Michael Stackpole - When Dragons Rage

The defensive situation was not good at all. The Aurolani had two targets to hit. The first consisted of the coastal cities. They’d already taken Porjal and could roll into Saporicia, right to the border of Loquellyn. The advantage of doing that would be to allow them to ship supplies down by boat, which would be quicker than the long road past Fortress Draconis.

And they will be needing more supplies. If a city’s walls can be reinforced, by stone or magick or both, the Aurolani will require morefiredirt and shot to bring the cities down . In addition to providing the Aurolani another line of supply, taking the coastal cities would also cut the Murosans and the folk of northern Saporicia off from being supplied by sea. For those two reasons, rolling the coastal cities up made perfect strategic sense.

The other target was Caledo itself. Because it was the capital of the nation, it made a perfect political target. Taking Caledo would be the equivalent of decapitating the nation. Its citizens would lose heart. The nation would, in the minds of some, cease to exist. Some nobles would take advantage of that state to either ally themselves with Chytrine to save their realms, or otherwise proclaim themselves independent—until the Aurolani rolled over them and shattered their cities.

The very idea of failing to defend Caledo adequately was as bad as losing the city itself. If the coast went, the city could hold out for a while. But if Caledo fell, the chance at cohesive opposition to Chytrine evaporated. While the government might fall back to Zamsina, the loss of Caledo would let the Aurolani still take the coast, and Muroso’s free zone would slowly starve.

King Bowmar looked over at Alexia as if he had read her mind. “It is grim. They feint at the coast, so we have to move to defend it. They feint at Caledo, so we have to defend the capital. I do not have enough in the way of troops to save both areas, and the loss of one betokens the loss of the other. Chytrine’s dragonels will shatter our walls and kill our troops.”

“Then we have to stop the dragonels.”

Alexia looked over at Will. “Easier said than done, Will.”

“I know, but not impossible.” The young thief squeezed in at the edge of the table beside her. “Look, I’ve seen dragonels. The only way to stop them from breaking the walls is to build bigger walls, which I’d guess you’re going to try to do, or prevent them from getting in range to hit your walls. Or, if you can’t keep them out of range, you keep them from being able to hit so hard.”

The king canted his head. “I’m not sure I follow you, Lord Norrington.”

Will sighed heavily. “In Bokagul, Princess Sayce was shot by a draconette. Lombo was, too. Dranae figured some of the folks using the firespitters didn’t put enough firedirt into them. The shot didn’t hit as hard as it could have. Now it strikes me that if they’ve not got the firedirt, they can’t use it, and since you know where their troops are, you could have some folks out there stealing their supplies.”

Alexia smiled. She’d wondered at Will’s sudden exposition on tactics, but once again he’d reduced a military operation to an exercise in thievery. “Very good, Will. I think you’ve got the half of it.”

“I do?”

She rested a hand on his shoulder. “Yes. Highness, Will’s right. The only way to slow the Aurolani forces down is to cut their supplies. This means that, as your people retreat, they have to destroy anything they can’t carry off. It’s winter. There’s no living off the land and an army can’t fight when there’s only snow to fill their bellies. Despite the hardship it will cause, everything the Aurolani will benefit from must be destroyed.“

The king nodded. “We’ve already begun the shifting of stores and livestock. We’ve destroyed some bridges but, so far, we’ve not fired villages. We can do that, however.”

“That will be good. The second thing that needs to be done, as Will suggested, is to keep the dragonels out of range of the walls. Your situational information makes this possible. We can set up ambushes and defenses at key points. We hit the lead elements of the Aurolani force, stop them, and wait for them to bring their heavier troops up to blast through. Our defenders fade before them, which means our people have time to destroy supplies while, at the same time, we force the Aurolani to wait on land where there is nothing for them.”

King Bowmar ran a hand over his bearded jaw. “So elementary I should have seen it. We have taken pride in the strength of our walls, and the skill of our mages. Cities have become the focus for our defense, but when faced with a force that can overwhelm our cities, defending those cities is just waiting for destruction. I am not certain this defense in depth will defeat Chytrine, but it will slow her forces down.”

Alexia shook her head. “No reason you should have seen it. This war is unlike any we’ve faced before.”

“And yet all this was clear to you.”

She shrugged. There was no way to explain to him that her entire life had been spent learning how to defeat conventional forces. From her earliest days she knew of the destructive power of dragonels, and knew they rendered any city into rubble. If a force was stationary, it invited destruction, so the only antidote to the dragonel was to be found in a highly mobile force that made the enemy’s advance grind to a halt. Since she had always believed Chytrine would return, dragonels had to be accounted for and countered. Here, in Muroso, she had a perfect landscape for providing a solid defense.

“What we need to do, Highness, is to determine which forces you have that are best suited to their roles. We need a city force to defend and reinforce the cities. We need a mobile defense force that will hit, hold, slow, and fade before the enemy. And we will need…”

“You’ll need your hunter-killers.” Resolute’s voice echoed strongly. “Crow and I will organize that force. We have spent a quarter century harassing Chytrine’s troops. There is no one better suited to it.”

Alexia smiled. “I have some experience at the kind of tactics you are talking about.”

The Vorquelf’s silver eyes locked on her and sent shivers through her. “Princess Alexia, please do not think I doubt your abilities or harbor any doubts about you, but you will not be coming with us.”

She tried to cover her surprise. “Why not?”

Crow smiled. “Because, Princess, only you know what you have in mind for your mobile defense forces. They will be your responsibility. If they are successful, you will know why. If they are not, you will make them successful. There is no other way.”

Alyx caught the reluctance in Crow’s voice and took solace in it. In her mind she’d seen herself off riding with Crow. They would be out there, free, slashing at Aurolani troops. People without nations attacking an enemy that would destroy all nations. But that freedom, the exhilaration, were illusions. She wanted to slip the responsibilities for which she had been trained and just fight at the side of the man she loved.

In his voice she heard that Crow did not want to be parted from her either, but she hid the smile that realization sparked. Both of them knew their own desires had to be subordinated to their duty. Until Chytrine’s troops were defeated and she was slain, any peace and happiness they might know would be a fancy that could be easily torn asunder.

Will looked up at her. “Don’t worry, Highness, I’ll take good care of Crow.”

Bowmar frowned. “I had thought, Lord Norrington, that you would remain here to rally my people.”

“Probably not a good plan.” Will sighed. “Chytrine wants me dead, so having me standing around in one place means that place is a target. I’ll be with Crow and Resolute. Only thing worse for her troops than having me waiting for them is having me hurting them.”