Chapter 55 - War, huh.

Looking down from Glimpse’s perspective, at first glance this seemed like it would go very badly for us. My sixty chariots held the central position flanked by fifty lancers at either end of our double line. The mounted archers were formed into two groups on our flanks. All told I had just over five hundred men in my “army”.

We had taken position on a small hill devoid of trees opposite the main Koprigyn force that had set themselves up along a ridge five hundred metres away from us. They had a small forest to their backs, so probably trusted that our cavalry wouldn't be able to attack their rear. Roughly two thousand infantry formed the centre of their force, split into four groups of five hundred or so but warriors moved from one blob to another seemingly without a pattern. On each of their flanks two hundred riders waited for the order to charge. We were heavily outnumbered but I was confident things would work out to our advantage.

I sent a command to Glimpse and he circled down to fly over Mune on the right, emitting three short caws as he passed. I saw the archers tense and ready themselves but they didn’t move quite yet. Using a crow to issue orders on the battlefield was unwieldy at best but we’d worked out a series of coded bird cries.

Glimpse passed over the centre of our line and flew down to Kos emitting the same three short caws. Kos raised his bow over his head and waited until Mune’s troopers did the same, then they all thundered forward at once. The earth shook to the sound of the hooves smashing into the dirt as both of my flanking units charged. They moved at an easy canter, not pushing the horses at this point in the battle, and began to approach the enemy cavalry. A shower of regular arrows flew out at the Koprigyn but didn't do much damage.

The enemy took the attacks for a minute or so but they were ill-disciplined and soon enough a handful kicked their ponies forwards with javelins in their hands to try and retaliate. As soon as a few warriors moved the rest all lunged forward to join them. Mune and Kos did as we had planned and peeled away into a feigned retreat, showering arrows on their pursuers as they fled before them.

“Give them a minute to pull the cavalry out of position,” I said to Trikilo who was in the chariot next to me. He grunted and fingered his bow. Pairs of steel tipped spears were mounted to either side of the drivers of all our vehicles, pointing at the sky and glinting in the early morning sun. I’d ordered strips of red cloth tied to the ones on my chariot that fluttered in the wind.

Waiting for the enemy riders to be pulled out of position seemed to last forever but soon enough my cavalry had them far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to intercede in what was about to happen. I nodded to Trikilo who flashed his teeth at me in something that certainly wasn’t a smile.

“Aresk! Witness the might of our warriors! This battle is dedicated to you!” I screamed at the Great Blue sky above me. A brief wash of the war gods aura spread over us, and my warriors whooped and cheered.

“Advance!” Trikilo called out. His voice was long and deep, washing over our position like a wave. The chariots moved into a slow walk and started to descend our hill. The lancers formed wedges and carefully kept their distance from the slowly spinning blades that protruded from our wheels. As we began to move the Koprigyn infantry roared their defiance and charged down the slope towards the shallow valley where they would die.

Flashes of blue and orange started going off in my peripheral vision and I checked with Glimpse. Kos and Mune had started using the enchanted weapons a bit too soon but the enemy cavalry was going to collapse. Those that hadn’t already burned were turning away from my mounted archers and the rest of the battle.

As my archers wheeled around and charged to pursue the Koprigyn riders I focused on my immediate surroundings. Their infantry had reached the bottom of the hill and had spread out into a single line three or four warriors deep as they sprinted towards us. We were still a few hundred metres apart and I mentally reached out to the four iron rings on my right hand. Twenty bolts of white fire appeared above me and shot forwards to explode in the densest parts of the enemy line. I spent my mana to summon fifteen more and launched them into the places I’d neglected with the first barrage.

The chariots immediately charged. They had been expecting the barrage as the signal to get close to close quarters. Air whistled in my ears, competing with my heartbeat for the privilege of deafening me. We shot forwards, closing the distance quickly.

Next the fighters on the chariots opened up with javelins and arrows, focusing their fire on the remaining centre of the Koprigyn forces. The spheres of white hot destruction from my fire bolts swallowed swathes of the enemy, leaving nothing but ash. Then the blue and orange walls of fire from the enchanted projectiles erupted among the terrified survivors. The fire bursts were random and the lack of a common pattern seemed to terrify the ones still unburned as much as the actual attacks.

My lancers peeled away from the chariots and swept into the flanks of the infantry then pounded on into the distance after killing as they passed. They were going to secure the wagons and as much of the Koprigyn herd as we could catch.

I snatched up a spear from next to a madly cackling Kril who slewed our chariot sideways and cut us along the line of disrupted infantry. The whirling blades on our wheels buzzed and they tore through legs and torsos. He threw the occasional fireball into knots of warriors far enough away to escape the mechanical death of our vehicle.

He pulled us back to the left as I stabbed out with a spear into a warrior mad with battle lust and then we were through the ranks of the enemy and turning around for another run. I checked the crow’s eye view as Kril cut another line through the surviving enemy.

The fight had clearly gone out of them. Koprigyn survivors were fleeing as fast as they could except for the poor bastards who’d been surrounded or cut off.

Normalis Humano slain x1235

Twelve thousand three hundred and fifty five Souls gathered.

Well, damn. War, huh. What is it good for? Shitloads of Souls! My greed was rubbing its hands together while my conscience tried to raise a complaint. The memory of those kids with their left legs stripped of flesh settled my ethical concerns and my code quietly retreated into the background of my mind.

“Enough Kril! They’re done! Let them run!” I yelled into my mad mentor's ear.

“Like fuck! Chase them all down! Kill every last one of them!” he screamed as he spun the chariot onto a course to take the legs off a handful of routed warriors.

I clung on as he drove our ponies into a lather murdering fleeing men. The concept of surrender or letting a beaten enemy flee was not something my savage people understood. I stopped fighting except to block the occasional attack aimed at Kril from a panicked Kopregyn.

We hadn’t had it all our own way. The mounted archers were unscathed as far as I could tell but we’d lost three chariots and a dozen of the lancers as they slammed into the unbroken flanks of the enemy infantry. Most of the lancers were alive but they’d lost their ponies and had been forced to fight on foot until the rout began properly.

“What happens now?” I called to Kril who stopped giggling and shot me a look that suggested I was dropped on my head repeatedly as a child.

“Now we claim their animals and women. The tribe is broken. A lot will run and die on the steppe. Some of them will reach other tribes and beg to be taken in with varying results. No one likes the Kopregyn,” he snickered.

“Take me home, Kril. There’s no point in us chasing them down.”

“How many?”

“What?” I asked distractedly.

“How many bloody Souls?” he demanded.

“Twelve thousand plus bloody Souls. Enough to make it so ten men in each squadron can imbue weapons and a bit left over for the rest of us to share,” I muttered but I was considering just spending them all on myself. I’d be an absolute powerhouse If I poured them all into levelling and boosting my magic.

“I’ll take a few hundred off you!” Kril called as he wheeled us about and began trotting back to where we started the battle. Kos, Mune and Trikilo were already waiting for us when we got there.

“We shouldn’t have done this well!” called Trikilo as we arrived. I jumped down and he rushed over to wrap me in an extremely unexpected bear hug.

“Thanks bloke but we still lost a few. It wasn’t all in our favour,” I muttered as I slapped him on the back to try and get him to let me go. He pulled back and grinned at me.

“We killed four times our total number and lost only a handful! This is a heroic victory Mond! Kril, you’d better have been paying attention so you can tell the story when we get home!” Trikilo called as Kril jumped down from the chariot. The horses were lathered and sweating, stomping their feet with nervous excitement.

“I was keeping my eyes open,” he lied. I caught his eye and he winked shamelessly at me.

“I’ve split my troops to hunt down the remaining riders,” said Mune as Kos nodded in agreement. “They’ll be gone for a few days.”

“You mean they've broken up into little packets of troops without orders. In future they’ll need to chase for a few hours, staying together, and then come straight back. I’ll add it into the training regime. We can’t allow ourselves to disperse because our warriors want to chase glory,” I muttered unhappily. It should be fine this time, there weren’t any other large forces nearby, but if this was a skirmish against the outriders of a greater power it would be dangerous for the warriors to take off after prizes.

“Jandak has the wagons. The women have mostly fled but there are a few hundred prisoners. What the hell do we do with them?” I asked.

“Slaves,” said Kos. “They can work the mines.”

“That’s dangerous work. It would be kinder to just kill them,” I answered. “Isn’t there something gentler for them to do?”

“You’re a good king, Mond, but you’re soft in the head. Two winters of slavery then they’re free to leave or marry into the tribe. They’re Koprigyn women, I think they’ll be happy that our men don’t fuck goats when their backs are turned!” laughed Mune.

“I’m heading back to town. Send out riders to pull back our more enthusiastic warriors. I’ll be able to share some Souls with the tribe. If Mortimer has hundreds of trinket wielding wizards in addition to his soulbound servants we need to find a way to counter him.”

“Urkash is a problem for the summer!” snapped Kril. “You need to focus on winter and spring! The Hellath festival is your best chance to gather more tribes to your cause.”

“Urkash is the threat we need to plan for. He’ll have tens of thousands of soldiers backed with trinkets and soulbound.”

“Shit-sitters all of them! Even without magic or the new weapons any of us is worth three of them!” barked Kos excitedly.

“Trikilo, what do you think of the new tactics and weapons?” I asked. The old warrior’s opinion would carry a lot of weight with the patriarchs and the rest of my fighters.

“They’re… something I wish we’d known about before. We’d have ruled the steppes. As it is currently... no tribe can stand against us. We will rule the plains…” his voice faded away as the realisation sunk in.

“We will. But the other tribes aren’t our enemies. We need their numbers. After this-” I waved at the burned and blasted landscape strewn with bodies behind me, “-the tribes will know we’re serious. If they ride against us we’ll put them down but it’s better if they join us. We need an alliance. I'm afraid I don’t know how you arrange that kind of thing,” I grumbled.

“Give it a few weeks then send emissaries to the nearest camps. The Koprigyn women and surviving warriors will have spread the song of our victory for us,” Kril chimed in. “Let them carry the word for us, then we send small groups of traders and talkers.”

“Diplomats. Do you have anyone trained in that kind of thing?” I wondered.

“Hah. Talking is easy!” laughed Mune but he stuttered to a stop as I looked at him.

“Not if we want the right things to be said. No headstrong arrogant warriors. We need people with a deft touch. Can women carry trade between the tribes?”

“You want to set Fayala’s friends on them? Just don’t send Haylin or Jandak might mutiny!” barked Kos. Trikilo cuffed him on the back of the head but Kos’ head didn’t move and the old leader shook out the pain in his hand from the impact.

“No. But Kayla and Habene carried a lot of sway among the Jagarnyn. Could it work?” I asked.

“No one would attack them but they might not listen either,” said Trikilo slowly.

“I assume you mean the men won’t listen. Do you think they’ll listen to their own wives though?” I smirked.

“Oh that’s nasty! It might just work,” said Kril with a chuckle. His evil cackling from earlier seemed to have worn him out and a mild chuckle was the best he could manage now. Glimpse landed on my shoulder and rubbed his head against my cheek. I knew what he was after and sent a mental confirmation. He flew off to look for eyeballs among the fallen.

“Send out riders to bring back our crazies. We might need to move some of the archers over to the lancers if they can’t learn some discipline. We’ll regroup at Mondit, share the loot and make plans for spring. And yes, Kril, I’ll share some of the Souls I’ve gathered today.” My mentor grinned, hopping up and down happily.