Book 5, Chapter 35: The Mourning Within Duty
Atop the hill, in another motherfudging spider-silk dress of Brin’s choosing, but black and red trim, the colors of mourning here, making me wonder what message my mistress of the bedroom was sending. Dark red around my eyes like a mask, trickling down my cheeks in a dotted pattern, blackened lips. I looked like an exotic witch. Yes, maybe that was her message to Otholos.
Despite their losses, their army still more than three times our size. It spread out across the land, troops in rectangular formations that were soon marching on us. Compared to the valley, the mountains beyond, they were tiny. But taking up so much, much space. Most of it, I guess, in my mind.
They’d regrouped, likely coming up with new plans while we desperately replenished our supplies. The smith would be telling Morry and Carlisele what he was able to repair, throw together, but I didn’t think our heavy artillery would last the next battle, let alone the day. It was too hastily built, not enough testing.
That feeling again. Cold, despite that I was on Cloud. Shudder. Shaking.
“Princess?”
“It’s nothing, Morry.”
“I still don’t want you going down there.”
Tread’s crews were bringing more and more tree trunks up, and we had piles forming up near the slope. They would ruin the days of the first soldiers he sent up here. Some later, too, if we didn’t send them all at once.
“My lord,” said Morry to Carlisele, trying to be as polite as possible, “I suggest we hold off on with the ballistae and trees until the rhinos come. Given the amount we have to use.”
“You mean to let their infantry crest the hill?”
“I’m thinking we pull back, make it look like we’re retreating. Their infantry are no match for our phalanx. And up here, we control the ground.”
“What about the ranged regiments?”
“We’ll have to pull those off first.”
“Let’s move the phalanx back then.”
We didn’t have Brundle, and that hurt, but Morry’s presence gave me comfort. It didn’t change what I had to do, though.
I wondered if our remaining 70 000 and change could withstand what Laemacia brought. I looked at the pass and the cliff faces on either side. Maybe. The Spartans held off the entire Persian army for a time and they numbered a fraction of our troops. But this pass was far wider. I looked back to the Laemacians, watched the dust rise as their war rhino formations took to either side.
“Looks like fifty rhinos to a flank. Less than I’d thought they’d field.”
“Only one hundred.” The big man scratched his chin. “Maybe the ballistae can hold them off. The elevation will be in our favor. Once we let their infantry in, we’ll need to get our ranged back out quickly. I want them to shape the incoming attacks, collapse whatever they send into a funnel. Rhinos would be best.”
“Best?”
“When those beasts fall, they’ll block the passage up.”
“The difficulty will be in the timing.”
“And if they send cavalry. They’ll be more maneuverable than rhinos and a real danger once they crest the hill.”
“We don’t have enough troops,” I said.
“We have to cut their soldiers off. Separate the infantry from the cavalry. It’ll be tough and we will be relying heavily on our ranged.”
Messengers waited on the duke. Dukes, I guess. But it was Carlisele’s army and he spoke to them, “Those are the orders. See to it.”
The messengers galloped away to relay the initial commands, and Morry set about arranging the remainder of our regiments. Light cavalry waiting on the flanks near the walls of the pass, some distance from the front and below the archers and crossbowmen and peltasts. Phalanx blockading the pass with their long sarissa, but with orders to hastily retreat and reform a ways back. Heavy cavalry waiting behind that point, ready to take advantage of any openings in the enemy ranks. Skirmishers in and around the ranged and ballistae groups. Some shoring up the crossbow regiments. And, I guess, the three or four catapults that were being built anew.
Those sarissa would count for a lot, being longer than even the enemy’s incoming heavy cavalry spears but were effectively our only defense. If the men tired, there were no replacements to spell them off. If the phalanx broke, our army, our kingdom, was finished.
The Laemacian army, arranging itself out of ballistae range on the flat ground below, led with two double rows of pikemen larger than our entire forces. War rhinos on their flanks, heavy calvary flanking them and behind their pikes, light cavalry scattered behind, here and there. Their peltasts were mixed in with their infantry, and their skirmishers were placed similarly to ours, ready to shore up their phalanx, archer regiments to the rear.
On an uneven slope, pikemen, with their larger shields, were an advantage. They could better withstand our ranged barrage. We had the upper hand at the top of the slope, but these were the solutions that allowed Rome to beat sarissae. Uneven ground, large shields, combined arms.
I saw only one solution for us and before me. Their army was simply too large. We didn’t have a chance. Perhaps if we had double our phalanx, our heavy cavalry all had full plate armor, and we had more regiments of crossbows and they had armor, and a hundred tried and tested ballistae. I could see that working.
“Morry, Carlisele, I’m going to . . . I’m going down there.”
“Princess, I don’t like it.”
“I know.”
“You’ll only give them one more advantage.”
“Your Highness,” Carlisele began, causing me to do a double take, “even if you have the powers of a mage, what are you going to do against such a force? You may get hundreds, thousands even, but they’ll kill you in short order. And it will make little difference to the end result.”
Morry said, softly, “Perhaps you can stop them from here?”
“We’ve gone over that, too.”
“Don’t you see that army!” Carlisele yelled, pointing at the enemy, “They’re real! You’re just a single girl! Stop this nonsense and get to the back of our forces! Better yet, take my daughter and return to the castle!”
I sighed. So much for the new and improved version. But, yeah, the man had never seen my magic and only had the words of others to go on. Tough. I wasn’t about to assuage his fears.
I led Cloud to sidestep close to Morry and his mount, rested my hand on his arm, “Keep the troops back. Hold off engaging their force as long as you can. Morry, if I . . .” straightened my shoulders, jaw firm, “if I lose control, everyone near me is going to die and everything in that valley is going to burn.”
“Duke Morrentz, why are you indulging her in these fantasies?”
“And that will continue unless I can stop myself. And I don’t know if I can. No. I know I cannot.”
“Princess, I will do as you ask. But don’t include yourself among the dead. Come back to us. To me.”
“If you see it happening, a light brighter than the sun,” I turned to Carlisele, “move the troops back. Far back, out of sight. A full rout may save you. These mountains may not be enough.”
“This is foolishness. Princess Cayce, if you can do the things you say, strike at them from here.”
“We need eyes on the army. We’ll need to know what is happening.”
“If that happens, the only thing you need to worry about is surviving the aftermath.”
“Princess.”
“Gentlemen, a pleasure. Good-bye.”
I gave Morry’s hand a squeeze, let go. Ignored the further rantings of the duke, headed toward the enormous enemy force. Me and Cloud.
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