Imager’s Battalion

again set out. The battle for south Villerive was difficult and exhausting, so much so that my undercaptains and Fifth Battalion required some rest before joining in the battle for the north side of the city, an unfortunate situation whose necessity Commander Skarpa was able to convey to the marshal with far greater skill and diplomacy than I possess. In the end, we were able to assist the marshal’s valiant troops to some degree, and to help in enabling his forces to rout and destroy a great proportion of the Bovarians arrayed against us.

Quaeryt paused and set down the pen. Why hadn’t there been more resistance? Admittedly, the defenders had certainly fought, but shouldn’t there have been more of them? In fact, there should have been more all along. Was it because Kharst had only intended to try to seize Ferravyl, and then withdraw if matters turned unfavorable? That was certainly possible. The history of war in Lydar had a common thread-no ruler had ever successfully conquered a strong and prepared neighbor, only ones with internal weaknesses or problems. Had the Bovarian attack on Ferravyl been more an attempt to probe for Telaryn weakness, a weakness suggested to Kharst by the revolt of the Tilboran hill holders? Had the Bovarian rex assumed that Bhayar was a weak heir to his father and that most Telaryn forces remained in Tilbor? Given that, had the attack on Ferravyl been designed, at most, as the beginning of a campaign of piecemeal acquisition, as Bhayar had told Quaeryt?

Then, when Quaeryt had destroyed the majority of the Bovarian forces, Kharst had not been prepared for a Telaryn counterattack in force, and had been using the troopers who remained in the east to slow the Telaryn advance, giving up territory while he mustered troops from across all Bovaria. To Quaeryt, that was the only thing that made sense. After several moments, he picked up the pen again.

I did not receive your latest correspondence until after the reinforcements arrived, and that was several days after the battle, but I was delighted to learn that all was well with you, even if Solis has been hot and damp. The newest undercaptains should prove most helpful, and their training is already well under way …

I also heard from Chorister Gauswn, since he wrote me for advice on dealing with the students for whom you helped me draft rules of conduct, and while I could not offer him an immediate solution, I am hopeful that once matters in Bovaria are settled, we may be able to resolve the problems he faces as well by setting up another scholarium, but one designed more for students such as those.

The weather here remains as hot as if it were still late summer or early harvest, rather than mid to late harvest, but warm as it is here or in Solis, I would that we were together …

When he finished the letter, he sat back, then reread it again. Assuming that Vaelora actually received it, he thought she would be able to read beyond what he had written. He could only hope that she and Aelina were handling the responsibilities with which Bhayar had left them, and that those surrounding them were not surreptitiously lining their wallets in too excessive a fashion.

52

On Samedi, all of Fifth Battalion was up early. Quaeryt set the companies to working drills immediately after muster, conducting maneuvers and drills to familiarize their replacements with their officers, tactics, and squad leaders. He worked with all the imagers on both the tactics that had become basics, such as imaging smoke and pepper, and targeting enemies with iron darts, but also trying to at least familiarize the new undercaptains with the idea of shields and shielding.

During the first break in training, at around eighth glass, a brief message arrived from Skarpa, noting that the southern forces had been assigned Eleventh Regiment, led by Subcommander Khaern, and that Skarpa and the other subcommanders would join Quaeryt sometime after third glass to discuss Solayi’s evolutions. Since Quaeryt really wanted to talk to Skarpa before all the subcommanders met, he sent a messenger to locate Skarpa, but a glass later the trooper reported back that the commander had been summoned by Marshal Deucalon early that morning, and that none of the Third Regiment battalion majors knew exactly where Skarpa was or when he was expected to return. The trooper checked with Fifth Regiment, but Subcommander Meinyt had no idea, either, beyond the fact that Skarpa had to be doing something Deucalon desired.

Although Quaeryt suspected he knew where Skarpa was likely to be, he wasn’t about to charge over to Deucalon’s headquarters and burst in and demand to see Skarpa. Such an act wouldn’t change anything, but it would prove to everyone that Quaeryt thought he was above his rank and cast doubt on Bhayar’s appointment of him as a subcommander. So he went back to working with the imagers, until slightly after third glass, when he dismissed them.

At roughly fourth glass, Skarpa rode up to Saarcoyn’s dwelling, with a half squad of troopers as an escort. Quaeryt barely managed to get out onto the portico before Skarpa reined up.

“Meinyt will be here shortly. So will Khaern,” the commander announced as he dismounted. “I sent a messenger to them both. This is midway between all three regiments, and we need to go over our departure tomorrow.”

“We can wait in the study, and I’ll send for some lager.”

“That would be welcome.”

“I thought it might.” Quaeryt gestured toward the entry, then followed Skarpa inside, after sending one of the troopers to have three mugs of lager brought to the study.

Once the lagers arrived, and the study door was closed, Quaeryt sat down across the plaques table from Skarpa. “I need to talk to you before the others arrive. I sent a messenger to you this morning. I’d hoped to talk to you, and I hadn’t realized that you’d be tied up all day. I’m sorry I didn’t seek you out last night, but…” He shrugged. “I should have known better.”

“About what?”

“I received a letter from Vaelora yesterday afternoon, but I didn’t read it until later, when I thought I’d have a moment to enjoy it. In it she mentioned that I would be getting some more undercaptains and that ten regiments were being sent to reinforce us-”

“Ten regiments?”

“That’s what she wrote. What’s also odd is that the letter was sent a week before the regiments were due to depart from Solis. Yet it arrived with the marshal’s dispatch accompanying the Fifth Battalion reinforcements. Oh … and the seal had been removed and replaced”-Quaeryt quickly explained about the altered seal and the unusual delay of Vaelora’s first letter-“so when I read about ten regiments of reinforcements…”

“That frigging bastard Deucalon … calling Khaern’s regiment the Eleventh! I should have guessed … I saw an awful lot of troopers, and I asked Deucalon about the number of reinforcements. He never really answered me.”

“You couldn’t very well demand an answer,” Quaeryt pointed out.

“But you could have asked Bhayar. That’s why Deucalon summoned me early. I’d wager you weren’t supposed to get that letter until later … except someone saw it who might report that to him. I had the feeling they were up to something. What they said they wanted was a waste of time after the first glass. When I’d say I needed to get back to the regiment, Myskyl or Deucalon had one request after another. ‘If you wouldn’t mind telling Commander Crecytt about the musketeers … Commander Dafaul about … Bovarian scouts…’”

“But if I went to Bhayar, around you and Myskyl and Deucalon…”

Skarpa nodded slowly. “You’d have undermined me, and hurt yourself, and you wouldn’t have gotten us any more troopers. If Bhayar had overruled Deucalon, then he’d have pissed off every senior officer in Telaryn, except us, and Deucalon would have resigned.” After a moment he mused, “Actually, it’s not a bad plot on Myskyl’s part. He puts you in a poor position no matter what, and even if you got us more troopers, then he’s got a shot at becoming marshal.”

“Or Deucalon throws the blame on Myskyl and demotes him, and we still aren’t much better off,” replied Quaeryt.

“Don’t you just love being a senior officer, Quaeryt?”

“You’ve got no one but yourself to blame,” countered Quaeryt with a smile. “You’re the one who insisted I’d be good at it.”

“You are. I’d rather have you than two full regiments. The problem is that Deucalon and Myskyl know it, and they’ll try to get a victory over the Bovarians by putting you and the imagers in a situation where even if you win,