by Eric Ugland
Chapter Eight
I wanted to go to bed.
Or my approximation of bed, which was a patch of ground under a tree somewhere. I knew I needed to get a real sleeping situation going, a room of sorts, but there always seemed something else that needed constructing more than a room for me. At least, that was how I saw it. I didn’t want to push my proverbial weight around just so I could sleep when others had to crash in the cold.
Instead of rest, though, I called the council together, which now included Wian, and asked that we hold a debriefing of the battle. I wanted to know what we’d done right, what we’d done wrong, and what we could do to make sure we lost fewer people next time. Wian, Nikolai, Tarryn, Lee, Nathalie, Harmut, and me. Ragnar and Skeld were there as well, but more in their capacity as hirðmen or ceremonial guards. They stood in front of either door.
We started with an overview of the battle: 25 soldiers killed. 48 injured in some capacity. The north gates had been broken, basically destroyed, and there was a large still-smoldering hole in what was going to be the northern road.
That finished, I launched into the conversation I’d had with the corrupted ursus, Nikolai shook his head, and looked pissed.
“You know they are not actually gone,” Wian said.
“Totally looked like they left,” I replied.
“At a minimum, they will certainly have left a token force behind, a group to watch over us. We will need to send a ranger out tonight to get a better look at what surprises remain out there.”
“That was certainly a clusterfuck,” Nikolai said.
“Hey,” I replied, “we won.”
“The sole shining spot on the otherwise murky turd of that battle.”
“Murky turd?” I asked.
Everyone ignored me.
“The shield wall would have held,” Wian said.
“It was being pushed back into the town,” I said. “If it hadn’t been for Tarryn—”
“We would have collapsed on both sides of the invaders, and reformed the shield wall. We need not remain in place as a normal wall. A shield wall is as much an offensive weapon as a defensive weapon.”
“And now our enemies know the extent of our magical capabilities,” Nikolai said. “Unless, of course, Tarryn has bigger spells in his back pocket.”
“Not as of yet,” Tarryn said softly.
“Ah, so you used your baddest spell here? Really thought you would impress them?”
“I thought I needed to stop their charge where it was.”
“As it was, you were at least successful in that regard,” Nikolai said. “However, they know our capabilities, and, thus, when they return, they will come prepared.”
“You believe they will return?” Nathalie asked.
“I think we need to speak to Borin to get an idea of what else might be coming,” Nikolai said. “While the individual ursus Montana spoke to said this was merely a raiding force, and that they were pulling out, both of those could very well be lies. Dealings with these tribes in the past has taught us they have a variety of tactics built on deception. Certainly there is a measure of truth in that this did not seem to be any sort of organized fighting force. It was a group of people following the strongest among them.”
“That is how many species operates,” Nathalie interjected. “What makes you think the ursus is different?”
“Experience,” Wian said. “Reports from the conflicts that occurred. They did not match this in the slightest. There, the ursus fought with tactics. They did not blindly rush in. There was no attempt, here, to observe us, to know what we were capable of. I doubt they even knew there was a WarMancer here.”
“And now they do,” Nikolai said.
“Okay, so,” I started, “we need to come up with new surprises by the time they get back. Borin should know how far away the main base of these assholes is, so we’ll have a timeline to work in.”
“And perhaps you can get the other siege to lift as easily,” Nikolai snapped.
“I doubt it, but I do have some ideas. I know I’m supposed to be a bit of an idiot, but I was watching, and I think we’ve got a few, well, structural errors in place vis-a-vis our defenses.”
“I’m not sure you could have said that in a more confusing way,” Lee said. “What are you talking about?”
“We need a moat. Thanks to Tarryn blasting a big hole in the ground, we’re going to need to build a drawbridge across it anyway. I think we get Essie and Mercy to work on making a moat happen. Maybe there’s some way we can route some of the river around the city, have it flow through the mountain and rejoin the river in the canyon.”
“That is an absolutely massive undertaking,” Nikolai said.
“But feasible,” Lee said. “The only real problem arises from trying to get the river as part of our city.”
“Yeah,” I replied, “it would be more challenging because we’d have to get more water to make a barrier on the other side, so we’d lose a bit of pushing power from the river—”
“Which would limit the number of wheels we can power. And that will wind up hurting us in the long-term,” Lee finished.
“As long as we’re talking about the wheel,” I started, “was it damaged in the fighting?”
“It seemed to escape notice,” Lee replied, “but there’s nothing to say they won’t break it some time during the night. It’s certainly vulnerable.”
“If it’s so vulnerable, maybe we can just ditch it for the time being. Then we don’t need to worry about losing hydropower when we build out moat.”
“I still think moat building is a terrible idea,” Lee repeated. “Especially in the long-term.”
“Okay, but we need to survive these ursus assholes in order to get to the point where we can worry about the long-term.”
“Moats are not the answer we are looking for,” Nikolai said. “Not in this case. Moats will severely limit our ability to grow as a town.”
“Again, what I was saying before: we need to get to the point where we can grow—”
“The moat is not the answer,” Nikolai said, a bit harsher this time.
“Bigger walls,” Lee said. “And towers with siege weapons.”
“Towers with trebuchets?” I asked.
“Ballistas,” Lee replied. “Maybe catapults. Trebuchets are overkill and not quite as useful at such short ranges.”
“Ballistas are too slow,” Wian said. “The loading process against the enemies we could be facing, I do not believe it is a valid weapon for—”
Nikolai held his hands up, then said: “This is certainly something the Empire has struggled with. Their armor is simply too strong for virtually any of our ranged weapons. How we will be able to overcome a problem the entire Empire still struggles with… We will need to do some thinking.”
“Okay then what’s the immediate plan?” I asked, wishing Nikolai had more chairs in his office so I could Riker over one and get in Nikolai’s face on the matter. “Thinking is all well and good—”
“I realize thinking is often outside your area of expertise, but for the moment, thinking is what we need to do,” Nikolai snapped back. “Our immediate plan is to send the highest level ranger we have into the surrounding area to get an idea of what the ursus have left behind so we don’t send a foraging party out tomorrow merely to deliver a gruesome lunch to our enemies.”
“Noted,” I said. “I still think we need to look into building our capabilities in terms of ranged warfare.”
“It does little against the ursus—”
“The ursus aren’t the only foes we face, Nikolai,” I said. “There’s also Valamir’s buddies, plus the goblins. And who knows what else out there is going to come here after us? We still haven’t made a good exploration fo the valley.”
“Now is not the time for—”
“There’s never a good time, I get that, but I don’t want to lose sight of our goals to build a long-term living situation here. You’ve made some good points about the moat, so i
f we’re focused on walls, which I think you’re right about, then we need to be shooting arrows and shit from the walls instead of having a bonus shield wall behind our built wall.”
Lots of looks passed between Nikolai and Wian, but I noticed that Lee was nodding. He was on my side. It just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to build big walls and then try and fight toe to toe. Why bother with the walls then?
A tense silence took hold of the room for a moment.
“I need to eat and clean up,” I said. “Where’s Emeline? She’s supposed to be part of these council meetings, right?”
No one answered.
“Okay,” I said. “Glad we got that cleared up.”
I walked to the door and put my hand on the knob before looking over my shoulder.
“Anything else?” I asked.
No one spoke up, but plenty of looks passed between everyone else there.
“You guys are creeping me out,” I said. “But here’s what I want: I want all construction outside the mountain to stop. We’re going to need what land we have available inside the walls for the animals to use, graze on and whatever they do. Harmut, get working on rooms inside the mountain. Bring all that rock outside to be used on making the walls taller and thicker. Lee, talk to Zoey, and get her to make a portcullis. Or two. Probably two. I want a tunnel from the North gate into Coggeshall. Portcullis on either side. Next time someone wants to break down our door, we trap ‘em in the tunnel. Also, get some murder holes in there. No one could see down to the ursus when they were walloping on the door — I don’t want to have to deal with that again. Nikolai, Wian, guards on the walls. Have a group ready to form a full shield wall. A Quick Reaction Force. Maybe keep them in the barn tonight, so they stay warm. But I don’t want to have to round up troops from inside the barracks if either siege decides to fight again tonight.”
Lots of blinks.
“I don’t want to be a dick and say that’s an order,” I said, being a bit of a dick, “but we don’t have a whole lot of time, and no one else is doing a damn thing. So, because I’m not allowed to go attack either of the groups of assholes attacking us, it seems like the only action I can take is finding our missing council member, or at least attempt to. Now, one of you assholes do at least one of the things I just said. Okay?”
I opened the door, strode out, and slammed it as hard as I could. For a second, it looked like everything was going to be fine, but then the door slowly fell away from me before hitting the ground with a loud crash, sending clouds of dust out either side.
Everyone in Nikolai’s office stared at me.
“Can we get some better fucking doors around here?” I asked. “I thought we had a five-star carpenter or some shit.”
Then I left.
Chapter Nine
I went to the cantina first, but the only people left inside were the cleaners. It was pretty late for dinner, and stupid early for breakfast. So I was forced to go into the kitchen itself in hopes of scrounging something to nosh on.
A man hummed to himself as he put huge bowls of dough into what looked like a closet, but the waft of cold air coming out of it told me that, somehow, we had a fridge. Or a freezer, maybe? It wasn’t exactly clear.
I didn’t recognize the man, not right off at least, and I wasn’t exactly in the mood for conversation. So I started to leave.
But the dude turned around and saw me standing there.
Immediately, he lowered his head. “Might I help you, my lord?”
“Uh, no,” I said, “I was just, uh, looking around.”
“I can give you a tour if you wish.”
“No, I'm actually looking for someone.”
“A cook?”
“No, Emeline? She’s in charge of, uh, morale?”
“Yes, my lord. I know of her.”
“Do you know where she might be?”
“No my lord.”
“Okay. Uh, well—”
“If I should see her, shall I tell her you wish to speak with her?”
“Please.”
“Is there anything else I might do for you?” He asked, almost hopeful.
“I mean, I wouldn’t mind something to eat,” I said.
“You have come to the right place, my lord. What sort of food might tickle your fancy this night?”
“Nothing that causes you trouble. Just, you know—”
“You are the lord of the realm. There is no trouble here. Sit. Please.” He pulled a stool over to an empty workstation.
So I sat. “Just, you know, anything filling.”
The man nodded, thinking. Then he moseyed over to a large cauldron steaming over a banked fire. He dipped a large bowl into the stuff, and came out with a bowl full of a thick brown stew with large chunks of meat and hunks of, well, more meat. He set it in front of me, then disappeared into the cold room. A second later, he came back with a large round loaf of bread. He set it in front of me with a large smile.
I looked at the stew and gave it a sniff. It smelled pretty damn good. A complex note to it, as if there were a cascade of ingredients. I tore a hunk of the bread off. It had a fantastic crust, but was quite dense. I scooped some of the stew up with the bread, and ate it.
Delicious.
“This is delicious,” I said.
“Thank you, your grace,” he said.
“Quick question, if you don’t mind.”
“I am at your service, your grace.”
“Is that a freezer?” I asked, pointing at the room where he’d gotten the bread.
“Preservation chamber,” he replied. “Common magic for large kitchens, your grace. Keeps food fresh almost indefinitely.”
“Oh, thanks.”
He nodded at me and went back to cleaning up.
I dug in, and ate as quickly as I could. I knew I didn’t exactly have time for luxuries like eating. I wanted to do something, to take action. The exhaustion after the battle had faded, and now I wanted to be proactive. And given all the problems Coggeshall currently faced, there was only one I could actually be proactive with: Emeline. Caticorix was an enigma; I needed to know more about the man to understand what risk he posed. I hadn’t seen his army. I had no idea how many soldiers he commanded, nor of what kind. Light cavalry? Heavy infantry? We had sturdy walls and a long tunnel. We could sneak people around to the outside and attack from behind. Or just look at what forces were arrayed against us. But Nikolai wasn’t willing to let anyone use the secret tunnel. I was reasonably sure I was the only person who could survive the trip downriver, and I knew there was zero chance I’d be allowed out as a scout. Which probably made sense. As much as it pained me to admit it, I was rather important to Coggeshall.
“Excellent food,” I said, cleaning the bowl off with the bread, realizing that I’d been sitting there stewing over my stew for too long. “Thank you.”
He nodded, and I turned to go, moving as quickly as I could.
The snow continued to fall, coming down faster now. Wind blew from the west, swirling the snow around in eddies as it got close to the mountain face. I heard a howl here and there, but I couldn’t tell if it was coming from the wind or some animal I didn’t want to meet. I looked to the west, trying to see if Amber the kitsune-girl was still in her treehouse, but there were too many trees in the way.
I went to the longhouses, instead, peeking in the first one.
Lots of faces turned to see who was coming in. When they saw it was me, they all titled their heads down, as if afraid to meet my eyes.
Notably, I saw no sassy thief-girl from Osterstadt.
Longhouse number two, same as the first. Just smelled a bit worse.
Outside, I shivered slightly in the snow, making me wonder about wearing armor in winter. It sucked. The metal just sent the cold all about my body. Sure, I could’ve worn more underneath the armor, but, at that time, the clothing I had available was either in tatters or in tatters and ill-fitting. Not exactly the best of choices.
There was one more longhouse,
but that one only had ursus in it. I wasn’t quite ready to interrupt them on the off-chance Emeline had decided to find her own teddy bear.
Instead, I walked down towards Eliza’s tent. A glowing beacon in the winter night. The Northwoods’ mounts had been moved to the barn, since it was the only sheltered area we had for animals. I’d learned that the Northwoods were not ones to take the care of their animals lightly.
And quickly found out they felt the same about security. As I reached out to, I guess, knock on the tent, I felt a blade at my throat.
“Might I help you, Lord Coggeshall?” Asked a rough voice.
I looked over to see one of Eliza’s chaperones standing with a dagger in her hand. She had leather armor on, stuff that was close to the color of the tent. I suppose that was how I’d managed to overlook her.
“I was just coming to speak to Eliza,” I said.
“Lady Northwoods is not expecting or accepting visitors at present,” the chaperone said.
“Which I totally understand,” I replied. “But I’m looking for one of my, uh, councillors—”
“I can assure you he is not in this tent.”
“Right, it’s a girl, so, maybe she might be in this tent.”
“She is not. No one is in this tent save Lady Northwoods and her ladies.”
“Well, uh, maybe you can ask Eliza, you know, when you see her—”
“I will not be speaking to Lady Northwoods for some time, Lord Coggeshall. If you have something you wish to speak with her about, perhaps you might commit it to writing, and present it to her on the morrow.”
“Sounds like a rather stupid plan, but fine. Whatever. Go back to looking like a tent.”
She was not amused.
Frankly, neither was I. The whole conversation was stupid.
I stomped away. Then, about twenty yards distant, shot an angry look back. The chaperone was nowhere to be seen. She made a good tent.
Venturing into the mountain was like going into a different world. As soon as I walked through the heavy stone doors, it was warm and bright. There were people moving about, doing things. They smiled at me, though deferentially. I found myself moving out of the way because everyone else seemed like they had an actual place to be. It was mostly dwarves though, at least as far as I could tell. There was the occasional battenti, and a smiling Connall the Woch, but no Emeline.
