Chapter 10: Moving Fast

Noia thought she'd traveled rapidly from North Port to Echanistra; then she thought she'd traveled fast from Echanistra to Baytown, even if it took a moon. She thought she'd traveled rapidly from Baytown to that nameless waterhole, even if it had taken a moon and a half. Then she thought she'd traveled fast from the waterhole to Outpost in the following few days.

There was no doubt about it; the two hundred men of their escort moved very fast to Kingstown, making the trip in three days short of a moon. If that had been fast, the trip from there to Hostigos had been a blur. Noia had sat at the window of the steam wagon and stared at the landscape as it flowed past as fast as a horse could gallop. For palm-width after palm-width, with only a few breaks for the steam puller to pick up more wood and water.

They skirted north of Xiphlon at night; as a result she never got so much as a glimpse of the greatest city in the world. Finally there was a two-day gallop on horseback once again, changing horses often. Then they were in Hostigos.

Hostigos was an old town, mostly stone, with a few wooden buildings. There was new construction west and north of the town, but it was only a glimpse in the distance.

They rode into a large courtyard, where a portly man waited to greet them. "Welcome to Tarr Hostigos," he told them. "I am Mytron, Rector of the High King's University." He bowed at Lady Becky. "Lady Becky, you are very welcome! Please, you and your personal guard, follow me!"

Befitting her rank, Noia trailed last. Her last glimpse of Captain Andromus was him looking wistfully at Lady Becky. The captain clearly doted on his sister and equally as clearly, wanted to catch Lady Becky's eye. For a half moon Noia had dreamed what it would be like to catch a man's eye. It was never going to happen as Noius and was unlikely to happen as Noia, unless they learned she was likely to be a countess. She'd have enough suitors then.

They went down a long corridor, then up a wide set of steps, to a room larger than any in her father's county. "Ladies and Gentlemen," Mytron intoned, "the High King."

High King Kalvan, lord of most of the known world, was a man in his late thirties, tanned and fit, with the eyes of eagles. His wife was barely thirty and even more tanned and fit, not to mention exceedingly blonde and buxom.

Everyone in the room bowed deeply to the High King when he was introduced.

He bobbed his head in response. "If we meet in private, please, just call me 'Sire' and keep the rest of the formal stuff for affairs of state."

He turned to Lady Becky. "Count Tellan and Duke Tuck both have nothing but good things to say about you. I welcome you to Hostigos and my University."

"I've come to repay hospitality, Lord King," Lady Becky said formally.

The High King bowed to her. "Hospitality is the duty of every man, Lady Becky. It was nothing."

There was more back and forth about hospitality that Noia didn't understand. They certainly seemed to be making a big deal out of it!

Finally, the High King ended it. "Lady Becky, we will talk at length, after you've had time to settle in and get with Mytron about schedules." He grinned at the room. "We can't leave our son alone too long, he's twelve. Odds are he's someplace taking apart a steam puller. Our daughter is ten and she is, I judge, off on a crag, a falcon on her sleeve and a smile on her face. Our twins, both the boy and girl, eight, are probably planning a way to glue their tutor's behind to his desk. I should never have told them any stories of my childhood!"

There were polite laughs. The High King and Queen turned and withdrew.

Mytron bowed at them, and then turned to Lady Becky. "Lady, if you follow me, I'll show you to your quarters." He nodded to Trilium. "Sergeant, if you, Tanda Sa and the corporal will follow Brother Sergon, he'll lead you to your rooms."

Brother Sergon was a youth of about twelve, who had a happy grin on his face.

They followed him down two flights of steps, then back up four flights. Trilium finally growled, "Boy, I know when I'm going in circles. Explain yourself."

The boy grinned again. "Just a few more feet, sir." He led the way down a corridor and into a room. The High King and Queen were standing in the middle of the small room. The High King bowed at the young man who'd led them there.

The boy laughed. "Father, mother, may I present Lady Noia of North Port, Sergeant Trilium of the army of Zarthan and Tanda Sa of the Lost Ruthani, foster brother of Tanda Havra."

The High Queen grinned. "You did well, my son."

"I'm sorry about the crack about taking apart a steam puller," his father added.

The boy stuck his tongue out. "Father, tell me to get lost. You'll know where to find me."

"Get lost, kid!" The boy grinned and turned and left at a run.

The High Queen spoke. "Lady Noia, if you would, please attend me."

She waved at a curtain across one end of the room. Noia bowed and followed the Queen as she walked regally and barely moved the curtains to pass through. Noia desperately wished she could walk as elegantly as the High Queen, or make such an elegant gesture.

They were in a corner of the room, with a rack with dresses hanging from it.

"Lady Noia, if it pleases you, you may change."

"Lady Queen, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but is it safe?"

"As safe as my husband can make it. Safe enough." She paused, obviously thinking.

"Lady Noia, my husband and I have no secrets. Thus, I've read about you. Once, I contemplated the world around me. I had a dead mother, a father who loved me, and enemies sufficient to fill anyone's plate. I despaired more than once, Lady Noia. I dreamed... oh my Lady, I can't begin to recount to you my dreams of despair!

"I agreed with my father that we had to resist Styphon, but it was hard to contemplate his death, the death of our town and people. Me? Who cared about me?

"Then my husband came and suddenly it was like the world was bright and new and there was no reason to despair. Then, as in my wildest dreams, he threw down the houses of our enemies; he threw them down and donned the mantle of the High King. Lady Noia, I tell you true: sex is better, but the first time a general with his army genuflects in your presence, surrendering to you... that's pretty darn good, too."

She waved at the dresses. "Please, I've had to contemplate the end of dreams, the end of my world. I knew what I had to do to survive. I don't know if I could have born up under the load and stayed sane. My instincts are to turn against my enemies and wade into them, my sword swinging. Stupid, pretty much. You, Lady Noia, you survived. You have no idea how much I respect someone who could do that."

Noia bowed her head. "I feared for my life."

"And I didn't? I feared for my father as well, to be sure. Most of all, I feared for our people. Didn't you?"

"Not enough, Highness. My brother poisoned my father. None of our people resisted... at least none that I saw."

"Lady Noia, pick a dress or turn around and go out again, as you are. I swear to you, my husband and I both understand what you are going through. We will abide by your decision."

Noia walked over to the rack, found a russet and brown dress that looked like it would fit. She glanced at the High Queen who stared back without expression. Noia undressed, down to her nethers, men's nethers, and then tried on the dress. It fit relatively well.

"If you would like, there are other things available as well, but truth be known, I wear the same nethers as my husband. They are more convenient."

Noia grimaced. "For now, I'll stay with these."

"You're embarrassed about your breasts," the High Queen said.

Noia looked at her, trying to keep her face expressionless.

"Lady Noia, once upon a time I was young and beautiful. My father has seen my breasts a few times, my husband many more times. My ladies of the court, many times. Once, a stable boy who surprised me when I was trying to replace a torn shirt. He fainted and I had to think quickly or my father would have assumed something else besides shyness.

"Lady, in those days I was younger, and men turned their heads to stare at my breasts, which I rarely bothered to bind. Then I met my husband who had, shall we say, loftier goals than my breasts. Not that he's ever stinted on paying them homage."

Noia blushed heavily.

"Yes, I really do understand, Lady Noia. I do. That was before our son was born. My breasts grew -- substantially -- before that day. After that day, they were huge. I didn't recognize myself. My husband is a good man, and treated the extra as a sumptuous feast. Then a daughter, then twins.

"Lady Noia, now I bind my breasts tightly, else they tickle my navel. It is, my lady, the way of things. You aren't pretty and your breasts aren't either. These are minor things, of little concern, no matter how important they seem now."

"Yes, Highness."

"I met your Queen once. My husband wasn't happy that I went west on my own, leaving our children to his tender mercies. But I make my own choices. I met her; I liked her. She has, she says, a group of ladies who've had to give up all that they once held dear, to hold dear the things that are the most important of all. At first, I thought she was playing word games. Then I realized how true her words were. So yes, I'm a member of Elspeth's circle of friends. I would be your friend as well."

"You're the High Queen!"

"Once I was a princess in a small principality where my father ruled wisely. My mother died giving me life, and I wish I could have met her, but other than that I was very happy. Then came Styphon and my father would not bend to them. Their demands for money and land were too high, their plans for our people too terrible to permit. Even letting them hold slaves where none held been held in two generations was too much.

"So, we chose to fight and thus we fell under Styphon's Ban. We should have died. We expected to die. My father agonized about whether or not he should drag the people of Hostigos down to defeat with him. Circumstances made it all moot. He had to fight. I had to fight. We thought we'd die. We hoped it was quick... except Kalvan appeared and what should have been quick was drawn out. Then he put it off indefinitely."

Soon enough, Noia stood in front of the others, wearing a dress. Really, it wasn't that big of a thing. They'd all known, after all! And there was a formal dance and she was partnered with the High King, with Trilium and Tanda Sa, who she had to explain pretty much everything to.

By the end of the evening she was exhausted once again, but this time it felt different. It was as if a great weariness had fallen from her shoulders, a great weight had been lifted from her.

She smiled at the thought. No, actually the burden was clearer now than ever before. There were things she had to do. For herself, for her father, for her people, for her king and for all the others of the world who wanted nothing more than the golden child Princess Rylla must have wanted: to live, have families, grow old and die in the fullness of their years, content in their achievements. At peace.

Men like her brother plotted and connived, wanting to steal the work of others for their own. They could not wait for the natural order of things; they would rather lie, cheat, steal and even kill to get that which wasn't theirs by right. And if her brother smashed other people's happiness and lives along the way? He wouldn't care; his concerns were for himself.

There were enemies plotting against her, against her friends, against her king, and against these people here. Men and women who had taken in a stranger from afar, protected her, sheltered and provided for her. She'd heard about the cult of hospitality that had grown up in Hostigos after the advent of the High King. She'd heard stories how Lord Tuck, Lady Judy and Queen Elspeth had repaid the hospitality shown to them by strangers who'd taken them in.

There would be no finer thing than if she repaid that hospitality as the others had. By defeating the enemies who came at them, by defending the lives of those who succored her, and defending all the other lives they helped. And if results were any measure of the gods' favor, then they too agreed.

Judy surveyed the hill again, at the stationary soldiers atop it. She stepped back behind the little rise she was on, grinning. Every finger-width they sat on the ridge, was another finger-width closer her relief was. Hold a day and it would be over. It was getting close to High Sun, but this was spring, and the temperatures weren't as brutal as they would be in the summer. They could hold here easily.

Behind her, she heard Captain Legios expounding to his new officer. This one wasn't as clever a man as Lieutenant Smyla, evidently. She grinned again. It would be too much to hope that all the officers in the army were steady and competent!

One of the squadron lieutenants fetched up next to her. "Your grace, the rear guards report a party of men headed this way in a hurry, perhaps a half dozen, from the southeast."

Judy nodded. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Report to me when you have more information, or when they come up."

It would be a terrible humiliation, she thought, if that was a half dozen of the scouts come from a wild goose chase, after she'd messaged their names earlier in the day back to Tecpan, and thence no doubt to Tuck, her husband and the Grand Marshal. She would have to stand up in front of the entire army and apologize.

Those thoughts swirled around for a moment, and she looked back southeast.

It was as swift and sudden as a mule kick. What was to the southeast? Zacateca. Without hesitation, she scanned the terrain once again. Legios' words about General Denethon echoed in her ears. Denethon survived because he did the unexpected! What was she going to have to do to be able to survive?

Two finger-widths later a dusty sergeant was brought to her. She nodded politely to him. "Sergeant Talphon. I take it that things are not well in Zacateca."

The sergeant blinked in surprise. "No, your grace. King Xyl's army marched in, starting at dawn today. The city has gone back to the King in Tenosh."

"How many men?"

He shook his head. "Your grace, a loyal man, the name of whom I'll whisper in your ear later, came to us, camped to the northwest of the city, as we were training their soldiers. He told me that the Council had seized all of the High King's soldiers in Zacateca, and other soldiers were enroute to take us. That he had no idea how many men were coming to the city, but the column of troops stretched for miles. At least three. He could not see either the beginning or the end of the column. At least four miles, your grace."

Judy nodded. Column of fours, a yard and a half between rows. Five thousand men per mile. Twenty thousand soldiers into Zacateca, at a minimum.

"And the city? Was it quiet?"

"Yes, my lady. The man said they'd been assured that there would be no reprisals if loyal men returned to their King, that there was a new King in Tenosh and that he agreed that the sacrifices and the taxes of the old King and priests were unjust and had ended them."

Judy thanked him and the sergeant stood, unsure. "Your grace, I think you should withdraw at once, towards Tecpan."

He spoke nervously, knowing that some officers would have his head for speaking up. Lord Tuck valued such comments, though, and so did she.

"Come," she said and walked the dozen yards to the top of the rise and waved at the ridgeline beyond. "There are twenty thousand reasons why trying to move north just now might not be wise."

The sergeant sucked wind. "Your grace, I meant no impertinence!"

"That was not impertinence, Sergeant! You've done your duty today, none can say differently! I'll get back to you shortly with orders."

She stood looking out over what was sure to be a battlefield. Would they really attack today? She was quite sure they would. Except they wouldn't weight their attack to the north as she'd expected, it would be weighted to the south, to lull her into belief that she could withdraw in order towards Tecpan.

She cast her eyes to the south, where her cavalry was, out of touch and out of contact. Never split your forces, she'd been told. And I thought I was too good to have to worry about the little things! Leave my artillery at home, split off my cavalry...

For the first time in her life she contemplated not what Tuck would do, but what would General Denethon do. Legios came to stand next to her, the two Mortar brothers with him.

"My lady," Legios said quietly. "What is the news?"

"Zacateca has fallen to Xyl. They are behind us, to the southeast."

"How many of them?" Big Mortar asked.

"At least twenty thousand, the sergeant told me. Probably we'll face at least that many, probably several times that. They'll know who's facing them." She swept the Duke's helm off her black hair. "So, no more games."

She turned Legios. "I've decided to try to think like General Denethon for this battle, Captain."

Legios chuckled. "My lady, that is the best news I've heard since the war was over!"

"Captain, we have two hundred and fifty rounds per mortar? You can fire about twenty-five times safely in rapid fire?"

"Yes, Countess."

"On my command, I want all sixty of the tubes to fire on the ridgeline to our right front, twenty rounds each. Forty tubes on the center, ten tubes on each flank. I want those rounds to be right in among them, as quickly as possible, and then I want the rest of the rounds fired as quickly as possible. They have to be hitting the top of the ridge, do you understand?"

Legios nodded his understanding.

"As soon as you've fired the twenty rounds, put the tubes on horses and we'll withdraw at once.

"Short, I want you to command the mounted companies. We'll move the mounts up directly behind this rise in the next few finger-widths. Until the signal, I want the men on the line doing nothing different than what they are now. As soon as the mortars start to explode on that hill, not when they're fired, mind, but after they start landing, do a slow fifteen count, then have the trumpeter sound assembly. What that means is that everyone hustles over the rise and mounts up.

"I want the wagons unloaded, and everything that we can put on horses, and everything else prepared for destruction. As soon as assembly is blown, that'll be the signal to start the fires.

"That will be in about a palm-width, sooner if we can get ready faster. I don't want those soldiers on the ridge to think we're up to something, not until it happens.

"As soon as we break from here, I want four men sent southeast, towards the big ridge there. I don't want to point, I don't want any of you to point, but over my left shoulder is a large gap in that ridge. We will first head southeast, as if we're headed for Zacateca. In about a palm-width, we'll turn to the left and dash for that gap. As soon as we turn, so will our 'point.'"

Legios was studying the ground. "I hope it goes all the way through," he said quietly.

"It does. They will have to come down from that ridge, which will take time, especially after twelve hundred mortar rounds. They can either go northeast and try to cut us off that way, pursue us directly or let us go. Before we get to that gap I'll make a decision about whether or not we'll set up an ambush somewhere in the mountains. Probably yes, if it's a close pursuit, probably not if there's no real pursuit.

"Once we're through those mountains, and that's a seven thousand foot ridge, we'll turn northeast and keep going until tomorrow around High Sun. We'll rest a little then, and start again as soon as the sun starts down. The moon will be only a little help tonight, and not much more tomorrow night. It doesn't look like there will be clouds to interfere with that."

Big Mortar laughed. "A good thing! That canyon wouldn't be a good place to be if it looks like rain! I saw it on the maps, Countess. The river that's to our north comes through the gap. The canyon is deep and so are the gullies here, miles from those mountains. When it rains hard here, all that water comes through that gap."

"Let's go make things happen," she told them. "A palm-width!"

Everyone walked away, as if there was no rush, only Legios stayed behind. "We could wait a while longer and let them attack," he said, looking up at the ridge ahead of him. "We defeat them and then go north."

"I thought about that," Judy told him. "Then I got to thinking about what we truly know and what we truly don't. Sergeant Talphon and the others from Zacateca didn't see any of Xyl's soldiers. A loyal man warned them and they fled at once. I don't doubt that Xyl's in Zacateca. The question is, are these soldiers and those in Zacateca acting in concert? And how many columns of soldiers are there out here?

"They know we sent a long message earlier. I've deliberately not passed on the message we just got. That will wait until just before we're ready to go. I wouldn't want them to think we've received some urgent message."

Legios nodded at that.

"If they are in concert, and if they think I was going to be clever and turn the battle so that we're both facing the wrong way, we could have ended up in major trouble tomorrow. I don't want them thinking we've been warned, because that might cause them to react differently."

"And the cavalry?" Legios asked.

Judy glanced to her right, at the hills there. "They should still be within four or five miles. They'll hear the artillery, and hopefully that will make them pause and look around. They should see our dust cloud and deduce that the plan has changed. If we're headed southeast, we're not going to be attacking to the southwest at first light. I imagine we'll see them before nightfall."

Captain Legios nodded. "I'll go make sure things are ready, Countess."