They were prosperous and successful in their slaying of Amalites, and so they soon collected a small army of Kartik and Katabull followers. They swept the seashore until the pickings were slim. No force could stand against them, and word of the might of Tarius's the Black's mercenary army spread throughout the kingdom. The word also spread by way of trade ships into the land of the Jethriks.
* * *
The king stood at the window looking out at the city below as the herald read off the latest reports.
"Tarius the Black has assembled a small army. The Kartiks call them the Marching Night. They have swept practically every Amalite from the kingdom of Kartik. They say no man can stand against Tarius the Black, and that no army can stand against the Marching Night. The Amalites are beginning to retreat from their attempts to infiltrate the Kartik and are starting to once again push through our borders. Two towns close to the border have already been taken in spite of their best efforts."
"Had you followed through with Tarius's plans to strengthen the borders, had you not halted the construction of the garrisons, the training of the peasants . . . You know, your stupid pride will be the death of us all," Hellibolt said in a whisper at Persius' back.
Persius turned, his face a mask of rage. "Shut your mouth!" he hissed at Hellibolt. "Your words tell me only what I have done wrong. They give me no way to fix it."
"Try to put it right now, Persius, before it's too late. Restart the work effort on the garrisons. Start training the peasants," Hellibolt begged. "It's not too late if you go to work now."
"Go!" Persius screamed at the herald, who left at a dead run. Persius looked at Hellibolt. "The whole kingdom knows now. After three years there is not a peon in even the most remote village that doesn't know that I put Tarius the Black, a woman, at the head of the Jethrik armies. Not one that doesn't know that I tried to kill her for her betrayal, and not one that doesn't know that she cheated death. What will they say? What will they think if I start up again with plans that they know she made?"
Hellibolt put a gentle hand on Persius' shoulder and met his eyes. "Perhaps they will say that Tarius the Black is the greatest warrior that our world has ever known. That she drove the Amalites from our land, and now she is driving them from the Kartik. Perhaps they will say that you care more for the welfare of your people than you do for your pride. Do it, Persius. When you went to Tarius's bed in the night and exposed her without even giving her a chance to explain herself to the naïve woman that married her, that was wrong. When you threatened Jena, when you incarcerated Taruis, when you decided to execute her, when you decided she should die a slow and painful death, all of these things were wrong, and everything you have done since has been wrong. Can't you see that, Persius? The first sin led you to commit all the others. If you do not stop the madness now, it will consume you.
"If Tarius knows nothing else, she knows warfare. Did she not say that if you didn't follow the Amalites in and kill them all, that they would attack us again? Well, you didn't, and they are. Build the garrisons where she said to build them. Train and arm the people as she told you to train and arm them. Think like Tarius, and you just might save the country as Tarius did."
Persius looked into the old wizard's eyes. "You know, old man, that I once thought you nothing but a dead weight. A charlatan."
Hellibolt nodded his head.
"I couldn't understand why my father had so trusted in your counsel, and now I know why. You never tell me what I want to hear; you only tell me the truth as you see it. You are right. I will give the commands at once."
* * *
They were fifty fighters strong now, and roughly half of those Katabull. Just now they were resting between raids in the Valley of the Katabull. The Katabull had carved out a new homeland in the west on a fresh water lake less than four miles from the sea.
Tarius remembered the first time she had come here. She had been amazed at the numbers. She had thought her people almost dead, but they were thriving. Even making a comeback. The packs spread out in all directions around the lake. They even had a meeting lodge and a leader.
People had taken to calling Tarius and her mercenary army the Pack of the Marching Night. Tarius felt like they were, too. Although a very different pack, since roughly half of them were human. But whatever its composition, it was good to be part of a pack again.
Her new pack had built small round huts of small logs covered with clay mud and topped with thatched roofs that matched the other Katabull dwellings. Having done this, the Marching Night was firmly established as part of the Katabull nation.
They would rest here, enjoy the quiet life for a while, and then ride out again.
Today Tarius lay by one of the fire pits, her head in Jena's lap, just relaxing and taking in some sun.
"It's a beautiful day," Jena said conversationally.
"Aye . . . that it is," Tarius said.
"What are you thinking?" Jena asked.
"I'd rather not say," Tarius said with a laugh.
Jena slapped at her playfully. "Well, I'd rather you did."
"All right, but remember you asked," Tarius said. "I was just remembering your father's house. You know, the big house with the running water and the servants? I was wondering if you ever missed that. If you ever missed your father."
"I miss the person I thought my father was," Jena said in a far-away tone. "I think it's like you miss your parents. Like he's dead instead of across the sea. I don't miss anything else. I love our life, Tarius. Every day is a new adventure. I love fighting beside you, loving you. Sleeping out under the stars when the weather's clear. Or in our little hut when we're here. I love being part of this pack. Each one of these men and women who ride with us are like brothers and sisters to me. Each one hand picked not just because of their fighting skill, but because of their personalities, their ethics. I love the Katabull and the Kartik people—so accepting of everything except that which is unquestionably wrong. They are a people who abhor thievery, murder and injustice. I love all the flowers, and the way the people keep their streets and cities clean. There are no venomous snakes, and it's never cold enough to need more than a long-sleeved shirt. No, I don't miss the Jethrik at all."
"Good," Tarius said flatly and seemed to relax again. "I think, however, that we will bring running water to our camp. After all, we have the bamboo, and admittedly I do miss the running water. I wonder how they make those big pots . . ."
Suddenly a Katabull in full beast-mode ran into the middle of their pack. Tarius jumped up in a single motion. "Can I help you, brother?"
"Tarius . . ." He was out of breath. "It's the leader, he's been in an accident. We know that you have good medics."
Of course they had good medics. They needed them, they were mercenaries, and they were always getting hurt. Even Jena now had a sword scar across the upper part of her left arm.
"Elise, Edson, Jesop!" Tarius screamed. The screams echoed through the camp as everyone that heard the order shouted it out. These were trained fighting people, and in minutes the three had joined them. They ran to the place not far away where they had taken the leader, but Tarius knew when she saw him that there was nothing the medics could do. The man had been more or less gutted, and the strong smell of bowel meant something that shouldn't be cut had been.
"What the hell happened?" Tarius demanded. It looked like a sword wound to her. No accident. The Katabull who had come for her answered quickly as the medics tried desperately to save the injured leader.
"We don't know . . . he went riding this morning alone. He rode towards the ocean, and we assumed he fell from his horse onto something sharp," he answered.
"You're wrong. Any fool can see that this is a sword wound." Tarius's eyes burned with rage. "He must have run into an advance party." Tarius's mind raced back to the time when the Amalites had fallen upon her pack. The Amalites were always either running in fear from the Katabull or falling upon them like locusts. No one likes to live in fear, and the Amalites feared the Katabull, so they wanted them dead. When they got up enough courage and enough men, their "gods" ordered an attack and they went looking for the Katabull. When they found them in their homes where they would be more concerned with protecting their young than with warfare, they attacked.
"Jesop, see what you can do for Tarak." Jesop was a Katabull and understood Katabull anatomy better than the others. "Elise, Edson, Jena. Come with me. We'll assemble the Marching Night and try to find the advance party. You," Tarius shouted to the Katabull who had come after her. "Sound the alarm, and scream it through the camp. Get the children to a place of safety and prepare to do battle. The Amalites have once again decided to attack the Katabull. We must show them once and for all that to attack us is folly. Assemble our forces outside the village towards the ocean. That is the direction they will come from."
The man nodded quickly and ran off to sound the alarm. The others ran to gather their weapons and horses and to start the word through camp. Tarius called on the night and beat the others to the Pack of the Marching Night. She called out her orders, and in mere minutes all were armored, armed, and on horseback.
Arvon took the left flank, Harris the right, and Tarius the center. Tarius found and then followed the trail of Tarak's blood. It led them right to the Amalite advance party. They must have been terrified to face the wall of Katabull and Kartik that thundered down upon them, but they stood their ground.
"They will be hard to beat!" Tarius screamed out. "Their priests must have promised them victory." She thought about it only a second. Seconds were all they had. "Attack!"
They thundered down upon the less than twenty Amalites, totally annihilating them in mere minutes. Tarius spit on one of the bodies. "Tell this to your gods. When I am done, no Amalite will ever darken the shores of the Kartik again." She looked at the trail the advance party had made.
"Jessy!" she called out. In seconds a Katabull lad rode up beside her.
"Yes?"
"Go ahead and scout the trail. I want to come in behind the main assault and squeeze the bastards between two walls of Katabull," Tarius said. The lad took off at a hard gallop. They followed several minutes later at a slower pace. Jessy was a good scout, the best she'd ever known. He'd come back in a few minutes with the exact location of their enemy.
Jena rode up alongside her. "Tarius . . . What are they doing here? I don't understand. I thought we had almost erased them from the island. I thought they had given up. That they were afraid of the Katabull."
"They can't give up, Jena. Their gods have commanded them to take over the world. They are here now because they have decided to make a full-scale attack on the Katabull. They think that if they can kill us, kill us all, they can be free of our curse and can march across the Kartik unmolested. They are ignorant savages who believe their power-hungry priests really talk to their gods. They're ignorant. That's why they're so dangerous."
Jessy came riding back, his horse blowing and lathered in sweat. "Six ships off the coast. Three hundred men, maybe more. They are headed up through the pass."
"Come on!" Tarius ordered, and they doubled their speed.
* * *
Like Tarius had been, the Amalites were surprised by the vast number of Katabulls. They had assumed that the actual number of fighting Katabull would be small. By the time they realized the size of the fully-prepared army they had come up against, it was too late to retreat. Besides, their priests had promised them victory. Their gods would help them to strike down the evil Katabull and bring the Kartik people to their knees, thus bringing peace to the world.
They had no idea as they engaged the line of Katabull that they faced that the infamous Marching Night was falling on them from behind. It had been so long since there had been an actual full-scale battle between the Katabull and the Amalites that they had forgotten how much stronger, faster, and more resilient the Katabull were.
Katabull flung themselves over their own shield wall, coming down on the Amalites behind the wall and slicing them in two with one blow. They dodged sword blows, spear thrusts, and even arrows with the grace and agility of cats.
Then
she
was there. Behind them, within them, through them. The she-beast herself. The woman who had posed as a man, and who had at the Battle of the Arrow so utterly destroyed them and sent them running home with their tails between their legs. Several of these men had been there that day. They had barely escaped her wrath then. Today she was the Katabull leading the Katabull army, and they knew they would never go home again. As they died they began to doubt their gods, but it was a little late for that.
Tarius stopped, suddenly realizing there was no one left to kill. The Katabull cheered.
"Wait . . . wait!" Tarius screamed. "It's not over yet. We have to get back to the ships, kill the crews and seize the ships. Quickly . . . Undress their dead and put on their armor. We will masquerade as Amalites, get onto their ships and take them. I only need fifty people in addition to the Marching Night."
No one asked why, they just did as ordered.
Tarius, dressed in an Amalite's uniform, grabbed Jena's arm as she prepared to strip the body of an Amalite. "Jena . . . you stay behind with Elise and help with the wounded."
"But . . . I want to go with you!" Jena said.
"We need you here more. You have done enough killing for one day." Tarius kissed her cheek.
Then she turned and jumped on her horse. "Ride on!" she ordered.
Jena watched the more than a hundred warriors ride off. Then she went to find Elise and help her with the wounded, only to find that Elise was one of them. She had taken an arrow in her shoulder. She looked up at Jena weakly as Jena knelt beside her.
"You'll be all right, Elise," Jena said.