Chapter 42: The First Battle
On the eighteenth day of the Self-Defense Force's training, Gray Bone brought news.
"Mountain bandits spotted southeast of the city. Around thirty men. Camped beside the dry riverbed. Less than a day's march from Water City." He crouched on the ground and used a branch to scratch a rough map in the dirt. "There's also a den of Thorn Wolves nearby. Twenty-some heads. Less than a mile from the bandit camp."
Violet crouched down and studied the rough map. "Do the bandits know the wolves are nearby?"
"They know. They chose their camp well. Back against a stone slope. Open ground in front. The wolves can't cross the open ground. And if the bandits need to run, they can run north."
"Will they run?"
"Bandits aren't stupid. They know Water City has a Self-Defense Force. They know Water City has water. They're camped here not to raid. To scout. Testing whether Water City can be hit."
Violet traced her finger on the rough map from Water City to the bandit camp, then from the bandit camp to the Thorn Wolf den. "If we hit the wolves first, the bandits will run. If we hit the bandits first, the wolves will bite from behind. If we split our forces, the Self-Defense Force only has fifty people. Not enough to split."
Gray Bone stabbed the branch into the dirt. "How do we fight it then?"
"Fight them together."
Violet stood and turned toward the training ground. "Fall in."
Fifty people came running from every corner of the training ground. Some had been practicing thrusts. Some had been drilling formations. Some had been sharpening blades. Gray Bone stood at the very front. Finn stood beside him. Darryl leaned against the city wall, long blade cradled in his arms. He didn't come over, but his spot was empty. He could hear.
"Mountain bandits spotted southeast of the city. Around thirty. There's also a Thorn Wolf den nearby. Around twenty heads." Violet's voice wasn't loud, but every person heard it. "Today is not training. Today is war."
Someone swallowed. Someone's grip tightened on their blade. Someone glanced at the person beside them. Finn's face was a little pale, but his jaw was clenched tight. He didn't step back half an inch.
"How do we fight?" Gray Bone asked.
"Gray Bone, take First Squad and press straight in from the front. Don't charge. Just press. Let them see you. Let them know Water City has come. Finn, take Second Squad and circle around from the left to the back of the wolf den. Drive the wolves toward the bandit camp. Ak, take Third Squad—the wolf squad—and flank from the right. When the bandits see the wolves, they'll run north for sure. North is the stone slope. Can't climb it. They'll have to go east. East is the dry riverbed. At the end of the riverbed is a cliff."
"Drive them to the cliff?" Finn asked.
"Drive them to the cliff. Then—Gray Bone presses in and pins them at the cliff's edge. Those who want to live put down their blades. Those who don't want to live jump."
The training ground went quiet. No one swallowed. No one glanced at the person beside them. Everyone was looking at her.
"Any questions?" Violet asked.
No one spoke.
"Move out."
The force moved out at dusk. Fifty people. Ten wolves. Violet rode at the very front. Gray Ear ran beside her horse. His gray fur gleamed dark red in the sunset light. They traveled about two hours. The sky went fully dark. In the distance, firelight appeared. The bandit camp.
Violet reined in her horse and dismounted. "Gray Bone. Your squad takes the front. No torches. Move in the dark. Once in position, light up."
Gray Bone nodded. He led his twenty-man First Squad into the darkness.
"Finn. Your squad comes with me."
Finn led his fifteen-man Second Squad behind Violet. They crept along the north bank of the dry riverbed toward the wolf den. The den sat beside a dry tributary. The burrow entrance faced south. Its back against a low cliff. Violet crouched atop the low cliff and looked down. In the moonlight, the burrow mouth was pitch black. Impossible to see how many heads were inside. But she smelled the rank stench. Thick. Heavy.
"Is Ak's wolf squad in position?" She asked low.
Ak's voice came from the other side of the low cliff. "In position. Black Stone is here. Gray Ear's pup too."
"Your wolves smell the wolf stench. Are they unsettled?"
"No. Ice wolves don't fear Thorn Wolves."
Violet pulled a small cloth pouch from inside her coat. The sleeping drug given by the Shadow Clan shaman. She handed the pouch to Finn. "Take your people to the downwind side and blow the powder in. Half a cup of tea's time, the wolves inside should be dazed. Dazed but not down. You drive them up the low cliff. We receive them here."
Finn's hands were shaking. He took the pouch and looked at her.
"Afraid?" Violet asked.
"Not afraid." His voice was shaking too.
"Go even if afraid."
Finn clenched his jaw and led his people down. Violet lay at the edge of the low cliff and watched his figure vanish into the darkness. They waited about a cup of tea's time. A low howl came from inside the wolf den. Not a warning. A muddled, dazed howl. They waited another moment. The first wolf stumbled out of the burrow mouth. Took two steps. Its legs went weak. Collapsed to the ground. The second. The third. The fourth. Nineteen in total. One less than Gray Bone's count.
Violet had no time to think about the missing one. She stood and raised her torch. "Drive!"
Below the low cliff, Finn's people raised their torches and drove upward. The dazed wolves climbed the low cliff. Halfway up, Violet's people blocked them with long spears. No way back. Only up. One. Two. Three. All nineteen driven atop the low cliff.
"Kill." Violet's voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard it.
The Self-Defense Force killed live wolves for the first time. Not straw targets. Not bound ones. Live wolves. Wolves that struggled. Wolves that bit. The first wolf took Tor's long blade through the throat. Blood burst out and splashed across his face. He froze for one second. Then pulled out his blade and went for the second. The third wolf took Finn's wooden stake through the throat. His hand slipped. The stake didn't pull out. He stepped back half a pace and watched the wolf thrashing on the ground. He stepped forward again and stomped the stake deeper into the earth. Pierced it through.
Nineteen wolves. Seventeen killed. Two jumped off the other side of the low cliff. Broke their legs. Ak's Black Stone chased them down and killed them.
Violet stood atop the low cliff. Her hands were covered in blood. Not hers. She had killed four. One with a blade. Three with a wooden stake. The stake had snapped. She threw it aside and switched to a short blade.
"How is Gray Bone's side?" She asked.
The runner Gray Bone had sent was drenched in sweat. "Pinned them. They saw the torches over here at the wolf den. Panicked. Tried to run. Found north was the stone slope. East was the dry riverbed. Finn's people have already flanked east."
"Move."
By the time Violet led her people to the bandit camp, Gray Bone's squad had surrounded most of it. The bandits were trapped inside the camp. Some gripped their blades. Some knelt on the ground. Some huddled behind tents, trembling. The lead bandit was a large-bearded man. A wolf head tattooed on his chest. Not a Thorn Wolf. An ice wolf. Violet glanced at Ak. Ak shook his head. Not Ice Wolf Clan.
"Put down your blades." Violet said.
The large-bearded man didn't move.
"Put down your blades. Live. Don't put them down. Die."
The large-bearded man tightened his grip on his blade. "You're that woman who gives away water?"
"I am."
"You, a woman, can fight?"
Violet walked over. Gray Ear walked beside her. A low rumble came from his throat. The large-bearded man saw Gray Ear. His face changed.
"Your people killed our wolves?" He asked.
"Your people? That den of Thorn Wolves was raised by you?"
"Not raised. But with the wolves here, we were safe. Without the wolves, we're in danger."
Violet looked at him. "You raised the wolves. The wolves raised you. The wolves are dead. You living is useless too."
The large-bearded man's hands trembled. "You—"
"Put down your blade."
The large-bearded man's blade dropped. Not put down. His hands shook too hard to hold it.
Thirty bandits. Eleven bound. Nineteen fled. The direction they fled was the dry riverbed. Toward the cliff. Violet didn't pursue. Men with broken legs couldn't run far anyway.
The sky was nearly light. The Self-Defense Force was clearing the battlefield. Gathering blades. Gathering spears. Turning over tents. Searching for grain stores. Finn ran over, a sack of dry rations in his hands. "They stored a lot of grain. Enough for two months."
"Anything else?"
"A few sacks of salt. Several bundles of hides. Several good blades." Finn paused. "Blades forged by the blacksmith. Ironwood markings on them."
Violet's eyes narrowed. The blacksmith's blades. Flowed out from Ironwood. Not bought. Stolen. Or robbed. She took those blades from Finn's hands and looked at the markings on the hilts. Said nothing.
By the time they returned to Water City, the sky was fully bright. The city gate was packed with people. Water haulers. Stone movers. Patrols. All stopped to watch the Self-Defense Force return. Fifty people. Ten wolves. Dragging nineteen wolf carcasses and eleven bound bandits.
"They won?" Someone shouted.
"They won!" Finn's voice was sharp and bright.
A cheer rose from the crowd. But Violet didn't dismount. She rode through the crowd on her horse and didn't get down until she reached the granary door. She untied the blades with the Ironwood markings from her saddle and handed them to Gray Bone.
"The blacksmith's blades. Go ask who stole them."
Gray Bone took the blades and nodded.
Night. Violet sat on the steps outside her small house. Moon Silver lay in her arms, suckling goat's milk. She had made a teat from soft leather, dipped in goat's milk, and fed it. It suckled hard. Its small belly swelled round. Gray Ear lay at her feet. Dried blood still on his nose. Not his. Wolf blood.
Leon walked over and sat beside her. He looked at her hand. A gash on the back of her hand from a wolf's fang. She had stitched it herself. The stitches were rough.
"You're hurt."
"Not deep."
"You stitched it?"
"Stitched it."
"The stitches are too rough."
"As long as it holds."
Leon pulled a roll of clean bandage from inside his coat. Took her hand. Removed the stitches she had done herself. Stitched it again. His fingers were steady. The stitches far finer than hers. Finished, he tied a knot. Very tight. Wouldn't come loose.
"When did you learn this?" Violet asked.
"Gray Rock people can do anything."
Violet looked down at her hand. The bandage was wrapped neatly. White. Very clean in the moonlight. She pulled her hand back and placed it on her knee.
"The Self-Defense Force fought well today." She said.
"You commanded well."
"Some were afraid."
"Afraid is normal. Not afraid would be abnormal."
"Finn was afraid. His hands were shaking the whole time."
"But he didn't run."
Violet looked at Moon Silver in her arms. Moon Silver was full. Curled into a ball of fur. Silver-gray fur gleaming in the moonlight. Its eyes still not open, but it could crawl now.
"Leon."
"Yes."
"You didn't go today."
"You didn't need me to go."
"And if I did need you?"
Leon looked at her. The moonlight caught in his amber slit pupils. Brightened a moment. Then dimmed. "When you're here, I won't be absent. When you're not here, I'll be here too."
Violet said nothing. She pulled her coat tighter. The old one. The one Leon had stitched. The wind blew through the gorge. Cold. But the coat was warm.
In the distance, the sound of stones being moved stopped. The wall was fully built.
"Tomorrow the wall gets its cap beam." Leon said. "Gray Bone said for you to come look."
"Look at what?"
"See if the beam is straight."
"What if it's crooked?"
"Tear it down and rebuild."
The corner of Violet's mouth lifted. She stood and carried Moon Silver inside. Placed it in its nest. Gray Ear followed and lay down in the doorway. She closed the door and blew out the lamp.
In the darkness, Moon Silver turned over in its nest. Gray Ear's tail swept once across the floor. The eggshell's light had gone out. The shell had shattered. Moon Silver had nosed the pieces apart. She hadn't cleaned it up.
She closed her eyes. Today they had killed nineteen wolves. Captured eleven bandits. The Self-Defense Force's first battle. No one died.
Enough.
Tomorrow there would be more to do.
---
End of Chapter Forty-Two
The next day, Gray Bone led men to skin the nineteen wolves. The meat was cut into strips and hung on the city wall to dry. The wolf pelts were stacked high in a corner of the salt store. Finn crouched beside them, counting. Nineteen pelts. Tor walked over. His hand was still wrapped in the cloth torn by the wolf's fang the day before. He looked at the wolf pelts and said, "She really can fight." No one beside him disagreed.
Astrid came in the afternoon. A ledger in her hand. Her face drawn long. "You're training fifty people and they eat half a cart of grain a day. You killed nineteen wolves. Wolf meat is edible. But that wolf you're keeping and that child eat more than people do. If you keep spending at this rate, Water City won't last two months." Violet took the ledger, flipped through it, and closed it. "Then we last two months. When the beast tide comes, we won't need to last anymore."