A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind)

by Stanton III, Guy

  As we reached the deck I bellowed out hoarsely, “We must get the horse aboard immediately!”

  I had seen the fin of what must be some sea monster as I had been lifted onboard and I wasn’t about to have Flin become his late morning snack.

  “We can’t bring the horse on board! It’s too heavy and we’re not equipped to handle such cargo!” Screamed a little man, who seemed to be in charge of the group of sailors near me.

  My right hand shot out and I grasped him by his shirt front beneath his chin and lifted him completely off of the deck until we were eye to eye, “The horse comes!”

  “But of course he will Master Roric. If you would now please unhand my second mate there, we will make preparations immediately.”

  My head swiveled to view the person, who had calmly issued the commanding words. A slim but finely muscled man in the uniform of what must be the captain had stridden onto the scene. I released the second mate, who gasped relievably upon his release and I watched as the captain began issuing orders in the same calm, but authoritative manner in which he had addressed me. In no time a crude but effective looking compilation of rigging and tackling blocks had been swung over the side of the vessel.

  I yelled out encouragements to Flin trying to keep him calm, but it was hard succeeding at it, because he too had sensed the danger swishing in the waters below. Bravely a team of sailors dove over the side of the ship with ropes and netting. How they did it with Flin moving around I’m not sure, but they managed to attach a piece of netting under his belly and secured it by ropes to the crude winch lever system that had been constructed above the deck. As the order was given to pull I lent my own strength to the line of sailors throwing themselves on the ropes as the captain continued to orchestrate order into the massed confusion of the scene.

  Before long Flin began to appear up over the side of the ship, eyes wide in fright, at the unorthodox situation he found himself in. We eased Flin down until his hooves connected with the deck of the ship. The sailors broke out into a cheer at their accomplishment, while other sailors leaned over the side of the ship and issued jeers at the unsatisfied group of sea monsters that had congregated in hopes of an easy exotic meal.

  As the netting and ropes were released from Flin he gave a mighty series of shakes that drenched everyone in the vicinity. The crew that had worked as one to bring the ungainly cargo on board wiped the spewed seawater from their eyes and faces laughing.

  The captain turned to me and said, “Sir you have your horse and may I say that it is with great pride that I welcome you, your delightful young lady and your horse on board the Fair Damson.”

  I reached out to shake the young captain’s hand impressed with his handling of getting Flin on board, “The honor is mine, thank you for saving us!”

  I glanced at Flin and added, “All of us thank you!”

  The sailors cheered again and then the process of making way with the ship began. Finding a quiet moment after Flin was stowed securely away in a small cargo area on the tiny ship I went to the rail and looked out at the fast disappearing shore.

  I could still see the brightly colored dots of the cavalry men drawn up in the sand as they watched us disappear over the horizon. I gripped the railing hard wishing that I wasn’t alone standing there by the ship’s railing. I missed her. The thought that I might never see her again was especially hard to come to peace with.

  Why had she left after the kiss we had shared last night? In my heart I knew why. She had wanted her freedom more than she had wanted me. And while that left me with a bitter feeling inside, it was still a reason for leaving that I could respect.

  “God I pray that she’s safe! Please keep her and help her find her freedom and happiness, even if it isn’t with me.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The Plan

  We made good progress over the next several days. We didn’t encounter any ships at all, which I felt was due in large part to the skillful navigation of Captain Jansa. Soon we would be put ashore near Yorktown in the Southern Settlements.

  It was far too risky to continue traveling further up the coastline, because that was where the bulk of the Zoarinian navy was stationed. The Zoarinians kept the much smaller, but still formidable fleet of the Tranquil Islanders, bottlenecked up within the harbors and inlets of their islands to keep them from coming to the Valley Landers aid.

  Captain Jansa stepped up to the ship’s railing beside me and shared my view of the shoreline that we were approaching under cover of darkness. “I wish we could be of more service to you, but I’m afraid this is all that we can manage for now. I know it is but little, given the graveness of the situation faced by our two peoples.”

  “Captain Jansa during my brief time in the Valley Lands I detected no blame being leveled against your people for any lack of military support on your people’s part for us. You have to protect your lands just as we do ours.”

  “Yes this is true. But if our long time allies perish then who do you think will be next to fall? It is better that we stay together and if need be, die together. I can assure you that I will continue to preach just that to my superiors until they have no cause, but to see it my way as many of us already do!” Captain Jansa finished passionately.

  I offered my hand to the young captain, “I wish you luck in your endeavor as we could certainly use the help, but there is no shame if you don’t come.”

  Captain Jansa left me and returned to the bridge to directly oversee the pulling of the ship close to the shore line in the darkness. When we were far closer to the shoreline than I would have thought safe Captain Jansa gave the orders to cut the sails and come about.

  A long hastily constructed wooden ramp was hauled out over the side and secured with rigging. I mounted Flin and with the click of his hooves sounding loud and hollow in the night air I directed him down the swaying ramp. I lifted a hand in a silent farewell to the sailors who had risked their lives to come pick us up and now to offload us. Flin buck jumped off of the end of the ramp into the cold waters of the surf.

  The water came up to the saddle horn but no further and within minutes Zarsha and I pulled clear of the water altogether and headed up over the wet sands of the beach toward the cover of the dunes beyond. It would take us almost a week to reach Kingdom Pass, which was more than it should have taken because we would travel by night as it would be too dangerous to travel by day.

  Five days later saw us at the foothills of the mountains. We had crossed the Litian River without incidence in the night, but now the first rays of sunlight were peaking into the morning sky. I kept riding hoping that we were far enough that we wouldn’t fall prey to any Zoarinian patrols this close to the Valley Lands.

  It was late morning of the next day when we entered the beginning of the long narrow pass that would lead us to the great wall at the head of the pass. I let Flin into a full gallop eager to be on the other side of that massive wall at the head of the pass. I heard an arrow whizz past my ear where I had been just moments before and smash off a rock to the other side of me.

  Several arrows came from the opposite direction of the first arrow, but they weren’t aimed at us but rather at the source of the first arrow. Several riders with bows at the ready and arrows held notched with one hand for a quick delivery came riding out of the rocks toward us. Their faces were sharp with concentration, as they scanned the upper slopes around us. They drew abreast of us and offered us an escort up the narrow pass.

  It was good to be among friends again and the rest of the ride passed without incidence. Later in the day the great walls came into view and I could see a flurry of activity occurring all over them.

  New mortar shone brightly from the joints of the giant cut stone blocks from where it had eroded away over the years. Whoever had been put in charge of the wall repairs had even gone so far as to add new cut stone blocks in places where the rock had become overly porous.

  The tops of the walls bristled with a fores
t’s worth of wood in the forms of siege equipment and extra bulwarking. The Valley Lands were preparing for war. Once again they were relying heavily on what had always brought them victory in the past, which was the great wall of their ancestor’s creation.

  I inspected the people standing around the small chart table in the governor’s mansion at Kingdom Pass. Most of those gathered were staring at the map and talking in low muted tones in groups of two or three. Three generals, all seven council members, Thaddeus and I were in attendance in the small private room.

  Romnan brought the council of war to attendance by clapping his hands together briefly, “Let us get this council of war underway as none of us can doubt that that is exactly what we have become embroiled in despite our best efforts to the contrary. The many concessions that we have made to the enemy may have prolonged the peace for awhile, but war has come to us anyway and we are ill prepared for it. Roric as you know, has just returned from a council sanctioned mission to acquire information from one of our most valuable spy contacts ever.”

  I kept my eyes glued to the table before us as I thought of the man that I had met but briefly, but had liked almost instantly and now missed deeply. Everyone I had ever known of my family was either dead or presumed dead, with the exception of my grandfather. It was a lack of longevity I would like to see broken in my lifetime. I thought briefly of Romnan’s words, ‘council sanctioned mission’, if they only knew everything that the mission had entailed.

  “Ladies and gentlemen I feel it only right to inform you that gathering this information came at the cost of several lives including our spy’s and considerable risk to Roric’s as well. This information has been bought and paid for in Valley Lander blood, so my advice, is to heed it well and scoff at it only to your own shame! Roric would you do us the honor of presenting what we know of the enemy’s intentions toward us?”

  I nodded and looked up having the attention of all those gathered in the room. “There can be no doubt that we are within a state of war with the Zoarinian Empire. While there have been many wars between our two nations in the past the motives for this one is different than the previous ones. That motive is one rooted in our distant past. I speak of when we came to this world on boats of an advanced technology such as we do not have with us anymore or so most of us were led to believe.”

  I finished pointedly by staring at Thaddeus who didn’t so much as bat an eye at my accusatory tone directed at him.

  “Two of those boats are still in existence within the Shrine of Remembrance, where our ancestors first stepped onto these shores.”

  Exclamations broke out from around the room at my statement. “Why were we not told of the existence of such technology? Technology that we could have used to fight the enemy!” One of the generals asked excitedly.

  Romnan spoke up, “It was thought best by those in leadership at the time of the discovery that as few people as possible should know of the existence of the ships. The secret has remained safe for over five centuries. Only the head councilman and members of the Ta’lont barony have known of the existence of these ships or so we thought. Please continue Roric.”

  “The Zoarinians have learned of the location and existence of these ships. How they learned of them we do not know. As we all know the Zoarinians have never been happy with being contained to this world and their long time wish has been to return to the first world and to explore and settle others. Our ancestors saw that as an unwise aspiration to have and they hid the technological ability to return or to travel between worlds from them, which was in large part what sparked the first wars between our two families. The Zoarinian governors have used this old hate, as well as the faith we have in our Creator that we continue to cling to, as grounds for going to war with us once again. But their ultimate goal once we are out of the way is to claim these ships for themselves and to live out the desires of the past, which could prove disastrous for our world, as we do not know what is transpiring beyond our world and are perhaps better off for that. That’s their base reason for this war. Now on to how they plan to remove us from their path to glory. They have prepared for this war more intensely then any war of the past and have amassed an army of approximately eight hundred thousand men that is fully provisioned and should be ready to march within the month.”

  Several of the council members gasped at the hearing of the enemy’s numbers.

  “Roughly five hundred thousand of that number consists of their own men. Another hundred thousand of them are hired mercenaries from the south and the border towns of the plains. The remaining part of the enemy force numbering two hundred thousand strong has been supplied by the Attorgrons.”

  “The Attorgrons have betrayed us and thrown in with them?” General Sanjo asked as a sick expression briefly flickered across his face before his usual mask of control fell back into place.

  “I’m afraid so General, but it’s worse than that. The Attorgrons have disclosed the other passes through the mountains by which travel through is possible to the Zoarinians. All of those passes except for one are currently open. The main force of six hundred thousand will march upon the walls of Kingdom Pass and set up a siege against it. They are prepared to lose upwards of two hundred thousand troops to take the city, but their attack is only a diversion from the real attack. The Attorgrons will use their knowledge of the mountain passes and come down behind our lines and attack Kingdom Pass from the rear. I don’t need to tell anyone here that this city was never designed to be attacked from two sides. Our army will be trapped in between two armies greater than our own and we will be summarily destroyed. Kingdom Pass will fall and the rest of the Valley Lands soon thereafter. Our great wall cannot protect us in this scenario.”

  Councilman Oswald broke into the moment that formed at the conclusion of my words, “It seems obvious to me what our most probable strategy should be!”

  I looked back at him steadily, “Oh and what would that be councilman?”

  Turning to General Santaran Councilmen Oswald asked, “How many men can we field General?”

  The General looked morosely at the table for a moment and then said, “We’ll be lucky to find a hundred and twenty thousand experienced troops and perhaps another fifty thousand boys and older men that are capable of holding a sword and mounting a fight. I would say that would be an accurate assessment of the force that we can hope to raise.”

  Oswald continued on practically not waiting for the General to finish talking, “This is what I think would be our best strategy. We defend Kingdom Pass temporarily with just forty thousand of our most battle ready troops and we send the remaining eighty thousand warriors or so to wait for the Attorgrons and cut them down in the passes. After they cut the traitors down in the passes they can return to Kingdom Pass and ensure the continued security of it against the siege of the Zoarinians upon it. Our wall will hold just as it has in the past.”

  General Nadero looked like he was about to object to the strategy, when I caught his eye and shook my head imperceptibly. He noticed it and stopped what he had been about to say as did the other two generals.

  Head councilman Romnan interjected his way into the conversation, “Obviously that is the only strategy that has a chance at working given the superior numbers of our foe and the fact that we cannot allow ourselves to be surrounded here and hope to survive. Now I believe it’s time to let the generals formulate the necessary battle orders accordingly. Let’s leave them to their work shall we. Fellow council members, Thaddeus Ta’lont has something to show you in the council chamber that I believe will be of interest to you concerning the two ships housed within the shrine along the northern shore.”

  The other council members in the room excitedly left following after Thaddeus to see what would be revealed. Romnan paused in the room until the others had left the room and the door had closed.

  General Sanjo spoke up, “Romnan you can’t possibly think that what Councilmen Oswald is proposing is a sound battle plan given
the direness of the situation?”

  “Of course not, but that is what we are going to let him believe is going to happen. Councilmen Oswald is a traitor; of this we are positive. It was him that leaked knowledge of the ships after he found reference to them in some old misplaced documents. It was him that put Lent forward as our agent to be sent to meet with Roric as well.”

  “Why has he been allowed to live?” General Santaran exclaimed.

  “He is more useful to us this way at least for now, but that may soon change. Gentlemen I leave you with Roric. He will share with you the battle plan that I, Thaddeus and Roric have put together. It is also my wish that you would view Roric as your superior commander for the entire campaign.”

  My jaw dropped open at the councilman’s statement. The generals didn’t seem overly surprised by the order and only nodded their heads in acceptance of his wish. After the head councilman was gone I met the focused gazes of the three generals.

  General Nadero had a slight smile on his face as he said, “A great responsibility has been placed on your strong young shoulders, one that is fully merited in my opinion!”

  The other two generals nodded in agreement with him. I accepted their vote of confidence, while inside I was still in shock at the honor and responsibility that had just been placed on me.

  “Generals let me show you the plan. It all starts here.”

  I pointed to Kingdome Pass and they leaned over the table all seriousness again. “What is the greatest weakness that a strong fortress faces?”I asked.

  “The belief that it cannot fail.” Rejoined General Sanjo.

  “Exactly! They have found our great fortresses’ weakness. It cannot be defended from both sides. Fighting the Attorgrons in the mountains would be a foolish loss of our soldiers. We would likely win, but the cost of victory would be high and we can’t afford to lose too many of our troops to early. Besides the Attorgron army is not what it seems. Of its two hundred thousand men only fifty thousand of them are regular soldiers. The remaining hundred and fifty thousand are slave warriors composed mainly of spearmen and archers. The Attorgrons did not want to be involved in this war, but they have been pressured into joining it. They know that after we have been eliminated that they are likely the next candidate for extinction after the Tranquil Islanders. They have kept the bulk of their most loyal and experienced troops at home. The fifty thousand regular troops are all cavalry. They are little better than paid actors dressed to play the part of soldiers. The slave warriors offer us our greatest chance for final victory. My great uncle entered into secret talks with the slave commanders. They reached an agreement of sorts. If the slave warriors see that by throwing in with us that victory can be obtained over the Zoarinian Empire in a final decisive battle they will do so. In return they ask for their freedom and the right to live in the Valley Lands among us with their families, which we will pressure the Attorgrons to release to us after the war.”