you assess them as cavalry or infantry?”
“Cavalry,” Thirrin answered firmly. But neither she nor Tharaman would be drawn out any further on the subject.
Over the next few days, Thirrin’s head spun as she attended meetings and training sessions and discussed logistics and troop movements. Hardly an hour passed when she wasn’t involved in one military problem or another, from overseeing the construction of new ballistas to the best method of transporting rockapults. But overall, the training was running with a precision that was almost faultless.
Then, one fine crisp morning, she and the Thar rode out of the city and onto the wide plain. Already waiting were the Snow Leopard army and a large contingent of the best cavalry selected from regiments of both the Icemark and the Hypolitan. The troopers had wisely led their horses to stand at a wide distance downwind of the leopards, but even so, many were shying and whickering nervously.
Thirrin, as usual, was being drawn in her sleigh by her werewolf guard, but when she and Tharaman had reached a point equidistant from the two blocs of warriors, she climbed out and sent it back to the city.
The young Queen gave a signal, and a squire led out her charger. She walked slowly to greet him, calling his name and reassuring him as he walked over the snow. When he reached her, she took the reins from the squire, and the huge stallion nuzzled her. After she’d fed him an apple, she led him over to Tharaman-Thar, who quietly watched their approach.
“So these are the creatures you call horses,” the King of the Leopards said. “They seem unsteady and easily frightened to me.”
Stroking the proudly arching neck of her horse, Thirrin said, “This is Osdred, my charger. The cavalry of the Icemark broke the massed ranks of the werewolves at the Battle of the Wolfrocks and has driven the Corsairs back into the sea. But, yes, horses can be easily frightened and sometimes easily driven off. A trained cavalry mount is a different thing, though. Wait, I’ll show you….” She climbed nimbly into the saddle and, standing in the stirrups, she drew her sword and gave the war shout of the House of Strong-in-the-Arm. Immediately the stallion screamed a fierce challenge and reared, lashing out with its forelegs.
The Thar nodded slowly, but said nothing.
“Growl at him, challenge him,” Thirrin called. “Pretend to attack him.”
Tharaman roared deafeningly and reared up on his hind legs. The stallion leaped forward, snorting, and fearlessly followed Thirrin’s commands as she wheeled in close to the Snow Leopard, whirling around him and feinting thrusts and hacks with her saber.
She drew back and waited for the Thar’s reaction. He sat in thought for a moment, before saying, “A strange beast of contradictions. Gentle warriors: eaters of grass and yet the hearts of hunters. Let me see what else horses can do.”
Thirrin nodded, then cantered back to the regiment of cavalry, who had watched the first meeting of horse and Snow Leopard with interest. She gave a sudden great shout and the troopers swept forward in a charge, across the snows to where the leopards stood waiting. Holding their line, the giant cats roared as the cavalry approached, but then at the last moment the horses turned aside, following Thirrin’s pointing saber as she led them in a long, swerving arc back to where the Thar sat apart, quietly watching.
“Enough,” said the King of the Leopards. “Your horses are warriors indeed, and I and my army will be proud to call your cavalry comrades.”
Thirrin nodded and smiled, then she dismounted and began to discuss training methods with the Thar.
For the rest of the day each trooper’s mount was introduced to the leopards and, under instruction from Thirrin, the huge cats breathed into the nostrils of the horses in a display of friendship. Then, as the short winter day was drawing to a close, she began to put her plan into action, creating a line of cavalry that alternated between horse and cat across a wide line. Any enemy they charged would face a deadly combination of lance, saber, tooth, and claw.
As the sun stained the snow a vivid crimson, Thirrin and the Thar urged forward the first canter of the new cavalry. Gradually they raised the pace until they were thundering across the snows at full gallop, the Snow Leopards letting out a strange coughing bark of challenge and the horses neighing, while the troopers sang the paean, or battle song, of the Icemark.
Thirrin