by Gerard Bond
In the subsequent two weeks he had sent out scouts into the countryside. After the scouts, dressed in local clothes, had returned with information of what outlying towns existed and where natural borders lay, Aristeides put together a plan of attack and cleaned out two dozen local towns without there being too much worry of a major alarm going off. He had sent out a dozen small attacking forces into the flatlands with specific orders to kill everyone that moved and to take what food and material supplies they could lay their hands on.
Killing the locals served three purposes, there would be no underground resistance starting up, plus there was no chance of any ongoing reports filtering back to the Kingdom government of his build up and also there was the added benefit of knowing for sure that anybody they met on the conquered lands would be the enemy. All trade had been immediately cut off and any traders still approaching captured and their materials confiscated. Those that weren’t of strong back and potential good laboring stock were put to death. He now had a few thousand slaves able to take care of the more mundane tasks under the watchful eyes of his established troops.
It was only this past week he had really been able to mobilize anything of significance and he knew he needed to act quickly. Reports from the spies up north told of all being quiet still. That was a gift from the gods, but he knew it wouldn’t last as long as he would like it to. The engineers had moved into the cleared lands and were building a firebase centrally located but easily accessed by opposing forces on all sides. He wanted it that way. That base would be loaded up with all the spare munitions and supplies he could muster. In fact a lot of the foodstuffs to be deposited there were the very same taken from the burned towns.
With the base established, any kingdom forces would, by necessity have to attack it. It was his plan to have the Kingdom expend its resources and men against that base. Aristeides would take heavy casualties, but he was prepared to do so. He had plenty of men here and the city’s munitions and supplies would do nicely in arming them. The rest of the plan involved a smaller mobile army held in reserve to spring into action against the enemy troops once either sufficient numbers had been killed or the Kingdoms forces tried to retreat. It was necessary they hit a telling blow against whichever army was sent against them. Not only would it be good for the morale of the troops who had been involved in all of this for almost a year, but also it would shake the confidence of the kingdom and hopefully destabilize it.
Then it would be a whole lot easier for the third army group Aristeides was assembling to hit the north. This third army would travel up the eastern passes and hit the capital city of Kassandrea from inland. With the Kingdoms army focused on the firebase, he would let reports filter through to the Kingdom that two forces were mobilizing and moving north towards them. Aristeides had every confidence of defeating the Kingdom in less than three months. It all hinged on the destruction of the Kingdom’s first army at the firebase.
It was why he had placed his best general in charge of it. Resourceful, cunning, quick-witted and totally merciless, he especially liked that last quality the best in the man. Marcellus was a consummate soldier, obeying every order without hesitation and without question, what more could you ask for?
An adjutant came into the room and stood to attention, Aristeides looked up,
“What is it?”
“The High Priestess Madeira wishes a word sir.”
Damn, he hated them and their whole clique, the only reason he was here was because they had the ear of their King and had promised him wealth beyond imagining to be found in these lands. Personally he hadn’t seen any evidence at all up to now.
“Send her in.”
The hooded woman glided in quietly under the gaze of the warlord, upon drawing near she stopped and pulled back her hood. Jet-black hair flowed out over her shoulders and her steely eyes fixed him to the spot. He was always taken aback when she revealed herself, the pearly white skin in perfect contrast to her raven colored locks.
“Priestess, may I be of service?”
“Why have you not mobilized your forces and moved north? This week has seen no troop movements whatsoever and this talk of building a base here? We are supposed to be overthrowing the Kingdom not establishing our own colony.”
Aristeides sighed, it was simple for them, control a mind here, control one there and they did your bidding, but here he was dealing with a country of hundreds of thousands of people. She had no understanding.
“I am handling the practicalities of an occupation and conquest of this land. The base is but a precursor to something much larger.”
“What we should be doing is marching on the Capital right now and fighting the kingdom before they get mobilized, defeat them quickly.”
Again Aristeides tried to explain,
“We are a force of twenty five thousand men. If we were to march north now and attack the capital city, we would be facing a force of twenty thousand regular troops plus the entire multitude of whomever else they called up for service. Since they are behind fortified walls impervious to our heavy weapons, we would then have to lay siege which would take many months and that would take us to winter. Then there would be nothing more to do but suffer through winter until the thaw, few supplies and loss of men to the cold resulting in a weaker force. As well as that, we would be trying to continue the siege against an enemy still safe behind their walls and probably stronger having had the time to make munitions and train more men for battle. Then there is their navy that would almost certainly be sent down to harass our supply ships coming in from the homeland. So it would go, us getting weaker and weaker while they got stronger, till our ultimate defeat. Is that what you want?”
Madeira looked on, trying to gather an understanding of men’s ways.
“We need to be in that city soon and the sooner the better.”
Aristeides could feel her tendrils flowing over his mind and it scared him. He hated having to deal with them, but what could he do? They were the power behind the throne and no one stood up to them.
“I can promise you we will be in their city in three months. Once everything falls into place we shall act very quickly.”
He was making promises he wasn’t sure he could keep, but he wanted her out of there, out of his mind.
“Very well, I shall hold you to that.”
He felt the tendrils pull back from his consciousness, then she turned and glided out. How he hated them, hated their aloofness, hated the elitism, hated the fact that it was a woman that commanded him. And if those riches weren’t here as they had promised, oh he had a plan and it involved her head on a spike.
A thought entered his head, ‘But why the rush to be in the city? Wasn’t the goal to conquer and simply take their riches? Why would the sorcs be so desperate to gain the riches for the king? They had no use for them personally.’ A seed of troubled thoughts began growing at the back of his mind, it might pay well to keep his wits around him. It suddenly occurred to him that the sorcs were up to something else altogether.
Down on the streets below Dark and Keera were arguing in a back alley. It had been a full evening and day of dodging patrols, weaving their way through deserted warehouses and lane ways always running.
“We need to go back! We need to find out where they took him and find where they have him locked up.”
“We are dressed up as two priestesses on foot with only one guard soldier and dozens of enemy soldiers on foot patrol looking specifically for us. Even if Justin and I split what happens to you? Do you really think they won’t have some guards at the tavern even now? We left our horses and supplies there too. They will be watching very closely.”
Keera was right, Dark had been distraught at the idea of Wollfen being in their hands. He was her rock and now, what had happened to him? Where had they taken him? They were in a city with no friends and a particularly hostile army. Dark decided to take stock, what would Wollfen do? 'Every situation breeds its own choices and consequences.' would be his thinking.
/>
“Keera, do you know of anyone else in this city?”
Keera thought for a bit then replied,
“I can only think of a couple of other people that I would trust. One is a man called Kendall, he is a swordsmith. The other is a laborer by the name of Vaughn down at the wharves.”
Ah yes, two particularly good nights she had spent with him. A strapping young man with a vitality that oozed more than sweat. Keera began reminiscing, but now was not the time.
Dark considered who might be willing to collaborate, the swordsmith less likely, he was probably busy doing repairs and sales to the new army. The other option didn’t seem to give them any advantage, but he would at least know the area.
“We go to the wharves to meet this Vaughn that you know Keera.”
Without any further delay they checked the entrance of their alley and moved out unseen. Keera was quite happy with the choice, though Justin looked a bit petulant. It was dark again and they were able to move a lot quicker through town, they were at the wharves within twenty minutes. Keera looked up and down the length of the wharf getting her bearings. The last time she had been here, she was drunk and horny. She picked a glow on a smaller craft moored in a nook of the jetties. Yes, now she remembered, that was the spot they had skinny dipped from the edge of his dwelling, giggling and splashing about only to be caught by the night guard. Good times they were.
“This way.” She whispered and led them out.
Dark followed with a disgruntled Justin bringing up the rear. There was still activity on the jetties, but with the amount of supplies being moved about and being stored out in the open it wasn’t that hard to stick to the shadows to get to their destination. It simply took a long time, ten minutes to go 100 yards.
Vaughn heard a knock on the hatch to his floating abode. Who would that be at this time of night? Moving up he flipped the hatch back and was met by not one but two sorcs standing in his light. Gasping he fell back as they both moved in without a word. He certainly wasn’t going to resist! Now they stood there, a soldier behind them giving him a foul look. 'I am for it now I’m sure', he thought to himself. They both drew their hoods back, his mouth dropped open and he could do nothing but stare, it was Keera!
“Keera? You are a sorceress now?”
She shook her head then lifted and threw the makeshift horse rug off. Now she was dressed as one of the enemy soldiers. He was even more confused.
“You don’t have another set of clothes on under them do you?”
Keera smiled and shook her head again,
“Hello Vaughn, I hope you have been well.”
Behind her he was distracted by the other sorc stripping too, she also had a soldier’s uniform on underneath. Now she was interesting, lean taller than Keera and rich blonde hair, smaller tits, but hey you couldn’t have everything.
“Oh I have been just fine in spite of the excitement around here.”
He was still looking at Dark while he spoke. Keera turned and felt that pang of jealousy again.
She leaned across and slowly spoke,
“That would be Dark, partner to our leader Wollfen.”
She stressed the partner bit and he got the message. The soldier didn’t look any happier since arriving, Vaughn nodded towards him with a questioning look.
“Oh that would be my partner Justin.” remarked Keera with a totally different way of saying partner.
It gave Vaughn hope of an interesting night.
Dark looked at Justin and could see the young man gritting his teeth. Keera was leaning down to kiss this man and she watched Justin move his hand to the hilt of his sword. Dark reached across and stayed his hand, giving a little shake of her head when he looked back at her. Keera was being a bitch, no Dark thought, a slut!
“We have business young man.”
It broke the two out of their reverie. They both looked back at Dark who stood there with a frown on her face.
“We need a change of clothes and a place to stay awhile till we decide on our course of action and eventually can get out of the city. Will you help us?”
Vaughn looked at her a bit and then smiled,
“Of course I can help. Any friend of Keera’s is a friend of mine.”
Dark looked around a bit. It was small boat and dank. Loose clothes were lying about and dirty dishes piled on not only the table in the corner but pretty much any flat surface that could be found, but she had seen worse.
“For now I think we could all use some sleep, is this double bed all you have?
“Yes but there is that bench there at the end with the table.”
It was way too small to stretch out on Dark mused.
“We will need two people to stay guard while the other two sleep. Keera and Justin, you two can take first shift in the bed. Vaughn and I will sit up and stay guard. Then at four hours, Justin you will take my place, that will see us through for the night.”
A rather nonplussed Vaughn spoke up,
“Don’t I get to sleep?”
Dark shook her head,
“No we have been on the road for too long and have not slept in over 36 hours. Anyway, I am sure you won’t mind sacrificing a few hours for Keera to get that extra sleep eh?”
He grudgingly nodded, he wasn’t going to get any sack time with either girl. Justin was smiling a little to himself at it all, sweet justice of sorts. Vaughn though was wondering why he was abiding by this stranger taking over his residence, well he still may get lucky eh?
Both Justin and Keera partially stripped and got into bed together, after a few minutes of laying apart Keera snuggled into Justin and he found it difficult to relax, but being a young man of strong urges he couldn’t resist when Keera slipped her hand down his front and massaged him. He responded with his own discreet fondling. They ended up sound asleep in each others arms after awhile.
Dark waited a little while longer. She really didn’t want to get involved but this was an issue that she was sure Wollfen would want dealt with. Their unit was what was most important here. The eight must stay together and it was for Wollfen to decide who was and who wasn’t a part of it. Sitting at the bench with Vaughn, she could see he was a very attractive young man. He was used to having his way with the ladies by the looks of him. She turned to him and spoke in a low voice,
“I feel I must speak on your relationship with Keera.” Vaughn bowed his head and waited, Dark went on, “Keera and Justin have been together for over seven months and up to now they have been happy, I am not sure a sojourn with you would do Justin well nor ultimately will it help Keera.” Dark looked him in the eyes, “We are living in dangerous times where any distraction could cost us our lives. I will not stand by and allow anything to get in the way of our ability to carry out our mission and stay alive. Do you understand what I am saying?”
Vaughn looked back at that steely glare and saw a strength behind it. He recognized it for what it was. This woman would act and deal with any problem she had emphatically. He decided he didn’t want to be on the receiving end. He nodded slowly and surely so there was no doubt.
At the four-hour mark Dark rose and nodded to Vaughn. They had spent their time in idle whispers and she had gleaned a lot of his life. He wasn’t such a bad man after all, just flowing with the tide. She hoped he found a better future after here. She walked over to the bed and shook Justin’s shoulder. He awoke quickly if groggily. Four hours wasn’t much but it had to do for now. He shook his head and took himself out of bed then padded over to the bench.
Dark partially stripped and slid in next to Keera who was dead to the world. She lay there for a minute waiting for sleep to take her. Keera stirred and rolled over, draping herself over Dark. Not sure what to do, Dark went to take Keera’s arm off of her waist, but then decided not to disturb the girl. She realized all of a sudden she needed that hug, needed that touch of comfort, of having a warm body next to hers.
Right now Dark was feeling very lonely without Wollfen by her side. She looked at Keer
a and realized maybe she was a little too harsh on her. Keera wasn’t right in treating Justin the way she did, but seeking affection in her own way, well maybe she was being more normal than Dark wished to give credit for.
Vaughn sat there with Justin next to him, feeling quite uncomfortable. Trying to break the ice, he offered the young man some drink, but Justin stared. He tried again, this time asking what he thought of the city? Justin sat there mute, staring out of the porthole. Vaughn sighed, man this was going to be a long four hours.
Justin had spent his time fuming, angry at this man, angry at the barkeep and sort of angry with Keera. He loved her and her ways hurt him but he kept it to himself. He just didn’t have the confidence to stand up for himself, so he stewed in his angst not giving anything away so no one knew. He didn't know it but everyone else knew they just didn’t bring it up. It would be a few years yet before Justin better understood the subtleties of human relationships.
Justin had also been thinking of Wollfen. The man had been like a second father to him and that had helped him enormously to get past his grief after the killing of his family. He had shown so much patience for Justin. It was as if he had felt his pain too, felt and understood it, understood the loss. Had he lost family like that too? He hadn’t really given it any thought till now. They had been so busy for so long. Times to meditate were few and far between. In fact the more he thought about it, the more he realized just how little he knew of the man. What had he done in his life before he saved Justin? He couldn’t think of a thing. There had been clues and even unanswered questions asked.
None of it really mattered right now, they just simply had to get him back, had to find a way of tracking him. Wollfen couldn’t simply disappear, not after what they had been through and what was at stake. Dark would know what to do. She was like him, she would show the way.
Keera woke later that morning. Dark was asleep beside her. She opened her eyes slowly and spied Vaughn and Justin sitting, not doing anything. Vaughn looked drawn and tired, he was fidgeting more than anything else. She had dreams of the two guys fighting during the night and thinking about it she could see that happening. Keera was aware of Justin’s anger, but he never spoke up? Never showed her how much he really cared. That pissed her off a bit, this time she had played it up with Vaughn and still nothing.
