Forged in Fire (Destiny's Crucible Book 4)

by Olan Thorensen

  “Do you know who built this traveling tract?” asked Brell. “And why did they make it branch like this? It doesn’t look like anyone could move through that gorge.”

  “No one knows,” Stent replied. “As far as I know, the earliest people to see this valley said the tract was always here.”

  “What do you call this?” asked Carnigan, who rode his Percheron-like horse just behind the leaders. The big man could read Yozef’s expressions and body language and recognized that Yozef knew something.

  Yozef had been mulling to himself the origin of the tract and hadn’t noticed Brell and Stent talking. All he heard was Carnigan’s question. “It’s a medial moraine from two glaciers meeting,” he blurted.

  “What?” said Stent.

  “It’s a medial mor—” Yozef stopped speaking as his brain caught up with the circumstances. Damn it, Carnigan. Don’t do that. He glared at his big friend and bodyguard, who looked back with equanimity, as always, unimpressed by Yozef’s ire.

  Stent, Brell, and several other men close enough to have heard waited for Yozef to say something.

  Well, why not? It doesn’t involve any technology, just facts about glaciers.

  “The tract was left by—” Hell. What’s the Caedelli word for glaciers?

  “Uh . . . a long time ago, long before Caedellium was settled, the snow and ice must have been so deep that it moved down valleys like slow water, breaking rock as it went and pushing it to the sides and center of the valley. When the ice and snow melted, it left the rock. I imagine if we dug down from the surface of the tract we just used, under a few inches of dirt would be gravel and rocks.”

  Stent frowned, and Brell looked skeptical. “Ice flowing like water?” said Brell. “Ice is ice. It doesn’t flow.”

  “It does if there’s enough. When it fills a valley, it’s called a glacier and can be hundreds of feet thick.”

  “How long ago would this have happened?” asked Stent.

  “Oh, at least thousands of years ago.”

  “Then these glaciers must be in your original homeland for your people to know about them if they were here thousands of years ago,” stated Brell.

  Oh, shit. The more I explain, the deeper into shit I get. I’m dropping too many clues and raising too many questions. I need to end this.

  “I’ve never seen a glacier myself, but my people know about them, though I don’t know from where.” Let’s see if claiming ignorance gets me out of this.

  Carnigan grunted loudly, which sounded like a deep drum. “Oh, Great God, either just take his word for it or dig and see if there’s gravel under the dirt and grass.”

  Brell glared at Carnigan, but Stent just smiled and dismounted. Using a large-bladed knife, he sawed at grass and surface roots until he could peel away a section. There, only two inches below the surface, was gravel. He poked at it with the blade enough to see that it went at least several inches deeper. He looked up. “Well, I guess it’s true. If Yozef says so, it must be so.”

  Brell gave Yozef a reserved look, shook his head, and said, “Whatever caused the tract, it’s not our purpose here.”

  Stent nodded, Carnigan laughed, and Yozef felt grateful to move off the topic and get back to assessing whether this valley was a potential battlefield.

  They continued toward the opposite end of the valley as the walls closed tighter. When the walls were five hundred yards across, the land rose sharply fifty feet higher, with the stream cutting through next to the right side. They left the horses and walked up the slope. At the top, they could see that they stood on a ridge running from one side of the valley to the other.

  Well, this has got to be a terminal moraine. The glacier coming down the valley must have stalled for a long time. As the ice melted, it kept dumping rocks at the tip of the glacier. Over hundreds or more years, this ridge was deposited. As the glacier retreated farther, the melt backed up and finally cut an opening in the ridge. Now, the stream flows through that opening. Not that I’m going to explain this to them and open more cans of worms.

  They stood looking in all directions, each of them assessing the site’s potential.

  “Well, Yozef,” said Stent. “What do you think?”

  “It looks good,” said Yozef. “Very good. This end is perfect. It would be terrible for an attacker. The front narrows to only about five hundred yards, and they would have to climb a forty-five-degree slope in the face of fire from muskets and cannon. Even worse for them, we could have fortified the top of this ridge. The sides of the valley are too steep in most places for them to easily climb, especially the eastern side and the first half of the western side. The rest of the western side would have to be studied to see what could be done, but I suspect it wouldn’t take much preparation to make that as difficult to breach as where we stand.

  “The main problem is the other end of the valley. The Narthani army would have to get into the dry part of the valley, and then we’d block their turning back without going through defensive positions as good as we could build here. The wetlands are a formidable obstacle but only after they cross it. Their leaders are bound to see the problem of having their backs to the wetlands and decide either not to cross or, more likely, leave a considerable force on the other side. They have enough men; they might leave ten to twenty thousand protecting that entrance. We wouldn’t be able to defeat them before those inside the valley crossed back out.”

  “What if the wetlands weren’t there?” asked Stent.

  “Well . . . yeah,” said Yozef, “but then there’s no blockage for their retreat.”

  “Let’s look at the map,” said Stent.

  They knelt around a map spread on the ground, and Stent pointed to the gorge and the stream entering the valley from the western side. The gorge walls were nearly vertical for more than two miles. “We could use gunpowder to drop parts of the walls into the streams. It would stop water from flowing to the wetland. That would reduce the flow that replenishes the water level in the wetland.”

  Yozef shook his head. “But eventually the water would back up enough to break through.”

  “Eventually, yes,” agreed Stent, “but it might hold long enough for our purposes. We need the wetlands to shrink enough to give their army more than the narrow tract to maneuver. Best would be if we could drain the wetland, let the Narthani enter the valley, then reflood the southern end of the valley. In the gorge, we could try to drop the walls in several places, which would create smaller backups and less pressure than on a single dam. Of course, we’d have to blast holes in the dams once the Narthani are in the trap. We can do something similar with the other stream, the one here, that flows through this ridge we’re on. The Narthani would then find themselves caught between fortifications here and wetlands with a large force of our people moving in on the other side of the waters. They’d have to slog through water to get at our positions.”

  “I like the concept,” said Yozef, “but there are too many unknowns. What if the dams don’t hold? What if they hold too much and can’t be breached at the right time? What if the wetland doesn’t drain fast enough? I’m sure I can think of more problems.”

  “What about the other end?” asked Brell. “If we wanted the wetland to shrink, maybe even dry up, instead of stopping the inflow, what about increasing the outflow? Stent, what’s it like where the water drains out?”

  Stent pointed to the southern edge of the wetland on the map. “The land drops here and flows over hard rock formations. There’s a long series of cascades and short falls before the water reaches flatter ground and turns into a calmer stream. I suppose we could blast a deeper channel in the rock, but then we’d have to block the flow or slow it once we wanted the wetland to fill again.”

  “Hmmm . . .” Yozef thought out loud. “Blocking or slowing might not be that much of a problem. Remember, most of the water should have drained out, so the flow would be less or even stopped. We’d have to figure out a way to block the new channel when we want. However it’s done, t
he Narthani shouldn’t see it.”

  “We’re not going to decide today,” said Stent. “I suggest I have people study the possibilities and report back.”

  “All right,” said Yozef. “I’m sure you know, but I’ll say it anyway. Time is a factor. The sooner site preparation starts, the better.”

  The group retraced its way down the valley, stopping twice so that Yozef or Brell could make notes. They were clear of the valley and climbing toward a pass headed toward Orosz when a thought occurred to Yozef.

  “Say, Welman, you don’t happen to have any Flagorn Eggs in Stent, do you?”

  Carnigan snorted.

  “Flagorn Eggs,” said Stent, surprised. “Why are you interested in Flagorn Eggs?”

  “It’s just one of my interests. I’ve seen one in Hewell, but I understand there are more scattered around Caedellium.”

  “Well, yes, Stent has two that I know of. If you were interested, you should have said something earlier. There’s one not far beyond the end of the valley we just visited. It’s on the crest of a hill, while the other one sits on a rock prominence of an islet off the southwest coast of Stent.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame,” said Brell. “I’ve always wanted to see one, but something always happens whenever I’m in the vicinity.”

  Now that Yozef had a fellow egg admirer, he was tempted to turn them around. No, it’s over an hour back to where we were, then who knows how far to the egg? No, it’ll have wait.

  “Don’t worry, Owill. I’m sure we’ll have other chances. We need to get back to Orosz City.”

  CHAPTER 16: YOZEF AND RINTALA NEGOTIATE

  Before returning to Caernford, Yozef had one more important meeting—with Jaako Rintala. They sat under a flower-covered arbor: Yozef, Maera, Jaako Rintala, and Eina Saisannin. Bright green foliage with purple and yellow flowers from two intertwining vines created enough filtered sun for them to stay warm. From their chairs, they could look out over Orosz City to the flat, brown plain below the city. A perfect spot to relax, read, and contemplate being.

  But not today. None of them felt tense as much as anticipatory. They had skirted around an important topic before, but all four sensed the dance was over.

  Eina translated Rintala’s words into Caedelli. Its similarity to languages she already knew and her prodigious linguistic talent made her sound like a native speaker. Maera listened and only commented if she thought there was a translation problem.

  After the pleasantries, it was Yozef who began the real dialogue. “Now that we have established what a wonderful day it is, let us move on to more interesting topics. You have been here for almost two months now, Commander Rintala. You have seen parts of the island, talked with hetmen, learned about what the Narthani are doing on Caedellium and what we are doing to resist them. What are you willing to do to help us?”

  Rintala smiled as Eina translated.

  “I agree it’s a wonderful day, and yes, let’s cut to the bone, as my people would say. I’ll start by saying that I have been extremely impressed with what your people have done so far. Frankly, far more than I would have predicted. Can you stop the Narthani from taking all of your island? I don’t know. Logic would say no. The resources they can bring to bear on the island are overwhelming in comparison. Yet what I have seen so far makes me doubt logic. Not convinced—just doubting.

  “As for helping you against the Narthani—my instructions are to gather information and not get Fuomon involved in something so far from our realm. No matter what my personal hopes are for Caedellium, I must ask what would be the advantage to Fuomon if we helped you more than we have so far?”

  Yozef appeared relaxed, as if they were discussing which meat to have for evening meal, instead of the future of Caedellium.

  “I can see four reasons. An obvious answer is that anything that occupies or defeats Narthani forces is good for Fuomon. Every Narthani killed on Caedellium is one less Narthani you might one day face in battle. I assume you have asked yourselves why the Narthani are bothering with an island so far from Narthon, even if Caedellium is a resource-rich land. From I’ve learned of the Narthani, they see their eventual destiny as ruling all of Anyar. In that case, why Caedellium now, instead of simply picking it up among the remains once the major powers on Anyar have succumbed?

  “The answer suggests that they see Caedellium as a step toward the long-term goal. My own suspicion would be that they hope to set up Caedellium as a staging base to break the current stalemate you have described. With Caedellium as a major base, they could threaten any number of other nations. My own guess would be those on Landolin, because they have so far escaped the worst of the fighting and may be the easiest victim for an invasion launched from Caedellium.

  “There is also the principle of resisting evil, as the Word instructs us. Of course, I don’t expect those who rule nations to always guide their actions by what God would approve of, but neither would I discount the potential of rallying alliances against the Narthani using something as trite as the common good.”

  Yozef paused, then continued. “Then we could discuss what Caedellium can do for Fuomon.”

  “What could Caedellium do for Fuomon?” asked Rintala, not in a doubting tone, but as if prompting answers.

  “Come now, Commander. Let us not pretend that there is nothing here you want. If this discussion is going to be productive, let’s be honest. Tell you what. I will tell you things that Caedellium wants, and then you tell me what Fuomon wants. I will go first to show good faith, but I expect the same, or this discussion is over.”

  “Please proceed,” requested Rintala.

  “Cannon, muskets, shot, powder, poppy seed extract, some level of protection of our coast by the Fuomon navy, advisers to help train our people in the ways of warfare on the main land masses, and, finally, helping us plan resistance to the Narthani. I think that’s a good starting list.”

  “You realize,” said Rintala, “that much of what you ask for is beyond my authority or ability to grant.”

  “I know some would be difficult, but difficult is not impossible. Given the distance between Fuomon and Caedellium, I imagine you have considerable latitude.”

  “Some latitude, yes, but not complete freedom and only latitude with what I can solidly justify.”

  “Well, we can come back to what’s possible. What is the Fuomi list?”

  “Ether and kerosene would be the two most important. After that, many of the other products that seem to be unique to Caedellium, such as the different papers, soaps, and medical knowledge that is unknown elsewhere on Anyar. And one more item. One that is not necessarily something to directly barter for, but of which we are intensely curious.”

  Rintala stopped for a moment and looked hard at Yozef.

  “Where do you come from?”

  “I’m sure you’ve heard how I came to be on Caedellium and how I have been unable to identify my land on an Anyar map.”

  “I know the tales, but I’m asking you.”

  “There is no harm in asking, but I have nothing else to add from what I’ve told others ever since I arrived unconscious on a beach in Keelan Province. I suggest we move on to our primary items.”

  “Let’s do, but you should not expect our curiosity to end.”

  “Feel free to be as curious as you can be. Let us also be clear that I see two levels of exchange between us. The first is simple give-and-take. You give me something, and I give you something. What I am ultimately looking for is a significant commitment from Fuomon to ally with Caedellium against the Narthani.

  “But let’s talk of the here and now. In exchange for a supply of ether and the knowledge of how to make it, and the same for kerosene and any other process you’re interested in, I want thirty 30-pounder cannon—the equivalent to the armament on one of your five frigates, along with a generous supply of powder and shot. You have two thousand troops and sailors, so you must have extra muskets, in case replacements are needed. I don’t have an exact number but as many musk
ets with shot and powder as you can reasonably spare. You have a supply of poppy seed extract. While I recognize you must have enough for your own purposes, if we share the ether with you, then you won’t need the entire supply of extract.

  “I want your warships to make themselves known enough to the Narthani that they become cautious about coastal raids or trying to land large numbers of troops to outflank our men. I don’t expect you to fight naval engagements, but at least limit their activity until their new force arrives. I expect they will be accompanied by many more warships, and by then, you might well decide it’s time for you and your men to sail back to Fuomon. Until then, I want you to provide men to help train the islanders in different aspects of modern warfare, and I want you, Saisannin, and Kivalian to provide advice on defeating the Narthani.”

  The two Fuomi had sat staring as Yozef went through his wish list. Then Rintala answered.

  “Would you also like my firstborn child? You have as much chance at that as your list.”

  “Please understand that while I mean no disrespect, I’m not very good at bargaining where both sides state positions everyone knows to be extreme, expecting the other side to do the same. Then the two end up where we both knew we eventually would. Maybe it’s a fault of mine, but I have stated my wants, and in exchange you get ether, kerosene, and other things. I believe that to be fair. If you think it’s not, I’m willing to listen to your arguments and counterproposals. If you insist on starting with an extreme position, however, then enjoy the rest of the day. I have other tasks that need my attention.”

  Eina translated, paused, and then started to say something else to Rintala, but he cut her off and continued staring at Yozef for almost two minutes. He then spoke to her. She started to say something back, and he stopped her again. Yozef could see she was not pleased—at what Rintala had said, at being silenced, or both. Maera, listening intently, would later give Yozef a translation of the Fuomi exchanges.