Chapter 43: THE FIRST BORDER DEFENSE

RAIGORO’S POV

The signal Raigoro had sent toward Blackharrow was already out of date.

The corrupted stoneback kept climbing the eastern slope.

Its twisted foreleg tore another foothold from the rock. Loose stone fell behind it, but the creature continued upward.

Captain Arven turned toward the nearest signalman.

"Eastern flank!"

Raigoro stopped him.

"Not yet."

Captain Arven looked toward the creature.

"If it reaches the shelf, it comes down behind Second Company."

"I see it."

The corrupted force below continued pressing the central route.

That was the problem.

If Raigoro committed his last infantry reserve toward the eastern slope and the center collapsed afterward, he would have opened the line himself.

"Archers," he ordered. "Eyes and joints."

The signal flag went up.

Arrow flights shifted toward the climbing creature.

Most struck blackened armor and broke.

Several found softer tissue near the foreleg.

The creature kept climbing.

Below, another wave of hounds hit the center.

The first infantry file gave ground.

A messenger reached Raigoro at a run.

"Second Company requests reserve support."

"Denied."

The man hesitated.

"Your Grace?"

"Tell them to hold until my signal."

The messenger ran.

Captain Arven looked toward the center.

"You think they can?"

"I need to know which break is real."

The answer came when the corrupted stoneback reached the upper shelf.

Men on the eastern flank turned to meet it.

The creature ignored them.

It crossed the shelf toward the rear of the central line.

Captain Arven saw it too.

"That is the center."

"Yes."

The climb had never been an attack on the eastern flank.

It was a route around the barriers.

Raigoro turned.

"Commit the reserve."

The horn sounded.

Blackharrow’s last uncommitted infantry company moved.

Half went toward the rear of the center.

Half moved toward the eastern shelf.

Raigoro looked toward the hidden ridge.

"Dragon Host."

Captain Arven followed his attention.

"All four?"

"All four. Keep the two visible pairs over the final line."

Signal cloth snapped above the command post.

Wings rose over the western rock line.

Four Dragon Host pairs came over the ridge low and fast.

The corrupted force reacted.

Carrion drakes climbed too late to escape the first strike.

One dragon hit the leading drake from above.

Another drove through the second formation.

Fire crossed the air.

A drake fell into the narrow ground below, scattering hounds and forcing a stoneback sideways into the rock.

The third and fourth Dragon Host pairs turned toward the giant creature.

It reached the rear infantry line before they did.

Its twisted foreleg came down.

The impact broke shields and threw men backward.

Captain Garran Dorr stepped into the opening with a spear line around him.

"Hold!"

The creature struck again.

The captain disappeared beneath the broken formation.

Raigoro saw blood.

He did not see the man rise.

The center moved backward.

This time, not by order.

"Third Company is folding!" Captain Arven shouted.

"I see it."

Raigoro rode down from the command rise.

Captain Arven followed.

By the time they reached the rear of the center, the breach had widened enough for corrupted hounds to reach the withdrawal lane.

One came beneath the shields toward a wounded soldier being dragged backward.

Raigoro drew his sword from the saddle.

The hound turned toward the horse at the movement. Raigoro pulled the animal sideways before the creature reached its leg and cut down across the hound’s neck as it passed.

It hit the ground still moving.

A second came through the broken line.

Raigoro drove his horse forward two strides, struck before the creature could turn toward the stretcher team, and kept moving.

There was no value in chasing individual hounds while the formation was collapsing around them.

"Close that lane!" he shouted.

Soldiers moved around him.

The reserve reached the center from behind.

Raigoro pointed toward the broken left section.

"Two files there."

The reserve commander looked toward the larger opening on the right.

"That gap is wider."

"The right is still moving under officers. The left is not."

The man understood.

Two reserve files moved left.

The remaining troops formed behind the withdrawing center rather than forcing exhausted men to hold a position that had already failed.

A younger officer reached Raigoro.

"Captain Dorr is down."

"Alive?"

"Unknown."

"Then treat him as alive until a healer says otherwise."

The officer went back.

Above them, Meris came over the eastern shelf.

Captain Veyr leaned low as the gray dragon struck the giant stoneback across the shoulder.

The creature staggered.

Meris climbed.

A second Dragon Host dragon attacked from the opposite side.

Blackened armor cracked.

The creature swung its twisted foreleg upward.

Meris turned.

Too late.

Bone struck the lower riding harness.

Veyr was thrown sideways.

One safety line caught.

His body slammed against Meris’s flank.

Someone shouted his name.

Meris climbed on instinct, carrying him away from the creature.

Raigoro did not watch her long enough to see whether Veyr moved.

The center was still failing.

The corrupted force had crowded deeper into the narrow approach.

Creatures at the rear continued pressing forward because the front had nowhere else to go.

The eastern gully remained closed.

The western shelf was occupied by Blackharrow’s dragons.

The trap still existed.

The center simply had to survive long enough for Raigoro to use what remained of it.

"Give another thirty paces."

Captain Arven looked at him.

"That puts us near the final barriers."

"Yes."

"If those break, the ward station is open."

"Yes."

Captain Arven looked toward the packed corrupted line.

"They think the center is breaking."

"It nearly is."

The withdrawal horn sounded.

The men moved under pressure.

Some stumbled.

Officers dragged sections back into alignment.

Archers fired over the retreating infantry while the reserve built another line behind them.

The giant stoneback followed.

Good.

Raigoro wanted it away from the shelf.

A healer team reached Captain Dorr.

One of them raised an arm.

Alive.

Raigoro kept moving.

Meris appeared again overhead.

Captain Veyr was still secured to the saddle. One arm hung wrong.

Lieutenant Ricar Dain signaled from the air that Meris remained flight-capable.

Raigoro shook his head.

"Withdraw Veyr."

The signalman repeated the order.

Meris banked toward the medical rear.

Lieutenant Ricar Dain took tactical coordination of the remaining Dragon Host pairs while Captain Veyr was withdrawn.

Four strike pairs remained active, with two cover pairs still holding over the final line. Raigoro would have to finish the battle with that.

The corrupted force surged into the ground Blackharrow surrendered.

Raigoro reached the final prepared position and turned his horse.

The center had structure again.

The giant stoneback entered the narrowest ground.

Most of the corrupted force had followed it.

Raigoro looked toward the engineers beside the western barrier controls.

They were not where he had planned to use them.

The enemy had forced Blackharrow farther back than expected.

The enemy had broken the original trap, but the terrain still gave Raigoro something to use.

"Prepare the western route."

Senior Engineer Bastan Holt stared at him.

"We were leaving that open for pursuit."

"We are no longer pursuing."

The engineer looked toward the mass of creatures.

Then understood.

"You want it closed."

"Now."

Holt ran.

The first timber barrier dropped from the western shelf while Blackharrow was still fighting inside the narrow ground.

A stoneback struck it almost immediately.

The frame held.

The second barrier came down behind it.

Engineers braced both from the upper side with iron hooks and rock anchors.

"Eastern gully?" Raigoro called.

"Still closed!"

"Center?"

"Holding!"

Barely.

Raigoro rode behind the infantry.

"Archers forward."

The archers who had withdrawn during the collapse moved into the side lanes now protected by the closed routes.

Their first volley struck the packed creatures at close range.

The narrow ground no longer helped the corrupted force advance.

Now it prevented them from escaping the arrows.

Above, the four remaining strike pairs regrouped.

The two cover pairs stayed low over the final line.

Raigoro signaled.

"High pass."

The Dragon Host climbed.

The carrion drakes followed.

Exactly what he wanted.

The dragons continued upward until the drakes had separated themselves from the ground force.

Then the Host turned.

One dragon struck the leading drake from the side.

Another forced a second downward.

The remaining pairs stayed above the battlefield, waiting for openings rather than wasting height on bad attacks.

Below, the giant corrupted stoneback reached Blackharrow’s final barrier.

It struck.

Timber split.

The reserve infantry braced.

The creature hit again.

One beam failed.

"Spears through the opening!" Captain Arven shouted.

Men crowded toward it.

Raigoro saw the mistake.

"Back!"

The nearest officer turned.

"Give it room."

He hesitated.

Then obeyed.

Infantry stepped away from the broken section.

The giant stoneback forced its head through.

Then one shoulder.

The opening was too narrow for the rest of its body.

It tried to turn and found timber on one side and packed stone on the other.

"Now."

Spears struck from both sides.

The creature roared and drove its altered foreleg through another section of the barrier.

Men scattered before the bone struck the ground.

The movement exposed the softer tissue beneath its chest.

One of the waiting Dragon Host pairs dove.

Fire struck the opening.

Blackened hide split.

The stoneback reared, dragging one shoulder against the broken timber as it tried to pull itself free.

Raigoro was already off his horse.

A fallen infantry spear lay beside the barrier. He caught it below the head and moved into the space the creature’s foreleg had just cleared.

Captain Arven shouted something behind him.

Raigoro did not need to hear it.

The stoneback struck downward.

He moved aside before the twisted bone reached the ground, stepped inside the reach of the limb, and drove the spear into the wound the dragonfire had opened beneath the creature’s chest.

The first thrust did not stop it.

The shaft nearly tore out of his hands when the creature twisted.

Raigoro braced one foot against the broken timber, changed the angle, and drove the spear deeper.

Two infantrymen struck beside him.

The giant stoneback tried once more to wrench itself backward.

Its shoulder remained trapped.

Raigoro forced the spear upward until the resistance inside the wound gave way.

The creature shuddered.

Then its weight came down.

"Move!"

Raigoro released the spear and threw himself clear as the stoneback collapsed into the barrier.

Half the structure came down beneath it.

Soldiers dragged Raigoro away from the falling timber before the weight settled.

He regained his feet, found his sword still at his side, and looked toward the opening the creature had left.

"Close the gap beside it."

Soldiers dragged smaller timber frames toward the opening.

The dead stoneback became part of the barrier, giving Blackharrow room to recover while the fighting continued around it.

The corrupted front no longer had the weight forcing it forward.

Hounds began trying to break sideways.

The side routes were closed.

Stonebacks turned and found more creatures behind them.

The force that had nearly overwhelmed Blackharrow had become crowded inside terrain it could no longer use.

Raigoro raised his hand.

"Forward ten."

The infantry advanced ten paces, stopped long enough to restore shields and check the formation, then moved forward again.

The corrupted force resisted.

A stoneback broke through the left line.

Three soldiers died before it fell.

The line closed around them.

Raigoro did not ask for another advance until the formation had recovered.

Above them, the Dragon Host returned.

The immediate sky was clear of carrion drakes.

One pass struck the rear concentration.

Another hit the center.

Fire did not kill every corrupted creature.

Several stonebacks endured it.

The fire forced them to move.

There was nowhere useful left to go.

"Forward!"

The horn carried the order.

Blackharrow advanced.

The battle continued.

The advantage they had created still had to be fought through.

Soldiers rotated out when their arms failed.

Fresh archers replaced those whose quivers were empty.

Engineers repaired barriers while infantry fought beside them.

Healers moved behind the line and prevented wounded men from returning merely because the men claimed they were still useful.

Captain Arven lost his horse.

He continued on foot.

Captain Dorr remained alive when the healers carried him to the rear, though none would promise he would keep full use of the leg.

Captain Veyr had a dislocated shoulder and two broken ribs.

Meris had a damaged harness and no serious wound.

Raigoro received each report and kept moving.

The final organized group of hounds tried the eastern gully.

Engineers held the barrier.

Several creatures climbed over the dead.

Archers killed the first.

Infantry killed the rest.

Then the corrupted force changed.

Hounds began scattering in separate directions.

The surviving stonebacks attempted different routes.

Two turned on one another.

Raigoro watched through the field glass.

Whatever had kept multiple corrupted species moving toward one purpose had weakened or disappeared.

Captain Arven stood beside him, blood drying along one sleeve that was not his. "Pursue?"

"How far?"

"Outer ward."

"Scouts only."

"Infantry?"

"No."

Captain Arven nodded.

No argument.

Raigoro sent mounted scouts after the scattered creatures and kept the Dragon Host overhead for observation rather than slaughter.

By late afternoon, Blackharrow held the western approach.

The first ridge remained covered in corrupted bodies.

Most of the second position’s barriers had been destroyed.

The final line still stood.

The casualty clerk approached carrying the first complete count.

"Eleven dead confirmed."

Raigoro took the page.

"Wounded?"

"Thirty-four recorded. The forward tents are still checking transfers."

"Missing?"

"Two."

"Names."

The clerk gave them.

Raigoro read both.

"Do not classify either as dead until we find them."

"Yes, Your Grace."

An engineer approached carrying something wrapped in cloth.

"Found near the giant."

Raigoro opened it.

A broken iron point lay inside.

Black resin coated the base.

Captain Arven looked down. "Again."

"Yes."

Another soldier arrived with a length of chain recovered from a dead stoneback farther up the valley.

Old wounds circled the creature’s neck where something heavier had once rested.

Raigoro examined the metal.

The chain did not tell him who had brought the creatures here.

Neither did the resin.

Together, they told him something else.

At least some of the corrupted animals had been restrained and used.

Raigoro handed the chain back.

"Collect every foreign object found on the bodies. Record where each one came from. Keep the samples separate."

Arven looked across the battlefield.

"You think someone led them here."

"I think some of them were handled."

"And the way they moved?"

The first force had drawn Blackharrow’s attention.

The larger concentration had changed direction toward apparent weakness.

Species that normally competed had remained together until terrain and casualties broke their cohesion.

Raigoro looked toward Captain Arven.

"Write what happened."

Captain Arven waited.

"Do not write why until we know."

He nodded.

Blackharrow had won.

The victory had cost men, equipment, barriers, and a captain who might lose his leg.

It had also answered a question Raigoro had not wanted answered.

The Ashen threat was changing.

A field messenger rode up from the rear.

"Your Grace. Citadel courier."

Raigoro turned.

The man carried Blackharrow’s black-and-silver dispatch case.

"What happened?"

"Nothing urgent reported from the Citadel, Your Grace. Routine military relay."

Raigoro reached for the case.

Before his hand closed around it, something heavy pulled through the dragon bond.

Vharos.

Raigoro froze.

The old dragon had been weak enough that standing without help had become rare on his worst days.

Another strain came through the bond.

Muscle.

Pain.

Frustration.

Effort.

Vharos was trying to push himself upright.

Raigoro looked south toward Blackharrow.

The western approach was secure, but Vharos was trying to stand in Blackharrow.