Wood Magic: A Fable
The difficulty in the case of the camp was that amidst the trees the
assailants would suffer as much loss from crushing and confusion as
would be inflicted upon the enemy. It was impossible, when once
involved in a forest conflict, to know which way the issue was tending.
The battle became split up into a thousand individual combats,
discipline was of no avail, no officer could survey the scene or direct
the movements, and a panic at any moment was only too probable. On the
other hand, the division of Tu Kiu offered itself for annihilation. It
was not only several miles distant from the main body, but a range of
hills between prevented all view, and obstructed communication. There
was a route by which the plain could be approached, through a narrow
valley well sheltered with woods, which would screen the advancing
troops from sight, and enable them to debouch at once into the midst of
the invaders. Without doubt, thus suddenly attacked, Tu Kiu must give
way; should victory declare for them decisively, it was easy to foretell
what would happen. Tu Kiu falling back in disorder would confuse the
regiments of Choo Hoo coming to his assistance, a panic would arise, and
the incredible host of the barbarians would encumber each other's
flight.
Kapchack listened to the Khan with the deepest attention, approved of
all he had put forward, and gave the order to attack Tu Kiu.
Without a sound--for Ah Kurroo had strictly enjoined silence, lest the
unusual noise should betray that something was intended--the legions
fell into rank, and at the word of command, suppressing even the shout
of joy which they wished so much to utter, moved in a dense column to
the southwards. Kapchack, with his guards behind him, and Ah Kurroo
Khan at his side, led the van.
The Khan secretly congratulated himself as he flew upon his
extraordinary good fortune, that he should thus enter the field of
battle unhampered with any restrictions, and without the useless and
unpleasant companionship of a political officer, appointed by the
council of his nation. Well he knew that had Kapchack given the least
notice of his intention, the rook council would have assembled and held
interminable discussions upon the best method of carrying out the
proposed object, ending, as usual, with a vote in which mere numbers
prevailed, without any reference to reason or experience, and with the
appointment of a state official to overlook the conduct of the general,
and to see that he did not arrogate too much to himself.
Thus in fact the rooks were accustomed to act, lest a commander should
become too victorious. They liked indeed to win, and to destroy the
enemy, and to occupy his territory, but they did not like all this to be
accomplished by one man, but the rather, at the very zenith of his fame,
provided him with an opportunity for disgracing himself, so that another
might take his place and divide the glory. Ah Kurroo knew all this;
imagine, then, his joy that Kapchack without calling parliament together
had come direct to the camp, and ordered an immediate advance. Himself
choosing the route, trusting to no guides, not even to his own
intelligence department, Ah Kurroo pointed the way, and the legions
with steady and unvarying flight followed their renowned commander.
The noise of their wings resounded, the air was oppressed with their
weight and the mighty mass in motion. Then did Kapchack indeed feel
himself every feather a king. He glanced back--he could not see the
rear-guard, so far did the host extend. His heart swelled with pride and
eagerness for the fight. Now quitting the plain, they wound by a devious
route through the hills--the general's object being to so manage the
march that none of them should appear above the ridges. The woods upon
the slopes concealed their motions, and the advance was executed without
the least delay, though so great was their length in this extended order
that when the head of the column entered the plain beyond, the
rear-guard had not reached the hills behind. This rendered their front
extremely narrow, but Ah Kurroo, pausing when he had gone half-a-mile
into the plain, and when the enemy were already in sight, and actually
beneath them, ordered the leading ranks to beat time with their wings,
while their comrades came up.
Thus, in a few minutes, the place where the narrow valley debouched into
the hill-surrounded plain, was darkened with the deploying rooks.
Kapchack, while waiting, saw beneath him the hurrying squadrons of Tu
Kiu. From the cut corn, from the stubble, from the furrows (where
already the plough had begun its work), from the green roots and second
crops of clover, from the slopes of the hills around, and the distant
ridges, the alarmed warriors were crowding to their standards.
While peacefully foraging, happy in the sunshine and the abundance of
food, without a thought of war and war's hazards, they suddenly found
themselves exposed, all unprepared, to the fell assault of their black
and mortal enemies. The sky above them seemed darkened with the legions,
the hoarse shouts of command as the officers deployed their ranks, the
beating of the air, struck them with terror. Some, indeed, overwhelmed
with affright, cowered on the earth; a few of the outlying bands, who
had wandered farthest, turned tail and fled over the ridges. But the
majority, veterans in fight, though taken aback, and fully recognising
the desperate circumstances under which they found themselves, hastened
with all speed towards Tu Kiu, whose post was in a hedge, in which stood
three low ash-trees by a barn. This was about the centre of the plain,
and thither the squadrons and companies hurried, hoarsely shouting for
their general.
Tu Kiu, undismayed, and brave as became the son and heir of the mighty
Emperor Choo Hoo, made the greatest efforts to get them into some kind
of array and order. Most fell into rank of their own accord from long
use and habit, but the misfortune was that no sooner had one regiment
formed than fresh arrivals coming up threw all into disorder again. The
crowd, the countless multitude overwhelmed itself; the air was filled,
the earth covered, they struck against each other, and Tu Kiu, hoarse
with shouting, was borne down, and the branch of ash upon which he
stood broken with the weight of his own men. He struggled, he called, he
cried; his voice was lost in the din and clangour.
Ah Kurroo Khan, soaring with Kapchack, while the legions deployed,
marked the immense confusion of the enemy's centre. He seized the
moment, gave the command, and in one grand charge the whole army bore
swiftly down upon Tu Kiu. Kapchack himself could scarce keep pace with
the increasing velocity of the charge; he was wrapped, as it were,
around with the dense and serried ranks, and found himself hurled in a
moment into the heart of the fight. Fight, indeed, it could not be
called.
The solid phalanx of the rooks swept through the confused multitude
before them, by their mere momentum cutting it completely in two, and
crushing innumerable combatants underneath. In a minute, in less than a
minute, the mighty host of Tu Kiu, the flower of Choo Hoo's army, was
swept from the earth. He himself, wounded and half-stunned by the shock,
was assisted from the scene by the unwearied efforts of his personal
attendants.
Each tried to save himself regardless of the rest; the oldest veteran,
appalled by such utter defeat, could not force himself to turn again and
gather about the leaders. One mass of fugitives filled the air; the
slopes of the hills were covered with them. Still the solid phalanx of
Kapchack pressed their rear, pushing them before it.
Tu Kiu, who, weary and faint, had alighted for a moment upon an ancient
grass-grown earthwork--a memorial of former wars--which crowned a hill,
found it necessary to again flee with his utmost speed, lest he should
be taken captive.
It was now that the genius of Ah Kurroo Khan showed itself in its most
brilliant aspect. Kapchack, intoxicated with battle, hurried the legions
on to the slaughter--it was only by personal interference that the Khan
could restrain the excited king. Ah Kurroo, calm and far-seeing in the
very moment of victory, restrained the legions, held them in, and not
without immense exertion succeeded in checking the pursuit, and
retaining the phalanx in good order. To follow a host so completely
routed was merely to slay the slain, and to waste the strength that
might profitably be employed elsewhere. He conjectured that so soon as
ever the news reached Choo Hoo, the emperor, burning with indignation,
would arouse his camp, call his army together, and without waiting to
rally Tu Kiu's division, fly immediately to retrieve this unexpected
disaster. Thus, the victors must yet face a second enemy, far more
numerous than the first, under better generalship, and prepared for the
conflict.
Ah Kurroo was, even now, by no means certain of the ultimate result. The
rooks, indeed, were flushed with success, and impelled with all the
vigour of victory; their opponents, however brave, must in some degree
feel the depression attendant upon serious loss. But the veterans with
Choo Hoo not only outnumbered them, and could easily outflank or
entirely surround, but would also be under the influence of his personal
leadership. They looked upon Choo Hoo, not as their king, or their
general only, but as their prophet, and thus the desperate valour of
fanaticism must be reckoned in addition to their natural courage.
Instead, therefore, of relying simply upon force, Ah Kurroo, even in the
excitement of the battle, formed new schemes, and aimed to out-general
the emperor.
He foresaw that Choo Hoo would at once march to the attack, and would
come straight as a line to the battle-field. His plan was to wheel
round, and, making a detour, escape the shock of Choo Hoo's army for the
moment, and while Choo Hoo was looking for the legions that had
overthrown his son, to fall upon and occupy his undefended camp. He was
in hopes that when the barbarians found their rear threatened, and their
camp in possession of the enemy, a panic would seize upon them.
Kapchack, when he had a little recovered from the frenzy of the fray,
fully concurred, and without a minute's delay Ah Kurroo proceeded to
carry out this strategical operation. He drew off the legions for some
distance by the same route they had come, and then, considering that he
had gone far enough to avoid Choo Hoo, turned sharp to the left, and
flew straight for the emperor's camp, sheltered from view on the side
towards it by a wood, and in front by an isolated hill, also crowned
with trees. Once over that hill, and Choo Hoo's camp must inevitably
fall into their hands. With swift, steady flight, the dark legions
approached the hill, and were now within half-a-mile of it, when to Ah
Kurroo's surprise and mortification the van-guard of Choo Hoo appeared
above it, advancing directly upon them.
When the fugitives from the field of battle reached Choo Hoo, he could
at first scarce restrain his indignation, for he had deemed the treaty
in full force; he exclaimed against the perfidy of a Power which called
itself civilised and reproached his host as barbarians, yet thus
violated its solemn compacts. But recognising the gravity of the
situation, and that there was no time to waste in words, he gave orders
for the immediate assembly of his army, and while the officers carried
out his command flew to a lofty fir to consider a few moments alone upon
the course he should take.
He quickly decided that to attempt to rally Tu Kiu's division would be
in vain; he did not even care to protect its retreat, for as it had been
taken so unawares, it must suffer the penalty of indiscretion. To march