"Paul Thompson - [Elven Nations Trilogy 2] - The Kinslaye" - читать интересную книгу автора (Thompson Paul B)

central wingтАУa thousand heavy lancers and fifty thousand sturdy footmen with metal
armor, shields, and pikes. Sailors and woodsmen from Daltigoth and the south, mainly,
including ten thousand with crossbows.
"We shall drive directly toward Sithelbec, which we know is the heart of the elven
defenseтАУa place the elven general must defend. Our aim is to force the enemy into
combat before us, while the northern and southern wings complete the encirclement.
They will serve as the mobile hammers, gathering the enemy against the anvil of my own
solid force."
High General Barnett looked to one of his co-commanders. "General Xalthan
commands the southern wing."
Xalthan, a red-bearded warrior with bristling eyebrows and missing front teeth,
seemed to glower at the emperor with a savage aspect, but this was simply an effect of his
warlike appearance. His voice, as he spoke, was deferential. "I have three brigades of
heavy lancers, Excellency, and as many footmen as BarnettтАУarmored in leather, to move
more quickly."
Xalthan seemed to hesitate a moment, as if embarrassed, then he plunged boldly
ahead. "The gnomish artillery, I must admit, has not lived up to expectations. But their
engineers are busy even as we speak. I feel certain that the lava cannons will be activated
early in the campaign."
The emperor's eyes narrowed slightly at the news. No one saw the facial gesture
except for Xalthan, but the other two noticed that veteran commander's ruddy complexion
grow visibly pale.
"And you, Giarna?" asked the emperor, turning to the third man. "How goes the
grandest campaign of the Boy General?"
Giarna, whose youthfulness was apparent in his smooth skin and soft, curling beard,
didn't react to his nickname. Instead, he stood easily, with a casualness that might have
been interpreted as insolence, except there was crisp respect reflected in his expression as
he pondered his answer. Even so, his eyes unsettled the watchers, even the emperor. They
were dark and full of a deep and abiding menace that made him seem older than his
years.
The other two generals scowled privately at the young man. After all, it was common
knowledge that Giarna's favored status with the emperor was due more to the Duchess
Suzine des QuivalinтАУniece of the emperor, and reputed mistress to the general
himselfтАУthan to any inherent military skill.
Still, Giarna's battle prowess, demonstrated against rebellious keeps across the
Vingaard Plains, was grudgingly admitted even by his critics. It was his mastery of strategy,
not his individual courage or his grasp of tactics, that had yet to be proven.
Under ordinary circumstances, General Giarna's army command skills would not
have been tested on the battlefield for some years yetтАУuntil he was older and more seasoned.
However, a recent rash of tragic accidentsтАУa panicked horse bucking, a jealous
husband returning home, and a misunderstood command to retreatтАУhad cost the lives of
the three generals who had stood in line for this post. Thus Giarna, youthful though he
was, had been given his opportunity.
Now he stood proudly before his emperor and replied.
"My force is the smallest, Excellency, but also the fastest. I have twenty thousand
ridersтАУhorse archers and lancersтАУand also ten thousand footmen each of sword and
longbowmen. It is my intention to march swiftly and come between the Wildrunners and
their base in Sithelbec. Then I will wait for Kith-Kanan to come to me, and I will shred
his army with my arrows and my horsemen."
Giarna made his report coolly, without so much as a nod to his peers, as if the other