Imager’s Battalion

“Sir. As you suspected, there was extensive damage to an irrigation ditch to the south. We repaired it and strengthened it. But the ground is so flat here that there’s no way to drain the water away. If we had created a breach all the way through the ditch, it just would have flooded the other side, and then the water would have kept rising on both sides of the ditch.”

“Thank you. Somehow … that doesn’t surprise me. Now we’ll need what help you can give to raise the roadbed here.”

With all the imagers alternating, and with generous rest breaks, it took until the second glass of the afternoon before the work to raise the roadbed a third of a yard or so above the water was completed. Immediately, Skarpa’s scouts rode out once more.

Fifth Battalion moved forward behind them, beyond the lake onto the section of the road beyond the water, where the land sloped gently, barely noticeably, upward, but it was almost a half mille farther to the west before there were any cots or outbuildings near the road.

Skarpa rode forward and eased in beside Quaeryt. Zhelan dropped back, deferentially.

“Took you a while to fix that,” offered the commander. “Good job, though.”

“Building up a half mille of road takes time and effort, even for imagers. I also wanted to rest them as I could, just in case we ran into more Bovarians.”

“Good thought, but the scouts haven’t returned. So they’re not likely to be too close.”

“I’d hope not. Some of the undercaptains won’t be able to do much imaging until tomorrow.”

“I’d thought as much, but we don’t have to press that hard. We’ll stop earlier tonight. We’ve made good progress.”

Quaeryt nodded, waiting.

“We’d better hang on to all the lands we’ve taken,” said Skarpa sardonically. “Be a shame to let Kharst benefit from all the improvements you and the imagers have made.”

“I’m beginning to think more and more like that. They were his lands, and people, and he’s destroying things, and we’re supposedly conquering them, and we’re rebuilding and improving things.” After a brief pause Quaeryt added, “Except for the gates at Nordeau.”

“They were old,” rejoined Skarpa. “Besides, we need to leave reminders here and there.”

Besides thousands and thousands of dead Bovarians?

Skarpa said nothing else, and neither did Quaeryt for the moment as they continued westward toward Variana.

71

By midday on Vendrei, Skarpa’s forces were within a few milles of Caluse, which appeared to be a moderate-sized town. Skarpa had summoned all the subcommanders, and he and Quaeryt waited for Meinyt and Khaern under a large oak tree that provided some relief from another day of blazing sun.

It may be harvest, but it’s more like midsummer … Does summer ever end here? Or is this just an unusual year? Quaeryt noted that even Skarpa had pushed back his visor cap and wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve.

“Almost as hot as Solis,” muttered the commander.

“Hotter, it seems to me.”

“Could be. Like to think it’s why they’re not fighting.” Skarpa broke off as Meinyt and Khaern rode up, then dismounted, and turned their horses over to waiting rankers.

Once the two joined Quaeryt and Skarpa in the shade, all four standing well back from the shoulder of the wide but dusty gray stone road, Skarpa blotted his forehead again, cleared his throat, and spoke. “The town ahead is Caluse. Scouts can’t find traces of any Bovarian forces, and the place looks deserted. Everything’s shuttered, and there’s no one on the streets.” Skarpa shook his head. “Don’t know as I believe that, but I’ve sent out two squads and one even rode partway into town. What’s stranger is that there’s a three-span bridge across the Aluse, and they left it standing. Why’d they do that? Variana’s only twenty milles to the west … if we can believe the maps.”

“They didn’t expect us to get this far,” suggested Khaern. “Or this quickly, and they didn’t have time to destroy the bridge.”

“They want us to settle in here, comfortable-like, before they attack us while we’re sleeping,” suggested Meinyt. “Or not expecting them.”

“We have another problem,” Skarpa pointed out. “Or maybe it’s an opportunity. We’re a day ahead of the marshal’s forces. If we hold up here, we can join his forces, or he can join us.”

Not if Myskyl and Deucalon get their way, thought Quaeryt.

“Either way,” continued Skarpa, “it’s easy with the bridge not being damaged. That might be why the Bovarians left it intact.”

“As a trap to entice us to join up?” asked Khaern.

“What other reason could there be?” demanded Meinyt.

“You haven’t said anything, Quaeryt,” noted Skarpa.

“You’ve all suggested any of the possibilities I could think of.” Except total Bovarian incompetence, and I don’t believe that. “Most of the town is on the south side of the river. This is the first town with a bridge over the Aluse where most of the dwellings are on the south side. All the other towns have much smaller southern quarters.” He paused. “Except the old quarter of Nordeau on the north side was smaller than the old quarter on the south. But all the Bovarian-built towns, except this one, are larger on the north side of the river.”

“That’s so,” said Skarpa, “but there had to be one.”

But why this one? Quaeryt didn’t voice the question. He had no answer and had no doubt that none of the others did, either.

“Well…” drawled Skarpa, “it seems to me that we might as well spend the night here. The Bovarians can’t get us all right now, because we’re not all here, and it will be more than a day before the marshal reaches the north side of the bridge. We’ll set out extra sentries and keep more troopers on standby. I’ll send off a dispatch to the marshal declaring our intent to stay here until his forces can arrive to take over protecting the bridge and requesting his instructions. Then we’ll see.” After a pause he added, “We’ll enter the town with all arms ready, using the three different roads, with space between units to allow different points of attack.”

Khaern nodded, if skeptically, followed by Meinyt.

Skarpa took less than a quint to outline the plan of approach or attack, with Third Regiment leading the way, and Fifth Battalion moving out to cover the road from Variana.

By the first glass of the afternoon, despite all Quaeryt’s concerns, Fifth Battalion occupied the Agile Coney, one of the close to a score of inns that the town boasted, as well as two nearby inns and their outbuildings and stables. Once he was convinced that all the companies were not only settled, but ready to respond to any sort of immediate attack, with imager undercaptains assigned to each company, since their shields, limited as they were, would be of far greater advantage within a town, Quaeryt returned to the Agile Coney.

As he walked up onto the wide porch, empty of anything but a single plain wooden bench, his eyes took in the signboard that depicted a muscular rabbit leaping over a stone wall. Both the signboard and the name suggested to Quaeryt that Caluse had never been an integral part of Naedara. At least, the rabbit’s not black. He still wondered about why the black marble statuette of the coney had been smashed and buried under the stone with a chiseled inscription … and who had done it for what purpose.

Quaeryt located the innkeeper with whom he and Zhelan had dealt earlier. The slightly stooped but clean- shaven Culum was arranging tables in the public room.

“This is your inn?” Remembering to speak Bovarian, Quaeryt noticed, for the first time, that the man’s right arm was shorter than his left and his left hand was twisted slightly.

“Ah … it is my grandsire’s, sir, if he remains alive.”

“So far, we haven’t killed anyone. We told you that before. If we’re not attacked, we won’t. They left you here to see if you could manage? Or because they felt we wouldn’t slaughter a man who was crippled?”