Forged in Fire (Destiny's Crucible Book 4)

by Olan Thorensen

  They talked for another twenty minutes. When Balwis left, Yozef felt satisfied the man had accepted the inevitable. He’ll do fine, Yozef thought. Or at least do as well as could be expected under these circumstances. As much as he doubts his ability and qualifications, I have no reason to tell him he isn’t nearly pessimistic enough. I don’t dare tell him that in a couple of months, he might be commanding a battalion. After that, we’ll see.

  Maneuvers

  Within three sixdays of Yozef and Rintala’s meeting, the two partners in the agreement fulfilled their commitments. A Fuomi sloop was disarmed and its 18-pounders turned over to the Caedelli, along with 30-pounders from transports, along with powder and shot. The sloop sailed for Fuomon with enough ether for a thousand operations, samples of kerosene and lanterns, soaps, papers, details of preparation, and a selection of medical treatment improvements generated by Yozef’s knowledge and Caedelli medicant experience.

  Furthering their end of the bargain, another hundred Fuomi came from their Mittack base, some men to train Caedelli in the Fuomi cannon, other men to first observe and then offer advice in unit maneuvering. The Fuomi concluded that the latter wasn’t as important as anticipated, as they watched a two-thousand-man Caedelli regiment practice large unit movement of their dragoons and artillery. Rintala, Kivalian, and Saisannin stood on a hundred-foot bluff on one side of the valley where the maneuvers were taking place.

  Saisannin broached what all three were thinking as they watched the islanders’ company-size units perform coordinated movement with other companies and with artillery batteries.

  “I know I’m not military, but the Caedelli look awfully professional.”

  “No,” said Kivalian, “I think you’re seeing correctly, and I have to say I’m more than a little surprised. I was skeptical at first about the Caedelli having any chance against a real Narthani army, but after sitting in on their planning sessions, how they’ve committed to the redoubts, and now seeing their maneuvers—I’m not as sure of my pessimism. Not that they don’t have a lot of room for improvement, but given where they started from, it’s very impressive. It’s in coordination and maneuvering that they’re weakest, but Kolsko seems to understand this and hopes to avoid certain situations to minimize that weakness.

  “You know that in a sixday, I’ll start the first group of unit leaders on abbreviated training in tactics, unit coordination, and a hundred things they should learn over the course of a year or more, though this session will only be four sixdays, less than a month. After that, I’ll go to Orosz City to do the same and then, time permitting, conduct more such sessions at different sites around the island.”

  “Are the other sites settled yet?” asked Rintala.

  “I have a suggested list prepared by Hetman Keelan’s adviser Pedr Kennrick, but nothing is final.”

  “In that case,” said Rintala, “try to do the farthest ones first, so you won’t be too far away if more Narthani show up and we have to depart quickly. I’d hate to leave you, but I’d have to, if you couldn’t get back in time. That’s why I’ve insisted most of the men we have working with them stay in Caernford. That’s as far away from the base camp as I want, and even that makes me nervous.”

  “I understand you have to consider all the men first, so don’t worry about me. I don’t intend on being left, although I admit part of me wants to see how the islanders fare against this new Narthani army.”

  “Just don’t get carried away, Reimo, or you’ll end up dead or living the rest your life in some Caedellium mountain cave,” cautioned Eina. “Once the Narthani take the island, there’s nothing Fuomon can do to take it back, it’s too far away. If anyone, it would have to be the Iraquiniks.

  “Do what you think you can to help teach their leaders, but keep a fast horse handy. Speaking of your advising them, what do you expect to accomplish in so short a time with each group?”

  Kivalian grunted. “I had an interesting conversation with Kolsko on this very subject. Or I should say we had a conversation through his wife, who translated. Kolsko cautioned me against trying to create a Fuomi army but to stick to general tactics, organization, leadership, unit cohesion, mutual support, elements of city fighting and trench warfare, and any topic that would be consistent in any army. He specifically said not to mention anything about Fuomon doctrine on initiative—when and under what conditions commanders go beyond or ignore orders. He doesn’t want the Caedelli to get confused trying to use lessons they haven’t absorbed and have no experience in implementing, and he’s right. He may be inexperienced, but he still seems to have an intuitive grasp of interrelationships and the ability to step back and look at a total picture, instead of focusing on something right in front of him.

  “He also asked me to do an evaluation of every man in each group. He’ll have his own reports from islanders, but he wants me to point out any men who I don’t believe should be commanding men in battle. He says that some of the men will be from important families, including sons of hetmen, but he intends to remove from command positions any who are obviously unqualified. I didn’t ask, but I wonder what that means for his stature with the hetmen, if he has to tell them their sons won’t be allowed to lead.”

  “Kolsko. And we’re back to him,” said Rintala. “Do either of you have any further thoughts on him?”

  Kivalian snorted. “I think we’d be best off kidnapping him and taking him back to Fuomon, in place of all the information on processes he’s given us. I don’t doubt there’s far more than we know of now.”

  Saisannin laughed. “While I agree with the sentiment, Reimo, it would hardly foster his cooperation. And how would you do it? Every time we’ve met with him, he’s got those four guards nearby. By all the Gods, I can’t imagine four more dangerous-looking men. One is huge, the small one gives the impression of a coiled spring with a knife on the end, and the other two would fit stereotypic arena fighters from Fuomon’s history.”

  “I’ve noticed a change in the group members and asked about it,” said Kivalian. “Two of them have moved on to other positions, though the replacements appear similarly impressive. Then there’s Kolsko himself. Evidently, he’s also known to be dangerous. I got the story from his guard who speaks Narthani. When the Narthani tried to assassinate the Keelan hetman, Yozef and two of his regular four guards killed three or more times their number, with Kolsko getting four or five of the kills.”

  “So who is this Kolsko, and where does he really come from?” posed Rintala.

  “Well, I don’t believe for a moment the simple details he’s given the Caedelli about a people called Amerikans living far from here. It may work here, because the island has been relatively isolated, but I’ve never heard of any such land called Amerika.”

  “I share Reimo’s skepticism,” said Saisannin. “Neither have I ever heard of Amerika, and before we left our encampment at the islanders’ East Head Point, I had Commodore Kyllo ask his captains if they or any of their senior officers had ever heard the name. None had. Granted, Anyar is big, but surely all these officers who have spent so many years sailing and listening to other sailors would have heard of Kolsko’s homeland. The fact that they hadn’t suggests he’s lying about his origin.”

  “I tend to agree,” said Rintala, “but, as you say, the world is wide. We can’t completely count out his pronunciation being regional to his homeland and that there’s another more widely known name or pronunciation. And what about this Amerika being a land in the Great Ocean? It covers half the world, and there are not many commonly used shipping routes because of the distance from Landolin west to Krinolin and Drilmar. I wouldn’t suggest that our knowledge of the world is complete enough to rule out Amerika’s existence.”

  “Possibly,” said Saisannin, though her tone emphasized her skepticism. “But wherever he’s from, there’s no doubt it’s a source of knowledge unknown to Fuomon or any other realm we have regular contact with. You may not be aware, but Latva Hinko, the surgeon who’s traveling with us, ha
s been doing more than just providing medical aid for us and evaluating the state of Caedelli medicine. Although he’s a fine surgeon, he’s also an accomplished mathematician and could probably teach at Fuomon’s better higher schools. He tells me that as excited as he is about the medical innovations this Kolsko has introduced, it may be dwarfed by mathematics. Hinko has cultivated a young Keelan man who manages Kolsko’s finances, as well as a bank Kolsko started. His name is Cadwulf Beynom, and he’s also a mathematician. Hinko says he’s spent many hours discussing mathematics with Beynom and tells me that Kolsko has introduced whole new areas of mathematics that Hinko doesn’t believe are known anywhere on Anyar. That’s in addition to an expansion of several known fields of mathematics.”

  “I thought the islanders were keeping us from learning too much about Kolsko’s innovations, at least until we gave them something in return?” asked Kivalian.

  Saisannin shook her head. “Mathematics seems to be somewhat the exception. Supposedly, Beynom said that he asked Kolsko about this and was told it was acceptable to share a few topics but not everything. Why that exception with limitations, I don’t know, although I assume because they’re holding back parts of the mathematics for bargaining.”

  “Mysteries,” stated Rintala. “There’s so much going on with this isolated island. The Narthani and their intentions for the island. And Kolsko, who’s the main factor in whether the Caedelli can save their clans. Eina, it’s almost too close to the rumors you’ve heard—that God has intervened to help them by sending Kolsko. I’d be tempted to believe it myself, if I were a devout person.”

  The three stopped speaking as a Keelan man on horseback rode up to where they were watching practice maneuvers.

  “Colonel Vegga says they will run the maneuver one more time today, and he asks whether you would join him at his flag to give him any observations you had from watching.”

  Saisannin translated, and Rintala answered. “Tell Colonel Vegga we’ll be along shortly.”

  The man nodded, wheeled his horse, and rode away.

  “They didn’t look too bad,” said Kivalian, referring to the maneuvers. “Granted, they stick to simple movements, but the improvement is impressive, especially the speed at which they deploy their horse artillery. Part of the improvement is how hard they work. Our own men would be complaining vociferously after a couple of hours, but I’ve seen Caedelli practice like this all day and seem even more dedicated at the end of the day than when they began—at least, as much as I understand from what I’ve picked up of their language.”

  “I think knowing the consequences, for themselves and their people, if they don’t improve is a powerful motivator,” said Saisannin. “But speaking of language and translating, what about the training sessions you’re about to start with their military leaders? Kolsko’s wife isn’t going to translate all the time, is she?”

  “No, one of the men in the first group speaks fluent Narthani. In however many subsequent groups there’s time for, another Narthani speaker is supposed to be included in each group.” Kivalian shook his head. “If that isn’t a strange thing. We’ll be trying to help the islanders kill Narthani, and to do it we give the lessons using the Narthani language.”

  “Yes, ironic,” said Saisannin.

  “Do they have a chance?” Saisannin directed at Rintala.

  The Fuomi commander pondered the question, keeping his eyes on four batteries of Caedelli 6-pounder horse artillery practice setting up their cannon in support of two dragoon companies furiously digging in at their positions. It was the tenth time, at least, that the same units had practiced this maneuver, and each time they seemed to get a little faster. I don’t know if our own men could do it any faster, he thought to himself. Most of them haven’t done any of this in actual battle conditions, but from the obvious level of commitment by the Caedelli, I doubt if their performance falls off any when they get under Narthani counterfire.

  “A chance?” he said thoughtfully. “When we first came, I would have said not a chance in the world. A month ago, I would have said it unlikely but possible. But now . . . given the latest numbers on the cannon production, the quite innovative tactics they plan on using, the willingness to give up all their territory to focus on the Narthani army, and now seeing these first large-scale maneuvers . . . a chance . . . yes . . . I think they have a chance. Not that I would bet on them, you understand, but even if they lose in the end, it’s going to be a near thing, and the Narthani are going to be in a fight like they have never imagined.

  “That will come as quite a shock to the Narthani. I expect the new commander will assume he can force the Caedelli into major field battles. He will reasonably assume that the Battle of Moreland City had the correct strategy, and it was only the Eywellese who caused the defeat. He will think similar mistakes won’t happen again, and he will have many times more men to overwhelm the islanders. I wonder when it will finally occur to them that the Caedelli have no intention of taking part in major field engagements but intend to nibble them to death until they find conditions to favor themselves over the Narthani.”

  Saisannin frowned. “I’ve read some of the reports but have only attended a few of the meetings—many less than the two of you. Tell me again exactly what the Caedelli plan to do when a large Narthani army comes calling.”

  “It’s all quite simple in principle and surprisingly sophisticated at the same time. Yozef Kolsko has managed to convince the islanders to avoid any large field battles. That is, if it works out, the islanders will not directly engage or attempt to impede the Narthani army. They will harass and carry out ambushes where possible but will repeatedly withdraw in front of the Narthani, keeping contact, though not allowing a major battle. With their greater mobility, because all of their men will be mounted, the Narthani will be unable to close with them, unless the islanders decide to allow it. At the same time, the population will withdraw into their redoubts—there are eight or ten of them, I forget the exact number. The Narthani will be unable to mount a serious assault on a redoubt and fend off the mobile islander forces at the same time.”

  Rintala paused again to watch the latest maneuver practice on the plain below them.

  Saisannin cupped her chin in her hand as she considered Rintala’s words. “I see how that keeps the Narthani from defeating the islanders in a battle, but it allows the Narthani to lay waste to the land. At some point, there has to be a direct confrontation.”

  “That’s the final part of the strategy,” said Kivalian.

  “Yes,” confirmed Rintala, “and that’s the part that is ‘up in the air,’ as Kolsko says. At some point, the islanders hope to pull the Narthani far enough away from their supply lines to cut them off, at the same time picking a place where the Narthani will have to attack a selected islander position.”

  “Where do they intend to do that?” asked a perplexed Saisannin.

  “That’s the question,” said Kivalian. “They don’t know. Kolsko has convinced them that the exact place will have to be determined by how the Narthani respond and whether they can be lured to follow the main islander force.”

  “Is that feasible?” asked a dubious Saisannin.

  “It’s not something I would want to count on,” answered Kivalian, “but I’m starting to hesitate to bet against the islanders.”

  “Nor I,” agreed Rintala, who was formulating a course his subordinates would vociferously contest.

  CHAPTER 18: GATHERING OF THE CLAN

  On a clear day, Yozef left home early to accompany Mulron Luwis to observe a new dragoon regiment. Maera brought Aeneas and Braithe to Keelan Manor to leave them while she worked at the MIU in Caernford. Her mother and sisters would have a chance to play with the baby.

  “Maera, before you go, your father wants to see you,” said Breda Keelan. “He’s in his study.”

  When she knocked and entered, Culich Keelan sat at his desk, writing. He glanced at her with an unreadable expression.

  “Maera, I have something
for you to look at. Something important. Tell me if you have any wording changes.”

  She took the single sheet. Handwriting covered only a third of the page. As she read, her eyes widened, and her heart rate shot up.

  Be it known, a Gathering of the Clan is called for Godsday, the second sixday of the month of Himilton, at mid-day in the Grand Hall of the Keelans. The Narthani threat to the lives and freedom of the people of Keelan requires all clan members to understand both the severity of the threat and what will be required of every clan member. District boyermen will ensure one representative of each family attends the Gathering. May God grant us strength, courage, and resolve.

  Culich Keelan, Hetman, Clan Keelan

  Maera looked up from the sheet of paper. “So it’s coming. I know you said it was, but seeing the call somehow makes it all the more real. Maybe part of me hoped something would happen and things could go back the way they were. Something to assuage all my fears.”

  “We all have fears, my dear. I know the people of Keelan are aware of the danger, but I feel it’s time to bind us all together even more strongly. I’m hoping the gathering will do that. Although the boyermen and I have tried to keep the people apprised of events, I believe every clan member deserves to know all the truth of what we face. Now, we will take actions that require the total support of every clan member, and this is the best way to do that.”

  She handed the sheet back. “How many do you think will come?”

  “Too many for the hall to hold everyone. Pedr and I discussed moving the gathering outside, so all could hear directly at the same time, or having two sessions, but we decided this was best. There’s no natural site nearby where sound would be contained with a depression where the people could sit or stand on its slope. As for two sessions, those in the second session would have already heard from those exiting from the first.”