Army of the Dead

by Richard S. Tuttle

  “No,” Marak quickly responded. “I am not ready for Vand to know about you. There is nothing but water out here. How can we tell where they are heading?”

  “Their destination is no secret to me,” replied the dragon. “They are heading due west. Unless they change course drastically, they will end up at Alamar.”

  “Can you tell me when?” asked Emperor Marak.

  The dragon was silent for a moment and then rose up into the clouds.

  “Tomorrow night is a decent estimate,” Myka said. “Whether they will start the attack at night or not, I cannot tell. Certainly by the morning after, though. I can come back tomorrow to check up on them.”

  “I think that will be necessary,” replied the Torak. “I would like Lyra’s people as rested and prepared as possible. The more we know about the hour of their attack, the better off we will be.”

  “Do you want to search for the skimmers or head for StarCity?” asked the winged warrior.

  “StarCity,” Marak replied after some thought. “It is hard for me to judge distances up here, but I don’t think the skimmers could be anywhere close yet. They were hidden far upstream in the Sakova. Just the journey down the river would take a fair bit of time. I hope they reach the sea before the invasion starts.”

  “Sounds like you could have used more notice of the attack,” stated Myka. “Surprises are always costly.”

  “We have spies on the island,” shrugged Marak, “but even they cannot see in the dark. Any suggestions?”

  Myka did not answer, and Torak and the winged warrior flew on in silence. When they reached the coast of the Sakova, Myka dropped below the clouds again, although she kept a high enough altitude to avoid being identified. Marak looked down at what appeared to be a tiny city, but he knew better. He saw something south of the city that he could not identify. He asked the dragon to drop lower.

  As the size of Alamar grew, more detail was visible. South of the city, the road was clogged with wagons and pedestrians fleeing the city. Ships of all sizes were leaving the port and following the coastline to the south.

  “They are evacuating the civilians,” remarked the dragon. “I hope that road is not required to bring in reinforcements.”

  “It will not be needed,” replied the Torak. “We should see the bulk of the Sakovan armies between here and StarCity.”

  Indeed, a few moments later the first of the hidden armies came into view. They were clearly visible from the air as long as the dragon was passing over the sevemore forests, but once they reached the groves of fargi trees, the ground was no longer visible. It was impossible to tell what was hidden beneath the giant trees.

  As the dragon soared over the mountains, the clouds gave way to bright sunshine. Marak went from feeling cold to perspiring as the hot sun bore down on him. Of course the lower altitude added to his warmth. Myka had come into the mountains low and seemed to be delighting in banking from valley to valley. As the sides of the mountains flew by fairly close to his head, Marak drew his knife and jammed it into the hole in Myka’s scale so that he had something to hang onto.

  “Wimp,” chortled the dragon as she banked so steeply that Marak felt his leg lifting off the dragon’s back.

  Marak laughed after he caught his breath. The laugh died in his throat as Myka headed straight into a mountain and then suddenly turned upward just in the nick of time. Marak held the knife with both hands as he felt his seat separate from the dragon’s scales.

  “Enough,” pleaded the Torak when he could speak. “I prefer to die in battle where I at least have a chance.”

  “You must learn how to fly, Torak,” taunted the dragon as she reached the peak of the mountain and immediately tilted to soar down the other side. “Learn to anticipate my moves and balance your body without the need to hang on. When we fly into battle, you will need both of your hands on the hilt of your sword.”

  “Fly into battle?” echoed the Torak. “What do you mean?”

  Myka snorted and smoke blew out of her nostrils. “Do you think I am just something to ride so that you can enjoy the scenery?” she quipped. “I am a winged warrior. Have you not figured out what my specialty is?”

  “I am to fly you into battle?” gasped the Torak.

  “So,” chortled the dragon, “you are not so stupid after all. I guess the elven princess was mistaken.”

  “What did she say?” Marak asked indignantly. “Which one was it?”

  Myka snickered and soared upward again, rising along the face of a snowcapped peak. She flew over the peak and headed down again. Marak saw that they had just entered the valley of StarCity. The Sakovans shouted and pointed at the dragon as Myka soared low over the streets of the city. The people scattered before the flying behemoth, and Myka cackled joyfully.

  “Into each life a little levity must fall,” quipped Myka as she glided to a halt atop the palace.

  Palace guards raced to surround the dragon, but they halted when they saw Emperor Marak sliding off the dragon’s back.

  “Which princess said I was stupid?” frowned Marak. “What did she say?”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Myka said innocently. “I wonder if that last bank loosened something upstairs, if you know what I mean.”

  Myka chuckled and winked at the Torak. Marak tried to act stern, but he realized that he was being toyed with. He started laughing just as the Star of Sakova arrived.

  “I am glad that you can find humor in this situation,” frowned Lyra, “but I cannot. My people are about to start dying. I find no humor in that.”

  “It was my fault,” apologized Myka. “I thought some humor would ease the tension of the situation.”

  “Ease the tension?” echoed the Star of Sakova. “Does that include soaring into StarCity and terrorizing my people? You are very fortunate that my archers did not pepper you with arrows on your flight here. I am not sure what kind of sauce would go good with a giant lizard.”

  “Giant lizard?” whimpered Myka. “Oh, that hurts.”

  Marak started laughing so hard that he doubled over. Lyra stood with her hands on her hips looking angrier by the moment. Myka frowned in confusion, and her tail twitched nervously. Suddenly, Lyra could hold the pretense no longer. She started laughing also. Myka’s eyes narrowed as she watched the two humans.

  “How did you know Myka was coming?” asked Marak after he stopped laughing. “I thought you would be petrified by a dragon landing on your roof.”

  “So did Rejji,” chuckled Lyra. “He warned me hours ago. He also warned me about Myka’s strange sense of humor.”

  Large billows of smoke shot from Myka’s snout as she shook her head.

  “I guess I had that coming,” admitted the dragon, “but Rejji will rue this day.”

  “Just make sure that we are around to see it,” chuckled the Torak.

  “Were you able to find the armada?” asked Lyra as she turned to a more serious conversation.

  “We found it,” Marak nodded seriously. “It is huge, and it is headed for Alamar. We did not see the skimmers. I fear that they may arrive too late to do any good. We saw the evacuation of Alamar. It gives a whole new perspective on things to see them from the air. Are you ready to go to Alamar?”

  “I am ready,” nodded Lyra. “How do we do this?”

  “I will get on first,” offered Marak as he started to climb up Myka’s back, “then I will hoist you up behind me. Then the lizard can take off,” he added with a grin.

  Myka’s tail moved swiftly and knocked Marak to the roof. The Torak fell into a roll and came up shaking his head.

  “Oh, sorry,” grinned the winged warrior. “You know how a lizard’s tail has a mind of its own.”

  “Okay,” nodded Marak. “Truce?”

  “I suppose,” sighed Myka.

  Marak climbed onto the dragon’s back and extended his hand towards Lyra. She hesitated and looked Myka in the eyes for a moment before climbing up and grasping Marak’s hand.

  “
Oh, this is going to be fun,” cackled Myka as she leaped off of the roof and took to the air.

  “Behave,” Lyra said as she patted the dragon’s scales.

  Lyra wrapped her arms around Marak and held on as Myka soared out of the valley. The Sakovans shouted, cheered, and waved as the dragon disappeared over the peaks.

  “This is incredible,” Lyra remarked as they flew over the forest. “So this is what our scout birds see when they go out on patrol.”

  Soon they were over the sevemore forests, and Lyra saw the armies gathering below. As they approached Alamar, she saw the packed road leading south. She shook her head with sadness at the number of people being uprooted from their homes.

  “Where should I land?” asked Myka.

  “In front of the Imperial Guard headquarters,” answered Lyra. “It is that big building in the center of the city.”

  Shouts rang out around the city as the dragon was spotted. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched as the dragon glided into the city and settled in the street where Lyra had directed her.

  “Too many people will believe in dragons before this war is over,” groused Myka. “That is not healthy for my kind. Next will come the adventurers intent on making a name for themselves. There will be no end to the torment that mankind can inflict on us. They will all want scales as souvenirs, or free rides so they can brag to their friends. What have you done to me, Torak?”

  “Or they will revere you as the elves do,” countered Marak. “The humans are coming to know Kaltara. Those that survive will treat you with respect.”

  “Hmm,” Myka replied. “You do look at things in a positive manner.”

  The Torak and the Star slid off the dragon’s back. Marak instructed Myka to find a safe place outside the city to the north. He promised to use an air tunnel to find her and call her back when she was needed. The dragon took off as Lyra and Marak entered the Imperial Guard headquarters. General Manitow entered right behind them.

  “I could not help witnessing your arrival,” greeted the general. “Welcome to Alamar.”

  “Greetings, General,” smiled Lyra. “Alamar is the target of the armada.”

  “We are sure about this?” asked the general.

  “Positive,” nodded Marak. “Unless they make a drastic change of direction. They are headed right for us and should arrive tomorrow night. Can I ask what your strategy is?”

  “As far as the defense of the city goes,” replied the general, “it has not changed since we last spoke. When Alamar falls, we are hoping to lure the Motangans along the coast road to the south. The remnants of my army will fight a retreating action, trying to slow them down and bottleneck their forces.”

  “Three hundred thousand men is a large number to string out along a road,” warned Marak. “What if they decide to use the ships to get around your men?”

  “We would have a rout,” frowned the general. “My men would be racing for the next city.”

  “They can’t,” Marak pointed out. “The road is clogged with your evacuees.”

  “Mercy,” gasped the general. “You are right. If we move faster than the citizens fleeing, we will be blocked. My men and the citizens would be slaughtered.”

  “What are you suggesting, Marak?” asked Lyra.

  “I don’t know,” admitted Emperor Marak. “I think our planning is deficient because we could not visualize three hundred thousand men. It just meant a large number to us. Seeing that armada from the air today and realizing that each little speck on the water was a thousand warriors sort of brought things into perspective for me. We cannot play this Motangan army as if it were General Didyk opposing us with ten thousand men.”

  “Draw them into the Sakova,” suggested HawkShadow as he approached the group. “Let them know exactly where our reserve armies are, and they will try to eradicate us. Their ships will be useless inland. When we get them into the heartland, they will be playing by our rules.”

  “But the bulk of your forces are Omungans,” frowned Marak. “They are not used to fighting in the Sakova either.”

  “He is right, HawkShadow,” nodded General Manitow. “The Imperial Guards do not use strategy as the Sakovans do.”

  “They will have to learn,” shrugged HawkShadow. “My people can slow down the invaders, while the Imperial Guards take up positions that will be dictated to them. It is not a perfect solution, but it eliminates one advantage of the Motangans.”

  “Maneuverability along the coast,” nodded Marak. “It also endangers StarCity which should be the last stand of the Sakovans.”

  “There will be no last stand this time,” countered HawkShadow. “If we have to lure the Motangans across the Kalatung Mountains and into Khadora, then that is what we will do. StarCity can be rebuilt just as Alamar can.”

  “He is right,” interjected Lyra. “This fight is to the death.”

  “But you leave your citizens open to attack,” argued the Torak. “The Motangans will be free to raid every coastal city while some of their army chases you across the heartland.”

  “And we can’t move the citizens into the Sakova,” sighed General Manitow. “There would be no food to feed them, and we would be placing them in the path of the armies.”

  “Unless we can disable their ships after they land,” mused Emperor Marak. “Without their ships, they cannot follow you into the Sakova and still raid the coastline. They will have to choose.”

  “They would go for our armies,” asserted HawkShadow. “They can wipe out the citizens at any time, but only after our armies are conquered.”

  “I agree,” nodded Marak. “Draw them into the Sakova and turn them northward. My armies can cross the mountains and come to help you.”

  “It would be nice if you could get your armies behind them,” suggested Lyra.

  “I could,” frowned Marak, “except for one small detail. Vand has another seven hundred thousand men on Motanga with the ships needed to transport them. We don’t know yet where he plans to strike.”

  “A third of his armies for a third of our countries,” mused General Manitow. “You could soon have your own war to worry about, Emperor.”

  “I do not have an easy answer to this problem,” the Torak responded. “I do think that we have to do something for the residents of the coastal cities. We cannot allow them to fend for themselves while Vand’s forces control the sea.”

  “What are we to do for them?” asked Lyra. “If we use our armies to engage the Motangans deep in the heartland, we cannot also guard the cities.”

  “I know,” Marak nodded with a frown. “I could use my ships to help transport the citizens away from the war, but who knows where Vand is going to strike?”

  “Khadoratung is as far from the east coast as you can get,” suggested HawkShadow. “There was ample land there when I last visited, and your food supplies could handle large amounts of people.”

  “We cannot transport the entire population of what was once Omunga to Khadora,” balked General Manitow. “That is impractical.”

  “It is impractical,” agreed the Torak, “but there is some wisdom in the suggestion. My ships are continually sailing the west coast of the Sakova to bring food supplies to those cities that have not yet recovered from the famine. It does make sense to carry some citizens back to Khadoratung where food is readily available. Also,” he continued, “all of my armies are between Khadoratung and the eastern coast. It will be the last city in Khadora to be attacked. If Vand gets that far, our cause in Khadora is already lost.”

  “Which cities would you take people from?” asked Lyra.

  “We should start with the citizens of Alamar,” answered Emperor Marak. “They are already displaced from their homes. It is not safe for my ships to come here any longer, but we can begin picking people up at Tanzaba.”

  “It is only women and children fleeing the city,” General Manitow pointed out. “Every man of appropriate age is staying to defend the city. I suspect the citizens of the other cities w
ill react the same. The Omungan people have indeed become Sakovan in spirit as well as name. They will not give up their homes without a fight.”

  “We have great need of those citizens,” remarked Emperor Marak. “In fact, I have some suggestions for their use during the war, especially the fishermen and sailors among them.”

  “There are many of them in the cities and villages,” responded General Manitow as Temiker walked into the building and joined the group. “Omunga was a country that depended heavily on the sea. What do you have in mind?”

  “The first thing they must do is preserve their boats, large and small,” answered the Torak. “They should move them away from the battle or hide them where they will not be discovered. We must never lose the ability to take this war to the seas.”

  “Fishing boats cannot battle the behemoths that carry a thousand men,” frowned Temiker. “What are you planning?”

  “I don’t have a particular plan in mind,” admitted Marak, “but I can clearly see the need to maintain mobility on the water. Sometime during this war we may be faced with the problem of moving massive amounts of troops from one place to another. My fleet of ships is not large enough to handle that. Even transporting the women and children to Khadora will be a massive undertaking. There is no way that my fleet can transport all of them, but thousands of small ships may be able to.”

  “That might work,” mused General Manitow. “One has a tendency to discount a ship that can only carry three or four people, but thousands of them can move quite a few people.”

  “If we used the boats from Alamar and Tanzaba to transport the people fleeing this city,” mused Lyra, “the road would be cleared fairly quickly.”

  “I don’t know about quickly,” interjected Temiker, “but it could be done. There are also many fishing villages between the two cities.”

  “Once the road is cleared,” Emperor Marak added, “start the evacuation of Tanzaba. Move the people to Okata. We will need spotters along the coast to see what the Motangan fleet does. If they find Tanzaba empty, they may not proceed any farther along the coast.”

  “And if the spotters see that they are going farther,” nodded Lyra, “we can begin the evacuation of Okata before the enemy arrives.”