danger created by the breach in the city’s defenses. “I fear that if you don’t counterattack at once, it will be too late. Even with all haste, I am afraid.”
If Jaymes was dismayed or upset by the news, his voice showed no emotion other than agreement and determination. “I presume you have the means to move me swiftly, without a horse, sparing me a four-day ride across the plains?”
She nodded.
“Very well.” The marshal motioned to the dwarf, who grabbed his arm as he turned to go.
“I’m coming too,” Dram said. “I mean, take me with you! You need me!”
Jaymes turned back to Dram and Sulfie. “No. I badly need you, it’s true, but not on the battlefield. There is no time now. You are going to have to move the Compound. I want you to pack up the workers, the raw materials, everything. Buy every wagon you have to-that probably means every wagon in the west of Solamnia. Head east. I want to set up operations in the shadow of the Garnet Range, as near to Solanthus as possible.”
“But… we… we can’t just move the whole Compound!” Dram spluttered. “Everybody lives here! All the dwarves of Meadstone are here. And the logging-”
“Dwarves can move, the same as buildings. Remind your workers they’re being well paid and will continue to be well paid. As to the logging, you can set up lumber camps in the Garnet Mountains just as easily as the Vingaard range. And you were telling me the steel comes from Kaolyn. This will put you that much closer to the alloy.”
“No, it’s crazy,” Dram persisted, shaking his head. “I don’t see how it can be done. And there’s Sally, and Swig. I mean, they’ll have objections-”
“I want this done,” Jaymes said coldly. “I want it done without delay. Sally and Swig can come along, or they can stay here and wait for you to return. But I need you and your operations, I need the black powder, and I need the Compound to be closer to the action. Now, I want your promise to get going on this-right away!”
“All right, all right.” Dram’s voice was an angry growl, and his eyes all but flashed sparks as they shifted from the marshal to Coryn.
Sulfie had watched the exchange, her eyes wide, still moist with tears. Now she spoke hesitantly. “But… what about… what about Pete’s ring? It’s out there somewhere!” She sniffled plaintively as she swept her hand across the blackened circle of soot, the wide scars from the previous day’s explosion.
Coryn looked at the black swath as if seeing it for the first time then turned toward Jaymes and raised her eyebrows reprovingly.
“An experiment that failed,” he said curtly.
“And we will take the time to comb the wreckage,” Dram said bluntly. He rested a hand on Sulfie’s shoulder. “We’ll find your brother’s ring. And we’ll give him a hero’s wake.” The dwarf lifted his head and looked at Jaymes with a challenging glare. “That’s the least we can do here. And after that, then we’ll get ready to pick up and move.”
The warrior regarded his old friend for a moment then nodded. “I’m sorry about your brother,” he said to Sulfie with unusual feeling before turning back to Coryn.
“Take me back to the army,” he said.
“We’re going to force the river crossing at every ford, first thing tomorrow morning,” Jaymes informed his generals after startling them at their breakfast with his teleported arrival. Coryn had appeared with him, but- knowing her presence made the knight commanders uneasy-she swiftly withdrew to a small tent to “tidy up.” The marshal wasted no time in issuing his orders and putting his generals on alert.
“It will mean an all-night march to get the men in position,” Markus warned. “At least, if you want to cover more than ten or twelve miles of river. And then we’ll be attacking with exhausted troops.”
“There’s nothing that can be done about that. And I do mean to cover much of the river, stretching Ankhar so thin he can’t hope to hold us everywhere. I want an attack at every crossing spreading over twenty-five miles in two directions-in effect, a fifty-mile front. General Dayr, you take the north flank. You’ll have to cross by boat, since there are no suitable fords there. It’s imperative you get started under the cover of darkness-that means I’d like to see you get moving less than twenty-four hours from now.”
“Yes, my lord,” Dayr replied grimly. “Should I get the boat companies on the march immediately?”
“Yes, do so.” As the general of the Crown Knights hastened to give the necessary orders to his subordinates, Jaymes turned to the other two wing commanders. “Have any of the bridging companies arrived from Palanthas?”
“The first came in just this afternoon,” Markus replied. “I understand there are two more on the way, but they still must be several days out.”
Jaymes nodded, thinking. “General Rankin, you will command the middle. There are three fords that should be passable. Make simultaneous attacks at each, and try to force a bridgehead on the east bank.
“And Markus, you will take the south wing. There is one ford I believe you can use, but I want you to supervise the bridging company as well-post it north of the ford, where they won’t be expecting us to cross.” The first bridging company was a unit of the lord marshal’s own invention, a wagon train of pontoon boats and plank sections. They had practiced extending a temporary span across a wide river and had met with considerable success, but the tactic had never before been attempted in a combat situation. “Make your attack at the ford first, and see if you can take them by surprise with your bridge. I will see if I can get you some kind of concealment for your activity.”
“Very good, my lord,” Markus said. He sent a runner to get the bridging company on the march.
General Dayr returned, and Jaymes spent another hour making specific dispositions, speaking with the quartermasters to make sure the wagon trains of food, fuel, and arrows were dispatched with all haste. He spoke to the captains of two score companies, impressing upon them the urgency of the relief mission. He described the appearance of Ankhar’s new, powerful ally, and the desperate straits in Solanthus. By the time he was finished, the camp had become a frenzy of activity, with tents being struck, corrals dismantled, horses and oxen haltered and prepared for the march.
Only then did Jaymes return to Coryn, who was waiting patiently beside the muddy patch of ground that had, a quarter of an hour earlier, been the command compound in the midst of neatly arrayed tents. “Once you make up your mind, things happen pretty fast,” the wizard noted wryly as a column of Crown Knights thundered past them, and three files of pikemen formed up for a rapid march to the north.
“By evening tomorrow too many of these good men will be dead,” Jaymes said. “They know it-we all do-but no one hesitates when battle is necessary.”
“You’re the only man who could bring all these knights, these soldiers, together,” Coryn said. “And I know the crossing will be dangerous. But it has to be done.”
An advance team of boatmen trundled past, a caravan of five horse-drawn wagons. They, and others like them, would ride toward the major crossings, carrying bundles of canvas and strips of supple wood. Under the cover of darkness they would assemble hundreds of boats in a single night.
The heavy bridging company also got under way, rolling south in a separate wagon train, carrying long pontoons and sections of planking. Their goal would be to establish a usable span across the river in the next twenty hours.
“Send for Sir Templar,” Jaymes barked to a nearby courier. In a few moments the cleric-knight appeared, out of breath and red faced, before the army commander.
“Yes, my lord!” he cried, extending a salute and standing rigidly at attention. “I await your orders!”
“At ease,” Jaymes said. “I want you and your apprentices to go with General Markus-to the south. Stay with the bridging company. When they start to put their pontoons in the water, do whatever you can to help conceal their work-whether it be fog or darkness or some kind of invisibility spell. Many lives will depend on those bridging sections reaching far across the river before the enemy takes note of them.”
“But…” Templar looked stricken, then immediately stiffened again. “Yes, my lord! As you wish! We will do whatever lies in our power.”
“I’m sure you will. And understand, there is no time to waste.”
“Certainly, my lord! Yes, of course!” Templar stood still for another beat then seemed to realize he had been dismissed. With a salute, the Clerist spun about and hurried away.
“Do you think they’ll be able to help?” asked Coryn.
“We’ll know better tomorrow. But they’ve been riding along with the army since we moved north from Caergoth, eating our food, preaching the creed of Kiri-Jolith to whoever happens to be within earshot. It’s time to
