Scholar

90

More scattered attacks occurred on Mardi afternoon and evening, as did more snow flurries, but the regiment again took over a hamlet that evening, one supposedly situated less than two milles from the gates of Zorlyn’s holding. There were no attacks on Mardi night, but that might have been because Rescalyn had posted sentries and supporting patrols all the way around the hamlet, which was named, unsurprisingly to Quaeryt, Zaemla. It also might have been because cold and snow flurries continued through the night.

Early on Meredi morning, with Rescalyn having assigned Sixth Battalion as the vanguard, the regiment moved out under high clouds, down from which drifted occasional small flakes of snow. Even wearing his browns and another shirt, Quaeryt was chilled after riding less than a quint.

His first glimpse of Zorlyn’s holding affirmed his suspicions, because he saw it from a good mille away, situated on a low hill or ridge, facing to the south. The stone-walled and slate-roofed structure was close to as large as the central palace building of the Telaryn Palace, but without its wings and all the other structures held within the walls that had sheltered the Khanars. Although there were some ornamental trees near the hold, and there looked to be, from the tops of trees protruding, a walled garden adjoining the hold on the southwest side, effectively there was no way to approach the hold without being exposed. Halfway up the hill and close to a half mille downhill from the lowest of the outbuildings was a stone wall of close to two yards in height that encircled the entire hill. Quaeryt could see but a single gate, which served the road on which the regiment approached, but there might have been another on the north side. Not only were the iron-grilled double gates closed, but large stones had been stacked in front of them to the height of the wall on each side.

Rows of archers stood on the sloping ground about fifty yards back of the wall and gate. But Quaeryt did not see any other men-at-arms, not that he doubted that there were a good thousand or more somewhere nearby.

The regiment halted some three hundred yards from the gate and wall. Horn signals followed until the horse battalions were in formation side by side. What Quaeryt didn’t understand, though, was why they remained in files of two, rather than with the five-man front used for attack. For another half quint, the regiment waited.

Then two strange-looking wagons appeared. The long wagon beds were filled with bags of some sort, and at the rear of each wagon was a wooden shield that rose a good two yards. Behind the shield were six horses, with far wider spacing than in a normal hitch, and a single teamster rode astride one of the rear horses. The wagons moved forward along the road no faster than a man could walk, creaking and groaning. As they approached the wall, the archers let fly, but the arrows either missed or stuck in the timber shield or the bags in the wagon bed. One wagon turned gradually and slightly to the right and one to the left until they were lined up to reach the wall on each side of the blocked gates.

More arrows flew, but the wagons continued to move forward slowly until they reached the wall. Then they stopped. For a time, it appeared to Quaeryt that nothing happened, even as arrows sleeted down, but were blocked by the wooden shields that were beginning to resemble hedgehogs. He realized that there were two teamsters and that they were doing something with the hitches and turning the big dray horses. Then the horses began to pull again-except that the wagons did not move, but began to tilt until the front end lifted and kept rising until it was as high as the wall. At the same time, the wagon bed stretched.

Quaeryt’s mouth opened. Indeed, Rescalyn had some surprises prepared. Then another set of planks emerged, winched from somewhere, that began to extend over the wall. The scholar watched as both wagons became ramps.

“Fifth Battalion! Forward! By twos!”

The companies of Fifth Battalion galloped to the wall, then slowed, as each rider guided his mount up the ramp and then down the other side.

The archers targeted the riders, and several were hit. One mount and rider went down on the ramp, then slid to the bottom, but Fifth Battalion kept coming.

“Sixth Battalion! Forward! By twos!”

As he rode forward, Quaeryt could see a flood of men hurrying downhill from one of the structures near the top of the knoll, but they had close to a half mille to cover. At the same time, more than a few riders and mounts from Fifth Battalion had fallen, but the others were riding toward the archers, and the closer they got, the less time the bowmen had to nock and release the next volley.

He glanced to his right, where he saw two engineers’ wagons being driven toward the gate, with a ranker holding a wide shield in front of the teamster. There had to be more engineers in the wagons, and Quaeryt could only hope that they were going to try to sap the gates or create more ways for the regiment to get through or over the walls.

Except that will be too late for you.

Quaeryt forced his concentration back to the road and Meinyt in front of him, trying to ignore the fact that arrows had to be falling around him. Then, before he expected it, the wagon ramp was ahead of him.

“One mount at a time! Pass it back!” ordered Meinyt.

Quaeryt could feel the ramp shake and shiver as the mare climbed up it, and at the top an arrow-more likely a quarrel from the force-smashed into his shields so hard that he rocked back in the saddle, barely keeping his seat as the mare carried him down. He managed to yell back, “One mount at a time! Pass it back!” before he was down and off the ramp, heading toward the archers who were retreating in stages, while still loosing shafts.

He was scarcely ten yards from the ramp when he heard an ominous crack, and then a yell, and an agonized scream from a mount. He forced himself to concentrate on the hillside ahead, a slope gentle enough that it rose perhaps one yard in every ten-steep for a wagon, but not that steep for a man or mount.

“On your squad leaders!” ordered Meinyt.

Half-staff out and now in hand, Quaeryt just followed the older captain uphill and toward the left side of the archers still loosing shafts. The slight vibration of his shields suggested that another arrow had grazed them.

The armsmen who had been hurrying down the slope halted fifty yards or so above the archers, some of whom were already beginning to fall to the blows from the leading riders in the remnants of Fifth Battalion, others of whom were retreating uphill. The newly arrived defenders immediately formed a solid line some four or five men deep that stretched across a front some two hundred yards wide. They all carried small round shields-larger than bucklers and seemingly strapped to the forearm-with blades longer than sabres but shorter than hand-and-a-half blades, a combination Quaeryt had never seen, but then there were many aspects of arms about which he knew nothing.

At the sound of a tattoo on a bass drum, the remaining archers fled, running up the gentle slope to try to escape the several hundred riders remaining from Fifth Battalion, who in turn immediately did their best to pursue and cut down the fleeing bowmen.

“Sixth Battalion! At the defenders!” ordered Skarpa, from somewhere to Quaeryt’s right.

Quaeryt understood. Once the defenders let the archers slip through their ranks, the bowmen could move uphill, turn, and again target the attacking Telaryn forces. He took a quick glance over his shoulder back downslope. As he had feared, one of the ramps had collapsed, and all other riders were using the remaining ramp while the engineers worked frantically to clear the stones and open the gate.

He urged the mare forward, but found most of Meinyt’s squad moving uphill faster than he was. So he angled the mare to the left more, in order to stay out of the way of better riders, and readied the staff. The defenders worked in pairs-one attacking the rider, and the other trying to disable his mount. Seeing that, as he rode toward the defenders, whose breath was creating a fog of sorts along the hillside, he extended his shields, feeling the effort. Yet what else could he do? He certainly wasn’t agile enough to lean forward in the saddle and strike anyone trying to slash the mare’s legs.

Before he realized that he’d closed on the defenders, two jumped toward him, one high and one low. He let the shields take the impact, then contracted them enough that he could hammer the one aiming at the mare, then brought the staff up in an ungainly thrust, so awkward that the defender didn’t see it coming as his blade came down on Quaeryt’s shielded arm. Even as the defender collapsed, Quaeryt almost dropped his staff, because the sword had slammed into his shields so forcefully that his entire body shook for a moment.

Another shock shivered him, as yet another defender attacked while he tried to clear his head.

Not supposed to be like this.…

He tried to turn the mare, but found himself in a press of bodies, those of mounts and men, with blades being used more like crowbars than cutting weapons, and his shields being hammered more often than not while he tried to use the staff. Before that long the hammering on his shields ceased, as more and more defenders dropped or, wounded, did their best to scramble or crawl out of the way. More than a few fell victim to hoofs as the companies of Sixth Battalion pressed up the slope.

Another wave of defenders advanced downhill, taking a position some fifty yards behind the lowest line of armsmen, the last of whom were slowly being separated and cut down or wounded. Abruptly, at the sound of a tattoo on a bass drum, the remaining defenders on the lower part of the hill all turned and turned and ran uphill, but at an angle, toward one end of the new defense formation or the other.

Fifth and Sixth Battalion, as well as Fourth, and then Eighth, continued uphill toward the secondary line of defense. Quaeryt thought there were almost as many new defenders as there had been in the last line.

How many armsmen does Zorlyn have?

Quaeryt had the feeling that they’d already faced more than two thousand … and that meant that Zorlyn had more troops than the old Khanars had mustered. No wonder the Khanars and High Holders hadn’t wanted to press the hill holders that much.

Regardless of what he wanted, the press of riders was carrying him toward the next formation of defenders, and to try to fight his way clear would make him far too obvious. Yet he was breathing heavily, and his head was throbbing. He compromised by riding with the others, but not pressing to get to the front.

Once more, the defenders attempted to cut mounts down, and the attacking Telaryn troopers tried to cut down the men attacking them, rather than the mounts, before lower-down defenders could get to the mounts. Most of the time, the riders were the more successful … but not always, as a mount went down in front of Quaeryt.

The mare stumbled, but caught her balance and danced to the left, where Quaeryt used the staff to good effect on a defender trying to slash at her forelegs, and then on his partner. He ended up using the staff to block blows from hitting his shields, because every time a blade struck the shields it hurt, and he felt as though his ability to hold shields was draining away, quint by quint, if not moment by moment.

He kept warding off blows, but saw that they were coming less frequently, and that Sixth Battalion and the other battalions had turned the tide and were beginning once more to thin the defenders to the point where they would have to either break or be slaughtered where they stood.

A massive bass drumroll echoed down the hillside.

Quaeryt couldn’t help but look up. Yet another set of fighters, all in black, rode into sight at the top of the hill-under a banner with a black “Z” encircled in gold. Quaeryt swallowed. There had to be almost the equivalent of more than another battalion in that group, over five hundred riders. He glanced downhill. Surrounded by Seventh Battalion, Rescalyn and his command group had ridden through where the main gates had been-Quaeryt hadn’t even known that the engineers had gotten them open or removed them-and uphill toward the battle.

Clearly the governor felt he needed to commit every man to meet the latest wave of defenders, but Quaeryt couldn’t help but worry. What if Zorlyn has even more defenders concealed somewhere else?

As Zorlyn’s elite force-if that was what they were-swept downhill, Quaeryt noted that all wore helms, breastplates, and greaves, and that their sabres were curved somewhat. Heavy cavalry. Where that phrase came from he didn’t know. He also saw that there was one man, in the center, whose breastplate bore a “Z.” Zorlyn himself? Or his eldest son?

Quaeryt would have wagered that that it was Zorlyn himself, but who would know until the battle was decided one way or another?

At the sounds of the bass drum, the center of the defenders parted, and the heavy cavalry knifed toward the center of the Telaryn forces.

At that moment, flights of arrows arched into the heavy cavalry.

Quaeryt glanced around, and finally located the company of Telaryn archers to the side of the slope, where they had apparently been for a time. The arrows cut into the heavy cavalry, cutting down scores and slowing the charge until the rebel riders were within yards of the Telaryn forces.

Even so, the rebel riders pushed back the Telaryn forces for some thirty yards before slowing to little more than a walk, and then less than that, as Seventh Battalion reached the edges of the center.

For the next half quint, blades battled blades, and Quaeryt just tried to protect the mare and to keep from getting struck directly by either footmen or the handfuls of heavy cavalry that had moved out of the center of the heaviest fighting.

Then, again, from the top of the hill came the sound of hoofs. Quaeryt glanced up, fearing to see more riders in black. Instead, he beheld the ensign of Telaryn and at least three more battalions of riders as they charged down on the rear of Zorlyn’s forces.

Commander Zirkyl’s forces … held in reserve and coming in from the north when Zorlyn had committed everything.

Seventh Battalion-and Rescalyn-continued to fight uphill toward the center of Zorlyn’s forces-and the “Z” banner, and Zorlyn himself.

Quaeryt forced himself to concentrate on where he was-just in time to see two riders with breastplates bearing down on Meinyt, who was defending himself against three men on foot.

Quaeryt urged the mare forward at an angle to the hill rider closest to Meinyt, bracing the staff against the pommel and turning it at the last moment. The one attacker swayed back in his saddle, and Quaeryt jabbed at the second one, not hitting him squarely, but hard enough that he was past Meinyt before he regained full control of his blade.

Quaeryt turned the mare, catching sight of the center of the hillside field, where the forces around Zorlyn surged inward, and horseman by horseman, the defenders fell. Yet the black-clad riders fought as though they faced the Namer and his demons.

And they probably believe that.

Did Quaeryt dare? Did he dare not?

Quaeryt urged the mare downhill slightly and then tried to make his way eastward toward the remaining thick of the battle.

Ahead and uphill of him, the “Z” banner waved and dipped, then rose again, as if it had been handed to another ensign carrier. The knot of black-clad riders around it was getting smaller, perhaps as few as fifty.

Another black-clad rider charged Quaeryt. The scholar barely got his staff up to block the vicious slash … but the rider handled the sabre so well that the staff seemed to bend in Quaeryt’s hands and he barely could hold it in hands that felt numb as his attacker rode past. For a moment, Quaeryt was in a space where he was almost alone.

Where was Rescalyn? Quaeryt found that he could barely see … that he was squinting to make out where the governor was. He concentrated and squinted harder. He finally made out the Seventh Battalion banner, and well back of it, the muscular figure of the governor, well protected by his personal guard.

Quaeryt tried to shift his attention to the “Z” banner, where only a handful of black-clad riders surrounded Zorlyn, if indeed he was the rider with the marked breastplate.

Was the outcome certain? Did he dare wait any longer?

His mouth was so dry that he couldn’t even swallow, and pain jabbed through his eyes like needles Where is Rescalyn? He struggled to find the governor, but his eyes wouldn’t focus.

You have to find him. Otherwise …

His eyes fixed on the Seventh Battalion banner, then slowly moved to the well-guarded governor.

Quaeryt focused all his energy into what he had to do.

As he imaged the quarrel toward its target, his shields vanished, and he felt as though the mightiest sabre he’d ever tried to block had shattered them, and turned his concentration into jelly. He swayed in the saddle, just trying to hold his seat.

Then another black-clad rider plunged out of the contracting mass around Zorlyn and aimed himself directly at Quaeryt, his sabre flashing toward the scholar.

Quaeryt threw up the staff, feeling that he was too late … too slow …

The sabre caught the staff, ripped it backward … and Quaeryt with it … and he felt himself being hurled backward off the mare.

He heard someone yelling, but though he knew the words, they were unintelligible.

Then … he felt nothing.