John Carr - Siege of Tarr-Hostigos

Verkan felt his stomach sink. In his mind an army of doubt and uncertainty attacked his mental wall of control. The years of training took command and Verkan remained impassive. He pushed the wafer into his desk viewer.

"This is their last feed."

It was a feed from the sky-eye above Hostigos. He could see the two armies poised on either side of the valley in almost perfect geometric precision, like toy soldiers or a computer battle simulation. It was hard to think of them as real men, some friends, many of whom were about to die or be horribly maimed for life.

The camera showed a close-up and he could see the Royal Banners of Hos-Hostigos blowing in the wind, a dark green keystone on a maroon field. The picture was too grainy to identify faces but he could discern individuals. The next shots showed the two armies' opening moves, with Kalvan's field artillery tearing holes in the front ranks of the Grand Host.

He watched as the Hostigi right wing moved forward and chased the Styphoni out of the valley and into the next. Meanwhile, the two centers were locked in an embrace of death. Then he watched in surprise as the Hostigos left wing gave way to a determined attack from the Grand Host's right wing and was enveloped by the Styphoni cavalry, who looked remarkably like the Roman cataphracti he had once seen close hand on Fourth Level, Alexandrian-Roman. They must be the Ros-Zarthani I've heard so much about.

Fortunately, the left wing's reserve was able to stop the envelopment long enough to allow a retreat that took them out of the valley, but no longer supporting Kalvan's center.

While the Grand Host's right wing cavalry chased Kalvan's left wing, the infantry turned and joined the assault on the Hostigi center, already under heavy attack. The camera sped up to cover action that must have taken hours. The two armies were locked in hand-to-hand combat. For a while it looked as if the Hostigi were surrounded until a reserve force joined the main body. For the first time it looked to Verkan as if Kalvan had a chance to push the Styphoni back.

The camera moved to the next valley where the missing Hostigi right wing was thrashing the remnants of the Styphoni left wing's foot. Both armies were devoid of cavalry support and he suspected the troopers were chasing each other over the ridges of the mountains that were called the Appalachians on Europo-American.

Like most pre-mechanical armies, where command depended upon line-of-sight, the Hostigi right wing did not realize the rest of the army was in dire peril. Verkan wished he were there, instead of here shuffling paper; he would have found some way to warn them.

He watched as the camera returned to the main battle and saw part of the Styphoni army break off, probably to prepare for the return of the missing Hostigi right wing. Too bad! Someone in the Grand Host camp knew what he was doing-either Grand Master Soton, or that mercenary Grand Captain-General Phidestros.

While hundreds of smaller actions took place unnoticed, the two centers pushed back and forth strewing the ground with piles of their dead. He estimated the casualties in the tens of thousands: not atypical in this kind of engagement when one side or the other did not break off. Some of the Hostigi field artillery guns were still firing, inflicting scores of casualties with each shot in the tightly pressed ranks.

Then he saw the Hostigi right wing return to where the Grand Host's right had once been. There it was met by the Ros-Zarthani reserve. The Hostigi still had most of their mobile artillery and, without cavalry support, their guns tore the Ros-Zarthani infantry apart.

For a moment, Verkan began to believe in miracles. Then he watched in disbelief as the Zarthani Knights, who'd just returned from pursuing the Hostigi center, slammed into the fray. Surprisingly, the Hostigi right wing, now hit on the flank, did not break. It was hard to imagine the thousands of heroic acts that made for such resolution.

Yet, it wasn't enough to save the day. The right began to slowly wheel and then continue its march around the entire Grand Host!

With the support of the Temple Guard, the Styphoni suddenly seemed to redouble their battle against the beleaguered center. A few small bands of Hostigi soldiers began to break off and Verkan suspected they were mercenaries who had given their oath to Galzar. There was to be no grace for the Hostigi regulars, only Roxthar's Investigation, and they fought on as though they understood exactly what that meant. Then suddenly, on the fast motion feed, the center re-formed itself into a hedgehog, with pikes all around the perimeter holding the Grand Host at bay.

Slowly the center began to retreat. Verkan wondered if Kalvan was still alive. Probably, or the entire center might have broken, with each man for himself. Certain suicide. But Kalvan had taught his men well; they were leaving with an intact battle-line.

Verkan shut off the viewer. "That's enough! Veral, is there anything we can do to help Kalvan and Rylla?"

"How could we find them? They'd be impossible to locate, Chief. There must be two or three hundred thousand Hostigi refugees, and that's not counting the Hostigi Army. The roads have been clogged for days with fleeing Beshtans and Sashtans. Once word reaches Sask and Nostor there will be a half-million refugees fleeing Hos-Hostigos. Kalvan's subjects are that scared of Styphon's revenge squad and Arch-Butcher Roxthar! Anyone with half a brain is taking whatever he can carry and bugging out."

"But Chief, that's not our problem."

"What are you talking about?"

"This battle took place yesterday! The inspector who was supposed to scan these tapes was a day behind. When he saw this he moved like a bee-stung grizzly."

Verkan threw his left hand up to his forehead "What about the Kalvan Study-Team?"

"That's what I'm worried about, Chief. There hasn't been a conveyer out of the Foundry in days. I don't even know if they've received word about Kalvan's defeat."

Verkan shook his head. One way or another, they know.

Andron handed him the message ball. "Take a look. It's a day old, but it's our most recent communication."

Skordran Kirv's wan face filled the viewer. "Chief, it looks like your friend Kalvan was killed, at least that's what the rumors are saying. But then, according to rumor you're dead, Rylla's dead and Galzar's Great Ghost has been seen walking through the battlefield."

Kalvan! No, it couldn't be true. Verkan needed hard data and he needed it now.

Kirv continued. "The Study Team is all in an uproar. Lala wants to try and negotiate with the Styphoni. Talgan Dreth wants to leave, but he still remembers the joshing he got when the entire team deserted the Foundry after Kalvan's victory at Phyrax. The others are torn between these two competing personalities. And I can't get either side to listen to reason. I'm all for getting everyone the Regwarn out of there!

"I've stationed perimeter guards and nothing short of a regiment and a battery of guns will pry us out of the Foundry so I'm not worried about security. Still, if Kalvan loses this battle we're in big trouble.

"Will keep you posted. Skordran Kirv, Inspector, signing off."

"That's all there is, Chief. I'm putting a team together right now here on Fifth Level to return to the Foundry."

Verkan thought of the political fallout if something happened to the Kalvan Study Team. "Let me know when you're ready. I'm going along and am personally taking charge. This is not only a major screw-up, but political dynamite!"

"Make Way! Make way, for Great King Kalvan!" Colonel Porthos shouted at the top of his lungs. The sky was dark and a light drizzle, the last of the morning rain, was falling. Porthos' voice penetrated through the din of milling refugees and soldiers pushing their way toward the Gap. The slippery road was alive with people, wagons, carts, litters and wounded of every description on makeshift stretchers and travois. The din was that of a madhouse-mothers calling out for children, widows crying out in grief, soldiers cursing the crowds, draymen shouting at animals and above all the injured shrieking in pain.