Loran grinned. "Of course. All the sylph cooks are from the Free Tribe."
"Never tasted anything like it before," added Janin.
Tilipha, one of the collarless sylphs from the Free Tribe, looked up.
"It is the spices we add to the food," he explained. "Brings out the flavor."
Janin nodded. "I like it."
"Better than when you were a beggar?" asked Loran.
"Anything is better than then," replied Janin.
Loran and Tilipha exchanged a look.
"Thought the army might have split by now," continued Tilipha.
"Soon." Janin scowled. If commanding officers wanted to ignore their orders, that was their problem. "We do not question."
"We have no right to know when?" Tilipha's earpoints twitched. "Imagine the chaos if scouts are not told."
"Knowing and questioning are different," Janin pointed out.
"Questions are good," replied Tilipha. "As you would know, if you were fr –"
"I am what I am," interrupted Janin.
Loran watched him turn his head and wince at the rain dripping from the dining tent's flysheet. The paint all scouts wore was their only protection from the elements. She knew that the short scouting breeches would be soaked in minutes, to then cling unpleasantly to the skin until they dried out again.
"And I must go out there," he muttered.
Loran laughed. "Many of these soft city dwellers cannot cope with the weather." She licked her spoon clean and watched the other sylph with her clear silver-gray eyes. "Most already want to go home. But not you."
Janin shrugged. "I can endure," he replied. "Duty."
"Markan city boys complain," remarked Tilipha.
"It is only water," added Loran.
"Used to it," muttered Janin. "The Calcan boys are also city dwellers."
"They are fully trained; we are not." If Tilipha had any concerns about that, he gave no sign. "Perhaps not all are as trustworthy as they should be."
Janin twitched his earpoints. "The weaklings have been weeded out."
"They are unused to the privations of the countryside." Tilipha smiled.
"Of rain, anyway."
A smile flickered across Loran's face. "One of them has discovered what weeds can do. Charab made too intimate a contact with poison ivy."
Janin suppressed a giggle. Sylphs were taught to use a dockleaf or broadleaf plant for such "intimate contacts". Charab had mistaken the ivy for another. An easy mistake to make when you grow up in a city.
"It is easy to laugh," said Tilipha, restraining his own mirth, "but such mistakes should not be made by scouts."
"True." Janin turned his head to regard the dripping rainwater again. "But they need every scout they can get."
"They say it takes five years to train to the full standard," said Loran.
"We are tired of hearing that," said Janin.
"They have taken shortcuts with our training," added Tilipha. "Which means the standard is compromised, no matter how talented we are."
Janin shrugged.
"You know why they want so many scouts." Tilipha lowered his voice.
Janin shrugged. "Obedient sylphs are safe."
"Of course." Tilipha's earpoints lay back in his hair to show his uncertainty. "But if Kelanus-ya is wrong, there will be trouble. Possibly also for Kestan-ya."
Janin almost laughed. He knew the cause of Tilipha's concern. Lance General Kestan also led the Free Tribe, the only human known to lead a tribe of free sylphs.
Janin suspected most of that tribe had come out here with Kestan.
Many camp followers were wild sylphs: cooks and laundresses and those skilled in the multitude of non-military tasks an army needed. There were domestic sylphs too, officers' servants and working sylphs. There were also human camp followers, but there were plenty of wild sylphs marching with the army. More accurately, marching with Kestan.
Janin knew that when the army split, no wild sylphs would stay with Kelanus. He did not even need to be told to know it.
Tilipha turned his head to look at Loran. "A pity you will not ask for manumission," he said.
The words were aimed at Janin, who shrugged. "I know what is best for me."
Tilipha sighed. "Pity."
"Why?"
Tilipha stood. "I must go."
Janin watched him go. "Why is he so concerned about me asking for manumission? He never plagues anyone else about it."
Loran smiled and put a hand on his arm. "He would rather gain a sylph than lose one."
The other sylph blinked.
"Because only one sylph here has had one of the Free Tribe fall in love with him."
Janin's eyes went wide and his earpoints went as upright as they could go.
Loran leaned forward and her voice dropped to a whisper. "I will ask your owner for an arrangement. If her scout likes me too."
Janin took her hand in both of his. "Ask for that arrangement," he said.
***
Lance General Kestan looked at his superior officer.
"You want to take this risk?" he asked. "Dangerous to go against orders."
Kelanus smiled. "Thank you for the concern. Your sylphs worry that I'm getting you into trouble."
Kestan winced. He disapproved of people referring to the wild sylphs as being his, even if effectively true. "You still intend to split the army?"
"No change to my plan. The Eldovan scouts will report the first army they see and look no harder for a second."
"Certain?"
Kelanus smiled. "Very. The Eldovans very carefully foisted their decption on Zenepha and they now expect us to lurk near the Trenveran border. When they see you or me here, they'll not be looking for more."
Shyamon dripped rainwater as he carried the alovak can into the tent and set it down on the small table beside Kelanus. He padded through almost silently, and his earpoints twitched in curiosity. A trained scout from Calcan, he had been fully briefed on his new duties.
Kelanus turned to the sylph. "Pour, then make yourself scarce for the rest of the evening."
"Se bata." Shyamon wasted no time pouring and the officers waited patiently until the scout left.
"Right," began Kestan, "the split. How will we do it?"
Kelanus leaned forward eagerly. "Half and half," he replied. "If Janost and Hanan have learned anything about me, they'll expect me to send more soldiers after them and fewer to Trenvera."
Kestan smiled. "Let's hope they haven't learned too much about you." He sipped at his alovak.
"Three scouts between us should be enough to pass messages, so we can merge quickly when needed. But we must agree on basics. Whichever of us is not seen should split his force again and move onto the far flanks of the other. Then, once the Eldovans have committed to battle..."
Kestan sat and listened. He even made suggestions. Tactics very similar to those he would use himself. Kelanus outlined a plan very similar to the one he'd used to defeat Branad last year, with adaptations. No war machines, except for the rockets.
Kestan felt certain that the people about to get a nasty shock would all be Eldovan.
***
Tynrasa ran ahead of the other scouts. He sent pingers now and then, making sure he did not run too far ahead and lose contact with his army. That would be embarrassing.
As Shyamon had suggested, after listening to Kelanus's plans, the army had split. Kestan sent Tynrasa ahead to ensure no nasty surprises waited ahead.
Tynrasa did not approve of using the road for travel while in enemy territory. True, the army moved faster, but roads were more susceptible to ambush, especially when traveling through forest. Generals should know this basic stuff.
He did not use the road, for even a sylph would stand out there, especially one moving at his pace. He preferred the trees and undergrowth of the forest and, apart from an occasional startled bird, he disturbed nothing. Yesterday's rain still soaked the ground and he avoided splashes, which might give him away.
He partly co
ncentrated on his running, watching for tree roots or other obstacles he might trip over, but most of his mind focused on the job. He stopped now and then, taking care not to blunder into any enemy scouts. He would see those before an army. But you never knew with foreigners.
Whenever he stopped, he crouched to listen for anything out of place.
Humans tended to thunder through undergrowth and their labored breathing could be heard from some distance. So far as he could tell, the forest to either side of the road held no nasty surprises.
He was alone.
He hoped it would always be so, but they would run into Eldovans sooner or later. There were so many wandering around, waiting to fall on Marka.
Other sylphs, sent out the previous fall to shadow the Eldovans, answered some of his pingers. These scouts were added to the army as they were found, some more reluctantly than others.
So before long, he would find Eldovans, make his reports and there would be a battle. People would die.
He paused, eyes and ears questing. He sniffed at the air.
Tynrasa dropped even lower into the undergrowth and remained perfectly still. His breathing and heartrate slowed almost to nothing. He became part of the woods and trusted his paint to keep him invisible to human eyes.
Tynrasa had to give the man respect, for his stealth and near silence as he moved. Drab clothes made him harder to see and he placed his feet with caref.
He moved almost like a sylph, looking every way before moving on. He sprinted between pauses, so he probably knew Markans were on the road, which he watched more than anything else. Not that he neglected the forest, but he never saw the sylph.
Tynrasa held his breath; only his earpoints moved. Once the man had passed, Tynrasa formulated a report before standing to whistle.
They had made contact.
***
"Message."
Tilipha added no honorific; no need as Lance General Kestan knew the sylph's words were intended for his ears.
"Go ahead."
"From Tynrasa-y-Fallon. Force of twenty hundreds men that includes ten hundreds horses. No war machines."
Kestan smiled. Two thousand, half cavalry. A snack.
Tilipha continued. "The Eldovans march along the road, but their scouts do not. Minimum of three scouts."
Kestan nodded. Sylphs were careful with their language: Tynrasa had seen three scouts, but suspected more.
"Thank you, Tilipha. Copy Kelanus."
The sylph nodded. "E bata," he replied, before whistling the message on.
Kestan smiled to himself. Tilipha's choice of e instead of se showed the wild sylphs still kept their pride, even if they had surrendered the greater part of their independence without realizing. He turned his mind to the task at hand.
***
Kelanus's fingers tapped against his pommel. The succinct message left him with just one question: should he leave a measly two thousand men to Kestan alone, or help him out? Bascon waited patiently.
He sensed an opportunity here and not just for whittling down the Eldovan army. Kelanus would split his men and move even further away.
"Message to Lance General Kestan."
Bascon moved forward and repeated Kelanus's words.
"Operate under own initiative. Honors all yours. Allow escape."
Bascon passed the message on.
Kelanus smiled to himself while waiting for the acknowledgment. Provided none of the Eldovan scouts found him, they would assume Kestan commanded all the Markans out here. And when survivors reached the rest of their comrades, they would ride ahead to meet an army suddenly twice the size they expected.
Or, if everything went to plan, it would be Candin Plain all over again.
By the time he finished with them, Kelanus intended that the Eldovans would never dare leave home again.
***
Lance General Kestan surveyed the field.
He had obeyed his orders and allowed many Eldovans to escape. That made sense anyway; men always fought harder when they saw no way out. And these men did not believe they would be taken prisoner.
Kestan had always fought in the belief that defeated men who surrendered should be looked after, Marcus Vintner's way. Kelanus remained ominously silent on the subject of prisoners but, as they had captured nobody, the subject did not matter for now.
All the dead, friend and foe alike, were buried in one large grave. The scouts sang their dirge for the dead before men shoveled the earth over the corpses.
He spotted his yeoman.
"What was the final tally, Gensan?" he asked.
The yeoman grimaced. "Thirty dead and sixteen wounded. No sylphs harmed."
Kestan nodded. Forty-six casualties. It could have been worse. No surprise that the sylphs were unhurt. Scouts mostly kept well out of the way during a battle, except for messengers, or those who listened for more warnings.
He bent his head to Tilipha. "Do the Eldovans realize Kelanus is here as well?"
The sylph shook his head. "They continue as before and the scouts have reported nothing. If they saw him, our scouts would have seen theirs. Perhaps they assume we are all there is to fight."
"What Kelanus planned for, but still a dangerous assumption."
Tilipha stiffened. "From Tynrasa-y-Fallon," he said. "More Eldovan scouts and he asks permission to push forward."
"Granted. Tell him no unnecessary risks."
Tilipha gave his chief a look suggesting that Tynrasa needed no warnings about risks, but he passed the message on.
"There will be more fighting?" asked the sylph.
Kestan smiled. "Not tonight."
He turned to look at the grave, as soldiers finished shoveling earth. He hoped soon there would be no more fighting and no more mass graves.
***
"They should issue choca." Janin sounded disgusted.
"Why?" Loran looked at him curiously.
Janin suspected a lot of the reason why the wild sylphs stayed with Kestan had something to do with choca. They had grown as addicted as any enslaved cousin.
"Because we won. Without us to keep an eye on things, Kestan-ya might have lost. We played our part."
Loran stared. "You want to celebrate when people are dead?"
"No, to celebrate our victory. The humans get ale for winning; we should have choca."
Loran's eyes widened. "You civilized sylphs are hard to understand."
Janin grinned. "Good, it keeps wild sylphs on their toetips."
"You are not saddened by those you will never see again?"
"Of course." Janin looked affronted. "We sing to speed their passing. But we also celebrate with choca. Or should. We live today, but tomorrow we might die."
"Now you sound like a human." Loran sniffed in disdain.
"Change of heart?" asked Janin.
Loran gave him a long look before dropping onto her heels beside him. "No. But your ways are hard to learn."
"Sorry."
"All I want is to be with you." Loran shrugged. "Many of the others think I am strange."
"But not all?"
Loran shook her head.
Janin rested a hand atop hers. "It is not only civilized sylphs who are hard to understand," he said.
Loran laughed. As she whispered into his ear, Janin blushed a brighter blue with every word.
***
"Message."
Kestan nodded to Tilipha.
"Tynrasa-y-Fallon reports enemy scouts in fixed positions near the edge of the forest. He says they wait."
Kestan flung up a hand and, slowly, the army halted its forward march.
"Gensan!"
"Sir?" The yeoman hurried to his commander's side.
"Push a few scouts forward. Detail troops to run the Eldovan scouts down and kill or capture them."
"Yessir!"
Gensan was gone.
"Tilipha, copy Kelanus."
"Done," replied the sylph.
Kestan sensed Tilipha's question. "When scouts are
in fixed positions, it means their army has halted. The men we let escape have told their boss and he's waiting for us."
"What will happen?" Tilipha looked like he now regretted leaving Marka.
"No idea. Let's hear what your brother scouts have to say." Kestan watched the morning mist drift through the trees and looked up to pale blue skies. They had not been moving for long.
"Tynrasa-y-Fallon says he has found eight scouts," said Tilipha, after a short pause.
"Suggesting a force of about six thousand, give or take a few hundred." Kestan smiled. "He might find more yet."
Tilipha looked even less happy. "Kelanus has acknowledged your report," he said.
Kestan nodded and turned to Lieutenant Yulman. "Get some defenses rigged up," he said. "Let's not get caught out, eh?"
"We will stop here, sir?" Yulman looked around incredulously. "Not the best place, if I may say so."
"We'll only be here until we receive orders from Kelanus and learn exactly how many are ahead of us." Kestan gave the junior officer a reassuring wink. "Just as the men finish readying themselves, we'll be away again."
Yulman grinned. "That's bound to go down well with them, sir." He trotted away, snapping orders.
Gensan had detailed his troops and a scout stood beside the commander of each detail. Kestan wandered down to speak with the men.
"We need to eliminate those scouts. Capture or kill, but let none escape."
The grim-faced men nodded.
"Be careful as we still don't know how many there are. The sylphs will lead and give you fresh information as they learn it." Kestan looked at his men. "Be swift, and return."
The soldiers nodded again and some even gave a verbal promise.
Kestan turned to the sylphs. "Keep your ears open. Things will change very quickly." At least Gensan had detailed experienced scouts.
"Se bata." Used to this sort of work, the sylphs grinned.
"Now go."
The soldiers mounted and brandished weapons in salute. They left with no further ceremony, the scouts disappearing from view first.
"What is it, Tilipha?" Kestan spoke without turning.
"Message from Kelanus. Halt army, report when you have further information."
Kestan smiled. "Acknowledge it," he said.
***
Tynrasa ignored the sighting whistles coming from his brother scouts somewhere behind. He moved carefully and only added to the cacophony of whistles when he saw more enemy scouts. Those scouts were not motionless, but circled around a point, which effectively fixed their position.
Tynrasa knew he would be the first to discover the army that occupied that theoretical point, just ahead of him. Probably beyond the trees; he already sensed the forest thinning out.