The Nether Taglian Territories: Leaves of
Misfortune
Runmust and Iqbal
rode northward slowly, at a pace their whole band found comfortable.
Life would not be too hard until the Captain caught up. She would
be put out because the rangers did not meet her as soon as
possible. She would get over it.
The prisoners were given no opportunity to enjoy life, but they
were not tormented directly. The Singhs would not have allowed that
even had they known that Sleepy would not mind.
There was no formal arrangement between the Singhs and the dark
spirits out of Hsien but Unknown Shadows paced them always.
Communications remained crude. Runmust generally just got a really
bad feeling when it was time to watch out. The problem was his. A
religious failing. He was allowed no congress with demons. His
innate human knack for rationalization had not yet exonerated the
Unknown Shadows from being spawn of darkness.
Runmust began to have one of those bad feelings. It grew worse
fast. Iqbal’s uneasiness said that he had been touched, too.
Even some of the soldiers were becoming troubled.
Quick hand gestures. The ranger team halted. Everyone
dismounted. Scouts crept forward while the men assigned the duty
for the day began moving the prisoners and horses into a gulch off
the road.
The warriors of Hsien could be remarkly quiet and patient.
Runmust admired their skill in using the available cover in
terrain, boasting only tangled, scrubby brush, rocks and lots of
gullys. He could not do what they did. Of course, he was twice the
size of the biggest and a decade older than the oldest.
Minh Bhu, one of the best, intercepted him in his slow advance,
after signing for absolute silence.
Minh brushed leaves aside and smoothed a patch of dirt. He used
a forefinger to sketch the ground ahead, indicating the approximate
positions of a well-chosen ambush site.
Runmust signaled a general withdrawal. He looked for crows or
other creatures traditionally associated with the enemy. He saw
nothing. “How could they know we were coming?” he asked
when he was far back enough to whisper. “How many of them are
there?”
Minh shrugged. “We’re not going to get a head count.
There are a lot more of them than there are of us. And as for how
did they know, from that hilltop you can see all the country we
crossed the last two days. They were probably just sent out to see
if this is the route north the Captain picks.” He pointed
back south. The dust and sparkle of the main force were
obvious.
“Why an ambush?”
“They can see there aren’t many of us. It would look
like a chance to take some prisoners.”
“Uhm.” Runmust scanned the slope. Could he turn the
tables on those people? He wished he had developed a more intimate
relationship with the Unknown Shadows. “Iqbal. Talk to
me.”
“We’re outnumbered, we should back away.
There’s no reason to get in a fight. Or even make contact.
We’ve got important prisoners to protect. So let’s stay
away and wait for the Captain.”
Iqbal was a married man. He did not favor major risks.
Even so, Iqbal was right. Withdrawal was the only course that
was not crazy. Runmust asked, “What would they do if we did
stroll into their trap?” He wished he could catch a couple of
them. A few questions answered would tell a lot about enemy plans
and what the other side thought was happening.
“They see Sleepy coming. They’ll pull out pretty
soon.”
“Why do I keep getting more and more nervous?”
Runmust knew the Unknown Shadows wanted him to know something and
he just was not hearing it.
In the hills ahead horses began screaming. Men cursed. Several
dozen arrows rose into the air, fell where the enemy evidently
thought the rangers were hidden. None of the arrows came close.
Muttering curses himself, Runmust waved his men back again. They
began slipping away. Wildly sped arrows fell all across the slope.
“Idiots,” Runmust muttered. “Recon by
fire.” The Protector’s soldiers would charge any
outcry. Or any other obvious reaction. They were an opportunity to
inflict disaster just waiting to happen.
A Taglian soldier sprang up not ten feet from Runmust, barking
in pain as he swatted his ass. Runmust froze, hoping the Taglian
was too preoccupied to notice him—though now he heard other
Taglians pushing through the dry brush and knew he could not sneak
off fast enough to get away untouched.
Iqbal carried a fireball launcher. He was supposed to use it as
an emergency signal, not as a weapon. It was believed to contain
just one charge. It was ancient. There was no guarantee it would
work at all.
Iqbal, unseen by the man who had now spied Runmust, rotated the
handgrip trigger on that piece of bamboo.
An intense yellow ball slammed right through the
Protector’s man and rattled around in the brush behind him.
In seconds a dozen fires were burning.
Runmust and Iqbal ran. No point doing anything else now.
They had almost reached the gully hiding the animals and
prisoners when a random arrow found the unprotected meat of
Runmust’s right thigh. Singh flung forward in an uncontrolled
dive. His beard protected his face as he ploughed through the brush
but he left large tufts behind. He squealed with the unexpected
pain.
Iqbal stopped to help.
“Get out of here!” Runmust growled. “You have
Suruvhija and the children.” Which moved Iqbal not at
all.
The Taglian troops blundered down the hillside, scattered, in no
order, without discipline or thought. Officers, sergeants and men,
they had no practical experience and very little training. They had
come out of the Nijha fortress because Soulcatcher had told them
they might achieve a startling triumph. But once the situation on
the ground deviated from their expectations they were lost.
Stumbling, dragging the leg with the arrow still embedded,
Runmust clung to and leaned on Iqbal. Both men heard the exultant
Taglian soldiers plunging through the brush behind them, swiftly
bringing the inevitable.
The rangers were men chosen from those who had seen prior action
serving the warlords in Hsien and who both understood Company
doctrine and accepted it. They set an ambush of their own. The
Taglians came to it as though guided by maleficent demons.
The result was a bloodbath. It was a tactical triumph for the
Black Company. It was not unalloyed by bad news. In the end, in the
heat of the moment, the rangers did fail to acknowledge doctrine.
They did not fade away while the Taglians were confused and
panicky. They maintained contact in hopes of making sure Runmust
and Iqbal escaped.
The Singh brothers did survive. But when the light cavalry,
flung forward by Sleepy right after she recognized the fireball
signal, arrived they found most of the rangers wounded or dead
after having been overrun. The horsemen pursued the fleeing
Taglians. They cut down most of the enemy wounded and
stragglers.
Sadly, they failed to recapture the Daughter of Night.
A particularly bright Taglian officer had recognized what he had
stumbled across and got the girl moving to the rear immediately.
Her grub-colored skin had given her away.
When that day’s sun set it was a tossup which side would
consider the encounter the greater disaster. The Company had lost a
huge treasure and some of its most valuable men, at least for a
while. The Taglians had endured a huge massacre with only one
sullen, if exotically beautiful, pale, dirty young woman to show
for all the deaths.
The Nether Taglian Territories: Leaves of
Misfortune
Runmust and Iqbal
rode northward slowly, at a pace their whole band found comfortable.
Life would not be too hard until the Captain caught up. She would
be put out because the rangers did not meet her as soon as
possible. She would get over it.
The prisoners were given no opportunity to enjoy life, but they
were not tormented directly. The Singhs would not have allowed that
even had they known that Sleepy would not mind.
There was no formal arrangement between the Singhs and the dark
spirits out of Hsien but Unknown Shadows paced them always.
Communications remained crude. Runmust generally just got a really
bad feeling when it was time to watch out. The problem was his. A
religious failing. He was allowed no congress with demons. His
innate human knack for rationalization had not yet exonerated the
Unknown Shadows from being spawn of darkness.
Runmust began to have one of those bad feelings. It grew worse
fast. Iqbal’s uneasiness said that he had been touched, too.
Even some of the soldiers were becoming troubled.
Quick hand gestures. The ranger team halted. Everyone
dismounted. Scouts crept forward while the men assigned the duty
for the day began moving the prisoners and horses into a gulch off
the road.
The warriors of Hsien could be remarkly quiet and patient.
Runmust admired their skill in using the available cover in
terrain, boasting only tangled, scrubby brush, rocks and lots of
gullys. He could not do what they did. Of course, he was twice the
size of the biggest and a decade older than the oldest.
Minh Bhu, one of the best, intercepted him in his slow advance,
after signing for absolute silence.
Minh brushed leaves aside and smoothed a patch of dirt. He used
a forefinger to sketch the ground ahead, indicating the approximate
positions of a well-chosen ambush site.
Runmust signaled a general withdrawal. He looked for crows or
other creatures traditionally associated with the enemy. He saw
nothing. “How could they know we were coming?” he asked
when he was far back enough to whisper. “How many of them are
there?”
Minh shrugged. “We’re not going to get a head count.
There are a lot more of them than there are of us. And as for how
did they know, from that hilltop you can see all the country we
crossed the last two days. They were probably just sent out to see
if this is the route north the Captain picks.” He pointed
back south. The dust and sparkle of the main force were
obvious.
“Why an ambush?”
“They can see there aren’t many of us. It would look
like a chance to take some prisoners.”
“Uhm.” Runmust scanned the slope. Could he turn the
tables on those people? He wished he had developed a more intimate
relationship with the Unknown Shadows. “Iqbal. Talk to
me.”
“We’re outnumbered, we should back away.
There’s no reason to get in a fight. Or even make contact.
We’ve got important prisoners to protect. So let’s stay
away and wait for the Captain.”
Iqbal was a married man. He did not favor major risks.
Even so, Iqbal was right. Withdrawal was the only course that
was not crazy. Runmust asked, “What would they do if we did
stroll into their trap?” He wished he could catch a couple of
them. A few questions answered would tell a lot about enemy plans
and what the other side thought was happening.
“They see Sleepy coming. They’ll pull out pretty
soon.”
“Why do I keep getting more and more nervous?”
Runmust knew the Unknown Shadows wanted him to know something and
he just was not hearing it.
In the hills ahead horses began screaming. Men cursed. Several
dozen arrows rose into the air, fell where the enemy evidently
thought the rangers were hidden. None of the arrows came close.
Muttering curses himself, Runmust waved his men back again. They
began slipping away. Wildly sped arrows fell all across the slope.
“Idiots,” Runmust muttered. “Recon by
fire.” The Protector’s soldiers would charge any
outcry. Or any other obvious reaction. They were an opportunity to
inflict disaster just waiting to happen.
A Taglian soldier sprang up not ten feet from Runmust, barking
in pain as he swatted his ass. Runmust froze, hoping the Taglian
was too preoccupied to notice him—though now he heard other
Taglians pushing through the dry brush and knew he could not sneak
off fast enough to get away untouched.
Iqbal carried a fireball launcher. He was supposed to use it as
an emergency signal, not as a weapon. It was believed to contain
just one charge. It was ancient. There was no guarantee it would
work at all.
Iqbal, unseen by the man who had now spied Runmust, rotated the
handgrip trigger on that piece of bamboo.
An intense yellow ball slammed right through the
Protector’s man and rattled around in the brush behind him.
In seconds a dozen fires were burning.
Runmust and Iqbal ran. No point doing anything else now.
They had almost reached the gully hiding the animals and
prisoners when a random arrow found the unprotected meat of
Runmust’s right thigh. Singh flung forward in an uncontrolled
dive. His beard protected his face as he ploughed through the brush
but he left large tufts behind. He squealed with the unexpected
pain.
Iqbal stopped to help.
“Get out of here!” Runmust growled. “You have
Suruvhija and the children.” Which moved Iqbal not at
all.
The Taglian troops blundered down the hillside, scattered, in no
order, without discipline or thought. Officers, sergeants and men,
they had no practical experience and very little training. They had
come out of the Nijha fortress because Soulcatcher had told them
they might achieve a startling triumph. But once the situation on
the ground deviated from their expectations they were lost.
Stumbling, dragging the leg with the arrow still embedded,
Runmust clung to and leaned on Iqbal. Both men heard the exultant
Taglian soldiers plunging through the brush behind them, swiftly
bringing the inevitable.
The rangers were men chosen from those who had seen prior action
serving the warlords in Hsien and who both understood Company
doctrine and accepted it. They set an ambush of their own. The
Taglians came to it as though guided by maleficent demons.
The result was a bloodbath. It was a tactical triumph for the
Black Company. It was not unalloyed by bad news. In the end, in the
heat of the moment, the rangers did fail to acknowledge doctrine.
They did not fade away while the Taglians were confused and
panicky. They maintained contact in hopes of making sure Runmust
and Iqbal escaped.
The Singh brothers did survive. But when the light cavalry,
flung forward by Sleepy right after she recognized the fireball
signal, arrived they found most of the rangers wounded or dead
after having been overrun. The horsemen pursued the fleeing
Taglians. They cut down most of the enemy wounded and
stragglers.
Sadly, they failed to recapture the Daughter of Night.
A particularly bright Taglian officer had recognized what he had
stumbled across and got the girl moving to the rear immediately.
Her grub-colored skin had given her away.
When that day’s sun set it was a tossup which side would
consider the encounter the greater disaster. The Company had lost a
huge treasure and some of its most valuable men, at least for a
while. The Taglians had endured a huge massacre with only one
sullen, if exotically beautiful, pale, dirty young woman to show
for all the deaths.