L. Modesitt - Arms-Commander

She’d have to see.

Saddling the mare in the darkness was little different from doing so in the day, except that Saryn relied more on senses than sight. Once all her gear was ready, and the mare tethered to a tree, she donned her battle harness and went to find Klarisa and Yulia.

They were awake, fully dressed, and talking quietly. Saryn paused and listened for a moment.

“…don’t know what she’ll do…”

“…what ever…Lornians won’t like it…”

“…can be ruthless…”

“Does she have any choice…how they are?”

Saryn cleared her throat and stepped forward.

“Ser,” offered Klarisa.

“We’ll need to get everyone up in a moment, but I want to go over what I expect from each of you. Klarisa, you and fourth squad will be with me. We’ll come up the back side of the woods and get as close as we can. Then we’ll ride into and through their camp. Slash and disrupt. Keep your guards mounted and moving. Tell them not to stop. Once they stop they become much easier targets. The Lornians will either scatter, or they’ll regroup. If they scatter, make sure no one’s left in the campsite, then form up at the front of the woods. If they regroup, we withdraw. I’ll give the order. If something happens to me, it’s your task to get everyone clear.”

“Yes, ser.”

Saryn turned to the other squad leader. “Yulia…you and second squad will ride along the top of the cleared area that’s below the forest and above the cots. You’re to wait in position beside the first barn…when the sky begins to lighten, move farther around the hill until you’re within a hundred yards of the area just below where the Lornians were hidden in the trees. Hold there until you hear yells from the Lornians or something else that makes it clear that fourth squad has attacked. When that happens, be ready to sweep across the cleared area and cut down anyone you can. Don’t chase stragglers, and keep the squad together as a unit. It’s better to let some escape than to scatter the squad.”

“Yes, ser. We’re to sweep and reform, then sweep back and forth across until they stop coming and you join us.”

“That’s right.” Saryn straightened. “Get your squads ready to ride.”

Less than a half glass later, both squads were mounted and formed up. Saryn rode toward the two squad leaders and reined up.

“Squad four, ready to ride,” reported Klarisa.

“Squad two, ready to ride,” added Yulia.

“Quiet riding,” returned Saryn, easing the mare around. “Forward.”

“Forward…”

Close to half a glass passed before the two squads split, and Saryn led fourth squad up the long, gentle slope on the back of the rise. By the time they rode into the trees, the eastern sky was beginning to lighten. After several hundred yards, Saryn could clearly discern with her senses three figures standing in the trees some yards out from the three small clearings where most of the armsmen still lay sleeping. She’d hoped to get closer than the thirty or forty yards between her and the nearest sentry, but, quietly as she was trying to ride, and as widely spaced as the trees were, almost every hoof that touched the detritus of moss, twigs, and old leaves created a crackling sound. There was just no way to approach silently.

She turned in the saddle. “Forward…fast walk…no talking…pass it back.” Then she guided the mare directly toward where she sensed the nearest sentry to be, drawing the first of her blades. She rode to within fifteen yards of the man before he jerked into full awareness.

“Who goes there! Who is it?”

Saryn kept riding toward him and threw the blade, guiding it with order-chaos flows.

The sentry’s next query ended in a gurgling sound.

At that, Saryn drew another blade and urged the mare forward into almost a trot, as fast as she dared in the gloom amid the trees. As she burst into the small clearing where close to forty armsmen were sleeping, she angled toward the fire, where a handful of troopers had gathered, her blade out and ready.

“Attackers!”

Two of the armsmen dived to the side, but a third wasn’t nearly that fortunate. Saryn cut him down, then the man next to him.

“Someone’s out there!”

“To the horses!”

After that, Saryn just concentrated on keeping clear of other guards and cutting down or wounding any armsman she could. Her senses definitely gave her an advantage in the gloom. In time, as the eastern sky changed from gray to deep green-blue, Saryn and fourth squad found only themselves and severely wounded or dead Lornians in or around the camp clearings in the woods.

“Reform on the open slope!” Saryn used a touch of order to boost her voice, then turned her mount toward the open space she could make out through the trees, winding her way through scattered bodies. The only organized group she could sense was fourth squad, waiting on the slope.

As she emerged into the early-morning light, Saryn saw three guards with cuts or slashes being dressed and one empty saddle. Below her on the slope were bodies in olive green uniforms strewn everywhere. Saryn swallowed, then rode toward Yulia.

“They never really saw us, ser. Then they panicked. We just did what you ordered.”

“You were very effective. Second squad casualties?”

“One dead, three wounded.”

“Keep several guards in the saddle and on alert. Have the others recover weapons, but have them hurry. I’ll need another blade, too, if they can find one. Then they can stand down for a bit. Oh…send a pair to check on the teamsters. For the moment, they can stay where they and the wagon are. And post someone at the back of the woods so that the locals can’t do what we did.”

“Yes, ser.” Yulia nodded and turned her mount.

Saryn watched as the guards of fourth squad emerged from the trees and formed up. She waited until Klarisa had taken muster before she rode across the sparse grass and churned ground and reined up beside the squad leader.

“Fourth-squad casualties?”

“Two dead, five wounded, none seriously.”

“Thank you, squad leader. Good work.” What else can you say to her? That we have to lose guards fighting in Lornth so we don’t fight under worse conditions in the Westhorns? “Send out a pair of outriders to watch the road from the town. Have the others recover what they can, then stand down. We’ll likely have a glass or two before anyone decides to attack.”

“If they don’t…?”

“We won’t go looking for more trouble, but I don’t want to be chased back to Lornth, either.”

Klarisa nodded.

Saryn could sense a mixture of emotions within the squad leader, and added, “We can’t ever be perceived as running away. That would undo everything we’ve accomplished, and we’d have to fight even more for years and years.” Especially after destroying a company in a predawn attack.

“Why?”

Saryn laughed, not hiding the bitterness. “They think we’re invading their land and corrupting their ruler and their ways. So they feel they have no choice but to attack us. We’re here because, if the regency is overthrown, we’ll have to fight Lornth again and again because their ways don’t allow for women to be anything but subservient, and sometimes less than slaves. So we don’t have a choice, either.”

“I meant…why does it have to be that way?”

“I don’t think it does, but so long as men in power think that way and refuse to see women as anything but lesser, we have one of two choices, and that’s fight or submit.”

“That’s somehow sad…that all the ones in power want either men or women in charge.”

“The Marshal thinks that it won’t ever change unless women are in charge for a time.”