It almost made sense. Almost. “Let us in and then what, lad?”
“Bring us far enough into the city to trap us all inside.” Hendrix leaned down and borrowed a few sticks and rocks to start laying it out on the ground. “Have a main force lying in wait on the road here, the one leading from the main gate to the palace. They know we’ll want to make a beeline that direction. Then, have two elite forces here and here, on either side, a few streets over. Those forces will wait until we’re engaged with the main one, then flank us on either side in a pinching movement. It’ll decimate us entirely and will cost them very little resources or casualties.”
The simple efficiency of it sent a chill up Broden’s spine. “What be the odds they’ll think to do this?”
Hendrix contemplated that for a moment before offering, “They’re complete morons if they don’t try this?”
Right. Extremely good odds.
“But you have a way around this,” Ashlynn prompted hopefully.
“I have two. One, we realize that we’re not going to just rush into the city willy-nilly and trust all will be fine. We go in systematically, clearing several streets in both directions, and then wait for reinforcements from our backup units to keep that area clear until we find those two reserve nests of enemy forces. We take them out first, then we proceed onward. Second, we divide these men up into squadrons and train them how to clear buildings.”
Any training at all would help. Broden had been talking to everyone he could as they marched and discovered that very few had any sort of training or fighting experience to speak of. They were determined and fed up with a bad king, but not fighters. He’d grown increasingly worried about taking them into the city in this condition. Any training at all would give them higher odds of survival and all of them a better chance at actually winning the conflict.
“Ashlynn,” Hendrix focused on her with intensity, “I’ve seen Ash create simple boards out of wood in seconds, dozens at a time. I’ve seen him log some pretty impressive trees as well. Is this something you know how to do?”
“Of course,” she answered, almost affronted at the suggestion that her brother might know how to do something she didn’t. “Why? What are you wanting me to make?”
“Shields.”
Edvard let out a hiss. “Of course! I should have thought of that before. Shields would give them at least some protection. How big, do you think? A buckler size? Something larger?”
“Most shields are about the size of a man’s chest,” Hendrix answered with a weighing look at Ashlynn, gauging her reaction to this. “I’d like it to be about that size. What do you say, Ashlynn?”
“That entirely depends on how thick you want it, how many I’m making, and how many trees I have to work with,” she responded candidly. “What’s your order?”
“As many as you can,” Hendrix responded promptly, proving he had anticipated this question, “three fingers thick and can you put a protective coating on the top to repel weapons?”
“Only if it’s on the very top and the men understand that coming into direct contact with it will likely make them highly uncomfortable,” Ashlynn warned. “Remember, my magic isn’t a pleasant sensation to all.”
“I do forget that sometimes,” Broden admitted with a shrug, making them all shrug in return.
Ashlynn shot him a warm smile before continuing, “How many I make really depends on how many trees I can use. There’s not many in this area of the country since it’s mostly farmland out here. But I’ll do the best I can to make sure that most of our troops have a shield, at least.”
“Work it so that every squadron has at least a few shields in it,” Hendrix requested. “That’s the base of what we need. That way we have people who can cover the rest as they’re fighting.”
“That I can do,” Ashlynn promised.
“Good. Now, Edvard, Broden, do you know how to clear a building safely?”
“Of course,” they answered in unison.
Hendrix looked more than a little relieved, as well he should, as he had never seen Edvard in any kind of conflict. Neither had Broden, for that matter, but he knew the man trained with the guard on a regular basis. He might not have much in the way of experience but at the very least, he knew how to do it in theory. “Then while Ashlynn is logging trees, help me divide them up into squadrons and teach them.”
“Of course,” Edvard repeated, agreeing readily. He bounced up to his feet, already moving. “How should we divide them up? How large do you think a squadron should be?”
As they moved off, Broden lingered enough to ask, “Lass, ye be fine by yerself?”
She negated the worry with a flick of the hand. “There’s trees right there, I’m surrounded by a little over a thousand people, I can’t possibly be any safer. Go train people. Whoever gets done first gets to cook the other dinner.”
“Fair enough.”
They arrived in Kremser with a force of four thousand, eight hundred sixty odd souls. It was an extremely hodge podge force with little in the way of organization, but much in the way of determination. Hendrix spent most of the march organizing them as they moved, arranging them in ranks, assigning captains over groups, and so on. Broden watched him work and had to wonder—for a man that said he had only minimal experience in warfare, who exactly was he comparing himself to? He had plenty of experience from what Broden could see.
Kremser’s spy network knew they were coming. It was impossible to hide their intentions and gather up a secret force of this size without it getting out somehow. Hendrix had not even tried. The walls and main gates had a strong force waiting for them.
They arrived late in the morning outside of Kremser’s walls. Broden studied the situation from one side to another, not at all sure how Hendrix planned to get inside. Siege warfare was terrible in this regard, as the offensive force had to somehow get past those very sturdy walls. He had learned that intimately well at Estole.
Stopping dead in the middle of the street, Hendrix took one look at the situation and gave a grim smile. “And this is why I wanted Ashlynn to go with us.”
Ashlynn perked up. “I get to break something?”
“All the things,” Hendrix promised, expression a perfect match for hers. Straightening in his saddle, he waved her forward. “Wizard Fallbright, if I may request your assistance?” he asked mock formally.
“With pleasure, Prince Hendrix,” she responded in kind, sweeping him a bow that would not have been out of place in a formal Court. Lifting a hand, she drew that intricate spell symbol in the air Broden knew well, spoke a word, and power burst forth like a lightning bolt straight at the gates.
They exploded in a shower of pebbles and splinters, leaving a smoking hole behind.
Chortling, Ashlynn blew another two holes just for the sheer fun of it, leaving it more than wide enough for four carriages abreast to pass through.
Voice laced with amusement, Edvard reminded her, “He has to fix those later, you know.”
She wrinkled her nose at him but subsided. Broden noticed that Hendrix looked relieved. Been too afraid to request she stop, eh? Considering she had zapped him before, Broden did not exactly blame him.
Hendrix turned his horse around. “Captains, to me!”
The captains, already cued up, gathered and formed a rough semicircle around Hendrix, silent and anxious. Hendrix waited until he had all of them before speaking. “You know what to do. Block off the main streets, guard them so that we have direct access to the palace. Do not get sidetracked from that mission, no matter what happens, and please, please do not cut yourself off from an avenue of retreat. Be able to fall back at any point. I don’t want to lose anyone in there. Do you understand me?”
There rang a chorus of assents.
“Then go. Squadrons one through six, you breach the gates. We’ve got your backs.”
Since Broden and Ashlynn were part of the first squadron, they immediately left. For anyone else, sending in a squadron of twenty-five men as th
e forerunners into a city would have been suicide. But not with Ashlynn as captain. She threw up a general shield to protect everyone as they bulled through what was left of the city gate. The gate was nearly as tall and wide as the street itself and she used it like a battering ram to force their way through. What soldiers were left did not stand a chance against her.
First Squadron consisted of men and woman who had training and fighting experience. They knew what to do without much input from Aslyhnn. As she moved through the streets, they peeled off and protected the sides, squashing whatever resistance they found. They always came back to the main street after that engagement, protecting Ashlynn and Broden’s backs as they forged forward.
Perhaps it was because they were in battle, but Broden did not like the feeling in the city. There was a desperation, a bloodiness to it that had his heart thumping. Was this normal? It was not a sense of adrenaline but more like grim determination that pulled him forward, even though his heart was reluctant to damage the city like this. No one living here deserved to pay for Zelman’s crimes.
Broden felt it just as well he was not a soldier by profession.
Ashlynn hit the fourth street corner and stopped, as planned, giving a chance for the other squadrons to catch up with her. Hendrix had pounded it into their heads to not advance too far too fast, as they risked being cut off completely from the main force. Even if they had Ashlynn with them, that would be foolish in the extreme.
Standing at her back, Broden kept a sharp lookout for trouble in every direction, trusting Ashlynn to do the same. “We no’ be seeing many soldiers.”
“It worries me,” Ashlynn admitted. “I think they’ve set up a barricade of some sort ahead, letting these streets be a temporary loss. We’re going to blunder right into an ambush at some point.”
“Aye, that be me guess as well.” Broden pondered that for a moment, watching absently as the rest of their squadron formed up ranks around them in a circle, covering all angles. “Well, lass, what do ye want to do about it?”
Ashlynn flashed him a hopeful look over her shoulder.
“Ye want to spring it,” he interpreted, resigned. “Of course ye do. Why do I ask such silly questions?”
“I don’t know, that’s a good question, why do you?”
“Just on the off chance ye choose something sane for once?” he countered, not sure whether to laugh or cry.
“Now, Broden, have I ever taken the easier route? On anything?”
“There be always a first time, lass.”
“Chances are it’ll happen eventually,” she agreed amiably.
“Chance be a fine thing,” he groused. Sighing, he looked back toward the gate and saw that the other squadrons had nearly caught up with them. “No sense in pushing it off, I suppose.”
“Let’s go.” Ashlynn turned long enough to shout back to the second squadron’s captain, “We think there’s an ambush ahead! We’re going to spring it!”
He waved a hand in the air, shouting back, “We’ve got your backs, go!”
Four arrows in his hand, bow at the ready, Broden stayed just in Ashlynn’s shadow as she cautiously went forward.
The streets were unnaturally quiet, so still that a graveyard would seem lively in comparison. Sound echoed off the brick buildings and the cobblestone streets in a loud ricochet that set Broden’s already taut nerves screaming in protest.
It was in this abrupt stillness that Ash’s voice rang loud and clear, “Ashlynn! ASH-LYNN!”
Swearing, his twin yanked the necklace out from under her shirt and hissed at it, “Keep your voice down, you idiot. I’m almost in the middle of the city.”
“That’s what I was afraid of. Turn around. Now.”
“What?”
“You heard me. One of our spies reported that if the army entered the city, it would be slaughtered.”
Hearing that, Broden grabbed her arm and started towing her in the other direction.
Ashlynn followed along behind him, demanding answers as they moved at a half-trot. “Why?”
“We don’t know. The spy is in the palace and martial law was declared before he could get a full message out. We’ve been trying to reach him properly for days now without any success.”
Broden had to wonder, was Hendrix’s idea the reason? Had they set up ambushes to flank both sides to crush an invading army completely? If that was the case, they had a counter-strategy, but he hated to forge ahead if there was more intel to be had.
“And why by the gods above wouldn’t you call me before entering the city?” Ash berated her. “I’ve got information on this place, I’m here in the city, shouldn’t you have called? I’ve been trying to reach you for days.”
“I did call,” she defended herself. “I didn’t get a response.”
“Did you re-attune the caller to ‘direct’ instead of ‘linked’ connections?” Ash asked in this tone that said he already knew the answer.
Ashlynn’s face contorted into a comedic “whoops” caricature.
“Because I realized this morning you’ve been doing linked connections for so long you’d likely forgotten that was the setting. And so I changed my settings on this caller and was finally able to get through. Smart, sis.”
“Oh shut up. I’ve had other things on my mind.” Ashlynn snapped her fingers at her squadron as they passed them, jerking a hand to signal they were retreating. “Edvard and Hendrix also have a caller with them. Let’s pull them into this.”
“Good thought. Edvard, Hendrix, respond.”
It took a bare two seconds before Edvard said, “I’m here. Ash, it’s about time you called us.”
“I’ve been trying to for several days. Ashlynn had the wrong settings on her caller, I couldn’t get through.”
“Oh, is that what happened?”
“Oh hush, the pair of you.” Ashlynn stopped and silently asked Broden to do a headcount even as she continued talking through the caller. “Edvard, Ash says they have a spy in the palace that sent a warning. If we enter the city, we’ll be slaughtered.”
Hendrix abruptly came into the call. “How?”
“We don’t know,” Ash admitted in vexation. “He’s locked in the palace under martial law and we haven’t found a way to reach him. This is literally the extent of our knowledge.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Edvard said, completely troubled.
“I don’t think any of us do. Hendrix, Broden and I are currently on the corner of,” Ashlynn turned and took in the pair of road signs nearby, “Market and Main Street. What do you want us to do?”
“Stay there,” Hendrix ordered. “If they’re going to do what I think they’re going to do, then they won’t move with only three squadrons in the city. Hold your position, keep a sharp lookout, and let me come up with another plan that will thwart whatever protocol they have in place. We can’t afford a complete retreat at this point; we’ll lose too much ground.”
“Understood, that’s what we’ll do.”
They hunkered down, crouching behind the shield bearers to gain the most protection. Broden had each man looking a different direction, ready to shout out at the least sign of movement.
Ashlynn stayed at his side, trusting him to look out for her safety as she continued the conversation with her brother. “Ash, what’s the situation where you are?”
“Everyone has been ordered to stay locked up in their homes. If they have a basement, they’re in it. We’re actually geared and ready to come help you when Hendrix gives the word. I know where you are, roughly, so I should be able to carve a way to you if needed.”
“Good. This spy in the palace, how does he know about the guard’s plans?”
“Former commander of the guards before Zelman’s inheritance laws yanked him out of the position. He’s played a drunk lord ever since but his ties with the guard are still rather strong, as he served with them for several years. He’s intimately aware of what they’re planning. I wish he’d been able to get out before martia
l law was declared.”
That made two of them. Broden absolutely hated this open position he was in. It felt like an arrow could come flying out from the shadows at any minute. It made his skin crawl.
The silence from their general was long and felt like several eternities strung together. When Hendrix finally did speak, Broden actually jumped.
“We’ve had a stroke of good luck! Our spy from inside the palace made it out.”
“What?” several voices demanded all at once, relieved and surprised. “How?”
Hendrix actually chuckled. “Long story short, my father has a magic talisman that transports him to the docks in case of an emergency. He stole that and used it to get outside.”
Broden’s mouth parted in delight. “Meaning the king has no escape route left?”
“Exactly. Two birds, one stone. I do love this man. Halloway says that the plan is this: there are three forces deployed toward the center of the city. There’s one on Main Street, and two other elite forces waiting on either side, about six streets over. Their orders are to wait until the army has reached the main force and then they flank to either side, crushing us from every direction.”
So, in other words, the plan that Hendrix feared they would have.
“The good news is, our spy has known about this plan long enough to help us with a counter. We’re a little out of position for it, though. We need to hold the ground where we are and send our own force to the right, taking care of one of the flanking sides. Then we move up and around behind the main force—they’re established on Baker Street—and take them. We have several citizens that have prepared temporary barricades they’ll set down to help cut off any lines of retreat and make sure we can do this.”
Broden shared a look with Ashlynn, almost doubting his ears.
It was Ash that said what he was thinking: “Wait, you mean our spy not only brought the plan to us, he also created a counter to it? Halloway, if you’re listening, we’re beyond grateful.”
“No-not at all, sir,” a new, unfamiliar male voice panted out. “General Quillin actually took charge of the barricades and set those up.”
Arrows of Revolution (Kingmakers Book 3) Page 29
