Free Bran Mak Morn: The Last King by Robert E. Howard, Gary Gianni Page A

slope.� There the Pict pointed. They were looking down into a valley which ran north and south, widening from a narrow gorge in the north until it debouched upon a plain to the south. The whole valley was less than a mile in length.
    �p this valley will our foes come,�said the Pict, �ecause they have wagons loaded with supplies and on all sides of this vale the ground is too rough for such travel. Here we plan an ambush.� � would have thought you would have had your men lying in wait long before now,�said Kull. �hat of the scouts the enemy is sure to send out?� �he savages I lead would never have waited in ambush so long,�said Bran with a touch of bitterness. � could not post them until I was sure of the Northmen. Even so I had not dared to post them ere now �even yet they may take panic from the drifting of a cloud or the blowing of a leaf, and scatter like birds before a cold wind. King Kull �the fate of the Pictish nation is at stake. I am called king of the Picts, but my rule as yet is but a hollow mockery. The hills are full of wild clans who refuse to fight for me. Of the thousand bowmen now at my command, more than half are of my own clan.
    �ome eighteen hundred Romans are marching against us. It is not a real invasion, but much hinges upon it. It is the beginning of an attempt to extend their boundaries. They plan to build a fortress a day� march to the north of this valley. If they do, they will build other forts, drawing bands of steel about the heart of the free people. If I win this battle and wipe out this army, I will win a double victory. Then the tribes will flock to me and the next invasion will meet a solid wall of resistance. If I lose, the clans will scatter, fleeing into the north until they can no longer flee, fighting as separate clans rather than as one strong nation.
    � have a thousand archers, five hundred horsemen, fifty chariots with their drivers and swordsmen �one hundred fifty men in all �and, thanks to you, three hundred heavily armed Northern pirates. How would you arrange your battle lines?� �ell,�said Kull, � would have barricaded the north end of the valley �no! That would suggest a trap. But I would block it with a band of desperate men, like those you have given me to lead. Three hundred could hold the gorge for a time against any number. Then, when the enemy was engaged with these men to the narrow part of the valley, I would have my archers shoot down into them until their ranks are broken, from both sides of the vale. Then, having my horsemen concealed behind one ridge and my chariots behind the other, I would charge with both simultaneously and sweep the foe into a red ruin.� Bran� eyes glowed. �xactly, king of Valusia. Such was my exact plan � � �ut what of the scouts?� �y warriors are like panthers; they hide under the noses of the Romans. Those who ride into the valley will see only what we wish them to see. Those who ride over the ridge will not come back to report. An arrow is swift and silent.
    �ou see that the pivot of the whole thing depends on the men that hold the gorge. They must be men who can fight on foot and resist the charges of the heavy legionaries long enough for the trap to close. Outside these Northmen I had no such force of men. My naked warriors with their short swords could never stand such a charge for an instant. Nor is the armor of the Celts made for such work; moreover, they are not foot-fighters, and I need them elsewhere.
    �o you see why I had such desperate need of the Northmen. Now will you stand in the gorge with them and hold back the Romans until I can spring the trap? Remember, most of you will die.� Kull smiled. � have taken chances all my life, though Tu, chief councillor, would say my life belongs to Valusia and I have no right to so risk it � �His voice trailed off and a strange look flitted across his face. �y Valka,�said he, laughing uncertainly, �ometimes I