Advance and Retreat — Harry Turtledove

THE NORTH SHALL RISE AGAIN!

When Avram became King of Detina, he declared he intended to liberate the blond serfs from their ties to the land. This noble assertion immediately plunged the kingdom into a civil war that would prove long and bloody, and set brother against brother. The northern provinces, dependent on their serf's labor, seceded, choosing Avram's cousin, Grand Duke Geoffrey, as their king. To save the kingdom, Avram sent armies clad in gray against the slave-holding North, battling Geoffrey's army, arrayed in blue.

Though King Avram held more land and wealth than Geoffrey, Geoffrey's men were better soldiers and the North had better and more powerful wizards. Still, as the war raged on, greater population and superior organization began to tell and the tide turned against the North.

Even so, the war is far from over. The South still faces two formidable leaders: General Bell, whose loss of a leg has only strengthened his resolve, and Ned of the Forest, whose unicorn riders are the most dangerous force on the Northern side. And though the Southern sorcerers have become more adept at war spells, use of sorcery is unpredictable--as the North learned earlier when its forces held an almost impregnable position, but retreated in terror when an overconfident sorcerer's spell went awry.

Though victory seems in sight for the South, its armies must now battle the North on its own ground, ground which will prove treacherous and deadly. . . .