Skarpa was waiting and waved them to the stools around the table, then immediately spoke. "I think we ought to use the Bovarians' tactics against them. With a few twists."

"Such as?" Quaeryt inquired, since Skarpa was looking at him.

"What if we make sallies against them all day and into the nighta"except that the one that would be, say, two glasses before dawn wouldn't be just a sally?"

"Whata"just smash along the road to the top of the hill?" asked Meinyt. "Then hold the high ground and then move down as we can? Leave Third Regiment at the bottom and catch them in between?"

"Something like that." Skarpa turned back to Quaeryt. "Where do you think Fifth Battalion and the imagers might serve best?"

"With Fifth Regiment, I'd say. We can offer smoke and pepper and other things that will disconcert the defenders, and the undercaptains need to be closer to do that."

"I'd felt that, but I wanted your thoughts." Skarpa paused. "In the past, you've been able to get closer to the enemy than would seem possiblea"

"We can try. What we've done in the past isn't as effective at night because sentries can't see as well and they're using their ears more."

"Anything you can do will help." Skarpa looked back to Meinyt. "Since your men were up much of the night, we'll use companies from Third Regiment for the early feints and sallies today."

After Skarpa dismissed them, Quaeryt and Meinyt walked away from the cot together. Once they were well clear, the older subcommander spoke. "What would help you with getting us closer before being seen?"

"At night a or before dawn, silent riding would be the most important. I'd guess that would require a slower approach, but the need to charge immediately once the Bovarians realize we're attacking."

"Quick response to a single command. We'll set it up that way."

"The imagers and I will need to be in the fore."

"Do you want to lead?"

"I'd say that the imagers and my first company should lead the approach until the charge, and then Fifth Battalion should follow your first battalion a if that's acceptable."

"You'd have to pull up below their first line of revetmentsa"

"We'll chance it. The undercaptains still would get scattered at the head of a charge, especially in the dark." Quaeryt thought he could shield them for a short time if necessary.

"Then that's what we'll do. I'll ride beside you with the trumpetera"

Much as he hoped that matters would work out as they planned, Quaeryt had his doubts, since so often matters didn't go as planned.

Later on Meredi, Quaeryt took second squad from Fifth Battalion's first company and rode back toward Ralaes with Skarpa's second battalion. When the battalion began to ride forward, so did he, but he and the squad pulled off to the river side of the road. From there, Quaeryt studied the approach on the right side of the road more carefully than he had earlier.

When he returned he gathered all the officers in Fifth Battalion and went over the battle plan, using both Tellan and Bovarian, repeating himself several times. Then he dismissed the company officers and Zhelan and began to brief the imager undercaptains on what he expected of them in particular.

"a and we'll be drawn up below the lowest revetment on the river side of the river road, waiting for Subcommander Meinyt's lead battalion to clear the way. Before they reach the revetment, you'll image smoke and pepper along the front lines of the earthworksa"

"Why are we doing this again, sir?" demanded Threkhyl.

"Because, Undercaptain, you won't be able to see much when we attack tomorrow, and I don't want you killed because you don't understand completely what we need to do. And if I have to give you spoken commands, that will reveal our presence earlier than necessary. That increases the chances that you or another imager might get killed or wounded." Quaeryt looked at Threkhyl. "Is that clear?"

"Uh a yes, sir."

Quaeryt thought he'd managed to make the stubborn undercaptain understand. "Once the lead battalion of Fifth Regiment passes, Fifth Battalion will follow, at my commanda"

He had the feeling the day would be long, but he put that thought aside as he outlined the specific duties for each imager.

38.

While Quaeryt was certain he wouldn't sleep at all on Meredi night, he did sleep, or at least he dozed, but he was awake even before he heard the voices outside the cot and then the steps on the cot porch in the darkness sometime after second glass after midnight. He had one boot on when the squad leader entered the main chamber of the small cot and spoke.

"Subcommander, sir a it's time."

"I thought so." Quaeryt pulled on the second boot, then stood. "Thank you."

"Yes, sir." The squad leader nodded, or Quaeryt thought he did, before leaving the cot.

Quaeryt finished dressing and readying himself, then mustered the imagers. Within another quint, Fifth Battalion was on the road, with first company in the van, followed by Fifth Regiment, the remainder of Fifth Battalion, and then Third Regiment. Meinyt rode beside Quaeryt with Ghaelyn immediately following. Skarpa rode at the head of Third Regiment.

"How did the attacks go earlier in the night?" asked Quaeryt.

"Too easy," replied Meinyt. "We could have reached the hilltop with a single company."

"Do you think they've pulled back to Villerive and left just a token force?"

"It's possible."

"You don't sound convinced."

"I'm not. Neither is Skarpa. Why would they abandon a strong defensive position?"

"To get us in a weaker one, I'd guess."

"How could they do that if we hold the high ground and have more troopers?"

How indeed? The obvious answer to Quaeryt was that the Bovarians had some sort of plan. "All those musketeers, maybe, lined up and waiting on the hilltop?"

"It would take more than that. We'd take losses, but we could still run them down."

"Hidden pits? Both? Heavy cavalry to the side?"

Meinyt shrugged. "We're guessing, but we'll need to be ready for any of that."

And more, likely. Especially since, once again, the woodsa"or jungle-like foresta"precluded a circling attack from the south or southwest while the river protected the north side of the approach to Ralaes.

Almost a glass passed, and first company was heading down to the flat section of the river road that ended at the base of the fortified slope leading to the town. While Quaeryt could see that Artiema, now almost a quarter full, hung well above the western horizon, it seemed that Erion had barely moved. Not wonderful for a supposed son of Erion. He smiled ironically. Somehow he doubted that Erion had been immobile in the sky or that the lesser moon's position in the sky would make much difference, not when neither moon was offering that much light.

As they came to the end of the flat section of the road, the sounds of horses breathing in the moist warm night air seemed preternaturally loud to Quaeryt, yet he knew that was his own sensitivity. He heard nothing at all from the revetments ahead. In one respect, that should be the case. If the Bovarian lookouts and sentries saw nothing and heard nothing, why would they say much of anything in the middle of the night?

Except that, after several attacks, they should be jumpy and saying things, shouldn't they? And why hadn't they had sentries posted farther out? Or had they a and had the sentries hurried back to warn the Bovarian commander?

First company continued forward as Quaeryt held concealment shields over the first ranks of first company. Nearly a quint passed as first company rode slowly up the slope toward the point where the two revetments nearly joined. Quaeryt could see lanterns, or torches, in a few places at the top of the hill, well above the defensive revetments on the slope, but not a glimmer of light from any of the revetments. For a moment he wondered why. Then, recalling his days as a quartermaster, he realized that the defenders could see better if their eyes were used to the darkness. It was the same reason as why ships that spread sails at night kept the open decks dark.

Or a it's because there aren't very many troopers down there.

He still felt that someone on the Bovarian side should have noticed something a or would before long.

"Attackers! On the road!" The words came from the revetment on the south side of the river road.

"Smoke and pepper in the revetments nearest the road. Now!" Quaeryt dropped the concealment shields and raised his own personal shields. "First company to the right!"

He edged the mare forward. While he could not see the smoke, first company was close enough to the earthworks that he could smell a hint of the acridity within instants.

"Column! Charge!" came the order from Meinyt, along with a trumpet call, and the first companies of Fifth Regiment galloped past Quaeryt and first company, with Meinyt joining the chargea"but after the first company.

A metallic clanging issued from beyond the crest of the road, near the lanterns or torches that Quaeryt could barely see, given the slope of the road up toward the town beyond.

Half a battalion had ridden past before armsmen with bucklers strapped to their left forearms and blades longer than the Telaryn sabres swarmed toward the road, with some headed toward Quaeryt and the imagers. The first defenders from the revetments launched themselves toward the legs of first company's horses, holding their bucklers up as if to ward off down-cuts from the Telaryn sabres.

For just a moment Quaeryt expanded and extended his shields, knocking the Bovarians back. He didn't know what else he could do, not with Fifth Regiment thundering by them and filling the road. He hadn't expected the defenders to ignore the regiments. But you should have. You're sitting swans.

"Imagers! First company! Forward with me and Fifth Regiment!" Quaeryt didn't see much point in holding longer. You just hope this will work.

He contracted his shields into a wedge extending perhaps a half yard on either side and urged the mare forward, riding past the edge of the revetment and inadvertently throwing several Bovarian defenders back into the trench behind the earthworks. He only could see the trench for an instanta"and not much of it at that. But it appeared empty, as if the few handfuls of defenders were all that had held the position. He was past the first revetment too quickly to be sure, but that worried him. There should have been more defenders. Many more. And if the Bovarians had merely withdrawn a why would they have left any defenders at all?

Unless the Bovarian commanders didn't tell the poor bastards.

He tried to catch a glimpse of the revetments on the slope to the south side of the river road, but between the darkness and the troopers of Fifth Regiment to his left, he could make out nothing at all. There might have been thousands of Bovarians or none at all.

When, still on the shoulder of the road, he rode past the second revetment, some fifty yards farther uphill, and saw no troopers at all, he could only wonder what trap lay over the crest of the road a and what, if anything, he could do about it.

Quaeryt and first company were less than a hundred yards from the top of the rise when he heard the thunder of musketsa"one volley, then a second, and a third. No defenders issued from the last line of revetments before the slope flattened out onto level ground.

In the dim light of a few lanterns hung on widely spaced posts and that of Artiema, Quaeryt could see that Meinyt had done exactly what he had said was necessary. He'd thrown his first battalion right at the musketeersa"arrayed behind earthworks midway between waist-high and chest-high. The first troopers to actually reach the earthworks had tried to jump them, and some had succeeded. Others had left their mounts, or perhaps their mounts had been shot from under them, and climbed or vaulted over the earthen revetments.

Then the Bovarian heavy cavalry had smashed into Meinyt's right flank. In turn, from what Quaeryt could see, Fifth Regiment's second battalion had hit the Bovarians on the flank and rear, and the Bovarians were being hacked downa"but by the sheer numbers of Fifth Regiment, and the two Telaryn battalions were taking heavy casualties in the process.

"Desyrk! Baelthm! Voltyr! Into the middlea"just the middlea"of the Bovarian armor, smoke and pepper! Hold here and do what you can!"

Quaeryt turned in the saddle, trying to make sense out of the confusion in the dimness, looking from the north end of the hilltop ridge to the south.

Another roll of thunder shook the hilltop, and Quaeryt rocked in his saddle as musket balls slammed into his shieldsa"from the south. He struggled to widen his shields slightly, enough to cover the imagers. A flicker of red-orangish lights appeared some hundred yards away, but before he could say or do more, another volley ran out, and his shields again shivered, sending jolts of pain into his body, or so it seemed.

He turned the mare. "Shaelyt! Threkhyl! After me, behind me!"

How long it took him to get near to the second musket emplacement he couldn't have said. But as he neared it, he could see a dark space between the musketeers and the mare. A pit moat, for the Namer's sake. Frig!

"Threkhyl! Image a bridge across this pit moat wide enough for a mount, and stay behind me!"

Quaeryt half wondered if Threkhyl coulda"and woulda"do so, and was ready to turn the mare, but just before he started to do so, a flat white stone ramp appeared before Quaeryt, and he urged the mare forward onto the stone, hoping it would hold. The stone didn't even shiver, and the next volley from the musketeers didn't even strike his shields.

Because you're too close?

Abruptly he realized he needed his staff and struggled to get it free of the leathers, barely getting it into position before he was at the end of the stone. He almost flew over the mare's neck, but managed, somehow, to keep his seat as she jumped from the low rampart to which Threkhyl had linked the stone bridge. He came down among the second row of musketeers, staggered, to afford them a clean line of fire. His shields threw one musketeer and his stand to the side before Quaeryt managed to turn the mare back east and start down the line of Bovarians. Several saw him coming and tried to scramble out of the way.

As he had done with the musketeers hidden behind false haystacks, he braced the staff against the front of the saddle and linked the shields to the saddle, trusting the girths held. He could only hope that Threkhyl and Shaelyt could use their sabres effectively, or follow him. He didn't look back. There was no point whatsoever in doing that.

But when he neared the end of the second line of musketeers, he slowed the mare enough to turn her back to where she was just behind the front line. From there he could see that Threkhyl had gone the other way and was applying his sabre to the musketeers he could reach. While some clearly managed to scramble away, the effect was the same, in that by the time Quaeryt neared the far end of the first line he had to ease the mare to the side to avoid plowing into Threkhyl.

"Hold up! They're all gone!"

"So they are!" Threkhyl offered a booming laugh. "Stopped those bastards, we did."

Quaeryt looked around again, but was relieved to see Shaelyt coming up to join them, his sabre also at the ready. Quaeryt looked back to the north, where more Telaryn horsemen poured onto the hilltop, but re-formed almost immediately.

Quaeryt realized that no one was left fighting near him and that most of the sounds issued from wounded men and mounts. He looked back at Threkhyl's bridge, knowing he didn't want to have the mare jump up on it again, but from what he could see, the dry moat completely surrounded what had been the musketeers' position.

"All right," he muttered under his breath, bringing the mare around in a circle to the back of the redoubt, where he heard moans from the moat. He ignored them and urged the mare forward.

The mare had far less a problem with the low jump onto the bridge than did Quaeryt, who found himself, again, slightly off balance, but righted himself in the saddle and then reined her up a good ten yards beyond the dry moat. He looked around, but the only fighting going on was at the north end of the ridge, where Meinyt's Fifth Regiment had surrounded the remaining Bovarian heavy cavalry, and there was little he or the imagers or Fifth Battalion could do.

So Quaeryt waited for the other two imagers, taking a quick breath of relief as Threkhyl and Shaelyt joined him. They continued to wait perhaps half a quint, Quaeryt holding personal shields around all three, hoping he could keep doing so until the fighting was clearly over.

Finally, Ghaelyn and a squad from first company rode toward him. The three imagers with the undercaptain looked unharmed.

Quaeryt could feel some of the tightness within loosen. Thank the Nameless you didn't lose any more imagers.

"You all right, sir?" asked Ghaelyn, looking at Quaeryt's shoulder.

Quaeryt glanced down at the dark stain, not that he could tell what color it was in the dimness lit but faintly by Artiema and a few remaining lanterns to the west. He flexed his shoulder. "I'm fine." You think. "How about first company?"

"Not near so bad as it lookeda""

Before Ghaelyn could say more, a trumpet blared out, followed by a powerful voicea"Skarpa's.

"Subcommanders! Report!"

Quaeryt had no idea what to report and looked to Ghaelyn.

"Two dead, five wounded, none seriously."

Only two dead a in this mess?

"Fifth Regiment took the worst of it, sir."

Zhelan reined up beside Ghaelyn. "No casualties in second, third, and fourth companies." He offered a crooked smile. "I think the Khellans were almost disappointed."