The cleanup took an hour. Two soldiers had been hurt — one in the fighting, one from spraining his ankle in the excitement — and both would march tomorrow. The enemy's supplies had been redistributed, the prisoners secured, and the hooked glaives cleaned with the methodical care that Rein insisted on and that Evan had backed quietly, because weapons maintained were weapons that worked.
The Squire Knight — his name was from the barony of Baron Eaton, a subordinate of Earl Eward, and he cooperated without much prompting, as Squire Knights were entitled to ransom and he understood his situation — provided the information Evan had been looking for: Baron Eaton's main force, approximately sixty men, was operating in the area. A separate cavalry contingent of roughly fifteen knights had been detached and wasn't currently with him.
Sixty against twenty-four. With cavalry available to Eaton and none on their side.
Felix looked at the map. "We go around him."
"That's the obvious move," Evan agreed. Then he looked at the map for a while longer.
"You're thinking something else," Rein said.
"I'm thinking that Count Rein is losing ground and needs something to stop the momentum." Evan didn't look up from the map. "A story about a small force that caught a superior one and broke it would do more than twice the number of battlefield kills."
Felix was quiet for a moment. "We'd be going into a fight that's one against three, with their cavalry available and ours absent."
"Yes."
"That's not a plan, that's a wish."
"Show me the terrain."
Bess produced the area maps — rough but adequate for his purpose. Evan studied them for a long time without speaking. The map showed what he needed: a valley with steep sides, forested slopes, and a strip of tall dry grass along the valley floor. It was autumn. The grass wouldn't catch easily, but with preparation it would burn.
He pointed. "Here."
He laid out the concept. They would reach the valley first, set the grass, position the unit at the far end, and let the fire do the dividing work. The cavalry, if it arrived, would be unable to charge across burning ground. The foot soldiers, routed from their formation by the fire and the smoke, would be manageable.
Rein said, without heat: "This isn't knightly conduct."
"Neither was what Earl Eward's people were doing to the villages they passed through." Evan looked at him. "Charlemagne, building the Prime Church's dominion — did he observe knightly conduct with the Gaosha people? Emperor Kaelon, expanding the borders — did he observe it with the peoples he conquered?" He named the two most celebrated founders in the Church's history, both of whom had built their reputations on campaigns that the histories had cleaned up considerably.
Felix didn't quite laugh, but the corner of his mouth moved. "If we win, who asks how?"
"Nobody," Evan said. "That's the point."
Rein still looked uncomfortable, but he was listening.