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Copyright © 2006 – 2008
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- Nearly all men can stand adversity,
- but if you want to test a man’s character,
- give him power.
-Abraham Lincoln
Siege
It had been a long winter for those shielded behind the walls of Caemlann, with the city encircled with a force of twenty thousand orc and goblin troops. The first month had been a testing period, with the command staff of the dark forces probing the defenses of the old city, looking for a weak point they could exploit. Unlike other cities closer to the capital, Caemlann had maintained its defenses well: being closer to the frontier of the kingdom had always meant greater risk, something the barons of Caemlann knew all too well.
The orcs and their goblin allies had tried and tried, losing hundreds of their fellows in the process. Finally, even their limited intellect enabled them to come to the conclusion that the human forces weren’t going to simply cave in, and that they were going to have to reduce the city walls with siege engines. With their massive supply of manpower, it wasn’t long before catapults and trebuchets were lofting loads of heavy stone into the stout walls of the old city, day and night. Still, the debris of the burned-out foulburgh kept the siege engines at bay, meaning the majority of the rocks struck the walls, and didn’t fall into the packed quarters of the city.
While keeping the enemy occupied, a great deal of work had been going on behind the scenes. Using the network of transfer portals, the command staff of the kingdom had been planning and preparing for lifting the siege of Caemlann for months. In addition to supporting the movements of the command staff, the portals had been used to move troops into the city, along with much needed food and supplies.
The besieging forces of Farwalker Redbush thought they were weakening the defenders of the old city, when in fact, the reverse was true. The city grew in strength all through the winter, with many of the civilians moved to Kelandra, and replaced with fresh troops, food, and weapons.
Kadin, much to the annoyance of Evan and Alaric, had taken to leading raids and reconnaissance missions, insisting that his native abilities as a member of the Alvar nation gave him a natural edge in pulling off those types of missions. As he gained experience and skill, his missions became bolder, and his fame amongst his troops grew with each successful sortie into the besieging force. Alaric worried each and every time Kadin went out, but the young Alvar prince never lost a trooper on any of his missions, something that no one else was able to claim.
Once the plans for lifting the siege were completed and set into motion, and the weather began lifting, with spring finally reasserting control over Old Man Winter, the forces inside the city eased up on their forays outside of the wall, intentionally lying low to lure the goblin and orc forces into a false sense of complacency. Once the bait had been taken and their plans were approaching fruition, Kadin and his command staff planned a daring raid to set the stage for the coming attack.
Kadin paused on the outskirts of the encampment that had been besieging the city of Caemlann for months. Scanning the area with his mundane and magical senses, he found only two guards near the evening’s target for his team, the supply dump. Kadin brought his longbow up, pulling the elvin clothyard shaft to a full draw against his cheek, while he tracked the movements of the hideous orc, as it marched towards the right side of the supply dump. Kadin had scouted this guard’s actions and knew he normally paused for a couple of seconds before retracing his steps.
True to form, the guard rounded the corner and paused while he scanned that side of the area. As soon as the orc paused, there was a low twang from the bowstring, as Kadin loosed the deadly shaft on its path. Faster than the eye could follow, Kadin had a second shaft nocked, drawn, and on its path towards the goblin sentry on the left side of the supply area. The arrows struck home with a pair of dull thuds that sounded unbelievably loud in the still winter air, dropping both sentries in their tracks, dead before they hit the ground.
Kadin gave a low whistle, imitating the song of the nightingale, which was quickly followed by the low rustle of fabric as the men in his team began moving forward towards their assigned targets, one group led by his father, Alaric, and the other led by the commander of the royal guard troop, Captain Evan ab Eloron. Alaric’s group had as its target the command tents of the besieging army, while Evan and his team were to destroy the siege engines that had been pounding the walls of Caemlann for weeks.
Kadin and his group had the supply dump in their sights, and rapidly moved amongst the mounds of supplies and wagons spreading oil and an extremely flammable material known simply as black powder. Small casks of the powder were placed in key locations so as to cause maximum damage, the tops breached, and trails of powder and oil were quickly poured to link everything together. As the members of his team completed their pre-assigned tasks, the team rallied on their commander, awaiting the signal to start the mayhem from a safe evacuation point.
A quiet rustling of fabric announced the arrival of Alaric and his team. Alaric approached his son and commander and whispered, “The command staff are all dead, my son. They’ll find no direction once things start getting lively. Why don’t you head back and secure the sally port in the castle walls and let me handle things here?”
Kadin turned to his father and acknowledged that the mission had been accomplished. “Dad, we agreed that you would evacuate your team and hold the sally port. I’ll handle Evan’s evacuation here. You need to go now so that you’ll be in position.”
Alaric looked for a moment like he was going to dispute his orders again, but his eyes dropped to the insignia of rank on his son’s collar, the silver equal armed cross on the golden maple leaf, for a moment. His shoulders slumped slightly, knowing he had to follow the orders of his commander to avoid undermining Kadin’s position of authority, before he nodded agreement reluctantly, placing his hand on Kadin’s shoulder for a moment, squeezing gently, saying, “You can’t blame a Dad for trying, son. Just be careful, please, and don’t stay any longer than necessary.”
Kadin reached up and squeezed the hand on his shoulder briefly, nodding his agreement with his father’s comments, before Alaric signaled his team to follow him back to the relative safety of the city walls. Kadin, using hand signals, directed his team into defensive positions from which they could cover Evan’s team as it withdrew. The last man was positioned for only seconds, when a bright flare of light near the siege engines was immediately followed by deafening explosions, as the black powder went off, destroying the trebuchets, siege towers, and catapults, in a blinding flash that threw wooden shrapnel into the surrounding tents, even as it spread flame across the encampment.
Evan and his team ran through the supply area as the camp began to rouse itself to the danger in their midst, with a large group of orcs beginning to organize a pursuit. Even before Evan’s commando team were clear of the danger area, Kadin signaled two of his team, who whispered incantations that caused the torches they were holding to burst into flame. The torches were tossed onto the trail of black power that raced towards the oncoming orcs, even as Evan and his men rushed past.
At a signal from Kadin, his archers made ready to fire, nocking arrows, bringing them to full draw, and selecting targets from the onrushing orcs, who were charging after Evan’s men without thought, until they spotted the trails of flame rushing into the supply depot. Finally spotting the danger they were in, they sprinted to clear the supply area, figuring they stood a better chance against the commandos than they would against an explosion and fire. Kadin selected the lead orc as his target and simply ordered, “Fire.”
The lead rank of orcs collapsed under the weight of the arrow fire, and the survivors paused momentarily, attempting to gauge the relative threat levels. Kadin quickly took advantage of their distraction and ordered his team to begin withdrawing from the fight. They were only a hundred feet from the supply dump when a massive explosion rocked the countryside, the force knocking Kadin’s entire team to the ground in its ferocity.
Kadin bounced back onto his feet, a fierce grin splitting his young face, knowing that there would be very little for the thousands of goblins and orcs to eat in the morning. A quick check revealed that the men in his team were in good condition and, as pleased as he was with the destruction their handiwork had wrought on their enemies, the lack of casualties pleased him even more. A quick nod from Kadin towards the fortress walls had the team moving towards the sally port at a run.
Kadin, the last man through the gate, paused momentarily, fixing the destruction wrought on their enemy in his mind before moving through the sally port and ordering the troopers to close and seal the passage. As he hurried back to his command center in the citadel, Kadin mused on the months of coordination that had been necessary to make this evening’s assault pay off: the constant conferences, planning, and re-planning that had taken place between his staff, and those of Marshals Hellstrom and Caradog. Despite the hair splitting negotiations and detailed planning sessions, the memory of the time spent working with his brother, Kail, brought a smile to the young elvin prince’s face. Kail and Kadin found they worked well together, with Kail’s greater experience and problem-solving skills filling in the gaps in Kadin’s experience.
Still, at long last, the weather had moderated, enabling the border guard under Marshal Caradog, and kingdom troops under Marshal Hellstrom, to begin moving men and materials quietly into place. Kadin entered his council room, and was surprised to see Kail and Marshal Caradog speaking with his father in low tones. Rushing forward, Kadin wrapped his older brother in a bear hug, exclaiming, “Kail! I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight!”
Kail smiled at his brother’s enthusiasm, reaching up to ruffle his sweaty hair after an exaggerated groan at how tightly he was being squeezed. “It is very good to see you too, little brother. Fychan and I popped in to see the effects of your little raid this night first hand. It looks like we’ll have some hungry orcs come morning.”
Alaric replied, “I think we stung them pretty well tonight, Kail. They are leaderless, their supplies have been destroyed, and their ability to hit the city went up in smoke with their siege engines.”
Marshal Caradog drew heavily on his pipe and blew several smoke rings through his beard, while considering what he had seen, before he stated, “Stung, yes. I’m afraid that, while they are disorganized and floundering now, it won’t last long. It will take a great deal more than a few explosions to force them to withdraw from the surrounds of Caemlann, my friends. We are looking at a serious fight to push these creatures into leaving. Still, the pieces are in place, and they will find the situation to have changed dramatically come morning.”
Everyone nodded soberly, knowing that Fychan was dead on in his assessment. However, they had taken the measure of their enemy, had a sound plan in place, and the resources necessary to get the job done. With a bit of luck, gods willing, the surrounds of Caemlann would look very different come midday.
The command team gathered around the maps on the table to go over everything one last time, just to make sure they hadn’t overlooked anything important. They knew they would lose men the following morning, but intended to lose as few as possible, knowing full well that Farwalker Redbush had another, even larger army secreted somewhere to the northeast. The group went through the plan again and again, looking at things from different angles, with the senior officers playing devil’s advocate, attempting to poke holes in the plan.
After several hours of review and analysis, with no new issues uncovered, everyone retired to comfortable chairs, while Kadin sent his aide for refreshments, which arrived promptly. Collecting a goblet of wine from his aide, Kadin rose and gently tapped on his goblet with his fork to get everyone’s attention.
“Well, my friends,” Kadin stated as the staff passed out goblets of wine and hot sandwiches to the respective officers, “we’ve worked hard for months developing and refining the battle plan and selecting the forces to accomplish the job. This has been a real eye opener for a young man thrust into a command position at such a young age. It has been an honor and privilege to work with each and every one of you. With that thought in mind, and an eye towards our actions on the morrow, I ask that I be allowed to offer a toast.” Raising his goblet to the assembled staff, Kadin simply said, “To success.”
The team raised their glasses in salute to the commanding officer of the ancient city of Caemlann and murmured, “To success,” before everyone drained their glass to the dregs.