Alucius recocked the rifle and fired again—and then again.
A thin shriek—piercing—filled the air, and the beast literally cartwheeled out of the sky, crashing somewhere against the trail below.
“Sir!”
Alucius bolted back toward the stable as a line of blue fire seared across the black rock of the post. Within moments after the pteridon sailed over the empty expanse of black rock between the sandstone cliff and the ledge overlooking the grasslands below, a single rider galloped around the edge of the cliff and made for the stable entrance.
Alucius stepped out from the archway just far enough to fire at the next pteridon. Obviously, he hadn’t concentrated on the darkness enough, because, although the pteridon wobbled as it passed, it continued onward. He reloaded quickly, then turned to the scout.
Waris had had to flatten himself against the bay’s neck to ride into the stable archway, and he immediately dismounted.
“What did you find?” Alucius asked.
“The Deforyans…there’s no sign of them.” Waris gasped. “Deuyrn’s still out…checking the west approaches. Lucky…there’s a canyon to the east…nomads have to travel another six, seven vingts before they can circle around. Terrain’s rough…might take till tomorrow.”
Alucius looked out through the archway. Three pteridons were headed directly north, aimed directly at the stable. “Everyone back! Back as far as you can go!”
Alucius lifted the first rifle, forcing himself to concentrate on two things—the lead pteridon’s head, and darkness, and more darkness, cast within the bullet in the chamber. He fired, then switched his aim to the second flying monster. He fired twice.
Both pteridons fell, one just as if its wings had collapsed, the other cartwheeling and slamming into the section of the ridge edge where the ill-fated squad of the Twenty-third Company had been incinerated.
Alucius felt, as much as saw, the line of blue flame arcing toward him, and he sprinted and dived behind the archway of the stable.
Flame flared above him, and for a moment, he felt as though he had been in an oven, but as it passed he rolled and brought the rifle back to bear, but the pteridon was out of range.
“He veered off to the west,” Longyl said. “You all right?”
“So far.”
“How did you manage—”
“Aimed for their eyes,” Alucius half lied. He had aimed for their eyes.
“Look!” yelled one of the troopers.
In spite of himself, Alucius did. The enormous bulk of the pteridon that had fallen on the ledge just above the trailhead had burst into a bluish flame, like the bursts from the metallic skylances. After a moment, Alucius focused his Talent senses on the blazing creature. He moistened his lips. Behind the blueness was the same evil pink-purple sense that he had felt with the Matrial’s torques and with the purple crystal that had linked them.
“Back!” he shouted. “Down.”
He barely had flattened himself around the corner of the archway when the pteridon exploded, sending waves of heat across the ledge and into the stable.
Alucius scrambled and found the rifle he had been using, then handed it to Longyl. “Have someone clean it.” He recovered his second weapon and eased forward toward the arch.
Waves of blue flame crossed the ledge, but none were within thirty yards of the stable entrance. Alucius looked out with Talent-senses and -eyes.
The remaining pteridons—six of them—were circling overhead, but trying to stay far enough north so that no one could fire at them from the entrance to the corridors. That meant that the lances couldn’t reach all the way to the sandstone cliff. Alucius smiled grimly, easing out of the stone archway.
“Sir…”
“Just have some of the squad ready to shoot if any nomads stick their heads up over the ledge,” Alucius ordered. He eased farther out, then raised the rifle, waiting.
Crack!
Darkness and bullet meshed, and another pteridon’s wings folded, but Alucius could not see where the beast fell.
Abruptly, the five remaining pteridons began to circle higher, then head southward.
“Twenty-first Company to the edge of the ledge!” Alucius snapped. “Now! Longyl! Send out scouts along the trail! We’ll need a warning if the nomads manage to cross over that canyon or get around it.”
Without waiting for an answer, he began to sprint forward. If they could just hold the nomads there, and it was possible—without the pteridons…
Less than fifty yards down the trail another company of nomads was approaching. Alucius flattened himself against the ground and began to fire.
Within moments, others were beside him and firing. Longyl slid in beside Alucius and handed him the second rifle. “Thought you’d need this, sir.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Perhaps a glass passed, with bodies of men and mounts growing on the trail below, before the remaining nomads began to retreat from the exposed position against the withering fire.
Alucius watched for almost a glass before he eased away, then stood and called out, “Fifth Company! To the ledge! Relieve Twenty-first Company!”
“Fifth Company! Forward!” Feran’s voice rang out.
Alucius slipped over to Longyl. “Get the men fed and let them rest. But make sure all their weapons are reloaded and that they replenish their cartridge belts.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I need to find Majer Draspyr.”
Before he went looking for the majer, as the companies changed places, Alucius studied the glasslands below Black Ridge. The nomads were setting up another camp, less than a vingt from the base of the trail up to Black Ridge. Alucius looked to the southwest, but he could see no more pteridons.
With a deep breath, he began to walk toward the officers’ section, still carrying both rifles, and the conference room.
Majer Draspyr stood in the stone archway that led outside from the conference room. He looked evenly at Alucius. “Overcaptain…you and your men killed four of those monsters and disabled two—”
“The two will be back,” Alucius said tiredly. “We killed their riders, but that doesn’t stop them.” Then he added, “I sent out scouts. One returned. The Deforyans have retreated, and the nomads are working to encircle us. They probably can’t manage it today, but they might tonight or tomorrow.”
“I was warned about the Deforyans,” Draspyr said. “It’s hard to believe…they’d just turn and run.”
“They believe the mountains will stop the nomads, and, if they don’t, they’d rather fight defending what they think is valuable.”
“You can’t defend Dereka. It’s too open.” Draspyr shook his head. “I must congratulate you, Overcaptain. Your leadership under fire is commendable.”
“Thank you, sir.” Alucius didn’t feel like pointing out that his leadership had been slow, his understanding of the situation slower, and only the Talent-skills he had almost failed to use had held off the nomads. “We’ll have to do better. Much better.”
“Do you think we should withdraw?”
Common sense screamed, “YES!” Alucius considered as he spoke. “That would be my first reaction, sir. We can’t stay here for long, not without support. But there’s no water on the way back, except at the waystations, and the nearest of those is more than two days away. And then, too, the nomads are headed that way, and they might well get there before we do. The Deforyans didn’t take the wagons with them, and that means we have ample provisions for a while whatever we do. I think we need to see where things stand.”
Alucius was also speaking on feel. For some reason, the idea of an immediate retreat to Dereka felt wrong. Very wrong. He just wished he knew why, because he also knew they couldn’t stay long at Black Ridge.
“Then you and I should take a short ride,” Draspyr said. “With a squad or so, of course. We can see what we might do before we decide.”
Alucius nodded. “That might be best.” He hoped
it was.
60
In the late afternoon, Alucius and the majer rode northward along the narrow trail, with two scouts from fourth squad well ahead, and Egyl and the remainder of fourth squad immediately following. Majer Draspyr had left one squad from Twenty-third Company mounting guard on the trail where it left Black Ridge.
Alucius studied the road and the terrain around it carefully. For the first half vingt north of Black Ridge the trail clung to the mountainside, a ledge generally less than two yards wide in most places, cut out of the sheer stone. While the nomads could not move many men along it at once, the problem was that there was also no real cover for the defenders, and even if they erected a barricade, the best that they could hope for was a standoff, and in the end, they would be overwhelmed when they ran out of ammunition or were starved out. Alucius was looking for better than that.
“Be hard for them to move along here,” Draspyr pointed out.
“I’d like to see if there’s a place where we could use more firepower, and they would be just as exposed,” Alucius replied.
The next section of trail was through a steep cut in the sandstone where the trail widened to almost three yards. While Alucius might have been able to place some snipers above, they would be totally exposed to the pteridons, and there was room for only a comparative handful.
They covered another half vingt, and then another, the trail returning to its previous narrowness and winding upward and clinging to steep cliffs.
As they rounded yet another curve, Alucius looked at the area ahead. The trail went west, then curved eastward, winding back around a low promontory that jutted out into the canyon on the east. The top of the promontory, a stony ridge, was gradual enough that either horses or men could climb it, and less than a hundred yards to the west, the sandstone rose into another cliff wall, arching out in a way that would be difficult for the pteridons to attack effectively.
“That might be promising,” Alucius suggested. “We’ll have to see.”
Draspyr looked at Alucius, but didn’t say anything.
“Where that juts out, it’s an easy climb to the top, with cover there from this side. I’m going to climb up and see whether what sort of angle it has on the trail to the north.”
“This is quite a ways north of Black Ridge,” Draspyr pointed out.
“It is, but there’s no way they can get behind us.”
The majer didn’t reply as they rode around the curve toward the promontory.
Once they reached the spot Alucius had mentally marked, one of the spots where the trail widened enough for turns or passage, he lifted his arm. “Patrol halt!” He dismounted and handed Wildebeast’s reins to Egyl. “Hope this won’t take long.” Carrying one of his rifles, he started up the sloping sandstone. Although he skidded and slipped several times, before long he was at the top, where he looked northward.
From there, he could see almost all of the next stretch of trail, which curved westward once more, then back eastward—giving a long field of fire for any troopers on the top of the promontory. At the end of the promontory, where the road made a sharp curve, it was narrow enough that one of the Deforyan wagons, turned on its side and filled with rocks, would provide enough of an obstacle to keep riders from charging or jumping it. Another wagon, placed farther north, could also slow the nomads and make them more vulnerable to fire.
Alucius looked northward again.
A single rider in the colors of the Northern Guard rode southward on the trail, occasionally looking over his shoulder. Even from a distance, Alucius recognized Dueryn. He called down. “We’ve got a scout returning! Looks like Dueryn. Have him wait for me.”
As Dueryn rode toward the patrol, Alucius kept checking, to see just how exposed any riders would be. Except for one stretch of about twenty yards, the sandstone rampart of the promontory would provide a good location from which to defend the road, and a good two squads could fire on the exposed road from a shielded position.
With a nod to himself, Alucius started down the sandstone, carefully. He was mounted and still had to wait for Dueryn.
“Sir? Didn’t expect to find you out here.”
“Did you locate the nomads?”
“Yes, sir. The canyon here on the east…it goes ahead another ten vingts or so, and then just almost stops. They’ve set up a camp just on the east of a narrow ridge that joins the road. They could cross that to the road tonight, or maybe in the morning. On the west…” The scout gave a ragged laugh. “There’s a deep gorge. It must go for twenty vingts if not more. There’s no way they’ll get across on that side.”
“There’s no way we could get past them?” asked the majer.
“Not on this trail, sir,” Dueryn. “From the ridge, they could fire down on the road with at least three companies, maybe more, and we’d be in single file. They could also charge across at us.”
Draspyr nodded as if he hadn’t expected any other answer. He looked at Alucius. “We’ll need to send a company out here as soon as we get back.”
“Third Company,” Alucius suggested. “We’ll have to rotate some, though.” He turned to Egyl. “Leave a pair of scouts here until we can send out a company.”
“Yes, sir.” The squad leader turned. “Feshyn and Dorayn! You’re to watch the road until relieved. Any nomads come this way, you get moving and warn us.”
Alucius remained at the rear of the column, as did the majer, while the riders eased their mounts back around on the narrow trail.
“You think the nomads will attack?” asked Draspyr.
“Don’t you, sir?” Alucius replied.
“From what I’ve seen, they will. It doesn’t look good.”
“No,” Alucius admitted. He had some ideas, but he wasn’t ready to say anything, especially to the majer. Not yet.
The rest of the ride back to Black Ridge was quiet, and in the early evening, the cooks had supper for both officers and troopers, although there had to be two shifts, in order to relieve the troopers guarding the ledge and the trail up from the grasslands.
After the evening meal, Alucius gathered the scouts from both Fifth and Twenty-first Companies in the conference room. “Here’s the problem. We can probably hold Black Ridge so long as we have ammunition and food. But every day we stay here, there will be more nomads behind us, and no one is coming out to rescue us. Dueryn says that on the west side of the trail, there’s no way for the nomads to reach us. What I want you to find out is whether there’s any other way, probably to the west, that will bring us back to the main trail north of the nomads. It sounds impossible, but this entire trail was cut on purpose. I have a hard time believing that whoever cut it didn’t have another way out of here.”
Looks passed between Waris and another scout.
“I’d like you to leave as soon as you can see in the morning. You won’t do us any good falling off a cliff at night. That’s all.”
Once the scouts had left the room, Alucius walked out to the end of the ledge where two squads of Eleventh Company were stationed. Two squads were more than enough to hold the ledge for long enough to summon the other three squads, and that way, more of the men could get some rest during what might be a long siege.
Out of the growing darkness, Koryt stepped toward him. “What do you think?”
“They could attack tonight, or tomorrow or the next day, or anytime in between. I don’t see them leaving us alone.”
“Neither do I,” replied the captain.
“You’ve got your troopers well placed. We’ll be here if they do.”
Koryt nodded.
Alucius returned the gesture and headed for his quarters. He thought he ought to try to get some sleep.
Feran looked up from where he lay on his bunk as Alucius entered the dark quarters. “Anything changed?”
“Not yet. The nomads are still down there, and everywhere else.”
“They’ll attack tonight. They were building up fires.”
“Look who’s the cheerful one now
.”
“Get some sleep,” Feran suggested, rolling over.
Alucius wondered if he would sleep well—or at all—even after he stretched out on his bunk and could feel his eyes close.
He had barely drifted into sleep when distant shots echoed down the sandstone corridor, and he bolted upright in the narrow bed.
“Attack! All officers and companies forward!”
Alucius yanked on his boots and grabbed both rifles and the ammunition belt. Feran was close behind him.
Once outside, Alucius could hear shots passing well overhead as he made his way to where Twenty-first Company was forming up in the darkness, just forward of the barracks area of the sandstone cliff. Fifth Company was forming just to the west of Twenty-first Company. Again, Alucius was grateful for the night vision that allowed him to see as if it were only early twilight. He frowned. What about the pteridons? Could they see or fly at night?
He cast out his Talent-senses…but he could find no sign of the flying creatures.
“Twenty-first Company, ready, sir!” Longyl snapped.
“Thank you, Longyl.” Alucius barked out the orders. “Twenty-first Company! By squad! From the eastern end!” Then he walked toward Feran. “You ready to take the middle section?”
“We’ll do it.” Feran raised his voice. “Fifth Company, middle section!”
“Stay low as you near the edge!” Alucius called out. “Low!”
He watched as the troopers ran, then crawled into position to reinforce the two squads of Eleventh Company. The firing from below became stronger. Alucius checked the skies once more, with eyes and Talent. Still no pteridons.
Alucius sprinted forward and eased his way into a prone position beside a trooper—Ryem, he recalled.
“Sir?”
“Just keep your eyes on the nomads, Ryem.” Alucius took aim on one of the lead nomads, less than fifty yards down the trail, then fired.
A sheet of rifle fire sprayed across the narrow trail, already littered with bodies, mostly of men, rather than mounts, indicating to Alucius that the attackers had attempted the assault in stealth and on foot.
Under the intensity of fire by the defenders, the nomads either fell or fell back. How many Alucius had shot, he had no idea, only that he had been effective, but in the darkness, no one would know, and that was certainly for the best.
Darknesses Page 24