Infinite Blue Heaven - A King and A Queen (27 page)

“Yes, Sire. There have been heavy losses but only those who could walk, or crawl back, have survived.”

I started shuffling towards the rear of the line of wounded, in the direction he pointed.

“Do we know about Kazangap?” I asked.

“Dead, we think.”

“Yedigei’s gone too. What are our losses?”

“Well. About 2,600. There are about three hundred wounded. About half of them won’t make it. Perhaps fifty or seventy could finght tomorrow.”
“God. Nearly three thousand men.”

I turned for one last look at the wall before we reached the shelter where the wounded were being treated. “We must keep that breach open until tomorrow but I don’t know how.”

As we entered the shelter, the stench of blood, thick and metallic, assaulted my senses. Some men tried to smile when they saw me but most were too badly hurt to care anymore. On a blanket, the Cook, now the chief surgeon was extracting an arrow blade from the stomach of a man. We both stood watching, waiting until he had finished. Finally, he wiped his hands on his apron and Sabitzan announced my presence.

“You are alive, Sire! We all thought you were dead!”

“I nearly was.”

“Sit down, sit down.” He shouted to two of his orderlies and they brought water and cloth.

“Sabitzan. Get the troops ready. I am not sure if we can wait until dawn. In the mean time we need to harry the Enemy. I want you to get about fifty spears-men together and instruct them to set up a shield wall perhaps ten sachine out from the breach. Then I want bowmen, in rotation, to go out there, and fire arrows into the breach. Keep a fire lit to one side of the shield wall and light the arrows. I am sure the enemy will soak the wood and also the wood they use to fix it but we must try anything.”

“But Sire! The catapults will slaughter our men.”

“No. I don’t think so. There are not more than four and they rarely use them. They take so long to reload. And I don’t think their range is so good. They only reached so far with those heads, because they were light. The rest of the time, their shot landed not far out. In any case, if they find the range and their mark, move your men around.”

“Yes Sire.” He strode off to give orders.

The Cook had finished inspecting my wounds.

“Hold still.” He had one of his orderlies hold my shoulder back and took a firm hold on the arrow. I gritted my teeth. I had felt the pain of this before and knew what to expect. He drew it out slowly, feeling for any obstruction, and with a nasty wrenching sound, it was out. I saw red in front of my eyes but then felt great relief.

“Not too much damage there.” He said. “Mainly hit muscle, gristle and bone. We’ll have to set the leg though. Broken in two places. This is going to really hurt.” He grinned at me.

His two orderlies gripped my leg.

“Wait. Haven’t you forgotten something?” I said.

“What?”

“Potka. And lots of it!”
“Oh what are you? A young cadet? Surely you don’t need something to kill the pain? An old soldier like you?”

“Damn right I do!”

“Oh alright. Get some.” Potka was brought by his orderly and and I downed as much as I could. My throat searing with the heat of the drink.

“Alright. Now!” I croaked.

They held my leg, I closed my eyes and I heard the sickening crunching sound. It seemed to go on for an age, before the Cook was satisfied with the position. Then as soon as he had finished he told me to wait while they did the other break.’

The pain was much more intense this time but the crack was short and sudden.

“Finished?”

“Yes.” Well just bind it for you. And the arm and the leg. The leg is nothing. Just a small cut.

Somebody handed me a jug of water and I drank it all, while my wounds were bound.

“There you go! Good as new!”

I stood up slowly testing the leg. They had put a splint down the side of the leg, inside the bandage and projecting below my foot. This took most of my weight and it felt considerably better to stand on, than before. I smiled.

“Thank you.”
I turned round to leave the tent and there was Edil’bai and Abutalip, behind me. At first I thought I saw a flicker of concern on their faces but then they were smiling at me.

“We heard you were around.”

“Ha.” I clapped both of them on the shoulders, one at a time, with my good hand.

Edil’bai, even younger than Yedigie, muscular with a moustache and beard already. His bright eyes shone as usual, eager for action. He was leading the remainder of Yedigei’s men and had been his Lieutenant so far in this campaign. Always close to Yedigei, I had had to demote him, effectively, giving his men to Lord Bulya to take north.

Lord Abutalip, shiny pated, stocky and with penetrating green eyes, his armour, as always polished to a mirror finish, revealing his pride, rather than vanity.

“So what’s the deal?” said Edil’bai.

“I have been thinking the last few minutes and I think we must attack, immediately. While there is still a breach in the wall. Where is Lord Abdil’khan, Sabitzan amd Geb?”

“I don’t know Sire, said Edil’bai.”

“Find them. Meet us at the front of the lines, on the rise.”

“Yes Sire.”

Abutalip and I crouched at the top of the mound. We could see fires on the parapets of the wall and beyond, perhaps on roofs. Occasionally a torch would be thrown down to the ground in front of the wall. Perhaps a wounded man was still moving and a Guard wanted to see what it was. There were a few small fires on the hillsides high above us too.

“The Enemy has men watching us. That is good. Less men to fight.”

Within minutes, Abdil’khan was brought by Yedigei, still chewing some meat and licking his lips.

The night was almost silent now, apart from the occasional moan from the battlefield or a cry or revelry or a barked order in Korim’s camp.

I spoke to all five Generals.

“We must attack soon. And we must attack with everything we have. It is not as I would have liked it. To attack at night is dangerous.”

“But…” All three interrupted me.

“It is madness!” yelled Abdil’khan. “We cannot fight in the dark!”

“Yes you may be right but we must harass the enemy. Most of all we must keep them from sealing that breach, if they haven’t already.”

“Each tenth man must have a tinderbox and some wood. We will march forwards to within bow-shot of the wall. The bowmen will then light small fires and fire arrows over the wall as well as at it. They will douse the wall so we cannot expect success there. But they cannot douse the whole camp. This should keep them occupied while we launch smaller attacks into the breach. I also want each of you to send men to round up horses. We want as many as we can get. Has anybody seen Arstan?”

“No. He must be with most of the others, grazing near our old camp,” said Abutalip.

“How shall we approach?” asked Lord Abdil Khan.

I looked at his blue eyes, under his lank dark hair, cascading down over his face under his helmet. He looked tired but still alert.

Lords Abdil’khan and Edil’bai. You will both take the flanks, Abdil’khan on the left.

Lord Sabitzan, you will take the Gate. Breach it if you can.

Lord Abutalip. You will take up station behind a shield-wall, ten-sachine from the breach and send in men in tens.

“Oh no! Not the left flank again.” said Lord Abdil’khan. It was a brave attempt at a joke.

“Sire, Sire” A man came running up to us. “Listen!”

We listened. At first none of us could hear anything unusual. Then we heard it, very faintly at first. It was the sound of men fighting somewhere in the distance. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the Fortress.

“Lord Bulya” I said.

“Bulya!” At first it was whispered, man to man, but the whisper grew into a roar. Then we could hear the trumpets of Bulya’s Army and ours answered.

“We must attack now! Korim will not be able to fight on two fronts.” I said. “Take your stations and in five minutes we march.”

Suddenly the men were behind me and ran off to order their troops. After five minutes I stood up and with the faint new moon gleaming off my sword blade, held high, I signaled the advance.

Over the rise we marched and once over I stood and waited for Abdil’klhan and Edil’bai’s columns to both pass me, one on each side. Both now had perhaps one hundred horsemen, the rest of the horses were scattered over the plains. These were all the horses we had left.

In moments I took up my position at the front of Lord Sabitzan’t unit, as we marched towards the Great Gate. Lord Abutalip, behind us, would soon pass us on the left and make for the breach, in support of Abdil’khan.

The going was bad, not least because of the grimness of the obsacles in our way. We slipped and stumbled on the blood of the dead bodies and tried not to look down. There were just too many. It made me feel sick and I felt an awful churning in my stomach at the thought that I had sent these men to their deaths.

A rain of arrows, some alight, flew towards the two units in front of us and then to our two rear units. At first it was not too bad and our losses were few, but soon, lit by the burning arrows in the ground, I could see, far ahead of us, Lord Abdil’khan’s unit come to a halt. They were crouching on the ground, with shields held above their heads. They looked pitiful as they tried to dodge the invisible death, whistling towards them. It was a curse to have to fight at night. The small fires dotted around showed us up and yet, we could not see enough of the enemy to take aim. We were really only acting as a distraction for Korim and, I noted, a very expensive distraction, for us. Soon Edil’bai’s unit was also halted, apart from his horsemen who had managed to reach the walls. There they charged up and down, hollering with all their might, curses at the Enemy. I noticed a small fire being lit beneath the walls, no doubt Edil’bai carrying out some cunning plan of his, and then I saw that he was trying to set light to the great Gates. Indeed, several arrows were soon in it and it was burning. For a while, those of us still out of bow-shot, watched, hoping that the flames would take hold and light up the doors. But they just withered and then went out. We were still just beyond bow-shot when I decided we had to do something different.

I held up my hands. “Halt! Pass the word along, Sabitzan. Make some fires and light the arrows now. As many as each man can. We will have to march into their range, with them lit, the other columns are not getting a chance to light fires.”

The order was passed along. The fires were lit, then the arrows and we marched into the line of fire.

“Hold your fire!” I shouted. We marched forwards still, arrows raining down on us, several clattering against my helmet and shield. Still I held up my arm. We needed to get close enough to fire over the walls. If we did this I thought, it would take more men to rush back and put out the flames, because it would be harder to get above the flames, on the various buildings in the compound. Also the men would then have to leave the walls.

We continued to march into the arrows and a cacophany of shouts from the enemy. My men were quiet now, grim faced but determined, and I looked to a bowmen, nearby, to see how much longer we could wait. He had five arrows lit and the arrows were badly charred now.

“Double time!” I shouted and we began to run. We had covered perhaps another three or four sachine and were close to the rear of both Edil’bai and Abdil’khan’s units when I dropped my arm.

“Fire!”

A fusilade of our arrows curved in a glorious fiery arc over the walls and into the enemy compound. We saw a few enemy heads pop up as they turned in surprise, to follow the flights of the arrows.

All our arrows were fired but still the enemy arrows came. We too had to stop and crouch down. Men falling around me like flies.

“Sabitszn crawled over to me, perhaps hoping I would give the order to retreat.”

We endured the hail of arrows for what seemed an eternity but was in all probability half an hour. Occasionally one of our men would dare to peer over his shield and would relay information about our comrades ahead.

“Abdil’khan has some men crawling near the wall. Oh. Some of them are hit. Edil’bai’s horsemen are all down now!”

I had to look for myself. I needed to stand up to get an overall picture, because the ground was very uneven here and the bodies on higher ground rose above my waist when I stood. Yes, Abdil’khan was in terrible trouble. He did indeed have a few men firing into the breach but all his horsemen were down and he was down to only perhaps one hundred men. Edil’bai was not faring much better. Some of his men had gathered around the body of Yedigei and were shielding it with a wall of high shields.

Suddenly, like a lull in a rainstorm, I noticed that the hissing noise was less. The arrows were coming less often. I peered over my shield and saw a heartening sight. I could see wisps of smoke and the ugly orange glow of fires within the compound.

“Fire in the Enemy camp!” I shouted.

A great cheer went up from the men.

From this moment on, the arrows raining down on us were few and, for the most part, our casualties were much less but we were still pinned down. As soon as anybody tried to stand or move. Perhaps twenty arrows would fly towards him. However, I guessed that not only were there now many less men on the walls but perhaps they were running short of arrows. I wondered if Meth and his men were still alive in there and if they could possibly get to the walls or the breach. We had heard nothing from them.