David Weber - The Road to Hell

Whichever way it worked out, it was exceedingly unlikely he would ever advance beyond his current rank. Assuming, of course, that it wasn’t suggested very strongly to him that he might, perhaps, seek a civilian career, instead. And civilian career opportunities for Andaran officers effectively drummed out of the Army were few and far between.

It was ironic, but the officers who’d actually mutinied and for all intents and purposes gone over to the enemy actually had far better long-term career prospects than Gorsatan, who hadn’t had a single thing to do with Thalmayr’s excesses. If, that was, they survived long enough for the investigations to exonerate them, and the fact that they’d managed to get clean away suggested they might. Two Thousand Harshu had detached an entire air-mobile battalion to search for Fifty Ulthar, Fifty Sarma, Fifty Yankaro, and the escaped Sharonian prisoners. They hadn’t been able to begin their search until Thalmayr reached Karys, however, and by the time they did, the mutineers had vanished. Precisely how they’d accomplished that remained a mystery, although Gorsatan inclined toward the theory-shared by Valchair Stanohs, the thousand who’d been detached to find them-that the Sharonians must have devised a way to mask or deactivate the casualty recovery spells. They’d certainly managed to elude the most assiduous searches, not just in Thermyn but in Failcham and New Uromath, as well, and they obviously hadn’t passed through Hell’s Gate into Mahritha. That meant they damned well ought to be in range for the overflights to trigger the recovery spells if they hadn’t been turned off somehow, and those spells were specifically designed to be impossible for anyone except a highly trained magistron with the security keys to deactivate.

That, fortunately, was one thing that wasn’t Gorsatan’s problem, and he allowed himself one more grimace before he drew a deep breath and called up the first report.

* * *

“You realize we’re about to use a sledge hammer to crack a walnut, Sir, don’t you?” Company-Captain Traivyr chan Fyrkam, 2nd Battalion, 12th Dragoon Regiment’s executive officer, observed with a wry smile.

“Actually,” Battalion-Captain Hymair chan Yahndar replied judiciously, “we’re about to use a sledge hammer to pulverize a walnut, Traivyr. Or I damned well hope so, anyway.”

Chan Fyrkam nodded. Chan Yahndar’s verb was a better choice, and if it had been in the company-captain to feel sympathy for any Arcanan ever born, he probably would have felt at least a modicum for the aforementioned walnut. Unfortunately for Arcana, chan Fyrkam had actually met Crown Prince Janaki and fallen under the Calirath spell. Janaki’s death was personal for him, just as it was for so many other members of the Imperial Ternathian Army. The Union of Arcana’s soldiers owed Sharona a debt, and Traivyr chan Fyrkam looked forward to collecting it in full.

“Is Company-Captain chan Esmahr ready, Tahnthair?” Chan Yahndar asked, turning to his battalion operations officer.

“Waiting for the order, Sir,” Platoon-Captain Tahnthair chan Lyscarn said.

“And Company-Captain chan Mahsdyr and Company-Captain Lyrkad are in position?”

“Yes, Sir.” Chan Lyscarn sounded just a tad overly patient, but chan Yahndar chose not to mention it. The platoon-captain had done his usual excellent job of coordinating the attack plan’s details. Making sure they all functioned properly might be chan Yahndar’s responsibility, but it was chan Lyscarn’s job .

The battalion-captain looked down at the large-scale, detailed, and painstakingly accurate map of Fort Ghartoun on the flat rock before him, its corners weighted down by handy stones.

The fort lay in the White Snake Valley, the depression running roughly northeast to southwest along the serpentine course of the White Snake River. The portal to New Uromath cut diagonally across the valley on a northwest to southeast line little more than a mile south of the fort. Like the much larger Tyrahl River, the White Snake flowed into the portal and disappeared, but Fort Ghartoun was three miles from the stream’s nearest approach. Although the terrain east of the fort offered valleys, ridgelines, and seasonal watercourses for cover, it was nowhere near as heavily forested as the steeper, more rugged slopes between the fort and Snow Sapphire Lake, eight or nine miles to the west of it. Approaching it from the east-and especially from the north east-without being detected had been a ticklish proposition, and chan Yahndar had been glad he was using horses and not Bisons for the final approach. Hiding those vehicles would have been a much more ticklish proposition, and even on horseback he’d been unable to get his men as close to the fort as he would have preferred. Still, they’d gotten one hells of a lot closer than they ought to have gotten against an alert opponent…even one who didn’t have dragons and eagle-lions

Now, as he gazed down at his map, a meditative index finger tapped the crayon mark which indicated Grithair chan Mahsdyr’s Gold Company. Given how successfully-even brilliantly-chan Mahsdyr had led the advance all the way across four universes, there’d been no question who’d earned the opportunity to lead the assault on Ghartoun, and Gold Company lay roughly three and a half miles southeast of the fort, between the White Snake and a ridgeline hiding it from the flat terrain around the fort. Ulysar chan Lyrkad’s Silver Company was deployed on Gold Company’s right flank, a mile and a half farther back-the terrain was more open and less forgiving northeast of the fort, and he hadn’t been able to get as close-while Company-Captain Lerkhali chan Dasam’s Bronze Company was deployed another three miles north-northeast of Silver Company, more to prevent anyone from scampering off in that direction than to participate in the attack itself. Company-Captain Vynchair chan Zelmahdyn’s Copper Company formed 2nd Battalion’s reserve, although a reserve was probably about as necessary as teats on a boar hog, given the Distance Viewers estimates of the fort garrison’s strength. The Arcanans had no more than three companies-indeed, little more than two full strength companies-in the fort, and it was obvious they had no idea what was coming.

He snorted at the thought, and his finger moved back to the position of Company-Captain Temyk chan Esmahr’s 103rd Battery, Imperial Ternathian Horse Artillery, located on a bend of the White Snake six miles east of the fort. The mortars of Company-Captain Namair chan Jersyk’s weapons company had been moved up to support chan Mahsdyr and chan Lyrkad, but chan Esmahr’s horse artillery had its part to play, as well, although it had proved impractical to get his six Ternathian 37s into position for direct fire on Fort Ghartoun. Fortunately, chan Esmahr had been reinforced. In addition to the pair of 4.3” howitzers of his own Steel Section, the Steel Section of the 116th Horse Artillery had been attached to his command. That gave him four of the weapons, and they had the range to reach Fort Ghartoun easily from their present position. Which meant eighteen mortars and four howitzers were poised to open fire on the fort the instant he gave the command. He was sure chan Jersyk and chan Esmahr would have preferred to register their weapons ahead of time, but one couldn’t have everything, and chan Yahndar had complete faith in their gunners.

And the poor bastards’ve humped their guns and mortars over sixteen thousand miles to get here. It’d be a shame if they didn’t get to fire a shot .

That was good for an actual chuckle, not just a snort, and he looked back up at chan Lyscarn.

“Well, if everybody’s ready, I suppose we should see about passing that order, Tahnthair,” he said.