Forged in Fire (Destiny's Crucible Book 4)

by Olan Thorensen

  “Yes, I saw him when I met with Ketin. I think I was successful in pretending I didn’t notice him. However, I’m sure he saw me. Unless I’m mistaken, when he saw me, he picked up his pace from walking to refill his buckets to running when the buckets were empty and shuffling as fast as he could when they were full.”

  “Is that good or bad? Was he slacking before?”

  “I’d say not,” said Okan. “At first, he was working at the pace of the other boys I saw, so I think it was a matter of working harder to impress me.”

  “I might be seeing a difference here at home, too. After the first day, he barely dragged himself into his room and collapsed into bed, yet managed not to snarl at his sister on the way. His sulking also seems less frequent, though it might be wishful thinking.”

  “No, I think you’re right. Is he in his room now?”

  “Last I knew, yes,” said Rabia. “When he got home, he was obviously tired but went straight there to clean up and then began working on his studies.”

  Okan gave his wife a hug. “Maybe it’s time to give him a touch of encouragement. I’ll go speak with him and say how well the fortifications are going, how every little task is important, and casually mention I saw him working hard.”

  “Good. Let me know how he takes it. And before you go up, I do want to know if the meetings went well.”

  “They went as well as I could reasonably expect. Naturally, I always want things to progress faster than they do, but everything considered, all is going well. The last of the fortifications are almost complete, and preparing horses for the new army is progressing. Kalcan says the Klinwyn Island work is slow, but given that he’s keeping it quiet, that’s understandable. More problematical is what to do about the Selfcellese and Eywellese. Colonel Jurna is convinced the clans are working up to making a move, what exactly we don’t know. What it means is we’re thinking harder about getting the two clans to start moving their people closer to Preddi to avoid being isolated and us losing the support of their fighting men. Zulfa is keeping an eye on the situation, but if the new army doesn’t arrive in a few sixdays, it may force us to act.”

  “I’m sure you’ll act when the time is best. For now, go see Orem, then clean up. Evening meal will be ready when you come down.”

  CHAPTER 22: DECISIONS

  Caernford

  Yozef had returned home late the previous evening after a lengthy meeting at the Keelan Clan headquarters in Caernford, where a decision had been made. He would give his wives—he still had trouble forming the plural—the news over morning meal that he’d be leaving for at least two sixdays. The three of them sat near one another at the large dining room table—Yozef wanted to add an extension to the kitchen and call it their “breakfast” nook. He’d had to explain the word breakfast meant “morning meal” in English, and he didn’t think “morning meal nook” quite sounded right. Anarynd held Aeneas, while Maera smashed his scrambled duck eggs that Serys, their cook, had prepared for all of them.

  “Ah-hum . . . when I met with Culich last night, we decided another trip to Orosz City is necessary. The War Council needs to meet to confirm when the clans will try to isolate Selfcell and Eywell from the Narthani. We plan on leaving in two days.”

  “How long would you be gone, Yozef?” asked Anarynd.

  “The trip to and from Orosz City and the meeting will probably be five or six days, but the surveyors’ search for potential battle sites has yielded enough candidates that after the meeting, Denes, Mulron, and I will go with hetmen Stent, Orosz, and Farkesh to examine five sites in the northwest part of Caedellium. Culich won’t accompany us, even though he’s the fourth member of the council. It’ll be horseback travel, and his leg won’t allow him to ride that much. However, there will be several Keelanders in the party.”

  “Is anyone from the MIU going?” asked Maera. “It should be Gartherid Kennrick, since he’s organized the surveys and already visited the sites.”

  “I was worried about him, but he doesn’t seem to have problems horseback riding with his peg leg. Maybe because he’s younger than Culich or just the difference in their bodies, but he must have ridden a thousand miles or more the last month. We’ve also decided to invite the three Fuomi leaders to come with us to inspect potential battle sites and attend meetings. That’s if they’re interested.”

  “If the Fuomi are going, then so should I,” asserted Maera. “You’ll need me to assess the Fuomi responses to what they hear. I can take better notes of the meetings and discussions than anyone else.”

  Yozef hesitated in responding, then said, “I thought of that, but I know you’ve already been concerned about not spending enough time with Aeneas.”

  Maera glanced sideways toward Anarynd, holding the baby.

  Anarynd noticed the look. “You should go, Maera, if you think it’s important. One reason I agreed to the marriage was so I could help free your time to help against the Narthani. There’s nothing essential I can do, but you’re different. Ever since I got to Caernford, I’ve seen how important you are, including when you help Yozef.”

  Neither Maera nor Yozef argued with Anarynd. Maera was important, and there were things far more crucial to the clans’ efforts than anything Anarynd could contribute. Maera didn’t say it aloud, but this situation illustrated one advantage of bringing Anarynd into the marriage.

  “Oh, Ana,” said Maera, “I don’t want you to feel as if I’m taking advantage of you by leaving you with Aeneas.”

  “Pooh,” sniffed Anarynd. “I love the little dear, and Braithe will do much of the caregiving. Then there’s Gwyned and your family. More important, while you’re gone, I’ll be the head of the Kolsko household. Not that I expect anything drastic to happen, but it will make me feel more like a significant partner in this marriage.”

  Yozef put a hand on Maera’s forearm to forestall further discussion. Anarynd’s right. This is one reason we married her. And there’s no way around it, she is the minor member of the triad, which either must have been apparent to her right from the start or will be eventually. This is a step to make her feel that she’s important.

  “There, it’s settled,” said Yozef, addressing Anarynd. “Maera will come with me to Orosz City. We’ll decide there if she’ll accompany us to visit the potential battlefields. Anarynd, Maera and I will tell all the staff today that you will be household head while we’re gone.”

  As soon as they were alone, Maera told Yozef, “You should spend the next two nights with Anarynd, since I’ll be with you on the trip.” Yozef didn’t have a quick response, which was fortuitous, because Maera didn’t wait for one and continued speaking. “I’ll get my coat, and we need to be on our way into Caernford. I’m sure there’re numerous details to work out before we leave.”

  Two days later, with the sun a hand’s breadth above the eastern hill, three carriages and Balwis’s dragoon company left Caernford heading north. Yozef wanted Balwis to be involved in the planning for the attack to cut out the two Narthani allied clans, and he wanted to see Balwis’s newly formed company in action more than he’d had the opportunity to observe previously. Unfortunately for the Preddi escapee, Yozef envisioned Balwis’s company of Preddi and ex-slaves expanding to a battalion within the next month or two. His strident complaints against more responsibility would go for naught.

  The Fuomi’s response to the invitation to return again to Orosz City was mixed: Kivalian was eager to hear more of the clans’ plans and hadn’t wanted to return to Caernford after the conclave, Saisannin had recently confessed to Maera she thought it was time for their mission to return to East Head Point and depart Caedellium, and Rintala was unexpectedly nonchalant at the prospect of moving again deeper into Caedellium.

  Rhanjur Gaya, the Landoliner, was a last-minute addition to the party. Yozef hadn’t known his interest until he showed up, packed for the trip. Yozef couldn’t think of a good reason not to allow him, so said nothing.

  Although the occupants of the carriage at any one time
varied, depending on shifting discussions, they started with Yozef, Maera, and Culich in one carriage; Mulron, Denes, and Gartherid Kennrick in a second; and the three Fuomi plus Gaya in the third.

  Yozef’s riding skills had improved, but his trust in horses was still limited to the three he owned. Seabiscuit had retired, so Mr. Ed and Man o’War were tied to the Kolsko carriage. He rode each for an hour a day during the two-day trip to Orosz City.

  Eina Saisannin said she was not a good-enough horsewoman and would remain in Orosz City to wait for Rintala and Kivalian, who would accompany the inspections. Maera said she would be more useful spending the time to learn more about Fuomon from Eina and practice her Fuomi, and she stated that she would not go to inspect battlefield sites either.

  Orosz City

  The War Council met in the conclave building. Besides the four members and Yozef, hetmen of the Adris, Bultecki, and Hewell clans attended because of their proximity to Orosz. Less anticipated was the attendance of hetmen from Skouks and Swavebroke, sons of former hetmen killed recently by the Narthani and who fervently supported action. Another twenty-four men consisted of advisers of attending hetmen or representatives of clans whose hetmen were not present. The War Council would allow questions from anyone attending, but only when asked for.

  Orosz, the titular leader of the council, attended only to formalize the proceedings. He called the council into session with the traditional gong used during clan conclaves.

  “We have previously agreed that when the time is right, the free clans will remove the Selfcell and Eywell clans as allies of the Narthani. The subject today is to decide whether the time has come and the clans’ preparations have progressed enough to be successful.”

  During the next half hour, the council members gave reports on their areas of responsibility: Keelan, on intelligence; Orosz, on logistics; and Farkesh, on personnel. Stent, for operations, went last and provided the crux of the meeting.

  “The basic plan is as proposed by Yozef, with details still being finalized,” said Stent. He pulled a cloth off a blackboard showing a white chalk drawing of a map of Caedellium and two large red chalk arrows. “Two forces will invade Eywell using roughly the same routes we followed in the thousand-man raids. Our purpose then was to warn the Narthani we could attack their territories if they used their navy to strike a coastal clan, as they did Swavebroke. We will call our two forces simply the Northern Force and the Southern Force.

  “Before I continue with details, note that on Yozef’s suggestion, and given that these will be the largest forces we have yet put into action, the commanders will be given what Yozef calls ‘brevet’ ranks only for this action. This means that men will be assigned ranks based on the number of men they command. For example, during our previous raid toward Hanslow, I commanded just over a thousand men, and my rank for the action was colonel. According to the ranks we have agreed to use, one to three thousand men require a leader rank of colonel, and eight to twelve thousand, a leader rank of brigadier. Thus, for the proposed action to isolate the Narthani inside Preddi Province, I will command the Northern Force with the rank of brigadier. Similarly, other men will be given brevet ranks to command. Since these ranks are temporary, it’s also a trial to judge all our performances. Consistent with Yozef’s On War principles, any man who, in our general judgment, does not perform well will not be given as high a command again. This includes hetmen and their families. I publicly acknowledge this principle, and I will accede to the will of the rest of the War Council if I do not command well enough.

  “As it happens, I have two relatives who will command regiments as brevet colonels—a younger brother and an uncle. Both have been apprised of the conditions of their brevet ranks, and both will concur, although I admit my uncle needed some extensive ‘discussions’ to convince him.

  “The Northern Force will have eleven one-thousand-man regiments with a colonel. These are smaller regiments than we might have in the future, but the northern clans aren’t as far along with experience in working together as are the southern clans. We also don’t yet have mixed-clan regiments I trust to fight efficiently. In the raid I commanded, we saw too much confusion, including a Moreland company commander who withdrew his men without my approval, thereby threatening the position of a flanking company from a different clan. We’ve agreed to keep the regiments for the current action composed only of men from single clans but with strict instructions from their hetmen to follow my orders, no matter what they are. I anticipate problems, but I’ll have to deal with them as they occur.

  “The Southern Force will be commanded by Denes Vegga. As with myself, he’ll have the brevet rank of brigadier, and like myself, he has never have commanded this large a force. Yozef correctly points out that neither Brigadier Vegga nor I should be in command, given our lack of experience, and so on, down through the ranks. However, given that we have no one with such experience, we have no other options.”

  “We should all realize that the action we’re planning has two major objectives,” Yozef pointed out. “One is to stop the Selfcell and Eywell clans from helping the Narthani. That’s an important objective, but just as important is that this is a practice for when we eventually face the larger Narthani army. We will have to maneuver forces of this size and larger against that army, and the current action will likely be our only opportunity to gain experience in coordination before the real fighting begins.”

  “As Yozef says,” said Stent, “this action to cut out the two clans is as much training as anything else. It’s not to engage the Narthani in battle, although if they unexpectedly send a major force into Selfcell and Eywell against us, we’ll reassess at that time. None of us think that will happen. We believe the most they will do is use existing fortifications and other positions within Preddi Province should we force the issue, which we won’t. We don’t want to become stuck in a serious engagement when we don’t know when their reinforcements will arrive or where they might land. We want them to land in Preddi City, so we know where they are and that they’re concentrated in that location. We don’t want them to find us fighting the existing Narthani and have them land somewhere else on the island.”

  Stent turned to the blackboard and pointed to the northern arrow. “My force will cross the Moreland/Eywell border twenty miles from Hanslow, their capital. We intend to move fast enough to prevent any Narthani or Eywell fighting men not already inside the city’s defenses to reach there before we surround the city. We won’t attempt to take the city by force but will bypass and continue pushing hard southwest, with the goal of reaching the coast south of Sellmor, the Selfcell capital. If we move fast enough, the Selfcellese won’t be able to withdraw into Preddi Province before we cut them off. In theory, we could find ourselves caught between Selfcell forces and the Narthani to our south, but they will be occupied by Brigadier Vegga.

  “As for the Eywellese, we will brush aside any attempt to stop our movement toward Selfcell. We estimate no more than two thousand Eywell fighting men from Hanslow south to their southern coast. The rest will be contained within Hanslow and several towns in the north. To hold those in place, another five thousand men will stay encamped near Hanslow. They will not be part of the Northern Force and will consist of less organized units from Skouks and Swavebroke. Both of these clans wanted some role after what the Narthani did in killing their hetmen and burning Shullick, the Swavebroke capital.”

  Stent motioned to Vegga. “Brigadier Vegga will describe the Southern Force and field objective.”

  Denes and Stent exchanged places standing at the blackboard.

  “The Southern Force will have a different organization, due to more experience in mixed-clan units. We will have four regiments of twenty-five hundred men each. They will be commanded by brevet colonels, three of whom have previous experience in command, though with fewer men. The four will be Arst Sixwith and Poul Kildorn, who were battalion commanders on our raid to the borders of Preddi; Mulron Luwis, who commanded the support base for tha
t same raid; and Lordum Hewell. Sixwith and Luwis are Keelanders; Kildorn, an Oroszian; and Lordum Hewell is obviously a Hewellian. Hewell has the least experience, but we have enough confidence in him to give him a regiment—at least for now. His men will be mainly from his own clan, but he has agreed to be removed from command, if I decide to replace him. The other three regiments will be mixed clans down to the company level, with a few mixed-clan platoons.

  “The primary goal of the Southern Force will be to fix the Narthani in their strongest positions in and around Preddi City, so they can’t come to Selfcell and Eywell’s aid—mainly Selfcell, because, as Brigadier Stent noted, their population is concentrated in the south of the province, compared to Eywell’s in the north. While we don’t believe the Narthani will take risks to defend Selfcell’s population, the proximity could tempt them, and we don’t plan to engage in major field battles—unless circumstances change our evaluations.

  “Our secondary objective is to support the Northern Force, if necessary, once the two forces are within tactical contact in northern Preddi Province and southern Selfcell.”

  When Vegga finished, Orosz called for questions. There were few, considering the magnitude of the plan and the largest action the clans had ever taken together, but all of the attending islanders had already been briefed on details. This meeting was to settle any final issues and would result in the formal decision of the War Council. After half an hour, when questions slackened, Rintala, the Fuomi commander, raised his hand. The foreign observers had been silent until then.

  “Hetmen Orosz,” asked Rintala, as translated by Eina Saisannin, “we’ve heard the general objectives. Assuming you are successful in blocking the other two clans from supporting the Narthani, what are your intentions for those clans? Are you thinking to permanently occupy those provinces to prevent them from rejoining the Narthani?”