Korthac will be pleased.”
Ariamus smiled in satisfaction, then turned to Rihat. “Close up the men.”
Moments later, the whole force of bandits clustered around their commander.
“Men! We have won a great victory. We have broken our enemies, and left less than a dozen alive, most of them wounded, and without horses.
You have done well to fight so bravely.”
That raised a ragged cheer from his fighters, though some of them wondered how they could be cowards and fools one moment, then heroes the next.
“Now we return to Akkad. We will join up with Korthac’s men, and enjoy the city we took yesterday. The gold, the women, the horses, all the best of Akkad, will be ours.”
They cheered again, as they realized the fighting had ended. He saw the smiles on their faces, and knew their confidence had returned, that they once again considered themselves ferocious fighters. So long as they didn’t have to face those archers again.
That would be how he explained it to Korthac. Nebibi would support the story, or have to admit to his own failure. Besides, a few men on the loose, scattered over the countryside, wouldn’t matter anyway. They’d round them up in a few days.
“Back to Akkad,” Ariamus shouted, as he climbed on his horse, “back to Akkad and our gold!”
Another cheer, louder this time, went up. Nebibi looked at Ariamus, and nodded acquiescence, tight-lipped. Their report would satisfy Korthac, at least for now.
By the time the three trailing scouts reached the column, the fight had ended. Bantor, back on his feet, shook with rage, swearing torture and death to Ariamus. Half the men had never heard the name before.
“Take it easy, Bantor,” Klexor said, trying to calm his captain down.
“Let’s take a look at your shoulder.”
Alexar walked up, carrying a water skin. “They took us by surprise, but we drove them off and killed more of them than we lost.” He and the other two men acting as rear guard, had rushed forward as soon as they saw the ambush, but none of the attackers had passed within a hundred paces of him. Alexar managed to dismount and tie his horse to a bush.
He’d been one of the first to fire as the men rode past.
The ambush left everyone with a raging thirst, and they drank the remainder of their water with no thought to save any for later. They couldn’t carry it far on foot, anyway.
“Anyone know who they were?” Alexar tossed away the now-empty water skin. “They weren’t Alur Meriki, or we’d all be dead by now.”
“If they were Alur Meriki,” Klexor offered, “they would’ve finished us off with lances, the barbarian way, instead of riding through us like a bunch of old women who can’t control their horses.”
“Their leader was Ariamus, the former captain of the guard in Orak,”
Bantor said, staring at the ground. He tested his shoulder, moving his arm carefully; it didn’t hurt quite as much. Perhaps the bone hadn’t broken after all. Bantor took a deep breath, still struggling to control his emotions.
“The coward Ariamus ran off when he learned the barbarians were coming to Akkad, and that’s when Eskkar took command of the village.”
Bantor left unsaid that, a few months before his departure, Ariamus had sent Bantor out on a patrol, then summoned Annok-sur to his bed for an afternoon of pleasure. Annok-sur had never spoken about it, but Bantor had heard whispers of it from the men.
Short of stabbing Ariamus in the back, and so forfeiting his own life for killing his superior, Bantor could do nothing, so he’d swallowed his pride and pretended ignorance. He knew Annok-sur had not gone willingly, but to protect her husband and daughter.
Flexing his arm, Bantor couldn’t remember a time in the last few months when he wasn’t recovering from one wound or another.
“Well, whoever they were, they headed off toward Akkad,” Alexar replied, “so they must be sure of being able to enter the city.”
“They can’t enter Akkad, not that many of them, and not carrying weapons,” Bantor answered, trying to understand what had happened. No large force of armed men could get into Akkad, unless…
“Could they have taken the city?” Klexor asked, his mind going down the same path as his commander’s.
“They must have captured Akkad,” Bantor said. “They knew we were coming, and didn’t want us reaching the gates.”
“Forty or so bandits isn’t enough to take Akkad,” Klexor offered. “They must have more men inside the city as well.”
“So they ambush us just before we reach Akkad,” Alexar said, “before we learn what’s happened to the city.”
That made sense, Bantor decided. Take the city, then take the soldiers piecemeal. He wondered if Eskkar’s force to the north might be next, if they hadn’t already been crushed.
“Damn the demons below,” Bantor swore. “We can’t just walk up to the gates and ask what the hell is going on! These bandits may have had enough fighters to capture Akkad from within.”
“Well, what are we going to do?” Klexor sounded worried. “If this Ariamus has captured Akkad, he may come back with more men. We can’t just stay here.”
A good question, Bantor thought, and he didn’t know what to answer.
What would Eskkar do, he wondered. Eskkar always knew what to do on a battlefield. Bantor thought about that for a while.
“How many horses and men do we have?” he asked abruptly.
Alexar had already taken the count. “Counting us, we’ve twenty-five men, six of them wounded, and seven horses.” He glanced at the soldiers gathered around their leaders. The men looked alert, some tended to the wounded, while others salvaged what they could from their dead companions or the bandits. “We may get a few more horses if we’re lucky, but darkness is coming on…”
Bantor thought that over. He took longer to work things out than some of his men, but he’d survived plenty of fights. One thing he knew for certain. He didn’t have enough information to decide what to do. If he picked the wrong course of action, they might all be dead by noon tomorrow. So he would get information first. He looked up to find his men watching him, waiting for him to speak.
“Here’s what we’ll do. Alexar, take the four best horses, and one other rider. Start north for Bisitun at once. We’ve got to make sure Eskkar and Sisuthros know what is happening. Get far enough away from here before you rest for the night, then keep going as fast as you can, changing mounts as often as you can. Ride the horses until they drop, if you have to. You should be able to get to Bisitun in five or six days, maybe less, with two horses for each man. Tell Eskkar what’s happened, and that it was Ariamus who led the attackers. Make sure you remember that name. Ariamus. Take anything you need for the trip.”
He waited until Alexar nodded understanding, then Bantor turned to his other commander. “Klexor, put the wounded on the other three horses, and send them south, back the way we came. We passed some farmhouses a few miles back. Maybe they can hide there until they recover.”
“And the rest of us, where are we going?” Klexor asked.
Bantor shifted his shoulder, wincing at the pain, but he could move it.
He’d have to hope it mended itself in a few days. “We are going to take what we can carry and head north ourselves, as if we were heading for Bisitun as well. We’ll walk all night, and tomorrow morning. Then we’ll cut over to the river. If any follow us, they’ll think we’ve crossed over to the west bank.
We’ll see if we can find some boats to take us south, back to Akkad.”
“Back to Akkad!” Klexor questioned. “What can less than twenty do against the city?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry, we won’t be going into Akkad, just to the farms north of the city. Rebba’s farm, that’s where we’ll go. He has a jetty on the river, and plenty of room to hide twice as many men. He can tell us what the hell is going on.”
Bantor turned back to Alexar. “Tell Eskkar that’s where we’ll be, and to get word to us at Rebba’s farm. Get ready to move out.”