[Mkguild] Plain & Simple part 13

[Chris]

   Things moved along at a breakneck pace with everyone working to get
the walls and keep back in shape as quickly as possible. The only time
work came to a halt was when someone came upon a body. It happened all
too frequently. Often when they were moving rocks or shifting burnt wood
they’d find the skeletal remains of someone who’d died during the siege.
Then all work would come to a halt and the remains were carefully
wrapped in cloth and removed. If it could be identified relatives would
be informed and the remains claimed. If not the body would be buried in
the small cemetery outside the walls. The Keepers had discovered a small
lutin cemetery on a small hill nearby. They had left the lutin graves
alone and simply added more graves around it for their own dead. The
cemetery was the one place the Lutins never bothered. The dead there
were left in peace by both sides.

    While the work continued inside the bloody and tedious contest
continued outside. The scouts of the Keep and the Lutins of Nasoj
fighting, tracking, hunting each other in the woods and trails of the
forest. Day and night the scouts patrolled through the trees and
underbrush moving slowly and stealthily as they looked for the enemy. If
they weren’t patrolling they were hunkered down in any one of a score of
hiding places. Their only rest came after two days when other scouts
came to relieve them.

   Life at the site fell into a routine of sorts that started at dawn
with the changing of the guard. Those who had been on sentry duty since
midnight were replaced by fresh soldiers.

   The laborers had been awake for a while now, finished their morning
meals and scattered to their appointed tasks. Some were building walls,
others were clearing out the ditches and still others were cutting down
trees and clearing brush. There were a thousand tasks that needed to be
done.

   Caravans loaded down with the supplies and materials needed made the
laborious trip to the site protected by cavalry and infantry. A day
didn’t pass without at least one ambush happening somewhere.

   As darkness approached the tempo on the site changed. Work was
stopped as all of the workers quickly returned to the safety of the
half-rebuilt walls of the fortress. The walls themselves saw twice as
many guards as during daylight. The final meal of the evening was eaten
and everyone settled down for the night.

   For the laborers tired from a days work it was a night of drinking
and then sleep. For those who guarded the walls, towers and gates it was
a long, tedious night of walking, listening and watching for an intruder
who probably wasn’t there.

   All that paled in comparison to the scouts in the woods that
surrounded the fortress. Not a night passed without four or five
attempts to get to the fortress and more ominously they started
attacking the scouts themselves. Deliberately hunting down the scouts as
they lay hidden hoping that if they killed enough the Keepers would
retreat to the walls of the still half rebuilt castle. But George was an
old hand at this type of warfare and knew how to handle this change in
tactics.

   Raiders attacking a hiding place expecting to find only two keepers
might find themselves facing a half dozen soldiers instead, all heavily
armed. Other times they would locate a hiding spot and attack it only to
find it empty. Then a shower of arrows from the real hiding place would
rip through their ranks. No hiding place was ever used more then once.
One located on Monday would be found empty on Tuesday and often trapped
to catch the unwary. And even if they did locate a hiding place still in
use they were all within arrow shot of each other. And an attack on one
would prompt a counter attack from others nearby.

    Also the Keepers weren’t content to just sit and let the Lutins
attack them. They moved deeper into the woods and went after the
raiders. Groups of Keepers patrolled the areas around the fortress
watching closely for anything that didn’t belong there. To make matters
more difficult for the Lutins the patrols followed no set pattern
starting and leaving at all hours of the day and night and never was the
same route used more then once.

   Many a raiding party found itself ambushed by the very people they
were trying to kill. Other times the two groups would come upon each
other and a wild fight would ensue. Usually it would start with a shower
of arrows, spears and javelins flying back and forth before one side or
the other would retreat.

   The daily caravans moving to and from the fortress were another
popular target since there were only a handful of routes they could
take. It was easy to lie in wait until a caravan appeared and then
attack. But the caravans were hardly unprotected. Cavalry trotted
alongside the wagons and archers and infantry walked or rode with the
wagons. The result was a short and intense fight before the Lutins faded
back into the woods. Unable to leave the wagons all the guards could do
was let them go.

   George switched some of the scouts to the road having them patrol in
the woods on either side. Another trick was to have no cargo in the
wagons instead filling them with more troops. When the caravan was
ambushed these troops would spring out and chase the Lutins off. And
unlike the guards they didn’t have to stay near the wagons and could
chase the ambushers as long as necessary. The Lutins responded to that
by placing a second ambush behind the first one. The Keepers chasing the
Lutins from the roadside ambush would run straight into a second one.
The Keepers responding by have two groups of pursuers one behind the
other. If the first ran into an ambush the second would maneuver behind
it and attack the ambushers.

   And so it went on with tactics shifting and changing constantly. The
scouts were too professional to be too badly surprised but the fighting
was always intense.

   And so the bloodletting went on and on, day after day as the work of
rebuilding the fortress crept forward at a maddeningly slow pace. As
time passed skirmishing and scouting grew more frequent and the raiding
parties grew larger and larger.


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


   “When will they attack?” the Duke asked. For weeks Thomas had watched
the progress nervously. He tried not to appear too frequently at the
site afraid that it might make people nervous. Also as the Duke he
physically could not leave Metamor Keep too often as there always seemed
to be something he had to do. Thomas would have preferred to have
Thalberg here but both of them couldn’t leave the Keep at the same time.
It was frustrating having such a major operation going on and he could
only watch from a distance.

   Still George did keep him well informed through a stream of reports
that were both detailed and blunt. The last one had included a line that
had brought the noble stallion to the half-repaired outpost: “There will
be a very strong attack on the castle within three days. It will be a
direct attack meant to destroy it completely and kill everyone inside.”

   George shrugged. “Hard to say when. There have been warnings about
this for the last two weeks that it will be soon. Three days ago Misha
and his people ambushed a score of Lutins all loaded down with arrows
and spears.”

   Leena gave a short growl of laughter. “And you said the men were
getting bored with all the patrols and guard duty.”

   “THEY said it,” the lion snarled. “Not me. I like boring, unexciting,
non-bloody guard duty.”

   “Will we be ready?” the stallion asked.

   Diddian nodded his head. “The ditch and walls will be ready by then
but not the keep itself.”

   “All my people will be,” George answered. “I’ll pull the patrols back
closer to the keep and double the number of ambushes.”

   Thomas looked to Nestorius. The lion was standing silent in a corner
lost in thought. “And what of the castles magic defenses?”

   “Still unfinished,” the feline mage answered. “The basic protections
are in place but with things still unfinished I cannot cast the more
powerful wards. The curtain walls are already protected as is the Keep.
I do want to point out that this fortress is a confusing mess of old
spells of all types and ages. Some recent, others older. There are many
left from the Seuiliman. I have even come across a few that are
pre-Seuiliman. I will personally be ready for whatever happens but no
defense is ever perfect.”

   The door flew open and Misha rushed in. Panting heavily the fox
dropped into a chair exhausted.

   PANT! PANT! “There’s a”

   Pant, pant “big group.”

   Pant, pant. “Coming.” The fox managed to gasp.

   “Over three,” pant, pant, “hundred.”

   George passed his friend a large pitcher full of water and Misha
drained it all without pausing.

   “Where and when?” The jackal asked.

   The fox was silent for a moment regaining his strength. He tapped a
spot on the map north of the castle. “Twenty miles from here. Three
hundred and forty Lutins, twenty humans and two ogres.”

   “How long until they arrive?” Thomas asked.

   “Four hours or so but they’ll probably strike after midnight,” Misha
explained.

   George nodded in agreement. “There’ll be no subtlety in this attack.
Just a plain cat fight. Take a full company from the fifth and leave
before dark. Lynette, Misha is taking your third company.”

   Both Misha and the woman nodded in response. 

   The fox turned and headed toward the door.

   “Where is he going with some one hundred of my people?” Thomas asked.

   “I’m going to ambush them before they reach here,” the fox answered
in a condescending tone as if talking to a child. “You think I’m just
going to sit here and wait for them to come here?”

   “Why not use the entire regiment?” Thomas asked ignoring the implied
insult from the fox.

   “That’s just one attack,” George explained. “He’s sure to have
another attack coming here.”

   “Agreed,” Misha added. “They’re out there. We just haven’t found them
yet.”

   “They’ll definitely hit tonight,” Lynette added. “Can’t keep a group
that large hidden for long.”

   The jackal pointed to Samantha. “All your people are to be fed and in
their barracks at least two hours before dark. And I want them ALL
armed!”

   “Anwell. Put a company near each of the gatehouses. You command one,
Leena commands the other. Stay there and keep anything from getting in,”
George ordered.

   George turned to the wolverine. “Andre,” he commanded looking at the
wolverine. “Your people stay for tonight. Misha says you’ve fought on
horseback at night before.”

   “With the Lutins only raiding at night we’ve no choice but learn how
to fight at night,” Andre answered.

   The jackal pointed to the Duke. “You leave NOW,” he commanded. “We
need you safely at the Keep before dark.”

   “No,” the Duke answered harshly. “I will not be ordered around like
some peasant. I am . . ”

   “You are the Duke,” George interrupted, “and have no place in the
middle of this fight. We can’t afford to have you killed.”

   “I am staying. I will not run away and cower in the Keep while my
people are fighting and dying.”

   “Do you have an heir?” George countered coldly. “Someone to take over
when you get killed?”

   “My adopted daughter Malisa,” the stallion answered.

   “And she is where?”

   “Safely at the Keep.”

   George curled his lips back in what might have been a snarl or a
smile. “At least you have some common sense. Don’t do something stupid
tonight like charging around blindly giving bad orders or you’ll get a
lot of people killed. If I don’t kill you myself.”

   “I am here to be sure that YOU don’t do something stupid tonight,”
the nobleman said calmly standing as still as stone. His only movement
was the faint flick of his tail back and forth.

   “Still don’t trust me?”

   “No.”

   The room fell into dead silence and no one moved or spoke.

   George gave a short bark of laughter. “That’s fair. I don’t trust you
either. Tonight we’ll find out if we can trust each other.”

   “Indeed.”

   The old bandit turned and looked at the people standing around
silently. “Go. We’re burning daylight.”

   With that the crowd scattered in all directions.

   Misha paused at the door and looked at George. “You be careful.”

   “As always,” George answered. “And remember who is in control.”

   “I control the axe George. It doesn’t control me.”

   “Be sure it stays that way.”


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


   Even without the orders and warnings from their officers word spread
fast. The old soldiers among them recognized the signs as clearly as
George had and quickly passed the warnings to the new ones. And just as
quickly the more gossipy soldiers told their friends among the workers.
Any doubts disappeared for good as they watched over a hundred soldiers
head out of the north gate and off into the woods at a fast trot. There
was no need for the sergeants to shout to get their people moving
faster.

   Sunset was greeted this day with a great deal of fear and
trepidation. There was no doubt as to whether they would be attacked or
not. It was just a matter of when and where.


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


   Misha had a difficult problem. He had 112 soldiers to deal with a
force of over 300 hundred Lutins, a score of humans and two ogres. At
least those were the one he knew about. The known ones didn’t bother
him. He knew how to deal with them. It was the unknown that worried him.
Unpleasant surprises could be deadly in a battle.

   The fox, the ferret and the prairie dog had all spent a lot of time
in the valley chasing, hunting and stalking Lutins so they knew the
terrain well. So they had no difficultly locating a spot for the ambush.
It was a place where the trail turned hard to the right to avoid a large
pile of rocks that were too sharp and steep to climb.

   The company he had with him was evenly mixed between archers and
peltasts – javelin throwers. All carried a sword along with their other
weapons. All of which would see a lot of use this night. 

   Misha spent over an hour carefully arraigning all the soldiers. The
peltasts whose weapons had a shorter range were placed close to the
trail. The archers were placed further back. The fox himself was a fine
archer but his real weapon was his massive black axe. So he placed
himself along with Craig and Finbar close to the trail itself. His
orders were simple. Kill the humans first, then the ogres and finally
the Lutins. He was sure that with the ogres and humans dead the Lutins
would simply break ranks and bolt for safety. Which is what he would do
in their place.

   A big problem was vision. This ambush would take place at night and
would make hitting a target from a distance very hard. But the fox had
considered that problem and had an answer.

   Soon everyone knew what was expected of them and had settled into
their assigned places. Now there was nothing left to do but wait.


End part 13

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