John Carr - Siege of Tarr-Hostigos

Yes, and you'd whisk me right off the battlefield, my dear husband, if you thought you could get away with it! It was hard not to love a man who had your best interest at heart, even if his opinion of that 'best interest' disagreed dramatically from your own. This time, however, she was going to bite her tongue and let Kalvan have his way without a quarrel. From the looks of things, he was going to need every bit of strength he had for the Styphoni Grand Host.

"If that is where you want me, that's where I'll be."

Kalvan looked so flustered at her acquiescence she went over and nuzzled his beard. How sickening, she thought to herself. I wasn't like this before the baby was born.

"I'll give you all five thousand men of the Mobile Force and the Hostigos cavalry."

She was sure he added the last to show her how pleased he was. The Princely Army of Hostigos had taken a bad beating during the past few years and it was nice to see that Kalvan recognized their sacrifice. "What about the Mounted Rifles and the Hostigi Carbineers?"

Kalvan said, "I'm going to use the Mounted Rifles to stiffen the center. That'll leave you with the Carbineers."

Rylla nodded. That was fair.

"Prince Phrames will command the left wing. I'm going to give him the remaining six regiments of Royal Foot, including the Hostigos Rifles. Plus four regiments of Royal Horse, his own Army of Beshta, the Ulthori infantry, and three thousand heavy horse. That will give Phrames almost twenty thousand men, two-thirds of them good infantry, except for the Ulthori foot who are fighting mostly with crossbows and spears."

Kalvan paused to eat some more of his breakfast, giving Rylla a chance to comment.

"What about the Hostigi foot? Phrames could use them to stiffen his Ulthori levy."

"Good thinking. Done. That will leave four regiments of Royal Horse for Hestophes on the rightward. I'll also give him the Princely armies of Nostor, Kyblos, and Sask. Sarrask's Army of Sask is now the largest and best trained army we have, other than the Royal Army itself."

"I agree. But do you think we should use Sarrask as a sub-commander under Hestophes."

"You're right, it might ruffle his feathers. Sarrask works so well with you, I'll let him and his army join you in the rearguard and post Phrames the Army of Nyklos."

Rylla made a face. "Sarrask is going to be 'ticked off,' as you put it! He wasn't very happy when you left him to go fight Soton in the Trygath."

"Actually, as hard as this is to say, Sarrask's the only Prince other than Phrames or your father whom I'd trust at my back."

"Then you tell him that. The only thing Sarrask likes better than fighting is flattery, especially when it's true and it comes from you."

"Good idea, I will. Besides, everyone will get their fill of fighting in this battle, I promise."

"What about the Ulthori cavalry?"

"I'll give those iron-hats to Hestophes. Maybe he can come up with something to keep them busy. They're not as elegant as the old Harphaxi Royal Lancers, but they'll fight until they drop or die. I have a feeling that is the way this battle is going to go."

"That will make Sarrask a happy man!"

"What will make me happy?" Sarrask asked, as he barged into the room. He looked hungrily at Kalvan's half-finished plate of eggs and cornbread.

Rylla went over to the hearth and built a plate for Sarrask.

His eyes lit up when she handed him his plate, along with one of the forks her husband had introduced. It was hard to believe now, but a few years ago that fork, along with any other weapons she could lay her hands on, would have been sticking out of Sarrask's throat had they met like this.

"Thank you, Rylla!"

"Kalvan was just saying there would be lots of fighting in the battle and certainly enough to make you happy."

Sarrask nodded his head in between bites; he was eating noisily, with both hands and knife, the fork fallen forgotten to the baked tile floor.

"Swearing fealty to Kalvan was the smartest decision I ever made. There hasn't been a year since I swore my oath without one, two or three great battles!"

There was shouting outside the farmhouse. Plates dropped from both Kalvan and Sarrask's laps and in their place were pistols. Rylla was holding the frying pan with one hand like a shield and a knife in the other.

Moments later Aspasthar came running into the farmhouse, followed by General Hestophes and Chancellor Chartiphon, who looked stricken.

"What is it?" Rylla demanded.

Chartiphon moved the boy aside and began to speak. "Curse and blast them! The Styphoni out-maneuvered us."

"What do you mean? Are they here now?" Kalvan demanded.

"Not that bad," put in Hestophes. "They must have expected a flank attack and laid a trap for us. The Mounted Rifles are no more!"

Kalvan growled out loud.

Rylla cried out, "Oh no! Colonel Verkan-is he all right?" How could she ever face Dalla again if anything happened to Verkan?

Chartiphon came over and took her into his arms. She tried to push away, but they encircled here like two steel bars. "Quiet, kitten. We don't know what happened to Colonel Verkan. Only a few stragglers have returned to camp." He paused to wipe off her tears with a cloth from his jerkin.

Hestophes continued, "According to Sergeant Ryff, Verkan made a valiant last stand against an army ten times the size of his detachment. The last he saw of Verkan was when a Harphaxi trooper shot him in the chest. The Styphoni overran his position and he never saw the Colonel again. Ryff himself is badly injured; he took a bullet in the thigh and a sword took off one hand."

"How many Riflemen returned?"

"Less than fifty and maybe twice that number of dragoons. They say the rest of the survivors, many of them wounded, will return to camp before nightfall."

"Send outriders to help the wounded and those without mounts."

"What about the rifles?"

At first she thought Kalvan might berate her, but he looked as interested in the answer as she felt.

Hestophes hung his head, shaking it from side to side. "Half the riflemen who returned came back with rifles with fouled locks or bent barrels. They say many of them surrendered; those who didn't were slaughtered- the Styphoni rode them into the ground. Even worse, Ryff reports there was a troop of Royal Harphaxi troopers who had their own rifles!"

Kalvan shook his head like a dog throwing off water from its fur. "What's done is done. I'm surprised we haven't had to face rifles before now. Chartiphon, and you too Hestophes, gather the other generals. We need to meet for a Council of War!"

They couldn't get out of the room fast enough. Sarrask walked over to Kalvan and threw his arm over his shoulders. "Verkan was a good friend, Your Majesty. I've always been jealous of your friendship. But I liked him-even admired him. I know that a warrior with his prowess dispatched many Styphoni to Regwarn-which is as it should be. He died as a great captain. Now, let us make a mountain of Harphaxi corpses to do his bidding in Galzar's Great Hall!"

Rylla smiled at Sarrask, thanking him with her eyes. "Yes, my husband, let us kill many Styphoni and dedicate their funeral pyre to Verkan and all the other Hostigi dead!" And to my friend, Dalla, who will mourn her man as I would.

Phidestros peered across the low-lying valley to study the Hostigi troop disposition upon the opposite hillside. He was using a captured Hostigi 'Farseer' as one of the prisoners had called it. This magnifying tube had been discovered by one of his soldiers and brought to him by Geblon, who had been forced to finish a bloody engagement on the northern flank started by an impetuous Hos-Agrysi Prince who had never fought in a Kalvan-style battle. The Hostigi position had been overrun and the enemy routed, but at a horrendous cost. Too many more such victories would cost him the war.