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Episode 7 of Sergeant Vardan and her patrol during the Pargunese invasion.
By dawn they had reached the fire’s track, now dusted white with snow over the ash and showing no sign of travelers. The snow-capped body of a dead horse, and other lumps that might be corpses lay here and there. But even as Vardan wondered how far ahead the Pargunese were, a ranger stood up from a tangle of half-burnt branches and roots.
“You’ve come back,” he said to Vardan. “We thought perhaps you’d gone straight to Chaya.”
“I didn’t know the way,” Vardan said.
“They’re moving slowly,” the ranger said, heading south along the fire track as if he knew they would follow. “We’re able to do that much, and we’ve killed a fair number, though we can’t stop them…I thought you had only three hands of troops.”
“Found more,” Vardan said. “So–we can catch them?”
“Oh, yes. And it’s safe to walk out here–smoother–until we’re closer to them. All we have to worry about is their horses, and that not much. How many bows have you?”
“Five hands of longbows,” Vardan said. “Trained to volley fire, battlefield style.” She looked aside at the forest walls. “Any chance they’ll set an ambush?”
“We keep them too busy,” the ranger said. He gestured to the mounds under the snow. “We haven’t counted, but they’re not as big as they were.”
“We took two tensquads, back there,” Vardan said. “Half pikes, half crossbows. We left the pikes at your camp, but you see that some of our troops have crossbows now.”
“Slow,” the ranger said. “But a good range, I’ll grant.”
To the side, in the woods, someone moved; Vardan caught the movement from the corner of her eye; the ranger stopped and lifted a hand.
“They’re not far ahead,” he said. “Will you join us on the flank or try to attack their rear? Half the horses are there.”
Vardan looked around. On the open track, horses could move faster on the ash and snow than her troops…and yet an unexpected volley… “Do they have a rear guard? Alert, I mean?”
“Yes, but they’re tired. And hungry, I think. We haven’t let them sleep easy.”
“Two days ago they returned volley for volley–do they still?”
“We don’t shoot by volley…we pick them off one at a time. But they seem to be conserving their bolts now.”
Vardan sent the wounded off to the woods, and directed the rest to advance in file up either side of the track. Ahead, the track lifted gently over a rise; the enemy, the ranger reported, was just the other side.
Comment by Caryn — December 31, 2011 @ 12:48 am
Go, Vardan!
Comment by Celina — December 31, 2011 @ 2:30 am
I agree with Caryn. Go Vardan! You can do it!
Comment by Iphinome — December 31, 2011 @ 4:11 am
Lady, off-topic but I have finished reading The Speed of Dark. It was… deserving of awards.
Comment by Alessio — December 31, 2011 @ 6:30 am
Vardan is really doing a great job, I hope she’ll be promoted by Aliam at the end 🙂
Comment by Iphinome — December 31, 2011 @ 7:18 am
@Alessio she’s already a sergeant, what else is there as far as promotions go?
Comment by Kerry aka Trouble — December 31, 2011 @ 7:22 am
Thank you again for these wonderful out-takes.
Wishing you and yours a safe and Happy New Year.
Comment by Alessio — December 31, 2011 @ 9:58 am
@Iphinome Captain, if I remmber well 🙂
Comment by Iphinome — December 31, 2011 @ 12:28 pm
@Alessio I doubt that she’s a knight. Where would she have picked up the extra skills that would qualify her for the job?
Comment by Daniel Glover — December 31, 2011 @ 1:27 pm
@Alessio & Iphinome
Remember she’s about to meet the king. I’m sure he’ll have something for her after he hears her story.
Comment by B. Ross Ashley — December 31, 2011 @ 3:11 pm
The Pargunese are about to have Vardan happen to them … yes.
Comment by elizabeth — December 31, 2011 @ 4:29 pm
I am SO biting my tongue. Incidentally, the snippeting will have to stop well before the point in Echoes where Vardan appears “in story”. There’s a big spoiler or two I won’t reveal.
Meanwhile…work continues. (And I must turn off Firebird Suite on the classical radio station. NOT good writing music for me.)
Comment by Jenn — December 31, 2011 @ 5:30 pm
Ooooh!
Don’t bite your tongue to hard. Tongue wounds are sooooo annoying. Of course I suffer more from foot in mouth.
Will you publish the spoiler excerpts after Feb? (HINT HINT)
Will we still get 12 days of snippets?
Also Happy New Year!!! May it be filled with many blessings!
Comment by John Hicks — December 31, 2011 @ 6:20 pm
I agree with Jenn – A Happy New Year with many Blessings and many Plot Bombs, Ms Moon. The snippets are great!
Comment by june Mattes — December 31, 2011 @ 10:34 pm
Oh my, I haven’t had this many presents since I was a kid. Thank you and have a Happy and productive New Year, June
Comment by RichardB — December 31, 2011 @ 11:02 pm
Thank you once again for these, and a Happy and Prosperous New Year to all!