by Bob Blink
Kimlelm had long ago had to face the realities of the situation they were in. They hated the wizards, and they were afraid of magic and against its use. Unfortunately, they had to consider how to defeat those strong with the power, since conventional weapons were inadequate to the task. It didn’t take too long or very many battles before they concluded the only solution was to fight fire with fire. As a result, while the use of magic by the citizens was strictly forbidden, the rules didn’t apply to the government itself, or to the military. Special commands had been created that were staffed by those strong in the power.
Much like Angon, Kimlelm had teams that specialized in taking down the enemy’s wizards. These hunter-killer teams were trained to work outside of the normal forces and slip close enough to have a shot at the wizards that normally stayed back and protected during battle. Another group specialized in shields. Sometimes shields could be spread widely, if much weaker, and provide selective protection for their own attacking forces. Some would have been spared from the wizard’s fire the previous day had there been one of the shield teams present.
Another task of the shield team was to protect the forts. Being non mobile, the forts were easy targets for the enemy wizards who could rain down fire and destruction that would normally make short work of the structures. Several things worked against the attacking wizards. First, of course was distance. The further a wizard was from his target, the more difficult to bring strong forces of magic to bear. This meant it took a level six normally to be able to really attack one of the forts, and level sixes were not that common, even in Ale’ald. The Kimlelm forces knew this problem, and the soldiers were tasked with keeping the enemy far enough away from the forts to minimize their impact. After the horrendous losses the previous day, Kimlelm had lost the ability to protect its perimeter.
Finally there were the shields. The Kimlelm mages had developed a variation of the shield spell which allowed the structure of the fort itself to be built with its own shield. This shield had to be periodically reinforced, and could be strengthened by mages on duty if the fort was under attack. These shields meant the normal attack spells thrown by the wizards were blunted, and the shields had to be brought down before the fort could be taken. Since the army used the strongest mages it could find when building the forts, level six attack wizards were required to break through the shields, and it took considerable effort on their part to do so. Kimlelm counted on the fact that the number of level six wizards available at any one location during a war was limited.
The attacks that began early on the second day showed that Kimlelm’s strategy was flawed. The rifles kept the defenders locked inside the forts, allowing Ale’ald to approach as close as they desired. More importantly, Ale’ald wasn’t involved in a war, not yet. They were involved in a border skirmish. That meant they had lots of wizards who weren’t otherwise occupied. They’d sent a bunch of them along for this attack. There were far more enemy wizards than could be dealt with. Several level six wizards were part of the forces that attacked each of the forts.
For hours, beams of intense energy streaked from the fields around the forts and slammed into the shields that held the forts secure. Massive pulse-balls, bluish white energy-beams, and fingers of white hot fire lashed at the shields. Many times these beams were intercepted by temporary shields that the defending mages threw up between the attacking wizards and the shields of the fort itself. The attacking beams were so strong they usually destroyed the defenders temporary shields on impact, but the intended effect was achieved in that the attacking beam was severely weakened reducing its effect on the fort.
Time was on the side of the attackers, and eventually the shields began to fail. Once they did, the battle was all but over. Now the wizard’s energy was directed against stone and wood, and they simply could not stand against such an onslaught. The walls were ripped apart, the wooden sections burning fiercely. As the walls came down, Ale’ald’s forces resumed their attack. No one from the forts was spared.
Once again things didn’t go Ale’ald’s way at the southern most fortress, where Mojol and his team continued to be an unexpected surprise. This fort was built on a small rocky hillside, and could be approached closely along only one sixth of its perimeter. That limited the attackers access. In addition, the attackers had to pass through a relatively narrow gap in the local hills to reach the fort. Mojol and his team had abandoned their horses and were in position to snipe at the approaching attackers. With the help of the fort’s mage team, three of Ale’ald’s wizards had been killed, leaving them with an insufficient force to break through the shields and destroy the fort. As evening approached, the attacking forces once again retreated, allowing a badly wounded Mojol and his surviving team to return to the fort. He now had only thirty-two of his original team alive.
On the morning of the third day, the survivors waited for the attackers to return. There was no doubt they would come with a stronger force and more of the hated wizards. It was unlikely the fort could stand another day. By ten o’clock, the battle had yet to start. By eleven o’clock the snows started falling. By the end of the day it seemed the battle was over, and the one fort had survived. The next morning reinforcements arrived.
* * * *
“Why now?” asked the King of Angon. “Why would they attack so late with winter starting. They couldn’t hope to maintain an extended battle. Why give away the element of surprise and disclose their intentions. Why not simply wait until spring when they could have pressed their advantage?”
They had received a long telegraph message earlier in the day describing the attack and the outcome of the battle. Kimlelm had lost ten thousand troops, and Mojol has lost most of his honor guard. Mojol would have to remain in Kimlelm for some time until he healed and the weather might permit travel.
“Remember, they knew that the element of surprise was already compromised,” said Major Wylan. “They knew we had learned of their intent, so they had little to lose in that regard.”
“Our military thinks the intent was two-fold,” added the Kimlelm ambassador, who had been invited to the proceedings. “They seemed to want to test the effectiveness of the new rifles they have, as demonstrated by the restricted use of their wizards during the actual engagements. It’s too bad we didn’t get the shipment that was lost at sea. The outcome might have been different. Also, they wanted to destroy the forts against an attack in the spring.”
“I don’t understand,” said Chancellor Vaen.
“Rebuilding the forts will be very difficult this time of year. If we elect to divert the resources and troops to do so, other preparations will be severely affected. If the forts are not rebuilt, the area will be much more open come spring when they send their forces back through. They used what little surprise they had left to eliminate a strategic target. If they had waited for spring, we would have been better prepared and expecting them.”
“Wasn’t this a classic attack pattern for Ale’ald?” asked the King.
“Yes. Historically the battles often begin here, which is why we have the forts and the area is so heavily patrolled compared to the rest of the border. The passage through the border mountains is relatively easy, the area is close to the Academy where their wizards reside. It’s also close to the port city of Sisco. They want Sisco. If they have the port they can move troops and material easily into Kimlelm, and the capital is only three days away. Executed properly, they would have a chance to deliver a crippling blow in a few days of fighting. Appropriate measures will have to be taken against their expected attacks come spring. The whole area along the southeast border will have to be heavily reinforced.”
“You look uncertain Major Wylan,” observed the King.
“There is more at work here I think. This may be the classic attack approach, but there is something I can’t put my finger on. Cheurt has seen the approach fail in the past. Why would he begin in a manner that has failed before?”
No one had any answers, so the discussion turne
d to the rifles that had been captured.
“They’re like ours?” asked Vaen.
“Similar, but not as good. They are heavy because the steel is poorer. They also fire a smaller projectile. There are other small differences, but they worked well enough.”
“That means we can expect many more of them come spring,” said the ambassador. “We need to discuss how we can purchase many of your rifles in preparation for the attacks that will be certain after the snows clear. Without an equal force, I fear Kimlelm will fall rapidly.”
The King nodded. “We have started two more factories, and will be looking into other possible weapons. You should come in the morning to the exchange with your president by telegraph.”
The King turned to Major Wylan. “I assume the enemy probably has captured at least one of our rifles as well?”
“We are quite certain of it. Several of Mojol’s men were found without their gear after the enemy cleared out. The rifles were conspicuously missing.”
“That’s one of the good developments,” said Wylan.
“Good?” asked the King.
“Mojol didn’t get the new rifles with the improvements and the cartridges before he deployed to the mountains. With any luck, the enemy will be expecting the percussion cap rifles like their own when the war begins in spring. I think they will be a very surprised by what they find themselves facing.”
Chapter 78
“Wow!” exclaimed Jolan when he was escorted into the tunnel for the first time. “I hadn’t envisioned anything so big.”
“It’s got to be at least fifty feet wide,” said Shyar, trying to gauge the width of the floor from some of the equipment lying around. She’d known they had expanded the scale of the project, but hadn’t paid attention to the specifics since there were so many other pressing issues.
“Sixty-four feet,” proudly grinned their guide for the day. Their tour of the tunnel works was seen as a major event and the assistant director of the project had been assigned to escort them around and explain anything they were curious about.
“Who decided on such a big tunnel?” asked Jolan.
“We started out much more modestly, but it didn’t take long to see how well we were progressing. Then people came up with some shortcuts and we started moving more quickly. The survey was the final hurdle, and after that came in the decision was made.”
“What survey?”
“Shyar came up with that test that allowed the depth of the rock to be easily measured. We had mage teams survey the entire planned length of the tunnel and found that solid rock extended for a minimum of two hundred feet everywhere along the route at the planned elevation. That meant we could penetrate deeper into the hills without fear of causing problems. Even with fifteen foot outer walls and the sixty-four foot span inside, there remains over one hundred feet of solid stone on the inside.”
Jolan hadn’t known about Shyar coming up with such a test, but then each of them had been so busy the past month and a half that they hadn’t had time to share details of their respective tasks as much as they might have in calmer times. When they were alone together, they had discovered other interests. He knew that Shyar had been key to the train development efforts, having come up with methods of mass producing the incredible amount of steel that was required for the tracks. From the bits of information he got from Asari and Buris she was personally solving hundreds of issues to get them where they were at the moment.
A week ago the King had decided in one of the status meetings that he and Shyar needed to go and visit the tunnel and track effort since the progress reports indicated that the tunnel was almost due for completion. That had meant a long and cold trip down the coast. They had the option of going by coach since there was a coastal road that was still passable, the ocean keeping the area somewhat less densely covered with snow even though the mountains followed the coast for part of the trip. Instead they had decided to take one of the King’s watercraft, and had braved the rough waters all the way from Cobalo down to Burar. The crew had kept as close to shore as possible to stay out of the worst of the weather, but it was still pretty rough at times. They had stayed in the cabin most days, the weather simply too fierce to make being outside at all enjoyable, despite the fact they were essentially immune to sea-sickness and the cold. Staying indoors had its own benefits, and they were able to spend more time together engaged appropriately than they had since they’d started sharing quarters. Yesterday they had arrived at midday, and after checking into an inn, they had been briefed on the plans for today, then turned in for the first peaceful night in days.
“It was decided after the first tests came in on the carrying capability of the new carts when run on your tracks, that this would be seeing a lot of use, and it would probably be expanded at some point. Since there was room, and the tunneling was easier than anyone expected, why not get that part done now, which would prevent major problems at a later date.”
“How many tracks are planned?” Jolan asked.
“We are laying one for now, the one you can see along the inside wall. All the effort is on the one track so we can get up and running. The track already goes about halfway through the tunnel. Later, a second track will be put in along side it. That will allow two-way traffic, without the need to schedule the direction of the trains and will prevent delays. To this side is planned a wagon cart lane, so conventional wagons can make the way across, and then along the ocean side wall we will have a foot lane, which will allow people to cross on their own. The wagon lane and foot lanes will also be possible expansion paths for more track should it be desired someday.”
“What is this?” Jolan asked when they came upon a large rectangular hole in the rock along the seaward side of the tunnel. It was sloped steeply downward, cutting through about twenty feet of rock. He could see the ocean waves crashing into the base of the mountain a couple of hundred feet below.
Assistant Director Sulan grinned. “That was an idea by one of the tradesmages. One of the biggest problems at first was the sheer volume of rock being produced. Not only did we have to find a way to haul it out of the tunnel, but the removal effort was going to make it obvious what was happening here to anyone who might be watching. You noticed how we came into the tunnel from inside the large “factory” building along the base of the mountains?”
“We also needed vent holes to get fresh air in here, something that will have to be augmented if we ever get your steam engines up and running. For now, these will do. The water below is quite deep, with very brisk currents. The tradesmages showed they could cut the outline of the air shaft, and then simply let the large section of rock fall to the ocean below. It would fall harmlessly and disappear beneath the waves. Then, each night the rock from the tunnel is also dumped down the most convenient airshaft. It also disappears beneath the waves, and much is spread around the floor of the inlet. Since the rock is dumped after dark, no one can see it happening, which further hides our efforts. With the slits angled this way, they are hard to see unless you are out in a boat in just the right place. We know the tunnel will be discovered at some point, but the longer it remains a secret, the better.”
“I’m impressed,” said Jolan meaning it.
“Of course the stone has been strengthened by use of the power, so it is immune to weathering and normal attacks.”
“Isn’t that detectable?”
“Not really. One would have to be a high level wizard and be within fifty feet of the rock to be able to sense the magic used. That would mean floating in the air above the ocean to detect what has been done. A passive ward has been added to the stone as well. In the event of an attack using the power, a series of embedded but dormant shields will become active providing additional protection.
They had been walking while the man was explaining, and had passed beyond the end of the track some time ago. Men were working diligently to put new sections into place. Now that the steel production problems had been resolved, a steady stream of the tra
ck was available, and the tracks were going in at key locations in Angon and Seret, as well as inside the tunnel.
“How many more days of digging?” asked Shyar as they neared the end of the tunnel.
“We expect to break through this afternoon,” their guide explained. “When we got the telegram saying you were coming, we put on an extra shift in hopes we could finish while you were here. Let me ask and see what the current estimate is.”
“Late this afternoon,” he explained when he came walking back. “There are teams working from both sides. We can go back and see the rest of the facility, and return in time to see the break through.”
When they returned to the building at the Angon side of the tunnel they were given a tour of the rest of the facility. As soon as the track was in place, shipments would be starting. Already stockpiles of weapons and telegraph parts were building up, the wagons of goods coming inside the facility to drop off their loads. The reverse would happen on the far side, where the goods would be off-loaded from the horse drawn trains, and then loaded onto wagons for the rest of the journey. Once the tunnel was open, all the wagons coming in would simply pass straight through. With the smooth stone floor of the tunnel, there was little advantage of off-loading the goods just to put them on the new train cars.