A Warrior's Redemption

by Guy S. Stanton III

  *****

  I inspected the people standing around the small chart table in the governor’s mansion at Kingdom Pass. Most of those gathered were staring at the map and talking in low muted tones in groups of two or three. Three generals, all seven council members, Thaddeus and I were in attendance in the small private room.

  Romnan brought the council of war to attendance by clapping his hands together briefly, “Let us get this council of war underway as none of us can doubt that that is exactly what we have become embroiled in, despite our best efforts to the contrary. The many concessions that we have made to the enemy may have prolonged the peace for a while, but war has come to us anyway and we are ill prepared for it. Roric, as you know, has just returned from a council sanctioned mission to acquire information from one of our most valuable spy contacts ever.”

  I kept my eyes glued to the table before us as I thought of the man that I had met but briefly, but had liked almost instantly and now missed deeply. Everyone I had ever known of my family was either dead or presumed dead, with the exception of my grandfather. It was a lack of longevity I would like to see broken in my lifetime. I thought briefly of Romnan’s words, ‘council sanctioned mission,’ if they only knew everything that the mission had entailed.

  “Ladies and gentlemen I feel it only right to inform you that gathering this information came at the cost of several lives including our spy’s and considerable risk to Roric’s as well. This information has been bought and paid for in Valley Lander blood, so my advice is to heed it well and scoff at it only to your own shame! Roric would you do us the honor of presenting what we know of the enemy’s intentions toward us?”

  I nodded and looked up, having the attention of all those gathered in the room. “There can be no doubt that we are within a state of war with the Zoarinian Empire. While there have been many wars between our two nations in the past, the motives for this one is different than the previous ones. That motive is one rooted in our distant past. I speak of when we came to this world on ships of an advanced technology such as we do not have with us anymore or so most of us were led to believe.”

  I finished by staring pointedly at Thaddeus, who didn’t so much as bat an eye at the accusatory tone I directed at him.

  “Two of those ships are still in existence within the Shrine of Remembrance, where our ancestors first stepped onto these shores.”

  Exclamations broke out from around the room at my statement. “Why were we not told of the existence of such technology? Technology that we could have used to fight the enemy!” one of the generals asked excitedly.

  Romnan spoke up, “It was thought best by those in leadership at the time of the discovery that as few people as possible should know of the existence of the ships. The secret has remained safe for over five centuries. Only the head councilman and members of the Ta’lont barony have known of the existence of these ships, or so we thought. Please continue Roric.”

  “The Zoarinians have learned of the location and existence of these ships. How they learned of them we do not know. As we all know, the Zoarinians have never been happy with being contained to this world and their long time wish has been to return to the first world and to explore and settle others. Our ancestors saw that as an unwise aspiration to have and they hid from them the technological ability to return or to travel between worlds, which was in large part what sparked the first wars between our two families. The Zoarinian governors have used this old hate, as well as the faith we continue to have in our Creator, as grounds for going to war with us once again. But their ultimate goal, once we are out of the way, is to claim these ships for themselves and to live out the desires of the past, which could prove disastrous for our world as we do not know what is transpiring beyond our world and are perhaps better off for that. That’s their base reason for this war. Now on to how they plan to remove us from their path to glory. They have prepared for this war more intensely than any war of the past and have amassed an army of approximately eight hundred thousand men that is fully provisioned and should be ready to march within the month.”

  Several of the council members gasped at hearing the enemy’s numbers.

  “Roughly five hundred thousand of that number consists of their own men. Another hundred thousand of them are hired mercenaries from the south and the border towns of the plains. The remaining part of the enemy force, numbering two hundred thousand strong, has been supplied by the Attorgrons.”

  “The Attorgrons have betrayed us and thrown in with them?” General Sanjo asked, as a sick expression briefly flickered across his face before his usual mask of control fell back into place.

  “I’m afraid so General, but it’s worse than that. The Attorgrons have disclosed to the Zoarinians the other passes through the mountains by which travel through is possible. All of those passes, except for one, are currently open. The main force of six hundred thousand will march upon the walls of Kingdom Pass and set up a siege against it. They are prepared to lose upwards of two hundred thousand troops to take the city, but their attack is only a diversion from the real attack. The Attorgrons will use their knowledge of the mountain passes and come down behind our lines and attack Kingdom Pass from the rear. I don’t need to tell anyone here that this city was never designed to be attacked from two sides. Our army will be trapped in between two armies greater than our own and we will be summarily destroyed. Kingdom Pass will fall and the rest of the Valley Lands soon thereafter. Our great wall cannot protect us in this scenario.”

  Councilman Oswald broke into the moment that formed at the conclusion of my words, “It seems obvious to me what our most probable strategy should be!”

  I looked back at him steadily, “Oh, and what would that be councilman?”

  Turning to General Santaran, Councilman Oswald asked, “How many men can we field General?”

  The General looked morosely at the table for a moment and then said, “We’ll be lucky to find a hundred and twenty thousand experienced troops and perhaps another fifty thousand boys and older men that are capable of holding a sword and mounting a fight. I would say that would be an accurate assessment of the force that we can hope to raise.”

  Oswald continued on, practically not waiting for the General to finish talking, “This is what I think would be our best strategy. We defend Kingdom Pass temporarily with just forty thousand of our most battle ready troops and we send the remaining eighty thousand warriors or so to wait for the Attorgrons and cut them down in the passes. After they cut the traitors down in the passes they can return to Kingdom Pass and ensure its continued security against the siege of the Zoarinians. Our wall will hold just as it has in the past.”

  General Nadero looked like he was about to object to the strategy, when I caught his eye and shook my head imperceptibly. He noticed it and stopped what he had been about to say as did the other two generals.

  Head councilman Romnan interjected his way into the conversation, “Obviously that is the only strategy that has a chance at working given the superior numbers of our foe and the fact that we cannot allow ourselves to be surrounded here and hope to survive. Now, I believe it’s time to let the generals formulate the necessary battle orders accordingly. Let’s leave them to their work, shall we? Fellow council members, Thaddeus Ta’lont has something to show you in the council chamber that I believe will be of interest to you concerning the two ships housed within the shrine along the northern shore.”

  The other council members in the room excitedly left, following after Thaddeus, to see what would be revealed. Romnan paused in the room until the others had left the room and the door had closed.

  General Sanjo spoke up, “Romnan, you can’t possibly think that what Councilman Oswald is proposing is a sound battle plan given the direness of the situation?”

  “Of course not, but that is what we are going to let him believe is going to happen. Councilman Oswald is a traitor; of this we are positive. He was the one who leaked knowledge of the ships aft
er he found reference to them in some old misplaced documents. He was also the one that put Lent forward as our agent to be sent to meet with Roric as well.”

  “Why has he been allowed to live?” General Santaran exclaimed.

  “He is more useful to us this way, at least for now, but that may soon change. Gentlemen, I leave you with Roric. He will share with you the battle plan that I, Thaddeus and Roric have put together. It is also my wish that you would view Roric as your superior commander for the entire campaign.”

  My jaw dropped open at the councilman’s statement. The generals didn’t seem overly surprised by the order and only nodded their heads in acceptance of his wish. After the head councilman was gone I met the focused gazes of the three generals.

  General Nadero had a slight smile on his face as he said, “A great responsibility has been placed on your strong young shoulders, one that is fully merited in my opinion!”

  The other two generals nodded in agreement. I accepted their vote of confidence, while inside I was still in shock at the honor and responsibility that had just been placed on me.

  “Generals, let me show you the plan. It all starts here.”

  I pointed to Kingdom Pass and they leaned over the table, all seriousness again. “What is the greatest weakness that a strong fortress faces?” I asked.

  “The belief that it cannot fail,” rejoined General Sanjo.

  “Exactly! They have found our great fortress's weakness. It cannot be defended from both sides. Fighting the Attorgrons in the mountains would be a foolish loss of our soldiers. We would likely win, but the cost of victory would be high and we can’t afford to lose too many of our troops too early. Besides, the Attorgron army is not what it seems. Of its two hundred thousand men only fifty thousand of them are regular soldiers. The remaining hundred and fifty thousand are slave warriors composed mainly of spearmen and archers. The Attorgrons did not want to be involved in this war, but they have been pressured into joining it. They know that, after we have been eliminated, they are likely the next candidate for extinction, after the Tranquil Islanders. They have kept the bulk of their most loyal and experienced troops at home. The fifty thousand regular troops are all cavalry. They are little better than paid actors dressed to play the part of soldiers. The slave warriors offer us our greatest chance for final victory. My great uncle entered into secret talks with the slave commanders. They reached an agreement of sorts. If the slave warriors see that by throwing in with us victory can be obtained over the Zoarinian Empire in a final decisive battle they will do so. In return, they ask for their freedom and the right to live in the Valley Lands among us with their families, whom we will pressure the Attorgrons to release to us after the war.”

  Looks of renewed hope replaced the grave looks of despair on the generals’ faces.

  “How do we set up this decisive battle?” General Santaran asked.

  “We set it up in how quickly we allow Kingdom Pass to fall to the enemy,” I said somberly.

  The generals stared back at me blankly. The concept of allowing Kingdom Pass to fall quickly was obviously a strategy that they had never even given thought to before.

  “Even without the Attorgron invasion from the rear, it is doubtful whether Kingdom Pass could withstand the bombardment by the advanced siege weapons that the Zoarinians have created. They will be able to pick our wall and defensive installations apart at a distance that is out of the range of any of our weapons. The whole success of the battle for Kingdom Pass will hinge on three things, surprise, angered pride, and carelessness on the part of their inexperienced field commanders. They expect us to stay behind our wall, just as we have done for centuries as we let them come to us. They will be content to engage us only lightly and pick apart our walls at a distance, while they wait for the Attorgrons to get into position behind us. They will then attack us from both sides with the utter destruction of our army being the end result. We will surprise them by meeting them in force in front of our wall instead of standing behind it as we have always done. The front half of their army is comprised of mercenaries, with inexperienced field commanders. Their untrained commanders will rush at the chance of whittling down our forces in what will appear to be a bad mistake on our part. They will rush foreword, heedless of the potential cost they will encounter against our best troops and whatever traps and snares we can arrange outside the walls in the little time left to us. Once the onslaught begins, confusion will reign on their part as we chew up their forward brigades. When they realize the cost being taken, they will retire from the fight and I hope to have attained a small decisive victory that will bolster our troops and demoralize their less experienced troops. The Zoarinian people are a proud people and our actions and the needless loss of their troops will incense the Zoarinian generals into doing something impulsive. In an effort to regain momentum and revenge for the fallen, they will commit themselves fully before the Attorgrons have had a chance to move into position behind the city. It will become a matter of honor to be the first in defeating us. They will bring their advanced siege weapons to the front and begin pounding holes in our wall.”

  I fell silent and General Naldero spoke up, “What then?”

  Studying each of the generals I said, “We will retreat from the walls and let them have the city.”

  “That’s it? That’s your plan? To just give them our ancient city?” General Sanjo stormed out angrily.

  I shook my head, “No General Sanjo, losing the city is an inevitable fact we can’t change. However, the way in which we let them have the city and what follows after, well you see gentlemen that is entirely within our ability to control. This is what I propose and it is for your ears only.”

  I then explained our retreat from the city to them and they listened in rapt attention, not even asking a question, as I laid out the plan before them. When I had finished they stared at me in silence and then glanced meaningfully at each other for a moment.

  General Sanjo’s hard old eyes rose to mine, “In my long years as a soldier I have learned more than I care to acknowledge about the ways of war and the endless killing it involves. I do not question the legitimacy of your plan, as crazy as it may be. It illustrates to me that you know what war is all about and that, quite simply, is winning at all costs.”

  He then looked down at the map and added, “Even if it makes monsters of us all. We must preserve the innocent even at the loss of our own human decency and honor. My troops are at your command Roric, as am I. All will be done even as you have said.”

  Both General Nadero and General Santaran echoed General Sanjo’s pledge of soldiers and allegiance and after grasping their sword handles in a warrior’s salute, they left the room and I was left alone with the responsibility and ownership of my own thoughts.

  It’s easy to dream up a battle plan, but knowing what the cost in lives could be…..would be, well it was the worst self awareness moment that I had ever encountered.

  The cold calculated precision of the plan bore evidence of the hardness of my own soul. My plan could be my people’s saving grace in their gravest hour of need, but did that justify its methods?