regiments, not directly in front of their objective, but so that they would not move directly forward toward the wall. That way, if there were cannon or, as they neared the wall, other missiles, the defenders could not attempt merely to adjust the distance in trying to calculate where the Southern Army regiments might be. Further, since there were wide spaces between the regiments, any blanket barrage would waste a great deal of ammunition.
Of course, if they drop something directly blindly into a regiment, the casualties will be higher, or the strain on the imager will be greater … if not both. Again, Quaeryt was basing his tactics on the fact that no one in Lydar had ever used imagers the way he was-at least not since the time of the Naedarans, if then-and they hadn’t had muskets, cannon, or Antiagon Fire.
First company and Nineteenth Regiment had advanced less than two hundred yards before what sounded almost like a sighing whistle passed overhead. Although Quaeryt couldn’t see it, the crumpt well behind Nineteenth Regiment told Quaeryt all that he needed to know. “Forward! Fast trot!” As he gave the order, he extended shields across the front of first company, trusting that he could hold them at least until they reached a point close to the walls … or where Khalis would remove the stone.
More explosions echoed across the fields before the walls, but behind Nineteenth Regiment, demonstrating that the Antiagons not only had cannon emplacements, but
that there were more than a few handfuls of cannon in those positions. From what Quaeryt could tell, most of the impact explosions occurred well to the south behind the advancing forces, but he hoped that the reserve battalions followed Skarpa’s orders and had moved quickly-at an angle-once they came under fire. Not that you can do anything about that now.
As he rode toward the highway just in front of the gate, Quaeryt took a quick look at the two towers, but only saw a handful of troopers behind the crenellations of each tower. None of the nearer catapults appeared to be in motion, either. Could it be that the Antiagons were still concentrating on the secondary regiments? He pushed that thought away.
At that moment, from nowhere came a series of blows on Quaeryt’s shields, strong enough to rock him in the saddle. Dropping away from his shields were iron darts-all aimed at the front ranks of first company-and that meant an imager on the walls who had deduced where first company happened to be.
“Image now!” Quaeryt ordered Khalis, before glancing back over his shoulder to make certain that Baelthm was close behind him.
Khalis said nothing, but in moments the section of wall between the towers flanking the stone-paved high had vanished-and reappeared as a flat paved square extending a good forty yards back. That newly created square was empty, except for wisps of mist curling up from the stone-a good indication that whatever forces had manned the wall or sheltered behind it were now entombed under it.
“Forward! Through the wall!” ordered Quaeryt.
First company and the first battalions of Nineteenth Regiment were through the gap in the white stonework, the hooves of their mounts clattering on the cold white paving that Khalis had laid down, before any of the defenders flanking the towers even began to react. At that point, Quaeryt dropped the concealment and strengthened his shields.
The appearance of riders amid the defenders engendered shouts, but whether those were of defiance or surprise Quaeryt certainly couldn’t tell.
“First company! On me!” He turned the mare toward the defenders on the left, shifting his half-staff to his right hand. “Baelthm! Do what you can to the nearest catapult.” After narrowing his personal shields to a wedge extending little more than the width of two horses, he urged the mare to move faster.
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