Still, they knew of the war, and that was some news; no village but had its militia, sturdy men armed with homemade weapons, keeping a keen eye on the river, lest the Skaldi attempt to bridge it. When we asked after Azzalle’s army, they pointed us ever eastward.
Two full days' march we put in, and half another, sleeping the sleep of exhaustion in between, before Rousse’s riders returned, catching us at midday of our third march. They rode hell-for-leather, Phèdre’s Boys, having accepted fresh mounts, but no changes of couriers.
I confess, my heart lifted to see them coming, the Courcel swan and my own ludicrous insignia, Kushiel’s tattered Dart, defiant on the breeze. I clutched at Grainne’s arm and she drew up the chariot. Someone shouted for Quintilius Rousse, and he made his way to the forefront, even as the riders thundered upon us, reining in their mounts, hooves spattering dirt.
"My lord Admiral!" the first among them cried out, his voice ragged with exertion and pride. "The fleet comes!"
He pointed, and we saw them, rounding a bend of the Rhenus, rowing at full speed down the broad, rushing river: the Royal Fleet, decked out in full regalia, every mast flying the swan. Such was their speed, the riders had scarce beaten them.
I knew then how the Cruithne army had felt, seeing our modest ship; we cheered, all of us, and hurried to catch lines cast ashore.
Over thirty ships, all told; their masts made a forest on the river. Quintilius Rousse, his face beaming joy, roared orders, relayed in a babble of Cruithne and Eiran, getting Drustan’s army on board. When it was done, the ships fair groaned, riding low in the river. The oarsmen were hard-put to turn us about, beating against the current; but somehow, fate favored us, a fair wind arising at our backs, filling the sails and making their task easier.
The Master of the Straits honored his debt still, I thought, standing in the prow and gazing upriver.
Having seen to her team and made certain her chariot was stowed with proper care, Grainne came to join me. We rode in the flagship, with Rousse; a second ship drew alongside, Eamonn hailing us. Grainne shouted back, laughing, blowing kisses to her twin. I smiled to see it.
"We cannot honor the Dalriada enough for what you have done," I said to her. Grainne gazed at Drustan, who stood listening attentively to Quintilius Rousse.
"You have given us a part in a story the bards will sing to our children’s children," she said, laying one hand over her belly and giving her private smile. "Such is the dream of the Dalriada. Even Eamonn knows, in his heart." She put her arm about me, then. "We heard what befell your friend. I am sorry, for his loss. He had a bold spirit, and a merry one."
"Thank you," I said softly, tears stinging my eyes. Hyacinthe. It was a kindness in her, that I have never forgotten. There are those who are awkward in the face of sorrow, fearing to say the wrong thing; to them, I say, there is no wrong in comfort, ever. A kind word, a consoling arm…these things are ever welcome. Grainne knew it; such was her gift, a shrewd kindness, to know what was needful to the hearts of those around her.
We were another day on the river, our progress slow in the overladen ships, despite the fair winds. Still, there was no shortage of men to arm the oars, and no one of us grew overtired. The Segovae of the Tarbh Cro put in long hours in self-imposed atonement for what had befallen us during the crossing of the Straits, their hands raw and bleeding, until word of their efforts reached Drustan. He spoke to them, then, and made it clear that he didn’t hold them to blame for it.
It was fairly done, and generous; I held myself as much to blame, for having failed to warn Rousse’s sailors. But in truth, the Master of the Straits had rigged and baited the trap, and I think we’d have fallen into it no matter how it transpired.
Rousse’s riders had found the fleet with Ghislain de Somerville and half the Azzallese forces; this was the word they had brought back to us. The other half was under the command of Marc de Trevalion, further southeast. Between the two of them, they covered a long stretch of border, and the half-destroyed remnants of four bridges that might be used to cross the Rhenus. We would sail as far as the first bridge; beyond that, Rousse’s ships could not travel. Their value lay in securing the length of the river between bridge and sea; we’d only caught them massed at the bridge because a tenacious party of some fifteen hundred Skaldi was rumored to be gathering for an assault on the bridge.
I do not think a river-crossing ever played any part in Selig’s invasion plan; surely, from what we had seen, the bulk of the Skaldi horde had flooded through the Northern Pass. But if he did gain control of Azzalle’s border, he would have unlimited access to Terre d’Ange, and a strong foothold in the flatlands. And if he did not, with a mere handful of men-and a few thousand were little more than that, to Selig-he tied up the forces of an entire province and ensured that Azzalle’s army wouldn’t fall upon his back.
A leader who thinks. Gonzago de Escabares had spoken truly.
When the shouting clamor of battle, steel on steel, reached our ears, I knew we must be nigh.
We saw it first, in the flagship. The Skaldi had found an engineer or two among their number, and in the absence of Rousse’s fleet, mounted a full-scale effort to restore the bridge. They’d adopted Tiberian tactics, digging fortifications along shore and constructing narrow rolling walls to shelter the builders.
Tiberian soldiers, however, wouldn’t have broken ranks and disregarded order halfway through the process, forging forward under cover of a hail of spears, inching crude rafts along the half-drowned bridge supports. Only a few hundred had gained D’Angeline soil, but the rest were bidding fair to cross, keeping Ghislain’s men a spearcast’s length at bay. He’d only seven hundred under his command; and I learned, later, that his archers had spent their arsenal over the past two days, hoping to hold off the Skaldi until our arrival.
They’d succeeded, if only barely.
The Skaldi froze, as our thirty-odd ships drew upriver. I daresay they’d posted a lookout for the fleet’s return two days ago, but that discipline too had crumbled in the blood-fever of launching a full attack. My heart filled with icy fear at the familiar sight of them, Skaldic warriors, iron-thewed and ferocious.
It’s as well that D’Angeline women don’t ride into battle. Quintilius Rousse never hesitated. Each ship had a full complement of his own sailors on board, trained to obey the Admiral’s voice without thinking. He raised it now, roaring orders as if to shout down the ocean, incomprehensible commands that only sailors understand.
The Skaldi began to chant Waldemar Selig’s name.
I daresay Drustan mab Necthana grasped Rousse’s plan quickly enough; leaping onto the prow of the flagship, his misshapen limb no obstacle to his agility, he called out to the Craithne. On each ship, a line of archers formed along the shoreward side, protecting the sailors who scrambled overboard like monkeys, catching cast lines and hauling the ships toward the shallow waters along the foreign bank.
At the bridge, the Skaldi broke ranks, the greater number surging back toward the flatlands. If nothing else, they are bold; those trapped on D’Angeline soil never looked back, but began composing their death-songs. I heard the sound of it rise, fierce and hard, chilling my spine. No doubt the Azzallese felt the same.
Our ships grounded in the shallows. Planks were lowered with a crash, some reaching the bank, some landing in water. Drustan, red cloak whipping around him, shouted orders. Ramps were dropped into the holds, horses brought up, wild-eyed and terrified, Cruithne and Dalriada scrambling to arms.