And yet he was joyful. He had seventy thousand left, and was knocking on the doors of lands where others could be conscripted into his cause.
The last few drums spoke their defiance. He thought to his dead battalions. The dead gave voice to a battle cry. "Deliverer!" they rasped. All together, like a hellish choir. "Deliverer!"
He smiled as they completed the demolition of Shinsan's fabled Seventeenth Legion.
9 Year 1016 afe
The Fortress in the Borderland
LORD LUN-YU SENT the message via Meng Chiao. "Lord Ssu-ma, they're attacking again. And there's a new mind in control."
"Oh?" Shih-ka'i had a cold feeling. "What makes you think that?"
"Their effectiveness. Their tactics. Perhaps you should come see what we mean, Lord."
Shih-ka'i considered the Tervola. Chiao was disturbed. His stance and little fidgety movements betrayed his inner turmoil. "All right. Pan ku. We're going to the mountains." He glanced at the big map. Everything was shaping up nicely. Eastern Army was coalescing. Should the dead break through the pass, they would find a hard knot blocking their path here.
A few days more would help. Yes. Every minute would help.
Shih-ka'i followed Meng Chiao through the transfer. He sensed the new mind immediately. He said, "We're in trouble."
"Yes, Lord," Tasi-feng agreed. "We won't be able to hold them."
"I didn't expect to. This was a delaying tactic. Stall them as long as you can." He glanced skyward, where a woman in white circled on a small dragon. "Is she good?"
"The best, Lord. Nearly as powerful as the Princess Mist. She's given us no chance to support the men, so they're not having much luck capturing enemy casualties."
Shih-ka'i glimpsed a second dragon. "Who's that?"
"We don't know, Lord. Possibly the new control."
There had been two people atop the thing in the desert. "I don't want to waste shafts, Lord Lun-yu, but if you get a good shot, call for one."
"As you command, Lord."
"I'll return to the fortress. Guard your portals carefully."
"We're shifting them now, Lord. We'll fall back on them as they force us."
"Very well." Shih-ka'i walked toward the nearest transfer. He told Pan ku, "This new mind is a dangerous one. I sense a whole different outlook."
"I felt it too, Lord."
"I think we can expect a siege."
The Seventeenth remained rooted longer than Shih-ka'i expected. A day passed and another night came before the last soldier retired.
"How many did we lose?" Lord Ssu-ma demanded.
"Less than a hundred, Lord," Tasi-feng replied. "Permanently, that is. I assume that's what you meant. Six hundred dead we got out."
"Good. Excellent. I want you to transfer your wounded again, once new portals are set. To Lioantung. We won't have to worry about them again unless the enemy breaks through both us and Northern Army."
Tasi-feng no longer believed his commander was overreacting to an insignificant threat. He tried to buoy his own spirits by saying, "We estimate another twenty thousand bodies permanently destroyed, Lord."
"Any idea what they have left?"
"Not reliably, Lord. At least fifty thousand. Plus the flyers."
"Plus the flyers. We may end up wishing we had our own flyers. Chang Sheng! Any luck enlisting the dragons?"
"None, Lord. They won't explain, but their elders claim they know this evil of old. They won't face it again."
"That's it?"
"That's all they'll say."
"Curious," Shih-ka'i said. "That's not like them. They've never been afraid of anything."
"They're scared of this, Lord. It looked like they were ready to abandon their breeding caves."
"Ah? Where could they go?"
"I couldn't say, Lord."
Shih-ka'i moved to the map. "Gentlemen, I've placed scouting parties along this arc. We should know their intentions soon."
Tasi-feng indicated a red arrow. It humped over the area of confrontation to spear the eastern shore. "What's this, Lord?"
"Don't worry about it. Just a job I gave Hsu Shen."
Had Hsu Shen gotten his boats assembled yet? The man's last report placed him on the coast, preparing to cross to the island. Shih-ka'i was eager to place a portal there. He wanted to know if it were indeed the former headquarters of the Pracchia, wanted to see if anything interesting had been left behind.
A Tervola named Yen Teh, from one of the southern legions, ran toward Shih-ka'i's group. He was without his mask. His face was pallid. "Lord," he gasped. "Lord, I've just heard... Matayanga... They attacked. With two million men."
"Two million?" Shih-ka'i murmured. He could not encompass the number. There was no way to support an army that size.
The Matayangan strategy must be predicated on an expectation that heavy casualties early would reduce their forces to manageable size. He peered at his map. "Two million? Gentlemen, we're on our own. There won't be anyone to help us."
The hall became very still. No one had believed the southern situation could deteriorate this far, that the Matayangans would dare attack. For centuries no nation had been that foolish. But two million men? Inconceivable. The Matayangans were risking everything on one pass of the dice. Their losses would cripple them for generations, considering what would happen after Southern Army assumed the offensive.
"Trying to swamp us with the first rush," Shih-ka'i observed. "And they might do it. But that's not our problem. Ours is out there. Lord Lun-yu, take charge of the recon patrols. I want to know exactly when they're going to attack."
"As you command, Lord."
The enemy again baffled Shih-ka'i. He did not pursue a rational strategy and immediately assault the fortress. He came from the desert, but in no rush. He gave Shih-ka'i four more days to prepare. Shih-ka'i assembled the bulk of Eastern Army. Those on the march elsewhere would arrive within days. So many men were on hand, in fact, that most had to remain in fortified encampments outside the fortress. Eastern Army would provide a hell of a fight. Northern Army would have ample time to prepare positions along the Tusghus, against possible failure here.
During the respite Shih-ka'i visited the island in the east. He and Hsu Shen wandered long-abandoned halls. Nothing of value remained, though there was adequate evidence that this was indeed the island of Lord Ko Feng's memoirs.
"Someone stripped the place," Shih-ka'i said.
"So it seems, Lord."
"Curious. Most curious."
"Lord?"
"Ko Feng says they left in a hurry, planning to return later. When later came, he was the only conspirator left. He never came back. So who stripped the place? Can you suggest a culprit?"
"I'd suggest Lord Ko, Lord. After he was banished."
"I don't think so. I'd try a divination if our stone friend weren't right over there." The thing could be seen from the ramparts, if one had Hsu Shen's eyes. Shih-ka'i could see nothing but rusty vistas.
Pan ku came galloping up. He gasped, "Lord, the legion commanders request your presence."
"Very well. Hsu Shen, sit tight. I'll give you a century. I may want you to hit the stone thing from here."
Hsu Shen appeared distrait. "As you command, Lord."
Shih-ka'i chuckled. "Of course. Pan ku. Let's see what they want."
In minutes he entered his map room. He scanned the big picture. An arc of enemy markers glared in from the desert. "Lot of them out there now, eh?"
"Fifty thousand, Lord," Tasi-feng replied.