The Chesian Wars (A Griffins & Gunpowder Collection) Read Online Free PDF Page A

supposed that it was only his cousin's position as the General of the Northern Imperial Army that had prevented one Vladik Ortoff from losing his position in light of the opposition he had so publicly voiced when the idea of invading Jarin and Malkala had been raised.
    "Return to your men, generals," Vladik ordered and waved at the trumpeter. The boy sounded the advance, at the double time, and the column began to move again.
    Pans and equipment clanged on the men’s backs as the first of Vladik’s regiments passed. They were trained to march at the double time for more than three hours at a time, with full packs, but they would be exhausted when they arrived.
    The first drops of rain began to fall and Vladik cursed his luck. A four-hour sprint to reinforce Dmitri would have been hard enough in the direct sunlight and scalding heat; rain would make the ground soft and the air thick. The soldiers' packs and uniforms would absorb the raid and become heavier and harder to move in.
    All because that idiot thought he wouldn't see a Jarin until we reached the city, Vladik thought as he nudged his horse to a trot.
    If there was one downfall of the Dragon's Teeth, it was their over-confidence. The Grobani forces had seen so many victories that they couldn't remember a defeat. They believed that no one would stand in front of them and that those who did would be cut down without incident. Even the most mediocre commander in any other division would have known to have scouts deployed, especially marching into a narrow valley. A single brigade would have been able to hold the Chesians at bay if they had enough time to entrench and knew that their enemy was coming.
    Vladik wondered how many of Dmitri's troops had died already, and how many would be left when his forces finally arrived.
     
    ***
    *Acheron*
     
    It was three hours past midday when the rain started, both a blessing and a curse. The storm would flood the stream at the center of the valley and force the Chesians to places where their movement was more limited. The mud would be hard to move in and would weigh down the horses.
    But it would also make it difficult for his men to reload and fire. Their muskets required a dash of powder to be poured into the pan at the base of the hammer to ignite the charge inside the barrel. Wet powder didn't burn. On the other hand, the as long as the Chesians didn’t have percussion cap muskets, they too would experience the problem.
    His scouts reported that they had cut down a third of the enemy forces and the rest were cowering far enough from his trenches that his main force would be ineffective. Acheron had passed orders to his commanders that the soldiers were not to leave the trenches under any circumstances. Leaving the trenches would strip those soldiers of the only advantage they had against the more numerous Chesians.
    Acheron had ordered his mounted troops to harass the Chesians instead, with support from his flanking regiments. His skirmishers had moved further away from the valley's mouth and were perched amongst the boulders in a particularly rocky part of the valley. They were at the very outside of their range, nearly four hundred yards away from the Chesians, but they would be safe from any retaliatory fire from the muskets below.
    Acheron hunched behind a particularly large boulder and leveled his rifle on the swarm of humanity huddled in the center of the valley. The stream was flooding, and each foot the Chesians were forced away from the stream was a foot closer they were forced toward the riflemen on the ridges. Some of the Chesians tried to hide behind the bodies of their fallen comrades; others found shelter among the boulders that littered the valley. Many pushed back against their fellows, trying to force their lines away from the Jarins.
    A movement to the north caught his eye; another charge by his riders. The horses found sure footing despite the mud and the bodies that lay strewn about the valley floor. Their