Jedidia kept the main column at its usual pace, letting the gap widen between him and the vanguard. He had no need to rush, and he would soon see for himself what mischief the Akkadians had prepared. The barbarian king of Akkad might be famous for his battlefield tricks, but Jedidia knew that overwhelming force was the best trick of all.
As he rode, he glanced again at the smoke pouring up into the sky. The thick gray ribbon appeared to have grown denser, turned into a cascade of flames, shimmering in the heat as it twisted its way into the air. From here, it appeared as if the cliffs themselves were on fire. The breeze shifted, and he breathed a hint of the oil that burns. Perhaps a subterranean stream of oil had breached the surface and somehow caught fire, though usually such pools were found only in the lowlands.
The advance force, weapons at the ready, slowed as they approached the part of the trail level with the smoke. Suddenly a deafening clap of thunder echoed between the walls of the Pass. At the same moment, the ground shook.
Jedidia’s horse stiffened its legs and dug its hooves into the ground. The general clutched at his horse’s halter, and with a firm yank, managed to bring the frightened animal under control. Earthquake. It must be an earthquake.
Men cried out in fear, and shouts made him glance once again toward the column of smoke. He glimpsed a massive slab of rock falling through the air, before it slammed into the cliff wall that bordered the Pass.
The sound of snapping stones and rumbling rock filled the air. The ground continued to tremble, and the horses closest to the landslide panicked. Jedidia saw men dumped from their seats, while others fought to control their wild-eyed mounts. The soldiers’ shouts had turned into a babble of excited voices, and loose horses galloped away from the danger, scattering or knocking aside anything in their path.
A huge cloud of dust floated in the air ahead, obscuring the trail, some of it drifting towards the Elamites. At least the ground had ceased shaking. The gray cloud slowly settled, and Jedidia’s mouth opened in astonishment.
The trail through the cliffs had vanished. The opening, at that point no more than fifty or sixty paces wide, had disappeared under a massive rock slide. Boulders the size of houses were piled on top of one another, much like a child would stack a pile of stones. In some places the barrier stood almost thirty paces high.
The advance force had narrowly missed being crushed by the slide, and now they scattered. Frightened horses, many of them riderless, whinnied in fear at the trembling earth. Jedidia rode up as close as he could get without risking his horse in the debris. The last of the dust blew away, and he could see that the slide extended some distance down the Pass. Obviously it would take time to clear the way. Still, it would take more than an earthquake or landslide to stop him.
Zathras rode back, covered in dust from the shattered rock. “The Pass is blocked, General.” He had to pause to clear his throat. “And we heard men shouting from behind the rocks. The Akkadians may have done this.”
Jedidia clenched his jaw. Of course it was the Akkadians. Who else would be lurking in the Pass.
“Take five hundred men forward on either side of the pass. Work your way through the rocks on foot until you reach the other side. Kill anyone you find. If you meet any resistance, send word and I’ll give you as many men as you need.”
Zathras nodded, whirled his horse around, and galloped off.
General Jedidia glanced up at the sun. Only a little after midmorning. Well, his men would find a way through the rubble. Still, he knew they weren’t going any farther today, and decided there was no sense standing around in the sun. He dismounted and ordered his men to make camp and his servants to set up his tent.
That attended to, Jedidia turned to one of his messengers, riding a few paces behind. “Send for the Builder.”
The General had with him a handful of men trained in dealing with walls and fortified villages. Jedidia had nearly left them behind, thinking he would not need them for this invasion. Now he blessed his foresight. They would be useful in clearing a way through the pass.
He waited impatiently until the Master Builder and his five assistants rode up from the rear of the column. Jedidia pointed at the slide, told them to find a way through the rocks, and ordered them on their way.
Noon came and went without any word from the Builder. The sun continued to move across the sky. Messengers from his second in command returned and reported that they could not find a way through the rocks on either side of the pass. Jedidia frowned at those reports, and told them to keep searching.
With nothing to do, his thoughts returned, as they so often did, to his humiliation. In the last few years, many had noticed Jedidia’s successes and ever increasing popularity with his men. And so for this campaign, King Shirudukh had tossed Jedidia the hardest bone to gnaw on, and the one with the least flesh.
Nor was Shirudukh the only one who had noticed Jedidia’s rising star. Both Modran and Chaiyanar had grown jealous of his accomplishments. They wished to add glory to their names and wealth to their Houses, so Jedidia would receive little opportunity for either plunder or battlefield victories. Together the two generals must have groveled before the King, and whispered lies about their rival into his ear.
Regardless, the orders General Jedidia had received from King Shirudukh should be easy to carry out. The main thrusts of the invasion would be toward Sumer and Akkad. The Akkadians and their allies, if indeed they had any, would be busy defending those cities, and would have no soldiers to spare for their northern lands. If any dared to ride against him, Jedidia had more than enough well trained horse fighters to deal with Eskkar’s cavalry.
Before the invasion started, such ideas had troubled Jedidia. Now he could only hope that he could achieve some significant victory over the Akkadians. A more pleasant thought, one that often soothed his mind at night, was that perhaps by some lucky stroke Lord Modran would die in battle, fall from his horse, eat tainted food, or any of the other countless ways men could perish in a campaign.
Such things did happen. Some in Elam’s Council of Advisors thought that the barbarian king Eskkar would prove a formidable opponent. If that turned out to be true, well, even a dying snake could still strike a lethal blow. But as for himself, without the favor of the gods, Jedidia could do little to change his fate. He would have to endure this humiliation, and hope for the best.
Unlike the other two prongs of the Elamite invasion, all of Jedidia’s fighters were mounted. Though in the last two years he had trained and equipped almost ten thousand infantry, those soldiers had been taken away from Jedidia and given to Modran and Chaiyanar.
That meant Jedidia had no foot soldiers stumbling along, slowing him down and struggling to keep pace. His baggage train consisted of a mere two hundred pack animals carrying only enough food to last until he established himself in Akkad’s lands.
And his men, recruited from all over the Empire, comprised some of the best horse fighters in the land. They could ride hard all morning and then fight all afternoon. With their own homelands ground to dust under King Shirudukh’s heel, these renegades, traitors, and nameless men were loyal only to Jedidia and the King. At their General’s command, they would slaughter any in their path without a hint of remorse.
Not that Jedidia expected to meet any real resistance. The barbarian Eskkar, faced with overwhelming numbers, would fall back and hide behind his city’s walls. Or he just might flee, abandon his city and run for his life, taking only his wives and as much wealth as he could carry.
Jedidia, with more horsemen than the entire city of Akkad could field, expected to encounter nothing more than terrified refugees fleeing north, clutching with them any gold or whatever pitiful valuables they possessed. He intended to take the gold, kill the old and the young, and turn the rest into slaves, thousands upon thousands, that he would sell back in Elam.