The High King: A Tale of Alus (48 page)

The men were all awake before dawn. The previous night's raid was still fully on all their minds. The gargoyles and assassins had not been fully successful, but the damage had been done and an already faltering group of golem wizards had been reduced by more than half.

Terris had no men to lead in particular or prepare for the upcoming battle that everyone knew was coming, so all he could do was peek in on General Falack and the other leaders of the combined armies of Sileoth and Maris. He found them arguing with who should lead whom and to where. The men fought amongst
themselves so often that Terris often wondered how they could have survived against Merrick's invasion for so long.

Iylin, as Sergeant of the Black Guard, was there as well and was the first to notice and greet the former king and general. "Good morn, Lord Terris," the young man stated loudly enough for the men to turn their heads to the tent opening.

"Good morn, Iylin, gentlemen. I see that things proceed slowly. We haven't long before Merrick's forces attack now. Will we be ready?"

The general of Sileoth's second legion stared angrily at his former enemy as did the man's aides. Even forced to work together, the natural animosity for the rivals was still evident and, knowing that Terris would support Falack before him, it seemed unlikely to disappear soon. "We'll be ready. Why are you here anyway?"

"My dear Helton, I am here to help as always. I only came to see if there was anything else that I could do. I've seen that preparations for some of my ideas have already been implemented, so that leaves me free to come visit you."

The general glowered even more fiercely before turning away to mutter to his men. Terris fought the natural emotion that would cause him to shake his head. Such a gesture would serve to have one of the man's aides take offense for him. A needless act that had best be avoided by wiser heads when more pressing matters were at hand.

Instead, he turned his attention back to the men from Maris. "How do you think we will fare today?"
"Much as you, I would guess," Falack answered glumly. "I just received a report that nearly five thousand horse arrived. It's a joint venture between Staron and Marshallan lancers and light cavalry from what my spies tell me. Another legion of footmen is about a league away and may be here by the end of the day, if we last that long."
Now Terris shook his head worriedly with no fear of repercussions, and the gesture was shared by several of the other men as well. "No hope of any reinforcements on this side?"
Falack shook his head angrily. "Merrick has the combined strength of five countries from which to draw men for his armies. We have a fair sized land, but not the number of people to do more. If only Kardor had agreed to help us when we had asked last fall, then maybe we could hope to do more. The fools believe that if Merrick defeats us he won't continue on to Kardor, I guess."
Terris patted the man on the shoulder saying, "No need to waste breath and hope on what we cannot have, my friend. I know that both kings sit at Oapril with the remaining two legions for what little worth they would actually be in the face of the main army's defeat here, but that is not going to change now. We'll have to make do. At least we have a chance if some of my plans bear fruit. A strong showing here could stop him and maybe even drive his men back for a time."
"Maybe? Always you say this," Helton muttered. "Why do you listen to this former king, Falack? He lost his battles and now he looks to destroy us as well. He served Merrick for a time. How can we hope to trust this traitor?"
Before Falack opened his mouth, Terris replied. His voice was quiet and steady. The force of his words caused the general to step back, "I do not deny that I served as a general for Merrick, but I did not serve him entirely willingly, did I? I saved those that I could from his killing sprees until finally he tried killing me. Now my daughter is left to him and my son rules a defeated kingdom.
"His evil perpetuates itself as men of ambition come to serve the so called High King of the North. His sorcerers bring more of the demon spawn he calls gargoyles and their allies the dragons. I had no weapon capable of stopping him, Helton. What was I to do? Sacrifice all my people in a losing battle?
"Your king had the same decision to make when Merrick rolled over your armies. He ran to Maris in the hopes of uniting there with allies to stop Merrick. He ran from Sileoth knowing that Merrick should not harm the people. The conqueror wants heads of rulers and their lands. He cares nothing about the people except that they serve him. And people, you may have noticed, follow whichever ruler takes the reins as long as he does not seek to kill or harm them.
"I had no allies to turn to, Helton. My allies were crushed before I even had a chance to help them. Cardor was lost in a blink and its ruler shortly after his surrender. I couldn't turn to your king, could I? No, because even now I face the same hatred your people have shown mine since before I ever took the throne. Gideon wanted my land for whatever reasons he did, as his forebears had previously, but I never asked for the animosity. I just fought it.
"Ask yourself what you would have done in my place. I had the hammer bearing down and the anvil below. What could have I done?"
The general stood silent and stilled. After a moment he moved towards Terris and offered a hand. "Allies then. I do apologize for I had ever looked upon you as the enemy as you say."
"Perhaps with a little more of that cooperation we just might have a chance today," Falack added and placed his hand over the others. "Now my allies let's see if all is as ready as we can make it."

Merrick smiled for the first time in days. The five thousand horsemen had finally arrived. If that couldn't sway things, then the report of the partially successful attack on the mages should. He knew that a few of the gargoyles had died. Some of the great beasts seemed fearful of the losses, but that mattered little to the selfstyled High King. So what if they could slay some of the gargoyles, they could do little to the dragons. The beasts would prevent any real losses as they stomped through the enemy lines.

They were beaten, even if they didn't already know it. His spies had confirmed that most of the enemy appeared half defeated already. The wolf's grin took its place briefly before the man could rein in his joyfulness. This would be the day that the enemy's main forces fell before him. They had drawn matters out too long already with their annoying golem magic. Now he wouldn't have enough time to break the kings at Oapril and still have enough time to defeat Kardor.

The addressee turned to see his general, Bragus, kneeling obediently before him. "Yes," he replied, "what is it, Bragus?"

"You wanted to be alerted when the lines were drawn. You said that you wanted to be the one to give the order to crush the enemy."

"Yes, I did. Thank you. Now rise and let's see how my army looks today. They should look magnificent on this day of proposed victory. Don't you agree?"

"Of course, your majesty, you are always correct, I have noted."
The High King waved off the obvious attempt at a compliment. "Yes, yes, now let me see. The scene should be glorious from my viewing hill." He topped the nearby rise to look down on the two armies facing off in the valley below. The dragons and gargoyles stood out from the mass of his human armies. The masses themselves were impressive, but with the daunting winged giants and the awe inspiring lizards interspersed here and there... There just weren't words for the sight.
He looked west to the lines of Sileoth and Maris. Little more than a dozen golems stood amongst the enemy ranks. Rather than towering might, Merrick looked at them, so few in number, and considered how pathetic they looked before his legions.
Nodding his satisfaction, he motioned for his horn player to sound the charge. They would fall today, he decided. They were too few and too weak to face his troops.
The horn blared loudly in the early morning air. The gargoyles and dragons surged forward first but quickly the human masses formed like an arrow pointed straight at the heart of the enemy forces.
Flags raised among the enemy signaling their forces. That was different from the norm, but not the first time it had been done. The last time Merrick had seen them use it, had been a victory for he and his army, the conqueror thought merrily. A good sign for this battle, he was sure.

Men clashed. Horses screamed and kicked. Golems slew many before being hacked apart by mightier foes. Gargoyles found knots of men that could slay them. Spearmen mixed with swords found in threes and fours in hacking and slashing combinations that caused lesser gargoyle warriors to leave openings. Those fell while some of the others formed into gargoyle trios to counteract the smaller creatures' attacks.

Thus countered by strength and numbers, the men were forced to give ground.
Archers from both sides struck their targets. Maris's men found their arrows all but useless when a group of dragons formed on either flank and tore into the men with tooth and claw. A golem was caught there and the dragons crushed it as well.
Merrick wasn't sure when he realized that a large group was missing from his army. He couldn't figure out who could be missing at first and then he realized that most of the Cadmene knights had disappeared.
The High King would have been more angry if the battle wasn't going so well otherwise. Sileans and Marisians both died and fell back in a losing battle. Many began to run only to be brought down by arrow, sword or otherworldly killers.
Mages on both sides tried their spells. The High King's men were more numerous and healthy, however, while those of Maris fought hurt and tired. Arrows and magic killed more of his enemies and Merrick grinned the wolfish grin once more.
Less than half the morning had passed before his enemies were forced from the field. Many soldiers surrendered to his men. They had had enough. More ran and of those many died a coward's death as arrows and swords found their backs.
Soon the field was left to his men. The day was won and the enemy lay broken, bleeding and dying. It was a good day as he saw it.

Terris rode atop one of the fallen knights' horse. His former soldiers looked to him and the losses that Maris and Sileoth had suffered and wondered at what they had just done.

No longer on the winning side and soon to be hunted by Merrick, many of the men looked ready to throw themselves on the conqueror's mercy, though they all knew that he had none.

"Don't fret, men, I won't lead you wrong again. King Merrick can be beaten. He was brought to a standstill once and he can be fully defeated, I know it. An army run by such a man can come to no other end than defeat." Terris's words sounded thin even to him, but many of the men turned to him with renewed hope in their eyes.

He did tend to believe his words. A man like Merrick ruled people by fear and such had been the case throughout history of just such men losing to their own corruption. Terris just prayed that he would still be alive when that happened, because history also had men that ruled and passed on their dynasties to their children also.

That thought brought anger to the former king. He could not bear the thought of one of that man's children being related to his own. Terris prayed, not for the first time, that Alyanna would be spared the agonies of raising that man's child. Being barren forever would be less painful he was certain.

Terris wondered how his children were doing. Their lives had been far from what he had hoped to give them. Peace had always been the former king's desire, whether peace with Sileoth or this newest enemy. The man just wanted to be able to rest and leave the world knowing that Relnar and Alyanna could enjoy peace.

Her face came to him as did that of his wife, Xadria. Maybe he could send both women notes through the resistance. How the former king wished that he could see them both again.

Krulir had watched the queen closely ever since the woman had shown up naked at his door and taken his serving girl. It wasn't because of the lost girl, though he had not appreciated the move against him, of course. No, it was more that such a show of defiance could only be one of two things: true defiance or lunacy. He chose to believe the former of one of Terris's brood. The woman seemed entirely too willful and determined to undermine the respect given Marshalla's High King.

The vizier had lost his spies within the woman's ladies in waiting. Now he was forced to use other means. The guards had been his first choice, but the men could tell him little, especially when the queen had made her cousin captain of her guards.

The lesser guards were never able to catch what secrets the queen kept or what plots may have been hatched. So Krulir watched, listened and otherwise just waited for Alyanna to foul up completely. The woman skated on thin enough ice with Merrick as it was, so the vizier felt safe to believe that she would make a fatal misstep soon enough.

Alyanna's return from the lake had been noted. His spies told of her charity to the peasants, but that in itself would not bury her. The vizier himself gave alms because he knew that a little giving kept the people happy enough. A revolt would only serve Merrick's enemies after all, if the king had to bring the armies back just to put down a rebellion.

The woman's strange smile that day had caused the vizier to wonder most of all when she had returned. It was not the smile of one who had pulled a trick or scheme that had gone well. He could not put a finger on the emotion entirely, but he could have sworn that it was love. Such a thing should be impossible, since his spies told him that she was never alone enough to have found someone.

Alyanna had only slipped out of sight once and that with some merchant ambassador. Such as he could not interest the beauty could he? After all, the man left to return south shortly after his meeting with the queen.

Krulir was annoyed that she had been able to send someone like that away. An ambassador from Taltan could have proved a boon to Merrick's bid for rule, but there would come a time when an alliance could be made again. Such was the nature of politics that a neutral party would mean little either way in the king's bid for conquest.