"We have to see what's going on," Recared said peevishly. "If we fight blind, we're bound to lose. Or will you tell me I'm wrong there, too?"
Since Leudast couldn't tell him any such thing, he kept his mouth shut. Going into the fight, about half the regiment's companies had been commanded by lieutenants junior to Recared, the other half by sergeants like Leudast. He didn't know how many of those junior lieutenants were left alive. He did know he didn't want to have to try commanding a regiment himself if an Algarvian sniper did pick off Recared.
Recared stiffened, though not because he'd taken a beam. "Uh-oh," he said, and pointed out beyond the redheads' front line. "They're bringing blonds forward."
"Powers above," Leudast said hoarsely. "That means they're going to aim that filthy magecraft of theirs right at us, from as close as they can."
"That's just what it means." Recared's voice was grim. It got grimmer: "And we haven't got much in the way of dragons to stop them, either- we've seen that. They'll keep out of range of our egg-tossers, too. By now, they'll have that measured to the yard. So they'll turn Braunau inside out with their magic, and we can't do a thing to stop 'em. All we can do is take it."
That's what Unkerlanters do best anyhow, Leudast thought. But then he had another thought, one that appalled him with its monstrous cold-bloodedness but might keep him breathing. He grabbed Recared by the arm, an unheard-of-liberty for a sergeant to take with an officer. "Sir, if our own mages send some of that same kind of magic at those poor Kaunian buggers, Mezentio's men won't be able to use their life energy against us."
By send some of that same kind of magic, he meant, of course, having Unkerlanter mages kill some of their own countrymen for their life energy. He couldn't stomach saying it in so many words, even if killing was part of his line of work, too.
Recared stared at him, then shouted, "Crystallomancer!"
The regiment had a new one, replacing the minor mage slain in the first day of the battle for the Durrwangen salient. "Aye, sir?" he said, making his way up through the maze of trenches to Recared's side. When Recared told him what he wanted, the crystallomancer hesitated. "Are you sure, sir?" His eyes were round and fearful.
Mind made up, Recared didn't hesitate. "Aye," he said. "And hurry, curse you. If we don't do what we have to do, and if we don't do it fast, the Algarvians will work their magic on us. Would you sooner sit still for that?"
"No, sir," the crystallomancer said, and activated his crystal. When a face appeared in it, he passed it to Recared. "Go ahead, sir."
Recared spoke quickly and to the point. The mage on the other end of the etheric connection listened, then said, "I cannot decide this. Wait." He disappeared.
A moment later, another face appeared in the crystal. "I am Addanz, archmage of Unkerlant. Say your say." Recared did, as concisely as he had before. He even gave Leudast credit, not that Leudast much wanted any such thing. Leudast had met the archmage once before, in trenches not far outside of Cottbus. Perhaps fortunately, Addanz didn't seem to remember that. He said, "Tell me how far east of Braunau the Kaunians are."
"Just outside of egg-tosser range, sir," Recared replied.
"Very well," Addanz said, and then shook his head. "No, not very well- very ill. But no help for it. You'll have your magecraft, Lieutenant."
"Quickly then, sir, or you waste it," Recared said.
"You'll have it," Addanz repeated, and his image vanished like a blown-out candle flame.
Leudast imagined Unkerlanter mages lining up Unkerlanter peasants and miscreants so Unkerlanter soldiers could slay them. He wished he hadn't; the picture in his mind was all too vivid. And here, for once, Swemmel's endless talk of efficiency proved true. Hardly five minute passed before the ground shuddered under those luckless Kaunians, before fissures opened and flames shot forth.
Recared pounded Leudast on the back. "Well done, Sergeant, by the powers above!" he shouted. "Let's see the redheads make their cursed magic now. If we live, you'll get a decoration for this."
All Leudast said was, "I feel like a murderer." He'd caused his own countrymen- for all he knew, maybe his own kinsmen- to die so their life energy could go into killing Kaunians so the Algarvians couldn't kill the Kaunians to kill him. That wasn't war, or it shouldn't have been. He stared east, toward the Algarvian trenches. If he knew Mezentio's men, they wouldn't let a setback stop them for long. They never had yet.
Colonel Sabrino had rarely seen an army brigadier so furious. The Algarvian officer looked about ready to leap out of the crystal and strangle somebody- King Swemmel by choice, no doubt, but Sabrino thought he might do himself at a pinch.
"Do you know what those fornicating Unkerlanters did?" the brigadier howled. "Have you got any idea?"
"No, sir," Sabrino said around a yawn- he grabbed what sleep he could between flight, and didn't take kindly to interruptions. "But you're going to tell me, I expect."
The brigadier went on as if he hadn't spoken, which might have been lucky for him: "We had our Kaunians all ready to slay, to rout Swemmel's buggers out of that stinking Braunau place, and the Unkerlanter whoresons killed most of 'em by magic before we got to use their life energy. The attack went in anyhow, and we got thrown back again. We've got to get past there if we're ever going to join hands with our men on the other side of the enemy salient."
"Aye, sir, I know that," Sabrino said, wondering if the Algarvians on the western flank of the bulge were doing any better than the eastern army to which he was attached. He wished his countrymen hadn't started using murder-powered magecraft. Now both sides used it ever more freely, which added to the death toll without changing much else. He also suspected the brigadier shouldn't have attacked Braunau once the sorcerous backing for the assault collapsed. Suggesting such things to a superior was a tricky business. He didn't try; he knew he was too worn to be tactful. Instead, he asked, "What would you have me do, sir?"
"If we can't knock Braunau out from under those buggers with dead Kaunians, next best thing is to pound it flat- flatter- with dragons," the brigadier answered. "You've got the edge on 'em there in this side of the salient."
"For now, anyway," Sabrino said. "They've put more dragons in the air today than they did yesterday, and still more than the day before. They've got more dragons than we thought they did."
"They've got more of everything than we thought they did," the brigadier said. "But we can still lick 'em. We can, curse it." He sounded as if Sabrino were arguing with him.
"We'd better," was all Sabrino did say about that. He went on, "Tell me when you want us there, sir, and we'll be there." Colonel Ambaldo is probably sleeping, too, he thought. That means I get to wake him up. There were prospects he might have enjoyed less. Ambaldo, after all, had spent a lot of the war in the comfortable east. He hadn't had his full share of the delights of Unkerlant- or any share at all in the different delights of the land of the Ice People.
"An hour," the brigadier said. When Sabrino nodded, the army officer's image vanished from the crystal. It flared, then went back to being a simple globe of glass.
Sabrino strode out of his tent and shouted for dragon handlers. The men came running, their kilts flapping at each long stride. He said, "Get the dragons ready, and start kicking the men awake. We're going after Braunau again."
"Just your wing, sir, or both of them at this farm?" a handler asked.
"Both," Sabrino answered. "But I'll wake Ambaldo myself." His face must have worn an evil grin, because several of the handlers snickered.
Colonel Ambaldo awoke with several loud, fervent curses. He also woke grabbing for the stick by his cot. Sabrino got it first. Grabbing and missing seemed to restore something like reason to Ambaldo. He glowered at Sabrino and asked, "All right, your Excellency, who's gone and pissed in the soup pot this time?"
"King Swemmel's little friends, who else?" Sabrino said. "Not that it doesn't sound like some hamfisted generalship from us went into the mix, too." He quickly explained what had gone wrong in front of Braunau.
Ambaldo grunted and rubbed his eyes. "This whole business of killing Kaunians is filthy, if anybody wants to know what I think," he said as he sat up. He looked defiance at Sabrino. "And I don't care what you may believe about it."
"No?" Sabrino said mildly. "I told King Mezentio the same thing before we really started doing it. His Majesty didn't care what I believed about it."
"Really? You said that to Mezentio? To his face?" Ambaldo asked. Sabrino nodded. Ambaldo let out a soft whistle. "I will be dipped in dung. I knew you for a brave man, your Excellency, but still, you surprise me."
"If I weren't a brave man, I wouldn't have come in here to get you," Sabrino said. "Shall we be at it?"
Ambaldo got to his feet and bowed. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
When Sabrino went out to his dragon, he found it loaded with eggs. The handler was tossing chunks of meat to it. The dragon caught them out of the air one after another. "How's the cinnabar holding out?" Sabrino asked the handler.
He got no more reassuring answers, as he had earlier in the fight. The fellow spread his hands and said, "If they'd known this stinking battle was going to last so bloody long, they should've given us more." Before Sabrino could say anything to that, the dragon handler added, "Of course, maybe they didn't have any more to give." On that cheerful note, he went back to feeding the dragon.
Sabrino climbed aboard the great scaly beast and fastened himself into his harness at the base of its neck. Distracted by raw meat, the dragon didn't even raise a fuss. Then the handler stopped feeding it and undid its chain from the iron spike driven deep into the soil of Unkerlant. Sabrino whacked the dragon with his goad, urging it into the air.
The dragon bellowed in fury at the idea that it should work for a living. As far as it was concerned, it had been hatched to sit on the ground so people could feed it to the bursting point. No matter how often Sabrino tried to give it other ideas with the goad, it was surprised and outraged every time.
It sprang into the air as much from fury as for any other reason. As usual, Sabrino didn't care why. As long as the dragon rose, he'd take that. The other dragons in his wing were every bit as offended at having to earn their keep as was his. They all screeched as they spiraled upward.
Colonel Ambaldo's dragons were flying, too. Sabrino, of necessity his own crystallomancer while on dragonback, murmured the charm that attuned the emanations of his crystal with that of the other wing commander. When Ambaldo's image appeared in his crystal, Sabrino said, "Now that you're awake, your Excellency, how do you want to handle the strike at Braunau? If you like, we'll go in first and then fly cover for your wing."
"Aye, good enough," Ambaldo said, and Sabrino cursed under his breath. He'd made the offer for form's sake, no more. Ambaldo's dragons had been worked hard in this fight, but were still fresher than Sabrino's. They would have made a better covering flight than Sabrino's wing. Ambaldo should have been able to see that for himself. If he couldn't, though, Sabrino had too much pride to point it out to him. Ambaldo did say, "We'll cover you on the way in."
"Thank you so much." Sabrino knew how little he meant that. Ambaldo was brave, but bravery didn't matter much, not here on the western front. The Unkerlanters were brave, too. What really set the Algarvians apart from them was brains. Without a guiding wit behind the fighting, it turned into nothing but a slugging match. King Swemmel's men could afford that better than Algarve could.
Sabrino's mouth turned down in discontent as he steered the dragon east toward Braunau. By the look of the battlefield far below, it had already turned into a slugging match. No more lightning thrusts around Unkerlanter positions to flank them out. The Algarvian attack had gone straight into the heart of the toughest and deepest set of field fortifications Sabrino had ever seen- on the eastern side of the Durrwangen salient and, by all the signs, on the western side as well.