Empire Rising (16 page)

Eskkar signaled a halt, and the Akkadian soldiers took their rest, glad to have reached the end of their journey. It had taken them five days to march here from Dilgarth, long days with hard traveling broken frequently by training and special drills. Those had puzzled the men, but Eskkar, ignoring their questions, pushed them ever harder. With a conflict almost certain, he wanted the iron discipline that had saved Akkad, and Eskkar demanded every order be instantly obeyed, without question or argument.

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The soldiers got no respite from the drills even after dark, their rest and dinner often interrupted by subcommanders barking out orders to prepare a line of battle or form up for an attack. At least once each night, the men found themselves jolted awake, their leaders shouting that the enemy was attacking, and bellowing at them to find their weapons and places.

By the middle of the second day, a shouted command would quickly transform them into a crude square, with the pack animals and supplies in the center, ringed by ready bowmen. Well drilled by now, they would not be surprised by any attacking force. Moreover, they had the soldier’s confidence in themselves and their comrades, knowing that every man knew his place and his duties.

Even the liverymen, scribes, and merchants received extra tasks, and these noncombatants drilled as rigorously as the soldiers, taking charge of the men’s baggage or making sure spare arrows and extra water stood ready. That night, a few of the men had grown weary enough to complain, but they did that only once. Hamati had knocked one down so hard that the man lay unconscious for almost an hour.

By the time they reached Bisitun, Eskkar’s men had achieved the mood he intended. Tired, near exhaustion, footsore—they’d transferred their anger to the men in Bisitun, the bandits who had wearied their legs and interrupted their sleep.

The Akkadians took in their surroundings with grim interest, knowing that, from today on, there would be no more drills. If the men felt worried about what would happen now that they’d reached Bisitun, they were too tired to show it. The scene before them seemed peaceful enough. The usual farms lay scattered across the landscape, crisscrossed by the ever-present irrigation canals, with the occasional brown mud houses. A single dirt pathway, well trodden, continued its way up to the village. Everything appeared peaceful, and it looked much the same as on Eskkar’s last visit here, nearly two years ago.

“Well, Captain,” Sisuthros said, as he rode up to the head of the column, where Eskkar and Grond had stopped their horses, “do we camp here or should we press on?”

“Let’s stay here for an hour, at least,” Eskkar answered. “We’re in no rush now.”

“They won’t come out to challenge us,” Grond said. “That would be too easy. Even bandits aren’t that stupid.”

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“No, I suppose not,” Eskkar said. “But the men need a rest anyway, and from now on, we have to convince Ninazu of our plan.”

Eskkar caught the glance that passed between Sisuthros and Grond, but neither man said anything. The time for arguing had passed, and the next few days would resolve everyone’s doubts.

So the men rested and stared at the village for over an hour before they resumed their march. They moved slowly, the soldiers walking close together, ringed at a good distance by the twenty mounted riders. During the last four days, Eskkar had drilled the men for an attack by a large, mounted band of riders. The soldiers had learned to form up rapidly, string their bows and prepare their weapons, and make ready for an attack from any or all sides.

Nevertheless the soldiers moved cautiously, every man alert, and it took another hour to reach their destination. Eskkar gave the order to halt fifty paces out of a long bowshot from the village’s palisade.

Eskkar nodded at Sisuthros. His subcommander turned and began shouting orders to the men. First they straddled the road that led to the village and dropped their packs and supplies. Unencumbered, they got right to work, though every man kept his weapons close by. While twenty men stood guard with strung bows, the rest began to dig a ditch across the road. They had plenty of shovels and digging tools, most of them acquired during the last four days as the horsemen checked every farm they passed for digging implements, paying copper coins to the farmers only too eager to sell them. The rest of the men used their hands, sticks, or whatever else they could obtain. Fortunately, the sandy soil made the work proceed quickly.

Eskkar rode off a little ways, Grond at his side, and studied the village before them. The Alur Meriki in their passing must have burned a good portion of the palisade, and Eskkar could see where it had been rebuilt.

No doubt the barbarians had knocked down plenty of houses during their looting, but mud bricks were easily replaced, and a peasant’s hut could be rebuilt with a few days’ labor. Bisitun probably hadn’t changed much in the last few years. Back then more than five hundred people lived here; now that number might even be higher, with all the nearby farmers driven from their land, crops and homes destroyed. Some might have left since the coming of Ninazu, but others would still come, looking for any communal place of safety, even a village ruled by bandits.

Fresh repairs to the main gate showed plainly; no doubt the Alur Empire Rising

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Meriki had broken up the previous one and used it for firewood. All the mud houses within bowshot of the palisade had been knocked down, and the rubble broken up and strewn about, to impede the progress of any attacker. The palisade stood higher than Eskkar remembered, and appeared to have been reinforced with extra logs or planks. The new gate looked sturdy as well, though nowhere near as massive as Akkad’s main entrance.

Eskkar could see the defenders standing behind the stockade, some still scurrying about, searching for their assigned positions. Most of them carried bows, with axes and swords no doubt close at hand. From the highest point of the palisade, just to the side of the gate, a small group of men stood apart and watched the soldiers from Akkad as they began to dig in.

“I’ll wager that one’s Ninazu,” Grond commented. “Looks a little like his brother, at any rate. The tall one with the silver armbands.”

Eskkar picked out the man, but his eye couldn’t see any resemblance at that distance, only the polished silver glinting in the sun. For a moment that irritated him. Ten seasons ago, it would have been his eyes that spotted such details. Not that he could complain; his luck had kept him alive.

Few fighting men made it to their thirtieth season, and Eskkar had survived more battles than he could remember. Still, he knew the trades of fighting and soldiering were best left to men just reaching their twentieth season.

“We’ll know soon enough if that’s him,” Eskkar grunted. “But keep an eye on that one. We’ll need to identify the leaders for later on.”

“Do you think they’ll come out to fight? They look ready enough.”

“No, not if their leader’s got any wits. Not yet, at any rate. This Ninazu probably expects an immediate attack on the village, if not today, then tomorrow. Let him watch our men dig in . . . give him plenty of time to wonder what we’re planning.”

“Should we ride around and take a look at the other sides?”

“When we’re dug in. There’ll be plenty of time tomorrow. Let’s try and get a count of how many fighters we’re facing.”

Eskkar stayed in the same position a long time, looking at the palisade, trying to put himself in the bandit leader’s place. The siege at Akkad had given him a wealth of experience in defending a village from attack.

Soldiers and villagers alike had spent almost five months preparing for the Akkad siege, learning and even inventing new defenses, then endured more than a month of hard fighting against the entire Alur Meriki clan.

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defeating them as much by denying them food as by resisting them on the battlements.

With that experience, Eskkar studied Bisitun and its wooden palisade.

This time
he
would be the attacker, the one outside the walls. Put yourself in your enemy’s mind, Trella would remind him. This Ninazu had the village and the stockade to protect him, and Ninazu had more men than his besiegers.

But just because a man carried a sword didn’t make him an experienced fighter. The men from Akkad had trained and practiced their skills for over five months. More important, many of them had faced battle-hardened, determined fi ghters and beat them. No scruffy band of brigands, held together only by their love of gold and fear of their leaders, would stand up to Eskkar’s men for more than a few moments in open combat. Ninazu must realize this. So there would be no sudden sortie from the village, to rush and overwhelm the attackers.

Ninazu would have other worries as well. Eskkar hadn’t really needed to talk to the local farmers to know how they had been treated. And while the reluctant inhabitants of Bisitun might stand on the wall and look determined, they weren’t going to fight to the death for Ninazu, a man who had taken freely their wives and daughters as well as their crops and valuables, and ruled only by force. No, Ninazu couldn’t trust his villagers for long.

And if the bandit ventured out and suffered a defeat, many of his men would start thinking about taking what they had gained and slipping across the river to safety. Ninazu needed a quick victory. If Eskkar attacked and was driven off, Ninazu’s position and strength would increase.

The longer the siege went on, the more confidence Ninazu’s men would have. But time, which seemed to be on Ninazu’s side, would soon be working in Eskkar’s favor.

“This Ninazu has plenty of men,” Eskkar said, “willing and unwilling.

I count at least ninety or a hundred fi ghting men that I can see. No doubt there are more waiting behind the palisade. More than enough to attack us here. But he’ll wait a few days, to see what we’re up to.”

“Then we’ll have to show him what we can do, Captain,” Grond answered. “He’s in for a surprise.”

“Just make sure we’re not the ones who are surprised.”

The rough ideas that Eskkar had first considered back in Dilgarth and reworked on the march north still had merit, and the terrain around the village seemed favorable. Now that he could study the village’s defenses, Empire Rising

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he needed to give more thought to some details, but he had his plan. Tonight and tomorrow would give him more information even as he set in motion the first part of his plan.

Though not by nature a patient man, Eskkar could afford to take his time. He wanted to capture the village without losing too many men. The soldiers he and Gatus had trained were far too valuable to throw away in a frontal assault, though he already felt sure he could force the palisade, using his archers to drive Ninazu’s men from the walls. But many would die, and Eskkar needed all the trained fi ghting men he had, not only here, but back in Akkad as well. No, he would stay with his original plan. His mind made up, Eskkar and Grond turned their horses around and headed back toward their new encampment.

By the time darkness fell, the camp’s basic defense was nearly completed. A shallow ditch surrounded the men on three sides, with only their rear exposed. By early tomorrow, that opening would be closed as well.

The earth from the ditch had been piled up on the inside of the camp to form an embankment, and men worked at packing it down even now. This dirt wall would stop an arrow as well as any wooden fence, while the ditch in front would hinder either men or horses, should the men inside Bisitun attempt to overrun the Akkadians.

The idea for a fortified camp such as this had come from Gatus. He and Eskkar had argued over many nights and much ale about its worth.

The old soldier had a special way with training the men, and seemed ob-sessed with the idea of fortifications. Until this moment, Eskkar had remained skeptical, but now, watching the earthworks go up, he realized that the old fighter was right.

Sisuthros posted the guards and made the rounds to make sure they stayed alert. But Eskkar would depend more on the three men who slipped out of the camp as soon as the last of the sun vanished from the sky. They would creep up as close to the palisade as possible to keep watch. If the defenders decided to sortie out, the three sentries would give warning.

Inside the camp Sisuthros kept all seventy Akkadians busy for another two hours, before they were allowed to turn in, though a third of the men would stay awake and alert throughout the night. The tired soldiers fell asleep in moments, snoring away in blissful repose, a sound loud enough to wake the demons or the dead. Only when everything seemed secure for the night did Grond, Hamati, and Sisuthros sit down with Eskkar around a small campfire to discuss their next steps.

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“From what we could see on the palisade,” Eskkar began, “it looks as though Ninazu has at least a hundred fighting men, probably thirty or forty more that he’s kept hidden. The rest are villagers and the local farmers, no doubt with swords at their backs as well as in their hands.”

“What if they try an attack tonight?” Hamati asked. He had charge of the first group of twenty-five men who would be awake and ready throughout the night.

“I don’t think they will,” Eskkar answered. “He knows he outnumbers us. Why should they give up their strong position to attack us in ours? No, he’ll wait, thinking we may attack tomorrow.”

“We could still try something at night ourselves,” Sisuthros suggested.

“We don’t have the men to waste. We’ll stay with the plan, for the next few days at least.” Eskkar stood. “Wake me when you change the guards, Hamati. I’ll want to talk to the men. Now, let’s get some rest.”

Eskkar arose before dawn broke. He’d slept well during the night, despite waking twice as the twenty-five defenders were replaced. Each time, he made the rounds with the new men, inspecting them, talking with them, and reminding them to keep alert.