[Mkguild] Plain and Simple part 9

[Chris]

   George looked at the formal invitation calmly. It was written on
parchment edged with gold leaf. His limited command of writing left him
unable to read but he recognized the words ‘meeting’ and ‘wizard in
residence’.

   “You’re to meet with a mage named Nestorius today at three,” Misha
said examining the letter. Pretty fancy letter. He’s the one Thalberg
mentioned would be helping us retake the fortress.”

   George had in his long life, met, fought for and against many mages
over the years. Dealing with such people was never easy. As most were
too involved with gaining and keeping power to worry about other people.

   “What do you know about him?”

   Misha shrugged. “A little. He came from the Sathmore Kingdoms a few
months after the curse took hold. He’s a member of a group of mages
called The Twilis Olboskol. It translates as the Eyes of the Earth.”

   “Eyes of the Earth?” George asks. “What does that mean?”

   Misha shook his head. “I’ve no clue. Probably something symbolic and
silly. They are a good sized organization but they’ve never come this
far north till he arrived.”

   “Another fool mage I need to deal with,” George spat out.

   “He’s not too bad. He’s mostly remained to himself. Besides he is the
only mage we have to use.”


********************


   The room George found himself in was lavishly decorated. Expensive
carpets covered the floors and fine tapestries lined the walls. George
seated himself in an overstuffed chair. It was one of two such chairs in
front a warm fire. Between the chairs a small table held a bottle of
expensive wine and a platter of assorted treats.

   The lion morph seated next to him was dressed in a long flowing robe
made of blue, gold and orange. His mane had been carefully groomed,
combed and curled and there was gold and silver rings woven into it.
More rings dangled from his ears and decorated both hands. But for all
the lavish dress George noticed that Nestorius was bare foot. His paws
had no shoes or boots.

   “I have heard a lot about you George,” the lion commented as he
sipped a glass of wine.

   “Is that good or bad?” George asked taking a drink from his own
glass. The wine was chilled slightly and had the heady aroma of fresh
cut flowers.

   “Both,” the mage answered. “You’ve been everywhere and done
everything over the years it seems.”

   George shrugged. “It’s been a hard life.”

   “I do agree with Misha that the Dukes scouts needed desperately to be
reorganized. I’m happy to see you did a very good job.”

   George nodded. “Thank you. I do have good people to work with. That’s
most important.”

   The lion looked at the fire for a moment and rolled the glass back
and forth in his massive hands. “This plan for retaking the fortress, do
you truly think it can be done?”

   “Yes,” George answered flatly without hesitating or even lifting his
head.

   Nestorius turned and looked at George intensely. “Can you do it with
little loss of life among us Keepers?”

   George shrugged. “Hard to tell but I think so. But we have no choice.
Either we take that place now before they are ready or later when they
ARE ready. Taking the place then would be bloody. Very bloody.”

   The wizard nodded slowly. “Agreed. I have examined the fortress,
surreptitiously of course but I find little new magic there. At the
moment I don’t believe there is a magic user of any real power there.”

   “That can change quickly enough,” George commented.

   “Agreed but I will know when that happens. I do have to warn you that
the ruins have seen magic castings in the past. Some of quite powerful
levels.”

   George winced. “Not good. I have enough problems without having to
worry about old magic traps or wards killing my people.”

   The lion waved his hands and shook his head. “No need to worry about
anything so blatant as that. I saw nothing openly dangerous. At least
involving magic. Your people should be safe so long as they don’t start
rooting too deeply among the ruins. “I’ll arrive as quickly as I can and
do a detailed examination of the entire installation. I do need to warn
you of one area that IS dangerous. There was a mage of some power who
lived there. The ruins of his residence in the ward are certain to still
be dangerous.”

   “I’ll need to know exactly where it is so my people can avoid it.
Leave disarming that place to you.”

   The feline got up and walked across the room to where a large table
rested. On it was a large, neatly organized pile of rolled up papers. He
picked up a piece of folded paper and opened it onto the table.

   George stepped up to the table as silently as ever. He leaned over
and examined the paper. “This is a map of the fortress.”

   “Yes as it was in 688. It is the latest map I could find,” the lion
tapped a part of the map that was marked in red. “That is the mages
residence. At least what is left of it.”

   The jackal traced his hand along one of several blue lines that
snaked across the map. “And what are these?”

   “The tunnels those vile Lutins have dug. I thought a map of them
could be useful.”

   George nodded and wagged his tail in excitement. “Oh yes! Very
helpful. Thank you. This will save us a lot of trouble.”

   “It is not complete unfortunately. The fortress has a spell that
covers the entire area that makes surveillance harder. It is a Suielman
spell and very old and failing. I can penetrate it with a little effort
but it does obscure sections,” Nestorius explained.

   “It is good enough. I’ll take every bit of information I can get.
Will it effect my troops?” George asked as he nibbled on a cube of
smoked beef.

   The lion shook his head. “No. It is strictly protection against
magical surveillance. Once we have the fortress back I can reinforce the
spell and keep them from observing us at all by magic.”

   “Very good. I don’t like other people spying on me. You keep the
mages from seeing too much and my people will kill any scouts who lurk
too close,” the scout commented. “Can we expect any help from your
friends to the south?” George asked and pointed to the south.

  “The Twilis Olboskol?” The lion shook his head making the decorations
jingle lightly. “Sadly no. I have so far failed to gain any further
support from the Eyes of the Earth.”

   “They’ll not give you anything,” George commented flatly, shaking his
head. “That group has always been short sighted and surprisingly
foolish.”

   “You’ve dealt with the Twilis Olboskol?” Nestorius asked, surprised.

   “Once many years ago but I’ve dealt with many groups like it. Long on
power but short on the wisdom needed to use it wisely. Why did they send
you here to the Keep?”

   The lion nodded. “I was sent here partly to study the curse and
partly to study the unusual magic of the keep itself.”

   “And partly to get rid of you?” George added.

   Nestorius stiffened for a moment then nodded slowly. “Let’s just say
that coming here was a great improvement to my life span. I’ll live
longer here.”

   George gave a short bark of laughter. “I came here for similar
reasons. This seems like a good place to live out my life comfortably.”


********************


   The group was gathered close around the table. Laid out carefully in
front of them was a map of the ruined fortress.

   “The scouts will be leaving just after dark and will sweep the route
all the way to the fortress,” George explained. “The rest will follow an
hour behind. We must be at the fortress before midnight.”

   “As for attacking the fortress itself. The plan is simple. We will
enter the fortress here on the north side,” George said and touched a
part of the map. “Misha and his people will kill the sentries there.
When a breach is made the files will start moving through. First areas
to be cleared are those closest to the breach.”

   "Misha, you and your scouts will clear the Keep."  He locked eyes
with the fox, intent on stressing the absolute importance of that
mission.  "It is vital that we take that tower.  Without that tower
cleared, archers inside can rain arrows on any of our troops and stop us
cold.

   Misha nodded. “I understand.”

   “Anwell, tell me what your people are to do,” George barked.

   “I’m leading my people through the breach and go to the left. We’re
covering from the breach east to the wall here,” the lion tapped the map
a short distance from the breach, “at the northeast tower.  One file
will take care of anyone within that tower and secure the wall itself.”
Then he traced his finger in an arc along the north wall and stopped at
a square with a red x in it.  “We’ll then cover from that tower around
to the blue painted brick building with two more files.”

   “My people will take it from there,” Leena chimed in. “And cover the
arc all the way to the wall on the other side of the breach using two
files. Another file takes the wall itself and kills anyone in the tower.
And meet up with Anwell’s people on the wall.”

   “George nodded. “Good. When the breach is secure we’ll begin moving
more troops in and extending that small perimeter till we reach the east
and west walls. Then we’ll sweep the rest of the ruins. This must be
done as quietly as possible. Stealth is important. At least till someone
raises the alarm and then speed is more important. I am holding two
files as a reserve just inside the breach. The key here is to move fast
and hit them hard before they realize they’re under attack.”

   “And when they do realize we’re attacking?” Anwell asked.

   “We move faster! Hit them and keep hitting them until they’re all
dead. No let up. Once the ruins have been swept and I’m satisfied that
above ground is cleared we’ll bring up the stink pot and we’ll smoke out
those underground. We must have the curtain walls secured and the
perimeter cleared before night fall.”

   "Do you really expect the assault to be so easy?" Leena asked.

   "No," came the simple answer "It never goes easily but this is a
fight we will win.”


***************


   The group standing in front of George was quiet and somber. A vast
difference from their usual loud and rowdy behavior. There were over a
hundred of them. Male and female, young and old, human and furry. All
were fully dressed in armor and carried weapons that had been cleaned
and sharpened for a fight. It was late in the afternoon and the fighting
would not begin till much later that evening but it was all that they
were thinking about.

   “Well,” George said calmly, his voice cool and his expression calm,
letting the weight of his experience settle any jittery nerves. “All of
you have been on at least two patrols and a lot of you have gained some
kills. You’ve all trained long and hard. We’ve gone over the maps and
practiced this so many times we all know the castle by heart! Tonight we
put all that to the ultimate test. You all have your orders and know
what needs to be done. Tonight we take the first steps to clearing the
entire valley. Tonight we take back land from Nasoj and his monsters.
Good people died defending the place we are taking back. Tonight we get
revenge for those deaths. Tonight WE attack THEM! Tonight we attack
THEIR homes. Tonight we teach them to fear the darkness.” He drew his
lips back into a silent snarl revealing his sharp teeth. “Our darkness.”

End part 9

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