Although the streams to the south also filled up, the area became one with the great coastal desert further south. The desert near the river was filled with quicksand and was an impossible position for an invader to take. Had an enemy tried to take it they would find themselves under bombardment from ships in the river whilst not being able to place any heavy equipment of their own. The effect of all this was to create a safe zone for defenders on the south side of the river.
Even if River Docks were overrun, defending troops could retreat to the ships which could remain in the river without fear of any strong attack from the south side. That is why Black Knight was now hoping to seize control of the river by sheer weight of numbers and overwhelming brute force, from the mouth of the river and from Township Farms to the north. He had launched his attack and it was still proceeding when Arnapa and her companions arrived on Serunipa’s ship not long after dawn on the day following their escape from Chay-Enn River.
During the four days and nights since the enemy first landed in Township Farms, Black Knight had strengthened his original force with more soldiers from the forty dozen quimals crowded around Port Fandabbin. He now had over a hundred thousand soldiers based in what looked like a new fortified town which had sprung up just north of the river mouth. He had few horses to hand, so he could not deal with Free Alliance cavalry until his terrestrial armies arrived, but he had landed a huge number of catapults and these were used to bombard the docks and to keep the Alliance cavalry away.
After the first failed tactic, the enemy had not yet strayed too far from the protection of its new fortifications. For the time being, the Alliance cavalry were able to come and go at will across Township Farms. Those defending River Docks were able to concentrate their resources in the forts nearest the mouth of the river. However, the enemy had been relentlessly extending its defensive ditches and palisades eastward, and its catapults and troops had been moving into this broader front line. The ditches and palisades protected them from attacks by Alliance cavalry, whereas the catapults were mostly aimed at the forts protecting River Docks. At some point, the enemy would be able to attack over a sufficiently broad front to overwhelm the stretched defenders. Black Knight’s strategy was clear, yet there seemed to be little that the defenders could do but watch and wait.
River Docks were spread along the north bank of Southport River, between the river’s mouth and the southern end of Outer Wall. Although ships could berth all the way along the river wall, there were wide stretches where the shore offered no more than a broad service way containing a road shielded by a stout wall just one fathome high, more to protect people and cargoes from wind than from enemies. There would never be enough defenders to adequately man the whole three leagues. However, at regular intervals there were more sophisticated port facilities and these were protected by military fortifications.
From an enemy’s point of view, capturing the unfortified stretches of River Docks would merely expose him to attack from the forts as well as from warships in the river. Black Knight’s strategy was to capture the forts one by one from west to east. There were seven such forts of which First Fort and Second Fort were the largest.
The huge catapults in those forts, once captured, could be used against Free Alliance ships and thus help a fleet of quimals drive upstream. Alliance ships would have to flee to Lake Glorz where Black Knight’s armies would hold the shore against them.
Meanwhile, Port Fandabbin would be under siege from both land and sea, all escape routes closed off, and the whole length of Southport River controlled.
That, at least, was what Black Knight had in mind.
102
River Docks – 23rd November
The first that Nellinar saw of Port Fandabbin, or more precisely the River Docks of Dabbinisca, was a huge stone tower rising from the river bank to his right. It was, in fact, the southernmost bastion of Outer Wall which met Southport River there before turning west and falling away to become the carriageway servicing River Docks. It was also called Seventh Fort although, unlike the first six forts along River Docks which had been constructed entirely by the citizens of Dabbin, albeit long ago, this was a single tower fashioned mostly from a huge natural finger of granite, perhaps the eroded core of an ancient hill or mountain.
Nellinar soon saw the wall projecting from the north side of the bastion and rising gradually along a ridge until it disappeared over the top of a rise. There was a beacon atop the bastion and it was sending signals. Serunipa was using two mirrors to reply: one to catch the morning sun for the other to flash at the beacon. As the ship passed the bastion, Nellinar noticed that it was turning to shore and that sails were being furled. Some kind of discussion was going on between Serunipa, Arnapa and Zeep. This was enough to convince Nellinar that his mission of the moment was to hear what was going on. Like the time his alertness saved him from becoming breakfast for a river shark, Nellinar was the sort of person who liked to be worried before disaster struck rather than wait for the moment.
“The enemy has launched an all out attack on First and Second Forts, so I must leave you here and go on to support the river fleet,” Serunipa reported.
“I wish I could come to help you, but I must speak to Carl without delay,” Arnapa replied. “Zeep also has messages from Count Tor. We’ll return to the battle as quickly as we can and hope to meet you again soon.”
“I’m a trained mariner, so I must be of some use to you,” Bonmar offered.
“I can certainly do with more mariners; thank you.”
“I know little about ships but I’m a trained cavalryman, so I can help with the defence in some way,” Pretsan put in. Serunipa looked up at the huge, muscular form of Pretsan.
“I’m sure you can, and I welcome you to our side,” she said.
“We don’t intend to be left out,” warned Aransette and Norsnette together. It was very clear that Norsnette badly wanted to follow Bonmar and Aransette equally wanted to follow Pretsan, although neither Bonmar nor Pretsan looked very comfortable with the idea.
“But I need you both with me when I speak to Carl,” Arnapa implored. “You too, Nellinar!”
Serunipa supported Arnapa by referring to a rule which forbade active service by those under the age of seventeen. It was a rule designed for military campaigns rather than for defending city walls. However, it enabled the twins to back down without loss of face and agree to go with Arnapa. Serunipa told them that Duke Fandabbin could set the rule aside if they applied to him in person. Anyway, they would be seventeen in just seven days time.
Nellinar was pleased to go with Arnapa. He had seen some ugly battle scenes when the invaders, as he called them, had taken over his village and other villages nearby. There had been resistance and, later, guerrilla raids by militias from Quolow. Combatants on both sides had been killed or terribly injured. Nellinar did not like it at all. He did not want to kill or hurt anybody, although he understood that it might not be possible to avoid that sort of thing in a war. Much better for him was to become a spy. The big spy here was Arnapa, so he intended to follow her closely, whether or not she wished it, and learn as much as he could from her.
After tearful farewells between Norsnette and Bonmar, and between Aransette and Pretsan, which left nobody in any doubt as to the nature of their attachments, Arnapa, Zeep, the twins and Nellinar all disembarked under the shadow of the bastion. There were armed soldiers there to meet them and lead them through a portcullis and up a long flight of stone steps to a large carriage which was already waiting for them behind six powerful grey horses. Within seconds of the carriage door closing they were racing north along the broad highway along the top of Outer Wall. Within a few hours they would be changing carriages at Causeway Fort and heading across the Causeway and up into the citadel. In the meantime they passed slower carriages bearing the war wounded to the city and they passed cavalry units and carriages of infantry heading the other way. There were no signs of war damage nearby. In fact, there were still gardeners te
nding vegetable crops within sight of the wall, mostly gathering in produce and taking it to wagons for transport to storage chambers deep beneath Silver Island.
While Arnapa and the others were on their way to the citadel, Serunipa’s warship sailed downstream to within half a mile of the mouth of the river where Pretsan and the infantry passengers disembarked. Bonmar stayed aboard. The ship then joined others that were propelling catapult shot at enemy positions on land or at quimals approaching the river mouth.
Bonmar was shocked to see the destruction that had already been caused in the battle. He had seen some of the action at Western Point, yet never before had he witnessed a battle of this scale, length and desperation with such destruction of life and property. Lighters and wagons were collecting and carrying away the slain or wounded. Smoke was pouring from the two westernmost forts and from numerous ships that had been hit by catapult shot. There had been some severe fires overnight which had now been controlled, thanks to the hard work of the defenders and the help of a pre-dawn downpour. Rubble and flotsam was everywhere and increasing, even as men and women could be seen trying to repair damaged walls, roofs, rigging and hulls as they nervously awaited the sight or whistling sound of missiles that might descend on them at any moment. Bonmar grimly set his jaw and prepared himself for action.
103
River Docks – 24th November
Dawn came in streaks of smoky yellow and, for a moment, there seemed to be a pause in the fighting as both sides contemplated what the coming day might hold for them. The previous evening and the night had been a continuous exchange between catapults. The quimals could target the nearest Alliance ships and forts along River Docks, and the defenders concentrated their aim on quimals and land-based catapults rather than on groups of infantry.
Bonmar had been involved in a successful raid on one of the quimals nearest the river mouth. He had kept watch from a longboat as three shipwrights dived down to attach a cable to the ship’s keel. Bonmar and his crew fought off some commando boarders just before the divers returned. The quimal eventually broke free of the cable but only after it had been rammed by a burning barge and sustained so much damage that it had to retire from the fray for repairs. It was a small victory, yet it boosted morale beyond its individual importance. Pretsan had also been employed during the night as a cavalry officer. He had been responsible for the destruction of one large enemy catapult.
As dawn brought a sea breeze, twenty quimals advanced into the river in a wedge formation. These ships were so large that the two squadrons seemed to stretch across the river with little space between each quimal. More quimals were following in their wake and others were converging on the river’s mouth, waiting to follow. It looked as though the enemy was now making his move to force his way up the river. At the same time, enemy soldiers surged forward against the walls of the forts. In many places grappling hooks were cast over the parapets by portable catapults. In other places siege ladders were raised.
Carl arrived from the citadel in the early hours to resume command. He used his river flagship, Glorz Glory, as his headquarters, and dropped anchor one league upstream from the mouth of the river. Half his river fleet was needed further upstream to support his retreating army. He now had fifty warships along River Docks, but these were all much smaller than any of the opposing quimals, had fewer catapults, smaller crews, and needed also to support the defence of the forts from landward attack. Whilst the narrowness of the river, just a thousand paces wide, hampered the enemy attack from the sea, it also prevented the defenders from taking full advantage of their superior maritime skills in a counterattack.
Carl surveyed the area from the flagship’s Battle Deck, a fortified platform which had been hoisted halfway up the main mast which now carried no sails. Although the ships of the river fleet could be fully rigged, they were often rigged fore-and-aft on three of their four masts so the main mast could be used to support a movable Battle Deck from which a commander could clearly see the surrounding territory and direct military operations. There were so many floating and submerged hazards in the rivers for sizable ships that it was never wise to favour speed over safety. Only when beating to windward upstream were all four masts rigged to provide the power necessary to overcome the effect of the current.
Arnapa was there to encode Carl’s orders and pass them on to the signallers. Also on the Battle Deck were Norsnette, Aransette and Nellinar who had been allowed to come as observers. Each had been given a spy glass to view the proceedings. In case the flagship had to sail into danger, Carl had a longboat ready to take the observers back to Outer Wall.
The enemy squadrons were moving upstream very slowly, the sea breeze behind them being barely sufficient to overcome the river current. However, their advance was relentless and soon they would be far enough upstream to land troops well beyond First Fort, the westernmost bastion of River Docks, where there were no strong riverside defences to prevent troops from landing. First Fort would then be attacked on all sides. If it fell, it would only be a matter of time before the enemy forces ground their way upstream, from fort to fort, until all of River Docks were taken along with the southern end of Outer Wall. The Dabbinan river fleet would have to retreat upstream and eventually be cut off from the city.
The smaller Dabbinan ships could have used the downstream current to attack the advancing quimals, but they would be exposed to the full force of the quimals’ catapults and great numbers of enemy archers would have been able to shoot down at them from their higher positions. Besides, Carl needed to conserve his forces for the expected arrival of Black Knight’s terrestrial armies. He was in a dilemma: he could not order his fleet to stage an attack that would inevitably lead to great loss; yet he could not permit the quimals to advance any further.
“Carl, the enemy is overrunning the service wall between First Fort and Second Fort,” Arnapa reported urgently. “If they occupy the service way between the wall and the river, and link up with the quimali ships, First Fort will be cut off. Is it not time to deploy the barrier?”
“I see our danger, sister,” Carl replied. “But if we deploy the barrier we will also trap our river fleet which will then be unable to break out to join our sea fleet when Black Knight’s armies arrive. Let us first send in fire boats and call three cavalry brigades to defend the service way from First Fort down to Third Fort.”
Arnapa had encoded the orders almost as Carl had spoken. Within minutes they had been flashed to the commanders. Fifteen minutes later, there was a commotion along the docks further downstream.
Aransette looked through her spy glass and saw a swarm of soldiers about half a league in front of her surmounting the wall that divided the service way from Township Farms between First Fort and Second Fort. Other soldiers, presumably the defenders, were retreating slowly back toward the forts, overwhelmed by the number of attackers. Then she noticed a row of horsemen riding past Second Fort which was closer to her. The horsemen were armoured from head to knee, as were the horses. One particularly large horseman was not fully armoured, although he wore a helmet and a breastplate. Aransette knew that she was looking at Pretsan and her heart seemed to leap into her throat from a mixture of fear and pride. The horses gradually gathered speed along the road until they suddenly leapt forward at full charge. All at once a shrill ringing could be heard as the horsemen drew their sabres in a single flash. This surprised the enemy and many threw themselves into the river to escape the onslaught. The retreating defenders stopped and formed a tight phalanx on either side of the road to allow the cavalry to ride through, which they did before returning to join the attack again. Aransette was breathless as she saw Pretsan fall from his horse when a rock thrown from the wall dislodged his helmet. He quickly recovered and attacked the nearest group of enemy soldiers. The rock thrower disappeared as another brigade of Alliance cavalry appeared on the other side of the wall. Pretsan chased three adversaries all the way across to the river. Caught between a seemingly raging Pretsan and the returni
ng cavalry, they jumped into the river and started to swim toward the nearest quimal.
Soon the wall and road had been cleared of enemies. The defending infantry returned to their positions, relieved to know that the cavalry brigades were nearby. Pretsan recovered his helmet and remounted his steed.
It then occurred to Aransette that she had been holding her breath. She sucked air into her lungs with such force that the smoke in it caused her to have a short coughing fit. It did not matter to her; she was so relieved that Pretsan survived.
Meanwhile, several quimals, their decks lined with crossbowmen and archers, had changed course to approach the docks and support their army units. When the nearest quimal was just twenty paces from the dock, a score of longboats came drifting downstream between the shore and the quimals. Each longboat was covered by a makeshift cabin which almost filled its entire hull. Just before the boats came within bow shot, the lone pilot of each dived into the river. Enemy archers, fearing that the longboats were filled with marines, fired a barrage of arrows at them. This had no effect. The force of each longboat striking the hull of a quimal did no harm in itself, but flames sprang up from the cabin, packed as it was with a variety of flammable materials. Firework rockets then ignited and shot into the ship’s rigging, drawing burning cables behind them. These cables became highways for flames reaching right into the sails. Six quimals were successfully attacked in this way, all on the northern side of the river, nearest the docks. Their crews became preoccupied with putting out fires and had to abandon their attack on the docks. The marines aboard, instead of supporting their comrades ashore, could now only look on as the Free Alliance cavalry regained control of the access road.
Grand Vizier of Krar Page 37