Arcolin pulled the man closer and whispered in his ear. “Torches on my signal.”
The double tap of understanding; he knew the signal would be passed to those with the flints. Moments crept by. Was that a squelching in the mud ahead? Breathing? That was certainly a human grunt, as someone stumbled or stubbed a toe. Now he could just sense movement, darker shades in the dark. He clapped his hands, once. Movement he had not been certain of seeing stopped.
In that moment of stillness, the torch bearers pulled oiled leather covers off the oil-soaked torches, snapped sparks onto them from flint and steel, and more than half the torches caught light, just as a yell from the stream side jerked his attention that way. But he was not fooled, nor were the veterans: as the torches flared, the enemy in front of them, eyes gleaming in the light, were clear to see. They wore dark cloaks, but glints through them suggested mail underneath. They wavered a moment, but a sharp command from the rear sent them forward, yelling. The front rank tore off their dark cloaks, threw them onto the bramble barrier and tried to run across it; Arcolin’s troops made short work of them, but those following did
not stop. The penetration was narrow; Arcolin peered into the rainsparkled darkness to estimate how many there were.
Behind him, he heard more fighting, across the camp. Burek’s voice, Devlin’s—apparently there the enemy had hit a wider front. In front, Stammel and the first two files were engaged at that one penetration, holding it back with ease. Arcolin signaled the torchbearers, who leaned their torchpoles out beyond the barrier—there he was, the enemy commander.
“I’m going out,” he said to Stammel. “Follow me!”
“Captain, are you—?” But that was as far as Stammel got before Arcolin was moving, catching the first two standing on the much-flattened bramble barrier by surprise with his longer sword. Behind, he heard the files coming, as he raced toward the gleam of the enemy commander’s helmet. The torchbearers almost caught up with him, so the light gave him just enough reflection to follow as the enemy commander turned and tried to slip away into the darkness.
“Look—!” came a shout from behind, just as someone rose from the darkness and lunged at him. Arcolin felt a blade scrape against the mail over his ribs and struck out with the buckler on his left hand. Nothing; the fellow had rolled aside. Arcolin whirled, searching in the uncertain light as Stammel and the others came up beside him.
“Got him!” someone said with satisfaction.
“I saw their commander,” Arcolin said to Stammel, half-ashamed now of the impulse that had sent him to chase the man. “I thought he was close enough to catch.”
“He might have been,” Stammel said. Neither of them mentioned the other possibility, that it was a planned ambush. They looked at the dead man in the torchlight. Arcolin took the narrow, wave-curved blade from his hand.
“Southern work. And those other two blades we found were south-coast. Could have been sailors’ blades.”
“Indeed, sir. Alured never got this far north and west, did he?”
“Not that I know. Siniava, maybe. These could be escapees from his army … but I think not.”
“Back to camp,” Arcolin said. They were scarce three hundred paces from it, and on the way back found no more enemy until they reached the barricade, with the bodies of those who’d attacked it. By then the hubbub on the far side had ended as well.
“Thirteen,” Burek said when he came to report. “They came up the slope pretty quietly, and laid cloaks over the brambles, then thought to scramble over, but we were ready.”
“Any guesses how many more?”
“About that many ran away downhill as soon as the torches lit. Might have been more behind them; I couldn’t see that far.”
“We killed ten on our side—they chose a narrow front and a column attack, just what this cohort knows how to handle. They fought competently, though it was the wrong formation for them. More than ten got away, when we went after them. Their commander, to my sorrow. None of our people killed or wounded—what about you?”
“One dead, two wounded, all first-years,” Burek said. “Gan ran out over the barrier—young idiot.”
“There’s always one,” Arcolin said, and caught a look from Stammel. Well, he deserved it.
“The wounded are Peli and Aris. Surgeon says Peli will be back on duty in two days; Aris will be out at least three.”
Arcolin winced. Novices were most at risk in their first battles; that’s why the cohorts went to war ten percent or more over strength, but it always hurt. And this was the first time he had been in complete command—he had chosen the contract, he had chosen the route and the camp and its defense. He pushed that away—commanders who could not accept risk were as dangerous to their people as those who ignored it. What his troops needed now was his approval.
“We came through this very well.” Arcolin cocked his head at Burek. “So—how do you like the way your command fights?”
“Very well. I’d heard, of course, but seeing it—it’s no wonder you were—are—considered one of the best companies in Aarenis.”
“Good. I’ll need a report from you—talk to Devlin if you’re uncertain—on the demeanor of each of the recruits on that side. Our tradition is that recruits may be promoted after their first battle; if they aren’t promoted after their second, we dismiss them. This wasn’t a full battle, but we’ll be promoting some of them anyway. I saw three on my side, for instance, who did extremely well.”
“Were the enemy as many as you were expecting?” Burek asked.
“Within the range, but enough to suggest outside aid,” Arcolin said. “An attack force of about forty—they probably left some behind—the
nearest villages would be not only under their control but stripped bare if they lived only on the land. And a competent commander.”
“So—now we look for the supply route?”
“Exactly.”
The rest of the night passed quietly; Arcolin checked with the surgeon and saw that both the wounded were sleeping under the influence of numbweed. The rain stopped sometime before dawn, though the clouds and ground mist impeded visibility almost as much. Arcolin looked at the obvious track the enemy had made going up and down the slope to the stream.
“Armor up,” he said to Burek, back at the tent. “We’re going to scout the stream, on horseback to save time, while the cohort breaks fast.”
They rode up to the road first, looking for traces, but rain after the attack had washed away any traces between the camp and the road.
“Do you think they came on foot?” Burek said. “To coordinate, covering more ground …”
Arcolin shook his head. “I think they came at least partway ahorse. I’m hoping to find some evidence, and perhaps the horses will help us.” At that moment, his mount lifted its head and pointed its ears to the right, toward the stream. “Like that,” Arcolin said. He felt his mount’s sides swell and tremble, precursor to a whinny. He tapped the horse on the neck. “Quiet, you.”
Burek’s horse was looking the same direction; Burek slipped off and clamped the horse’s nostrils. Far to the east, Arcolin heard a distant whinny, then others nearer, from the direction of the camp. “At least three horses,” Burek said. “No … four, five …”
Arcolin raised his brows. “Are you that keen of hearing?”
“No, Captain. I spent years on a horse farm. Someone over there has a mare, and walked her past a stallion … that was the first whinny. They wanted to find out where our horses were.”
“Well … they don’t know we’re here, then. That’s good.” Arcolin rode on, attending to his horse’s reactions and to the look of the ground. There … a pile of wet, rained-on horse droppings. And there—a round hole, another, that could have been made only by horses carrying riders in the mud. The trail to the stream showed clearly when they came to it. Rain could not disguise the hoof-chopped leaves, the place where horse after horse had skidded a little
on a steep downslope, creating a hillock at the bottom, the pock-marks of many hooves in the mud.
“Can you estimate how many?” Arcolin asked.
“Not more than a dozen, I think,” Burek said. He dismounted and looked more closely. “It’s muddled—they used this trail both ways, rode back over their tracks. Shod horses and barefoot both … this track’s distinctive, an unusual shoe. This … here’s a barefoot horse with a bad flare on the right fore. Much work in this muck and it’ll go lame.” He walked up and down the track while Arcolin held his horse, bending now and then to measure a track with his hand. When he came back he held a shoe, bent nails hanging from it.
“This one will definitely go lame if they don’t have a farrier,” he said. “I still think ten to twelve, and that they rode double on the way in—the few good tracks I could find pointing to the road were much deeper, even after the rain.” He put the horseshoe in his saddlebags and remounted. “The horses aren’t that good. By the hoofmarks, most have some problem. Bought cheap at a horse fair, I’m thinking, and overdue for hoof work.”
Arcolin reined around and they headed back for the road and camp. “I had no idea you were so knowledgeable about horses.”
“It’s why I tried a cavalry company first,” Burek said. “I thought my background would be useful there.”
“Why not horse breeding or training?” Arcolin asked.
“I didn’t want to stay in one place,” Burek said. “And besides—I also like swords and fighting.” They were up at the road by then. “I had the chance, sir … to stay, to become a horsemaster … but it would be the same thing the rest of my life, year after year. I had seen the local militia drilling, and later saw the armies come through, in the war against Siniava. Including this one.”
“Where was that?” Arcolin asked. “We covered a lot of ground that last year.”
“Andressat,” Burek said. “That’s why the Count made complaint of me, I’m sure, when I was sent back there with troops he’d hired. I’d hoped he wouldn’t recognize me as a man grown, but he did, or someone else did, and told him.”
Arcolin had hoped Burek would mention Andressat and clear up that mystery; he had not expected this. “You were a horsemaster’s son?”
Burek nodded. “Though there were rumors, my looks being different than my father’s. At any rate, I grew up in the stables and fields of Andressat’s stud. As I grew older, the Count approved my work and named me successor to my father. The other prentices said it was only because my father was not my real father, and said things about my mother—and then there was a fight, and I was punished for it. So I ran off for a few days, and when I went back, the Count declared me outlaw and I left forever.”
“Are you angry with him?” Arcolin asked.
“Not anymore. At the time—I was sixteen perhaps—I thought it was unfair and hated him heartily, but he did me a greater favor than he knew and I’m grateful for it now. I like horses and I know a lot about them, but I found my true calling when I left.”
Arcolin looked at him. “Did you ever see your family again?”
“No. My duties with Golden Company sent me nowhere near the stud, and I was still hoping to go unnoticed. I sent messages—twice—but with no answer. Likely they were glad to be quit of me. My father never understood wanting to swing a sword.”
The camp was in sight now, busy and orderly, the thorn barrier repaired, sentries in their daytime locations.
“We have a choice,” Arcolin said. “We can spend the day pursuing them—though they have a good lead and know the ground better than we do—or we can move on and see what the next village tells us. Or we can sit here, as if planning to stay awhile. What would you do?”
As Arcolin expected, Burek was able to lay out reasons for and against each choice. “I don’t think I’d pursue them,” he said finally. “Too much chance of ambush, and on ground they know, they can move faster than we can. Staying—they’ll move away, won’t they?”
“They may move some of their force away, but they’ll need to keep an eye on us,” Arcolin said. “What I would worry about, given their use of poison so far, is whether they have the means to poison the water. We hurt them; that makes some men hot for revenge.” They had come to the camp entrance by then. Arcolin dismounted and led his horse to the horse lines. Burek followed, handed the roan to one of the grooms then went to see his other mount. It whuffled at him and he leaned to check the gash on its chest then breathed into its nostrils.
“So we move?” Burek asked on the way back to their tent.
“Yes,” Arcolin said. “After the promotion assembly.”
The newly promoted privates fairly glowed with pride—they were the ones actually engaged against the enemy—and the remaining recruits looked ready to attack any number of troops if only they could earn promotion. Arcolin glanced back as he led the cohort away from the camp, well pleased with their appearance. It still felt strange to have no one over him—no Kieri Phelan to approve what he had done, or correct his errors. It felt strange to have no other cohorts, too. He imagined himself coming down next year with another cohort to join this one, perhaps Cracolnya’s, to give him archery support.
The day brightened as the morning wore on, clouds lifting and thinning. The scouts reported nothing alarming; the next village, as they neared it, looked placid enough. His horse pricked its ears, and mules brayed ahead. Mules? The peasants here did not use mules, but oxen, in their fields.
In the village, he found two wagons blocking the way. Four armed men stood before them, obviously frightened but determined, a motley group with a tall skinny black-haired man on one end. Behind them, an obvious merchant and someone who might be an assistant or family member.
“Who are you?” one of the armed men said.
“Duke Phelan’s Company,” Arcolin said. “Hired by Cortes Vonja to restore peace to the countryside. And you?”
“A merchant of the Guild,” the merchant said, coming forward. “How many are you? Enough to lend us escort on the way to Cortes Vonja?”
“No,” Arcolin said. “That is not our contract. However, we fought off a brigand attack last night, and you should have fewer problems on the way north than before.” He looked the merchant, his guards, and his wagons over carefully. What was a Guild merchant doing out here, so far from major transport routes? “Where are you from?”