by Randi Darren
The older man watched the exchange with a hawk-like glare.
“Name’s Bennet,” he said.
“Pleasure’s all mine, Bennet. Now, in addition to my new rules, I wanted to ask you about the current pay for the keep. How much money do we have, and how long would it last?”
“All of it,” Bennet said immediately. “And a very long time.”
“All of it?” Alex asked. “Could you clarify that statement?”
“The count kept all his personal monies and county monies here. We had six times the number of troops a few months ago than we did today.”
Alex guffawed at that, then started laughing loudly.
“Well, damn. This war is already over then. He won’t even be able to pay his personal guardsmen,” Alex said, leaning back in his chair.
“Alright. I need you to work out how much coinage we need here to cover six months’ worth of normal everyday expenditures,” Alex said.
Leaning to one side, he opened a carrying case and flipped through several papers.
Finding what he was looking for, he fished it out.
“Add this to that number and then add an additional five percent of the total back to it. That should cover everything, I think.
“The rest we’ll send back to Brit. No sense leaving it here where there’re so few troops.”
Bennet looked over the sheet.
“You sure? This is a lot of coin,” he asked.
“Of course. There’s no point in taking something for myself if I can’t keep it. Now, unless there’s anything else, I think I need to have a word with my commanders,” Alex said, dismissing the man.
“Nope, not a word, sire. I’ll get to work on this immediately,” said Bennet, getting up.
The older man left quietly, leaning on his cane and reading the document as he went.
“Master, you look rather pleased with yourself,” Carla said, watching Alex as the door closed behind Bennet.
“I am. This is pretty much the end of the road for Ridge. If he can’t pay for his soldiers, only the most loyal will remain with him.
“He can’t even buy food. The only way this’ll change is if he gets backing from someone else,” Alex said. “It more or less puts us squarely in charge of Ridge. It’s much better than I thought. Though it does make me worry for our own financial situation.
“This could just have easily been us.”
“I doubt that, Master. I imagine you would never let the seat of your power be staffed with so few people. That report said there were only a hundred or so soldiers here,” Carla argued.
Alex couldn’t quite argue with that. He’d gone so far as to hire entire mercenary companies to leave his standing army home for that very reason.
“Well, I imagine that concludes my meetings for the day. You can leave, Five. Two and I have some work to do, I suppose.”
“Wonderful. Could we have dinner as well?” Carla asked.
“Of course,” Alex said, shrugging his shoulders.
Nannie looked from Carla to him, a frown clear on her face.
“Alright, Master,” I’ll be outside the door for now,” Nannie said, leaving them there.
Carla smiled and sat down in the chair, unbuckling her sword and mace at her hips.
Sighing with relief as she got her weapons free, she seemed quite pleased with herself. She set the weapons down on the table and looked at him.
“Anything you want to eat specifically, Master? Personally, I’m feeling hungry, so I don’t mind whatever you choose.
“As for a plan… how do you feel about eating first, working through that letter and then… wherever the night takes us?” she asked.
Chapter 32
“Sire, a fast courier just stormed in. The horse looks like it’s actually blown,” Dave said from beyond the door to Alex’s private room.
It’d been a week and a day since they’d settled into Ridge. Until the ex-count Ridge was dead, behind bars, or had relinquished his title, Alex would be stuck here in Ridge.
“Right,” Alex said loudly and rolled out of his bed.
Riley mumbled something, rolling over to her other side and pulling at the covers.
Grinning to himself, Alex patted Riley once on the hip and got up.
“Did they say who they were?” Alex called at the door, going to an armoire and pulling out some clothes for the day.
“Sire, they’re already here,” Dave called. “May I open the door?”
Taking several quick steps to the canopied bed, Alex closed the curtain on the bed and pulled on a pair of pants.
“Yes, go ahead.”
The door swung inward and a man in the colors of Tilly strode in, holding out a letter.
“Emergency letter from the baroness, my lord,” the man said.
Taking it in hand, Alex checked the seal. It was unbroken, and very much Mary’s.
Cracking the wax apart with his thumb, he opened the letter.
“Damn,” Alex said as he read through it. “Dave, get everyone spun up. I need Drew and Dan in the field with their cavalry as quick as can be. In fact, we’re clearing out the keep. Everyone needs to be out, except for a skeleton force that can keep it held together from an assault.”
Setting the letter down, Alex went back to the armoire.
“Count Ridge has sworn himself over to Duke Gaelis and has his backing. Something like two-thousand soldiers are on their way here,” Alex said so Dave could understand the urgency.
“Sire, I’m on my way,” Dave said, the sound of his boots retreating audible.
“And you, master courier,” Alex said, coming out with a tunic and coat. “For your troubles, here’s several gold. Please return to your mistress and give her my profound thanks, and tell her I’ll visit her in person soon.”
The man took the coin gratefully and then vanished.
When the door closed, Riley stuck her head out from between the curtains, checked to see who was there, and then came out. She was nude, moving to her uniform that was set just beyond the bed.
“Sorry, One. I had planned on having breakfast with you,” Alex apologized, slamming his feet into his boots.
“Not a problem, Master. I’ll get the Numbers together and let them know what’s going on. Is that the note?” she asked, pointing at the letter.
“Yeah, take it. Two and Three can read it for more details; I’m going to track down Max. I want to be gone from here within the hour. I’ll not sit here idly wondering where our enemy is,” Alex said.
“Sire?” Max said through the door.
Riley gathered up her uniform, the letter, and her boots, then slipped back into his bed.
“Oh, and One? You look amazing,” Alex said, just as she vanished behind the curtain.
A bashful-looking Riley poked her head out through the curtain, one pale shoulder visible. She gave him a small smile, then waved her fingers at him.
“Until next time, Master,” she said, then ducked back into the bed.
Moving to the door, Alex flung it open and marched out.
“Good timing, Max. Duke Gaelis is funding Ridge in exchange for his vassalage.”
“Bastard.”
“To be fair, we did maneuver the count into a position where he couldn’t really oppose us.
“Other than surrendering, this is actually a pretty smart choice on his part. His reputation will suffer for it, but the alternative is having no reputation,” Alex said.
“Any ideas on troop counts?”
“Something like a thousand five hundred. Sounds like he took out a fairly hefty loan.”
“That’s nearly triple our own count. How are we supposed to fight them?” Max asked. “We’re out-manned, out-weaponed, out-equipped—what else have we got?”
Alex grinned at that, a stray memory thrown aside for an old TV show.
“Guile,” Alex said. “I need you to get our forces broken into three and spread out on the western side of Ridge. Make it so the enemy has no choice but to b
reak their own forces to take us on. Preferably in such a way that they’ll be unable to see one another.
“Do it so each of our groups can reinforce the others if they need to. Do you understand?”
“I do, sire,” Max said.
“Great, get going.”
***
The keep emptied of all non-essential personnel. Alex had stuck with Max during the egress, letting him and Dave handle all the orders he’d given.
Rapidly, Drew, Max, and Dave each took a section of soldiers and settled in the fields to the west. Building up defensive earthworks and simple wooden constructs that would break up the enemy on their approach.
It was built in a curve, making it near impossible for the enemy to truly move around them. It also put the ends of the enemy forces fairly distant from one another.
Beyond that, the next several days had been spent waiting. Michael Ridge was apparently a cautious man, and was making his way through the eastern side of Ridge very slowly.
All he was accomplishing, though, was letting the engineers in Powell’s cavaliers really settle in. Ballistae were being put together, as well as professional defensive installations with raised walkways to attack down from.
Trying to take Alex’s position would be a butcher’s bill to the utmost degree.
When the enemy finally did arrive, they looked road stained and weary. It hadn’t been a fast march for them to make it here, but it had still been a march spread over several days.
The entire while, Dan had been hard at work. Harassing them.
Setting fire to their camps, attacking picket lines simply to kill a few, and lingering behind to attack the supply line if possible.
Alex had no doubt Michael Ridge was more than likely suffering morale issues and the wrath of his soldiers.
Watching the enemy, Alex suddenly grinned.
“What is it? You look like you do when you’ve got Three tied up,” Nannie said, trying to see what he did.
Valeria chuckled nearby but didn’t respond.
“They’re splitting into four groups. They have to, if they actually want to cover our entire line. This is perfect.”
“I don’t understand, Master,” Carla said. “Why is this perfect? No matter what we do, we’re outnumbered. Even in splitting into four groups, we’ll not be able to equal them.”
“That’s because you’re not thinking of it right,” Alex said. Turning around, Alex looked for his general.
“Max?” he finally called.
Dave and Drew popped out of a tent and made their way over to him.
“Max is indisposed. What can we do, sire?” Dave asked.
“We’re going to be making a move tonight. Get the men fed, settled in, and resting. Sleeping if they can.
“Quick as can be. Make it look like we’re just being lazy. I doubt our friend over there is going to attack today anyway,” Alex said, looking from one to the other. “Tonight, I need everyone pulled together. Every soldier we have. We’re going to attack their leftmost group tonight. It’ll be a lightning attack. Swarm in, kill as many as possible, trash everything we can, get out.
“We’ll take an hour rest after that, then do the same to the rightmost of their troops.”
Both men looked stunned at the orders.
“My lord?” Drew asked.
“It’s simple. Our entire force will outnumber their groups, almost two to one. Every troop we kill tonight is one we don’t have to face tomorrow. We do this right and they might only outnumber us two to one by tomorrow.”
Nodding their heads, the professionals saluted and trundled off, each man remaining silent.
“That doesn’t seem like it’d work,” Nannie said.
“It will, Five. They’re tired from marching, they see our defenses and already despair. Their will to fight only goes as far as the coin they’re given. I’m betting they’re all mercenaries,” Alex said, looking back toward the no man’s land between the two forces. “And after tonight, Dan and Drew will start whittling down their numbers while we start using that siege weaponry on their camps.”
“Siege weaponry? On camps, Master?” Riley said, close to his side but not clutching his arm.
“It probably won’t kill many, but it’ll keep them hopping, now won’t it? After that, we’ll start in with our true nighttime antics.”
And since they gifted us so much time, they won’t even be able to return the favor.
Not wanting to think about how hard it was going to be to fall asleep, Alex went about his business as normally as he could.
So it surprised him how easily he did fall asleep later that night.
Even despite knowing what his soldiers would be doing.
Of course, that was mostly due to the fact that Valeria had invited herself into his bed. She’d given him the simple statement that it was her turn, and kept him well distracted until he’d been ready to collapse.
“Sire?” came a voice outside his command pavilion.
Alex’s eyes snapped open and he got out of bed quickly. He’d redressed after his workout with Valeria, wanting to be ready at the drop of a hat.
Moving straight to the entrance, he stepped out into the gloomy pre-dawn.
Standing there with his helmet tucked under his arm was his general. He looked tired and worn, but bursting with positive energy.
“Max, good to see you. How’d it go?” Alex asked, hoping for the best.
“Exactly as you said it would. The first camp was a right slaughter. We pulled out once it seemed like the nearest enemy camp had figured out what was going on,” Max said. “The second attack went much better, if that’s possible. We nearly killed them to a man, looted ’em, torched the supplies we couldn’t take, and ran off the survivors.”
“Excellently done,” Alex said, reaching out and clapping Max on the arm. “That’ll have them licking their wounds today. I’d be surprised if they don’t bother with us.”
“They won’t. They’re already recombining into one large force. I think they’re going to try for the keep instead,” Max said.
Alex chortled at that, feeling like Leah was gifting him with this change in affairs.
Then he sobered rapidly.
“Get the scouts out and moving in every direction. I like what he’s doing, but I also don’t like it,” Alex said. “I want Dan and Drew’s people taking pokes at them the entire time as they head east as well.
“Nothing direct. Oblique-angle strikes, shaving corners of their formation off, throwing javelins into the ranks. I repeat, nothing direct. Is that clear?”
“Clear, sire,” Max said.
“Good, go. And try to get some rest if you can as well.”
Max saluted and then left.
After moving back into his pavilion and finding Nannie and Carla awake waiting for him, Alex went to his command table.
Looking at the map for Ridge, he tried to visualize where everything was.
“It doesn’t quite feel right,” he said finally. “They wouldn’t move back to the keep unless they wanted us to follow and harass them. They’d expect it, even.”
Walking his fingers along the obvious route the ex-count Michael Ridge would take, he paused as it passed nearby a wooded area.
“Is Three up yet?” Alex asked, looking up to Carla and Nannie.
“Probably not. You had her up for a while. She’s pretty loud,” Nannie grumbled.
Alex harrumphed at that and looked back to the map.
“I’m here,” said a voice in the corner, startling everyone.
Seated in the corner, pressed into the shadow, was Coffin.
“Ah, hello there,” Alex said. “I need you to run a mission for me. Come here.”
Coffin got up and came over, her fingers fluttering as if they were playing a guitar. She had a strange way of moving as well that seemed to make him feel ill at ease.
“See this wooded area?” Alex asked, pointing to the spot on the map.
Coffin nodded, her wild hai
r shaking about her head.
“Go there, investigate, come back. I’m betting they have soldiers there waiting for us. If you can catch an officer without risking yourself, interrogate one and kill ’em.
“If it’s too much risk, check the area and come back,” Alex said, tapping the map again. “Got it?”
“Yes, I’m the knife. I go,” Coffin said, and then slunk away.
“You really think they’ll be there?” Carla asked.
“Maybe. Not risking it though. They outnumber us at least two to one. They only need one sure strike against us. I’ll not give it to them.”
***
“Many men,” Coffin said, appearing at the edge of Alex’s command group. Right in front of him.
She held out an ear in one hand.
“They’re under orders to wait there for you to come, then to attack. Many archers,” she said, wiggling the ear a little. “I took his life after he told me what he knew. I’m the knife.”
Dropping the ear where she stood, she crouched down low, hunkering into herself.
Valeria went over to the woman and escorted her off before anyone could think about it.
“So it really is an ambush. Where’d our scouts last put the enemy army at?” Alex asked, looking to the table in front of himself.
“Here, sire,” Dave said, pointing to a spot between the keep and themselves. “Several hours out from the keep. Even if they made it there today, they wouldn’t begin a siege till tomorrow.”
Alex stared at the map. If Michael managed to actually siege the keep, it’d be rather difficult to pry him loose later. Doable, just difficult.
And more than likely only after starving out the entire place.
Having archers waiting in the woods only made it seem more obvious to him that Michael wanted to crush Alex’s army completely. He was trying to force Alex into doing what he wanted. Rather than reacting to Alex.
“Alright. They’re going to actually siege. Let’s set up around their siege and keep working them over. We’ll do what we can to chip away at their numbers, but this might end up coming down to having to engage them in the field at some point. Let’s have the engineer corps set up a fallback position just outside. Here in these hills,” Alex said, pointing to a spot southwest of the keep.
