Fortress Draconis (48 page)

Will’s eyes grew wide as Resolute extended the hair past him to Kerrigan.

Crow reached out and grabbed the Vorquelf’s wrist. “Hunter and warrior, yes, but assassin, Resolute?”

Resolute nodded slowly. “You, a man, have pledged to see my homeland liberated from Chytrine’s forces. I just want to be certain that when the time comes for me to return the favor, there will be one less obstacle in my way.”

Alyx and Peri wandered through the gardens of Fortress Gryps. In daylight, with her feathered sister beside her, it seemed quite different. The Okrans landscape seemed alive and Alyx found herself easily imagining that it would be so again once it had been liberated.

Still, in the back of her mouth she could taste the sharp bitterness of the wine Crow had fetched for her. His lesson had been perfectly on point, since the subsequent discussions about how Chytrine’s forces would be dealt with had completely marginalized her. With her grandfather’s agreement—as voiced by Tatyana—Alexia had been consigned to a group of advisors who would accompany Adrogans. The Alcidese General Caro would also be along on the expedition to direct his nation’s contingent. He and his Horse Guards would ship to Okrannel and take command of the force while awaiting Adrogans’ arrival. Alyx’s Wolves would nominally be under his command.

The Okrans troops joining the expedition included both cavalry and infantry. The Kingsmen heavy cavalry unit had a large contingent of nobles, while the foot soldiers were largely peasants. Considered “irregulars,” the infantry was regarded as untested and unreliable, though no one doubted their zeal to liberate their homeland. Their role would be as scouts and outriders and reserves, which almost certainly eliminated any serious participation in the sorts of battles for which Adrogans was famous.

Peri hopped up and perched on one of the stones matching a Svarskya tower. “But, in your grandfather’s eyes, this is the best outcome. You will be there for Okrannel’s liberation. You will take command of the nation and hold it against Chytrine.”

Alyx frowned. “You are telling me, then, that a gift of meat tastes better than something you have killed yourself?”

“Normally, no, but can you bring down the sort of game Adrogans can?” Peri cocked her head to the right. “I know you, my sister, and know that you could, easily. Others don’t want to trust you with the troops that would let you do it. He’s won that battle, which lets him fight the others.”

Alyx snarled and leaned heavily on the plinth Resolute and Crow had brought from Svarskya. “That’s the problem, Peri. I could liberate Okrannel with less troops than he will. He always demands too much, he is too cautious. He’s using a huge club to bash a tiny bunny.”

“It might seem that way, Princess, but what if that bunny is not so small?”

She turned as Peri slid off the stone. King Augustus had slipped into the gardens and gave her a gentle smile. “I do understand your frustration, Alyx. You doubtlessly could do more with less, but my peers have listened for two decades to stories of Adrogans’ skill. I’ve told such tales. While I tell better ones of you, the fact remains that you’ve led smaller groups. I would rank your successes as high, but I am seen as being biased since you have been working within my realm.”

Alyx nodded solemnly. “Highness, do not think for a moment that I fault you for my situation. Everything you say is true, and I accept that. What I do not accept is how Adrogans can be wasteful of men and materials. The supplies he has demanded for our forces would feed half again as many men. While having strong and well-fed soldiers is important, having so huge a supply train creates a tempting target for Chytrine’s forces. Given the rigors of traveling through the Okrans landscape, as well you proved in your campaign there, the only way to safeguard supplies would be to stretch his troops so thin that they could accomplish nothing when it comes to a battle.”

He opened his hands. “You have no argument from me on that front. I would much rather see you in command of the expedition, but this was not possible. In your position you are going to be able to study him.”

“I’ve already studied him.” She sighed audibly and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ve read all his reports of his battles. They are rife with sloppiness and wastefulness. If not for the sheer bulk of his troops and his good fortune at catching and wiping out smaller units, no one would even know his name. Stupid enemies do not brilliant generals betoken. There were better ways for him to have run and won every battle he’s fought. Most frustrating is the fact that he was so close to seeing the best choices, and yet he turned away from them—arrogantly dismissing most, or failing to mention the others. It’s all in his reports.”

The king’s eyes hardened. “I will not dispute that reading of him, either. The fact that you have seen these tendencies in him means you can curb them.”

Alyx snorted. “I doubt he will listen to me.”

“He will listen to General Caro, and Caro will listen to you. I have directed him to do exactly that, and to work with you to make sense prevail.” Augustus slowly shook his head. “In the Council we hammered together a workable plan, but it was hardly the best plan. No nation gave all it could to this effort, but held back in case of failures. Everyone hedged their bets and refused to believe there was a threat of Chytrine stealing the various pieces of the DragonCrown. It’s like snarling at the darkness to hope you scare off the wolf unseen. If the wolf is truly there, you know you are lost, and if it isn’t, you would have been safe anyway. Since they know they will be lost if she does put it back together, they refuse to contemplate that possibility.

“The best we could have done here was simple: provide Adrogans troops to free Okrannel. Provide Cavarre troops to reinforce Fortress Draconis. Provide you an army to drive into Aurolan.”

Peri blinked her big amber eyes. “Not liberate Vorquellyn?”

Augustus smiled. “I’d have suggested that as your first target, Alexia, and the elves would have demurred and raised their own force to do it.”

Alexia saw the logic in how Augustus would have played things. “You would have then offered our help to the elves, yes, and they would have offered us other troops to bolster our effort, thereby keeping us away from Vorquellyn?”

The king shrugged. “That might have worked, too. I was thinking that I’d reverse it, and hint that we didn’t need elves in your force, since we had the Gyrkyme.”

Peri’s crest came up. “And you would have let the elves dictate that we could not participate in exchange for elven help?”

Augustus held his hands up and palm-out open. “Soothe yourself, Perrine, I would not have shown such disrespect to your people. We would have crafted things so both could participate. With the urZrethi involved as well, all three of your peoples would have been pushed to excel.” The Gyrkyme let loose with a raptor’s shriek that dissolved into laughter. “It would have worked.”

Alyx grinned in spite of her nascent anger. “Keep that in mind, the both of you, for we may yet need to use it. The other element of the Okrans campaign that concerns me, Highness, is the opposition’s leader. She is now called Malarkex?”

The king nodded solemnly. “She was once Edamis Vilkaso, of Naliserro. She could have been you, or you her, both in coloration and history. She led some of the Nalisk cavalry and was accomplished in small-unit tactics. As you have suggested, in the Okrans landscape, this gives her an advantage. She was also very smart and recognized the importance of the dragonel. She captured the one Chytrine had at Fortress Draconis. Some stories—which Adrogans dismisses—suggest she has even put together a mounted unit of people equipped with draconettes. Our archers are thought to be better at range, but a volley of shots from these draconetteers can rip men apart.”

“What concerns me most is the apparent dismissal of Malarkex because she was only known for small-unit tactics.” Alyx frowned heavily. “And it is not because I am similarly dismissed. I can think of a hundred ways to bedevil the invasion force. Even if I only ascribe to her a tenth of those ideas, the fight for Okrannel will be brutal.”

Augustus nodded solemnly. “Alyx, I remember my battles in Okrannel. The campaign has been heralded as a grand victory, but you have read enough to know what it was. Yes, we stormed through the Ghost March and were able to unite refugee groups to escape Okrannel. The fact is, of course, that were I as successful there as many claim, you’d not be having to go off on this expedition.”

“At least you understand that.” She shook her head. “Too much of his plan is vague. Everyone has agreed that we will liberate Okrannel, but exactly how he plans to do that has not been discussed. It seems as if the campaign is being done more as a game than anything else. Game pieces do not bleed.”

“Caution, Princess, you know better than that.” Augustus shook his head. “He may not take to planning as you do, or he may not deign to share with you his planning process or both. You have to go, have to learn from him.”

Alyx narrowed her eyes. “Highness, forgive me. Frustration is not something I handle well. I see so much, but I don’t see an opportunity to share what I know. What I need to learn from Adrogans has been culled from his reports and his plans. He’s working with the traditional divisions of Okrannel into six duchies, which would be fine, but several are political divisions that only have value to exiled nobles. The Svoin Lakes Duchy straddles a huge lake and is split in half by it and rivers. From a military standpoint it is two distinct areas and to let the lake or rivers split an army will be suicidal. And the Bhayall lowlands that surround the Svoin Duchy, they actually break down into four tactical regions. Even the Crozt Duchy has two distinct parts and I’ve seen no intelligence to suggest Chytrine’s forces have rebuilt the Radooya Bridge, so the northernmost part of the peninsula might as well be an island.”

The smile growing on Augustus’ face earned a scowl from her. “What? What is it?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been lectured on Okrannel geography; and never by someone who has not really set foot in the country. That’s an observation, not a rebuke. What you are saying is accurate, and Caro knows this. This is why it will be important for you to be there.”

Peri keened a sharp laugh.

Alyx turned toward her. “What am I missing, sister?”

The Gyrkyme smoothed down over her breasts. “Just the reason we are being sent to Okrannel.”

“I don’t…” Alyx hesitated. “Oh …”

Augustus nodded as he rested hands on her shoulders. “That’s right. You see all these things. If Adrogans does not, he’ll be relieved of command. And I will not be alone in being happy that you are there to replace him.”

Topping the rise of the first hill west of Yslin, Alyx reined her horse around and looked back over the column slowly snaking from the Alcidese capital in the rain. General Adrogans had been kind enough to allow her Wolves to lead the way out of the city toward Okrannel. Alyx had ridden proudly, waving back at her grandfather’s sagging form as he watched from a Fortress Gryps balcony.

The city itself defied the rain, with strong walls and tall towers refusing to be softened despite the downpour and grey sky. The riders fared not so well, with gaily colored pennants dripping limply. Dark oilskins covered each soldier. Water oozed from hems and boots, or sprayed explosively when horses shook their heads. Muddy water surged up with each hooffall, dappling legs and boots.

Her heart had swelled as they rode out of the city. There was no way it could not have, for her countrymen—a generation removed from their homeland—cheered her and the Wolves and the Okrans Kingsmen heavy cavalry battalion. Small children ran along the streets, splashing through puddles, laughing and waving little black-and-gold flags. Within the Okrans community there seemed no doubt that the expedition would sweep the Aurolani forces from the country, and they would be free to return to estates that remained pristine in their memories or in the stories of elders.

Alyx had stopped to watch the column go past, thankful that distance had muted the cheers and the cold rain had chilled prideful fires. The simple fact of the matter was that there was nothing simple about the campaign that had been proposed. Nations from the western half of the continent would be sending troops directly up through Jerana to the Zhusk highlands, in the southeast corner of Okrannel. That little triangular portion of the nation had never been conquered—before the Aurolani invasion the Zhusks had always been fiercely independent and claimed to be an autonomous state. Frequently the King of Okrannel had to send punitive expeditions into the highlands to quell rebellions. Roughly a quarter of the expedition forces would make their way there by themselves.

Over half the troops that were going to be used were infantry, with a full regiment—the King’s Heavy Guards— coming from Alcida. Those troops, as well as some from Naliserro, Helurca, and the Okrans exiles, would have taken all but two months to travel the five hundred miles from Yslin to Okrannel on foot. That would have brought the invasion force into the Zhusk highlands at the start of the month of Snow. There they would have remained until spring.

A fleet had been organized to carry Caro’s cavalry, the infantry, and supplies to Okrannel. With the prevailing seasonal winds, the trip would take three days. No one expected trouble from the Wruonan pirates after their drubbing on Vilwan, but delays were worked into the planning anyway. The entire force would be delivered in eighteen days, and then every six days more supplies would be brought in.

Adrogans had seized on the ship shortage to order the cavalry elements to take the land route back to Okrannel. The cavalry would arrive at roughly the same time as the last of the infantry, saving the ships one round-trip. Alyx had argued that if a significant portion of the cavalry had shipped ahead, they could begin planning their actions, but the Jeranese general demurred. He said nothing of his distaste for traveling on the sea, but Alyx knew he was letting his fear get the better of him.

He wasn’t alone in that sort of thing. Tagothcha, theweirun of the Crescent Sea, had been an enemy when the last expedition against Chytrine had been launched a generation before. At first the warriors had tricked the spirit, then, at Svarskya, they had bribed him. She recalled dimly that King Scrainwood was said to have tossed his wedding band as an offering to the sea spirit, and that had been cited by some as the reason Tagothcha took his wife.