DragonCrown Saga - The Grand Crusade Part 29

Princess Alexia did not let Tythsai's force escape entirely. She used her cavalry to chase, scout, and hara.s.s the Aurolani as they retreated. Once the rear guard felt sufficiently threatened by fast-moving light horse units, Tythsai would be forced to form her army up and offer the rear guard support. Alexia would keep her hara.s.sing troops in place, bring the rest of her army up, then allow the Aurolani to decline an engagement and move off again.

While the mix of chase and release might have seemed pointless, Alexia actually managed to accomplish several things at the same time. The raids against the rear guard did cost the Aurolani soldiers. More importantly, every time Tythsai had to stop her army and march them back west to support the rear guard, the Aurolani were being made to retrace their steps again and again. The fact that when they got there they were allowed to march off again built up resentment and began to erode morale.

The Aurolani did try to strike back. They set up ambushes on the roads and within the forests, but Alexia was able to deploy the Alcidese Mountain Rangers, Zyean Free Swords, and Nybali Longsteps against these. Unseen in the woods a war of small units raged, with squads tangling as battalions on both sides moved through the tree-strewn gloom, hunting and killing the enemy wherever they stood.

Almost a week after the first battle, when combat had been thrice offered and declined, both forces moved to within the shadow of Fronosa. The tusklike mountains thrust up through the landscape, save for one gap where one of the teeth clearly had been knocked loose in some ancient combat. Nestled beneath the tooth to the north, the fortress of Fronosa commanded the road running around its base, then down through switchbacks to the plains of Muroso. Though the fortress itself was not large, the steep slope upon which it rested made bringing siege machinery against it all but impossible. Conversely, though the weaponry in Fronosa was small, it could do devastating amounts of damage to forces trying to work up the slope, especially from the Murosan side.

Alexia stepped up her hara.s.sment and brought her foot soldiers up quickly. The fortress could never house all the Aurolani troops, but the reach of their siege engines could supply a nice umbrella beneath which the Aurolani troops could take cover. Tythsai, though undead, was not wholly stupid. She reinforced the rear guard, then withdrew the remains of her army to Fronosa's shadow.

Alexia faced little more than a regiment of troops astride the road. At its center stood three battalions of heavy infantry made up mostly of gibberers, with a few h.o.a.rgoun andkryalnirito stiffen them. The frost giants wielded prodigious clubs which, in most cases, were little more than uprooted trees. A few had taken to using spikes to affix bits and pieces of armor and s.h.i.+elds, both making the weapons more deadly and showing contempt for the human warriors from whom the items had been stripped.

On each wing, slightly behind the infantry, a light cavalry battalion waited. Their job would be to attack from the edges when whatever a.s.sault Alyx sent at the heavy infantry got bogged down. The force guarding the road would be crushed-of that there was no doubt on either side. If Alyx went after them hard and fast, her cavalry would suffer losses. If she waited to ma.s.s more troops, the Aurolani army could fully shelter in Fronosa.

Alyx had her signalman blow an alert, which brought all of her cavalry forward. She ma.s.sed her heavy cavalry in front, with the two battalions of the Saporician Crown Lancers getting the honor of first contact. Next up were the Alcidese Iron Horse's two battalions, then the single Mask Battalion made up of Murosan and Oriosan volunteers. Her light cavalry was arrayed on each wing, in position to counterattack the Aurolani light cavalry.

Signals to troops were drummed out from the Aurolani force and the foot soldiers set themselves for the southern charge. The formation bristled with spears that were leveled, with b.u.t.ts planted in the ground in hopes of impaling horses. Soldiers raised s.h.i.+elds and hunkered down. The h.o.a.rgoun began to swing their clubs in circles, moving ever more swiftly. One blow could lift a horse and rider from the ground, armor and all, and neither would fight again.

She looked at her signalman. "Blow the attack for plan two, please." The man nodded, then raised a bugle to his lips. Staccato notes blasted out. The Saporician lancers began trotting forward. Their lances lowered, the pennants on them snapped, then they moved into a gallop. Behind them came the Alcidese Iron Horse. Hoofbeats sounded as thunder. Alyx felt the ground shaking beneath her, and the horse she sat astride snorted with impatience. She patted his neck, and whispered, "There will be more than enough war coming."

Alexia, in studying the maps created by the Gyrkyme scouts she'd sent out, had a.s.sumed Tythsai would try to stop her at this point. She'd further a.s.sumed that one possible arrangement would be the one that had been used. Neither the princess nor any of her advisors doubted it would be very b.l.o.o.d.y when the light cavalry attacked the flanks of her cavalry.

To respond to that threat, Alyx developed a variety of attack plans. The only flaw in what Tythsai had set up was that it required the light cavalry to have a clear corridor to attack the flanks of the southern cavalry. The clear corridors existed and, with plan two, the south exploited them before the Aurolani could.

As the Saporicians neared the Aurolani infantry, they left the road to the north, cutting around that formation, and bringing their full weight to bear on the light cavalry to the rear. h.o.a.rgoun watched in amazement as men and horses encased in steel bypa.s.sed them and slammed into the frostclaws and their riders. A few of the Aurolani cavalry did manage to lower their lances and begin to advance, but that just meant their weapons splintered first on s.h.i.+elds, and their bodies trailed blood and feathers as they were blasted back.

To the south, the Alcidese Iron Horse cut around and hit the other light cavalry. That battalion, having seen what happened to their brethren, had set themselves and started to advance, but to no avail. The heavy cavalry thrust through them, splitting their formation before the second battalion reached their target. The resulting melee had men and gibberers spilling from saddles. Frostclaws leaped and slashed, horses reared and stomped. Swords, axes, maces, and flails finished what broken lances had started.

The Aurolani infantry had no idea what to do when the light cavalry came racing in. As they had done previously, the horse archers peppered their enemy with shots. Against such a ma.s.s, arrows were bound to find targets. As gibberers fell, so did spears or s.h.i.+elds. h.o.a.rgoun roared in pain as arrows easily stuck them. Aurolani screamed in pain and frustration, unable to get at the tormentors who rode around in circles, loosing flight after flight of arrows.

Finally, the infantry could take no more and their formation broke. Some squads charged at the archers while others just turned to run. In their minds, they were close enough to hear drums, so safety was not that far away.

Unfortunately for them, the heavy cavalry units that had shorn away their wings now waited between them and the succor Fronosa offered. That slowed their flight, and one h.o.a.rgoun bellowed orders that tightened their formation. They set themselves for the heavy cavalry charge. Once they'd withstood that, they would break and run for their own lines.

About the time they were braced for that charge, the Mask Battalion hit them from their new rear. The masked warriors, many of whom knew that these very troops had despoiled their nation, plunged headlong into the Aurolani formation. Spears flew, lances bowed and cracked, swords dented helms and clove skulls. Aurolani combatants spun away, bones broken or limbs hacked away. Blood pulsed as animals screamed. Riders slashed mercilessly at those who would pull them from the saddle. Spells exploded, wreathing some riders in fire, then bloodiedkryalniriwould fall into the mud churned up with their own vital fluids.

A few of the Aurolani cavalry survived and fled across the plain to their own lines. One of the h.o.a.rgoun tried to do the same thing, but the cavalry quickly made sport of a creature they had feared. Lancers thrust repeatedly at his heels, though it was one of the Iron Horse who used an ax to sever one heel tendon. The giant fell heavily, but before he could get up, more lancers thrust spears through his legs. As he reached out to drag himself along, another stabbed a spear down through his hand, pinning it to the ground. As he tore at that spear, more pierced his body and more, until his labored breathing could do nothing more than raise a cloud of dust. Blood bubbled from dozens of chest wounds and flowed freely from countless other cuts, then the h.o.a.rgoun roared one last time, weakly, and died.

The signalman blew for the cavalry to regroup, which they did, well past the point of Aurolani defense.

Barely a thousand yards separated Alexia's forces from those of the enemy, but the last two hundred of those yards would be within range of Fronosa's trebuchets and catapults. Regardless, Alexia rode forward, and behind her came the rest of her army.

The Aurolani took up defensive positions. A rubble field to the north had so many rocks scattered around it and so much talus over it that horses could not function there. Mounting an a.s.sault on that position would call for infantry and it would be very slow going. Tythsai stationed her two battalions of draconet-teers there. They could rake the flanks of Alyx's forces, or just kill any infantry sent to root them out.

The rest of the army spread out with the remaining heavy infantry in the center, and the light deployed to each side. Tythsai kept her cavalry all the way over to the east. They anch.o.r.ed her flank, but had direct access to the road so they could charge as needed. Because of the way the land dropped off to the east, Alexia couldn't flank them. The cavalry had dismounted and were digging small trenches, as were all the troops, making the hill yet more difficult to take.

The only choice for the southern force was a frontal a.s.sault. A frontal a.s.sault that would take them uphill against an enemy in good defensive positions, and the whole time they would be subjected to shots from Fronosa. Alyx's a.s.sault would be suicidal, and could cripple her army. If enough damage was done, she might not be able to push into Muroso.

As if to reinforce how dangerous the a.s.sault would be, a ballista let fly from within Fronosa. A spear trailing a red banner arced high into the air, then came down and stabbed into the earth. It quivered there, a graphic demonstration of exactly how far Alexia's troops would have to march beneath its range. The wind teased the pennant and a great, defiant cry arose from the Aurolani ranks.

Alexia brought her troops along at a brisk march and signalmen got them arrayed in the proper order.

Once they were spread out over a broad front, she nodded to the signalman, and he blew a general advance. Slowly, at an easy walk, the infantry advanced: heavy in the center, light on the wings, with her own cavalry positioned to counter the Aurolani cavalry. Inside a minute the southerners reached the spear. They never even paused.

The catapults, trebuchets, and ballistae in Fronosa began to operate in earnest. The larger machines sent heavy stones, iron b.a.l.l.s, or, in a few cases, smoking crocks containing flammable oil high into the sky.

The ballistae shot either spears like the one before, or sheaves of arrows with lead weights right behind the heads. As they sped to earth, the weight would encourage the arrow's head to pierce armor.

The employment of the siege engines was a disaster. The stones fell amid troops, crus.h.i.+ng them. A stone might smash one helmet, then bounce away, its energy only partially spent, to smash into someone else's face or leg. Spears transfixed warriors, and arrows drilled through them. When the firecrocks. .h.i.t the hard ground, their cargo ignited immediately. Soldiers became living torches, screaming until they breathed in enough fire to close their throats.

Alexia watched it all and felt nothing. Not so her troops. Despite their discipline, they could not ignore what was happening. Unbidden, they raised their voice in a war cry. Not one of defiance or pity, but of amazement. Flight after flight of stones, arrows, spears, and fire arced up and fell quickly. It fell short of the advancing southern formation and instead sowed death and misery amid the Aurolani troops.

With a nod, Alyx instructed her signalman to blow a "hold advance," which he did. Up and down her line the call was repeated. Her troops stopped moving forward, while cheering all the more loudly as fire exploded among the Aurolani. Arrows cut down whole companies. The missiles from within the fortress concentrated on the heavy infantry and one heavy rock rolled down the slope, crus.h.i.+ng those who were too slow or unlucky to get out of the way.

With another order call, Alyx's cavalry withdrew from their position threatening the road. Aurolani drums spoke and Tythsai's troops began to withdraw down the trail. She left her cavalry to screen her force, but it was never in jeopardy from anyone on her side of the battlefield. The missiles flew from Fronosa until the people inside the fortress had nothing more to shoot.

By late afternoon, the Aurolani forces had withdrawn and the lead elements could be seen on the Zamsina road. Various reports flowed in, estimating the Aurolani losses at well over two thousand-almost a third of the force Tythsai had started the campaign with. While Alexia could have pressed the attack, letting Tythsai slip away was still a part of her strategy. The Aurolani had been made to quit Saporicia and, as far as she was concerned, that was enough for one day.

As that thought occurred to her, she smiled. Actually, it wasn't enough, and would only be a minor part of her day.

Up on the battlements of Fronosa she saw Crow and decided her day had really just begun.

She lay on Crow's chest, licking sweat from his throat, with his arms strong around her. She squeezed his thighs with her calves, then kissed him. "So, lover, you enjoy it when a plan of mine works?"

Crow coughed lightly, then nodded. He followed that quickly with a smile. "Oh, you mean the taking of Fronosa. Yes, my dear."

She gave his ribs a quick slap, more noise than sting. "What else did you think I was referring to? No, don't answer that." She kissed him again as his upthrust hips settled back into the mattress. "I had hoped it would work."

"Perfectly, lover." Crow reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "We hara.s.sed a number of supply trains, stealing everything we could. Then, as per your plan, we camped here on the plains so they could see us, along with our now long loot-string of wagons. A Gyrkyme landed, we brought everyone together, slew the draft animals, and made a halfhearted attempt to burn the wagons before we rode away to the east. As you expected, they sent scouts in our wake to see if we were truly gone. They waited for as long as they felt they could, then the garrison poured out and across the plain to loot our wagons.

"We'd headed east, but cut back around to the south and were in a perfect position to hit them as they were in a frenzy of looting. I used the Vilwanese war-mages to ride to the fortress and make sure it remained open, but thekryalniricommander who was in charge was one of the first to die when we attacked the looters. Interrogation of a few survivors gave us what we needed to respond to signals when Tythsai brought her troops up, though you gave her no real time to suspect anything was amiss."

Alexia smiled. "It was a gamble to use that strategy, but it paid off."

"There would have been no taking Fronosa otherwise." Crow frowned. "We couldn't have done it as the Aurolani did-infiltrating renegades with the Murosan refugees who had been given sanctuary there."

"I am very glad it worked. Your attack utterly broke them." Alexia gave him another kiss, then rolled to her right and stretched her legs out. The sweat on her stomach quickly cooled, so she reached down with a toe and drew a blanket up over both of them. "Have you any idea how much I have missed you?"

Crow rolled onto his left side, resting his head on his hand, and traced a finger over her jaw. "Well, since it took you only ten minutes to demand a full and private debriefing from me concerning the situation here, I would guess it was a lot. Almost as much as I missed you."

"We can debate in the morning who missed whom more, my love." Alyx turned her face and kissed his finger, then flicked her tongue at it. "There have been many cold nights..."

"I can toss another log on the fire."

She looked into his eyes and could see the reflection of the red coals from the small room's hearth. "It wasn't that sort of cold, Crow. It was a soul-cold. I needed and wanted you physically, yes-very much-but I also needed the sound of your voice. I needed to hear your thoughts and to share mine with you. To share everything with you."

He smiled, and it warmed her heart to see him do so quite so easily. "There is no doubt, then, that we were in similar states of need. The days of our being apart are ended, however."

"True." She reached up and took his left hand in her right. He rolled onto his back as she brought his hand down and squeezed it. "With you beside me, I have no worries."

"Nor do I." His voice came warm, rich, and deep, music to her soul as well as her ears. "Sleep well, lover."

She nodded and was fairly certain she said, "I love you, Crow," before she drifted off. She could not be sure and as sleep claimed her, she determined she would say it twice in the morning, and find a way to prove it to him.

Crow's convulsion brought her awake, snapping her eyes open. It had been forceful enough to tear his hand from hers. She tried to turn her head to look at him, but could not. Paralysis had seized her body.

For a moment she thought she was dreaming and stuck the way one so often was in dreams. What she saw, however, convinced her she was very much awake.

And yet trapped in a nightmare.

Alyx didn't know where she had come from, but thesullanciriMyrall'mara stood at Crow's side of the bed. Her pale form glowed, almost making her seem like a ghost. Alexia would have believed she was, and that what she was seeing was a hallucination of some sort, save that she could hear the strained whisper of the pillowcase as Chytrine's creature held the pillow down over Crow's face in a tight grip.

Thesullancirilooked at her. "Fear not, child, you shall not be long separated from him. He will only abandon you for a little while."

Myrall'mara's cold voice coiled a viper in Alexia's guts. She struggled against the incapacity of her limbs to move. She couldn't twitch, she couldn't even feel a s.h.i.+ver. Something, magick or something else, held her prisoner as her enemy slowly smothered her lover. Panic rose in her, born of a feeling of impotence, but she forced it away.

Alyx turned inward and in the blink of an eye she found herself on the wheeldeck of Maroth's boat in the Communion. The Black Dragon stood there with the metal construct. "Why, Princess, this is a surprise."

"I need help, now! Myrall'mara is smothering Crow and I can do nothing." She grabbed the Black Dragon's hand. "You must help me."

"Of course, daughter." The man's tone became steel. He gripped her hand tightly in his. "Go back. Take me there. Maroth,attend me"

Alexia willed herself back into her body and there, at the foot of the bed, the Black Dragon appeared.

He came around the end quickly, his shape s.h.i.+fting as he did. Myrall'mara's head turned and thesullanciri gasped. The Black Dragon's mailed left fist came around in a backhanded blow that caught her on the side of the face and knocked her back into the wall.

The pillow came off Crow's face. He loudly sucked in a lungful of air. The Black Dragon looked down at him, his inhuman visage gone, transformed into something Alexia found very familiar and yet a face she had never seen before. The Black Dragon looked down at Crow and at her, then smiled.

"So proud," he said, his words trailing to whispers as he faded from existence.

Snarling, Myrall'mara dove across the bed. Her clawed hands pa.s.sed through where the Black Dragon had been, but his disappearance left her sprawled over their legs. She snarled, then she s.h.i.+fted around and straddled Crow much as Alexia had done before. She ground her hips against his in a parody of their lovemaking, then batted away his weak hands when he tried to shove her off.

Thesullancirismiled at Alexia, then slipped her hands around Crow's throat. "Better he dies this way, seeing me. Seeing me as I was when I delighted him."

Her fingers tightened, but only for a moment. A black metal hand closed on the back of her neck. She shrieked and clawed at it, scoring the metal with bright silver scratches. Maroth lifted her from Crow, then shook her hard. Alexia heard a loud snap, then thesullancirihung from his hand limply, and the glow that had suffused her slowly died.

As it went away, control returned to Alyx's limbs. She turned and reached out, gathering Crow to her.

She pressed her body to his back and kissed his shoulders and head. She could feel him breathe, even hear it. "Tell me you are all right, Crow. Say something, please."

He coughed once, heavily, then let his left arm rest on hers clumsily. His grip on her wrist lacked strength, but he was moving. He whispered hoa.r.s.ely, "That wasn't a dream, was it?"

She kissed the back of his neck. "It was, in a way. It was the dream I had a long time ago in Okrannel.

My nightmare."

Crow cleared his throat, then s.h.i.+fted in her arms to face her and enfold her in his arms. "Myrall'mara I recognize." His voice failed for a moment. "The man who stood over us... Do you know who that was?"

She wanted to say, "No," but she could not. She clung to Crow and rested her head on his shoulder. "In the dream, my father saved me, saved us. It couldn't have been, but..."

Crow reached up and stroked her cheek, brus.h.i.+ng away tears. "It looked like your father to me. How he was here, I don't know."

Alexia took a deep breath, and began to explain to Crow about the Communion of Dragons. It surprised her that she could, and part of her wondered if Maroth's presence in the real world meant that the Communion was somehow destroyed.

Her prohibition against speaking about it certainly was, for the words poured out of her easily.

As she spoke, she reexamined everything in her mind. She recalled first meeting the Black Dragon and taking umbrage at his calling her "daughter." That she really was his daughter made more sense. If he was her father, he must have projected himself into the Communion in that last second before his body was destroyed at Fortress Draconis. He had lived since then in the Communion, gathering information and orchestrating plans to defeat Chytrine.

The implications of all that shook her. He had known of her through Preyknosery, and that neither of them had told her the truth felt like a betrayal. Then again, both of them were holding themselves to a higher duty than all others in the world-destroying Chytrine. For her father to have known of her, and to be denied the chance to hold her or touch her without dying, had to be agonizing. There was no doubting his love for her, though, as he made the ultimate sacrifice in coming to save her.

Crow nodded as she explained her thinking. "That would be your father. He would have carried his duty beyond the grave. And he would be very proud of you."

"I think he was proud of us both." Alexia smiled despite her tears. "In your memoirs, I can see how much you liked my father. I know he liked you. He told me I could trust you well before we grew close.

He even talked to me about how I felt when I learned who you really were." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "And I think he was happy to know I was well loved."

Crow's arms tightened around her and he held her as she sobbed. She'd always hoped that her life would make her father proud. She wanted to live up to the heroic example he'd set. She never expected his approval, since he was dead. In an instant she knew she had it, and then had lost her father again.Not lost, really, but found he was even more of a hero than anyone expected.

She nestled in the coc.o.o.n of Crow's arms, with tears running down her face. He kissed her forehead and whispered soothingly. He clung to her tightly and never slacked his embrace until she gently pushed against his chest.

"A bit of a shock, all of this. I'm sorry."

Crow's right hand tipped her chin up and he looked her straight in the eyes. "You never have to apologize for what you feel, Alexia. All this-from asullan-ciritrying to murder us to seeing your father and having him vanish-would have wrung emotions from Chytrine. That you feel them is proof that the goals your father set for you have been realized. You are not a killing machine, a general who will spend troops as if they were copper coins, but a thinking, feeling person who is capable of weighing every factor that impinges on a battle. Without that skill-without your feelings-you would fail. It will take time for you to come to grips with all this, and that's okay. I will be here. I will support you as you need it and want it. Your father loves you, I love you, your troops love and trust you. You are everything Chytrine is not, and you will be victorious."

Alyx sniffed, then shook her head and choked back more tears. The lump finally cleared her throat, allowing her to speak in a whisper. "I could not feel more loved than now, here in your arms. With you I can be myself. I can have my doubts and work them out. This is but one of the gifts you give me. I love you.

"I love you, too, Alexia." He kissed her again, then nodded toward Maroth. "If you don't mind telling me, what is that thing holding a deadsullancirP. How does it work?"

"That is Maroth, the Communion boatman." Alexia wiped away tears and sat up in bed. "Maroth, you can put her down. He follows simple commands, but I have no idea how he works."

The automaton did as he was bid by casting Myrall'mara's body aside. His arm returned to his side, then something clicked in his chest. A faint line of s.h.i.+fting, varicolored light grew from throat to abdomen as the metal chest plate parted. Both halves swung open and, nestled there in his chest, much in the same way Rymramoch's Truestone rested inside the puppet, was a dark, opalescent stone set in gold. The colors in it s.h.i.+fted the way an aurora undulates across the sky.

Alexia felt a fluttering in her stomach. "I think I now know a lot more about how he works than I ever wanted to."

Crow sat up beside her, hugging his knees to his chest. "That, I'll presume, is the missing piece of the DragonCrown."

"I think that's a safe a.s.sumption." Alexia rubbed a hand over her face. "It used to be secured in a place where Chytrine could never find it. Now it's in this world."

Crow nodded. "Not like we needed it, but now we have yet another reason to make sure Chytrine is defeated."

Resolute did not move when he came awake. Part of him remained still so he could listen for sounds of the enemy around him. Another part wanted to a.s.sess his injuries. The pounding in his head indicated why he was just then waking up, and the fact that he was waking up suggested his wounds weren't fatal.

That would have been taken as a very good sign under normal circ.u.mstances.

But things felt far from normal, and the biggest reason Resolute did not move was because he was disgusted with himself. Last he could recall, he had left Kerrigan with Trawyn, Oracle, Bok, and Rym to try to get inside the ward ring and find the DragonCrown fragments. He'd led the Grey Misters off to attack the Aurolani hunters, and it had been a savage and swift a.s.sault. Akryalnirithey had working on the wards cast a spell and stepped forward, then instantly burst into flame. Even if that had not temporarily blinded many of the gibberers andturekadine, the shock of the creature's screams would have been enough to distract them.

The Grey Misters attacked fiercely and Resolute had felt utterly in his element. With Syverce in his left hand, he flicked bladestars through the night. More than one of theturekadinefell to those weapons. The gibberers who came at him with longknives found his slender sword more than a match for them, and his skills with it made him nearly invincible.

Resolute allowed himself a little derisive snort as that thought came to his mind. That tiny bit of motion let him feel the crust crack on his scalp, and a small trickle of blood rolled down behind his right ear. The pain in his head spiked, but tolerably so. He flexed some muscles and found himself mightily bruised, but with nothing else broken as near as he could tell. He didn't want to chance gross movements yet, but soon would find himself impatient to do so.