Chapter 1.13

Ax

We came around the bend in the road to Assos to find a major battle playing out in front of us. An organized group of gigantes was attacking the defenders of the city. The city itself was surrounded by twenty feet of stone wall, crudely built out of large rocks. Standing outside the gates was a large group of soldiers in formation, shields locked and spears forward. The gigantes fought as individuals, charging the wall as a disorganized mob. The soldiers were well trained, which kept the battle evenly matched, despite the strength advantage each gigante had individually.

In front of us, a few hundred yards away, was a band of cynocephali who were busy firing arrows into the mix. They didn’t seem to care if they might hit one of their allies, just as long as they were hitting the human soldiers, also. This could turn the tide of the battle, because if the line grew too weak, the mob of gigantes would rip that militia apart.

I waved for Zahra and Antiope to come over to where Karson and I were standing. I had managed to arm our newest fighters, six men and four women, with spears. I didn’t have enough bronze or time to make shields for all of them, so they were little more than peasant conscripts right now.

“We need to break that attack,” I said. “If they win, they’ll turn their attention on us. They need to lose, and the survivors need to run.”

“I have a fear effect that can scare those archers,” said Karson. “But it would be better paired with a big blow so that they remember why they are running. I suspect that if they just get scared, they’ll come back once the spell wears off.”

“I can throw fireballs at them,” I said. “That’ll light many of them on fire. Will that do?”

“Yes,” said Karson. “But what about the main army?”

“We can attack them from the rear once the archers are out of the action,” said Antiope. “The bodyguard and I can ride as lancers, while Zahra can pick them off at will.”

“Won’t you be outnumbered?” I asked.

Antiope smirked. “You’ve never seen Skolotoi cavalry in action. The mercs aren’t too bad at mounted combat, either.”

Zahra sat on her horse with her eyes closed. She spoke without opening them. “I’ve marked the keystones. Take them out, and the arch will crumble.”

I looked out over the battlefield, surprised to see five gigantes with a faint red glow.

“Can they see that?”

“No,” she replied. “I included only our people in this Vision.”

“I’ll leave half the myrmidons here to guard the wagons, and the other half will attack any cynocephali that flee this way,” I said.

“We still haven’t agreed that we should call them that,” said Karson.

“We haven’t agreed that we shouldn’t,” I replied. “Can your spell reach them from here?”

“It will.”

“Good.”

I turned and ordered our myrmidons into position. Zahra and Antiope lined up with their bodyguards, ready for the signal. It was time for me to kick this off before the jackal-headed beasts noticed we were there.

I formed the biggest fireball I could, pouring mana into the spell as I launched it across the field. It struck center mass of the beasts, blasting through the line and lighting dozens of the cynos on fire. Immediately they turned, and those that weren’t burning started to aim their bows our way. A mere fraction of a second later, panicked expressions crossed their faces, and they scattered like roaches in the light.

As if that were a signal, Zahra and Antiope charged toward the main army with their bodyguards behind them, but I noticed one cyno standing still, yipping rhythmically and waving its arms.

“Crap! They have a mage!” I called to Karsos. But Karsos was way ahead of me. Behind the mage, shadows pooled, growing long chains that started to wrap around the mage’s flailing arms. It was a moment too late. A fireball came flying at us, much smaller than the one I’d cast, but no less deadly. I stepped forward with my shield into the spell’s path. I was immune to fire, after all.

The fireball hit my shield and exploded, blasting me off my feet and sending me rolling. I struck my head against the side of a wagon wheel, and my arm was hurting like crazy. The heat from the spell had bypassed my immunity, as my arm was singed red and blistering.

Latona ran to my side, a panicked look of distress on her face. “Ax! Are you okay?”

My head swam as I sat up. Already, the healing ring was taking the edge off the pain, repairing my damaged skin. I was loopy, probably with a concussion. Unfortunately, the health ring was indiscriminate in how it healed. It tried to repair all damage at the same time, regardless of severity. So the light burns on my arm were healing and preventing the full healing from fixing my head.

Latona crouched next to me, fretting with worry. “I’m fine, just got my bell rung.”

“You’re speaking your home tongue, Ax,” she said.

“Oh, sorry,” I said. My bell really was rung. “Blow to the head. It will heal soon enough. Help me up.”

Between the two of us, I got back to my feet. The rest of the troops were standing around, watching for any cynos trying to sneak around and get us from behind. Few had actually fled our direction, and those were already dead on the ground.

I turned to watch our cavalry fight. It was a beatiful, deadly art that they practiced. Zahra and Antiope looked as though they’d been born riding horses. They steered with their knees, darting in and out of combat too swiftly for a gigante to catch them. Zahra had a horn recurve bow, darting back and forth while firing arrows with incredible precision. Each of her shots struck a gigante in the head for an instant kill. Antiope stayed more with the bodyguards, racing back and forth at top speed and running down any gigante they could charge. I could see their game. For them to win, they couldn’t stop. In a toe-to-toe battle, they would lose swiftly. But by playing to their strengths of mobility and speed, they could swoop in and deal a few strikes before racing off once more.

Already I could see that only one ‘keystone’ remained. That one was near the front lines, leading his men against the wall of shields. But the militia were rallying. They’d seen the archers get destroyed, and the cavalry attack, small as it was, doing real damage to the enemy’s flanks. They fought with a renewed passion, for they had a new source of hope. We just needed to break that last gigante leader. Already, that leader had taken out three soldiers as we watched. The line replenished itself swiftly from the ranks behind the line, but there was only so long that they could keep doing that.

Karson had spotted the problem, also. He began casting a spell, and with the mage-sight ring I could see he was pulling huge amounts of mana from his reserves. Then the spell was cast, a wispy cloud of a thing that darted across the battlefield. It struck the gigante leader square in the back. The leader stumbled, and seemed to struggle to lift its weapon all of a sudden. An enterprising soldier spotted the lapse and stabbed forward with a spear. The leader tried to dodge, but its gear seemed too heavy. The spear glanced off his armor, grazing a shallow cut across the arm.

But now the soldier’s friends next to him spotted the sluggishness of the leader’s movements. Instead of dodging just one spear, now he was dodging three. It only took a few minutes after that before one of the spears struck home, striking the throat and dropping the gigante permanently. The remnants of the gigantes’ attack shattered at that moment. Aggression was replaced by panic, and they turned to run. But running foes made much easier targets. The militia eagerly cut them down from behind as they fled, and our cavalry was eager to help. The gigantes’ numbers fell radically as the militia charged after them.

Finally, the strategos in charge of the militia sounded a horn, and the pursuit ended. I ordered the myrmidons to go ahead and plunder the dead cynos near us for whatever loot they could find. Following Karson’s advice, I let them keep the loot. Of all the myrmidons, Latona was the only one who held back, staying with me as the last of the concussion healed. I had a slight ache in my head still, but I suspected only rest would solve that.

Down on the main battlefield, I saw Zahra astride her horse with bow in hand, while Antiope gleefully stabbed any surviving gigantes and looted bodies. Jin Song and Jin Hai looted alongside her, while Xia Fang stayed mounted next to Zahra. After some time, they returned to our caravan. Antiope was busy retelling her exploits in the battle to Zahra, who remained composed and regal. She seemed a bit stuck up to me, and her so-called visions made no sense at all to me. Karson didn’t seem bothered by it, but he was pretty unflappable like that.

I decided to move us towards the city, clearing the roads of bodies as we moved along. Zahra’s group rode on either flank, with our myrmidons in front. Karson and I walked behind the myrmidons but in front of the wagons.

A small group of men on horses was milling around near the walls, watching the militiamen loot bodies and throw them into piles for burning. Already, work groups from the city were heading off to a nearby patch of woods, presumably to gather wood for pyres. When our movement was spotted, a lone horseman broke away and headed our direction.

The man astride the horse was well dressed in a fine wool chiton under a polished bronze cuirass. His helmet was made of overlapping ivory and tied under his chin, and he held a spear awkwardly under one arm. Karson and I walked to stand in front of the myrmidon line. I was proud of the fact that they hadn’t moved aside for the rider.

“I am Lord Nyphron of Assos. Which of you was the magi who routed the cynocephali?” asked the man.

“We both are magi, and we both aided in that. I threw the fire, while Karsos here caused them to panic and flee.”

“Your aide was most appreciated. Strategos Dadaces requests you come speak with him. He directs his soldiers from the east side of the gate there,” said Nyphron.

A strategos was a military governor and general, so he commanded the town and the militia. Karson indicated that the best strategos were of military background, but politics always came into play. If he was nobly born, he may well have been given the title rather than having earned it. Peasants were rarely named as a general of anything, much less a town.

“We will be there soon,” I said. The nobleman nodded, and rode back to where the Strategos was. I could hear the man yelling across the distance, pointing and gesturing as he shouted.

“Remember, Lord Axerios, Assos is not the place for you. It is at best, a waypoint,” called Zahra from the left flank.

Karson nodded, and spoke to me in English. “She’s right you know, this place barely held off that attack. We need a bigger place to recruit from and build our strength. We stay here long enough to prepare. Also, don’t be humble. If we act noble, they’ll assume we’re noble. We don’t want to be considered peasants.”

“Okay, so we’re not staying long, and don’t act like a peasant. Got it.”

When our slow-moving caravan finally arrived near the walls, Karson and I walked over to the horsemen. Nyphron, the messenger, was to the right, while to the left was a grizzled warrior-type who held a spear confidently in his right hand. In the middle was the Strategos.

The Strategos was a short man with thinning hair. He was dressed in even finer clothes than Nyphron, with armor inlaid with silver, and a sword with a jewel in the pommel. He had a helmet under one arm, inlaid to match the breastplate, but carried no spear. He was engrossed in a conversation with the warrior as we approached.

“My Lord Strategos, the magi who aided us in combat have arrived,” said Nyphron.

Strategos Dadaces turned toward us and sneered his lip slightly, as if he could hardly stand the sight of us.

“Dirty Foreigners, the both of you. I can tell already you aren’t from Tekmon. You have women carrying weapons? That’s repulsive. Why are you here? No, let me guess. You and your refugees want to hide behind my walls.”

“Not at all,” I said. “We have done well enough defending ourselves. We have goods to sell, and are looking for a bit of land to rent.”

“But you don’t need to be behind the walls?” he asked shrewdly. I could see an evil glimmer in his eye.

“Not particularly. We are planning on moving on within a few weeks. We may even hire away some of those refugees, if you don’t mind.” Dadaces seemed to like that idea.

“Only refugees,” he said. “Don’t go tempting my people into leaving.”

“That is not a problem. So can Assos accommodate us, or should we be moving on?” I asked.

“Oh, we can assist. There is a three acre plot of land, atop a hill behind the city that I could let you stay on for, say, 1 minae?”

Erxandros’ lessons on currency came to mind. A minae was sixty silver drachmas, a theoretical construct as no one ever made a silver ingot that size. If you paid a minae, you had to shell out sixty silver drachmas. I heard a whoosh of intaken breath from the soldier.

“Perhaps that will do,” said Karson. “If we might examine the property first?”

“Fine. But that’s all I have to offer.”

Karson shrugged. We had the money. “We’ll take it then.”

“Excellent. I’ll have the surveyor show you to it. No more than five of your group in the city at a time, and no spears. I’ll not have you confused with my militia and causing trouble. And none of your armed women, either. I don’t want your foreign ideas spreading in my town.”

“Understood.”

The property was in a terrible condition. Situated atop a hill as promised, the terrain was rocky and had little vegetation. At the base of the hill, but within the bounds of the land, was a copse of trees that we would be allowed to clear. On top of the hill was a run down shack made of mud brick. There was no cover to speak of, and it was fairly distant from the city gates. We were surrounded by farm fields mixed with stands of trees, and could see small houses scattered among the fields. Against the walls was a tent-city of refugees, clustered around the distant gate and stretching down the wall in our direction.

On the plus side, there was a small, spring-fed pond at the top next to the shack. It was also close enough to the road for an easy exit when it was time to leave. We’d have to clear some stone away to make a smoother path, but we also weren’t immediately visible from the road, either. On the whole, we were in a decently out of the way place.

Karson and I walked the site, and I was itching to try some magic. I’d had an idea of making a power source for days now, and wanted to work on it. If it panned out, we’d have more than enough power to outfit ourselves properly. By the time the wagons made it up the hill, it was mid afternoon. We re-arranged the wagons once again, loading all of the trade goods onto one wagon, and the things we wished to keep on the other.

Latona came over to me after dinner, to sit and chat. This was several evenings in a row now, and was becoming something of a habit.

“Good evening, Ax,” she said with a half-smile, her head cocked coyly. I was convinced now that she was flirting with me.

“Hello, Latona. How are you doing?”

“Glad to be at a destination, finally. I’m really hoping we can get some soap. That stream running off the pond would be a great place to bathe and wash clothes. I must smell like fouled fruit at this point.”

“A bath sounds wonderful,” I groaned. I’d always been particular about showering daily, and now I was pushing two weeks with only a single bath. “I hate not being clean.”

She giggled. “I always had Xene bathe me every night, weather allowing.”

“Sounds pleasant.”

“Indeed it was. She is quite comforting, as you know.”

Was she saying what I thought she was? My mind turned to the thought of the two of them with limbs intertwined. I shook my head at the thought. Latona only sat there demurely.

“I spoke with Antiope and Xia Fang. They said that they’d be happy to take over training the myrmidons. I’m somewhat relieved, as I have little training myself.”

“That’s great news,” she replied. “I saw Fang and Antiope sparring with branches last night, and they are quite talented.”

“Unfortunately, I’ll be tied up with my magic for much of our stay here. I still hope to have some time for at least some sword training.”

“And for speaking with me in the evenings, I hope?” she asked with batted eyes.

“Can I admit something?” I said.

“Go ahead.”

“You confuse me,” I confessed.

“How so, Ax?”

“I’ve never been all that great at understanding women,” I said. “Especially beautiful women.”

“You think I’m beautiful?” she asked with a shy smile.

“Very much so. But we’re in the midst of all this madness, and--”

Latona leaned over and interrupted me with a kiss. The kiss turned deeper, before she broke it off. She sat back again, a smirk on her face at what was probably a very dopey expression on mine.

“What was that for?” I asked.

“I like you, Ax,” she said. “You’re a kind man, very strong and powerful. I have no one to help me find a husband now.”

“So you want me to help you find one?” I asked, now really confused.

“No.” She gave an exasperated sigh. “I want you to be that husband. Do you not find me attractive?”

“I do, very much so,” I said. “I’m sorry, you’ve thrown a lot at me all at once. I’ve never married before.”

“At your age? That surprises me,” she said.

“Why me?” I asked, ignoring the crack about my age. I was only twenty two, only a few years older than her. Age jokes didn’t bother me.

She looked troubled. “Marriages are alliances, my father always said. He would say that finding a good partner means both people bring something to the table to help the family, and that they be able to work well together. You are a kind man who can offer me security. I can bring a strong dowry. I am well educated, and will soon be well trained at war. My family has always had fertile women, and I am loyal.”

“You make this sound like a business arrangement,” I said weakly.

“Is it not?” she said, with her head cocked in confusion. “I like you quite a bit. I find your company quite engaging, and I see your eyes follow me through the day.”

“What about love?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you marry who you want to marry?”

“That’s what I’m trying to do!” she said with a huff. “Love comes later, when you’ve had time together. Family first, then love! You truly have never married before, that is plain.”

“Alright,” I said, getting my feet under me once again. “Let’s discuss this more tomorrow evening. I’d like some time to consider it.”

“Excellent,” she said. Apparently I’d finally said the right thing? She gave me another dazzling smile. “Until tomorrow.”

She rose to her feet gracefully, heading to the wagon to collect her traveling cloak. I stared after her in a daze. I knew for a fact that I’d handled that with the grace of a bull in a china shop. But she really was treating it as a negotiation. If a woman had proposed to me back home, and I’d asked for a night to think about it, there would have been anger, tears, and possibly even a relationship-ending fight. Then it clicked. Karson knew already. I was going to kill him.