Moonstone, Magic That Binds (Book 1) (22 page)

Gully just sat there panting like a friendly dog. “We could stop another of these cursed rebel domains.”

The Captain called for a map and the table soon cleared enough to confirm Lotto’s idea.

“How big is their army?”

“We saw them four days ago camped at Hedge’s Crossing. I’d say three, four thousand men,” Gully said.

Applewood stared at the map for a bit more. “They are four to our three and we’d have the surprise. What do you say, Mistad? They would Hannolo’s Gap, you say?”

Lotto nodded. “At the right time, sir.”

“Let’s do it. My orders do not include an invasion and our intent is not to annihilate the Prolans, but stop their ruler. If we can get them to surrender, then we can win without them hating us.”

“Amen. I know enough Prolans, sir. They are good men,” a lieutenant said.

~

Gully delegated his authority to Lotto as the rangers assigned to Applewood split up. Gully would work with another lieutenant and one thousand soldiers of the army to plug up Hannolo’s Gap.  Lotto kept his squad of six rangers fanned out ahead of the larger group that had been late getting organized for the battle at the rocky valley.

“The Prolans will kill us,” said the lieutenant that led a few hundred mounted men who had risen early enough to accompany Lotto’s rangers.

Lotto shook his head.  His plan wouldn’t work without most of the army at the saddle to fight the Prolans.  He might have to improvise something on his own once all of the meager Valetan forces had been placed.  At least they would slow up the Prolan advance.

They reached the little saddle in the ridge that the Prolan army would take to flank Applewood’s camp. He convinced the lieutenant to stay where they were, a ridge away from where the army would be coming, while Lotto took one man and went ahead.  He planned to use a bit of wizardry to stall the enemy.  The steep rocky valley that the Prolans would take between the first and second ridges had no exit to either side, leaving the only way out up the narrow defile that led up to the small saddle on the second ridge that the Valetans would defend.

Lotto lay on the ground just beneath the top of the first ridge looking down into the path he expected the Prolans to come. The tinkling of harnesses and hushed voices of tired men woke him up. How could he have fallen asleep? He blinked drowsiness from his eyes and wondered if his nap would cost them a battle. The Prolans were heading his way up through the saddle and both of them had fallen asleep.

“Get back to the lieutenant.  Tell him it’s time to get ready for an ambush in an hour or so,” Lotto said. “I’ll do a few things to stall them.”

He watched his ranger disappear from view and pulled out his handbook. He would need something more than what was offered in the little book. What if he combined a couple of spells? He’d never tried it before and had no idea how much it would drain his power, but the terrain at the bottom of the valley looked right for such a thing.  He looked down at the sandy bottom and crept up the ridge where he could see the path that was now lined with his fellow soldiers.

The red coats appeared again as the Prolan column marched towards the middle of the large sandy bottom of a dry pond at the bottom of the valley before heading up the defile. Lotto took a deep breath, as he did whenever he attempted magic, and chanted. One spell shook the ground while the other called up a swirl of winds. The ground-shaking spell required the repeating the words as long as he wished the effect to take place.

Lotto motioned with his arms as a wind began to swirl at the army’s feet. He uttered the incantation that caused the winds to pick up the now-loose sand and form a torrent of stinging sand that grew into cluster of whirlwinds, stopping the column. The army spilled down the trail and backed up.  Men milled around at the bottom until the army split into two pieces, one committed to the ridge and the smaller force went back towards the main road towards Gully. One thousand men to one thousand entrenched Valetans. The fight wouldn’t even be fair.

The winds continued and the Lotto could see the officers urge their men forward. Lotto hoped that sufficient time had been lost to allow Captain Applewood to arrive to reinforce his small ambush force.

The remnants of the Prolan column began to move again. Lotto laid back, exhausted, as he saw the end of the column move up.  He scrambled as soon as he regained some energy and scooted back over the ridge and through the little rocky valley. He stood up and took a long draught from his canteen and used his battle staff to get him through the rocks. By the time he reached the other side of the valley and found an adequate vantage point below where his fellow soldiers were, the Prolans were a hundred paces behind. Lotto grabbed the mushrooms he had put in the back of his pack the previous day and shoved them into his mouth. He’d need more food to generate enough energy to topple a few more trees.

Valetan soldiers began to move past him towards the Prolans.  Who had ordered an engagement?  Had the captain arrived? Lotto could hear the sounds of the battle beginning to filter through the trees. He stood up straight and toppled five trees from across the valley so that they laid right across the path that led back the way the Prolans had come.  With the Valetan forces on his side and trees blocking the way back, the enemy was effectively bottled up.  His fellow rangers brought out their bows and waited for the enemy to reach them.  He felled a few more trees to keep the Prolans from running up the hill as his rangers surrounded him.

“This was to be an ambush,” Lotto said.

“The lieutenant had other ideas and wanted to engage,” one of his men said.

Shouts were heard as men began to run down the hill towards Lotto. He stood in the middle of the path as a Prolan poked his head over the jumble of felled trees.

“Put down your weapons!” Lotto said. His efforts had just about drained him of power and could barely stand and used his staff as support, but the soldiers didn’t know how weak he was.

The Prolan leapt down and attacked him with his sword. Lotto lowered his staff, poker end first and let the man run right into the point. His opponent obviously couldn’t see the black staff in the dappled sunlight of the woods.

“Stop!” Lotto called again. This time two men ran for him as he could see more men milling behind the logs.

Two arrows flew from his rangers stopped the Prolan men in their tracks.

“Surrender!” Lotto walked up to the trees and climbed up on the logs. “We have no desire to kill you all. Lay down your weapons and we will stop.”

Lotto decided the men needed a little more motivation and he toppled one more tree. It fell as the soldiers scattered. The act made him even woozier.  He hung on to his staff with every bit of determination he could muster.

“Wizards!” The word scattered up the slope as the Prolans fought a retreating action.  Lotto heard shouting from Prolan officers to stop fighting.

One stepped up and presented Lotto with his sword. “I gladly offer you our surrender. I suppose your wizards created the sand storm that took most of the fight out of my men,” the officer said.  “Most of us are not in favor of this senseless war. My duty ended the minute we engaged with you Valetans.” The man seemed sincere and Lotto accepted the sword.   The officer turned away to instruct his men to remove their weapons.

“Lay down your weapons by the trees,” Lotto said. Soon the pile grew and Applewood’s lieutenant filed through the red-coated troops.

Lotto took the amazed lieutenant aside. “Why did you attack?”

The man looked abashed.  “Captain Applewood told us to engage with enemy at my discretion.”

Lotto shook his head.  “With all due respect, we lost some men because of your discretion, sir.  If I hadn’t softened them up some, they could have overrun us and headed right towards Captain Applewood.”

“I’m sorry.”

Why would a lieutenant tell Lotto that he was sorry?  It didn’t make any sense to him. Perhaps he didn’t really understand what the army was all about. He felt disappointed in the man, but he’d have to set that aside for now.

“I’ll send some rangers to tell Lieutenant Gully that the main force has surrendered.   You send your fastest man to hurry up Captain Applewood.  We need to notify the Prolan army leader that this lot surrendered.  Do you have any ideas how we can do that, sir?” 

Lotto’s request gave the lieutenant an excuse to go find a certain sergeant he knew.

Lotto ordered a few Valetan rangers to get his message to Gully.  They ran through the sitting array of Prolans and quickly disappeared over the fallen trees on the other side of the valley.

“Sir,” Lotto called the Prolan who surrendered to him. “Why did you surrender so easily? You mentioned a senseless war.”

“Indeed. King Willamo suddenly decided that we should invade Valetan.”  Lotto sensed that the man might be somewhat of a rake.  He had long curling golden hair and a wide mustache that decorated a rather handsome face. “He claimed he was in league with the petty kingdoms and dukedoms that ring Valetan. He has the support of Duke Histron of the Red Kingdom.

“He doesn’t know that we are no match for your troops, as you so ably demonstrated today.” The man looked a bit perplexed. “I don’t see any indication of rank. Are you not an officer? The lieutenant seemed to be following your orders.”

Lotto laughed. “No, I’m not an officer, but let’s say I’m a just a soldier of many talents, and you are?”

“Captain Lessa, at your service.”

He led the Prolan army! “I’m Sergeant Lotto Mistad.”

“Of Serytar? The Mistad name was once a noble one… Duke of Bomai, as I recall, before the Dakkoran emperor formally absorbed all of Serytar.  Heraldry and nobility is a passion of mine. We Prolans trade with Serytar, you know. A relation, perhaps? I can see you carry a fine Serytar sword. It has seen service.”

“My father’s. He was assassinated nearly twenty years ago.”

Lessa bowed his head and then raised it. “And your staff. A unusual weapon for a noble’s son.”

“I’m a ranger for the king of Valetan. Many of us carry iron shod staffs.”

Lessa squinted as he looked at it. “I recall reading about a weapon such as that. A general, a famous Valetan general, used it.”

“General Kirrello. This is the very staff.”

“You used it on one of my men.” Lessa looked at the bodies. “An unfortunate occurrence. All of my men’s lives are precious.”

“They came at me, Captain.”

“Indeed.”  Lessa turned and ordered a few of his men to lay out the bodies appropriately.  Lotto noted that the Valetans were doing the same.

The conversation became uncomfortable for Lotto. This Prolan captain seemed to know more about him that he did, from a military standpoint. Lotto had never experienced what a surrendered army did or how prisoners were supposed to be treated.  It added to his inadequate feeling.

Lotto couldn’t just stand and chat with Captain Lessa.  “If you don’t mind, I’ll be seeing to my men. I’m assuming you will keep your men from doing something inappropriate.”

Lessa bowed and then saluted. “On my honor. Will you allow me to send a message to the rest of my force? It will only reinforce the messages that you have already sent.  There is no need for further bloodshed.”

Did Prolan’s have honor? Lotto didn’t know. He would have to stay at his position, waiting however long it would take to get Captain Applewood to arrive. He nodded and then, as he walked among the sitting Prolans, he heard the mutterings spread about the staff and his bravery. He hadn’t been brave. He just wanted to protect the rest of the army.

Valetan soldiers saluted him as he walked past them and he stopped to chat to a few to make sure they kept their weapons up, doing so with a louder than normal voice so that, hopefully, the Prolans would understand what would happen if they stood up. He reached the top of the saddle and looked down at the wounded and the few dead littering the other side of the ridge. He noticed that the lieutenant had detached some men to see to the Valetan injured. Lotto walked down.

“Make sure you take care of the Prolan’s after you’ve seen to our men. This unit has surrendered and we should treat them properly.”

The soldiers stood as Lotto approached him. “Yes, sir.” They saluted, even the lieutenant. Lotto felt a bit awkward saluting back.  He felt uneasy about the entire engagement.  The strategy had been his, yet so much had gone wrong.  Lotto worried about the criticism he would receive when the lieutenant notified the captain of their discussion. He walked back up the ridge and stood at the top, looking down on both sides, expecting to be relieved of his command.

At long last, he saw Gully climbing over the fallen trees on the other side of the valley and went down to meet him as Gully walked through the surrendered Prolans, beating the Captain to the surrender site.

The lieutenant stopped Gully and they talked until Lotto arrived. “Don’t know how you did it, but you’re quite a hero. The lieutenant had nothing but good things to say. I hope the Captain knows what to do with all of these men.”

“What happened on the other side?”

“I daresay there are more dead on both sides, but once the Prolan’s received Captain Lessa’s message, all hostilities ended.”

Lotto hadn’t noticed Captain Applewood climbing over the fallen trees on the Valetan side of the valley.

“Mistad, you did this?”  The captain wheezed a bit as he talked and waved a weary arm at the fallen trees.

“I did, sir.” He saluted to the Captain.

Lessa whistled. “A magician as a complement to such bravery.”

Applewood raised his eyebrow.

“May I introduce Captain Lessa, the commander of these men?”

“You captured the army’s leader, Mistad? Captain Lessa,” Applewood bowed his head to his fellow commander. “I assume Mistad, here accepted your sword.”

“He did indeed. He is a humorous young man, masquerading as a regular soldier.”  Lessa grinned at Applewood.  Lotto felt the man definitely had a not-serious side.

“That’s exactly what he is.” Applewood looked sideways at Lotto. “Well, maybe not so regular. Let’s get his opinion on what to do. Mistad?”