Book 7, Chapter 18: Battle For Laemacia
In the war room, I was staring at the map on the table while the generals conferred with their assistants, getting the Laemacian war machine in motion.
The streets were built for carts, some of them were more or less straight, but others jagged and narrow, fit only for walking. I was thinking we’d want the rhinos on the straight ones. That would be a sight you’d never want to see coming toward you. A running with the bulls. Four times as large, armored and armed, trained in battle, and coming straight at you.
“Mazdak, a moment.”
He came over, eyes steadfast in meeting my own, “Yes, my lady?”
“I wanted to apologize for earlier. You’re a general, not a captain. As such, you are invited to challenge me, my orders and decisions. I don’t want yes-men or I’ll rule like an idiot. It was the heat of the moment, I’d just gotten out of battle and-”
The man held up his hand, “No need to apologize. I well understand the hot-blooded nature of fighting. I have since spoken with the soldiers who cleaned up the harem and remain shocked that you alone stopped an entire regiment.”
“If I have no need to apologize, then you have no need to offer praise. I didn’t have a choice. Now,” I pointed at the map, “show me your plans. What do you think about these streets here?”
***
White hair and beard, but still with perfect posture and graceful steps, the older General Sostram approached after the meeting, as I was about to go my way, holding a black lacquered wooden case, golden flowers adorning the sides. “Your Royal Highness, may I present you this tiara?”
I cringed inwardly, wishing this wasn’t actually happening. Was he . . . my new Brin? I felt her slap me across space and time for that thought. Twice. “Excuse me, General, a tiara? May I ask why? I’ll be wearing a chainmail headdress.”
“Coif, my lady. For battle. Headdress for dancing.”
Oh, he was! He really was! A cold shudder ran through me then and I knew, I knew, Brin was on her way here. God, I hoped she would not learn of this moment! “Yes, but why? Why oh why do you want me to wear a tiara? It’ll fall off in battle.”
“That’s exactly why I had this one brought. It was worn by your great aunt. Oh, Kiana was a hefty, handsome woman. She took a spear into battle. This was made to attach to your coif and stay put.” He leaned in, “It will help the troops recognize you.”
“Ah! I see. Alright, fit this in then.” I closed my eyes.
“Me? Oh heaven’s no, my lady, I’ll call a lady curator for that.”
“That, wow, that would be great.” I felt very relieved at him not touching me. Not so Brin-like after all.
***
From atop the high tower, I watched the horizon begin to redden, painting cloud after cloud. Deeper reds on the bottom, with just a hint of gold outlines, moving to a pink blush near the top. I briefly wondered what my brother, the storm god, thought of the impressionist painters who made sunsets so patchy and pretty. I turned away as the sky became a mosaic of pastel colors from light blue to emerging orange, wondering for how many of these men, perhaps myself included, it would be their last.
It was a bad time to wage war, at night. But we were outnumbered, soon to be heavily so, and this was our only chance at survival.
Mest, ever near my side, “Ma’am?”
Wiping under my right eye, I picked up the long bow in my left hand. I was pleased to see, though a touch worried, that it wasn’t simple yew, but a composite of several materials. The draw strength was high, the bow full of spring. These guys were getting closer to a composite recurve bow, and that was interesting. I could change warfare again with such a weapon.
I picked up and notched an arrow. “I’m fine, Mest. With the fading light, I need you to call targets when I slow down. Archers and people manning siege weapons, those leverage weapons the generals were calling them. When we’re out of those targets, soldiers in the open.”
I let fly arrow after arrow, and they fell from the towers and the walls, and when the fear hit them, they organized and began to hide.
***
“A soldier, second street on the left from center.”
I took him through a small hole in his chainmail, where a few links were missing.
“I see no one else. They’re hiding. And the sun has set, my lady.”
“Blow the horn.” With just enough light to see, from the rising moon, whatever lantern and torchlight remained, the streets were clear, nearby buildings free of ready archers. Those I didn’t drop were wisely hiding. Beyond a few soldiers changing positions, becoming my new targets. Another building went dark as the enemy put out their candles and torches. Exactly what I was waiting for.
The horn blew loud and clear, I covered my ears, then waited. Below, all across the old city wall, doors were thrown open, war rhinos leading the charge, spear infantry racing behind them, archers mixed with skirmishers next. We’d placed our peltasts and irregular troops on key points along the wall and the larger outside in case they tried to go around us.
Reaching for another arrow, I found none. “Damnit, arrows!”
The boy hastily dumped arrows into it, apologizing for his tardiness, and then I dropped any archer coming out to defend our attack.
Racing soon out of view, the rhinos cleared the streets, archers atop them loosing not into infantry, but any enemy ranged in their path. “That’s it, Mest! Let’s go!” I picked up the rope that was now firmly attached to the tower stones.
“Ma’am, are you truly going to do this?”
“Yes. You take the regular stairs. I’ll meet you in the battle!” The moon at my back, I drew my sword, holding it sideways above my head and with all my voice shouted, “SPOON!!!” and jumped.
It was stupid. Ill advised. Dangerous. I rappelled down the tower far too quickly, barely slowing myself down at the end, slammed into the ground, rolled, stood up and ran into the fray.
The brunt of our attack going through the main streets, I took one of the small, crooked ones. Sure enough, a spear contingent was fast marching up it, either trying to outflank us or confused. I ran straight toward them.
“Halt!” the lead man shouted. Ten men, large shields, spears. Exactly what I didn’t want to engage, but this tiny street worked in my favor. They were walking two by two and that was the best they could manage with the street so narrow and cluttered. “Boy, if you want to live, throw down your weapons and run home to daddy.”
“I’ll send you to meet daddy!” I leapt onto a box, jumped toward him, stabbing through his temple, twisting around to pull out the blade while my left sword backhand slicing off the next guy’s shield-arm, continuing to spin, I sliced and stabbed my way through these guys and when the last two bolted, threw knives in their necks, dropping them.
Flicking the blood off, I thought about picking up a spear, but didn’t. After giving a silent apology to Morry for ignoring his advice, and taking a couple daggers and my throwing knives, I continued down this alley until it rejoined the main street.
Battle reached me through the air, metal on metal, shouts, screams, horns blaring. Ours was a reckless charge. Maximum confusion among the enemy, straight through their defenses and into their heart. We needed, absolutely needed, speed. Break their hold over the city, race into their center, and destroy their command. And we had to do it all before they organized and outflanked us. If they gave up the city to attack the outer walls, we’d be in serious trouble.
The rhinos did not stop to finish off the broken and injured, but the infantry following them did. Our archers bolted up to rooftops, removing the enemy archers first, then clearing ahead for the rhinos and infantry, re-lit candles and torches to light our progress, before hurrying to keep up.
Like Alexander, I raced ahead of my own troops. Down another crooked alley, zigzagging here and there, it was empty except for those hiding behind windows, watching from the shadows, terrified. I soon exited it, coming to a roundabout, where a full regiment of spearmen, tower shields up, three lines of spears forward, the rest upright, waited.
Ten deep, ten wide, and in perfect formation, it was terribly unwise to attack them alone. Luckily, I was unwise. Holding both blades above my head, I shouted out, and charged, thinking to roll in using a spinning attack when a thunderous roar pounded out from my left.
Rhinos, three abreast and three lines deep, headed straight for the spears. Running along, I leapt onto a nearby wagon and jumped onto a rhino from there. The rightmost archer immediately tried to punch me and I ducked, pushing his arm away and holding it, saying, “I’m your empress! Give me a bow!”
Reaching for his short sword, “Bullshit!”
“How many girls are fighting in this war you idiot!” Then I pointed at my head, “And this dumb tiara!”
The howdah shuddered as our rhino trampled over soldiers, the lead ones stabbing their horns into fully armored men, then shaking them off, but never slowing.
“Many apologies! Ma’am! Your Majesty!”
“Bow! Now!”
I took it and his position, near quivers attached to the howdah itself, and loosed arrow after arrow as we charged through the streets, and soon we rampaged down the main street, leading to the former city gates, now no more than rubble. The enemy had formed up, spears and shields ten men wide, all the way down, archers along the rooftops.
Our charge broke their first ranks, but then we got bogged down. The rhinos swinging their horns right and left, batting away spears, cutting through shields and men, but the phalanx was effective and the front rhinos bellowed in pain as they got stabbed over and over.
Archers on the rhinos loosed and loosed at the spearmen, as they were taught, trying to cause chaos and clear the way for the rhinos to work. But for the danger they posed, I targeted those on the rooftops.
The guy who tried to fight me earlier placed his hand on the other archer’s arm, “Stop! Give her the arrows!”
The man lowered his bow, watching me for a bit, “My gods,” and passed arrows from his large quiver to the other guy, who put them in mine.
I couldn’t loose quickly, the bucking and charging and crashing of the rhino beneath my feet was too unstable, but one by one I took them out. And then our infantry and archers caught up, adding to my barrage, racing into buildings to clear them.
The rightmost lead rhino raised its head and trumpeted loudly, spears sticking into it from all sides and blood pumping out its broken jugular, and fell sideways, the men shouting and jumping clear. Its nearby friends trumpeted heads down and went into a frenzy. Giving up on loosing, it was all I could do to hold on. Even the handler gave up, crouching low, with us whiplashed left and right, forward, back.
A body, then an arm, blood and gore were tossed about, over us, I shouted, “Can’t you get it under control!?”
His knuckles white, arms tense with each jolt and impact, “No!”
We barreled through their infantry of screaming and terrified men, awful crushing sounds beneath us, an arrow puncturing the howdah just in front of my knee, a bunch deflecting off the rhino’s armored back, some piercing into the animal, and then I saw rubble to my right. We were about to exit the city, but the beast stopped and bellowed, stamping its feet on some poor soul.
With it slightly calmer, I stood and took stock. Our infantry was engaged in small battles here and there, our troops greatly outnumbering the enemy’s. Arrows had stopped raining down on us as our soldiers took building after building. The enemy began to flee.
Nope. I couldn’t let them rejoin their forces and loosed arrow after arrow. “Driver! Attack those soldiers!”
“I’ll . . . I’ll try.”
“You’ll do or we’re all dead!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Hollering and stamping its feet, the rhino protested further attack, but the driver kept on. With a huff, the beast raced toward a patch of skirmishers trying to reform.
The movement made aim difficult again, so I passed my bow to the first guy, and jumped off the rhino, racing into the enemy. I had to keep them from regrouping and, as horrible as it was, stop their retreat. We could not afford even a single man rejoining the larger army.
For me, they were disorganized and easy prey.
***
“Your Royal Majesty,” General Mazdak said, blood shining in splatters across his chainmail, “I must now offer my sincerest apologies. You are . . . I have never seen anyone battle like that.”
“And you have done an excellent job, General. Please update me on where we stand. I’m very worried about the rest of their army outside the walls.” I’d fought and fought until no more men were to be found, fully expecting their remaining troops to rally, trying to retake the city. No attack had come. I rested and drank my fill of water after, staying here, just in case. Mest and my bodyguards had yet to find me, but they would be behind one of the latter attacking infantry groups.
“We’ve retaken the city. Once the pockets of defenders are eliminated, we’ll have the police scour it for stragglers and those hiding in people’s houses. We,” he looked over at me to make sure I was paying attention, “won’t be able to hold it. Not with the walls gone and their greater numbers.”
The moon was wide, yellow, and young, still and rising into the night and full.
“Agreed. I think we should keep our momentum and attack their remaining forces. Thoughts?”
“We did very well here, eliminating one third, perhaps more of their force. Ma’am, the remainder have to be ready now. They are expecting battle. Out there, we lose our advantage.”
“Only if we fight in a traditional style, only if we march directly for them. I’ve taken a lot of unwise chances this night, but I’d like to do the opposite for a change.”
“Ma’am?”
“What do we have? What can we marshal right now? And in the next hour? I hope you don’t like sleep, General.”
“Hate it, my lady.” He smiled. “The rhinos are in rough shape. It was a good plan, well executed, but they bore the brunt of the assault and are the reason we didn’t lose more men. We’ve lost three, and two more cannot be moved. If we continue with the troops we have brought, that is some twenty thousand men, barring the losses we took tonight that I would guess around two to three thousand. Perhaps seventeen thousand troops. Exhilarated troops, if we leave soon. Exhausted if we wait.”
“Alright. Twenty-five rhinos. How many ranged?”
“Perhaps eight thousand. They suffered the greatest losses tonight. And many of the rhino archers. We could field another five thousand peltasts if we pull everyone from the new city walls.”
I stepped onto a piece of downed wall, and he joined me, looking at the field where the enemy encampment lay. I couldn’t see the tents for the darkness, but dots of campfires here and there. They flickered often, with each passing of a man in front. Longer, if horse.
“No more than five hours for me,” Mazdak said, hands on his hips.
“Pardon me?”
“Of sleep. I can’t stand it, taking too much time away from living. Studying, training.”
“Ah. Honestly, the same, but for different reasons. I detest dreaming.”
“Dreaming?”
“Yeah. Uh, they’re never fun, my dreams.” No, I did not tell the man, they are full of dishonest portents, creepy warnings about future events, and family drama.
“At your age, I imagine it’s difficult to kill. At least, that is advice I’d give to someone your age, but now that I’ve seen you personally, ah . . . It’s probably tiresome for you to hear it. I’m sorry the fighting invades your sleeping hours, my lady.”
“Mazdak,” I tried to smile at him, but didn’t quite succeed, “have you ever heard of guerilla warfare?” It’s true. I felt exhilarated, like the man said. Blood ripping through my veins and every breath a treasure. The world was brighter, moonlight aplenty, but my heart was made dim. Oh, a part of me reveled in the battle! I’d lived for it for thousands of years, fighting, fighting, drinking, eating, and more fighting.
But I didn’t love it. Not the killing, not the cries of others, I was not like my kind. Jackals are playful, foxes love to tease. I would rather men were peaceful and worked together, but they rarely were.
My bloodlust and rage, saving me from the wills and wants of others, from the harem. From Serce. I didn’t want to like it. And my desires meant nothing to the demands of this world.
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