The campaign to relieve Coeranys had marked a new beginning for the Army of Anuire. They had driven the raiding gnous back into Chirnaeron and thereafter, the Army of Anuire became known throughout the empire as Roele’s Ghost Rangers for their seeming ability to be in two places almost at the same time.
Michael had employed halflings as long-range scouts and messengers, so that they could pass quickly through the Shadow World and deliver intelligence about enemy troop movements and raids by gnolls and goblins and depredations by the forces of the awnsheghlien, who took advantage of the empire’s instability, seeking to increase the size of their domains and pursuing bloodtheft with an unprecedented vengeance.
And with each new outbreak of violence, no matter where or how far away, Michael and his troops would be there to deal with it.
One day, Roele’s Ghost Rangers would be seen marching in Osoerde, and merely hours later, they would be engaged in Mhoried, two hundred miles distant. They would fight a battle with some of Arwyn’s forces on the plains of Alamie, then pass into the Shadow World and reappear the same day
to subdue Baruk-Azhik, over four hundred miles away. Stories of their exploits were at first greeted with disbelief, but in time, the facts became incontrovertible.
Magic was initially held to be responsible, but those who spread such tales were soon countered by those with some knowledge of the thaumaturgic arts, who pointed out that no living mage, regardless of how powerful, could summon up enough magic to transport an entire army.
In time, the only other possible explanation was accepted-the Ghost Rangers traveled through the Shadow World. And that was when the Army of Anuire began to acquire its fearsome reputation. Men brave enough-or crazy enough-to travel through the Shadow World were men to be feared.
It was a reputation that aided them in battle, Aedan thought, and it was far from undeserved, for quite aside from the risks involved in any military campaign, the Shadow World posed dangers of its own. Safety was certainly increased by their numbers, but they were still subject to attacks by the undead in the world between the worlds, or by the strange and lethal creatures who inhabited the misty plane. And now, after eight long years of hard campaigning to hold the empire together, the army had acquired a fine edge, like a sword forged by a master armorer.
The troops were now tough, seasoned campaigners, hard-bitten and weather-worn, and though the aging Lord Korven still served as their general, Emperor Michael now made all the decisions about strategy and tactics.
We’ve come a long way, Aedan thought as he rode behind his emperor through the gray and misty ?08 realm, but there is still much to be done. After eight years, though they had fought his forces many times, they had still not managed to subdue Lord Arwyn. Seaharrow was a virtually impregnable fortress, and over the years, Arwyn had established wellfortified garrisons on all approaches to his holding.
He did not travel through the Shadow World, but his army was just as strong and equally well trained, besides which, he had the tactical advantage. Michael had to protect the entire empire and respond to each outbreak that occurred throughout its borders. Arwyn had only to protect the Western Marches, most of which he had brought under his domain, and there was never any way of telling where or when his troops would strike.
Despite that, a great deal had been accomplished.
Save for occasional raids across the borders from Boeruine and Brosengae, the Heartlands had all been won back to the empire, as had most of the Eastern Marches. The Southern Coast had been secured, save for periodic outbreaks of fighting on the borders of Avanil and Brosengae. The Northern Marches of the empire and the territory still farther to the north remained wild outlands, and there had been no opportunity to campaign for the lands of far eastern Cerilia, where the Khinasi held sway in the south and awnsheghlien and other demihumans controlled the north.
In eight years, Michael had taken an empire that had been plunged into an interregnum and was disintegrating into warring states and brought most of it back together. All that remained now was to deal decisively with Arwyn of Boeruine. And that, of course, was much easier said than done. Boeruine
had always been one of the strongest duchies in the empire and Arwyn the empire’s greatest warlord.
His forces and the empire’s were fairly equally matched, and he had the advantage of terrain. All approaches to his holding at Seaharrow were covered by thick forest through which an army could not march without rendering itself vulnerable to destruction.
The only other approach, the one always taken by the court when it had traveled to summer in Seaharrow in the past-and that seemed so long ago now, thought Aedan-was the southern approach through Brosengae, through a narrow band of coastal plain about twenty miles wide between the southern tip of the Seamist Mountain range and the Straits of Aerele.
There were several small passes through the Seamist Mountains, but taking an army through them would be an invitation to disaster.
They would have been trapped like rats in a maze.
And attempting an invasion along the southern route, through Brosengae, entailed all sorts of knotty problems.
Arwyn was an experienced commander, and he had anticipated every possible
