Stormcaster (Shattered Realms #3)(99)
She didn’t need the distraction, given the delicate balancing act she was trying to pull off. So she watched the horses sluice back and forth across the parade ground and did her best to ignore him.
She had no intention of grooming an army capable of defeating her Highlanders. What was bad for the Carthian army was good for the Fells. Yet failure had its own risks, especially with Samara taking such an interest in what she was doing. The empress was no fool. Lyss had to make a show of competence, or risk ending up in that mob of bloodsworn, probably under Samara’s command. Nearly every night, she’d wake up, sweating, from that nightmare.
Still, it was so damned hard to do less than her best. Lyss had spent years assessing soldiers, making the most of their strengths, and working around their weaknesses. The more she worked with the empress’s army, the more she realized that what had worked well in the Fells didn’t apply here. She’d always used her soldiers as independent agents, capable of making their own decisions and strategy changes, even in the heat of battle. She had prioritized conserving and protecting her troops, since they were usually outnumbered by the southerners. With the exception of Queen Court and a few other battles, she had avoided confronting the enemy straight on. Her tactic of choice was a series of hit-and-run skirmishes that destroyed enemy morale and wore the enemy down. That had suited the soldiers she led in the terrain they were fighting in. Against overwhelming odds, it had kept Arden out of the north.
These troops had no fear of death, and felt no pain, so they had no need for a personal strategy of survival. They simply charged forward, howling, swinging their curved blades and cudgels, until they rode down the enemy or their horses were cut out from under them.
Lyss found herself constantly playing both sides, considering how to best use the assets she had, and how to best counter them in the field. This would be great preparation for fighting Celestine’s forces if she ever got the chance.
In the meantime, her training strategy gradually shifted, until she was no longer training an army that could succeed in the mountains of the Fells. Instead, she was doing her best to train an army that could succeed in the flatlands of Arden.
As she watched, a shadow passed across the parade ground. The horses panicked, rearing and screaming out a warning, dumping several riders to the ground. Lyss looked up, shading her eyes, and saw a winged creature swoop down toward the horses. Its leathery wings all but spanned the parade ground. It glittered in the sun, as if it were covered with blue, purple, and gold armor—or maybe jewels. It seized one of the horses, executed an awkward turn, and then, wings beating hard, it began to climb, heading out to sea again.
Swearing, Samara yanked his bow from his saddle boot and sent an arrow flying. He was a good shot—it pinged against the creature’s armor and fell into the water. Lyss watched the beast until it disappeared into the sun.
“Thrice-cursed dreki,” Samara spat. “That’s twice this week it’s gone after the horses.”
Turning her attention back to her troops, Lyss saw that one rider had taken a particularly bad spill. He stood, his foot at an impossible angle, and limped toward the barracks.
Lyss shuddered.
“Trust me, General, you feel it more than he does,” Tully Samara said. “You must develop a thicker skin.”
“If only we had bloodsworn horses,” Lyss said, shaking her head sadly, “and bloodsworn ships. We’d be unstoppable.”
Samara smiled thinly. “I understand that there are more of your countrymen on the way to join the bloodsworn. That should make you feel at home.” Having planted his daily thornbush, Samara heeled his horse and trotted away.
But even a thornbush grows a flower sometimes. And sometimes the loveliest flower has poison at its heart.
That afternoon, Lyss met with the empress on her pavilion by the sea. The empress’s current favorite, Tarek, was there, fanning her with a palm leaf and feeding her sugared grapes from a golden bowl. He was very young, extraordinarily handsome, and absolutely terrified.
“You should choose a lover, General,” Celestine said, licking sugar from her lips. “You are welcome to Tarek when I am finished with him.” She patted his cheek fondly.
Lyss’s cheeks heated. “No thank you, Your Eminence.”
“Would a girl suit you better?” The empress gestured toward a small group of maidservants sunning themselves on the cliffs nearby. “If none of them suit, we could go farther afield depending—”
“I’m . . . ah . . . really quite busy with . . . other things,” Lyss said.
“Too bad,” the empress said. “You’ve been working so hard, and I’ve been trying to think of a way to reward you.”
Lyss cleared her throat. “Your praise is all the reward I need, Empress.” And a promise that I won’t have to join your undead army.
“I think this will please you,” Celestine said. “You’ve been saying that you would like to have more officers to work with you in order to manage our numbers. Yet, as we’ve seen, the bloodsworn do not do well in a command position. So—I have a surprise for you.”
She clapped her hands, and her maidservant went into the palace, returning with a small group of battered-looking prisoners, most wearing bits and pieces of Highlander uniforms.
“These men claim that they were officers in your army, Captain,” the empress said, gesturing toward them. “Experienced at command of troops in the field. If you can persuade them to serve me without joining my bloodsworn, I will let them live.”