Part 7 (1/2)
He walked over to her, moving with a brisk, determined step that belied the general air of peace resting on the camp.
Murdock noted that her hair was up once more, but it was softly styled, like the Dominionite women used to wear theirs before war had driven them from their homes. Doubtless, she had her net near to hand, ready to snap into place should danger threaten or a sudden order to ride be given.
All Sapphirehold's female warriors had adopted the finely woven metal mesh caps that were part of every woman fighter's gear to secure their hair lest it should loosen and serve some enemy as a handhold in battle.
She had changed from a linen to a wool s.h.i.+rt in deference to the autumn chill. The garment was an old one and pulled somewhat where it was fastened over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Its color was the green commonly used by the partisans because of its camouflage value.
Eveleen liked green anyway, he thought irrelevantly. She had been wearing very nearly this same shade when he had first seen her that day three years ago she had sat her future students on their rears on the pistol range.
He was close to her now, and his pace quickened. She seemed withdrawn and pensive beyond her usual wont, so much so that she did not become aware of his approach until he softly spoke her name.
Riordan looked up quickly, in surprise. She recovered herself as swiftly, and, smiling, motioned for him to join her.
He settled himself near her. ”You're gloomy this morning,” he observed.
She nodded. They had proven sensitive to one another's moods almost from the time they had begun the active phase of their mission, perhaps because they had to work so closely together, all the while preserving the secret of their origins. He had caught her properly, and it was rather too late to cover herself now. ”The Ton-heir fought off a wardwolf threatening the does the night before last.”
He looked at her in surprise. ”That's no mean feat for a boy barely nine years old.”
Her great eyes sought his. ”Ross, Conroc's a child, a child who's not permitted to be young. I don't mind so much for us or for most of our comrades, either, but I hate the thought of those babies having to become men and women before they ever have a chance to know what it's like to be children at all... I sound like a total idiot, I suppose?”
”No. I didn't have such a hot time as a kid myself and know...” Ross frowned and fell silent a moment before going on. ”They deserve a better break. At least, we can start hoping they might get it fairly soon.”
The man waited until his companion had finished eating before broaching the subject of their war in earnest. When she set her plate down, however, he straightened in the manner she recognized to mean that he would speak to her as commander to his chief officer. ”Did you give any further thought last night to what we'd been discussing?”
”No,” she admitted contritely. ”A bed's like an opiate after several nights on the ground, and I jumped into mine almost immediately. I did mull it over a little this morning, though.”
”That's more than I can claim,” he confessed. ”With what result?”
”Nothing significant. There are no real problems that I can see, just the detail of scheduling. We might as well put it all to the others and let them help with that.”
He laughed softly. ”An excellent suggestion, Lieutenant. I've no great desire to take it entirely on myself, either.”
The council was quickly convened and included both the higher officers and their lesser aides, all those who commanded raids, even the smallest forays.
The latter people were most important now. It was their commander's intention to keep a number of teams within the lowlands at all times, small groups that would be able to conceal their presence even under greatly increased patrol activity and yet be large enough both to maintain contact with potential targets and to release couriers at regular intervals to keep their officers apprised of their position and other pertinent developments.
In order to meet the challenge of these reports, at least one of the five units into which the partisans had long been divided would have to be ready to ride at an instant's notice, and each of the others was to be prepared to move with little more warning, leaving a sufficient force behind to serve as a home guard and to form a large strike force with any of the others should a situation warrant ma.s.sed effort.
Many of those present groaned aloud when they heard those orders. The volume of work evolving on each of the Sapphireholders and particularly on these, their leaders, would be greatly increased even if there were little or no comparable growth in enemy activity in the lowlands. That was not likely. All of them shared Murdock's belief that Zanthor would have to act more aggressively if his hopes were to survive the coming winter by very many weeks.
Their hearts were light despite that and despite the additional danger they knew they would have to face. Ross had succeeded in communicating his certainty that victory in the foreseeable future was just about inevitable. Hope in the return to the long-neglected working of their domain fired their hearts like good wine. They were prepared to face whatever must be endured to secure that infinitely desired goal.
12.
THE WEEKS THAT followed proved even more demanding on the partisans than they had imagined when they had embarked on their commander's intensified campaign, but they were also many times more rewarding.
Murdock had not misread the course his enemy would take, had to take. The Ton of Condor Hall strove desperately to strengthen his hard-pressed army against the ever-more-virulent a.s.saults of the Confederates and against the steadily approaching winter. He used every tactic available to him. Large convoys; small, rapidly moving units; crus.h.i.+ngly heavy guards; independent, frequent patrols; decoys; and, above all, frequency of s.h.i.+pment-all played their part in his ma.s.sive effort.
Some, much, did get through. An astonis.h.i.+ng amount did not. The invaders a.s.suredly would not be weaponless before their foes or reduced to fighting as infantry, nor would they freeze or starve in the snows, but both men and springdeer should be well chilled and very lean by the time spring came to relieve them, enough so to reduce their energy and capacity for battle and to leave them with but scant love for the man who had hired their swords and had then failed to provide adequately for their needs.
So the Time Agent was thinking to his satisfaction when a courier tore into the camp.
He and his officers were beside her even before she slid from her steaming wardeer. ”What news?” he demanded.
”Columns, Captain, two of them. The first is a deer herd, maybe two hundred head, and is probably meant to draw us. It is moving carefully and swiftly but lowers its caution every now and then, as if it wants to be seen. Also, it is rather lightly guarded. There are no more than thirty riders with it in all, including the herdsmen.”
”The second?”
”A convoy. Twenty-five wagons. Two hundred guards plus drivers. This one travels very secretly indeed for all its size, and it is only by chance that we discovered it.” convoy. Twenty-five wagons. Two hundred guards plus drivers. This one travels very secretly indeed for all its size, and it is only by chance that we discovered it.”
”Their locations?”
The woman bent to study the map of Sapphirehold's lowlands which Ashe had brought out upon her arrival and which he now spread on the ground before them. ”In the same general quarter, but they are well apart.”
She pointed to an area of softly rolling hills, the gentlest part of the embattled domain and once Luroc's prize pasture land. ”The herd is coming through here. It is making very good time, and if we want to strike it, we shall have to do so quickly.”
”Naturally it is making good time,” Allran growled, a scowl marring his features. ”That was always perfect country for spring-deer.”
”A trap?” Murdock asked. ”You say they appear to be trying to lure us.”
”Away from the convoy, I believe. The terrain is too open for a second party to be riding secretly near enough to it to provide aid in the event of one of our sudden a.s.saults. We have scouted all the area around it and have found nothing.”
”They could be depending on speed to get them through should they escape trouble in their role as decoys,” Eveleen interjected. ”A herd like that, unenc.u.mbered by baggage or wagons, can move very rapidly.”
”That's probably precisely their intent and hope,” Murdock agreed.
He turned once more to the scout. ”The convoy?”
”Here.” She indicated a location within, as she had said, the same sector of the domain but which might have been on a different continent for all the similarity the two regions bore. The route it followed was through a broad range of heavily wooded hills so steeply pitched and rugged as to be almost miniature mountains.
Ross's brows came together. ”That's not easy ground for wagons to negotiate.”
”No, but neither would they logically be expected to attempt it, and the trees do help m.u.f.fle the sounds of their pa.s.sing. Then, too, their escort is a large one and appears to be giving a good part of its effort to aiding the train's progress.”
”Outriders?”
”We have not seen any, but I can give no a.s.surance that there are none. The countryside offers too good concealment, and I was sent to you very soon after our discovery of it. The others may have found something since my leaving them.”
The partisan commander studied the map intently for several minutes.
He raised his head. ”Eveleeni, Allran, summon your divisions. Gordon, order mine to saddle up. We ride in force.”
”After which one?” the Dominionite officer asked curiously.