Robert Adams - Trumpets of War

“Of course, can we believe what was wrung out of the prisoners taken from that relief column, this Mainahkos owns no elephants at all, only some score war-carts of the antique design. Not that those, if properly employed, can’t be dangerous weapons in their own right, but I think I have the answer to scotch them if they are only used as mobile archery platforms, rather than to burst apart infantry lines.

“Naturally, if they do try to break up the pikemen with those carts, Bizahros and Captain Hehluh will know what to do; neither of them are puling babes, comes to open warfare. Open up lanes in the formations wide enough to pass them through to the rear area, where the engine crews, mounted lancers and dartmen will make short work of the bastards. When other than at the gallop, those carts and their crews are terribly vulnerable; that’s why they went out of use even before elephants were adopted to serve the same general purposes. I wonder just who got this pack to fabricate them and start using them to begin with? Likely that renegade or another of his unsavory ilk.

“Now our forebears, who invaded and conquered these lands, were no fools, nor anxious to die, either; so I’ve always figured that the only possible reason they started using those suicide wagons to begin was because they had to have mobility for their warriors and lacked enough horses or mules to mount any large number of themselves as proper cavalry. Why did our arms continue to use them for so long? Why did places like Kehnooryos Ehlahs still use them within living memory, then? Probably because of kings and strahteegohee of mindsets similar to Ahzprinos’—‘Whatall was good enough for my great-grandsire is good enough for me!’ Ridiculous!

“Elephants themselves are far from invulnerable, really rather delicate, all things considered. But they’re far more maneuverable than a war-cart, their height gives those mounted upon them a bird’s-eye view, and their very bulk and speed—even of these smaller cows—is daunting to those standing to receive their charge. Only the most veteran, best-trained, most strictly disciplined men have what it takes to stand firm before such a charge, then open ranks at the last minute, let the creatures through, surround them and hamstring them or wave blazing torches in their faces.

“Ahzprinos has got his big nose out of joint now, after hearing my battle plans, but he’ll just have to accept it and live with it. Had he been willing, as Bizahros was, to modernize his regiment—give his pikemen armor pieces and body-shields and secondary weapons—then I might’ve made one of the others the reserve regiment in thisengagement. As it is, though, I

have to place my best-equipped men on the forefront in the center of the line, for they’ll be the ones who will take the brunt of an enemy charge or drive home any charge I hurl, and it’s not as if he’s been entirely cut out of the battle line, no, I’ve taken half of two of his battalions for the wings of my line, and he knows full well that he and the rest of them will be sent for should any gaps appear or any serious overlapping of my lines occur.

“I think those thieving bastards will get an unpleasant surprise or two from my placement of my Horseclanner barbarians, too. Using them on the wings of the main battle line will give me the lancers, who would occupy that place in an old-fashioned Ehleen battle, as an extra maneuver element, along with the heavy horse.

“Best of all, the spot I’ve chosen gives me a definite, though far from obvious, advantage for the kind of battle I mean to fight. I rather doubt that there are enough command veterans with that hodgepodge army of theirs to be able to realize that fact, however, until it has become far too late in the game to break off the action. They could always try to withdraw back to the city, of course. I pray God that they try just that. Heheheh.”

He smiled and rubbed together the calloused palms of his hands. “Damned baseborn poseurs! I’ll teach them the folly and the deadly dangers of playing at soldier.”

Within the City of Kahlkopolis itself, there had really been no choice in the matter of which of the partners would lead out the army against the grim Grand Strahteegos Komees Pahvlos the Warlike and which would stay behind to hold the city, for although he had been champing at the bit like the old warhorse that he was, Ahreekos the Butcher had been unable to find in all of the city a panoply that would come anywhere close to fitting his overcorpulent frame and shape; moreover, the warlord found that he tired very easily these days, he frequently had difficulty in getting his breath, and any strenuous exercise—especially of a sexual nature—bred severe pains in his chest, shoulders and arms, and at the base of his throat.

Mainahkos was not entirely pleased with the force he had on hand to lead out. He sorely missed Ratface Billisos and Horsecock Kawlos; both had been good subordinate officers, Ratface’s highly innovative tactics having saved the day more than once for the bandits over the years; he also sorely missed the horses that the two had been bringing in from the west, for lacking them, the would-be thoheeks was going to be unable to mount all of his cavalry, and he was short of cavalry to begin. Moreover, without the wagonloads of seasoned pikeshafts which had made up a part of the now-lost supply train, Mainahkos would be unable to arm all of the spear levy of the city.

Nonetheless, the two partners, Stehrgiahnos and the other bandit sub-chiefs had done everything that they could: every house and every stable had been scoured of usable weapons and horseflesh of any and every description, age and type; straight, well-cured timbers of the appropriate lengths had been commandeered, even if doing so meant the partial razing of homes and other buildings, then impressed crews of carpenters, turners, joiners and even cabinetmakers had been set to rendering them into hafts to which pikepoints could be riveted, and the craftsmen were kept at it day and night at the points of swords where this was found to be necessary, though it seldom was, for the surviving citizens of Kahlkopolis were, after three years of occupation by the savage, brutal bandit horde, now virtually devoid of leadership and thoroughly cowed.

This exercise did turn out a goodly number of pikes—although but precious few of the hafts were of the preferred ash or oak, rather were they of elm, maple, pine, cedar, hickory and too many others to name or enumerate—but with few exceptions, they were short pikes, only eight to ten feet long, but Mainahkos knew that they would do, they would have to do.

The search for cavalry mounts, however, was far less successful, so few acceptable mounts being actually turned up that he gave over planning on putting former troopers up on a horse and decided to use them afoot or to crowd a couple into each war-cart, instead, to hurl darts alongside the archers.

Even so, the would-be thoheeks was able to march a force of some respectable size out of his city on the morning of the day of battle. To the roll of the drums came something over thirty hundreds of foot, about a third that number of horse and some fifty war-carts, each of them with six or eight missile-men, plus two armored postillions.

Screened by two files of mounted lancers whose orders had been to deliberately raise as much dust as possible in their progress, Captain of Elephants Gil Djohnz and the elephant Sunshine led the way toward the position assigned them for the opening of the battle, now looming close ahead. The three cows, Sunshine, Tulip and Newgrass, were all clad in most of the protective armor they would wear in battle, but their huge, distinctively shaped bodies had for the nonce been almost completely shrouded in long, wide sheets of dust-colored cloth, while the heavy, cumbersome archer boxes of wood and leather had been all dismounted and were now being borne in the wake of the pachyderms by the archers who would occupy them and some of the elephant grooms.