Forged in Fire (Destiny's Crucible Book 4)

by Olan Thorensen

  “Every Narthani?” asked Maera. “Even babes?”

  Balwis shifted in his chair. “Well . . . ”

  “Or women or an eight year old or a family brought to Caedellium to be settlers against their will?” added Yozef.

  “All right, all right,” conceded Balwis, reluctantly. “As long as you realize there will be clansmen willing to kill everyone, no matter who or what they are.”

  “Not if I have any control over what happens,” stated Yozef. “To do that makes us no different than the Narthani, and I will abandon the island and go somewhere else on Anyar if that happens.”

  Several people jerked in their seats at Yozef’s declaration.

  “And I believe God would abandon the Caedelli if they stooped to such atrocities,” Yozef said. Although he was tempted to use the phrase “It somehow comes to me” when he wanted to hint that God whispered to him, he restrained himself this time, not wanting to overuse the phrase. He still felt uncomfortable with the rumor that he was touched by God. Though he didn’t consider himself religious, it still felt blasphemous.

  “Let’s move on.” He didn’t want to dwell on a side issue. “Assume we reach the initial objectives. That leaves the Narthani behind what we have to believe are significant defenses and fortifications. The Narthani have been fighting large-scale wars for a long time, so we have to assume they have experience defending against a siege.

  “With unlimited time, we could build trench works and fortifications of our own surrounding the city and wait them out. We estimate the current population of Preddi City to be about thirty-five thousand. If you add most of their military and if they receive a good portion of their nonmilitary population within the defenses, they could have seventy thousand or more mouths to feed. They would eventually run out of food, disease would be inevitable, and we could divert streams and the river supplying water. They could dig wells, but I doubt those would be enough for that many people.

  “The problem is that we don’t have unlimited time. There’s the risk the Narthani could send more soldiers, and we couldn’t have that many people surrounding Preddi City indefinitely. Despite our huge stores of food, even those won’t last forever. Men will need to get back to their families, farms, ranches, and businesses. Looking at all the factors, we should plan on concluding a siege in two months, three at the most.”

  Denes shook his head. “I’m confident you’ve thought this out, Yozef, but no one on Caedellium has ever carried out a siege. While you haven’t described what it would involve, I assume it doesn’t mean a frontal attack on the Narthani positions, not after all the warnings you’ve given us and what we saw at Moreland City.”

  “No direct attack until we’ve degraded their defenses as much as we can,” answered Yozef. “We will dig deep trenches zigzagging closer and closer to the city. They could bring guns off their warships and would outgun us with regular artillery, given the size of cannon we’re able to have by that time. However, assuming we work out the fusing problem, we will cast large siege mortars that can repeatedly lob bombs on top of the defenses and later into the city. Their cannon will have a difficult time reaching the mortars in deep trench works. I also have workers testing larger catapults. They wouldn’t fit into the trenches, so workers are testing different shields to protect them from cannon fire, even building large dirt mounds closer and closer to the Narthani defenses and having the catapults hide behind them. By this combination, we would wear down the defenses. The Narthani are professional soldiers, so I hope that at some point they’ll realize their defenses can’t hold and they’ll agree to withdraw from the island. If they don’t, then we continue until the defenses weaken enough for a general assault.

  “The key to the siege is earth moving. For trenches and mounds, we’ll need thousands of men digging, which shouldn’t be a problem. We could have forty thousand fighting men surrounding Preddi City, and, if necessary, we could bring in another forty thousand men and women to help dig. Trust me, eighty thousand people can do a lot of digging in a short time. The trick will be the organization and logistics.”

  “What if the Narthani don’t do like you expect?” asked Poul Kildorn. “What if, instead of staying behind their defenses, the Narthani come out with their army and attack us?”

  Yozef nodded an affirmation. “A good question, Major Kildorn. Let’s think about what would happen. If the Narthani have ten thousand soldiers inside their defenses, they can’t send even a sizable fraction of those in an attack or we could assault their weakened defenses and get inside Preddi City. If they don’t send out enough to be a reasonable force against tens of thousands of our men, then they risk being defeated in a battle. No, I believe they’ll be stuck inside their defenses.”

  “What might the cost in Caedelli lives be in such a siege, Yozef?” asked Mulron Luwis.

  “Let’s not pretend it would be anything except terrible,” said Yozef. He wanted them to understand the gravity of what might come. “We’re talking about thousands of casualties, maybe ten thousand dead and wounded. It comes down to a price that might have to be paid if Caedellium is to be freed of the Narthani.”

  Half of the faces in the room paled at the numbers, yet no one argued it was too much to pay.

  “However,” said Yozef, “we hope and pray it doesn’t come down to a direct attack on their defenses. If we can put enough pressure on them with artillery and mortars, cut off food and water resupply, and use one other factor, they might agree to leave. If we push hard enough to isolate Preddi City, we could take thousands of Narthani prisoners. These could be used in bargaining with the Narthani.”

  “But with their ships controlling all the waters around Caedellium, couldn’t they resupply the city?” asked a new MIU member whose name Yozef couldn’t remember.

  Yozef shook his head. “Not for seventy thousand people. Oh, they would certainly try, but where would they get the food? I’m sure any major stores are already inside Preddi City. As for water, they would have to secure water supplies somewhere on Caedellium. The men necessary to protect that water source would be exposed to being attacked and would weaken the Preddi City defenses. No, I think they’ll be stuck with whatever is in the city when we isolate it, and they’ll have to use wells and rainwater.”

  For the next three hours, they went over Yozef’s skeleton plan and made changes, added details, and agreed on an expanded version to present to Culich and the other senior clan leaders. During the entire three hours, Yozef prayed he was doing the right thing. He worried that they had only a few more months left to push the Narthani off the island. He also didn’t tell the others that he had never read about siege engineering. The only thing he knew came from movies and TV, where sieges were depicted with technology of approximately the current level of Caedellium and the Narthani.

  After the attendees dispersed, Yozef and Maera gathered up maps and any papers in the room that referred to his proposed campaign; no one took any written documents from the room, except Yozef. Balwis, Gowlin Reese, and two other escorts waited outside with a carriage.

  “They accepted everything I laid out better and faster than I expected,” said Yozef.

  “I think they all, or most, know it’s necessary,” said Maera. “Remember, the five men you shared your campaign plan with have already seen action against the Narthani, some of it quite desperate. Not all clan leaders will take the potential cost so calmly. There were also many questions left unaddressed, like what to do with the Eywellese and Selfcellese once we separate them from the Narthani. How do we keep control of their populations and deal with the Narthani at the same time?”

  “I know, Maera. I think it all depends on what happens after we separate them from Narthani control. I believe the problem won’t be too bad, although I admit there’s no good logic for why I feel that way. I guess I’m putting it in the category of issues to deal with once they happen—hoping for the best.”

  Maera frowned. “Although I agree with you that events will be deciding fac
tors, I think we need to make tentative plans for administration—a set of those ‘contingency plans’ we’re already doing for other issues.”

  Then she shrugged. “Well, let’s go home and deal with things less monumental, at least for a few hours. I want to hear how Anarynd made out. She organized a picnic, as you call it, for Gwyned, Braithe, and her to take the children out to the pond near home. It’s only a foot deep this time of year, and I anticipate Morwena being covered in mud. I pray that in a couple of years, we can watch all the children play and think of it as normal, instead of a diversion from things like we did today.”

  The MIU and the others who had attended the meeting where Yozef revealed his proposed invasion of Preddi worked on refining the plan during the next two sixdays. Yozef believed they were almost ready to bring in the other hetmen when events overtook their planning.

  Chapter 6: A New Player

  Fuomi Flagship Defiant, Off Easternmost Point of Mittack Province

  Jaako Rintala stood on the forecastle of the Fuomi expedition flagship, accompanied by three others. He automatically shifted his weight to account for the roll of the anchored ship from three-foot swells and appreciated the relative calm. He watched the first two longboats reach the Caedellium shore, each boat crammed with men who would assess their chosen landing site’s security. “Assess,” meaning they would get shot at first, before Rintala committed more men. Once they pushed a few hundred yards inland and signaled clear, the next two hundred men would follow and establish a wider security perimeter, before the remaining eight hundred men disembarked with cannon, tents, tools, supplies, and all the necessities to build a defendable camp. Then they would wait. The scout sloop had selected this spot as having a landable shore, not too close to an observable village, and most important, having the maximum sea room in case Narthani troops or ships arrived in force and Rintala’s men needed to re-embark.

  A Fuomi shallow-sided skiff had circumnavigated the island and crept close enough to a harbor serving as the main Narthani naval base to assess the Narthani’s number and capability of ships. The two forces were approximately equal. Because any Fuomi knew their ships to be superior, they didn’t doubt they could hold off a Narthani naval assault long enough to evacuate the camp. They didn’t land farther from the Narthani naval base for two reasons: prevailing winds and currents provided advantages to their faster and more maneuverable ships, and it was an encampment site where positioning and camouflage would hide their men from patrolling Narthani ships.

  They would land in force because they lacked even rudimentary information about the situation on Caedellium regarding the Narthani and they had limited knowledge of the island’s people and geography. Once they established the camp, they would wait for the Caedelli to come calling. Hopefully, the initial meeting would go well, so they could proceed with their mission. If not well, then the one thousand encamped men could evacuate under protection of frigates.

  Rintala glanced around at the ships anchored or under reduced sail. All the ships flew the blue-and-silver Fuomi flag. Not that the Narthani would have doubts, given the distinctive design of his people’s ships. Besides, what other navy could interfere with what the Narthani considered a possession of their empire?

  He wasn’t new to command. He had a well-deserved reputation for combined naval-land operations, and he and the other two officers standing beside him had worked together several times. Colonel Reimo Kivalian knew his business, and Rintala didn’t interfere with the Fuomi marine regiment on the troop ships. Neither did Rintala concern himself with the ships under the command of Commodore Vilho Kyllo, another officer who had previously served with Rintala.

  Rintala again scanned their squadron of five troop transports, two supply ships, and five frigates. Tops of sails marked the positions of the three sloops as they watched for Narthani ships. Once the troops, cannon, and supplies landed, the squadron would withdraw out of sight. The scout skiff and one of their sloops had reported only Narthani sloops and cutters operating within ten miles of the coast. Only once in two sixdays had the sloop sighted a single Narthani frigate.

  The size of the mission belied the anticipated importance. The Narthani were up to something on Caedellium. The island had always been a non-belligerent, as far as the Fuomi knew—avoiding entanglements with mainland conflicts and neutrally trading their grain and other foodstuffs with all sides. What had changed? In the last year, word slowly sifted out that the Narthani were meddling in Caedellium affairs, and annexation of the island might be underway. Fuomon worried whether this was an attempt to circumvent their current containment by Fuomon, the Iraquinik Confederation, and other allied opponents of Narthon. Rintala’s assignment, straight from the highest levels of the Fuomi military, was to ascertain exactly what was happening, not to engage in major fights with the Narthani. However, Rintala had broad discretion within the general order to report back on Narthani intents and strength on the island.

  Reimo Kivalian interrupted his thoughts. “The first men signaled clear, and the second wave of boats is heading in.”

  “Thank you, Reimo. All seems well so far. The scout ship report is proving accurate. Let’s push on and get the primary camp set up as soon as possible.” Kivalian nodded and returned to supervising. Rintala didn’t need to say the last sentence, because Kivalian knew the details of the operation as well as Rintala did. Still, he felt better giving an order, even if the receiver didn’t need it. The words gave him a sense of involvement, instead of standing and watching. Kivalian knew the routine and took no offense at any hint that his commander and friend thought he needed reminding of his job.

  Eina Saisannin was the third figure near Rintala. She was the only woman on the flagship, one of three in the entire squadron. Women held many important positions in Fuomon society, though few of a direct military nature. In her case, she was both a scholar and a member of the Fuomon intelligence corps, reporting to both the military and the General Council. Her impressive intellect, linguistic abilities, and experience in intelligence analysis had secured her role as adviser to Rintala.

  “Eina, once we’re dug in, we’ll wait to see the Caedelli response, and hopefully you can establish a dialogue with them.”

  “I must admit, I’m both nervous and excited,” she said. “Nervous, because it’s my first time in the field, instead of analyzing and collating information back in a safe environment in Fuomon, and excited for the same reason. As for the Caedelli—to be honest, we know so little about them that I’ll be working with very little background.”

  “We do know at least a little something about them,” said Kivalian.

  “Little is the important word,” she rejoined. “They export grain, and the island has no central government—being a collection of independent clans, we think. That’s just about all we know. I found only three people in Fuomon who were originally from Caedellium. Two had been exiled for criminal acts, and the other was a sailor who stowed away on a trading ship when he was only nine years old and has never been back to Caedellium since. Not exactly solid sources of information, although they gave me a chance to get a preliminary feel for the Caedelli language. Apparently, the clans have some degree of regular conflicts—how extensive, we’re unaware. And as I’ve briefed you before, although the Narthani have been on the island in some strength for a few years, doing what is the question.”

  “Well,” offered Commodore Kyllo, “we’ll find out more within a few days.”

  The Fuomi stopped speaking as another person climbed the steps from the main deck to join them. Rhanjur Gaya was not a Fuomi. The fifty-year-old, darker-complexioned man originated from Munjor, one of the Landolin kingdoms.

  Gaya was a diplomat, of sorts. He appeared pudgy but wasn’t soft, and he had trained as a mathematician and an astronomer, until political connections and family pressure moved him in other directions. Now, as the personal representative of King Santran of Munjor, Gaya had been in Fuomon three years, two years longer than planned. When the N
arthani increased patrolling of the Gut, the east-to-west waters separating the northern and southern major land masses of Anyar, the options for obtaining passage through the Gut and to Landolin had shrunk to almost nothing. The Fuomon government had offered Gaya passage home on a Fuomi naval mission, whose goal he was not privy to. All the Fuomi would tell him was that it was by way of the Great Ocean covering an entire hemisphere of Anyar and would involve a stop of uncertain duration and unspecified location before he got home. Faced with no other option and being away from his family for three years, Gaya reluctantly accepted the offer.

  As a diplomat, he traveled in the squadron flagship and ate with the senior officers and Eina Saisannin. He was a reasonably agreeable traveling companion, though his studied politeness didn’t hide his people’s belief that the Fuomi, and all other peoples, were members of lesser civilizations than his own or any of the other Landolin kingdoms.

  East Head Point, Mittack Province

  The first native of Caedellium to see the Fuomi was a krykor shepherd pushing a flock along a slope overlooking East Head Point at the tip of Mittack Province. The sheep-like Anyar species filled roles that on Earth either sheep or goats occupied. Their ferocious visage on one of the pubs in Caernford was meant to be humorous, because the dumb, naturally timid krykor would never be associated with the word ferocious.

  The old shepherd was accustomed to seeing Narthani ships cruising offshore the last few years. These weren’t cruising! They were landing men and what looked like “cannon,” as described in reports from the Moreland battle! The shepherd stood staring for several minutes. What to do? His need to tell his village chief, who would then decide on the next step, conflicted with worry about his flock. His krykors represented most of his worldly goods. He stood rocking back and forth, as duty and self-interest fought. I have to get word to the chief. If I leave the flock in the open, they’ll scatter, and I’ll never round them all up again. Finally, he compromised. He had grazed his flocks in this region most of his sixty-four years, and he searched his memory. There! Just a mile over the ridge back toward the village, a small draw with a narrow opening could serve to hold his animals. I can drive them there, then leave the two dogs to guard the opening. Most of them should still be there when I return—I hope.