“Yes, ser.”
“Eat what you can, and get some sleep. See that your rankers do, too.”
By the time the sun has set and darkness has crept across Nevnarnia, the defenses that Altyrn has designed are in place … and all the Lancers are tired, but not tired enough that all the companies except second and fifth company mount up and depart, leaving Lerial and Shaskyn and their companies to hold the road and bar the Meroweyans from the hamlet.
A barricade two yards high and woven out of branches and greenish thorns, as well as anchored to sturdy posts at regular intervals, runs across the road and into the trees, extending a good fifty yards beyond the road on each side until it is lost in the thick underbrush, much of it gray-leafed and thinner than would have been the case later in the year. The branches and thorns are of the greenest vegetation available so that the chaos-fire will not spread easily or quickly.
Behind the barricade is an open ditch some three yards wide running from the trees on the east to those on the west. It is only a yard deep, but is filled with sharpened stakes protruding a third of a yard from the base of the trench. Little more than a yard behind the first trench is a second, and deeper trench, also staked, but covered with branches and leaves and then with road clay where the road would have been and grass from the shoulders to the trees. The earth dug from the trenches is piled and packed behind the barricade, more than a yard high. South of the barricade, exactly one hundred yards out, the upper limbs have been stripped from the road side of two tall trees, one east of the road, and one west.
Even though the evening meal is more cold ghano-acorn hash, Lerial is glad for it. He also has no trouble falling asleep.
He is more than surprised not to be awakened early on threeday, although he does wake before sunrise. He washes up from a bucket of water … and wishes he could shave. He and second company eat quickly and are making ready when Altyrn strolls from somewhere.
“There’s not that much hurry. They’re still a kay and a half away, and they’re still breaking camp. They’ve sent scouts this way, and that’s suggesting that they’ll march on Nevnarnia. If they do, you’re to follow the battle plan we went over last night. Second and fifth company will form up about fifty yards back of the barricade. Once the Meroweyans are in range, you’re to start shooting the fire arrows into them…”
Lerial understands the reason for fire arrows. They don’t require the iron heads of war arrows, but the flame can cause damage and often can spook mounts.
“… there’s still always the possibility that the Meroweyans will decide not to attack, but continue on the main road, looking for a back lane to take you from the rear. If that happens, I’ll send a messenger with a wayguide who will show you the other lane that will allow you to rejoin the other companies. There will be more than enough time if they try that. We have a few more surprises if they head that way. We’ll have other surprises if they don’t.” With that, Altyrn turns and heads in the direction of fifth company.
Lerial can’t help but wonder if his father knows that the majer would be forced to fight a war in the Verd … or if he even thought it would come to an all-out fight. Was that why he picked the majer? But then, if he’d known or suspected that training Verdyn Lancers would cause a fight, why would he have said what he did to Lerial, and Lerial had known his father had not been either lying or withholding information. Besides, Casseon had to have made plans before Lerial’s father had even decided to send Altyrn and the two squads of Mirror Lancers. Or was the majer supposed to have withdrawn once he knew the Meroweyans were sending so large a force?
The more Lerial experiences in dealing with the majer and the Meroweyans, the more questions he has. He has only pondered matters for a few moments before Altyrn returns.
“Any last questions?”
“No, ser.” Lerial thinks he probably should, but he can’t think of any.
“You know where to meet us?”
Lerial nods. “Five kays farther northeast on the main road, just past the bridge over the deep creek.”
“Good. Do what you can, but save yourself and your rankers.”
Lerial watches for a moment as Altyrn rides north and into the hamlet on his way back to the main road by the less direct route. Once the majer is out of sight, Lerial crosses the road to the area where fifth company has loosely formed up. Shaskyn steps forward to meet Lerial. “How do you want to handle this, ser?”
“Follow the majer’s orders. Wait until they get well within range, maybe with the lead elements as close as a hundred or a hundred and fifty yards, and then let loose with the fire arrows.” Lerial pauses, then adds, “It might be best if one company loosed the first volley, and then the other, and not too quickly, so that they feel like they’re under a constant attack.”
“Some archers ought to aim toward the rear, too,” suggests Shaskyn. “Might stir ’em up.”
Lerial nods. “Detail maybe five archers to do that.”
The two spend another tenth of a glass working out their plans for the attack … and the withdrawal. When Lerial crosses the road to the side held by second company, he finds his four squad leaders waiting, all clearly interested in what the majer had imparted and what Lerial and Shaskyn had decided.
“The simple order from the majer is to inflict as many casualties on the Meroweyans as possible while trying to avoid taking any casualties ourselves. They’re a good kay away and taking their time…” Lerial goes on to explain.
As he and second company wait for the Meroweyans to approach, Lerial tries order-sensing, and finds that he can now sense people and objects with some clarity for up to a hundred yards or so, a great improvement over what he could do a day earlier, but far from his abilities prior to his being stunned. He also studies the sky, although there is little enough to see, given that there are no clouds and there is only a slight warmish breeze out of the north.
A glass passes … and then another half glass … before one of the rankers posted in a tall tree calls out, “Riders coming!” A moment later, he adds, “Shieldmen behind them!”
Lerial walks to the gelding and mounts, not because he believes that battle is imminent, but because from horseback he can see over the road barriers. He rides into the middle of the road, where he is joined by Shaskyn. At first, all Lerial can make out are the outriders and scouts, but before long he can see the shields of the front line of the main body, filling the road and the shoulder almost from the trees on one side to those on the other.
“Second company! Form up!”
“Fifth company! Form up!”
All the archers and Lancers are in formation and mounted in a matter of moments. While that reduces the range of the archers, and the speed with which they can strike flame to the fire arrows, Lerial wants to be able to withdraw nearly instantly.
By now, the shieldmen are less than four hundred yards away, Lerial estimates, and the Meroweyan column continues northward at a measured pace.
When the leading shieldmen near a point that Lerial knows is two hundred yards from the barricade, at least two companies of foot armsmen fan out from the rear of the Meroweyan formation and trot into the woods on both sides of the road, obviously determined to make their way around the barricade in order to make flank attacks from both sides. That will likely be more difficult than they anticipate, Lerial hopes, since the armsmen struggling through the underbrush will find thousands of sharpened sticks here and there, barely protruding from the ground and concealed by leaves or hidden in shallow depressions, and often smeared with offal or anything else that might cause a wound to fester.
You’ll still have to watch your flanks closely. Some will get around if the attack slows.
“Second company! Bows ready!”
“Bows ready!” echo the squad leaders.