The Prince proceeded to describe the evening's finale. He pointed to the wooden box on his camp desk. 'The pistol is yours, Captain Strake. You'll doubtlessly have better use for it than I will.'
Owen nodded. 'Thank you, Highness.'
'Don't thank me. Were I you, I would keep it to blow my own brains out, guaranteeing I won't become a pasmorte.' The Prince shot his brandy, growled, and poured himself another. 'Rivendell and the others now believe pasmortes exist. On the ride back they even rejoiced in the fact that the things could be shot. Exeter suggested that du Malphias used a small caliber bullet and light charges to trick us into believing his pasmortes are immortal. Not enough recoil to the shot, you see.'
Von Metternin sipped his brandy. 'Did no one shoot one in the head or spine?'
'No. Du Malphias shot my servant off-center and in the abdomen.' The Prince arched an eyebrow. 'Why the smile, my lord?'
'He took your pistol to forestall your turning it on him. None of the others would dare.' Count von Metternin laughed. 'It was a calculated gamble on his part.'
'If only I had followed your advice.' Prince Vlad shook his head. 'I could have ended all this with one shot.'
'That was clearly not meant to be, Highness.' Von Metternin shrugged. 'He won this time, but that does not mean he shall win every time.'
Owen remained with the Mystrian contingent when it set off next morning for the Fortress of Death. They made very good time along du Malphias' road. They delayed only twice. Once, for a short while, Mugwump went off the road at the birch pavilion. He rooted through the surrounding area like a pig hunting truffles, snorting disgustedly when he came up with nothing. He glanced back at the Prince and Owen would have sworn he saw regret at failure in those gold eyes.
The other pause came during the second day's march at the Roaring River. As had been predicted, a tall, arching bridge spanned the river. Men marveled, but the sight of it made Owen's stomach roil. Yes, it was a wonder, but a wonder created by creatures that should have long ago been in the grave. He could imagine pasmortes crawling all over the bridge, hunting troops as they had once chased him.
Mugwump went over it first, sniffing as he went. It didn't move an inch beneath his bulk. Mystrian soldiers swarmed over it then, testing what they could, reinforcing other bits, and determining it was safe. They then deployed to forestall any attack that would disrupt the crossing.
The Mystrians had welcomed the shift from shovels and axes to muskets. Knowing the Norillian troops would be watching their every move, they did their best to comport themselves as fighting men. They moved quickly and took up good cover positions. They even supported each other as troops moved deeper along the road.
The problem was, of course, that when the Norillian troops got to crossing, the Mystrians had not arrayed themselves in proper order for Continental combat. It didn't matter that they weren't on the Continent, it just looked for all the world to the Norillians as if they were timid and amateur.
Owen smiled proudly as the Mystrians took up their positions. They reminded him of the Mystrian Rangers preparing to defend the Artennes Forest. Eager and fresh-faced many of them, they had no idea the sort of Hell they'd be marching into. Stories of pasmortes had filtered through the ranks, but the Mystrians dismissed them as stories intended to frighten Norillians. No Mystrian, whether or not he believed the stories, would ever show signs of fear around Rivendell's troops.
The regular soldiers came up quickly. They came across the bridge in column, five men abreast, their footsteps sounding as thunder, cadence perfect. The infantry came in two battalions first, their red coats brilliant in the summer sun. Tall, implacable and imposing, they came in a mass that should have frightened even pasmortes. At forty yards they could volley out a wall of lead balls that would rip through the enemy, and then their steel bayonets would finish them off.
The cavalry marched in the middle of the formation. They looked a bit footsore, but no less proud. They marched with carbines slung across their backs and their sabers drawn. For men unaccustomed to marching, they came on in good order and pushed to the fore on the west side of the bridge. Drawn mostly from the ranks of lesser nobility and the second sons of greater nobility, they moved to the lead since that was their station in life.
As the column moved further west, Owen found himself constantly thirsty. He stared at his hands to see if the flutter in his stomach had translated itself into a palsy. Though the forest hid the fortress, Owen could feel it there, brooding, waiting to devour him again. He wanted nothing more to do with it but duty demanded his presence, and if Rivendell were to even guess at the fear in his heart, he'd find a way to humiliate Owen.
Owen would do anything to deny him that pleasure.
Originally Rivendell had intended to take the small tower, but du Malphias' dessert surprise had alerted him to the possibility of duplicity. He allowed himself to be convinced that keeping a Mystrian battalion back in the woods would threaten the tower and allow him an anchor on the Green River's western shore. It would forestall du Malphias' trickery and give Rivendell a way to retreat.
The Norillian formation hooked west and north through the forests and cleared area while remaining outside of the fortress' guns' range. Northwest of the fort itself they came to a ferry and sent the cavalry across first. They unlimbered the dozen cannon on the west bank to cover the cavalry. Mystrians then crossed and returned to their ax and shovel duties outside the range of the Tharyngian guns. They dug emplacements and trenches and chopped trees, which they transformed into redoubts and mantlets.
Owen and Count von Metternin crossed at the head of the Mystrians. The Kessian pointed toward the southwest face of the fortress, about even with the tower across the river. 'If he opens those gates and deploys the Platine Regiment, he can cut us in half. A river crossing-any sort of amphibious operation-should be contested.'
'He's not the sort to make so simple a mistake.'
'Well, he is arrogant. But then, he is Tharyngian.' Von Metternin laughed quickly. 'He sees that Rivendell has been thinking. We declined to take the tower. Rivendell will see his failure to oppose the crossing as a tactical error. Rivendell will begin to believe he has won two battles already.'
Lord Rivendell came splashing through the river and reined his horse up in the middle of the cavalry salient. He raised a spyglass to his eye, then laughed. 'I see you, du Malphias, and I know your game. You thought I'd take your tower, didn't you? Didn't you?'
Von Metternin chuckled. 'I don't believe he can hear you, my lord.'
'But he can see me.' Rivendell took off his hat and waved it. 'He has to know we won't be cowed. It ain't the thing.'
One cannon replied. Flames shot from the rampart and smoke jetted. Twelve pounds of iron sphere flew from the cannon's mouth. Three hundred yards out it hit the ground and bounced. It bounced again and again, slowing as it came. One of the cavalrymen laughed and stood, making as if to catch the slow-moving ball.
His right hand evaporated in a red mist. He stared at the gushing stump, then began to scream.
Rivendell's horse shied from the ball, and other men parted to let it through. Owen darted forward, yanked the cavalryman's saber sash off. He looped it around the man's right forearm, then stuck a stick into it and twisted until the arterial flow trickled to a slow drip. The man raised his pulverized wrist toward his face, then fainted.
'Captain Strake, get some of your Mystrians up here to dig us a trench!'
Owen shook his head. 'If they come forward, my lord, your bunker won't be ready for nightfall. Colonel Thornbury should get his men to digging their own trenches.'
The Count stepped between Owen and Rivendell's raised crop. 'I might suggest, my lord, that you draw the men back another hundred yards. The ridge there, if they get on the other side of it, will protect them.'
'Yes, of course. Colonel Thornbury, move your men back to that ridge.' Rivendell donned his hat again. 'Langford, come here. Captain Strake shall be written up for insubordination!'
Owen's shoulders and back ached from digging holes and chopping wood. Being an officer, he could have been spared that duty, but he pitched in. Had anyone asked, he'd have said he intended to set a good example. The simple fact was, however, that he wanted to put as much wood and earth between himself and the fortress as possible.
By evening of the twenty-ninth, Rivendell had arrayed his forces in preparation for the siege. He placed his artillery in a single battery in the middle of his line. That tactical placement actually made sense. The Mystrians wove together and filled fascine, which they installed around the front of the emplacement. The guns could cover most of the field and could scatter any attack coming from the fortress, should it round the corner by the river.
The cavalry remained nearest the river, but pulled back so the fortress' cannon could not harass them. East of
