Joel Shepherd - Sasha

"What do you guess we are facing?" Sasha asked.

"It depends on how quickly their messengers moved," Tyrun said grimly. "Far slower than ours, certainly-among the villages, messengers and horses can be swapped, and ridden through night and day in all directions. Any northern messenger has had to avoid the villages, has received no change of horse and has had little sleep. It's possible we are less than a day behind such a message."

"And then the question is `What will Usyn do?"' Sasha replied.

Tyrun nodded, a ginger hand on the reins as they turned a downward corner, avoiding slippery rocks. "We could assume he learned this morning. In that case, had he moved immediately, his forces could be gathered at Ymoth now… if hidden in those woods, we could not see them from here."

Sasha made a face. "That's a big force to move so fast. They'll have been encamped before the Udalyn Wall for a siege. Camps can tend to become permanent, and forces who do not believe themselves threatened are not prepared to move quickly… and they're not known as "heavy horse" for nothing. The wall is at the valley's far end, and the valley is no short hike. Also, I'd not have thought it in the Hadryn's nature to hide in the woods. Heavy cavalry likes open space-I'd think he'd meet us on those fields beside the river. If he's here, we'll see him."

Tyrun gave her a wary glance. "M'Lady is an optimist." In a tone that suggested a learned distrust of such things, especially from youngsters.

Sasha shrugged. "Then I'll give you true optimism. I think Usyn is a crazed fool bent on avenging his father's death. I think he'll resist any request from his commanders to pack up and move away. At the least, that could gain us some time. When he does move to meet us, he'll also leave behind a portion of his force to keep the Udalyn contained behind their wall. He'll think to deal with us, then return to his siege. But he will not be at full strength when we meet him."

"Perhaps the Udalyn have already fallen, M'Lady," Tyrun said darkly. "Perhaps the valley wall is breached. The north has siege weapons… Hadryn in particular, one suspects, having dreamed of this campaign for some time. If that is so, we shall face the entire Hadryn force all at once."

"The valley wall stands firm," Sasha replied. "I'm sure of it." Tyrun just looked at her, even more warily than before. "It must," she corrected herself, with a resigned smile. "Otherwise, we'll have come all this way for nothing."

"Must move fast!" called Captain Akryd of the Taneryn Red Swords from behind, having ridden past Sofy and Jaryd. "If we waste time scouting, that bastard Usyn will arrive in force! Certainly we can't camp overnight. It's now or never."

Tyrun made a face, wrinkling up his moustache. Then he nodded. "We go immediately, no waiting." And spared Sasha a faintly amused look. "Otherwise, we'll have come all this way for nothing."

It began to dawn on Sasha what that would mean. A full charge into rolling terrain with plenty of ambush opportunities, without knowing what it was they were facing. She took a deep breath. "All right!" she announced, loudly enough to include Captain Akryd behind them. Akryd, she reckoned, would have been selected by Krayliss himself, as great lords typically selected the commanders of provincial companies. She hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid. "If it's not Usyn himself, it'll probably be Banneryd forces, largely those diverted from their path to Halleryn. At least one line company of heavy horse, more likely two, plus an awful lot of infantry militia."

"I'd bet on close to a thousand horse, maybe two thousand infantry at minimum," Tyrun agreed. Defender's advantage being roughly four-to-one, as Lenayin commanders traditionally insisted… they'd need nearly twelve thousand. They had less than half that. Damn. Even without the Hadryn, it didn't look good. With them, it would be a massacre.

"How strongly defended do you think the Ymoth wall will be?" Sasha asked Tyrun.

"Maybe some archers!" he replied. "No more than that. They'd be stupid to waste men on the wall, cavalry can't climb walls! They'll defend the flanks to stop us going around to the incomplete side of the wall. If they don't come out to fight, we'll have to go in and get them man to man. Ordinarily we could bypass Ymoth entirely, but if we tried it, we'd have no idea how strong a force remains inside to harass our rear when we head for the valley."

Sasha shook her head. "No bypassing-we're trying to trap the Hadryn inside the valley, we can't afford to get trapped ourselves. If I were them I'd put infantry on defensible ridgelines with trees for cover all about the exposed side of Ymoth. We can't ride around that uphill side, it's too rugged. We'll need two thrusts, one to hit the near side from the river, and one to flank around the town and hit the other. That second thrust will have to pass along the riverbank and head back upslope… straight into an uphill ambush. We'll stagger it, a forward force to spring the trap then double-back, the later one to hit them hard."

"The girl knows her cavalry charges!" Akryd said with amusement. "What size the reserve?"

"Make it two hundred," Tyrun replied. "Can't spare any more than that. M'Lady and I'll take the far flank-she can spring the trap, I'll break it. Yuan Akryd, you can lead the near-side assault. Don't stop for anything."

"I shan't!" said Akryd, most cheerfully. "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you both inside!" And with that, he reined off the trail and stopped, waiting for his officers further back in the column to catch up to receive his orders. Sasha found herself somewhat unsettled.

"Aren't we supposed to plan a little more than that?" she asked dubiously. "Before the battle of Baen-Tar, Kessligh planned for nearly a full day."

"This is a cavalry charge," Tyrun replied, with a wry, twisting smile. "When you throw a melon off a cliff, do you plan to see which way it splatters?"

Sasha did not consider herself comforted.

Tyrun dropped back to talk to his officers, and Sasha allowed Jaryd to ride up alongside. "Did you hear that?" she asked. A part of her felt uneasy excluding Jaryd from the initial planning-in name at least, he was the Commander of the Falcon Guard. It was impossible to tell if Jaryd felt neglected. Lately, it had been impossible to tell if Jaryd felt anything.

"Princess Sofy and I shall stay with the reserve," he said grimly. "I shan't be much use in a charge."

"When the reserve is committed to the fight, stay with them," Sasha insisted. "Holding back on your own will only make you a lonely target."

"Sasha?" Sofy called from behind, anxiously. "Sasha, don't hold him back on my account. I'm okay, really… I think I'm getting quite good at riding."

"Damn it, Sofy," Sasha called over her shoulder, "I'm not doing this as a favour! You're far more a princess of Lenayin than I'll ever be, and you're valuable. I'll not risk an important asset of Lenayin if I can help it."

Sofy stared at her, managing to look both crestfallen and angry at the same time.

As the trail wound though the lower foothills, Sasha found herself alone at the head of the column. She shouted for the vanguard to raise a canter where the trail allowed. They rushed along winding trails, flanked by thick undergrowth, the vanguard lowering their banners to avoid catching them upon low branches. A scout joined them, accelerating to ride at Sasha's side, his little dussieh frothing white with sweat as its little legs pumped to keep pace, the wild-bearded woodsman on its back assuring her that there was open space ahead and no sign of ambush.

The column burst onto open fields, green grass wet upon steep, folded hillsides. Fences crossed the grass and small farmhouses perched beside water catchments. Sasha couldn't see any livestock as they thundered along the ridgeline road. That was a bad sign. Ahead, the Yumynis River glinted dully as it swept about in a giant bend. A glance over her shoulder showed an endless stream of mounted soldiers pouring from the treeline. She held the column to a comfortable canter with little fear of tiring the horses on such an easy downward slope.