Richard Tuttle - Army of the Dead

“I was afraid that you would not offer,” grinned the shaman. “I would like that very much.”

“Then you shall,” declared the princess. “Now, explain your map while we wait for the armies to come ashore.”

The Chula shaman began pointing to each notation on the map and discussed his observations of each place. Calitora proved to be a wealth of information, having spent many days spying on the enemy positions. Half an hour into the discussion, King Avalar, and Princess Alastasia entered. Princess Alahara introduced everyone.

“I sent Tamar on ahead with your army,” the king said to Princess Alahara. “We needed room on the beach to unload the rest of the troops.”

Princess Alahara nodded and urged the shaman to continue. It took another half an hour for the telling of the complete map. When Calitora was done, King Avalar took command of the meeting.

“This sector is yours, Alahara, “ the king said tapping the map. “I will leave the details of how to attack it up to you. Alastasia, this sector is yours. I will take the third. If there are no questions, I suggest we get our armies on their way. There is much to do before the dawn.”

Both princesses silently nodded their approval. The elven king smiled at his daughters and said, “Let no pride interfere with your tasks. If your army gets bogged down, let the rest of us know. Together we shall conquer this evil island.”

“What about noncombatants?” asked Princes Alastasia.

“If they hold no weapons,” instructed King Avalar, “they are to be spared and held captive. We will not slaughter innocent people, but if they choose to take up arms against us, they will have chosen to be our enemy, and the death that comes with such a decision will be their reward.”

“I have only one map,” interjected the shaman. “I did not know that there would be three armies.”

“Bring it with us,” Princess Alahara responded. “As soon as you can make copies, I will have them delivered to the others.”

“Perhaps that is what my task was truly meant to be,” frowned Calitora. “I will stay here and create duplicates for your father and sister. When they are done, I will catch up to you.”

“We will be traveling rather fast,” frowned Princess Alahara. “You will never catch up to us.”

“I will catch up,” grinned Calitora. “I will not even need to know which way you have gone. Your scent will guide me. Advise your troops to save their arrows if a jaguar is seen.”

Princess Alahara grinned broadly and nodded. She embraced her sister and then her father in a farewell and then turned and ran out of the building.

* * *

“They are filing into the canyon,” came the voice through the air tunnel.

“Have the archers take their positions,” StarWind instructed StormSong. “ValleyBreeze, I want your mages up on the ridge, but out of view. Do not let the enemy know that there are mages up there.”

The two Sakovan women ran off to instruct their groups. HawkShadow stared at the mouth of the canyon and frowned.

“What do you have planned?” he asked StarWind.

“The plan that we laid out is what I am following,” replied StarWind, “with one minor exception. I don’t know what the Motangan mages are capable of. If they use their skills to counterattack, we will learn something of their capabilities before we commit our mages. I think it is important.”

“I agree,” nodded HawkShadow, “but the light blade spell can kill far more Motangans than archers can.”

“Granted,” agreed StarWind, “but this battle will have both our forces and the Motangans fairly well exposed. To put our mages on the frontline would be to invite disaster. I will use them once we see what the Motangan response is. Are Didyk and Romero in place?”

“They are,” answered the assassin. “Didyk’s troops have the south end of the ridge covered, and Romero is on the north. Everyone is in place.”

“Then let’s get up on the ridge,” suggested StarWind. “I want to see how the Motangans react to our trap.”

HawkShadow led the way up the steep rocky path that led to the ridge overlooking the canyon and beyond. The ridge was an odd formation in the Sakovan heartland. A bare plateau of rock rose thirty paces above the ground and ran for two leagues in length. It was half a league in width, the perfect place to ambush the enemy. Almost directly in the center of the ridge was a canyon passing through it. The vanguard of the Motangan force had already entered the canyon and would be met with a hail of arrows as they emerged out the other end. StarWind and HawkShadow had just reached the top of the ridge when they heard the shouting from below.

“The Motangans march swiftly,” frowned HawkShadow. “Or do you think our people reacted too quickly?”

“The Motangans are a marching army,” shrugged StarWind. “I suspect that they are used to covering ground quickly. Let’s head to the far edge of the ridge. The Motangan mages will not be in the vanguard.”

The spymaster led the assassin across the ridge at a run. They passed hundreds of archers who were firing their arrows into the canyon below, but that was not what StarWind wanted to see. They reached the far edge of the ridge and cautiously moved up behind the Sakovan archers who were firing at the congregating Motangan troops as they became bunched up at the entrance to the canyon.

Suddenly, the ridge shook with the force of an earthquake. StarWind lost her footing and tumbled to the surface of the ridge. HawkShadow caught her before her head smashed against the bare rock surface. He helped her back to her feet as another quake shook the ridge.

StarWind stared in horror as she gazed along the ranks of the Sakovan archers. Most of them were flat on the ridge, having fallen as StarWind had. Worse, the line of archers had many gaps in it; archers were missing.

“Many went over the edge,” HawkShadow said as he joined StarWind in surveying the troops.

“Move two paces back from the edge,” shouted StarWind. “Pass the word along. Stay away from the edge.”

The word spread quickly, but the order was unnecessary. The Sakovan archers had already retreated a bit to avoid their comrades’ fate.

“Drop to the ground,” urged HawkShadow as another quake hit. “We can crawl forward and see what the enemy is up to.”

StarWind dropped to the ground without comment. HawkShadow smiled at his bride and then began crawling forward towards the edge. Arrows were flying up and over the edge, as the Motangan archers hoped for a lucky hit on the Sakovans. One arrow struck perilously close to StarWind, but she ignored it and crawled alongside HawkShadow to peer down at the enemy. A sea of red uniforms filled the forest for as far as she could see. The enemy troops were flowing in three separate directions. One group was heading for the entrance to the canyon, while the flanks were peeling off to go around the ridge.

“It is like a swarm of ants attacking,” frowned StarWind as another quake shook the ridge. “They will go around and over us if we stay here long enough.”

“Look off to your right,” urged HawkShadow. “It looks like the entire contingent of Motangan mages are gathered together to shake the ridge.”

StarWind’s eyes moved to the right and saw the black bubble in the red tide. She saw the Motangan mages act in concert as another quake rippled the surface of the ridge.

“They are powerful,” StarWind said with appreciation, “but they should never group together like that.”

HawkShadow grinned as StarWind rolled onto her back and wove an air tunnel to ValleyBreeze.

“One third of the way south from the canyon is a group of a thousand mages,” the spymaster said into the air tunnel. “I want our mages to attack that group with light blades. Make sure the attack is coordinated and unexpected. We will not get a second chance like this.”