horsemanship than the others. “If you’d hold my mare as well, Undercaptain. That way you all can see and hear what I have to say.”
“Yes, sir.”
Quaeryt waited until the six had formed a rough circle, then said, “We’re likely to run into Bovarian forces in the next glass or so. Major Meinyt has sent out additional scouts, and I’ll let you all know once I do.”
“What do you expect we can do?” demanded Threkhyl.
“Well…” said Quaeryt, drawing out the word, “you can certainly image holes in Bovarians if they get close enough. Soldiers aren’t as tough as those boards you put holes in. I’d rather have you be able to do things like that from a greater distance, but in a war you don’t always get what you want, and when you do, you’re just as likely to discover that getting your wish is often worse than not getting it.”
“Begging your pardon, sir…” offered Desyrk, “but why are we here, then?”
Quaeryt smiled. “There are a number of answers to your question, Undercaptain. The first and most important is very simple. Because Commander Skarpa is in charge, and he ordered us to be here. The second is because no one knows what we can do, and the commander wants to find out before we get into a massive battle. The third is to give you all some understanding of what happens in a fight, because for most of you, it’s not like you thought it would be.”
Desyrk nodded.
“Any other questions?” Quaeryt glanced around.
None of the undercaptains spoke.
“Then stand by.” Quaeryt walked past Desyrk and the mare and to the river side of the road, where he surveyed the troopers walking their mounts to the water. Upstream from where the horses were being watered a detail was filling water bottles. Quaeryt wasn’t about to fill his water bottle with river water. Instead, he’d imaged watered lager into it. Admittedly, what he had imaged was still poor lager, but it was better than his first attempts and far cleaner than river water.
The river itself was far narrower-less than fifty yards wide-and deeper than it was in the stretch between Cleblois and North Post, and the water ran more swiftly. That suggested to Quaeryt that the Bovarians had to have made a crossing, assuming that they had, even farther north, and perhaps even a day or two earlier.
Behind him, he could hear mutterings.
“… didn’t do anything this morning,” murmured Threkhyl, “just sat on his horse and ordered us around.”
“He saw what the decoys were before anyone else,” countered Shaelyt.
“Looking and seeing isn’t hard,” replied the ginger-bearded imager. “Wager that nothing was ever that hard for the subcommander. Not since he married Bhayar’s daughter, anyway.”
“Would you want to have Lord Bhayar always looking at you, Threkhyl?” asked Desyrk.
“Wouldn’t bother me none.”
“Then you’re stupider than you look,” said Shaelyt quietly.
“Who are you-”
“Enough!” snapped Voltyr. “Do you want your arms broken with the subcommander’s half-staff?”
“What by the Nameless do you mean?” asked Akoryt.
“I asked around,” said Voltyr. “He’s been in battles, a lot of them, with this battalion. He’s killed so many men with that staff that no one could count them, and he’s an obdurate. Just how long will you last if he decides you’re not worth the trouble to keep around?”
“He is a lost one, too,” added Shaelyt.
“You keep saying that. What does it matter?” asked Threkhyl.
“The lost ones are under the protection of Erion.”
Quaeryt decided that the undercaptains’ current conversation had continued quite long enough, and he turned and started back toward the circle of undercaptains and their mounts.
“You make him sound like some sort of god…” Threkhyl’s voice died away.
“Time to water mounts,” Quaeryt announced, moving into the circle and taking the mare’s reins from Desyrk, then leading the way down toward the river, following Zhelan’s last squad.
Once the undercaptains had their mounts watered and had returned to the road, Quaeryt left the mare with Desyrk again and walked forward until he saw Meinyt talking to a ranker, presumably a scout or outrider. He waited until the two were finished, then approached the major.
“Subcommander. I was about to come looking for you.”
“I thought I’d save you the trouble.”
“There are two battalions headed our way, according to the scouts. One of foot and one mounted. They’re less than two milles ahead.”
“What do you plan to do?” asked Quaeryt.
“Attack. What else? The ground south of us is so flat that we’d be at more of a disadvantage there. We can take a position on the heights just north of here.” Meinyt gestured toward the low ridge ahead on the east side of the road. “That way, if they try to get by, we can attack from above. They’ll be faced with a cavalry charge down on them, or they’ll have to come to us … or to try to go around us.”
Quaeryt glanced farther north, where the next ridge was even higher. “Why not the one farther north?”
“It’s too exposed and the ground leading to the road is too rough. If they take it, they’ll lose mounts trying to charge down on us, and they’ll wear out men climbing it. With us on the lower heights, I’m wagering that they’ll attack, especially if I only show their scouts two companies.”
“How will you do that?” Quaeryt didn’t see all that much cover.
“There’s a woods below the lower heights on the back side. There’s nothing like that on the northern ridge. That also gives us a way to withdraw if matters don’t go as planned. I’d prefer not to retreat, but…” Meinyt shrugged. “If it comes to that, it would give us the ability to attack in quick thrusts to slow them down while sending word back to the commander.”
“You’d rather try to inflict greater damage first, though?”
Meinyt nodded. “My men have fought recently. The Khellan War ended over two years ago, and I’d wager they have more men who’ve never seen battle.”
“Then we should see what we can do.” Quaeryt offered a smile.
Another two quints passed before the battalion finished watering mounts and re-formed on the ridge that Meinyt had selected. The two companies in plain view were first and third companies, while the forces concealed in the woods consisted of fourth company and the imager’s company. Quaeryt left Zhelan in charge and remained with Meinyt, insisting on that because he needed to see how the fight developed, at least in the beginning, in order to determine how and where to use the imagers and Zhelan’s men.
His initial plan was to have the imagers follow Zhelan’s regular troopers, because he felt that Meinyt would need every company he could muster and because the imagers would be safer in the rear than in remaining behind and largely unprotected on the ridge.
From the position of the sun, Quaeryt judged that it was slightly before the second glass of the afternoon when the first Bovarian outriders came around the gentle curve in the road that followed the course of the river. They immediately reined up, and one turned and galloped back north. Quaeryt could just make out a haze of dust farther north, which likely indicated the position of the main Bovarian body.
For the next quint, the outriders remained where they were, but the dust haze continued to move southward until a host of riders appeared on the road. The Bovarians moved to a point just below the larger northern ridge and then halted.
Another quint passed, and then a Telaryn trooper galloped up the ridge and reined in short of Meinyt. “Sir, there’s a troop of mounted circling around the east side of the large ridge there. It looks to be the size of a company.”
“Thank you. Head back where you can see them and let me know whether they’re going to attack on the flank or try to come up through the woods.”
“Yes, sir.”
Meinyt turned to Jusaph. “You may have to use two squads to keep them off us.”
“We could just use one, sir.”
“If the main body comes up the ridge at us, you’ll need two. If we attack them, you can use one.”
“Yes, sir.”
