Read Shattered Shields - eARC Online
Authors: Jennifer Brozek,Bryan Thomas Schmidt
“We need to get out of here!” someone yelled.
“How? Which way? They’re all over—!”
“Luden!” Esker shouted over the din. “WHERE?”
He saw other glances flicking to him and away as the fight raged. They were waiting—waiting for him to make a decision.
What
decision? He was only a squire, he couldn’t—but he had to: he was Fallo here. “BACK!” he yelled. “Take word back—warn them! Follow me!”
He put his spurs to Sarky, forcing his way between the others to the east end of the group. Twice he fended off attacks, and once he pushed past a wounded trooper to run his sword into one of the enemy. When he reached the far end of the group, he yelled “Follow me!” again and charged ahead, into a line three deep of enemy riders. Sarky crashed into one of the horses; it slipped, fell, and opened a gap.
For a terrifying time that seemed to last forever, Luden found himself fending off swords, daggers, a short lance, hands grabbing for him, trying to keep himself and his mount alive. He felt blows on his back, his arms, his legs; he could not think but only fight, hitting as hard as he could anything—man or horse—that came close enough. The noise—he had never imagined such noise—the screaming of men and horses, the clash of swords. Someone grabbed his shield, tried to pull him off the saddle; he hacked at the man’s wrist with his sword; blood spurted out as the man’s hand dropped away.
Always, the stallion pushed on, biting and striking, and behind him now he heard the Ganarrion troopers. One last horseman stood in his way; he felt Sarky’s sides swell, and the stallion let out a challenging scream; that rider’s mount whirled and bolted.
“
Kerestra!
” Luden said. Home. Despite his wounds, the stallion surged into a gallop. Behind, more yells and screams and a thunder of hooves that shook the ground. Luden dared a glance back. Behind him were the red and gray surcoats of Ganarrion’s troop—more than half of them—and behind them the green and black of Immer’s. How far could they run, how far could Sarky run, with blood flowing from a gash on his shoulder, with thick curds of sweat on his neck?
Ganarrion’s troops had the faster horses, and opened a lead, but Sarky slowed, laboring. Esker rode up beside Luden. “Only a little farther, and we can give your mount a rest. Were you wounded?”
“I don’t think so,” Luden said. “I was hit, but it doesn’t hurt.”
“We’ll see when we stop. Where do we go from here?”
“Straight back to Fallo. Tell the first troops we see that Immer’s on the way.”
“I thank you for the warning,” Esker said. “And more, for getting us out of that.”
“It was mostly Sarky,” Luden said. The stallion flicked an ear back at his name.
One of the troopers in the rear yelled something Luden did not understand; Esker did. “They’ve halted and turned away,” he said. “They may come on later, but it’s safe to slow now as soon as they’re out of sight. But it’s your command.”
“Mine?” Luden looked at Esker.
“Of course, sir—young lord—I mean. Captain and sergeant are dead; you’re the only person of rank. And you got us out of that.”
“Then…can we slow down now?”
Esker looked ahead and behind. “I’d say up there, young lord, just over that rise. Shall I post a lookout there?”
“Yes,” Luden said, wishing he’d thought of that. By the time they cleared the rise, the old stallion had slowed to an uneven trot. The troop surrounded them as the stallion stood, sides heaving.
“By all the gods, young lord, I thought we were done for!” said one of the men. “Esker told me what you said. I didn’t believe it until it happened.”
“Kellin, see to his horse. That’s a nasty shoulder wound. Hrondar, we need a watch over the rise,” Esker said.
Luden slid off the stallion; his legs almost gave way. The smell of blood, the sight of it on so many, men and horses both. Several of the men were already binding up wounds.
“You are bleeding,” Esker said to him. “Here, let me see.” He slit Luden’s sleeve with his dagger, and there was a gash. Luden looked at it then looked away. “That needs a battle-surgeon,” Esker said. “But we can stop the bleeding at least. Sit down. Yes, right down on the ground.”
He called one of the other men over; for a few moments, Luden struggled to keep from making a noise. Now that he was sitting down, his arm throbbing, he felt other injuries. Esker looked him over, pronounced most of them minor, though two would need a surgeon’s care, and offered a water bottle. Luden remembered that his was on the saddle of the horse that had fallen under him. Also that he’d had no breakfast and the loaf in his saddlebag was as distant and unobtainable as his own water bottle. Around him now, the troopers were eating.
“Here,” Esker said, tearing off a piece of his own. “Eat this—too bad you lost the one the captain gave you—honey would be good for you about now.”
“It was poisoned,” Luden said. He bit off a hunk of roll.
“How do you know that?”
“The letter I saw, with Immer’s seal. It wasn’t just the ambush. He was also supposed to bring a member of Fall’s family for them to take back to Cortes Immer.”
“You—but he said you were a nuisance he had to bring along.”
Luden shrugged. That hurt; he took another bite of bread. The longer he sat, the more he hurt, though bread and water cleared his head. He looked around. Kellin had smeared some greenish salve on Sarky’s wounds. “Give me a hand,” he said, reaching up.
Esker put a hand down, and Luden stood.
“How long do the horses need to rest?” Luden asked.
Esker stared at him a moment. “You don’t want to camp here?”
“We don’t know where they are. They could be circling round, out of our sight. We need to move—” He stopped. Sarky’s head had come up, ears pricked toward the east. Other horses stared the same way.
“Tir’s gut, we didn’t need this,” Esker said.
A shrill whistle from the west, from the lookout on the rise; Luden tensed. Esker grinned. “It’s our folk,” he said.
“Our folk?”
“Ganarrion.” He leaned closer. “Your command, young lord, but we’d look better mounted and moving. Even slowly.”
“I’ll need a leg up,” Luden said, then, “Mount up! We’ll go to meet them.” Esker helped him into the saddle; the others mounted, and the lookout in the rear trotted up to join them. Luden’s head swam for a moment, but he nudged Sarky into a walk; the troop formed up behind him.
In moments, he could see the banner, larger than the one his own cohort carried: Ganarrion himself was with them. Behind Ganarrion’s company came another, Count Vladi’s black banner in the lead. Ganarrion rode directly to Luden.
“Boy! What happened? Where’s Captain Madrelar?”
Luden stiffened at the tone. “Madrelar’s dead. He led us into ambush.”
“WHAT?” Ganarrion’s bellow echoed off the nearest hill.
“We were led into ambush; the enemy shot Madrelar, and we’re all that fought free.”
Ganarrion sat his horse as if stunned, then turned to his own company. “Sergeant Daesk, scouts out all sides, expect enemy contact. Cargin, fetch the surgeon; we have wounded.” Then, to Luden he said, “You’re Luden Fall, is that right? Prosso’s son?”
“Yes, sir,” Luden said.
“The duke told me to look for you. And that horse—if I’m not mistaken, that’s one of the duke’s horses, stolen a while back. And, no bridle? How did you—or I suppose the troop surrounded you?”
“No, my lord,” Esker said. “Lord Fall warned us of the ambush then led us out, fighting all the way.”
Lord
Fall? He was no lord; he was barely a squire.
“Barely a squire,” Esker continued, echoing Luden’s thought, “but he took command when Madrelar and Pastak died, and led the charge that broke us out.”
“And it was treachery?”
“Yes.”
Ganarrion chewed his mustache for a long moment, staring at Luden then nodded. “Thank you, Esker.” He gave a short bow. “Lord Fall, with your permission, I will relieve you of command. You and your mount are both in need of a surgeon’s care, and I have need of those of your troop who are still fit to fight. Will you release them to me?”
Luden bowed in his turn; his vision darkened as he pushed himself erect again. “Certainly, Lord Ganarrion. As you wish.” Then the dark closed in.
* * *
He woke in a tent with lamps already lit. When he tried to move, he could scarcely shift one limb, and he hurt all over. The memory of Immer’s letter came first, and for one terrifying moment he thought he lay bound, already on his way to the dungeons of Cortes Immer. Then he heard voices he knew—Sofi Ganarrion, Count Vladi, Esker. The events of the day reappeared in memory, hazy as if seen through smoke.
“It’s unusual, certainly,” Count Vladi was saying. “But I remember a certain young squire dancing with death when I was a captain in Kostandan.…”
Ganarrion grunted. “I was young and foolish then.”
“And brave and more capable than anyone expected. This lad was not foolish, for what other choices did he have? We shall have much to tell Duke Fall when we return.”
* * *
Luden stood before the Duke of Fall, when he was again fit to ride and fight. Behind him were the men of Ganarrion’s company; Sofi Ganarrion stood on his sword-side and his own father on his heart-side.
“Victory is sweet,” the old man said, “but honor is bread and meat to the soul. Those who have both, even once in their lives, are fortunate beyond all riches. You
won
your spurs, Luden; I cannot give them to you. Let us say I found something of mine that I am too old to use, that might be of service to you.”
He opened the box on the table between them and turned it around to show Luden. The spurs within were old, the straps burnished with wear. Luden’s breath caught. The duke’s own spurs? He didn’t deserve—
“Men died, my lord,” is what came out of his mouth before he could stop it. “Life was enough reward.”
Duke Fall nodded. “You are right, nephew. And it is as much for your understanding as for your courage that these spurs are now yours. We will speak more later; for now, let your sponsors perform their duties.”
His father and Sofi Ganarrion stepped forward, each taking a spur, then knelt beside him, fastening them to his boots.
BIOGRAPHIES
Jennifer Brozek
is an award-winning editor, game designer, and author. Winner of the Australian Shadows Award for best edited publication, Jennifer has edited twelve anthologies with more on the way. Author of
In a Gilded Light
,
The Lady of Seeking in the City of Waiting
,
Industry Talk
, and the
Karen Wilson Chronicles
, she has more than fifty published short stories.
Jennifer also is a freelance author for numerous RPG companies. Winner of both the Origins and the ENnie awards, her contributions to RPG sourcebooks and fiction include Dragonlance™, BattleTech™, and Shadowrun™. Jennifer is also the author of the YA BattleTech™ novel,
The Nellus Academy Incident
.
When she is not writing her heart out, she is gallivanting around the Pacific Northwest in its wonderfully mercurial weather. Jennifer is an active member of SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. Read more about her at www.jenniferbrozek.com or follow her on Twitter at @JenniferBrozek.
Bryan Thomas Schmidt
is an author and editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His debut novel,
The Worker Prince,
received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases for 2011. His short stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online. In addition to
Shattered Shields
, he edited the anthologies
Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6
,
Beyond The Sun,
and
Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age
. He hosts #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer’s Chat) on Twitter as @BryanThomasS.
Robin Wayne Bailey
is the author of numerous novels, including the bestselling Dragonkin series, the Frost saga,
Shadowdance,
and the Fritz Leiber-inspired
Swords Against the Shadowland
. He’s written over one hundred short stories, many of which are included in his two collections,
Turn Left To Tomorrow
and
The Fantastikon: Tales of Wonder
. He is a former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and was a 2008 Nebula Award nominee. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri. His story for us is from his
Frost
universe.
Annie Bellet
is the author of the
Pyrrh Considerable Crimes Division
and the
Gryphonpike Chronicles
series. She holds a BA in English and a BA in Medieval Studies and thus can speak a smattering of useful languages such as Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Welsh. Her short fiction is available in over two dozen magazines, collections, and anthologies. Her interests besides writing include rock climbing, reading, horseback riding, video games, comic books, tabletop RPGs and many other nerdy pursuits. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and a very demanding Bengal cat.
Glen Cook
was born in New York City, lived in southern Indiana as a small child, then grew up in Northern California. After high school he served in the U.S. Navy and attended the University of Missouri. He worked for General Motors for thirty-three years, retiring some years ago. He started writing short stories in seventh grade, had several published in a high school literary magazine. He began writing with malicious intent to publish in 1968, eventually producing fifty-one books and a number of short fiction pieces.
He met his wife of forty-three years while attending the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1970. He has three sons (army officer, architect, orchestral musician) and numerous grandchildren, all of whom but one are female. He is best known for his
Black Company
series, which has appeared in twenty-plus languages worldwide. His latest work is
Working God’s Mischief
, fourth in the
Instrumentalities of the Night
series. His story for us is a
Black Company
tale.
Larry Correia
is the
New York Times
bestselling author of the
Monster Hunter International
series, the Audie Award-winning
Grimnoir Chronicles
trilogy, and the
Dead Six
military thrillers for Baen Books, as well as several novellas and novels set in the
Iron Kingdoms
for Privateer Press’s Warmachine game. A former accountant, firearms instructor, machine-gun dealer, and military contractor, Larry is now a full-time author and lives in the mountains of northern Utah with his wife and children. “Keeper of Names” is the first story from the setting that will be featured in an upcoming epic fantasy series from Baen Books by Larry Correia.
David Farland
is a
New York Times
bestselling author with over fifty novel-length works to his credit. His latest novel,
Nightingale
, won the International Book Award for Best Young Adult Novel, the Next Gen Award, the Global E-Book Award, and the Hollywood Book Festival Award for Best Novel of the Year. Dave is currently finishing the last book in his popular
Runelords
series, and there will be no sequels. But this tale is set hundreds of years before the tales told in the
Runelords
, and is part of a prequel series. Enjoy!
Nancy Fulda
is a Hugo and Nebula Nominee, a Phobos Award winner, and a Vera Hinckley Mayhew Award recipient. She is the first (and so far only) female recipient of the Jim Baen Memorial Award. She has been a featured writer at
Apex Online
, a guest on the Writing Excuses podcast, and is a regular attendee of the Villa Diodati Writers’ Workshop. Visit her website at www.nancyfulda.com.
John R. Fultz
lives in the North Bay area of California but is originally from Kentucky. His Books of the Shaper trilogy includes
Seven Princes
,
Seven Kings
, and
Seven Sorcerers
, available everywhere from Orbit Books. His short story collection,
The Revelations of Zang
, features the adventures of Artifice the Quill and Taizo of Narr. John’s work has appeared in
Weird Tales
,
Black Gate
,
Space & Time
,
Lightspeed
, and the anthologies
Way of the Wizard, Cthulhu’s Reign, Other Worlds Than These, The Book of Cthulhu II
, and
Deepest, Darkest Eden: New Tales of Hyperborea
. He keeps a virtual sanctuary at www.johnrfultz.com.
Dave Gross
is the author of more than ten novels in settings from the
Forgotten Realms
to
Pathfinder Tales
to the
Iron Kingdoms
and various points in between. His short fiction has appeared in many anthologies, including
Shotguns v. Cthulhu
and
Tales of the Far West
. A former English teacher and magazine editor, he has dabbled in technical writing and computer game design. He now devotes his time to prose fiction. He lives in Alberta, Canada, with his fabulous wife and their above-average dog and cats. You can keep tabs on him at www.bydavegross.com.
John Helfers
is an author and editor currently living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In sixteen years working at Tekno Books, he co-edited twenty short story anthologies and oversaw the production of more than one hundred volumes in all genres. He has also edited more than forty novels. He’s also published more than forty-five short stories in anthologies such as
If I Were An Evil Overlord
,
Time Twisters
, and
Places to Be, People to Kill
.
In addition, his fiction has appeared in game books, novels, and on websites for the Dragonlance™, Transformers™, BattleTech™ and Shadowrun™ universes, including the third novel in the first authorized trilogy based on
The Twilight Zone
™ television series, the YA novel Tom Clancy’s
Net Force Explorers
™:
Cloak and Dagger
, and a history of the United States Navy.
He also wrote three novels in the Room 59™ espionage series for Gold Eagle/Worldwide Publishing and has written novels in their
Deathlands
™ and
Mack Bolan/Executioner™
series. Currently he’s working on several tie-in and original projects in both the adult and YA genres, including overseeing the production of new novels in the
Shadowrun
™ game universe.
He operates Stonehenge Art & Word, an editorial and literary fiction management company.
Sarah A. Hoyt
was born in Portugal (where her birth family still lives) and English is her third language (second is French.) This possibly explains why she’s on the kill-list of most copy editors. To avoid them, she lives high and dry in Colorado with her husband, two sons and a variable clowder of cats, reading and writing, with an occasional leitmotif of pastel painting, sewing, or carpentry thrown in when someone complains she’s been at the keyboard too long.
Her most recent books are
A Few Good Men
and
Noah’s Boy
from Baen Books, and upcoming
Night Shifters
,
Through Fire,
and
Darkship Revenge
, also from Baen Books, along with indie
Witchfinder
, a Regency fantasy.
Seanan McGuire
is the author of more than a dozen books, all published within the last five years, which may explain why some people believe that she does not actually sleep. Her work has been translated into several languages, and resulted in her receiving a record five Hugo Award nominations on the 2013 ballot. When not writing, Seanan spends her time reading, watching terrible horror movies and too much television, visiting Disney Parks, and rating haunted corn mazes. You can keep up with her at www.seananmcguire.com. Her story for us is an
October Daye
prequel story.
Elizabeth Moon
has published twenty-six novels including Nebula Award-winner
The Speed of Dark
, over thirty short-fiction pieces in anthologies and magazines, and three short fiction collections, most recently
Moon Flights
. Her most recent novel is
Crown of Renewal
. When not writing, she may be found knitting socks, photographing wildlife and native plants, poking her friends with (blunted) swords, or singing in the choir. She likes horses, dark chocolate, topographic maps, and traveling by train.
Cat Rambo
lives, writes, and reads omnivorously in a candy-colored condo beside eagle-haunted Lake Sammamish in Redmond, Washington. Her short stories have appeared in such places as
Asimov’s
, Tor.com, and
Clarkesworld,
as well as in three collections. Her most recent book is
Near + Far
, from Hydra House Books. Among the awards she’s been shortlisted for are the Endeavour, World Fantasy, Locus, and Nebula. You can find more of her fiction and information about her online classes at www.kittywumpus.net.
Gray Rinehart
fought rocket-propellant fires, refurbished space-launch facilities, commanded the Air Force’s largest satellite-tracking station, and did other interesting things during his rather odd US Air Force career. Now a contributing editor for Baen Books, his fiction has appeared in
Analog Science Fiction & Fact
,
Asimov’s Science Fiction
, and elsewhere. Gray is also a singer/songwriter with one album,
Truths and Lies and Make-Believe
, of mostly science-fiction-and-fantasy-inspired songs. His alter ego is the Gray Man, one of several famed ghosts of South Carolina’s Grand Strand, and his website is www.graymanwrites.com.
James L. Sutter
is a co-creator of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Senior Editor for Paizo Publishing. He is the author of the novels
Death’s Heretic
and
The Redemption Engine
, the former of which was ranked #3 on Barnes and Noble’s list of the Best Fantasy Releases of 2011, and was a finalist for both the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel and a 2013 Origins Award.
James has written numerous short stories for such publications as
Escape Pod
,
Starship Sofa
,
Apex Magazine
,
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
,
Geek Love
, and the #1 Amazon bestseller
Machine of Death
. His anthology
Before They Were Giants
pairs the first published short stories of science fiction and fantasy luminaries with new interviews and writing advice from the authors themselves.
In addition, he’s published a wealth of gaming material for both Dungeons & Dragons and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. For more information, visit www.jameslsutter.com or follow him on Twitter at @jameslsutter.
Wendy N. Wagner
’s short fiction has appeared in
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
and the anthologies
Armored
and
The Way of the Wizard
. Her first novel,
Skinwalkers
, is a
Pathfinder Tales
adventure. An avid gardener and fan of the sweet science, she lives with her family in Portland, Oregon. You can keep up with her at www.winniewoohoo.com.
Joseph Zieja
is a veteran officer of the United States Air Force who still works for The Man. Joe likes to fool himself into thinking he can have four careers at once; in addition to using Powerpoint presentations to strike fear in the hearts of terrorists, and pursuing his dream of writing, he is also a composer and voiceover artist with his own studio in Virginia. Someday he’ll learn that there are only so many hours in the day (and that terrorists aren’t actually afraid of Powerpoint), but for now you can find a complete list of his published works, which include pieces at
Daily Science Fiction
,
Pill Hill Press
, and others, at www.josephzieja.com. His music and voice studio can be found at www.renmanstudio.com.