Wartorn Obliteration

Dardas's tirade seemed to echo in the mental air a moment. He wondered if he had gone too far. It might be that Weisel simply couldn't understand the code of battle and the righteousness of a soldier's bloodlust.

Weisel drew himself up straighter in the saddle. He set his jaw and firmed his features.

General Dardas, I will not disappoint these good soldiers.

For that moment, Dardas almost respected the Felk lord.

* * *

The companies halted briefly and individually for their meals. Only the vanguard units stayed in steady motion, eating and taking water as they continued their advance toward the enemy army. Thus, the Felk military moved throughout the day.

Weisel received his reports, and Dardas studied them through his eyes. Slowly, the enemy was taking shape. That was indeed a sizable force out there. Its organization was growing more apparent as well. It was arrayed into separate companies, just as this Felk military was.

The map accompanying the report showed the clear delineations. Weisel pulled his horse to a brief stop as he concentrated on the map.

What do you propose we do, General Dardas?

Weisel was deferring to him. It was beginning already. Dardas was pleased.

We should continue the advance, he said. There is still a watch or so of good daylight.

We should attack them at night? Weisel asked, dubiously.

I don't think so. I don't think the other commander would want to either. We'll get a good look at each other, maybe make a few feints, just to test one another.

How do you know what that other army's commander will do? Weisel asked.

It's the militarily sensible thing to do, General Weisel. Dardas didn't add that already, from this relatively meager intelligence, he was gleaning a sense of how this enemy operated. In his time, two hundred and fifty years ago, he had possessed the uncanny talent for deciphering a foe's predilections and skills, and then of course working against that foe's weaknesses.

He would do the same with this enemy. But he would not crush this army, not completely. So long now he had waited for an enemy, some force to counter this Felk one, to justify this magnificent host of fighters and wizards. He wanted perpetual warfare. He couldn't have that if he had no enemies.

Dardas continued to hope that this opposite army had a commander of some skill directing it.

As the day wore on, the incoming reports became more detailed. By now Dardas could actually see the enemy through Weisel's eyes, straddling the flat horizon, filling the other end of the wide prairie. That army's numbers were impressive, though not quite equal to these Felk troops. Still, if this enemy had the talent for combat it would be a very respectable fight.

It was now clear, according to the scouts' observations, that this was indeed an agglomerated force. These troops wore widely varying uniforms, when they wore them at all. The forward companies appeared well armed. They bore swords, spears, pikes, crossbows; there were archers and cavalry and all the traditional components of a military.

Dardas wondered who had assembled it all. Surely there had to be one driving force behind it, some individual who had rallied these sundry armies, large and small. Then again, maybe the mass need had brought them all together, the intractable awareness that the Felk were coming to conquer these lands and that these people of the southern Isthmus had better do something if they wanted to prevent that.

The soldiers of that army would be defending their homes. That would make them fierce.

Dardas grinned.

What—Weisel started, sharply surprised.

Dardas realized that he himself had just caused that grin, had made the facial muscles move, all while Weisel was fully conscious.

He decided to effect innocence. Is something wrong, General Weisel?

I just—I thought—Oh, never mind. I think I'm just a little nervous.

I understand, Dardas said sympathetically.

This was an interesting development, but it could wait for later, for him to give it more attention. At the moment more reports were arriving.

Heeding Dardas's recommendation, Weisel had slowed the Felk advancement. The daylight was definitely waning by now, and a night battle wouldn't be wise. There was still a considerable gap between the two armies' front ranks.

Weisel halted his mount, as Fergon delivered the fresh batch of field intelligence. He opened the map and studied it.

Dardas studied as well, of course. The enemy forces had solidified their positions noticeably from the last batch of scout reports. They were taking tactical shape now. Not that there had been any doubt about it, but this was definitely a hostile posture. This enemy was an enemy.

He continued to pore over the map. Those forces, arrayed as they were...

Excitement flooded suddenly through Dardas, and once more it had an effect on Weisel body, speeding the heart conspicuously.

What is it, General Dardas? Weisel asked, again aware of his emotional reaction. Was the barrier between their two consciousnesses breaking down somehow? There was no time to contemplate it.

Send your scouts east and west, Dardas said. I feel quite certain they will find enemy units moving into flanking positions.

You mean this is a trap? Weisel's fear sped his heart as well.

Yes, Dardas said, happily and confidently. It is. Once more Weisel's lips twitched in a Dardas-directed grin. And I know how to turn that trap back on our enemy.

BRYCK (4)

The crossbow had been lifted—boldly—from beside a Felk soldier who'd dozed at his post. Gelshiri had perpetrated the theft, seizing the opportunity and the valuable weapon without hesitation. She was a believer in the cause, that one. Rebellion against the Felk. Liberation for Callah. She might not be the shiniest coin in the ante, but she had been wily enough to get away with the crossbow.

Bryck had considered staging this meeting in a shadowed place, where his face would be without feature. Or simply wearing his yellow and blue face paint. But the Felk had his description, a thorough one according to Deo and Radstac; so it made no difference what this Aquint saw, regardless of what they ultimately intended to do with him.

Let the enemy see my face finally and clearly, Bryck had concluded.

Deo, as it happened, was quite handy with the crossbow. Radstac, Deo claimed, was very able with edged weapons, to say nothing of her fists. That pair, both most unexpected additions to the Broken Circle, had already proven their worth with this apprehension and delivery of Aquint, the chief Internal Security agent in Callah. That such an organization existed was interesting news to Bryck. It meant the Felk recognized the need to deliberately maintain security within their expanding empire. Or it might mean that they were experiencing general resistance significant enough to justify the agency.

The latter was a welcome thought, even if it were just fantasy. Then again, who knew? Perhaps the people were rising in Windal after all, a fiction he had maintained for some while now.

Aquint, then, wasn't just working for the Felk. He was Bryck's direct adversary, more so even than the troops of Callah's garrison. Aquint's job was to seek out rebellion within the empire.

Well, he'd found it.

Ondak had scouted out this place. It was a granary that had burned a lune or so before the Felk incursion. The burning hadn't been total. The beams still stood, as did the walls, which were thick. Portions of the roof were