War of Dragons

by Andy Holland

  Although none of the settlements were more than a few hours flight from our border, it was essential that my troops remained undetected, which meant that flying was not an option. Each group was required to hike overnight to their destination and a few hours flying takes a long time on foot. They trained for months for this task, ensuring that they knew how to move silently and without leaving a trace. They performed this task perfectly. We planned for the groups that had the furthest to travel to leave well in advance, starting six days before the attack, and then each day another wave of troops would follow in their footsteps—or rather each night, as they crossed the border after dark each evening, departing from points all along the border. By this morning, every single group was in position, ready to attack every settlement between the three target major cities and our border and the Reds were completely unaware of our presence.

  I had instructed my troops to retreat if discovered and despite the huge number of individual groups trying to enter the Red Dragons' territory, I was amazed to find that just one of the units was forced to retreat, having encountered a patrol. One other unit never reported in, so I suspect that they were discovered and killed, but having a mere two failures out of the entire operation exceeded my expectations and showed that the months of training and planning were well spent.

  I instructed the division commanders to be cautious in their planning and to aim to minimise our losses. Each target was hit by an excessive force to guarantee victory in every instance. In their planning, the lowest ratio of my troops to enemy targets that I tolerated was two to one, with three to one being the average. As a result of this strict and cautious approach, the ratio of enemy casualties to our own was astonishingly high. A number of the squads had multiple missions; hit a small settlement at sunrise, then another shortly afterwards, so the ratio of troops to number of kills again is remarkable. Normally, when we assault a city, we'll lose ten of our own dragons to each one of theirs that we kill. In a larger attack, that will improve to five to one, and in a successful attack such as those today, we might get up to three to one. With my operation, those numbers are reversed. For every one of our dragons killed, over a hundred of theirs were killed. These are numbers that were previously unheard of.

  Likewise, the number of prisoners we took was high in absolute terms, but quite frankly I was a little disappointed by the ratio of kills to prisoners taken. I am assured that this wasn’t a result of carelessness from my troops—at least not in most cases. I suspect that many of our potential prisoners were evacuated in advance of the attack and I think those youngsters who spotted our troops training cost us a lot of potential prisoners. Of course, the numbers taken still numbered in the tens of thousands…."

  Perak paused for a moment to let that detail sink in, enjoying the sight of the astonished expressions around the room. He moved swiftly on. "After all the missions were complete, the prisoners were moved to several large camps to reduce the numbers required to guard over them. These prisoners are still at these temporary locations and I am minded to leave them there for some time. They will make tempting targets for the Red Dragons, which may prove useful in luring them from the relative safety of their remaining cities.

  My conclusion at the end of this operation is that this was a very effective method for clearing all of the enemy in the areas surrounding their cities and that it is in no way to the detriment of the main attack, as my troops were able to join the attack after completing their missions. The troops clearly had enough training and were well prepared. I'll need more information before I can present a more detailed analysis, but this model should serve us well in our next campaign against the Brown Dragons. I haven't any final numbers yet, but they should be available soon. Any questions?"

  "We didn't plan for any further missions, as you considered that you would have lost the element of surprise," Zygar commented. "Has anything changed in your mind, or has this operation ended?"

  Perak shook his head. "Nothing has changed. We can't sneak in again; we are now at war. My troops will now resume their places back in their original command structures."

  Zygar nodded almost imperceptibly. "Well, I can't disagree. Congratulations, Colonel; that was a masterful piece of work, and you set an excellent foundation for the rest of the campaign. That leads us to the next report from Colonel Kessick."

  Kessick smiled smugly at Perak. "Thank you, General Zygar, and thank you, Colonel Perak, for your interesting update. I never thought I would find tales of tackling farmhouses and wood cutters so engaging. You certainly eliminated a potentially potent threat that we could have so easily overlooked."

  "Yes, just get on with your report, Kessick," Zygar interrupted, not hiding his irritation.

  "Of course, sir. Well, our brave troops set off at sunrise all along the border, heading towards the key cities in each of the target regions. They engaged the enemy directly and boldly, attacking them in the air over their cities and despite the enemy's home advantage and their size and strength, our troops prevailed in every case, sacrificing their lives to win the battle in the air in every arena, striking at the heart of the enemy and paving the way for Colonel Tarek's troops to do—well, whatever they do." Kessick smiled at everyone before sitting down.

  Zygar raised his eyebrows. "Is that it, Kessick?"

  Kessick looked a little confused. "You want more, sir?"

  Zygar gave him a cold glare. "Yes, some details would be nice. Numbers lost, enemy killed, any thoughts on the effectiveness of your tactics?"

  Kessick shook his head dismissively, appearing not to notice Zygar's irritation. "Too early to tell, sir. I expect those numbers will be available tomorrow."

  "Nothing about the near failure in Obud or the disaster in Newcastle?" Zygar asked incredulously.

  Kessick turned to the gathered generals. "I understand that the generals will be covering those details."

  Zygar shook his head, his expression one of complete disbelief. "Colonel, unless you wish to return to the junior ranks, this will be the last time you present me with such a feeble update. Is that understood?"

  Kessick looked shocked, and Perak did his best to hide his glee. "Very clear, sir, I understand."

  "General Tarek, your update please," Zygar said, moving on.

  Tarek nodded. "Of course, General. I personally managed to watch one of the attacks—on Obud—and have a detailed report from the southern attack, but unfortunately the wing commander I assigned to update me on the northern attack perished, as did his back up. I'm struggling a little to find details on that attack. However, the Obud attack went beautifully with every single target hit and destroyed. I couldn't have hoped for anything approaching the level of success that my dragons achieved. Of course, we hit the Stonehouses first, to destroy the Dragonstones and weaken the Reds, and we had groups ready to try again should the first wave miss any of their targets, but that was completely unnecessary. Every target was hit and destroyed and the Reds were unable to offer any resistance. My dragons then proceeded to destroy all of their defensive installations, paving the way for the ground troops to land.

  In Black Rock, the attack was equally successful, destroying all of the Stonehouses, although I understand that two of them required two attempts. The rest of the bombing run was entirely successful, and the city's defensive structures were largely reduced to rubble. This clearly demonstrates that when the initial attack is successful and the skies are clear, my men are very capable of completing this task successfully. I look forwards to repeating this success in Furnace."

  "As do we all," Zygar replied warmly. "Both you and Perak have successfully demonstrated how effective your innovative methods can be, and have rewarded the trust that I put in you. It is without question that today's success is down to the vision, determination and strategic brilliance that you have both brought to this campaign."

  There was polite applause from all in the room, even Colonel Kessick. Zygar raised his hands to cut short the clapping.

  "So,
the northern attack is a little bit of a mystery. Perhaps the general in charge can enlighten us. General Pushak, you may begin."

  General Pushak stood up to give his report, smiling smugly and stroking his short blue beard. He was the longest-serving general in the army—even longer than Zygar—and Perak had always found him to be arrogant and over-confident. It didn't help that Pushak had never been one of Perak's supporters. Pushak moved to stand next to the huge map of the Red Dragon Kingdom on the wall, brandishing a long dark stick to point to the map.

  "Thank you, General Zygar for the privilege of sharing the story of my success. In addition to wiping out all traces of the Red Dragons between the capital of their Northern Principality, Newcastle, and our old border, I say old, as it has in effect moved; my forces have captured the strategic city and former national capital known as Oldcastle—"

  "Oldcastle is and has been strategically unimportant for hundreds of years," Zygar interrupted sharply. "Tell me of Newcastle."

  The General shuffled his feet, looking down before returning to the map. "My plan was always to take both cities simultaneously, and in addition to the successful capture of Oldcastle, we also launched an attack on Newcastle, concentrating our forces here, knowing of its strategic importance. We easily overwhelmed their defences and took control of the air over the city, clearing the way for the bombing to begin. Unfortunately, just as the bombing was about to start, additional Red Dragons arrived, appearing from nowhere and attacking the bombing units just as they were about to hit the city, resulting in most of the bombs missing their target. We quickly eliminated these Red Dragons to regain control of the skies without suffering any considerable losses. We then proceeded with the ground attack, but with all of their buildings intact, we were unable to take the city and were forced to retreat."

  "No surprise there, General," Zygar commented sourly. "Why would you attack that city on the ground when the bombing run failed? Their ground defences are legendary."

  "Yes, well, we thought having invested so many troops in the initial attack—"

  "You'd throw all the rest away," Zygar said, interrupting his sentence.

  "We had taken the air," General Pushak protested. "If Perak's forces had cleared all the towns as they were meant to—"

  "The objective was to clear all of the smaller settlements between the two major cities and the border," Perak said sharply. "Something you were taking credit for yourself just a moment ago. We were never tasked with eliminating all the settlements in the area, and there was always a risk of attack from the west."

  "Thank you, Colonel," Zygar said irritably. "Speak when you're spoken to by me when you're in this room. General, we had plans for what to do in this scenario, and they didn't include a pointless attack on their strongest defences. Who gave the order to attack?"

  "Well, I thought that we had a chance of—"

  "You gave the order yourself?"

  The General nodded, looking down. "We had driven them from the air and I thought we could take the city. It was a mistake."

  Zygar shook his head. "I gave a direct order not to do that, General Pushak, and yet you decided to ignore it. How many troops did you lose in the ground assault?"

  "Well, I haven't the exact numbers yet—"

  "Estimate," Zygar commanded, his anger now clearly visible.

  General Pushak paused for a moment, muttering to himself as he calculated. "I would estimate in the region of one hundred and fifty thousand were killed. I expect that many of the enemy also died—"

  "One hundred and fifty thousand dead for nothing! That must have been almost all of your ground forces. Did you not have the sense to withdraw when it was clear that they weren't going to succeed? The plan was clear: if the bombing run failed, retreat and attack again the next day. If you truly had defeated them in the air as you claim, the bombing run the next day would have been easy. Now, you've lost too many of your troops and will need reinforcements just to hold the land you have taken, let alone think about taking the city, so you can't do it tomorrow, can you?"

  The General nodded miserably. "The bombers can be ready immediately, but I will need more troops for the ground assault. But General Zygar, this was the best protected city in the Kingdom; high losses were always to be expected."

  "Victory was expected, General, and losses were only acceptable in pursuit of victory. That was your last action as General."

  Zygar turned to Perak. "General Perak, you will take command of the Northern Army. Capturing Newcastle will have to wait until after Furnace has fallen, so it will be a rather unfulfilling task at first, just maintaining hold of the little we have captured. At least I can rely on you to follow my orders. Now, show your predecessor how you reward failure. You have your sword, I trust?"

  Before Pushak could say a word of protest, Perak stood up, drew his sword and swung it at Pushak in one smooth movement, slicing his throat wide open. Blood sprayed from the wound onto the wall and Pushak fell in a heap on the floor, a pool of blood beginning to form around him. Perak knelt to wipe his sword clean with Pushak's cloak, before calmly returning to the table to occupy Pushak's chair.

  "General Xanot," Zygar said pleasantly, continuing as if nothing had happened, "please give us your report."

  General Xanot had turned white, looking at Pushak's prone body on the floor. Xanot was of the same generation as Pushak, having become a colonel when Pushak was made general and although the two of them weren't friends as far as Perak knew, he probably knew Pushak better than anyone. Perak watched him carefully to see how he would react.

  Xanot looked up at General Zygar, his eyes still wide with astonishment, but he managed to recover quickly. "Yes, sir, my report, of course, right away. We've taken Black Rock. The operation was a resounding success and went exactly as planned. Losses on both sides were substantial and I don't have estimates of their losses, but they almost certainly outnumber ours. Estimates of losses in the surprise attack from Perak's forces are low—less than five hundred of the troops deployed, against an estimated kill of about ninety thousand and prisoners taken amounting to around nine thousand. The initial air assault had much higher casualty rate and although we destroyed them through our higher numbers, we lost more than they did, with an estimated loss of around fifty thousand. Many of their troops fled back to the city, giving up the skies surprisingly easily. Of course we lost none in the bombing run, and well, you've heard how successful they were from General Tarek and I must say, he wasn't overstating the case. The ground assault was more successful than the aerial combat and we only lost around five thousand taking the city."

  Zygar nodded, absorbing the information. "All within our estimates. What of their losses in the ground assault? How many prisoners did you take?"

  Xanot shook his head. "We took no prisoners; they'd evacuated everyone except those who could fight. I don't have an estimate of their losses on the ground yet, but it will be available shortly."

  Perak raised his hand. "Permission to speak, General?"

  "Go ahead, General."

  Perak smiled at the word, ecstatic at his sudden promotion. "We suspected that they were planning evacuations in each of these cities," he commented. "Our spy told us as much. The numbers of prisoners is disappointing, but it may have helped us in the attack as many of their warriors were probably involved in the evacuation and made the attack easier. Not meaning to take away anything from your success, but five thousand is an unusually low number of losses for this sort of operation. I suspect that the Reds found a way for their fighters to flee the city during the invasion. We know there are a number of underground tunnels around Black Rock; they could have used those to escape the city once they realised it was lost."

  "Which means that the capital will be much harder to take," Zygar said quietly, thinking aloud. "Yes, that's a possibility. They still have to get back to their capital, of course. What of their other towns?"

  "I ignored them," Xanot replied. "Black Rock was the priority. I will attack t
hem tomorrow."

  Zygar shook his head. "No need for that yet. If they fled Black Rock they'll be in the neighbouring towns. I suspect that they will want to retake the city and will lose far more troops than us in their doomed attempt. Wait for them to attack and then counterattack immediately and take the smaller cities."

  "Of course, General. As you command."

  Zygar turned to the third of the senior generals. "General Farak, how did you fare?"

  Farak was the only other general from Pushak's generation, but Perak knew that he wouldn't be at all troubled at Pushak's demise. Both of them saw each other as rivals, assuming that Zygar would choose one of them as his successor. Perak hardly knew Farak; the tall, thin general was someone that he had only met a few times before.

  Farak smiled smugly. "A question you already know the answer to, General Zygar, I am sure, having saved the best till last. We took Obud, the surrounding cities and towns and are in control of most of the East. A more comprehensive victory would be hard to conceive. The detailed report will be available very soon. It will make for very enjoyable reading."

  "Can I trouble you for the figures?" Zygar said with a smile.

  Farak nodded. "Of course. Perak's boys did a superb job and the countryside is littered with around forty thousand Red Dragon corpses, but a mere few hundred of ours. The air attack was initially a little disappointing, as Obud had much higher numbers of defenders than our intelligence sources had led us to believe. Kessick's purples, under the able supervision of Colonel Nabegar, led the charge, and as expected, were wiped out fairly quickly, but managed to dent the Red's numbers. They were reinforced by the main body of Nabegar's dragons, but the ratio of Blues to Reds was not as favourable as we had hoped. We outnumbered them, of course, but not enough to quickly eliminate them and at one point Nabegar had to consider calling off the attack. Fortunately, this was when Perak arrived with his dragons, which tipped the balance in our favour and the battle then ended very quickly, clearing the way for Tarek's troops to obliterate the buildings housing the Dragonstones, as well as a large number of their defensive towers.