As they passed the western border out of Castillon and into Gilhadest, Liran, and many of the others paused and turned for a moment to look back. Only an hour had passed on their slow march, but it seemed much longer. There were wagons and foot soldiers to wait for, and those on horseback found their patience tried by the waiting. Elena noticed a sadness had fallen on the Prince.
"You will miss Castillon, My Lord. I think she has you mightily in her grip."
"Joran will keep her well for me until I return. Still, it isn't often that I leave, and I always feel I've left my heart behind when I do."
Elena smiled. She liked that Liran was so attached to his land. She had never felt quite so strongly about Estallium as that. Dutiful, yes, but attached? Still it was good to be going back toward friends and family. There would be reunions soon, although there would be trouble accompanying them too.
Right away the land changed. The most obvious shift was the road which had gone from a path worn smooth with use to a proper thoroughfare. At first it was only a narrow dirt road, the kind Elena knew were smoothed flat by using a horse or ox drawn machine which lifted up the packed dirt with metal tines, then scraped away the risen patches with a sharp metal edge which left the road level. The tracings looked recent-- within the last month or so. Carts could easily manage here, but very soon, surprisingly for a place at the extreme reach of the Empire, it was fully paved with weather worn stone blocks.
It was one of the Empire's greatest achievements that there were excellent roads all throughout the realm. It allowed for ease of transport of goods from everywhere in the Empire to everywhere else.
The land also changed. Instead of the arid pine forests perched on cliffs overlooking the sea, the forests were of mixed trees whose leaves were yellowing with the change of seasons and beginning to fall. The cliffs were replaced by rolling hills.
Before long they passed a small settlement. The men here gave suspicious glances at them, and hustled their women and children into their homes, shuttering them in despite the early hour. It made Elena sad to think that they feared her army, for they were coming as allies, upon request of their Emperor, in their defence.
According to the last reports they had received, the two armies, the Emperor's loyal Legion, and Argentia's rebel Legion were close to engaging on the border between Argentia and Gildhadest, the two most eastern provinces that lay along the river across from Kalad. Which side of this border they were on was conjecture, but Elena believed they would have to march through most of Gildhadest before they might expect to join up with their allies or engage their enemy in any major way.
This meant that there was no reason to expect to come across soldiers of the enemy much before this, but as she had learned from her father long ago, one must always expect the unexpected on campaign, so Elena sent out scouts every hour to ride ahead. They were to go forward for two hours and then return. This way she had a running stream of information about what was happening on the route ahead of her army.
Up ahead of the column of riders and marching foot soldiers, the first of her scouts was returning. A woman, riding at a comfortable pace, so Elena felt she would not have anything untoward to report when they connected. Renata was the scout's name, and Elena remembered her story when the woman from Madrezza had come to sign up with the army.
"My great great grandmother was a scout for Lord Lorenzo during the war against Kalad," she had said when she came to the tavern where Elena had set up to meet with people from the town. "I want to help like she did--follow in her footsteps."
Elena had wrinkled her nose. In the port town, everywhere smelled like rotten fish.
Elena had asked if she had any skills for fighting.The woman was tall and look lean but strong, similar to Elena.
"I can use a bow well enough, like my fore mother, and a knife. I have no sword, but I'm willing to learn," she had said. "I had six brothers, so I'm used to a rough lot and can handle myself in a fight. They all saw to that," she added.
Elena could feel the woman's eagerness. Was it foolish to take on a slight young thing and throw her into hard combat? Elena sighed. She had picked men with similar failings willingly enough. She almost asked if the woman was married or had any children, but thought better of it. That was her own business. As long as she wanted to fight, Elena would not stop her from joining to defend her home.
A glint of light caught in the woman's tight curly hair and she noticed red highlights. She didn't look as much like the others. Castellonians were most often dark haired and tanned. There was something of the Empire in this woman, though.
"Do you have ancestors from the Empire?" Elena asked.
The woman smiled. "Why yes, I do. The great great grandmother I mentioned. Her mother was a trader's daughter who settled in Castillon back then."
Elena smiled back and offered the woman her hand. They shook. "Welcome to the new Castellonian Army, Renata."
Finally the scout approached, and Elena moved away from the column of riders so she could speak with her.
"Report Scout."
The woman managed a salute, despite her mare's antics in the presence of Elena's majestic stallion. Elena backed her horse away several steps to make some space. The stallion appeared uninterested in the mare and pawed the ground, nibbling on the tall grass growing on the road side.
"All is quiet along the road, Field Marshall."
Elena could see that there was something more, but the woman was reluctant to speak.
"Scout, what more do you wish to say? Something troubles you?"
Renata looked away for a moment, struggling with something in her mind.
"There's nothing to report, but... it felt wrong. I have no reason to believe there is anything out there up ahead, but when I reached the hills, each with a copse of trees on its top, I felt as if I was being watched."
Elena smiled. Sometimes a soldier's worth was not in the strength of their sword arm, but in their instincts. She'd felt that same feeling before. The eyes saw nothing, but the skin prickled and the hair stood on end screaming out that something is not as it should be.
"Thank you Scout. I will announce extra caution as we pass through those hills. We may be looking at some kind of ambush. If there were watchers, they were smart enough not to raise our suspicions by attacking you, or we would have avoided the area and missed them." Elena saluted the woman and gave her mount a nudge to catch up with the Prince and her other companions in the column.
Liran was looking back for her as she approached. Maranus wasn't far ahead of him. Maranus had suggested that he be near the front to reassure the residents. A Legionnaire in the presence of this army might suggest some legitimacy for being there, at least, enough to keep arrows from flying at the first sight of them.
"What has your scout found, Field Marshall?" Liran asked as Elena pulled back into the column beside him.
"Up ahead the land turns to small hills with clusters of trees on top of each mound. The scout feels there may be some danger hidden there, but she has no proof of it."
"If she didn't see anything, what are we worrying about?"
"I trust my scout, My Lord, her instincts are excellent. I will pass an alert through the line so that everyone pays attention. I doubt we can avoid an ambush if one is planned in that area, but we can be ready for it."
"I will watch for signs of movement. How do we let everyone know?"
In answer, Elena called over one of her camp aides, Carsini, a young Trillas from Fiastra.
"Ride down the line and make sure everyone is on guard for possible ambush. Say we've sighted some rebels in the hills just ahead."
"Aye, Field Marshall, will do!" The man was off before she could add anymore. She turned back to the Prince. "Now, we watch."
It was about an hour later that they first sighted the hills the scout had described. Small rounded hills with tiny patches of forest propped on top of them. The road made a detour around every hill, following a path through the valleys in between.
Elena turned to Liran, who was scanning the landscape. "I see why the scout sensed something. There are far too many places for enemies to hide."
"Indeed." Liran continued to scan about.
Elena shivered, remembering old tales told in the dark by the campfire; the kind that gave one chills and made them think of ghosts.
"I once heard that there were tunnels burrowed into these hills where wild men lived, hidden from the citizens of the Empire, in filthy caves in the dark."
Liran kept his eyes peeled on the vista.
"No, I think that these caves hold regular men. Look." He pointed to a fold in the hill where a shadow of a large rock hid a crack in the hillside.
As Elena squinted, she could just make out a wooden door with a metal handle. She turned to Liran as her mouth opened, but no words came out. The Prince smiled and shrugged.
"I have especially good vision."
Elena shook her head in admiration. The man had far too many talents. She waved to one of her captains to join them, and the man, from Ergin's village, trotted over to her.
"Captain, the Prince has spotted a door in the side of that hill, and we think there may enemies behind it. Take your unit and check it out. Use caution."
The man saluted and headed back in the column to get his crew together. Elena watched a few minutes later they left the column behind as they rode toward the hill. She stepped out of the line and held her position as she continued to watch the unit as the approached their goal.
Now the unit was shrinking in size as the distance between them widened. Elena reached back into one of her saddle bags to find the spyglass she kept there. She pulled the instrument out to its full size and looked through the polished glass on the end. The group came into focus just as they reached their destination. She watched as their captain ordered the door opened. It was obviously stiff, for it took several people a few minutes to gain access. The larger part of the unit went inside. For a while, nothing happened.
Maranus cleared his throat. He had been silent for much of the ride.
"Have they found anything yet?"
Elena shook her head.
"They've found the door and gone inside. So far nothing yet." He squinted to see farther but she doubted he could. She handed him the glass. "Here."
A frisson crawled up her spine for no apparent reason. She scanned the hilltops in around the area where the doorway was. She still saw nothing. The sun had begun to hide behind the hills, creating deeper shadows, making more deep dark places which implied sinister things might be waiting anywhere within them. The imagination could get out of hand.
"I don't like this. Something's wrong."
She frowned as she took back the spyglass. Another quick look in the glass confirmed that the unit was still inside the cave in the hill. She shook her head. Maranus waited for her to speak.
She kicked her mount into a full gallop to catch up with Liran. Maranus followed suit. They glided into place at the head of the column just as an arrow shot across her path. In the moment it took to register it, she looked up to see a rain of arrows falling after it from high above. Definitely long bows, from somewhere off to their left.
There was no time to shout out a warning. Elena thought of a shield, and without composing her mind in any way, one simply appeared above her as she raised her arm. But it wasn't big enough. She spread it out until it stretched out nearly twenty horse lengths in either direction, a rectangle of shimmering energy that sounded like a drum beat every time an arrow hit it. The sound pounded down, over and over as volley after volley was sent hurling in at them.
Maranus stared at Elena, uncomprehending of what she had done. She couldn't explain, having to concentrate to keep the shield together and in place. He shouted out a warning, which went down the line like lightening, and shields went up everywhere, though none were even a quarter as large the one she had made.
Eventually their enemy would run out of arrows, but what then? Elena unstrapped her own long bow, knocked an arrow and raised it up high. If only she could get the shield to let her arrow out while keeping the enemy's arrows from coming in. She released the arrow and tried to imagine it getting through. She waited and watched. The arrow sailed up and up, then traced an arc out toward the hill where the enemy lay in hiding.
"Your arrow got through your shield?" Liran stared, wide-eyed. Elena was relieved to see that he was untouched thus far.
"Yes, but I need more archers to do the same, or we'll be waiting until the enemy runs out of arrows, however long that might be." She knocked another arrow and let it loose.
Liran looked around for more archers. Maranus apparently thought to do the same, and had a small group of them gathered around Elena. The thunder of raining arrows continued to pound out a beat on her shield.
"Archers, ready...aim...release!" she shouted above the din. A volley of their own flew out. She called again. More arrows followed suit. After six times, she noticed the pounding lessen until only a last few arrows made their feeble attempts, only to be repelled on Elena's immense shield.
As the arrows ceased, Elena released her shield. She pulled out of the column to assess the situation further. Carsini rode up, unscathed but for an arrow flapping from the hem of his coat.
"I just got back from distributing your warning, Field Marshall, just in time too."
"Can you tell me what the damage is?" she asked.
Carsini wiped his damp forehead.
"I didn't see anyone hurt, just a few horses were hit, and none too seriously. They are being tended to." He looked down the column and pointed. "The arrows didn't go beyond that point, so the soldiers further down were unaffected. I think we had the Guardians on our side this day."
Elena smiled a little to herself.
"I think perhaps you are right."
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I hope you enjoyed this instalment of Unsheathed. If you did, please consider voting so that it has a chance to receive some more attention by rising up the ranks in the Fantasy category. I also enjoy comments, so please feel free to let me know what you thought.
Cheers!
Rebecca