The High King: A Tale of Alus (13 page)

The following day, Gerid worked with his men as hard as possible. The young sergeant commanded a full score of what he claimed to be the finest soldiers ever. They were trained better and worked harder than any other platoon on the holdings, but his men rarely complained. They could see the pride that he held for them, and knowing that their leader only wished to train them so that they could all survive in the days ahead, they worked with him willingly to grow stronger.

As evening fell, Gerid parted their company to join with Karma at the main house. His duties as guardsman were nearly over now. The master's son would not be joining the Holtein's mercenaries this time though he had tried hard to convince his father to allow him to do so. But no, Kolonus was still captain and Carter was unwilling to risk his only son just yet.

Karma went to bed early that night and Gerid soon went to Catiya's room to wait for Tabitha. He entered and beheld Catiya standing naked upon the terrace bathed in Epsilon's pale light. "Isn't Tabitha here yet?" the man asked as he closed the door.

She jumped at his voice. Turning to face him in the room, the girl sat upon the railing and simply stared at him. "Sama needed her to help with making a new dress. She'll be here later tonight."

"Perhaps I should go then."
"No, wait!" the woman moved back inside quickly as she nearly ran to him. The act let the moonlight accent her breasts even as shadow slid over her face. "I wanted to talk to you before you left anyway. We've barely spent any time together since you joined the soldiers. That uncle and brother of mine..." the girl started to complain.
Gerid did as he was asked and crossed the room at her beckoning.
They both stood upon the terrace and watched as the red moon of Turas began its rise to join its brother. Gerid averted his gaze from Catiya fearing what she would say.
"Gerid?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Do you know the legend of Turas and his lover Danaer?"
The myths of the North Continent were the same as those from Taltan since the original settlers of the north originated from the southern continent. He knew the story. The war god's love of the goddess, Danaer was legendary. Before man's history, it was said that the gods had the world to themselves and they sought each other's company. Turas was a battler of demons and the fiercest of the gods. It was said that he had even fought a dragon for his father, the sun god Arcturas. With the dragon's death, the god entered its lair and found an orb that the beast guarded with its life. The treasure found was what his father had sent him to find on that quest.
The glowing orb was said to show only the heart's greatest destiny. It showed the gods their need for mankind it was said, but for Turas, as he touched its surface, only his destiny was shown. A goddess, whom he did not yet know, was shown within its sheen. Upon delivering the orb to his father, Turas turned and set off on his personal quest for the woman that very day. He was so dazzled by her appearance in the orb that no one could dissuade him from his new path. His brothers took up his quest as well after seeing the passion that had taken over their brother and not wanting him to journey alone.
They searched a long time before a vision from Gelinas' wife, Matae, came to the gods and guided them to a remote and hidden valley. In the valley, they found a great many creatures all living side by side in harmony as they would not elsewhere. Beasts of claw and tooth would play with those that anywhere else would have become their prey as all attended their goddess, Danaer. Her beauty overwhelmed Turas' brothers and they fell to their knees caught in a need for adoration. Though Turas knew that he loved her, the war god would not fall so easily and he merely strode up to her as if unaffected.
At his resistance, Danaer was suddenly intrigued. With her lack of attention came disaster, however, as the beasts began to sense each other for what they were. The goddess realizing her mistake tried to calm the valley with her peace again, but it was too late. All would have been lost then if not for Turas' quick thinking. "Kind lady," he began earnestly, "peace can only be restored when war knows love. My love for you grows with every passing moment. Were the war god's love returned, all will surely return as it was."
Though they were completely different, Danaer returned Turas' love in kind and all proved well again within the valley. The valley prospered as did their love.
"I know their story well enough, yes," Gerid answered after a moment’s thought.
Catiya slid her fingers along his neck and down his chest provocatively. He watched her and waited for what he knew she would ask. "I know that we are also of different worlds, but I love you. Before you go to war, I wanted you to know this. I was hoping that maybe you also loved me."
"Catiya, I love Tabitha," he stated quietly.
The young woman nodded. "And I don't ask you to betray her. I only wished to gain strength from the thought that you could also love me."
Sighing, Gerid explained quietly, "You are my friend and I love you as such. Given different
circumstances, I would love you perhaps as more than that. I don't know if such knowledge can strengthen you, Catiya, but that is the way of it."
Catiya's face was sad and her eyes filled with tears awaiting release. She pulled Gerid's head close to hers. He allowed her to kiss him and the gesture was full of passion. Gerid knew it for what it was, a farewell.
The woman turned away from the moon's light. Gerid could not watch as she slid from her perch on the banister, nor could he watch her go, though he knew that she was quickly gone as the inner door closed in her wake.

The small kingdom of Caldor was the first unfortunate to fall into Merrick's grasp and he eagerly turned to the next challenge for the king’s appetite for power was now fueled by his success. Several miles of Cadmene, their neighbor and occasional ally to Marshalla’s south, were occupied swiftly before that country could muster its forces to meet the unexpected threat. Krulir knew that this time, unlike the army of Caldor, the warriors of this country were truly a power to reckon with. After more than a century of battling with its neighbor to the south, Sileoth, because of some feud long forgotten over the generations, Cadmene had developed a legion of the finest knights on all the North Continent. With four legions of infantry to back them, they had slowly beaten out over one hundred square miles of territory from the more numerous legions of Sileoth.

Merrick had no fears about the outcome, however. There was no worry in the lord about any of the upcoming battles. In fact, with the Caldorian king's surrender, another full legion had sworn itself to Marshalla's cause. Merrick had promised the former king a new role as ambassador and peace for his country. The Caldorians had joined their remaining legion with those of Marshalla as an act of good faith and their capitol had been spared a war of siege that it would have had no possibility of surviving.

The fact that the Caldorian king had met with a strange and untimely death during the winter had not yet been leaked to the legions, of course, that matter had been swept away unseen by the new lord of the land. Merrick had also decided to bring more of the gargoyles into his world for the Cadmene campaign. His eyes saw only their ability as a juggernaut in his lines and Krulir worried over his judgment in this. The vizier subtly suggested other possible strategies in such a way that he would not be judged a traitor or insubordinate, but Krulir could not convince the man of the possible hint of treachery that he sensed in the dark creatures.

As usual of late, Merrick totally ignored his vizier and, with his eyes on victory over a former ally only, he continued to rely on his inhuman allies. The second half of spring was set to bring the first true test as Marshalla entered a war deep in Cadmene's lands.

"Gerid, come on in," Kolonus spoke up from within the command tent. The canvas was thrown atop its roofing to expose the bare support posts and allow air to enter freely. The interior was occupied with a pair of collapsible tables loaded with maps marking the activity of the enemy as well as the current locations of friendly forces in the area. Kolonus had found himself with not only the responsibilities of commanding the two hundred and fifty Holtein mercenaries, but, once gathered in the field, he had been named the ranking of commander of the other three mercenary units of over five hundred others called to the field by the king. The numbers of mercenaries and royal soldiers were well beyond those originally called for by the king as things escalated. Resistance had been so strong that a third and fourth royal brigade were being hurriedly sent after them to help out in the southern war.

Looking at the maps briefly, Gerid quickly noted how their contingents had been pulled back from the entrenched Enswerians. The last week had seen two vicious battles with the enemy. The mercenaries had been left to fend for themselves since then as the two royal brigades worked at containing any further advances, while attempting to cut off contact between Enswere and its new territory. He doubted that until the other two brigades arrived they could fully contain the enemy.

The two battles had been a good testing ground for both the mercenary troops and those of the royal corps. Gerid and his squad had already acquitted themselves quite well in the heat of both attacks. With his incredible strength and skill leading them, his men had served to cut apart larger forces, which then found themselves shattered and destroyed by the other mercenary troops working in concert.

He wondered what Kolonus would ask of him next. His squad had already been in the thickest of the fighting after all. Saluting his superior officer, Gerid stood crisply at attention. "Sergeant Aramathea reporting, sir."

The commander noticed Gerid's glance at the map. "At ease, sergeant. You've seen the map and already fought enough of Enswere's soldiers by now, and I assume you realize that we have our work cut out for us here."

As Gerid stood awaiting the point of his briefing, Kolonus drew out a cigar from a box that had been hidden partially by the maps. After a moment, the commander had it lit and puffs of smoke were being released as small clouds towards the canvas ceiling above them. The man stared at it turning the brown surface in his fingers before him with a strange calculating look. "How old are you, Gerid?" he suddenly asked.

"Nearly eighteen now, sir."
"Not even eighteen then," Kolonus replied and nodded still in thought. "You carry yourself like a man much older most of the time. I've wondered about that since Karma first showed you to me. My best guess is that the loss of your family and slavery has made you a stronger, older man before your time. Would you agree with such an assessment?"
"Probably, sir," he answered without true commitment.
"You lead your men well, I see. Even many of the older, veteran soldiers seem to like and respect you quite highly. It's a combination of these points that has led me to a decision, Gerid. Though it is unusually soon in your career, I find you a quite able leader and, with the recent loss of Lieutenant Lemik, I need someone to fill his shoes. He spoke well of you before he died and I believe that he would be pleased if I promoted you to his place as lieutenant of fourth company."
"Sir?" Gerid uttered in stunned disbelief.
Ignoring the newly promoted leader’s surprise, Kolonus continued, "Now with that done, I need to give you a special mission. The town of Paxthos was taken a day ago by hostile forces. I want your command to go there and take estimates of the resistance. If you think that your fifty men can take it back for us, then do so. If there’s any force too significant staying there, I'll expect you to send word of their strength. Hold back then until reinforcements can arrive. Is that clear, lieutenant?"
Still in shock, Gerid nodded numbly before he realized that protocol required his verbal response, "Yes, sir. I'll just need the town's location before gathering the troops and any supplies that I'll need. Should we take more than a day's supplies along, sir?"
Kolonus smiled, "Good question. You are thinking more like a leader already. I've given notice to the supply lieutenant to give you three days supplies. Anything else, lieutenant?" He asked pointing to a dot labeled Paxthos on the map.
"No, sir."
"Then go do your job, son, and don't screw up," Kolonus ordered with a salute.

Aside from the initial confusion of adjusting to his new promotion, the three other sergeants of fourth company followed quite cooperatively. They had all worked together with him through the winter, after all, and they did respect him even if he was young. If there was anyone harboring bad feelings about his promotion, they never bothered to voice them. Their troops knew their duties and showed less confusion. They simply followed their sergeants' leads.

The biggest changes came in his own platoon. Since Gerid was needed to lead so many, he needed to appoint a new sergeant for the times that he wouldn't be able to oversee them directly. He picked his corporal, as assumed, but they would have to wait on a second corporal to back him up for a later time. Necessity pushed them to go within an hour and a half's time, so he had his new command on the road and marching as soon as the supplies were packed.

It was less than a day's march to the town of Paxthos from the main camp. Gerid set a fair pace and soon he had the company as close to the town as he would risk them before doing some reconnaissance. He had the men set up a make shift camp in a clearing less than a hundred feet from the edge of the small forest hiding their approach. With the men thus occupied, he gathered his sergeants for a brief strategy meeting.

"All right, we're here now. Commander Kolonus gave us this job and I intend to fulfill his orders. Sergeant Bakur, you have seniority in this command and the largest platoon next to mine. I want you to keep an eye on things while I'm gone."

"You're leaving, sir?" another sergeant named Ulius, the youngest of men in charge, sounded skeptical about the idea.

"Someone needs to scout out the town, sergeant. I'm taking Sergeant Rastei and we're going to find out what's hidden in there waiting. I don't want to spring any Enswere traps and doom us all to stupidity on my first mission as lieutenant."