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

riders brought their muskets to their shoulders and fire and smoke spouted from their weapons. As the riders turned to retreat, Acheron's men fired.
    Acheron's bullet found its mark in the middle of a man's forehead. Blood and brains sprayed. The men around him recoiled.
    Acheron tucked himself behind the boulder and reached into his pouch for another round, but his fingers came up empty. He leaned his rifle against the boulder and pried the pouch open with both hands, but found nothing.
    "Ammunition!" he heard a voice shout. Others joined; his men were out of rounds. Across the valley, the regiment was withdrawing.
    "Withdraw!" Acheron ordered, and his trumpeter blew the command to fall back. The sound was terribly muffled by the ringing in his right ear.
    As he hustled toward the hilltop, Acheron tried to find a way to continue the fight. His supply trains would be half a day away if they managed to keep pace.
    Without the support of the rifles on the flank, the cavalry would not be able to mount their raids without taking heavier casualties. When the Chesians started pushing back up the valley, they would be able to do so without concern for their flanks or how close they were pressed to the hillsides.
    He glanced down at the valley floor and the thought came to him. There were thousands of bodies littered across the valley floor. Their muskets were with them: clutched in cold, dead hands or sprawled beside the corpse of their owner. The weapons would not be as effective as the rifles, but they would be better than nothing if the Chesians pushed up the hillsides.
    As he started down the outside of the hills, Acheron's breath caught.
    "Messenger!" he shouted.
     
    ***
    *Vladik*
     
    The rain had quickly become the bane of his existence, Vladik decided. What should have been a four hour sprint to the valley had devolved into movement barely faster than a crawl. It had been four hours since the messenger had returned with word that Dmitri Vallas' forces had been ambushed in the valley ahead of them, and Vladik's forces had covered barely half of the distance.
    Their packs had become unbearable and soldiers were falling faster from heat stress than they would have at the receiving end of Jarin volleys.
    The once solid road had turned to mud, and not the regular kind of mud. No, this was more like brown glue. Men lost boots, horses had lost shoes, and the wagons were completely immobilized.
    "Can this day get any worse?" Vladik muttered to himself.
    His four divisions wouldn't reach the valley before sundown, and the rain showed no sign of stopping. Lightning flashed from horizon to horizon and thick black clouds blocked out what would have been left of the sunlight. If they didn't stop now, they would never be able to get their tents assembled fast enough to provide them cover from the night's storm.
    "Call a stop," Vladik ordered at last. The trumpeter hesitated. "Damn it, boy, call a stop."
    "Yes, sir," the boy said. He brought his trumpet to his lips and sounded four long, low blasts. Trumpeters along the column echoed the call and soldiers sat down where they were, mud and rain and all.
    Vladik's generals were quickly upon him as a trio of men struggled against wind and rain to set up the commander's tent. Vladik could see, even in the dying light, that they were soaked from head to toe.
    "We're not going any further, generals," Vladik said as he dismounted. A private took the reins to his horse and led the beast away. "The rain is too thick, the mud is impossible to march through, and the light is dying. We will wait until morning to continue."
    "But General Vallas--"
    "General Vallas has a full division of Dragon's Teeth at his command, and he is in a snake pit of his own making. We will continue the march in the morning," Vladik said. His voice made it clear that he would hear no further argument on the matter.
    When the tent was finally raised, Vladik ducked inside and pulled off his jacket. The ground was muddy and the