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these same shrieking savages had been sober, industrious citizens of Vallia. It was not just civil war and
all its attendant horrors that had brought this travesty into being.
That rast Hangrol draws near, said Turko, most cheerfully, on the day when the maps and the scouts
reports showed the raiding army to be within a day s march. All ideas of raiding farther into Orvendel
had been abandoned by Layco Jhansi s men. I could guess that Kapt Hangrol and Malervo Norgoth had
been exchanging acrimonious words. That cheered me up, since I was a malignant sort of fellow. We had
trailed the red rag and they were bedazzled and enflamed.
Right, Turko or should I say, Kov Turko?
And I say to you do you wish to try a few falls?
We laughed companionably together. For all the seriousness with which Turko took his new status as a
kov, he, like my comrades and myself blessed or cursed with these noble titles, could see the
ludicrousness, the pompous jackass nonsense, of putting too much store by rank and title. Estates, now
ah! That was a different matter.
These intricate maneuvers were of absorbing interest. We pivoted so as to maintain the Tenth Kerchuri
with its solid mass of pikes as our fulcrum. And, of course, the local folk of Orvendel were extremely
severe on any raiders who fell into their clutches.
Absorbingly interesting or not, the purely maneuvering phase had to come to an end.
You are right, Turko. Tomorrow should see them nicely positioned.
The spot you have chosen and worked them to is perfect. Now all that remains is for them to go in like
idiot dermiflons, braying and charging full pelt.
I think they will. Empress Thyllis has sent men up here in a desperate attempt to recover her losses in
Vallia. Hangrol knows his head is forfeit if he loses.
My knowledge of mad Empress Thyllis encompassed her macabre Hall of Notor Zan where the
wretches she deemed had failed her were thrown to the slavering fangs of her pet Manhounds.[8]
Everything was in order and to hand. The men sat around their campfires and a few songs lifted; but in
the main they got their heads down and tried to sleep. I fancy that most of them did not, not being
veterans. So the morning dawned. Palest rose and apple green, the Suns of Scorpio, Zim and Genodras,
rose into a dappled sky. The air tanged with a morning bite. Food was eaten by those whose appetites
remained. The final polish to weapons, the last adjustment to harness, the bilious shouts of the Deldars
bellowing the men into their ranks so we raggedy little bunch, so magniloquently styled the Eighth
Army, fell in.
The lay of the land was simple and all important. Not being sufficiently strong to meet Hangrol in open
battle, we must perforce make him attack piecemeal, which, being a skillful general, he would not do
unless hoodwinked. The plain was here cut by a wide gash, the bed of an ancient stream long since lost
to the Canals of Vallia. Vegetation clothed its flanks. Here were posted the archers. At the end of the
depression the Tenth Kerchuri stood, formed, solid, a glittering array of crimson and bronze. They were
withdrawn just enough to be out of sight of the distant end. Our cavalry waited my orders on the flanks.
Scouts and skirmishers moved forward in clouds to deny the enemy clear observation. The churgurs
waited just inboard of the archers. It was a simple arrangement to all seeming, and not a particularly
military layout, either. I knew a fair old number of princes and generals who would blanch at the mere
sight of the formations we adopted.
Our total aerial force went whirling off to put into effect the final dazzlement. Even the lumbering old
weyver went, with a rascally gang of cutthroats concealed behind her low bulwarks and a dozen varters
ready to spew out chunks of Ovalia s fine street paving.
You ll never dupe all that cramph Hangrol s aerial forces, Dray! Turko rested his massive shield on his
saddle. By Morro the Muscle! We ll have the hornets around our ears
Difficult to say. I spoke seriously, for this was a tactical and psychological problem. If our fellows can
draw off a goodly part, our archers can deal with the rest.
I just wish Seg was here, said Turko, and gentled his zorca between his knees.
By Zair! And didn t I! And Inch, too, and all the others!
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