Resurrected Soldiers: The Tyrus Chronicle - Book Three (19 page)

CHAPTER 19

We won. Handily.

Through the efforts of Paroh, Dekar, and Hamath’s units, as well as the discipline of the rest of the army, the Geneshans never held the upper hand, though they made a good effort to gain it. We discovered that they had attempted to send several units to infiltrate our camp just as I had sent out units into theirs. However, the groups actually crossed each other on the way to the other side with my men winning out.

Molak-be-damned, I was proud of them and later told them as much.

I made a decision and gave no quarter. I got a couple stares from that order, but I didn’t falter in my decision. I was only surprised at how easy it was to make that choice.

In years past, I may not have been so harsh with my judgment, but we did not have the resources to take prisoners, and I wasn’t about to release enemy soldiers only to face them again later.

Admittedly, I also had a personal hatred, worse than ever for the Geneshans. Lasha died while I was stuck fighting them the first time. They had destroyed my country with their artifact. Now that they were attempting to take what was left of Turine, they had taken me from my family yet again. When thinking of all that I had lost, I no longer was surprised at the ease of my decision. Briefly, I wondered if I was no different than Hamath for such an attitude. I decided quickly that the situations were not comparable at all.

Despite victory, we suffered our own losses, more than four hundred soldiers. In comparison to the enemy, our casualties were small. In the long term, knowing we had larger forces to face in the future, our losses seemed ten times as significant. This was especially true when we factored in the wounded, some of which wouldn’t be able to really contribute again despite every effort by the healers and cutters.

As cold as it sounded, transporting our injured was one more logistical problem I had to consider as we advanced toward Hol and I didn’t like it.

The injured began to dominate my thoughts as I approached the infirmary with Reuma at my side. Her anxiousness didn’t help matters. Not that I could fault her since Ira was among those being tended to. About twenty-five paces from the entrance, I took a deep breath.

I had hoped that by doing so I might not catch the smell and better prepare myself for what lay ahead. But the wind shifted, sending a gust of death, blood, and open wounds my way. I wanted to gag, or better, turn around and leave.

But I didn’t.

The men who took wounds, did so while under my command. For their losses, the least I could do was deal with a bad smell and my own sense of dread.

“You all right?” asked Reuma.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I finally answered.

I grit my teeth and pushed on, once more jangling my ankle chains with each step. Balak had not made my reprieve from them a permanent one.

Reuma fell in beside me. I could tell she wanted to push the pace in order to get to Ira, but she also didn’t want to just go off without me either. The fact that Dekar had sent her to report to me after the day’s battle rather than report himself, worried me.

I pushed the tent flap aside and the wall of smells and sound struck me like the wind from moments before could never duplicate. Cutters and healers bustled among patients—sawing, stitching, strapping down, bandaging, or using sorcery. The men I had gotten to help Noam seemed fully integrated into the crew. Despite their hard work, it looked as though another two dozen would better staff the place.

I made a mental note to see about that.

I made my way through the tent, ignoring the shiver that wanted to crawl up my back from each moan of pain. I stopped at each conscious man who had already been treated to thank him for his actions and wish him well. At times I felt like a fool for saying the words, especially in the instances where a man had lost a limb. No amount of thanks would make up for that, and I knew it.

I was glad they did not bring up that point. I must have looked as upset and sincere as I felt because each man thanked me in turn for my words.

Amazing. What could you say to something like that?

Reuma led me to the back of the tent where Ira lay. I could have found him on my own though. His cursing at Dekar rose above most of the other sounds running through the tent.

“Ty, will you tell him to quit fussing over me?” Ira asked as I walked up. “Worse than our mother used to be.”

“I’m not fussing, you idiot. I just want to make sure you’re all right.”

“I’m fine,” he said, wincing as he adjusted himself. Reuma helped him, and they exchanged a look of tenderness. His hand went to his bandaged right side. “Or will be by tomorrow according to Noam.” He addressed Dekar again. “By Prax, I’ve been worse off than this before. What’s gotten into you?”

Dekar said nothing. I’m not sure he had to. The concern was plain to see.

I said. “He just wants to make sure you live long enough to pay off the debt you owe me from two nights ago.”

Ira chuckled, then winced while holding his side again, which only made him grin wider. “Oh, I’ll live. But I ain’t paying nothing. You’re going to owe me twice as much when all is said and done.”

“We’ll see. Reuma, make sure Ira gets some rest tonight.”

She grinned. “Yes, sir.”

“C’mon, Dekar. I need you outside for a minute.”

Outside, about a hundred yards from the infirmary, I faced him. “Talk to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb. What’s going on? Why’d you send Reuma to report to me? And why were you bent on not leaving Ira?”

“I thought that was obvious. He’s injured.”

“As he said, he’s been injured before.”

Dekar shook his head.

“Molak-be-damned, Dekar, just spit it out.”

“Remember how you told Reuma and Ira to keep an eye out for Boaz?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, they did. Boaz was doing well, but just got a bit careless. Reuma had to jump in and save him. She got a bit overwhelmed, and Ira ran in to back her up. That’s how he got the wound.”

“That happens. I bet Boaz will do better next time.”

“I’m sure he will. He’s picking things up quick.”

“Then what’s got you up in arms?”

“I’ve never seen Ira jump in so recklessly. My brother has always been the joker and acts like he doesn’t take things seriously, but you and I both know he’s focused when he needs to be and does things the right way. But when he saw Reuma in trouble, it was like all that went out the window.”

I understood now. “So you think that Ira is going to get himself killed because anytime Reuma’s in trouble he’ll just throw himself carelessly in front of the danger to save her.”

“I don’t think it’ll happen Tyrus. It already happened.”

I grunted. “You want me to take her off your unit?”

“I can’t ask that. Ira would kill me. And honestly, I don’t want her off my unit. She’s too good.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know. But I refuse to watch him die.”

* * *

“Things just don’t look good, sir,” I ended my report to Balak on the state of our forces.

He grunted while staring at the map before him. He had barely looked at me since I entered the tent, just listening as I summarized the battle.

I waited for a moment. “Sir?”

“I heard you, Tyrus. You’re too focused on the negative. You did even better than I expected you’d do. We’re in good shape.”

“But the losses . . .”

“Are unfortunate, but they would have been much higher with someone else in charge. Besides, by tomorrow that problem will be remedied.”

I frowned. “How?”

He looked up finally. “We’ll meet reinforcements in the afternoon here.”

I looked where he pointed. “There’s nothing there, or anywhere in the area.”

“There is, I just didn’t mark it.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t want the hope of larger numbers affecting how you trained the men. Now with a larger force you’ll be able to do much more.”

I gritted my teeth, angry at the deception. “How many more are you talking about?

“Three thousand.”

My mouth dropped. Then my anger got the best of me. “Three thousand!” I shouted.

“Calm down,” Balak glared.

“Three thousand men? That force is larger than what we started with. We’re reinforcing them, not the other way around.”

“Quit being so melodramatic. I might even be able to bring in a bit more when all is said and done, but don’t hold your breath. Regardless, we should have at least five thousand soldiers ready to take Hol.”

“We could have used those men today. Our losses might have been even fewer. Gods, the Geneshans might have refrained from even engaging us.”

“Which was my worry. Just as we would have built our strength by waiting, so would they have built theirs. They have forces nearby here, here, and here. We needed to eliminate the group we faced today, and you did just that.”

I shook my head, not sure I bought into that philosophy. Arguing about it now wouldn’t do any good. “Where did you even get three thousand men from?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I want to hear it.”

“It isn’t impor—”

“I want to hear it. Where did they come from? Who’s commanding them? How’d they get here? What is their makeup?”

“You can learn all that tomorrow and—”

“General, quit being difficult and secretive about everything. It’s just you and me. If you want me to command, then this isn’t something to keep from me.”

He worked his jaw. “All right. Immediately after the war, the king decided to send the entire twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth regiments east to Noval.”

I raised an eyebrow. “We never had a twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth regiment.”

“Not with the main host. They were stationed in Hol, mostly new recruits being held back to guard the capital in case we suffered another setback like Wadlow Hill.”

“How come I never heard about them?”

“Because you didn’t need to know about them. After the war, with the Geneshans culled, and a seasoned army at his disposal, the king wanted to do some expanding himself, so he ordered the regiments east to fortify our borders. How Noval responded to those fortifications, would determine what he did with the rest of the army.”

“So he was planning another war?”

“Starting to. I hinted at that when I dismissed you, if you remember.”

“I don’t get it. Why would the king bother discharging any of the army at all if he wanted to keep fighting?”

“Because he really didn’t have a good excuse to go to war with Noval. He was hoping Noval would show aggression to the three thousand he sent east. That would better justify keeping the main army together. Plus, it wouldn’t take nearly the resources to fight Noval as it did the Geneshan Empire. He thought that by sending some of the army home, he’d win favor with the populace and the soldiers.”

“He should have told Damanhur that.”

Balak’s eyes grew dark. “Yes.”

An uncomfortable silence followed. I had to admit, it was good to see him still so angry at their mistreatment of us, even if he had gone overboard in handling it.

He cleared his throat. “These men are all well-trained, but they are all green with the exception of their officers.”

My mind was already working on how to fold in three thousand new faces. It was a problem much nicer than the one I’d had minutes before.

“Three thousand,” I said under my breath.

He nodded.

A thought struck me. “How did they all survive? It seems that like your force, or everywhere else, there would have been a natural attrition after the eruption.”

“Well, by the time the artifact erupted, they were already at the Noval border, farther out than most from Hol. Also, these regiments are unique in that over five hundred men among them have either a full or partial resistance against sorcery. It made it far easier for them to recover against any of the artifact’s effects.”

My eyes bulged. “Why so many with a resistance concentrated in one area? We could have used more of them during the war before it had ended.”

“I know. I tried to obtain them. But the king was paranoid about the Geneshans and wanted the soldiers to help the city survive against sorcery if the Geneshans pushed inland. Oddly enough, if the king had kept those forces around Hol when the artifact erupted, some in Hol might have survived.”

“Last question,” I said. “Why are they coming?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why would they join forces with us? And more importantly, why would their officers surrender command to me when they have the greater numbers?

“Because I said so,” Balak grinned. “Their commander recognizes me as the leader of all of Turine’s armies, and he understands I’m the best chance for this country’s survival.”

The look he held said he was probably hiding something from me. If he was, he wouldn’t tell me. If he wasn’t, I’d only get on his bad side for nothing.

I had to let the whys go and look at the positive news of more than doubling my fighting force. However, as usual, the positive only lasted so long.

Sorry Zadok, I thought to myself, your old man just can’t stop worrying about something new. I smiled briefly at the thought.

I missed my kids constantly.

* * *

Situated in such a way that the smoke would not blow back toward camp, the bonfires burned brightly in the night just outside of our camp. The walk was a pain with chains around my ankles again, yet I made it anyway.

My post-battle ritual was one I couldn’t ignore. Many dealt with losses differently, some drowning in a bottle, others reminiscing, some praying. I went to the fires and thought of the sacrifices and lost lives. I told people I never knew, and often never met, thank you and good-bye.

I stood for some time near the center bonfire, as near as I dared go with the heat and smell, watching morbidly as the flames ate away clothes and flesh. By morning, all that would be left was bone. We’d bury the remains before leaving.

Over four hundred men died under my command. Even in victory, that was a hard thing to bear. Of those four hundred, I knew that not all were what many might call good men, but today they had been soldiers, fighting for their brethren as well as their lives.