"He's dead," said Beau, just then coming in among the Warrows. "Slain by crossbow bolt."
Tipperton's heart plunged. I had forgotten entirely. Oh, Alver, Alver.
Tears welled in Rynna's eyes, and she angrily wiped them away.
"I can ride with Farly," said Beau.
Rynna shook her head. "No, Beau, you will need be here to help with the wounded. Farly will go with Nix and Dinly. Nix, ride west of Tipperton and-"
"But what about Alver?" asked Dinly. "Are we to just leave him lying while we ride off to-"
"I'll see that he's-" Beau began -but Rynna said, "This is war, Dinly. Remember Springwater, and know we cannot hope to escape unscathed. There have been and may yet be times when we can do nought but ride away from the dead… or even from the wounded. For you this is one of those times."
Dinly sighed and reluctantly nodded.
Rynna looked at the ground and then said, "Replenish your quivers and take that which is needed to scout. Dinly, you will ride back and report as soon as there is aught of significance to recount."
Tipperton stepped to Rynna and kissed her gently, then turned to Linnet as she embraced Beau. "Let's go."
Linnet kissed her own buccaran and hugged Rynna, then strode off with Tip toward the supply wagons on the far shore, Dinly, Nix, and Farly following.
And so, even as Elven scouts-Darai Vail and Arylin, Alori Flandrena and Elon-set forth along the shoreline upstream, Tipperton and Linnet and Farly and Dinly took to the craggy hills, while behind, Rynna and Beau stood and watched them ride over the crests and beyond.
And still the High King's host poured across the bridge, their numbers forty thousand in all. Even riding swiftly and in pairs, it would take until sundown and perhaps past for the full of the army to reach the eastern shore.
Last to cross would be a brigade of Red Hills Dwarves, their ponies having been outstripped in the race down the Ironwater to the Dragonboat bridge. Even so, even though no enemy was in sight, still DelfLord Okar and his fierce band stood ready to fight.
Even as the King's army crossed the span to take up positions to await the coming of the Lakh of Hyree and the Rovers of Kistan and the Askars of Chabba, the wounded members of Silverleaf s legion were borne to a place where Beau and other healers could tend the stricken. Later, after the King's host had all crossed the bridge, then the wounded would be carried to the far side of the Ironwater to be tended there, the worst of them to be carted down to the port of Adeo and laded aboard the ships.
A count of the wounded and dead was taken, and altogether the Fists of Rakka had slain over nine hundred warriors in Silverleaf's legion: two hundred fifty-six Baeron, one hundred forty-three Lian, one hundred twenty-eight Dylvana, one hundred forty-four Dwarves, one hundred ninety-seven Fjordlanders, one hundred eighty-two Jutes… and one Warrow. Another eighteen hundred or so allies had suffered grievous wounds and would no longer engage in battle in the near days to come.
As to the black-robed men, altogether twelve hundred had been slain outright, and another three thousand had been felled with deep wounds, and they lay afield and moaned in agony and called out in a strange tongue. These latter were questioned by the King's men, but even though suffering dreadful injury they yielded no useful information, for although hissing in distress, still they called upon Rakka to strike these infidels down and to grant themselves a glorious death in the service of Rakka, for by doing so they would win an eternal place beyond the sky in the paradise of Janni.
And whelmed as they were by wounded allies, Beau and Melor and Aris and the other healers had time to tend only their own; the injured foe would have to wait.
"Why did they disengage?"
Vanidar looked 'round the hastily called captains' council-all captains having been summoned across the bridge to advise the King. Vanidar's gaze slid past DelfLord and coron and chieftain and skipskaptein and kapitan and field marshal and the like, and past Mage Farrin and High King Blaine himself to finally settle on Commander Rynna, for 'twas she who had asked. "A mystery that," said Silverleaf,
"and I know not why they withdrew, for they had us outnumbered, and were driving us back and ever back." Sil-verleaf turned to King Blaine. "I deem they could have won the bridgehead and destroyed the way across ere you, my lord, arrived. Yet they withdrew, regardless."
"A tight fist is harder to crush than a loosely clasped one," growled DelfLord Volki. "And we were becoming a tight fist. Regardless, though, they would not have broken through the Chakka at the bridgehead itself."
Across the circle, DelfLord Okar clenched a fist in agreement.
"Perhaps thou art right, Lord Volki," replied Coron Ruar, "yet I, too, deem it a mystery they did not smash on through and tear down the bridge."
Volki snorted but otherwise did not reply.
"They did try to burn the bridge," said Rynna.
"It was but a small oil fire, neh?" asked Farrin, representing the Mages. At Rynna's nod, he added, "Not likely to have caused much damage unless it had been let burn."
Coron Eiron said, "I agree, but they withdrew ere then. Nay, I deem the Fists of Rakka made only a minor effort to take the bridge from us ere they ran unto the hills."
"Tell that to my slain warriors," gritted Chieftain Urel, the great Baeran scowling.
"That the Fists of Rakka were even in these hills came as a surprise," said King Blaine, "for I thought them in Alban still. Could they have marched across Garia and then H?l's Crucible and by happenstance have been here?"
Those in council looked at one another, but none had an answer.
"That the Fists of Rakka were at this place-or even that they ran-is not the only mystery here," declared Field Marshal Burke, the leader of the men of Wellen, as he peered northwesterly through the glum day. "Where are the Hyrinians and Kistanians and Chabbains? Shouldn't they have come by now?"
All eyes turned to King Blaine. "We must needs wait on the scouts to report back."
"Even though the Fists of Rakka have withdrawn, and even though the Lakh and Rovers and the Askars are yet to arrive, still much of the day remains," said Chieftain Durul, "and so we must expect an attack. Too, in the night there is every chance they will try to take the bridge, either to use it themselves or to destroy it outright."
King Blaine nodded and gestured at the riders yet crossing the bridge. "Aye, but when my host is finally across, the foe will not find it easy to win through forty thousand men."
Silverleaf smiled at Okar's remark and added, "Thy numbers are grown beyond that, my lord, for the legion I command is at your hest as well."
Volki growled and said, "Forty thousand men? Men? You forget, King Blaine, in addition to men, Chakka and Dylvana and Lian and Baeron serve as well."
Rynna glared at Volki, and he quickly added, "Waer-ans, too."
DelfLord Okar said, "And the Chakka of the Red Hills, who have been with you since Gunnaring Gap, several Lian from there also."
"And Magekind," said Farrin. "Our numbers are small, but you must add us in."
King Blaine laughed and threw up his hands. "I stand corrected by each and every one of you, for all Free Folk serve"-his eye singled out Rynna-"Waerlings not the least. Aye, the foe will not find it easy to win past us to the bridge."
"Perhaps not aland, my lord," said Skipskaptein Arnson, leader of the Fjordlanders, "but there is yet the water. I deem we should set craft upstream and down, for the enemy may try to swim the river and hole the hulls or send down floats afire."
"Ja," replied Kapitan Dolf. "The upstream side guard we will. The side downstream yours to guard it will be."
Arnson glared at the Jutlander, but nodded in agreement.
Blaine canted his head in assent. "That settled, the rest will be according to plan, lest someone has a new tactic to discuss."