Jeff Salyards - Veil of the Deserters

It was also amazing he could joke when our lives might again be hanging in the balance. He continued, “Commander Darzaak ordered Cap and a good chunk of his men out of Sunwrack.”

I looked up and down the stables again, calculating. “How many?”

“Well, small portion, really. Couple hundred.”

“That’s small?”

“Ayyup. Cap commands a thousand in the Tower.”

I had never asked, but it made sense, given how few captains Commander Darzaak had brought with him to the Caucus yesterday.

Vendurro winked. “Don’t call the rank ‘Captain of a Thousand’ for nothing.”

“But why is he, why are we, being sent off?”

“Protect Cap, for one. Keep Cynead from digging his claws in. And get word to Thumaar, for two. Commander figures Cap can do more good out there then being husked out here by Memoridons.”

“But Emperor Cynead-”

“Will think he fled, instead of turning hisself over for experiments or whatnot. Commander’s going to disavow Cap. Brand him deserter. Send a hunting party after us. Hopes to stall for time.”

“What if Cynead blames the Commander, assumes he was complicit?”

Vendurro nodded a couple of times. “Ayyup. That’s a possibility, sure as spit. Mulldoos was there, tried to light a fire under the notion we all ought to clear out now, before Cynead turns everything he got against us, wipes the Jackals out. Some support for that, but not enough.”

That was a bold move, to be certain, maybe unheard of, but not without dangerous merit as well. “Why not?”

“Jackal Tower is eight thousand strong. Just Syldoon, not counting servants and slaves. Commander figures even if Cynead is all too sure of hisself just now, and not like to expect a whole Tower to break free, moving that many troops, supplies… Wouldn’t make it halfway to the gates before the Imperial troops and Memoridons came out in force, routed us. Best bet is to sit tight, try to find a way to unravel what Cynead done, and hope Thumaar can make a play when we do.”

I looked around at Braylar’s men as they made the last of their preparations. I was accustomed to his retinue and smallish company, so this force did seem sizable. But against the Imperial forces out there in the city somewhere, only a pittance. “How many men does Cynead have in Sunwrack?” I asked, not wanting to know the answer at all.

Vendurro stopped, just about to throw another boiled egg in his mouth. “Hmmm. Fifty, maybe sixty thousand.”

Yes, if Cynead got wind we were fleeing the city, we would be annihilated. Immediately. Utterly.

Captain Killcoin rode in front of our wagon, called out to the nearest men, “We head for the eastern gate. If we encounter any Leopards or city watch that bar our way, we ride over them. If we cannot for any reason, we break for the northern gate. One way or the other, we win free of Sunwrack today. We win free. I gave you all the option to stay or to ride with me, and yet to a man, here you are. You are all fools, to be certain, but I am honored to be in your company.” That earned some chuckles and Braylar patted the quiver alongside his saddle. “It is a good day for crossbows, Syldoon. A very good day.” Then he smiled and pulled his helmet on, spreading the mail out on his shoulders and reaching underneath to buckle the helm tight.

Vendurro turned to me. “Best get in the back of the rig, Arki. Hopefully, we won’t get into any scrapes, but if we do, safer in there. Little, anyway. Stuff to take cover behind at least.”

I pulled the flap back, saw the crossbow and quiver of bolts, leaned in and pulled them to me. Vendurro got the team moving as I spanned the crossbow, then slapped the folding devil’s claw on the stock. “I may not be a crack shot, but if we get into any scrapes, I’ll be right here, shooting in the general direction of the enemy.”

He laughed, and that made my bravado feel a little less foolish. “Suit yourself. Though next time, we might need to kit you in a gambeson or boiled leather at least. That tunic’s not like to stop any kind of anything.”

Captain Killcoin and his two lieutenants led the way and we rolled out of the stables, with four dozen horsemen in front of us, some more wagons behind, and the remainder of the company following.

Dawn was nearly upon us, the clouds above the high outer wall of Sunwrack long and thin and fissured with the first hints of peach and salmon and scarlet. The only thing that wrecked the beauty of it was the wafting manure from the stables and the fact that we could all die very soon.

Our convoy made its way down the Avenue of Towers for a few blocks, but turned down a narrow street, no doubt not trusting several of the Towers we might encounter along the way. The last time we rode out at dawn, it was to ambush Hornmen in Alespell. Now, we were hoping to move unmolested through a city three times that size and avoid ambush ourselves. It was difficult not to long for the bad but not horrific odds of hunting Hornmen, especially as we had no ripper or Memoridons now.

The clomping of horseshoes and rolling of steel-rimmed wagon wheels sounded obscenely loud in the silence of the nearly deserted streets. Here and there we came across some Thurvacians, three stumbling home from a whorehouse that was leaning so much it looked ready to topple itself; a pair carrying some wooden cages filled with chickens, feathers trailing behind; two beggars on the steps of a building, arguing about something in some dialect I had never heard before; a poacher who was dragging a dead bull crab by one claw and ran into an alley with it as we approached. There were merchants of all kinds opening shops as well, setting up small bazaars, and probably burglars skulking in the shadows, but most Thurvacians ignored us, accustomed to the military might that rode or walked through their city at all hours. My heart beat faster as twice we ran into a pair of town guards, but if they thought anything was amiss, they gave no sign.

We turned down another street, heading east again, toward the gate, and while it was still a ways off, I began to hope we might actually clear Sunwrack without incident. As we passed through a huge stone arch I felt something drip on me and looked up to see the aqueduct that crossed the street high above, and I was about to say something to Vendurro when I heard the commotion ahead. The horsemen with crossbows had them up, loosing them at something ahead of us. I found myself standing, holding on to the bench. Much further up the street, there was a line of Imperial foot soldiers, armed and armored like those in the hippodrome, with banded mail, long shields and spears, and the combined quivers and bowcases on their hips. The composite bows were all in hand now though, and the Imperial troops were shooting more quickly than Braylar’s troops could manage, the arrows striking several horses and riders in the front ranks.

One arrow flew right over us, and Vendurro pulled me back on my seat and got the team moving fast. The riders immediately in front of us turned down a side street and we followed, and I lost sight of Braylar’s men, who were holding off the Imperial infantry as we raced ahead, the horses galloping now, our wagon jumping and rocking on its springs as we picked up speed.

Ahead, I saw arrows flying down a cross street, and then a Jackal horseman came galloping round the corner, the rider with an arrow sticking through his upper arm. We slowed enough for him to report to Braylar, who then shouted an order back, relayed several times. There were more

Imperials marching in our direction down that street, and we couldn’t afford to get flanked. We were to continue riding hard, at speed.

The company set off again, arrows flying as each horseman passed the side street, and I hazarded a look-another battalion of Imperial infantry were lined up, shooting at each of us as we crossed in front of them.