By the time Kadric had caught his breath the battle at the gate had been over. He had reverted to his first orders and retreated to the palace to gather as many of the Council members as he could
When Riva and the Commander walked into the room, silence fell. Riva glanced around the room. Everyone was here. Kadric approached her. “The gates?”
She nodded her assurance, eyes still wandering the room.
Captian Shandrake stepped forward. “Princess, we have a small force stationed outside the city walls. I do not believe that they will be able to breach the wall without more support, but they might be able to cut off our supplies.”
Riva’s eyes riveted to him and she gazed at him long and hard. “Captain, I witnessed an entire squad of your men attack the Palace Guard. I also saw our men fighting against each other at the gates.”
The Captain’s face darkened. The Commander spoke solemnly, “I take responsibility for their traitorous actions. I thought that I had weeded out all of the filth within my walls.”
“Well, we haven’t.” Riva examined each face. In her head she was making mental eliminations. No, it can’t be them. It’s not Nadsady, he wouldn’t have access. Someone who would have influence on the men in the barracks and could get a catapult right outside our doors. That left Colonel Merrel and Captain Shandrake. I have to be sure.
She examined the two men. Captain Shandrake looked troubled and worried, his brows pulled in and down. Colonel Merrel also looked concerned, but now that Riva was looking for it she could see his mouth starting to sneer in disgust and anger. No, now it was gone. Riva cursed silently. She didn’t know. If she was wrong it could days before they sorted out who was really a spy. Ah, curse it. She had to make a decision now. “Colonel, you knew that they would betray us. Didn’t you?”
The Colonel scoffed. “Your Majesty, I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He’s a better liar then I thought. Riva faced him forcing her expression to be haughty and indifferent. “Oh please, how stupid do you think I am? A catapult? Do you really think that the enemy just happened to know where one was and how to get it into the palace gardens? But, it doesn’t really matter what you say. You see captured one of the men. He was very interested in making a deal with me. He said he would name names. He gave me yours on good faith. So you tell me, Colonel, why shouldn’t I put you in chains and execute you right now for treason?”
He wasn’t rising to the bait. “Your Majesty, he was surely lying. You can’t believe the enemy, especially when threatening their lives. They’ll say anything in order to live.”
“Really? So the ambush planned on the King’s army is all a lie, too?”
The Colonel’s face began to go pale.
HA! That got your attention. Riva thought gleefully. She was sure it was the Colonel now. “Colonel, I’m going to put you in chains until I am more certain of the situation.” She nodded to Kadric. He stepped forward but the Colonel was faster.
In a flash the Colonel had a knife at Riva’s throat. “NO ONE MOVES!” He pointed accusingly at Kadric. “And if I see any fancy stuff from you, your precious princess dies.”
Riva smiled at Kadric who looked purple in the face, assuring him that she would be just fine. She reviewed her options. All of her instincts came to the same conclusion.
Raising a hand she pulled the air from his lungs. A loud whoosh sounded and she could feel him panic. Desperately he grabbed at his throat. Riva slithered out of his arms, careful to watch the knife. When he realized she was the cause, he thrashed out at her. She stepped back, safely out of his reach. Kardric threw up his own hands, using raw energy to force him against the wall. Finally Merrel fell to the floor, unconscious and they both released their hold.
There was a moment of silence, both Kadric and Riva watched Colonel Merrel as if he would jump up. Kadric bent over, breathing hard. Riva felt light headed. Blowing out steadily she looked around the room. Most of the Council members were staring, glancing at each other. Completely uncomfortable with the situation they were in. Oh well, There was nothing Riva could do about it.
“Kadric will you make sure that he is put in the dungeon. We need to find out what he knows.” She turned to the Commander. “I believe that there are others, but none so high up as he was. Find them and put them in prison for questioning. Now, we need to set up a defence for the outer wall. How many are there?”
If the Commander or the Captain Shandrake were surprised at her sudden ability to use magic they kept it well hidden. Bradshaw and Shandrake unfolded a map placing candlesticks and goblets to keep it flat. “Here, they have stationed roughly five hundred cavalry and two thousand in infantry. They are well supplied by wagons but aren’t prepared for a siege. They’ve spread their forces around the west side of the city. How they were able to get a this many men and supplies this far into the kingdom is beyond me.”
Yes, that had been bothering Riva too. How come the enemy always had the jump on them? How come they were always able to get past things with such ease? Just because they had information from spies didn’t mean they could slip an army of this size past the border and through all the regions between.
“Make sure the walls are impassable. I don’t want to find out about secret tunnels and sewers after they’ve been able to sneak in. Find all possible entrances and make sure they are blocked or heavily guarded, and I mean heavily. If you can’t put enough guards, block it off. On the walls I want anyone who can hold a bow or crossbow. Let’s get barrels of oil that we can light and catapult them.”
The Commander nodded.
Quickly they outlined a defence and started on an offence.
Riva’s war had just begun.
*****
Riva’s plan was simple. The idea was to preserve as many lives as possible. That meant using the most underhanded and sneaky tactics they could concoct. Jessaw never failed to come up with a new mischievous plots. At night volunteers would slip out sewer tunnels and would poison their water, ruin all their food supplies, soil blankets, put itchy pepper in beds, cut holes in tents, things would spontaneously combust (Riva and Kadric’s doing), their camps would flood, traps were set everywhere and life was pretty horrible.
Riva and the Commander watched from a distance. While they waited for the troops to curse their lives and wish for home. They set up traps for spies. The news of the Colonel’s arrest was kept a close guarded secret and his name was useful in identifying other spies. Once a spy was caught they were questioned and either tricked or threatened into spitting out what they knew. Riva made sure she looked into the eyes of every single one they caught. Most of the underlings didn’t know much. They were just there to gather information and send it on. They didn’t actually get much back, but the Colonel, he had information.
Riva went to his cell everyday. “You going to tell me what I want to know?”
The Colonel wouldn’t even look up. “What’s that?”
The first couple of day she wanted names, then she wanted enemy information. How did they know so much? How did they get five hundred armed men through the border?
He never answered. Sometimes he would grunt or shrug but never a definite answer.
Finally one day she asked. “Let’s say they captured a prisoner who would have useful information. Where would they keep him?”
He looked back, a question in his eyes, but an obvious refusal to answer.
She sighed wearily. She’d never tried to hurt the Colonel, it seemed... it was like she was turning into one of them. After she had killed the squad with fire nightmares filled with the stench and bodies plagued her. She didn’t want to be saddled with the guilt of hurting a imprisoned man who didn’t even have a weapon. So when she did visit him, mostly she just asked questions and put forth her own opinions or theories or ideas on the matter. “Would they keep him near the capital? In an outpost? What are they going to do with him?”
Glen... Glen. How she wanted to go and help him! He was probably in his own dungeon being tortured or hurt in some way and she couldn’t leave because of the army and they duty that surrounded her. “I wish I could see him.” She whispered. A vision hadn’t manifested itself in weeks.
“Who are you talking about?”
Riva glanced up hopefully. It had been the first time she’d heard him speak since his arrest.
The Colonel grunted disdainfully realizing he’s been lured into the conversation and turned his back to her.
Fine. Don’t talk to me. I’ll figure it out on my own.
*****
That night Riva had the same dream at least three times. It began with the Colonel speaking and when he spoke bugs and snakes would crawl out of his mouth. The birds would swoop down, eat them and die. The dream morphed, and one of the snakes would slither away only to meet a scorpion. And before she could see whether they would fight or not she would wake up.
Riva sat in bed feeling cheated. I know I’m supposed to get something from this. Why would I have the same dream three times if it wasn’t obviously a warning? What is the scorpion?
She thought she understood the first part. The Colonel was the spy, he spoke lies and deceits. Which the people of Alsteare swallowed up and then lost men in consequence. But what was the scorpion? and what did the lies of the Colonel have to do with it?
There was no way she was going to be able to sleep now. With a long sigh, she threw the covers off and went out to the balcony. Tiny lights lit the hills around the walls. So far attacks had been minimal. Neither side had the man power to take the other out. Riva couldn’t send untrained men and women to fight them, even if they outnumbered the invaders. She didn’t have enough men to cover both the walls and go on the offensive. They couldn’t get messages out, but maybe...
Riva was hoping that civilians who were trying to get to the capital would relay the message that they were under attack. Commander Bradshaw told her that if they had any troops to spare they would be sent to help. What Riva didn’t understand was why such a small army. Five hundred men was not enough to take the capital, just enough to cut off all supplies. They were deep behind enemies lines and they could easily be overrun. Did they think they were invincible?
It irked her.
She hated not knowing all of the puzzle. What was Sealidan thinking?
*****
“They WHAT?” Riva squeaked.
“They dammed up the river! How many times do you need me to say it? Without water flowing through the city, we won’t last three days.” Kadric practically whispered. “I can’t just pull water out of the air... well actually I could but it wouldn’t be enough and it would take far too much of my energy.”
“Shhh... I’m thinking.” More like screaming: HOW AM I GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS?!?! NO! Stop, I need to think clearly.
She stood and began to pace, her blood and limbs had gone cold from dread and she moved to warm them up. “Get the Commander and the Captain, I need to bounce some ideas off of him.”
Kadric was out the door in a flash.
While he was gone, Riva allowed herself to show weakness. She crumbled to the floor and let her body convulse in fear and pressure. After her mind had shed the surge of adrenaline, numbness set in. Slowly she counted to thirty and wiped silent tears from her face and eyes. By the time her personal war council had arrived she had schooled her expression into a firm mask.
“Commander Bradshaw, Captain Shandrake.” She nodded to each of the men, greeting them. They had come at a run and were no doubt shocked at her eerie calm.
The Commander recovered first, he snapped into a salute. “Your Majesty, the Court Magician said you needed assistance.”
“Yes,” she affirmed, “please sit. We might as well do this in comfort.” After they had settled she began. “If we want to rid ourselves of the entire army, we have to disable their mobile force.”
“You mean their cavalry.” Captain Shandrake chimed in.
Rive nodded solemnly. “My tactics work best if the enemy can’t reach you. If we can get rid of their cavalry it will stop them from reaching our mounted men. I was thinking of using horse archers.” She looked to the Commander questioningly.
A scowl had been permanently fixed on his face for the majority of the meeting. “We don’t have many men, much less trained men. Most of our cavalry went with the bulk of the army and I’m not sure how many archers we have that can shoot accurately from a horse.”
“We don’t need many, just some. We’ll whittle at them slowly and once their numbers have dropped enough we can unleash our infantry. How are the new recruits?”
“Slow.” Came the dry response.
From his tone, she guessed that things were going very, very badly. They had begun training sessions among the people, hoping for some support. They weren’t nearly enough and none of them were sufficiently trained. Her eyes found Kadric’s. “We may have to pull some tricks out.” she murmured quietly, knowing he didn’t like the idea of confronting the enemy directly.
He exhaled shakily. “I’ll start coming up with ideas.”
No comments:
Post a Comment