Douglas Niles - Fate of Thorbardin

“I sent a probe that way, and they were attacked by at least two hundred archers. When I sent a reconnaissance against the gates with a heavy ram, they found it securely fastened and well defended. My men have come to a dead stop.”

“Get the army in motion, then!” declared Tarn. “Send the Tharkadan Legion after them, and bring up your Kayolin troops in reserve!”

Brandon was as anxious to get after the black wizard’s army as anyone else, but a cautionary note sounded in the back of his mind. He couldn’t leave the plan unchallenged.

“King Bellowgranite, why would Willim position his army in a tunnel? It makes no sense! He denies himself any room to maneuver, and as soon as we carry this gatehouse he’d be vulnerable to our attack.”

“Well, perhaps he feels he can hold the gatehouse indefinitely,” the monarch suggested. “His men are fierce fighters, as you know.”

“Yes, I realize that. But the potential for disaster is too great. It may cost us a lot of casualties, but we will carry the outer fortification, no matter how long it takes. Do you think he doubts our determination, after we forged the Tricolor Hammer and fought our way into his kingdom?”

“Probably not. But in that tunnel, he only has to defend a narrow front. We can’t bring the bulk of our army to bear against him.” Tarn frowned, brooding on the situation.

“No, but we can match him man for man. And with the Firespitters, any defense in a descending tunnel would turn into a deathtrap! He must know that and have some devious strategy in mind.”

“But surely he didn’t know about the Firespitters when he made his plan. It seems to me that he simply failed to take them into consideration.”

Brandon drew a deep breath and tried a new tack. “Sire,” he said. “We need to attack. But even if the main bulk of the enemy troops are on this Urkhan Road, the city of Norbardin is far from secure. I suggest we leave one legion here, to finish clearing the streets, sweeping the buildings. There are whole quarters of Norbardin, including Anvil’s Echo, that we haven’t even begun to explore.”

“No!” barked the king. “You’ve seen the welcome I received from the citizens! They wouldn’t be celebrating like that if they were still worried about Willim’s army. Obviously, he’s abandoned the city and is massing one last defense elsewhere. We need to strike fast, to take advantage of the crucial intelligence we’ve gained at such a cost.”

“But, sire-”

Tarn’s tone softened as he reached out to touch Brandon with affection and obvious respect. “Look, I understand your concern. And we all owe you a great debt; if you hadn’t made the long march from Kayolin, the Dwarf Home Army wouldn’t even exist. But there’ll be time enough for a thorough search when the main body of his army is destroyed. Now it seems clear that we have that army on the run! I want to send every man we have after Willim’s soldiers and not stop till the last of his swordsmen has fallen or surrendered. If he retreats all the way to the Isle of the Dead, then we must take to the boats and follow him.”

Brandon felt a stir of misgiving, but he himself was too eager to get on with the fight to argue any further. So instead, he merely nodded and said, “Yes, Your Majesty. As you command.”

“How do you propose to take the gatehouse, sir?” asked Morewood.

“The Firespitters are ready again, aren’t they?” Brandon asked.

“Yes, sir. They’ve already been moved into position, a hundred yards or so back from the gates to keep them out of arrow range.”

“All right. Let’s organize the troops and get this done.” He turned to the king. “But, sire, one last request. Please allow the Kayolin troops to carry this fight, and let us leave the Tharkadan Legion in reserve. After all, your men are familiar with the city, while mine are not. If we can finish the campaign on the road to the lake, your troops will be fresh and ready to search Norbardin to make sure it’s all secure.”

Tarn scowled for a moment, and Brandon could see that the king, his power and confidence returning by the minute, didn’t like being superseded. But the Kayolin general’s argument made too much sense. After a moment’s contemplation, Bellowgranite nodded. “Do it,” he ordered. “Without wasting any more time.”

It took less than an hour for Brandon and Fister Morewood to gather the Second Legion and the freshest troops of the battered First Legion and array them against the formidable gatehouse. The troops, like their leaders, sensed that total victory was imminent. They were buoyed by the exuberant reception the returning king had received from the city’s populace and ready to put the short, violent war behind them.

Studying their position, Brandon could see at once that it would be a much tougher objective than the royal palace. The gatehouse was a fortress in its own right but built into the wall of the great cavern that housed Norbardin. Thus, his army would be able to attack from only one side. The key to the gatehouse was a high, wide tunnel leading from Norbardin onto the Urkhan Road, the wide route to the lake that the king had described. That avenue was screened and defended by a pair of high, stone gates.

To either side of the gates rose formidable towers, lined with battlements and pocked with arrow slits. The towers jutted out from the wall, offering fields of fire in three directions, but to the rear they were firmly anchored in the bedrock of Norbardin. They rose from the cavern floor all the way to the ceiling and, from the looks of the battlements and windows, appeared to have walls that were six or eight feet thick.

Larger, wide platforms were carved right into the cliff wall and extended for more than two hundred yards to the right and left of the gate. Morewood explained that all of those platforms seemed to be garrisoned by Willim’s troops. The attackers faced a formidable defense while having to advance uphill.

Since the Kayolin troops were reasonably rested and the Second Legion had suffered few casualties, neither Morewood nor Brandon saw any point in waiting any longer. While Mason Axeblade, in tactical command of the Tharkadan Legion, moved his men into a supporting position, the two Kayolin commanders prepared their troops for the assault.

Instead of directing the Firespitters against the gates themselves, which were so wide and sturdy-and made of solid stone-that they appeared to be impervious to fire, they decided to use the great weapons in concert to sweep the defensive positions to the right of the main gatehouse. Brandon was glad to be back in action; anything to take his mind off of Gretchan’s peril. So it was with cold, direct purpose that he ordered the attack to commence.

They began with a diversionary strike against the positions to the left of the main gate. The troops of the First Legion surged forward there, directing a hail of missile fire against the enemy warriors on the multi-leveled platforms along the cavern wall and into the fighters’ niches that dotted the left of the two towers. First Legion drummers pounded out a loud, rhythmic beat in a further attempt to confuse the enemy.

In the meantime, the Firespitters were stoked, boilers heated, and furnaces ignited. They were kept behind an intervening wall for as long as possible, so the enemy couldn’t see them. Brandon knew that, once the attack began, it would take some time for the lumbering machines to move up to the wall. He grimaced at the thought, knowing many brave dwarves would fall to the enemy archers while the deadly devices inched close enough for use. Fortunately, they had been designed with the ability to crank the firing snouts up to nearly a forty-five-degree angle above the ground; so if they could get close enough to the battle platforms, they should be able to inflict serious damage against the lower ramparts.