Over the Dunes a Rider Comes Read online

  Diego did not even have to think before answering, "Just under seven."

  Taking another drink, Ashes turned back to Casper. "Where are your men now?"

  Casper drained his own mug and sat it on the table. "I did not trust Libbor; not to attack as we slept. I sent them ahead. They were about twenty miles north of here when I left them. Further away by now."

  Ashes asked, "It will take you, what? Ten days, to return to your lands?"

  Again, Casper nodded agreement. Ashes went on. "We will give you three supply wagons for your journey. Do you have men, here, to drive the wagons?"

  Diego answered the question for Casper, "There are six men with him. They are in the other room, waiting.”

  "Good...” Ashes started to say, before Casper interrupted him.

  "I did not come here to beg for favors Ashes, we do not need your charity! We will make the trip on our own!"

  "Don't prove yourself a bigger fool, than you already have, when you joined this war!" Ashes shot back, at the other man. "Pride means nothing to a dead man, you said you lost half your men in the fighting. You will lose the other half trying to get home without supplies. A starving man has little chance in the cold, a wounded and starving man has no chance! But Make no mistake about it Casper, we are giving you this for two reasons,"

  Ashes sat his mug down hard on the table and picked up the dagger he used to cut the meat and ran the tip across the table top "First, by your own admittance, many of your men are tired and wounded. Without supplies, they would very soon be weak from hunger. Hungry and weak men travel slowly, and I want you out of my lands as fast as possible; and second,” Ashes' voice softened, "If it helps your pride, think of this as an exchange of goods. I have never given any thought to your country as a trading-partner in the past. Perhaps, if I had we both would not be here today,” Ashes went on grudgingly, "when this is over that will change. We will consider this as being the beginning of an alliance if you are willing."

  Doubt showed in Casper's eyes, "I would like that very much Ashes but your people would have to travel through Libbor's lands to reach mine. I don't think he will allow that, after this."

  "We will deal with that, when we come to it," Ashes told him "and at any rate, I don't think that anyone will have to worry about Libbor when this was is over."

  Casper crossed the room and held out a hand to Ashes. "I will leave you to deal with Libbor. As I said, I am done with this war. By your leave, we will be going, you have my gratitude. Ashes, I wish you and your men luck."

  "Safe journey." Ashes answered as Casper turned to gather up his men. Ashes spoke again, "Be warned Casper, I do this for the reasons that I said and I will honor my promise to you but if this is a trick if you rejoin Libbor in this fight I will take it that you do not want this alliance. If that happens then you chose to be our enemy, and we will respond as such."

  When the sun rose, the next morning, the camp and the farmhouse were both empty. Ashes and his men were a distant line, in the hills, marching home to Zlarora.

  Chapter 9

  Seige

  Despite all that they had been through, spirits were high. Everyone knew that the war was far from over but the thought of seeing home and family once more made the war seem small by comparison. Ashes rode in the lead of the column with Fredrex, Diego and Notie who had rejoined them.

  It had snowed the night before, and, as the sun rose the glare on the new snow made it difficult to see very far. Scouts rode on all sides to keep watch.

  " At this pace If nothing slows us down we should be in Zlarora, before nightfall, ,” Notie told them.

  Ashes only half heard the young warrior. His mind was fixed on the events of the night before. At the start of the war, Libbor had just over twenty-two thousand men.

  Casper had said that at the beginning of the war that he had three thousand men and that he had suffered heavy losses. He had taken his remaining men; just over thirteen hundred and had left. The war had taken a heavy toll on Libbor's troops, as it was. How many men did Libbor have left?

  It was hard to get an accurate count. When some of the scouts had snuck into Libbor's camp, they had found that many of the tents in Libbor's camps were empty, with the bodies from the past battles propped up around the fires or tied to trees to make the camps look bigger than they were.

  Ashes did not envy the men whose job it was to put the bodies in place. Most of the men were superstitious about such things. Even with the cold preserving the bodies it was not a pleasant job; probably reserved for those who had stirred Libbor's ire.

  There had to be a reason for Libbor to go to such extremes. Ashes badly wished that he knew for sure what Libbor's losses were and if they attacked Libbor now in an all or nothing battle, could they end this war here and now, without endangering the city by leading an enemy army to its gates?

  Ashes let out a deep sigh. It was tempting, but without knowing for sure he would be putting -- not only the lives of his men and his own life at risk but he would be putting Zlaora -- and all of its people at risk as well. It was not worth the risk . whether for good, or for bad it seemed that the winner of this war would be decided at Zlaora's gates.

  As it was, Notie was only slightly wrong in his estimate of when they would reach the city. The sun had not yet set when they reached the flat plains with its well-traveled road to the city. even at this distance the city guards could be seen on the walls watching their approach.

  The city's walls were lined with guardsmen men that was to be expected with a war going on, but the trumpets sounding from the city, and the riders charging out the gates with Abby in the lead, racing toward them was not.

  "What in the hell are they doing?!" Diego asked, "Don't tell me that Abby can't remember what our banner looks like?!" A shout of alarm came from behind, before anyone could answer. Ashes turned in his saddle as one of the rear scouts raced up on a lathered horse steam blowing in the cold air from the horse's wide nostrils.

  "Sire the enemy is behind us. They surprised us about five miles back. I am the only one who got away. The rest are dead!"

  Ashes could see the line of men and horses, spread out, charging down the rise onto the plains.

  Ashes cursed softly, Libbor had lost half of his army either in battle or by Casper leaving, but they were still badly outnumbered. Even with Abby's and the city guard's help; with Libbor's men coming at a full charge the odds were too much against them. He hated the thought of running away but more was at stake than his pride. Libbor's army was close, The city was closer, and Libbor was closing the gap!

  Ashes turned China around, and raced back along the line of men and horses. "Get to the city! Move! We will finish this there! Go!!" China spun in place as horses charged past at a run toward the city gates throwing clumps of snow into the air. The enemy line was only a half mile away when the last of the supply wagons went by heading towards the city.

  Abby reined Brian in beside him worry and anger in her eyes. " Come on, move it! I have archers on the walls to cover us, but that won't do us any good here. We are too far out!" After a quick look, to make sure that there were no stragglers, Ashes and Abby raced for the city gates.

  Ashes did not need to look behind him to know how close Libbor's men were; the arrows striking into the ground around them and the growing thunder of charging horses hooves behind them told him that they had waited too long to make their run for the city they were quickly being overtaken.

  Ashes was just starting to think that they would have to turn and meet their attacker's charge when the first volley of arrows from the city went over their heads. A look over his shoulder showed him the chaos they were inflicting on the enemy.

  The arrows were taking their toll, and now riderless horses collided with each other trying to avoid the ones behind them.

  Ashes and Abby rode through the gates as a second volley of arrows followed the first. Then a third. He brought China to a sliding stop just inside the city gates, swinging out of the saddle be
fore his stallion had come to complete stop. As the gates closed behind him he could see their enemy retreating back out of arrow range.

  The ground was littered with the bodies of Libbor's men who led the charge. The walls of the courtyard echoed as the great doors slammed shut they could do nothing now but rest and wait.

  The courtyard was crowded with men, horses, and wagons; all trying to get out of each others' way Officers barked orders at men who handed the reins of their blowing horses to waiting young men not yet old enough to fight. then raced upstairs to help reinforce the men on the wall.

  Someone ran into Ashes as he was turning back around. Throwing their arms around his neck; even if blind, he would have known her touch.

  "Ashes! Husband!" Summer muttered happily into his ear. "I missed you sooo much!"

  Not caring who saw them or what anyone thought Ashes wrapped his arms around Summer breathing in the scent of her hair and feeling the warmth of her body. Pulling her toward him he gave her a gentle kiss.

  "Ahem! This is all very touching,” Abby put in, "but we are still under attack. You two might want to wait a bit, before you get too carried away." Reluctantly, the two separated.

  Ashes jerked a thumb in Abby's direction, ,” I thought that I told you in my message to get rid of her while I was gone."

  Taking Ashes' hand, Summer led the way back toward the castle. "I was going to, but then I thought that if we really want to drive Libbor and his men away we could just sneak her into their camp and have her sing for them."

  Crossing her arms, Abby glared at the two, "Do you really think that this is the time for this? The war! Remember?!"

  "Not an easy thing to forget Abby." Fredrex muttered, "but we broke the attack, we're safe inside the city walls for now. Let them have this."

  Ashes handed China's reins to Abby. "And here, seeing as how you are heading to the stables with Brian anyway, will you take care of China for me?"

  Still glaring, Abby snatched the reins out of Ashes' hands and she headed off in the direction of the stables with Brian and China in tow. China followed hesitantly. Abby tugged at the reins. "Come on stud. Don't worry. I am not mad at you. It is your rider that is going to be sorry."

  The meal sat heavily in Libbor's belly. Supplies were low and he had ordered that the food be rationed to one meal a day per man; himself included. That alone was enough to put him in a bad mood. On top of that, he had watched his troops retreat from the Zlaorans archers when they were so close to the gates the sight of which sent him into a rage which he had only recently gotten over. It was not supposed to be this way, he was supposed to be sitting in Zlaora's throne room with Ashes' head decorating the wall behind his throne. Glaring at his plate, he pondered the events of the last six weeks.

  Everything had gone as Libbor had planned; at least, at first. Casper, Garth, and Banner had agreed to join in the attack on zlaora. His main fear had been that Ashes would destroy the bridge before he could cross. That did not happen. Ashes had been a fool to let it remain. Whatever his reason. They had taken the first village easily and had made it many leagues into Ashes kingdom before Ashes had arrived with his armies. Ashes proved unpredictable attacking the very night that he had arrived.

  Even weary from travel, and being vastly outnumbered, his troops had nearly won the battle the first night. but again Ashes did the unexpected retreating, even when his forces were winning the battle. Since then, it had become even harder to predict what the fool would do.

  To make things worse that coward, Casper, had taken his own men and left. Casper had been the most reluctant to join in this war, but Libbor had thought that the promises of reward, in both land and in wealth, that Casper would receive, when Zlaora was defeated had won him over. It seemed that he was mistaken about Casper.

  Not that Libbor had any intent of keeping any of those promises to Casper, or to the others; his promises were a means to an end. No more! Once Ashes and Zlaora were out of the way he would deal with them but, for now he needed them -- as much as that thought disgusted him.

  To fuel his anger even more Casper had gone to Ashes to beg like a dog for safe passage home. Not only did Ashes grant it, he gave the coward the food and the supplies that he needed for him and his men to make the journey to their homeland.

  Libbor had considered sending some men to ambush Casper, and take the supplies for themselves but he could not afford to lose any more men especially with the outcome of such a battle being uncertain.

  Then, only two nights ago, he sent scouts to recon Ashes camp and the surrounding lands he had been sure that he could end this war with a surprise attack on Ashes camp. In one last battle. moving quickly at night. they planned to surround the camp before the enemy knew they were there trapping them. and attack from all sides -- at once but when he had gotten there with his army, they found an empty camp.

  Again, Ashes had done the unexpected and pulled back to Zlaora and the safety of its walls to add to Libbor's problems his allies were starting to doubt if this war was worth the price -- even if they did win. It turned his stomach to have to deal with such cowards. Libbor vowed that when this war was over that he would deal with them as well.

  Libbor had no intent of sharing the spoils of this war with anyone. A thin smile crossed his face. Once this war was over he would rid himself of the other kings. It was time that these lands were joined as one kingdom -- with one king, him!

  Libbor had planned each move carefully, making sure that in each battle his troops took the least losses. It had been hard to do without raising suspicion. Most of the men that he lost were those that he had forced into his service. He had managed to keep his better trained, more valuable, men away from the worst of the fighting.

  Libbor thoughts returned to his plans, "Once Zlaora fell, it would be their job to deal with what remained of his allies. but Casper's treachery and Ashes' unpredictability had put all of Libbor's plans in jeopardy.

  The sound of footsteps, on the snow outside of his tent brought Libbor out of his thoughts. A cold wind filled the tent as the flap was pulled aside and Banner followed Garth into the tent.

  "A messenger has just arrived." Garth told him, "The catapults are two days away. In this weather, it is the best they can do."

  Libbor gave the Odean king a quick nod of greeting. He was the oldest of the leaders in their alliance at least twenty years older than Libbor. Banner was as close a Libbor could tell, around his own age of thirty-four give or take a few years. Both men's armor was scratched and dented and both men carried the healing wounds of recent battles.

  "I am not sure what good the catapults are going to be,” Banner muttered, '"They are going to have to be within arrow-range, to even reach the city walls or its gate; Closer, if we mean to try reach the city. It is five hundred feet from the inner walls to the closest building, and even our strongest catapult under the best conditions cannot hurl a load that far."

  "I don't intend to try to hit the city or the walls with the catapults. That is not why I sent for them." Standing, Libbor walked past the two men as he talked. His companions followed him back outside the tent.

  Gesturing at the city, Libbor went on, "The walls are over ten feet thick. They are solid marble. We would never be able to breach the wall. We could try to loose some fireballs at the men on the walls and hope to kill a few but chances are small that it would be anything more than a distraction. We still might when we are ready to take the city but alone it wouldn't be enough. "For now, the target will be the gates. Them, we can hurt. They may be ironwood and they may be thick but they will burn if we hit them with enough burning oil, they will weaken."

  A gust of wind blew snow around the three men's feet. Garth pulled his cloak tighter around himself, "We all have visited the city at one time or another Libbor, and we all have seen those gates. They are fire-proof and even if the oil did get them burning they would just put the fires out. It would take months and a great deal of oil to do enough damage to weaken them ."


  Libbor turned a cold smile on the two men, "We have months, as many as needed. That fool Ashes has trapped himself and his people inside of the city with only one way out. There are sixteen wagons of oil on their way here now and more will follow. Months or years, it makes no difference, Zlaora will fall!"

  The next day brought colder winds with heavy clouds that left behind two feet of new snow on the ground, delaying the arrival of the catapults. In the city, the people rested and readied themselves for the siege to come.

  Ashes stood on the boardwalk of the east wall watching Libbor's camp. It had been over a week since they had fallen back to the city. In that time, besides the first failed attack when they got here there had been nothing more than a few arrows shot over the walls.

  Libbor was waiting for something. He had to know that there was no way that he could take the city with just the men he had. Or he would have attacked in force by now. It was doubtful that he had more reinforcements coming.

  Ashes stepped aside to let a line of men go past on their way to relieve the guards who were on duty. The man in the lead gave Ashes a quick salute as they went by. "Morning, sire. How is the queen, this morning?"

  "Still sleeping,” Ashes told him grinning, "She spent the best part of the night pointing out all of the bad habits that I had picked up while I was on the trail. it seems that tossing my torn trousers her way and asking her to mend them, was not a good idea."

  The guardsmens laugh echoed through the courtyard. "You are a braver man than I, sire. I would sooner charge our enemy's camp unarmed, and naked; than face the queen's anger in full armor and both my swords in hand.”

  "Then you are also a wiser man than my husband as well, good guardsmen. His intelligence. is sometimes like his manners; short-lived and quickly forgotten." Summers' sudden appearance surprised the guards, but Ashes had grown used to how silently the woman could move.