"Did you know that the Rangers rode out a little while ago?" asked Tanya.
"To harass the enemy," nodded the king. "The Red Swords will be an hour behind them. Hopefully they will all return safely."
"I hope so," murmured Tanya. "Alex is with them."
"Then I know they will return safely," smiled King Arik. "I want to apologize for last night. I guess I didn't understand what you were trying to say."
Tanya frowned and looked at the questioning stares of the men around the table. She did want to talk more with Arik, but not in front of an audience. She merely shrugged and continued to eat her eggs.
King Arik had a pile of papers in front of him, including maps of the city and army rosters and positions. He pawed through the stack of papers and extracted one. He rose and carried it over to Tanya. She looked expectantly up at him as he handed her the paper.
"This awards you the title of Baroness of Gandy," he declared. "The public announcement will have to wait until after the battle, but I thought you would appreciate knowing about it now."
Tanya stared at the paper and seethed. She rose from the table and dropped the proclamation on it.
"I never asked for a title," she stormed, "and I don't want it. My loyalty to you is not something that is for sale. I will see you through this Ancient Prophecy because I have sworn to do so. You need not acknowledge my contribution nor reward me for it. Give the title to someone who is impressed by such things."
Tanya abandoned her eggs and stormed out of the room. King Arik looked at the empty doorway in astonishment.
"Did I do something wrong?" he said out loud to himself.
The Red Swords stared at their plates in embarrassment. Prince Garong looked on in sympathy.
"You need to strip off her weapons and put her in a proper dress," murmured Prince Darok as the dwarf shoved a chunk of pork into his mouth. "It seems that today she wishes to be a woman more than a warrior."
"I just don't understand them," puzzled King Arik as he sat down at the table.
"What is there to understand?" countered the dwarf. "She wants you to accept her as a female."
"But Tanya has always chafed about being female," protested the king. "Since the day I met her, she has always demanded to be considered as one of the men. She got angry if you pointed out that she was a woman."
"No doubt she will still get angry if any of us point that out to her," interjected Prince Garong. "It is only for you that she wishes to be known as a woman. Open your eyes, lad. She is in love with you."
"I doubt that," frowned the king. "She just seems to be on edge lately. Maybe she is worried about the coming battle. It is obvious that she couldn't sleep well, or she would not have been down here."
"You have much to learn yet," laughed Prince Darok. "That lass has absolute confidence on the battlefield. And she has a reason to be confident. Her skills are impressive. Still, there is one thing she cannot win by battle prowess alone. That thing is your heart, Garala."
"That is ridiculous," King Arik shook his head. "Just last night she told me that when this is all over, she plans to travel the world. She has no desire to be tied down to me or anyone else."
The dwarf shrugged and reached for another handful of pork.
* * *
Alex had his Rangers spread out on the ridges of three parallel valleys that the enemy would have to pass through. As he suspected, the first sight of the enemy was that of a yaki. The lone yaki sniffed the ground as it led the way through the central valley. Several hundred paces behind it, dozens of yaki surged into sight.
"Pass the word back," instructed Alex. "The lone yaki is to be killed just before he exits the valley."
The Rangers next to him nodded and passed the word onward. The Rangers waited patiently as the yaki were followed by goblins riding on yaki. The goblins appeared to be relaxed, without any care towards security. They obviously expected no opposition before reaching the city of Tagaret. Alex smiled grimly.
Before the first lumbering ogre entered the valley, the dying scream of the lead yaki echoed through the valley. The Rangers immediately fired a hail of arrows into the valley. The chaos was instantaneous. Some of the yaki shot forward towards the far end of the valley, while others turned and retreated. Still others recognized the trap for what it was and tried to charge up the slopes of the ridges. None of the original enemy survived, but it was only the small tip of the vanguard of Sarac's army. The enemy became wary and Alex pictured the yaki climbing the ridge at the start of the valley. He knew that he had to move his men out quickly.
A distant horn sounded to the west. It was the signal that one of the Ranger positions was in danger of being overrun.
"Move quickly, lads," shouted Alex. "I am at the end of this line, and I don't want to be late for the morning meal."
The Rangers scrambled along the ridge to the southern terminus. They ran down the slope, unclipped their horses from the tether line, mounted, and rode southward. Alex lingered on Kaz until all of his men had safely left. He patted Kaz gently, and the powerful unicorn charged off in pursuit of the Rangers.
Just south of the valleys that Alex had selected for the ambush, were two large lakes. The three columns of Rangers merged into one and passed between the lakes on a strip of land that served as a natural bridge across the water. Halfway along the coast of the lakes, the natural bridge narrowed to the width of several wagons. It was a natural bottleneck, and Alex planned to make use of it. When the Rangers reached the bottleneck, they dismounted. Volunteers led the horses away and tethered them at the far end of the bridge.
Alex had barely dismounted when the first arrows flew from the Rangers. He turned and watched the yaki charging towards him. Scores of arrows ripped into the charging fox-like creatures. Alex gazed past the yaki and saw goblins surging forwards.
"Archers coming," Alex shouted. "Make your shots count. The front line aims for the goblins. Those in the back should concentrate on the yaki."
The goblins halted their charge and started firing arrows. Unfortunately for them, their range was not as great as the longbows of the Rangers. The goblins started dying.
"They are stupid creatures," spat Sergeant Witzak. "They line up just to die."
"Do not underestimate them," warned Alex as he let an arrow fly. "You and I have fought goblins before. They can be a considerable foe when the battle is of their own choosing. This battle is of my choosing. Many of them will die before we leave."
"Can they get around the lakes?" asked Randi.
"They sure can," nodded Alex. "And that will occur to them fairly soon. This battle will not last more than a few minutes."
"Just another hit and git," nodded the sergeant. "You never did say what our fallback position is after this one."
"There is none," answered Alex as he turned and looked at the orange orb of the sun just barely over the eastern horizon. "We head home from here. The Red Swords should be along any minute. I want you to ride out to meet them. I want them to set up defensive positions at the southern end of each lake. That will give a funnel to ride through and protect us from any goblins with the sense to go around the lakes."
"I'm gone," saluted Randi as he turned and ran towards his horse.
"Will this do any good?" asked the Rangers next to Alex.
"Some," replied Alex as he watched his arrow bury into the neck of a goblin. "Sarac will be short about a thousand creatures when we are done, not that that makes a dent in the size of his army, but more importantly, we will remove their feeling of invincibility. They have been marching steadily southward from their victory at the Castle of Man without any opposition. This will serve notice on them that they may die in the coming battle. That alone has made this exercise worthwhile."
Chapter 10
Battle Hymn
The sun was approaching its zenith when the alarm sounded. Soldiers scurried to the defensive wall and manned their battle stations. Others rushed to the catapults set in the barren area between the
defensive wall and the new wall of the city. The elves marched in formation purposely, but unhurriedly. Their calmness in the face of imminent danger had a soothing effect on the soldiers of Tagaret.
Inside the Royal Palace, King Arik hurried up the steep steps of the watch tower. Alex and Tanya were already there when he arrived.
"What does it look like?" the king asked as he gazed out at the cleared land surrounding the city.
"It is just the vanguard," replied Alex. "Mostly yaki so far, but the goblins will not be far behind."
"And the ogres and Black Devils?" asked King Arik.
"The ogres have a large stride," answered Alex, "but they will lumber along in no particular hurry. Where the Black Devils will be in the procession is unknown. We shall just have to wait and see."
"And when do you expect the attack to begin?" inquired the king. "I do not want the men to be on alert needlessly."
"That is hard to answer," frowned Alex. "There is no need for Sarac's entire army to assemble before they begin the attack, but there is little advantage to them in beginning the attack too soon. The raid we pulled at dawn will make them slightly leery. I suspect that they will either launch their first attack late today or early tomorrow morning. The key to determining which is more likely will be any attempts by the goblins and ogres to build siege weapons. If they start to build any, expect the attack at dawn. If not, brace yourself for an attack this afternoon."
"Would they really attack without siege weapons?" asked Tanya.
"They might," nodded Alex. "Life means little to Sarac and his minions. If they think that the Black Devils can blast a hole in our defenses, they very well might attack without them. While I do not think their magicians will breach our defenses easily, the threat of an early charge is real enough. They would not be adverse to climbing mountains of their own dead to climb over our walls."
"I will order our men to stand down then," decided the king. "A bare watch will tell us what is going to happen."
"That has already begun," smiled Alex as he pointed to the defensive walls of the city. Do not underestimate General Gregor and the rest of your officers. There are many fine men under your command. They can read the enemy as well as I can."
King Arik nodded as he saw soldiers leaving the wall and gathering below it in small groups.
"Does another preemptive strike make any sense?" asked Tanya. "I heard the last one killed several thousand of the enemy."
"No," answered Alex. "The strike this morning took them by surprise. They would be prepared for another one. Besides, several thousand out of the enemy army is hardly noticeable to them. We had estimates of a hundred thousand coming against us, but I fear it is much larger. Kaz and I took a detour on the way back from our morning raid. The ranks of the enemy appeared endless."
"You flew over them?" questioned Tanya. "Did you see the Black Devils?"
"I would not say over them," replied Alex. "We flew parallel to one group of them, and no, I did not see any humans among the enemy. They were spread out almost as wide as they were deep. Even the addition of our eleven friends will not be enough to stem the tide coming against us."
"Well at least we no longer have to wonder where the enemy is," mused King Arik as he watched the first ogres stride into view. "Now we just have to figure out how to kill them all."
"Do not be too sure of your knowledge concerning where they are," warned Alex. "I have had reports of Klarg inside the city in the past few days. I suspect that we may find the rest of Sarac's Ravens when we find him."
"Here in Tagaret?" scowled the king. "Why was I not informed?"
"General Gregor and Colonel Nolan were informed," declared Alex. "They have had men out searching the city. So far there has been no further sign of them."
"Still, their presence inside the city troubles me greatly," frowned the king. "Now we will be forced to watch our backs as well as the walls."
"It bothers me as well. You keep your men concentrated on the walls," suggested Alex. "If anyone can find Klarg in Tagaret, it is Zackary Nolan and his men. You should go down to the walls and be visible. It will greatly encourage the men."
"That is a good idea," nodded the king. "I want to see the preparations that General Gregor and Prince Oscar have made."
King Arik, Tanya, and Alex left the watch tower. On their way to the courtyard, they ran into Jenneva and Sheri who was pushing a large cart through the corridors of the Royal Palace.
"What is this?' asked the king.
"Fire glue," grinned Jenneva. "Sheri's group is distributing it to the men on the walls. I made large batches of it this morning."
"Excellent," smiled King Arik. "That is a good use of the Queen's Helpers."
"Oh, we are doing more than this," beamed Sheri. "Our group is also carting thousands of buckets of arrows to the wall. We have been making them for months now. We also are in charge of the food deliveries and getting the wounded to the healing tents. We will pull our own in this battle."
"Are you not going to be fighting on the wall with the men then?" asked Tanya.
"I will be fighting," assured Sheri, "but not before I have fulfilled my other obligations first. I suspect that every citizen of Tagaret will get more than their fill of fighting before this is over."
"Not to disparage you from fighting," interjected Alex, "but the other services that you provide will have a much greater impact than one more bow upon the wall."
"That is almost exactly the way Prince Oscar put it," smiled Sheri. "I am eager to help in any way I can."
"Well," smiled Alex, "let me help by pushing that cart to the defensive wall for you. We are heading that way now."
Sheri smiled and joined the group, as did Jenneva. The unicorns had stopped hiding their horns in Tagaret, and they were allowed to roam freely around the Royal Palace. As the group started walking towards the western gates, the four unicorns joined the procession. When they reached the defensive wall, Sheri took the cart away to distribute the fire glue. King Arik was immediately noticed by the soldiers and word of his arrival rippled through the ranks. Some soldiers saluted, as they would a senior officer, some bowed, and other both saluted and bowed. The king looked mildly amused and somewhat puzzled by the behavior.
"These men have never known a warrior king," explained General Gregor as he joined the small group. "Forgive them if they act confused."
"There is nothing to forgive," smiled King Arik. "What is happening beyond the walls?"
"The ogres have begun to arrive," reported the general. "They are already fast at work building siege engines. We can expect the attack to begin at dawn."
"Will we be ready?" inquired King Arik.
"As best as we can be," nodded General Gregor. "We are organized and alert. Many are eager to begin the battle despite the overwhelming odds placed against us."
"We are still woefully short of magicians," interjected Fredrik as he stepped forward from the large group that had gathered around the king. There will be large gaps in the shields along the walls."
"Any gap in the shields will allow the Black Devils to exploit an entrance into the city," warned Jenneva. "We must find a way to cover those gaps."
"We could cover the gaps as they try to exploit them," suggested Tanya. "From our towers we should be able to see what is unfolding along the walls."
"True," frowned Jenneva, "but that means that we must lessen the offensive spells that we had planned to use. I would prefer to find a way to fill those voids without depending upon us."
"Had the dwarves arrived in time to enter the city," Prince Garong pointed out, "we would not be discussing this. Their mages are not as talented as our elven mages, but they can hold a shield."
"Bah," snipped Prince Darok, "dwarven mages are every bit as good as elves in battle. I will grant you that the elves have better healing magic, but dwarven warriors seldom need healing."
"Too bad they are so slow to reach the battlefield," countered Prince Garong. "Even if they were to arrive
now, they could not get into the city."
"You have much to learn about dwarves," grinned Prince Darok. "We would never let the elves beat us to the battlefield. My people arrived long before yours did. Unlike the elves, however, dwarves do not enjoy standing around waiting for the battle to begin. We prefer to prepare as best we can before the start of hostilities."
The elf prince's eyebrows rose as his eyes scanned the area looking for any other dwarves. Prince Darok watched Prince Garong and started laughing. He pulled a small silver horn off his belt and blew into it. A low trembling tone emanated from the dwarven horn. The warriors on the wall immediately fell silent as they wondered what the horn sound meant. The workers delivering supplies halted, and silence fell over the area around the defensive wall. Only a single sound reverberated through the still air. It was the sound of a pick striking rock. All eyes turned towards the source of the cracking rock.
"Someone help me move that catapult," shouted Prince Darok as he saw the pick blade break ground beneath one of the catapults.
Several soldiers had also seen the blade rise up through the ground. They raced to the catapult and pushed it away. Everyone stared as a hole appeared in the ground. The hole widened quickly as several more picks tore away at the ground from below. Within mere moments, a large rectangular opening was formed in the area between the defensive wall and the new wall of the city. Distant singing wafted up from below as the first dwarf stuck his head up and peered about. He grinned broadly as he saw the audience watching his every move. With a newfound sense of dignity, the dwarf rose up out of the ground as if climbing stairs to a second floor. He grinned at Prince Darok and bowed low to King Arik.
"I guess it is nigh time for the battle to start," the dwarf said as he motioned towards the new hole. "The dwarven peoples of Lanto, Talman, Dorgun, and Cazra have arrived to aid Garala in defense of Tagaret."
As he spoke, dwarves began to file out of the hole. They marched with their heads held high and a battle hymn bursting from their lungs. The soldiers of Tagaret watched with their mouths hanging open as the never-ending stream of dwarves left the hole in the ground and began to find open spots along the wall.
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