Siege of Pailtar (28 page)

On the other side of the small dune were the enemy wagons, filled with water and food for the troops marching towards Pailtar. The warriors defending the wagons were about to be in a battle they were ill prepared for. Baltan knights, not often called into battle, were a formidable fighting force. Against lightly armed soldiers without cavalry, they would be deadly.

With his ear to the ground, Verin could hear the start of the attack. Even the soft desert sand vibrated under the powerful hooves of Baltan warhorses. Soon yells from the Morthon soldiers accompanied the pounding of hooves. The battle had begun. Verin and his rangers started over the dune.

The Morthon forces defending the wagons had been spread out around them wagons. Once they saw the Baltan knights riding towards them, they sprinted to the weapons wagon, grabbed shields and spears, and tried to set up a defensive line.

Using a wedge formation, the heavily-armed knights easily crashed through the line. Verin and his rangers used their bows to target any warriors who were standing up against the knights. The battle was a rout. The Baltan knights finished off the lightly armed warriors quickly. The thirsty sand soaked up spilt blood.

With the defensive forces defeated, Verin and the knights harnessed the mules. Instead of destroying the water barrels as he originally had planned, Verin decided to steal the barrels instead. The mules were in good shape and had been resting for a day while they waited for the troops from Meron. If the battle for Pailtar went badly having wagon loads of food and water might come in handy. Verin ordered his rangers to take the wagons northwest towards the coast. Then Verin had the knights wipe out the wagon tracks. When the troops from Meron arrived, they would see the bodies of their fallen comrades, the horse tracks of the knights heading back to Balta, but no wagon tracks. With time, a good tracker would find the wagon tracks, but the Meron army did not have time to wait for that. They would now need to get to Pailtar or risk dying from a lack of water. The desert was not a kind foe. It only took a short amount of time without water in the deadly heat before one would start to dehydrate.

With the wagons heading to the coast, and the knights returning to Balta, Verin raced ahead of the wagons towards the coast. It was time to signal the ships. The Meron army had traveled far enough that without the water from the supply wagons they could not change direction and attack Balta. The troops would either have to return to Meron or continue on to Pailtar. Verin knew that the army would not return to Meron, so now the race was on. Could the Baltan warships arrive in time to save Pailtar?

35

Pailtar

GAZING OVER THE WALL, Everet watched the troops march. The enemy had arrived.

“So many,” said Serena. The soldiers looked like they went on as far as the eye could see. She knew it was an illusion caused by the desert, but the image was still frightening. Serena frowned. Worry made her chew her bottom lip.

Everet agreed the number of soldiers marching towards Pailtar was intimidating. For the thousands of fisherman, bartenders, thieves, bakers, and tradespeople mixed with the hundreds of the city guards seeing the number of professional soldiers arriving had to be disheartening. But they had prepared well. The ground was littered with nasty little surprises for the invading army and they had a solid number of archers to man the wall.

“Can we win?”

Everet took Serena’s hand in his own and squeezed it, comforting her as they watched the slow march of death coming nearer and nearer. “Look closely, see how they’re hanging their heads? And how some of them are dragging the spears and swords. It’s a large army, but it’s a tired one. The march through the desert has not been kind to them. If we can keep them from breaching the city walls we will have a chance.”

“What about the fleet of ships coming from the south?”

“That is a problem we shall worry about when it arrives. Would you mind going to the Barnyard Pub and seeing about some food? I’m starving.”

“Thousands of warriors marching towards the wall and you want supper?”

“This isn’t the first army I’ve faced. See if they have any of that spicy chicken and fresh bread.”

Serena shook her head. Her heart was pounding in fear just from looking at the size of the incoming army and he wanted to eat. Serena kissed him on the cheek, “I’ll be back with your food, you ogre.”

When Serena was gone, Everet made his way further down the wall to where Colby was standing.

“You up for a fight?” asked Colby.

“Does it matter?” replied Everet. “You think we can negotiate a peace settlement?”

Colby chuckled, “No, I suppose not. I’m somewhat surprised, they are a bit of a raggedy looking army.”

“It looks like they ran low on water, strange.”

“Don’t look a gift ogre in the mouth, Everet. I’d rather their army didn’t show up at all, but weary and thirsty is better than the alternative.”

“I don’t suppose you have an ogre or two handy? I’d take help from anything right about now.”

Colby gave Everet a knowing look, “Well, now that you mention it, no I don’t, I have something better.”

“Better that an ogre?” asked Everet, curious as to what Colby was hinting at.

“Have you ever watched a troll in combat?” asked Colby.

“Trolls. You have trolls?” asked the astonished Everet. Colby was full of interesting facts. This might be a battle worth fighting after all.

“Trolls make excellent treasure guardians. Certain families have been using trolls to guard their treasures for generations. Nasty, vile, and smelly creatures, but they are rather effective at scaring off would be thieves. Although we recently had a young thief manage to get past a troll. Clever child used illusions. Apparently trolls really love butterflies.”

“Fascinating, I don’t suppose they hate Morthon soldiers.”

“We have six trolls, wearing body armor, that hate all soldiers. When the Morthon army breaches the main gate we are releasing the trolls.”

Everet nodded in appreciation of the judicious use of the trolls. Six trolls, even in body armor, was not enough to win a war. However, six trolls released at the right time could create chaos among the enemy troops. Releasing the trolls while the soldiers were trying to enter the city gates would give the Pailtar forces a chance to regroup and possibly block off the gate again. “Magical runes, booby traps, armed trolls… conquering cities was much easier, and safer, in Solotine,” said Everet.

“You’ve conquered cities?” asked Colby.

“It’s how I became a duke. I was rather good at conquering, it was the after part where I was shit.”

“How would you conquer this city?” asked Colby.

“The same way Morthon intends too. A two-prong attack. Bring the attention to one front and then attack from the other.”

“The Morthon fleet. You believe it will be here soon.”

Everet nodded, “Probably later today or tomorrow. Just long enough for us to concentrate our defenses on the army coming from the desert.”

“It’s too bad our trolls don’t swim,” said Colby.

Everet laughed, “Indeed.”

…

Kiana found her mother in the living room. She was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room meditating. “Mother, the Army has arrived.” Kiana waited patiently as her mother sat unmoving. Kiana knew her mother had heard her, but was not ready to move yet. The week of heavy magic use, preparing the runes and other spells had lowered Lilliana’s magical stores. Meditation helped to recharge them. Now that the armies of Morthon had arrived she would need every bit of magical energy she could conjure.

After a few minutes, Lilliana Clairmont’s eyes opened. She looked at Kiana, “Are you ready?”

Kiana nodded, she was wearing a thick leather tunic and leggings, the identical match to the outfit her mother was wearing. The lightweight armor, provided by the Guild, had been magically hardened in the areas around vital organs. The material still moved enough that she could run, move fast with the flexible armor,and easily cast spells, but if she took an arrow to the heart the leathers might save her. Kiana also had her magical ring on, and a collection of weapons on her. She was ready for battle.

“Okay, let’s head to the wall.” As part of the defensive preparations for the attack, all Guild members, or former members as in Lilliana’s case, who had magical abilities had been split up and assigned a section of wall where they would assist the archers from the city guard. Lilliana and Kiana were together on a section of wall along the eastern side near the ocean. From there they would help defend the wall and keep an eye out for the Morthon fleet.

36

Pailtar

HASAN TULUR SAT IN HIS TENT, WAITING for word from the battlefront. The long walk across the desert was finally over and he would only have a short time to wait before they captured Pailtar. King Ganus had promised him that Pailtar would be his to control.

It was not what Hasan wanted. Pailtar was only a minor port city, its strategic value was obvious, but Hasan had a bigger vision. When King Ganus controlled all of Mithbea the campaign would move north. The fertile lands of Solotine would be a much more difficult battleground, but the prize Hasan wanted was Venecia. Venecia was the heart of all commerce coming into Solotine. If Hasan controlled Venecia and Pailtar he would control the shipping for two continents, making him the second most powerful man on both places behind King Ganus himself. Other of King Ganus’s lieutenants thought themselves to be receiving richer kingdoms such as Balta, or those on the western isles, but Hasan knew that he who controlled the money had the power. Port cities meant money. Hasan would have Pailtar no matter what.

“Sir, the captains are here,” said Hasan’s manservant nervously.

“Send them in,” said Hasan with a casual wave of his hand.

The three men entered the luxury that was Hasan Tulur’s war tent. Silk sheets covered the bed, thick cushions under an ornate rug were in from of Hasan’s large throne chair. Hasan might not be a king, but he traveled and ruled his army like one.

“Report,” instructed Hasan.

“There have been some early setbacks, Sir,” said the first captain. A thick-shouldered warrior, with dust and blood covering his uniform.

Hasan frowned, he had wanted Pailtar taken before the ships of the irksome Balar Arfa arrived. Hasan did not trust Balar and did not want him to have a chance to get his troops inside Pailtar. They had orders to work together, but Hasan would rather take Pailtar on his own. “What type of setbacks?” asked Hasan, his icy voice a warning that failure was dangerous.

“The ground is riddled with booby traps. We’ve lost hundreds of soldiers to them. Deep pits covered with log and dirt covers. When our men walk over them, they are solid until a trip wire is hit and the covers fall, sending our men into the spiked pits.”

“I would suggest you go around the pits then,” said Hasan. Could these idiots figure out nothing on their own?

“Yes, Sir. It’s just that finding them is challenging.”

“Then use fodder. Have our slaves sent to the front of the lines. Losing a few hundred slaves won’t matter, there’s a city waiting to be conquered. We can replenish the slave numbers once we conquer the city.”

“As you command,”

“What other issues are you having?”

“Sir, our mages are useless.”

Hasan turned to the second of his captains. “What’s the problem with your mages?”

“When they tried to send spells towards the city they failed. The pits are not the only traps that Pailtar has left us.”

“Why did they fail?” asked Hasan, his annoyance growing by the minute.

“It seems that Pailtar’s mages have set anti-magic runes outside of the city walls. In other areas they have spells that alter magic. Three fire mages have been burnt to a crisp trying to launch fireballs towards the city. Our mages are afraid to try casting any more spells.”

“Damn it! Tolga and Tunc were supposed to deal with the Thieves’ Guild and their pesky magic users. I should have known those stupid mercenaries would fail. Have our mages fall back. We’ll need them later. Let the slaves lead our troops to the front gates. I don’t care how many fall into pits. Get those gates open before the end of the day!”

…

“It’s like you said, Everet. They are sending the slaves to the front now. Their main forces are falling behind and coming up the middle between the pits. It seems all that shoveling was worth it after all,” said Colby as they watched the slave warriors work their way towards the gates.

Everet glanced down at his sore blistered hands. Indeed, the effort and slight discomfort had been well worth the results. The effect of the pits was not only a solid reduction of the enemy's numbers, but it set up the next stage of the defense. Now that the enemy soldiers were bunched together, marching between the large pits they were vulnerable to the next trap. “Wait until the slaves are almost to the gates. We want to get as many of the real warriors as possible.”

Colby nodded and lifted his hand. Watching the slaves gingerly walk towards the gates feeling their way across the ground, fearful that they too would fall into one of the deadly spike-filled pits. As the slaves made their way past the mark that Everet had pointed to, Colby lowered his arm, signaling the archers to stand up. Ten archers stood ready, arrows cocked while a second man stood beside each archer lighting their arrow on fire. Then all ten archers fired their arrows into the ground at different intervals. Each arrow aimed at a strip of ground covered in oil and alcohol. As the arrows hit the ground the flames from the arrows struck the soaked ground. A loud whoosh sound could be heard as the ground between the pits burst into flame. The largest strips of oiled ground were at the ends of the pits. The effect was a large fire prison, with the only hope for escape being to jump into the stake-filled pits or to charge forward towards the gates.