Alutar: The Great Demon (34 page)

“Because you are afraid of a real battle,” countered Colonel Rhio. “You are afraid to lose any of your precious men because your numbers are small, and you can’t afford to let them get smaller, so you will continue to snipe at us.”

“If you consider the loss of eight hundred men sniping,” Mitar responded, “then yes. We will continue to snipe at you day and night. You will not have a moment’s peace until you surrender or die. Those are the only choices you have, Colonel, and you will only get one more chance to surrender. If you refuse the next flag of truce, all of you will die. There will be no exceptions.”

Colonel Rhio snarled something under his breath and turned his horse to return to the column. The two soldiers escorting the colonel followed his lead, but the captain remained, staring at the Rangers. Mitar looked at the captain with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t believe I caught your name, Captain,” Mitar said.

“Captain Hahn,” the officer replied. “Were your words the truth, Colonel?”

“They were, Captain,” frowned Mitar, “but why ask such a question? If I had lied before, why would you think I would tell the truth when a question is asked a second time?”

“Because I am not Colonel Rhio,” answered the captain. “I suspect that he rubs you the wrong way, and you might say things to him to anger him.”

Mitar smiled. “I could be tempted to,” Mitar confessed, “but I have not. Everything I have said is true. There is even more that I have not said yet, but your colonel has little time for listening to others.”

“What else can you share?” asked the captain.

“King Boric is willing to let your men settle in Karamin if they want to,” replied Mitar. “They will have to give up their weapons, but they would be welcomed as workers or farmers. There would be no grudge held against them for their service to the Federation. Many of the men of the 30
^th
Corps have accepted his offer.”

“I suppose that is better than the dungeons,” mused the captain.

“None of the soldiers of the 30
^th
Corps have been sent to the dungeons,” stated Mitar, “at least not because of their service in the Federation army. If the men choose not to settle in Karamin, they will be allowed to leave the country, but without their weapons. King Boric is not about to allow soldiers to regroup and cause trouble for his citizens.”

“You had better return to your army, Captain,” Randi said with a nod towards the 31
^st
Corps. “It appears that Colonel Rhio is intent on driving further into Karamin.”

“You have given me much to think about,” Captain Hahn said to Mitar. “I hope that I have the chance to speak to you again.”

Mitar Vidson gave no promises as the captain turned and rode off to rejoin his column.

* * * *

It was high sun on the Calusa-Waxhaw road and Colonel Rhio’s column was in disarray. Three times the Rangers had struck since the last flag of truce, but none of the attacks were large scale. In each attack, the Rangers seemed content to kill just twenty men of the 31
^st
Corps and then disappear. Attempts by Colonel Rhio’s men to chase after the Rangers and engage them had been futile. The Alceans seemed to be able to attack and then vanish completely. Even the trackers had reported that the tracks just halted, as if some magic had swept up the Rangers and their Occan mounts and carried them on the winds. The colonel was angry and frustrated. He knew that he outnumbered the Alceans, yet he was forced to suffer their attacks whenever the Rangers chose to engage them. It was not the kind of fighting that the colonel had been trained for. Everything he tried failed to produce a single Alcean casualty, and the men of the 31
^st
Corps looked as if they were on the verge of desertion. Colonel Rhio would give anything for one solid encounter with the enemy so that he could at least bloody them, but that had not been possible.

The colonel had ordered the men of the outer files to use their shields on the forest side of the column. He had hoped that the tactic would cause the Rangers to linger, trying to get their quota of kills, but the Rangers had adapted instantly. Instead of firing at the nearest file, the Alceans had shot over the shields, killing the men in the inner files. The colonel had tried designating attack teams to immediately charge into the forest when the Rangers began sniping, but they had been unable to locate the enemy. The attacks were too quick, and the Rangers did not linger.

“You seem deep in thought, Colonel,” Captain Hahn said as he pulled in alongside the colonel.

Colonel Rhio glanced at the captain with annoyance. “What do you want, Hahn?” he asked.

“I have been timing their attacks,” answered the captain. “If they stay on schedule, we should expect another attack soon. Have you thought of anything else that we could try against them?”

The colonel sighed and shook his head. He had expected to hear from the captain about surrendering, but the captain had surprised him with his thoughts about timing.

“If only we could engage them,” the colonel replied softly. “That would not only raise the spirits of the men, but it would also cause the Alceans to be more cautious, and that would mean less sniping.”

“The trackers are perplexed,” nodded the captain. “I have questioned each one of them, and they all tell the same story. The riders and mounts simply disappear, leaving no tracks to follow.”

“So I have been told,” scowled the colonel. “They must have a mage helping them. If only they hadn’t gotten lucky and killed all of our battle mages in the first battle.”

Captain Hahn did not respond to the colonel’s words. He felt confident that the Rangers left little to chance. He doubted that the deaths of the battle mages had been a stroke of luck for the Alceans. In fact, he suspected that the mages were targeted precisely because the Rangers had no mage of their own to counteract the black-cloaks’ magic. He was not about to mention his theory to the colonel. It would solve nothing and it would only serve to further irritate the colonel. Unexpectedly, Colonel Rhio raised his hand to halt the column. Captain Hahn had not caught the signal and he was forced to turn around and come up alongside the colonel again.

“Why are we stopping?” asked the captain.

“Look ahead, Hahn,” pointed the colonel. “It might not be much of a gully, but there are ridges on both sides of the road. It is just the type of terrain the Rangers have been using to attack us all morning. I will not ride into another trap.”

“Then what are we to do?” asked the captain. “Do you want the column to leave the road and traverse the forest?”

“Certainly not,” scoffed the colonel. “The Rangers would love to see such a maneuver out of us. Those of our men that the Alceans didn’t kill would run away while we could not keep an eye on them.”

“Then we just sit here?” frowned the captain. “What are the alternatives?”

“We attack them while they are waiting for the column to approach,” answered the colonel. “I want the 1
^st
regiment readied for battle. While they get ready, the column will take a short meal break. This way we ruin the schedule that the Rangers are anticipating, and we get to strike them before they strike us.”

“I don’t understand,” admitted the captain. “How will the 1
^st
Regiment attack them?”

“After the meal break,” explained the colonel, “the column will form up and proceed slowly towards the ambush zone. Just before the vanguard is due to enter the zone, the 1
^st
Regiment will gallop through the zone and peel off into the forest on both sides. The Rangers’ timing will be destroyed, and we will finally get to bloody them. Everything must be planned in advance, though. There will be no signal to attack. The 1
^st
Regiment will merely time the vanguard’s entry into the zone and act independent of the column. That way there will be nothing to tip off the Alceans until it is too late.”

“It is risky,” frowned the captain, “but it might work.”

“What is the risk?” retorted the colonel.

“Instead of losing twenty random men,” the captain replied, “we might lose the whole 1
^st
Regiment.”

“Nonsense,” scowled the colonel. “Their attacks today are small scale. They are only using twenty men to snipe at us. Wherever the rest of the Rangers are, they are not watching this column. They are probably resting for what they expect will be a great battle tomorrow when we refuse their third chance to surrender. Order a short meal break. I will notify the 1
^st
Regiment of their mission.”

Captain Hahn notified the column of the meal break, and the soldiers fell out of the column. Unexpectedly, the soldiers did not seek the shade of the trees at the sides of the road. They took their meal break in the direct sun, in the center of the road. The captain had never seen such behavior before, but he knew the cause. The column was on the verge of mutiny. The men were scared, perhaps scared enough to refuse to battle the Alceans, and that put all of them in a very dangerous situation. While the captain did not expect the Alceans to kill men who were refusing to fight them, that would change after the third flag of truce. Mitar had been very specific on that point. If the third chance to surrender was rejected, every single soldier would die. There would be no exceptions. Captain Hahn knew that he could not let that happen, but he could not figure out a way to inform the men of the situation without scaring them even further. He was still dwelling on the problem when the meal break ended. As the men formed up the column, the captain rode forward to ride alongside Colonel Rhio.

“Now we shall see how the Alceans like being toyed with,” the colonel said with a grin as he waved his hand in the air to start the column moving.

The officers rode on in silence for a few minutes before Captain Hahn spoke. “I am worried about the morale of the men, Colonel,” he said softly. “Did you notice that they had their meal break in the center of the road?”

“Did they?” the colonel asked distractedly as he gazed at the road ahead. “Don’t worry about it, Captain. Their morale will rise dramatically in the next few minutes. The 1
^st
Regiment should start their attack momentarily.”

The colonel was accurate in his timing. A few minutes later, the 1
^st
Regiment unexpectedly broke from the ranks of the column and galloped forward, a thousand Federation riders intent on engaging the Alceans. The cavalry regiment split in two as the ridges rose alongside the road, each half taking to the woods on their side of the road. The captain expected them to find nothing, but he was wrong. As soon as the cavalry regiment entered the woods, twenty black-clad riders surged out of the forest and galloped southward.

“I told you!” exclaimed the colonel. “Look at those cowards run.”

The captain watched as the 1
^st
Regiment quickly returned to the road and gave chase to the Alceans. He watched as first the Alceans disappeared in the distance and then the 1
^st
Regiment disappeared as well.

“I wonder if our boys will catch the Alceans,” pondered the captain. “They all appeared to riding Occans.”

“The 1
^st
Regiment will catch them,” the colonel replied confidently. “Occans or no, our boys are cavalry and they are good at what they do. Besides, I told them not to let any of the Alceans get away. It may take us a while to catch up to them, but I guarantee there will be twenty black-clad bodies on the road when we do.”

The captain was not convinced, but he held his tongue as the column moved into the ambush zone that the Rangers had fled from. Without warning, hundreds of arrows streaked out of the forest, and chaos ruled the column. Some men dropped to the ground and tried to cover themselves with their shields. Some tried to return fire, and others merely stood and stared into the forest, seemingly incapable of reacting. Captain Hahn leaped off his horse and stood between his horse and the colonel’s horse. A moment later, he found Colonel Rhio standing beside him.

“What treachery is this?” snarled the colonel.

“The twenty fleeing Alceans were a ruse,” answered the captain as the attack faltered and died. “It is almost as if they knew exactly what we were planning.”

“What are you saying?” asked the colonel. “Are you saying that we have a spy in our ranks?”

“No, Colonel,” answered the captain. “I do not believe that to be the case, but I do find it curious that their tactics changed the moment that ours did. I wonder if they do have a mage after all, a mage with the ability to hear what we are saying.”

Captain Hahn was walking towards Colonel Rhio when he saw the 1
^st
Regiment returning. He halted next to the colonel to hear the report.

“We couldn’t catch them,” reported the commanding officer of the 1
^st
Regiment. “Our horses are no match for those Occans. What happened here?” he asked as he saw the bodies littering the road.

“They attacked right after you left,” Colonel Rhio replied wearily. “We have five hundred more dead and nothing to show for it. Give your horses a rest. We will be moving out within the hour.”

The 1
^st
Regiment officer nodded and led his men towards the center of the column. Colonel Rhio turned and saw the captain alongside him.

“Is it wise to continue along this road?” asked the captain. “We are just doing exactly what the Alceans think we will do, and it is many days yet before we reach Calusa. When we do arrive, we will not be of much help to General Salaman, if he still commands an army.”

“What are you saying?” scowled the colonel. “Our orders are to get to Calusa and help annihilate the rebels.”

“So we are to die for the Karaminians?” questioned the captain. “Besides, it is not rebels that we are fighting. It is Alcean Rangers. Either Despair is unaware of this, or they are deceiving General Nazzaro. Either way, we cannot achieve what our orders were meant to achieve. We should return to Waxhaw.”

“And admit failure?” balked the colonel. “I would become the laughingstock of the 31
^st
Corps.”