Vaul pointed to his mouth. "Note the lack of smile," he said. "I near broke my neck after what you did."
Ean barked a laugh, quickly suppressed.
"And if you ever do that to me again," continued Vaul, "I'll tie your ears in knots and use them to dangle you off a tree branch."
Ean laughed again, though Shyamon looked less impressed.
Vaul's brown eyes remained unforgiving. "Remember that our business is serious," he said. "If you want to play jokes, do it to the enemy."
The humbled Shyamon nodded his head, but Ean's mocking smile stayed in place.
Vaul looked at the more experienced scout before he turned away and sought his blankets.
***
Belaika moved forward at pace.
All five sylph scouts watched the road ahead, as vigilant now as before they had learned a potential enemy shared that road with them. Kelanus had split the army again, this time into larger groups, but they now tried to find what cover they could, shunning the road.
Belaika and his companions sent frequent pingers to each other, but nobody had yet found anything out of place. Though Belaika felt uneasy. He had long since learned to listen to his instincts.
He had no idea what caused his sense of wrongness. Not sorcery or The Gift: all sylphs now recognized that feeling when it crept over them.
But something was definitely not right.
As he passed through a rare patch of scrubland, with plenty of cover to hide in, he sent another pinger, quickly answered by all four of his companions. It sounded as if Samel had drifted too far south.
Samel passed through arable land and had doubtless moved further away to avoid the fallow areas. Not only did noisy animals forage on fallow ground, ready to sound a warning at anything strange, but villagers had a habit of dumping their night soil in the same place.
A few sylphs made the embarrassing and yucky error of straying across fallow land, but not Samel. Belaika didn't worry about the younger scout, he knew Samel would be back in his proper place soon.
This small patch of ground, with bushes and stunted trees, gave a welcome break from featureless pasture or crawling through somebody's crops.
Belaika quested, trying to work out what caused his bad feeling. He had seen nothing out of place. Farmers tilled their fields, humans and sylphs working well together. Children ran and played between the houses in every hamlet and village. The occasional lone wanderer, perhaps seeking work somewhere new, or a criminal expelled from his home.
Below him, something moved.
Belaika barely took breath. He froze and dared not move. Minutes passed.
Slowly, step by careful step, two sylphs appeared. Earpoints quested and heads swiveled as they stepped out from their concealment. Both stared vaguely towards the spot from where he had last sent a pinger.
But these were not just any sylphs. Painted green, gray and brown, both had black slashes of paint across face and upper torso.
One of five Markan scouts, Belaika knew none of his companions were here. All now had field experience, though only Ean and Belaika were fully trained. All knew never to break position without whistling the reason.
These sylphs were not from Marka.
Just in case, Belaika sent another pinger, before he moved quickly away again, keeping under the bushes where possible.
The two sylphs stared at the spot he had just vacated, but gave no reply.
So where had they come from?
Having suffered the indignity of being the only sylph scout to be captured, he was in no hurry to repeat the experience. Both the other sylphs now crept uphill. They tried to make the most of their cover, but now Belaika had seen them, he knew exactly where to look.
They weren't bad, but not quite good enough. Neither made a sound, and Belaika wondered how they communicated, assuming they were scouts. They moved together and Belaika thought that perhaps one might act as messenger.
Belaika recognized neither sylph, but they still had not seen him. They looked around, trying to find his tracks. They crouched down and conferred in low whispers. They looked around and again failed to see Belaika, who pressed himself into the ground.
Would they look harder, or retreat?
They eventually moved away downhill and Belaika watched them go. He waited until they were out of earshot before he sat up, carefully composed his message and began to whistle it to his companions. The sylph nearest the humans must carry the message to them.
Kelanus-ya must be told that the enemy had sylph scouts.
***
Chapter 12
Clashes
Not only had Kelanus split the army up into larger groups, he also insisted that they remain in contact with each other. The sylphs could now pass messages between the groups as well as scout, and Mirrin's human scouts proved themselves amenable for use as messengers. But the sylphs still mostly ranged ahead, where they were most useful, and Kelanus wished again that he had fifteen or even twenty sylph scouts, instead of five.
But Kelanus now kept Mirrin and Janost with him. Mirrin he trusted, but he felt a little surprised that Janost had not gone over the moment he saw the Eldovan soldiers on the road.
These three men sat together now, with Tula moving around them, serving alovak.
"Should I fetch more?" she asked.
Kelanus nodded. "In case we're here for a little while."
Tula inclined her head and left the tent, after a quick glance at the fourth figure.
Belaika stood in front of the senior officers, the humans interested in his new information.
Kelanus's group had stopped for the night in a large wood, the mixed trees offering plenty of shelter. The men cursed having to search further afield for dry wood to burn, but Kelanus insisted on smokeless fires.
Because what Belaika had seen worried the General
"You're sure these were sylph scouts?" pressed Kelanus.
"Certain. Painted in our colors, but acted different." Belaika stood his ground. He knew what he had seen.
"Eldova doesn't use sylphs as scouts," barked Janost.
"Two years from home is a long time," pointed out Mirrin, voice calm. "A lot might have happened. They might have been training sylphs for six months." He looked at Belaika. "It is impossible to keep their existence a secret once you meet with enemies."
Kelanus nodded. "Even so. How good are they, Belaika?"
The sylph shrugged. "They can move well, but so can any sylph. I think they are only part trained, compared to us."
"Three of your companions are only part trained," pointed out Kelanus.
"Even compared with them," replied Belaika. "They have not emulated our whistles for communicating, though they certainly listen for them." He blushed under his paint, pleased the humans could not see his embarrassment. He had no wish to be caught out that way twice.
"Hingast hunts sylphs for sport," countered Janost. "He would not use them as scouts."
"Wavering in the view that the man who calls himself Hingast is not Hingast?" Kelanus smiled and raised an eyebrow.
"I already told you I'm reserving judgment on that," replied Janost.
"It's the very thing Ranallic would do though," continued Kelanus. "From the first, sylph scouts impressed him. And he's not renowned for kindness to sylphs, either."
Belaika winced.
Tula reappeared with fresh alovak.
"Are they dousing the fires yet?" asked Mirrin.
Tula nodded. "Last alovak," she said.
She stood unobtrusively to one side of the men, ready to refill mugs, though she carefully avoided Belaika. The scout gave no reaction; he knew from his capture that Eldovan sylphs despised him and his sort. Besides, Tula's view carried little weight, a mere infertile counted for little in the sylph hierarchy.
And anyway, she was the prisoner now. He hoped.
"Have you seen more of these scouts?" asked Mirrin. "I doubt if they have just the two."
"We are watching for them, donenya," re
plied the sylph. "But I have only seen the two. We expect there are more."
"Anything different about them?" asked Kelanus. "Compared with our lot, that is."
"They work in pairs," replied Belaika. "I think one acts as messenger, because they do not whistle. Unless they have some other form of talking to each other across distance."
"I don't see them using army signaling," muttered Janost. "They cannot read the codes, for one thing."
"Unless they are being taught that, too," said Kelanus.
"Sylphs?" Janost looked skeptical.
"I know two sylphs who can read," said Kelanus. "Sylphs have the ability to learn anything a human can learn."
Belaika inspected the ground between his feet.
"You'd better get back out there," Kelanus told the scout.
"Se bata."
"Your commander has introduced strange new weapons to armies," said Janost. "Sylphs as scouts? Had you mentioned this idea to me two years ago, I would either humor you as insane, or laugh at you."
Kelanus sipped at his alovak. "I used to think as you did," he replied. "And now you know how good they are."
"Feared by our sylphs," said Mirrin, giving Tula a quick glance. "If Belaika had shouted boo at ours last year, they might have fled." He thought of his own sylph. Shashi had displayed curiosity rather than terror, and sympathy rather than hate.
"Well, they are very useful if you want to know what's going on around you. As it happens, better than human scouts, simply because we cannot overhear sylphs' whistles." Kelanus gave a small smile. "Until you adapted and used other sylphs to point them out."
Tula wore a small smile as she topped up the men's alovak.
Mirrin shrugged. "But your sylphs quickly adapted again."
Kelanus laughed. "As I said, they are surprising creatures."
Janost grunted and drained his alovak.
***
Belaika moved quickly and silently through the forest, pausing at the edge of the trees. He dropped into cover before he moved into the open, watching and listening. He could hear or see humans easily enough, but any enemy sylphs would be harder to locate.
Once sure no sylphs stood in his path. He sent out a pinger, almost immediately receiving four replies. Good, nobody had been captured. Before moving on, he sent a query whistle, asking if anybody had seen any hint of enemy sylph scouts.
Four negatives returned.
Belaika again watched for any hint of sylphs moving about, trying to move in on him. Seeing nothing, he changed position quickly, dropping into cover every now and again, checking carefully for anything out of place.
He took as much care even as the evening gloom changed to full night. He sent out a pinger occasionally, always moving on again after receiving his replies.
Reaching his companions, he dropped into place beside them. Four pairs of silvery gray eyes regarded him.
"My first watch," he said. "You lot get some sleep."
***
The two sylphs sat on the ground and stared at each other. They had listened to the whistles bouncing around and even managed to work out their pattern. They had no way of telling what the whistles actually meant, but they could make informed guesses.
The short whistle must be some sort of position locator. They were brief and allowed the enemy scouts to ensure they were in the right place all the time. Longer whistles would be reports and perhaps questions.
The two sylphs had listened to the whistles and worked out that the enemy scouts stayed more or less the same distance away from the forest. One of those enemy sylphs had entered the forest and now left it again, rejoining his companions.
These two were not here to listen to whistles, but had a much more important task. Slipping past the much vaunted Markan sylph scouts with surprising ease, they now waited outside the forest. The dark of full night was their ally and, so long as they avoided the camp sylphs (who should now all be asleep), they would probably enjoy a successful mission. They knew the enemy had only five sylph scouts, and they knew exactly where those were located.
Both raised their heads cautiously. They stared into the darkness, watching and listening for anything out of place, as they had been taught. Too dark now for humans to see, but both knew there would be sentries posted.
Certain they were alone, both sylphs wriggled into the forest, moving slowly and cautiously. They would not stand until cloaked in trees, just in case the clouds parted.
They had a job to do, and they would discover how many men were in this group. Their eight companions, split into four pairs, would be doing the same job elsewhere. This army must be traveling towards Eldova, but they did not know its intentions.
These sylphs hoped that their masters would stop them from doing anything... dangerous.
But for now, they had a job to do.
***
Field Commander Lowst, ranked as Second General, sat in his tent, with just two companions. His batman, a junior soldier named Ollen, had brewed and served alovak to Lowst and his human companion. Lowst had then dismissed the young soldier with a nod.
The visitor with the alovak savored the drink's aroma before sipping at the dark liquid, the mug almost hidden in his huge hands. Sergeant Utlen briefly closed his blue eyes to heighten his alovak experience.
"There's a good two thousand men out there, Sir," said Utlen, voice surprisingly light for a man with a chest like his. "Split into small groups and all pretending to be anything but soldiers. Why would they do that, unless they're as guilty as the northern mob?"
Lowst ignored the question. "But you followed orders and did not engage."
"Course not, Sir." Utlen's tone suggested he wouldn't be so bloody stupid to attack so many with only six men under his own command.
"Good." Lowst's dark blue eyes glittered. He turned to his other companion, the one not drinking alovak.
The sylph scout's earpoints flickered upright. "They regrouped and have split into five groups, Sir." The sylph used the human tongue easily, perhaps raised with it as Eldovan sylphs so often were.
"And you managed to enter the camps, Aiten?"
The sylph, Aiten, nodded. "Near as makes no difference, Sir. Me and Vyren also nearly saw one of their scouts."
"Nearly saw?" Lowst raised an eyebrow.
Utlen snorted dismissively.
Aiten's earpoints sagged a little before recovering. "We heard him whistling and moving, but did not quite catch him in the open."
"Did he see you?" pressed Lowst.
"I do not think so." Aiten shrugged.
"What do you think of their sylph scouts?" asked Utlen.
"Better trained than us," replied the sylph immediately. "For now, they have more experience."
"What did you learn from the enemy camp?" asked Lowst, pulling the conversation back to important matters.
"Well," began Aiten, earpoints twitching and eyes sparkling, "we learned that they have broken into five groups of roughly four hundred."
"Yes." Lowst nodded impatiently. "Go on."
"The one me and Vyren got near has the commanders in it."
Lowst raised an eyebrow. "All the commanders?"
"The ones that matter." Aiten nodded. "General Mirrin."
"So he survived." Lowst nodded again. "One is not a plural Aiten, stop dragging this out."
The scout grinned. "Marshal Janost."
Utlen gave a low whistle. "Very high ranking for a coward and traitor," he remarked. "If he's with Mirrin, then they must all be involved."
"And I've not finished," said Aiten. "There's another General –"
"Hanan?" asked Utlen.
The scout shook his head. "Not even Eldovan," he replied. "General Kelanus; I heard the others say his name more than once."
Lowst sat back with a satisfied smile. "General Kelanus, of the Markan Army," he said.
"What more proof do we need that the men we face are traitors and cowards?" demanded Utlen. "Do you know how many of them are really Markans?"
Aiten shook his head. "Apologies Sergeant Utlen, but we did not conduct a census." He broke off in midsentence and his earpoints wilted. "I am sorry Sir, I overstepped myself."
"Apology accepted, Scout Aiten." Lowst smiled, speaking before Utlen lost his temper. "I think that you and Vyren have found the group that we shall attack."
The sylph nodded, though his earpoints wilted further at the word "attack". The boy must stiffen his backbone, or he really would be of little use.
"Go and round up the Captains for me, Aiten. I want them here in five minutes."
Aiten stood, saluted with fist to shoulder, and fled the tent.
Sergeant Utlen's blue eyes shone with eager anticipation. "So we'll have a battle after all, Sir. This is turning out exactly as Hingast feared."
"We still don't know for sure," said Lowst. "But they are not behaving like loyal men returning home. Why are they skulking through the land?"
"Why have they got Markans with them, Sir?" added Utlen. "They're up to no good."
"They were prisoners, I think, which is how Janost ended up with them."
"His Majesty believes Janost to be a traitor," muttered Utlen.
Lowst continued as if the Sergeant had not opened his mouth. "With luck, we'll capture the Markans tomorrow. Then the rest can continue to Eldova without their Markan overlords and we will escort them, exactly as commanded."
"Take it that means no prisoners from the group we attack, Sir." Utlen's tone gave no indication whether or not he approved.
"That is so unsubtle, Sergeant. We want the commanders if possible, and the rest are Eldovans. We take prisoners tomorrow; we're not here to massacre our own people."
Utlen nodded, but some of the light left his eyes.
***
Thanks to Belaika's warnings about enemy sylph scouts, Kelanus sent messages to the other groups of Eldovan prisoners to join him in the forest as quickly as possible.
At long last, weapons were issued from the cart that had carried them so far. Men warmed through wrist muscles, grown softer thanks to inaction, while archers tested strings and sighted along arrows.
Once everybody seemed happy with their armory, the men were again divided into five groups. Two groups would leave first, followed by a central group under Mirrin's command, with two final groups bringing up the rear.
Kelanus intended to command the rear left group and laid out his plans to the other commanders.
The enemy sylphs had doubtless worked out where the other groups were and Kelanus pointed out that whoever commanded the loyal Eldovan troops would expect the commanders to be within the central group.