“That’s the hope,” Faldon agreed. He pointed to the map spread out on the ground in front of them, “Let’s go over the plan one more time.”
“We know the gall-durn plan,” Lenny grumped. “We helped you make it.”
“No, you didn’t!” said Bettie with a scowl. “Captain Demetrius helped him make it. You just stood around and grumbled about every idea, ya loudmouth!”
Lenny winced. Bettie always groused at him, but for some reason the last few days she had been brutal. He couldn’t say a word without getting shouted down. Justan wondered if she had heard about an old girlfriend among the dwarf women.
“I wasn’t complainin’! The plans fine. It’s a good one,” Lenny said grudgingly. “But someone’s gotta have the job to point out flaws just in case. It’s dag-gum battle etiquette darlin’.”
“I’ll etiquette you right up yer face,” she snapped.
“Please, Bettie,” said Master Coal and from his facial expression, Justan could tell he was saying more through the bond. Bettie frowned and folded her arms.
“Fine, Faldon,” Lenny said. “Let’s go over it again.”
Jhonate leaned in close to Justan’s ear and whispered, “I think the dwarf and half-orc must be in love. I have never seen anyone but a married couple fight like that.”
“You have a good point,” Justan whispered back. “And you’re right about those two. But not all married people need to be like that. Look at Hilt and Beth.” They were standing together, linked arm in arm. They reminded him more of the way his parents were.
“Alright,” Faldon said. He pointed down to the map with a long straight stick. “We’ll be striking from the south, right through the city of Reneul. The west side of the city is occupied by orcs while the east side is full of trolls and moonrats.
“We will split our forces in two. Captain Demetrius and his cavalry will charge through the center of the troll-occupied side of the city. Beth and Sir Hilt will accompany them. She should be able to disrupt the witch’s command of the trolls somehow, and if we hit them hard enough, we can scatter them into the rest of her army and create havoc.”
“I can do it,” Beth said and Hilt nodded.
“The rest of us will drive through the center of the orc-occupied side of town. It has far fewer buildings and is better suited to an army on foot. From the academy’s count, the orc force is about four thousand strong which means we will be about even in strength-.”
“Ha! Even?” said Pall with a laugh. “You have five hundred armored dwarves. We’re worth at least ten orc a piece. With yer forces added in, we outnumber them two-to-one!”
Faldon smiled. “We can only hope. At the very least, we should have the advantage of surprise on our side. Our scouts tell us they haven’t even bothered to fortify their rear against attack. Our two forces will meet together at the main gates and the academy’s four thousand will come out to join us.
“This is where it will be tricky. We must then fight our way back through the city and out to the plains where we’ll need to travel a three mile stretch before we reach the portal. Sampo’s thousand fighting men will be waiting there with wizard help to aid us in our escape, but this stretch is where we will be the most vulnerable.”
“It’s always hard to fight on the run,” Lenny agreed.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Justan said. “This part is where Captain Demetrius’ troops could be most helpful.”
“How so?” the captain asked.
“While the bulk of the army will be retreating on foot, you can remain on the attack, charging back and forth along our rear flank, wiping out enemy pursuit,” Justan explained. “We can keep some archers at the rear with explosive arrows to provide you support if you become hard pressed.”
Captain Demetrius nodded. “That is an excellent point.”
“Good, son.” Faldon said with a smile. “A solid addition to the plan.”
“See, Lenui,” Bettie said. “That’s why you go over a plan one last time!”
Justan felt Jhonate grasp his arm. She pulled him down until his ear was at her lips and whispered. “It is just as I said. I told you to speak up more last night, Justan.”
“They were doing just fine without my input,” he replied, a bit embarrassed. He was standing among veterans and legends. It had seemed naive to think that his strategies could have been better than theirs.
“Edge has a few more notes to add,” she announced and nudged him in the ribs.
“Do you?” his father asked.
He scratched his head. “Well, I had a few ideas . . .” Justan squatted down next to the map and noted a few strategic moves that he felt would make their solid battle plan even better. To his surprise, no one questioned him. They listened appreciatively. His father even patted him on the back. When he was finished it seemed everyone was just a bit more confident in their roles.
“See?” Jhonate said, poking him firmly in the chest. “You seem to forget that strategy was your strong point even before I trained you.”
“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll try not to forget again,” he said with a smile.
Jhonate stared into his eyes for a moment, her lips twitching. Finally she grabbed his wrist and pulled him over to where Hilt was standing.
“Sir Hilt,” she said. “Would you mind speaking to me in private for a moment?”
“Uh, sure, Jhonate,” he said in surprise. “But do we have time?”
“They just reached the cave where the portal is,” Justan said. “You should have a few minutes before we begin.”
“Alright, what do you wish to discuss?” Hilt asked.
“Come,” she said, and didn’t let go of Justan’s wrist, but led both of them around the edge of the hill until they were just out of sight of the others. “Sir Hilt, what did my father tell you when you left?”
Hilt’s brow wrinkled in surprise. “Now you want to talk about that? Can’t that wait until after this is over?”
“I wish to know now,” she said sternly.
“Okay,” Hilt said, puzzled. “Xedrion wanted me to try to convince you to return with me when I came back. He said that I could promise a high command position, maybe even in his personal guard.”
Jhonate sighed, looking a bit troubled, but she shook her head and said, “What where his precise words? Did he ask you to accompany me back?”
“Yes, if I could. He asked me to take you under my care until such time as I could return you to him,” Hilt said. “But I told him that I couldn’t promise anything. You have made your feelings known to me in the past and . . . Why are you smiling, Jhonate?”
She was beaming as she wrapped one arm around Justan’s waist. “Edge, Sir Hilt has been commissioned by my father to be my acting guardian. Do you have something to say to him?”
Justan shared confused looks with Sir Hilt until it dawned on him the significance of what she had just said. “Oh! Uh, Sir Hilt, since you are Jhonate’s acting guardian, I wish to announce my intention-.” She elbowed him in the ribs. “I mean, ask for permission to court the daughter of Xedrion Bin Leeths.”
Hilt blinked for a moment, then smiled broadly. Then his smile faded and his eyes went wide as he thought of the implications. He shook his head. “Wait just a moment, Jhonate. He never said-.”
“He put me under your charge, Sir Hilt. That counts,” Jhonate said.
“You do understand that he could very well kill me for this,” he said. “Edge is an outsider and you are an heir-.”
“I am nowhere near an heir. You know that even if my father refuses to acknowledge it,” Jhonate said. “The joining of our two cultures would be good for my people, you told me so yourself.”
Justan swallowed. This sounded much more complicated than he had bargained for. Jhonate an heir? An heir to what exactly? He realized that he knew very little about Jhonate’s father or her people in general. He had understood long ago that she didn’t wish to speak about them, so he had taken a position of accepting her peoples’ tra
ditions without question. Just what was he getting into?
“You and I may agree on that point,” Hilt said. “And don’t get me wrong. I am very happy that you two like each other. Beth noticed it right away and she thought it was a great match. But to give approval in your father’s name would be more than presumptuous on my part.”
“So your own approval and the approval of a Roo-tan Nation sponsored witch is not enough?” She noticed his surprise. “I noticed the sheath that Jharro dagger of hers is in and my father does not give them out lightly. I do not know what she did to earn that level of respect, but whatever it was, she is a listener and that should be good enough.”
Hilt frowned in exasperation. “You put me in a bad situation here.”
“We are going into battle,” Jhonate said. “I wish to take care of this now just in case something should happen.”
He reached up and grabbed a handful of his hair. “Fine. Sir Edge, you have my permission to court Jhonate, daughter of Xedrion Bin Leeths.”
Justan smiled, but he was troubled by Hilt’s reluctance. He turned to ask Jhonate what to expect, but before he could speak, she reached up with both hands and grabbed him by the back of the head. The next thing he knew, her lips were pressed against his.
He blinked in surprise and saw that her eyes were closed, her brow creased with the intensity of her emotion. Then he felt the tip of her tongue grazing his teeth.
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in tight and returned the kiss with fervor. Everything else vanished; the concern for his mother, the anxiety over the pending fight, the worries about Jhonate’s father. There was only the moment; only the kiss. It was official. Jhonate wanted him as much as he wanted her and nothing else mattered.
Hilt chuckled and shook his head. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and die during this battle and I won’t have to face him.”
Justan lost track of time. It could have been only a few seconds, it could have been minutes. To him it was just a perfect moment; one which would be burned in his mind forever. He was oblivious to everything else until he heard his father clear his throat.
Jhonate pushed away from him, her face flushed, her mouth hanging slightly open, looking as frazzled as he had ever seen her. She was gorgeous. Justan wanted to kiss her again right then.
Faldon stood there with an amused grin on his face. “I was, uh, checking on their progress with the portal.”
“Father, Jhonate and I are courting,” Justan said. He knew how strange that sounded, but he didn’t care. “And it’s official.”
Faldon laughed and walked up to embrace them, kissing both of them on their foreheads. “I am so happy for you two. I knew this had to happen. Your mother will be glad to hear it!”
The portal is open, Deathclaw interrupted. They are sending the people through now.
Justan’s smile faded just a little. “They have started, father.”
Faldon nodded and stepped back. “Then it’s time we split up.”
Justan looked to Jhonate. She had regained her composure, standing as perfectly poised as usual. “Jhonate, since I’ll be riding with the cavalry, I am sending Fist with you. Not that he needs it, but would you please watch after him for me? He would be of much more help afoot with your group.”
“Of course, Justan. I . . .” She swallowed. “I will see you at the academy’s front gates.” She started to walk back around the hill towards the others.
“Wait, Jhonate-.” She turned back and Justan didn’t know what he was going to say. This battle suddenly had so much more at stake for him. The idea that something could happen to her was very real in his mind. He wanted to tell her to be careful, but she might see that as a lack of trust. Instead what came out was, “I love you.”
She smiled, her cheeks flushing once more. “And I you.” Then she turned and ran around the hill.
Fist, he sent.
I am happy for you, Justan, the ogre sent.
Me too! said Gwyrtha.
Don’t tell Jhonate I said this, and she probably won’t need it, but would you please watch over her for me?
Of course, Fist said. She is part of our tribe now.
The siege was nearing its end and both sides knew it. Arrows flew from the walls in a steady stream as the goblinoids continued their pathetic attempts to scale them. Unknowingly, they threw away their meager lives so that the mother of the moonrats could keep the academy busy until Ewzad Vriil’s army arrived.
Inside the walls, the academy was a swarm of activity. The council members had left the hall and actively participated in the fighting alongside the other teachers and students. Stout Harley and Mad Jon were atop the south wall facing Reneul and repelling the siege machines of the orcs. Sabre Vlad was heading the defense of the north wall against the giants with the help of Bill the Fletch, while the assistants were on the western and eastern walls leading the fight against the lesser threats.
Oz the Dagger, Hugh the Shadow, and Darlan stayed at the base of the stairs near the front gates. Oz coordinated the defensive efforts, while Hugh oversaw the movement of supplies and intelligence information, and Darlan organized the escape preparations. All three of them stood at the command table issuing orders while a steady stream of runners brought information to them from the four walls and all over the school. To an observer it may have looked like chaos, but in truth the three of them had everything under control.
Willum stood behind them, pacing back and forth, his fingers twitching. He wanted desperately to be standing on the wall fighting alongside his fellow students, but since he was their only contact with Faldon’s army, he was stuck at the command table, away from the action.
“The portal has been opened.” Willum said. “Their attack should start soon.”
“Alright. Let’s give them some help.” said Oz the Dagger he motioned to the runners, gathering them together. “We need to intensify our attacks on Reneul and the giants! Keep them focused on us. There is no need to conserve any longer. Use it all! Arrows! Oil! Ballistae! Everything we’ve got! It ends today!”
And just like that, months worth of siege supplies were uncrated and put into use. The attackers were driven back under a sea of weaponry.
On every wall but the south, catapults had been brought up from storage and lobbed thousands upon thousands of sharpened iron caltrops into the enemy ranks. They would pierce through even thick leather boots but they were most effective on the north wall where the giants and ogres went barefoot or merely wrapped their feet in leather.
From the interior of the academy, clay pots full of flaming oil were loaded onto enormous trebuchets and fired into the enemy camps. The effect was immediate and crippling as the movement of the enemy forces slowed to a crawl.
The defenders on the south wall, however, were stuck with more traditional means of defense. Caltrops and burning oil would hamper the incoming army just as much as the enemy. Willum was concerned that the mother of the moonrats would notice and realize that something was planned, but Oz assured him that she would think they were only trying to keep the city of Reneul from becoming uninhabitable when the battle was over.
We are closing in on the outskirts of Reneul now, Coal said. As crazy as it sounds, the enemy doesn’t seem to have realized we’re here yet.
“They’ve started,” Willum announced.
“Good. How are the traps coming, Hugh?” Oz asked.
“My men are almost finished,” the Assassins Guildmaster said with a grim smile. “The magic reinforcing the walls will be broken with explosive effect. We will have to rebuild everything when this war is over, but the enemy is up for a big surprise if they think they are going to be able to use this place against us.”
“Ho-ho, that will be a sight to see,” said the imp with a giggle.
I hope we aren’t here to see it, Willum said. The thought of the academy’s destruction made him sick to his stomach and yet he saw the necessity of Hugh’s plans. If we are, that means we failed. But on the bright side, once the
y fished you from the wreckage, your next master could be a goblin, maybe even a gorc if you’re lucky.
“Ugh. Not that, Willy,” it pleaded. “If you have to die, die next to something intelligent.”
If I make that promise, you have less incentive to keep me safe, Willum said.
Talon was furious. She ran through the empty streets of Wobble, her subordinates at her heels. They had wasted so much time finding a way down to the caverns only to discover that they were empty. The wizards had gone and worse, they had an even larger number of soldiers with them.
Something brushed her tail.
“Commander Talon!” said a voice behind her.
The War of Stardeon (The Bowl of Souls) Page 44
