Imager’s Battalion ip-6

by L. E. Modesitt

  Quaeryt frowned. He’d put oil under the boots of slam-thieves, imaged bread into mouths and throats, and used imaging in a variety of lethal ways, but except for the ice rain, most of his imaging had dealt with only a single person at once, or at most a few.

  In the momentary silence, from behind him, someone sneezed-loudly.

  Sneezing … of course … if we can do it. He concentrated, trying to image pepper flakes on the back of his hand that held the reins.

  The fine black pepper appeared in a small circle.

  Then he turned to Skarpa. “We might be able to do something.” He turned in the saddle. “Shaelyt, how long can you deflect arrows?”

  “For a time, sir.”

  “Threkhyl … you’re one of the stronger imagers. How far away could you image something that doesn’t weigh too much, say … a chunk of wood the size of a dagger?”

  “A hundred yards, maybe two.”

  “All right … now can you image pepper, just a small amount … ground fine, into your hand?”

  A puzzled expression crossed Threkhyl’s face.

  Shaelyt tried to hide a grin.

  “Go ahead. I need to see if you can.”

  “Ah … I might be better with the red peppercorns.”

  “You might, but I want the kind that cause people to sneeze.”

  “I could do both.” Threkhyl frowned.

  A cloud of fine red and black flakes appeared above Threkhyl’s hand.

  “Good,” said Quaeryt. “Now, get rid of it, gently.”

  Threkhyl wiped his hand on his trousers, and even though most of the pepper was well below his face, he sneezed several times, once violently. “What…?”

  “We’re going to move forward, slowly, until we’re close enough to image a cloud of pepper dust over the Bovarians.”

  “Why not just charge them?” demanded Threkhyl.

  “Because we’re still a long ways from Variana, and Commander Skarpa and I would like to arrive to fight the important battles with as many of our troopers as possible. Besides, most of the men in that group are locals, graybeards, and youths.” Quaeryt was guessing about the graybeards, but he’d seen the locals and youths. “If we charge them directly, most of them will die, and we’ll still lose men, and the Bovarians won’t lose any of their seasoned troopers.”

  Skarpa cleared his throat, then said quietly, “You’ll still need troopers. They’ll attack you and the imagers immediately if you ride up alone.”

  “I know,” replied Quaeryt in a low voice, then raised it. “Major Zhelan, Undercaptain Ghaelyn, forward!”

  Both Zhelan and Ghaelyn rode up beside Quaeryt as if they’d been expecting the command, and they probably had, Quaeryt thought.

  “Sir?” asked Zhelan.

  “I need first company to escort the imager undercaptains up that slope. We’re planning a surprise, and if it works, there may not be much fighting. If it doesn’t, Major, you’ll have to charge the locals. I think there are staked pits across the slope, but if first company and the imagers can advance slowly, we may be able to see and avoid them.”

  “They have a pike line, sir,” said Zhelan.

  “If you have to charge, leave first company with me and the imagers on the slope and cut to the north side and try to circle back behind the pike line.”

  Both Zhelan and Ghaelyn nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  Quaeryt looked to Skarpa.

  “We’ll support you as necessary, Subcommander.”

  Quaeryt understood what Skarpa hadn’t said-that any failure was on Quaeryt’s head, if only between the two of them, because commanders always got the credit … and the blame. Quaeryt also knew that Skarpa really didn’t want a slaughter on his hands.

  Almost half a quint passed before Quaeryt got the word that Fifth Battalion was in position and ready, time that he had used to offer detailed instructions to the imagers. He turned to the undercaptains. “Keep a line abreast behind the first ranks of first squad.” That meant right behind him, although he didn’t say that. Then he nodded to Ghaelyn.

  “First company … forward.”

  The troopers rode forward at a walk.

  First company and the imagers were within two hundred yards before a handful of arrows arched out from behind the berms, falling short by a good thirty yards.

  “Shaelyt, don’t try for any arrows until we reach where those fell.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Imagers, except for Shaelyt, no imaging until my command.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  As soon as the front rank crossed the ground where the arrows lay, another flight of shafts arched toward them. No more than a score, but all of them vanished.

  That impressed Quaeryt.

  A second volley followed, and those vanished as well as first company and the imagers continued forward. Quaeryt prepared to extend his own shields across the width of the front rank, not that he wanted to unless it was necessary.

  “Threkhyl, image pepper.”

  Quaeryt added some pepper of his own, and a fine cloud drifted down on the waiting Bovarians.

  Another volley of arrows arched toward the company, loosed just before the imaging, and Quaeryt extended his shields, which was just as well, because only half the shafts vanished from the sky. The others dropped harmlessly onto the dirt and grass in front of the company. Quaeryt could feel some strain, but he wasn’t light-headed … not yet.

  “All imagers, more pepper!” he ordered, imaging a second cloud of finely mixed red and black pepper across the middle of the uniformed Bovarians. “First company! Forward! At my pace!” He didn’t know a command for the deliberate pace he wanted.

  For a moment the fog of pepper was so thick that it appeared like a cloud.

  As he led the company toward the sneezing, coughing mass of defenders, Quaeryt could see a line of pits, not covered well, but obvious enough to a rider moving slowly. “Beware the pits!”

  As first company moved forward, a handful of uniformed Bovarian troopers realized that the pepper was mostly where they were and dashed forward into clearer air, their blades out. Some of the uniformed troopers lifted blades, and a few of the locals waved and thrust a few pikes and spears wildly, but it was obvious that few could even see or react. Then, most of the locals in gray threw down whatever weapons they had and ran for the stand of brush and trees to the south side of their line.

  “Fifth Battalion!..” came the order from Zhelan.

  “Forward!” Quaeryt heard Skarpa’s command. “Deliberate pace. Beware the pits!”

  As he continued to ride forward, imaging yet more pepper, Quaeryt could see the confusion, blindness, and sneezing among the defenders, and when first company neared the line of pits, he called to Ghaelyn, “Have them hold, arms ready!”

  “First company!”

  Within a quint, the skirmish was all over. The defenders, those who were able and had not already fled, found themselves attacked from behind and pushed toward their own staked pits. Only a handful even tried to fight.

  Quaeryt hoped too many of those had not been killed or badly wounded, because he doubted most had really been true Bovarian troopers. Nonetheless, he held the imagers and first company in readiness just in case.

  After a time, Skarpa rode over, and Quaeryt rode from his position to join him.

  “You know that pepper trick won’t work against regular troopers?” said Skarpa.

  “I know. They’ll have too many archers, and they won’t let us get close enough.” Quaeryt smiled. “But it might work in close combat when matters are not going well.”

  “You have a nasty turn of mind, Subcommander. It was a good tactic for this.”

  “I hoped it would be.”

  While the troopers of Third Regiment continued to round up the uniformed Bovarians, who looked to Quaeryt to be more of a militia or a local guard of some sort, Quaeryt studied the edge of the town, far too neat to have been supported by the gaggle of cots and small holders to the east. That suggest
ed that they would find more prosperous lands along the south side of the river farther to the west, because the cable ferry wouldn’t have been developed or used without trade and people going back and forth.

  A courier rode toward Skarpa from the center of the town, reining up beside the commander. “Sir … Subcommander Meinyt has captured the cable ferry tower. There was little resistance.”

  “What else?” asked Skarpa.

  “Even before we reached the tower, sir, the Bovarians had cut the cables.”

  “Thank you. Tell the subcommander we will join him shortly.”

  “Yes, sir.” The courier turned his mount and rode back up the brick-paved street.

  “The Bovarians were watching from the north bank,” said Skarpa. “They don’t want us to be able to reinforce Deucalon.”

  “They couldn’t even see the fighting,” said Quaeryt. “They must have cut the cables when they saw Meinyt’s men reach the cable tower.”

  “We’re likely at least two days ahead of Deucalon,” said Skarpa.

  “How do you figure that?”

  “We had a day on them to begin with, and I know how Deucalon moves. That means we can take a day here and rest the men and the mounts.”

  “You don’t think he’ll try to send a messenger across the river?”

  “He knows the terrain. There’s no way to get a messenger and a mount across from where he likely is so that the messenger could catch us until we’re both west of Rivecote. That’s another reason to wait.”

  “Orders?”

  “He suggested it before we left. Besides, we need to get the town in order.” Skarpa grinned. “You have much more experience with that than anyone else.”

  Quaeryt offered a mock-groan. “You would remember that.”

  “So … what do you suggest to begin?”

  “Patrols on all the streets, half squad size. No violence against people unless they start it. Name-calling isn’t violence, but inciting others to violence is … We need to get that word out to the people immediately as well…”

  Skarpa nodded and listened.

  13

  By late on Mardi, Quaeryt had trooper patrols riding the streets of Rivecote Sud, with already experienced and effective troopers because, with Skarpa’s approval, he used those companies from Third Regiment who’d served the same function in restoring order to Extela after the eruption-and Rivecote Sud was a far smaller place. Then he, Skarpa, and Meinyt had to obtain what passed for quarters for more than three thousand troopers and their officers, although Skarpa did take over the largest inn for the senior officers and the imager undercaptains.

  By Meredi morning, the militia or local reserves that Skarpa’s force had captured were working hard and removing the earthen berms, filling in the staked pits, and burying the handfuls of Bovarians killed the day before.

  Quaeryt and Skarpa had ridden out to see the progress of that work under a slightly cooler sun and a silver hazed sky that promised a far hotter afternoon.

  “Just four deaths?” asked Quaeryt.

  “So far. There might be one or two more from wounds.” Skarpa shook his head. “Pepper. Who would have thought it?”

  “I was fortunate.” Quaeryt sensed that the limited number of deaths, given what could have happened, was a relief to Skarpa. It was certainly a relief to him, because, for what he still wanted to do, the more the casualties could be limited to troopers and those seen to rule, the better.

  “I’ve heard that from you before, all too many times,” replied Skarpa. “You need another phrase to disguise what you don’t want to explain.”

  “How about the fact that it really was chance? I heard someone sneeze … and that led me to think about what caused sneezing.”

  “What if no one had sneezed?”

  “We might have had more casualties.”

  “I’m glad you said might,” replied Skarpa with a jesting tone that suggested he had trouble believing Quaeryt. “Have you seen the cable ferry?”

  “Ah … no,” replied Quaeryt. “There was the business of setting up patrols and a few other matters.”

  “You should, and I need to see how our few engineers are coming in restoring it to use.”

  “When Deucalon reaches Rivecote Nord?”

  “When Deucalon and Lord Bhayar reach the other tower. It might be good to have communications, but that will mean I’ll have to leave at least half a company here to keep matters in order-if you think that is sufficient.”

  “A full company might be better, but let me think about that.” Quaeryt understood Skarpa’s reluctance to leave too many troopers behind because each garrison left behind reduced the men available for the next battle.

  Skarpa turned his mount uphill toward the river and the center of the small town, and Quaeryt followed, still holding full shields.

  As they rode down the brick-paved main street, Quaeryt noted that most of the dwellings and virtually all the shops had brick walls and slate roofs. Was that because brick was better in the damp climate … or because there was a brickworks nearby, or both? He also couldn’t help but note that the majority of dwellings and shops, especially the larger dwellings, were set on what amounted to a long rise that ran an angle from the northeast to the southwest. For a moment he wondered why, then nodded. The ground was higher and less likely to be inundated during times of high water, such as floods or the spring runoff.

  In less than a half quint, they reined up in the south courtyard that surrounded the ferry tower. After dismounting and tying the mare to one of the hitching rings, Quaeryt followed Skarpa up the outside brick staircase to the second level of the tower, girded on all sides by a railed open balcony. Skarpa walked to the river side of the balcony. “What do you think?”

  Rather than answer immediately, Quaeryt studied the tower and its surroundings. The cable ferry was far less elaborate than he had pictured. On the south side of the Aluse River was the stone tower where he stood and from where he could look out across the river, located on a bluff that rose some ten yards above the surface of the water. The top of the tower was about five yards above the base of the paved courtyard, and three above the low stone wall enclosing the courtyard. Two thick braided cables ran from a square timber framework secured in an open gallery facing the river down to the sheltered water downstream of the bluff where a single oblong flatboat was tied up to a dock, beside a large winch powered by an ox-driven capstan. The cut ends of the cable were draped across the flatboat.

  From what Quaeryt could determine, the ferry was linked by shorter cables to a set of sliding pulleys that had run on one of the two main cables, with another set of cables linked to the winches on each side of the river. There were two slips below, suggesting two ferryboats were used to cross the sixty yards of water separating the two towers.

  Quaeryt looked across the river at the gallery area of the north tower, where he could see three men in blue-gray Bovarian uniforms. While it wouldn’t be difficult to send another boat across the river, although it would have to start much farther upstream and carry light line that could lead to rope and then cable, there wasn’t any point in trying so long as the Bovarians held Rivecote Nord. And that was assuming that there were spare cables available in Rivecote Sud.

  “Effective, but less impressive than I’d pictured,” he finally replied to Skarpa’s question.

  “Effective is what matters.”

  Quaeryt couldn’t disagree with that.

  A Telaryn captain, an engineer, hurried toward them, then stopped and inclined his head. “Commander, Subcommander.”

  “Have you found the spare cables?” asked Skarpa.

  “There are several sets, sir, but…”

  “There’s no point in trying to reattach them until we hold both towers? Or is there another problem?”

  “Someone smashed the gears in the winch. We haven’t been able to find any spare gears. We can rig a way to use the capstan once we can reattach new cables, but it will be slower.”

&nbs
p; “Do that for now,” said Skarpa. “They might have spare gears on the other side.”

  Or the Bovarians might end up smashing the winches on both sides. Quaeryt frowned. “Could I take a look at the winch?”

  “Yes, sir. Now?”

  “Why not?”

  “This way, sir.”

  Quaeryt followed the engineer down the staircase he’d just climbed, across the courtyard to a small gate, and then down another narrow set of stone steps cut into the bluff leading to the ferry slips. The winch was located on the wide center wharf between the two slips.

  There the engineer pointed to the uncovered mechanism. “Looks like they smashed those three gears there. Be a bitch to replace them, even if we can find spares.”

  Quaeryt studied the winch’s workings for several moments. “The imagers might be able to help. If you could send someone to summon them … they’re all at the inn-the Grande Sud.”

  “Yes, sir. We can do that.” The engineer captain hurried off.

  While Quaeryt waited for the imagers to arrive, he studied the winch in greater detail, slowly imaging away a loose chunk of gearing in one place and then in another, just enough to see if he could do it. Then he concentrated on rebuilding just one gear tooth on a large gear.

  It appeared … and it looked solid, but was it? He waited half a quint before he tapped it with a mallet from a tool kit. It sounded solid, but again, the proof would be in the operation.

  After that, he walked back and forth along the slips, waiting.

  It took almost three quints for the rankers Quaeryt sent out to locate and return with all the imager undercaptains. All of them had puzzled expressions as, one by one, they joined Quaeryt on the wharf. He waited to explain until they were all there before the damaged winch.

  “The reason I summoned you is that we have a problem here. The Bovarian troopers, or the cable ferry operators, smashed this winch. You can see the damaged gears there. It would be most helpful to Lord Bhayar and his forces if we could get this winch in working condition again so that once Marshal Deucalon takes Rivecote Nord, we can get the ferry operating as quickly as possible. We need to accomplish two things. First, we need to remove the broken pieces of gears. Then we need to image the gears as if they were new.”