“House Safrym was destroyed at the end of the Clan Wars.”
“You of all people should know better. I'm not surprised that you didn’t know about me, but my sister was Queen Lyerash. You knew about her surviving the massacre. I was in the army fighting your people when it happened and everyone that knew of me was killed. Lyerash didn’t even know I had survived until years later. Onwath Eriache.” Uraken pulled a medallion that bore his family crest from his shirt and recited his family's motto before presenting it to Balinor. The major grew a sickly pale as he realized the implications of the conversation. Even Redzyn who had been expecting a revelation like this had been stunned.
“Death to evil… The crest is authentic. Identical to what Queen Lyerash wore for her entire life. Lord Uraken…” Balinor uttered the title as if he would have rather vomited.
“Technically, the title it Lord Sir Uraken. I was knighted during my time in the army. However, I have no qualms with being called Urake. In fact, I am rather anxious that my origins remain secret to those outside this room.” At this request Balinor became confused for a second. He then realized that Urake had no plans of pressing his relationship with the Princess to his advantage. This realization did more to force an element of respect from the man than any amount of titles could have.
“I see no reason why you should be denied a seat at this council; however, do not think that you opinion will weigh more than any other member’s.” Balinor took advantage of Urake’s unwillingness to bank on his relation to the Princess with an attempt to establish who the superior of the two was.
“Naturally and as it should be. I will continue to question your opinions as well. Each opinion should be weighed on its merit rather than by the speaker.” Balinor stiffened at Urake’s jab, but he was intelligent enough to notice that his attempt at putting Urake in his place had been skillfully countered and possibly unnoticed by those listening. Any attempt at undoing what had been done would only lose him ground in a battle he realized he was ill prepared to fight.
“We were discussing our plans on defending the Outlands when Reigns gets around to attacking. We will have the bulk of our men stationed up here to defend the northern road, but Major Lortin has suggested that we send a quarter of our men south and station them there, just north of the Badlands to prevent any incursion from that direction. We could form a line across between here and here to block the south end of the Outlands.” Balinor briefly explained as he pointed to a few points on the map.
“Sending men south is a good idea. An enormous amount of mischief could be caused by a few soldiers at our back, but sending a quarter of our men to make a line from sea shore to the mountains might be practical if we had ten thousand men. The land down there would nearly require them to stand shoulder to shoulder in order to adequately defend the area. We would be better served by sending a couple riders down here to the northern edge of the Sand Sea. They could warn us if anyone tried to hike around the Sand Sea. Such a route would take more than a month during which time we should have learned about it from other channels.”
“The Badlands are the only other viable option and two dozen skilled hunters with bows could stop an army in its tracks for months in that labyrinth of canyons. By managing our resources, we can focus on the northern defense. At my best count, there can’t be more than six hundred fifty men here. Reigns can call up ten to twenty times that amount if he were to put his mind to it.” Urake paused as Balinor looked like he wanted to speak.
“We have six hundred seventy five. House Inarack and a few of the others have promised us more men as soon as possible.”
“Be that as it may, this is not a time to plan grand toe to toe battles. We are outnumbered plain and simple. Reigns is not going to waste any time before he blockades the Outlands. When that happens, you can forget about promised troops or supplies unless you can coordinate a flanking army on the other side of the Garoche. While such a tactic would be useful, it would in time be flanked itself.”
“What then do you suggest Lord Sir Uraken?” Balinor twisted the title out sarcastically.
“You couldn’t have picked a better spot to entrench yourselves. The Outlands are defended on two of the four sides.”
“Two?” One of the heretofore silent members of the council spoke up.
“Yes, we have the Garoche Heights and the Sand Sea with the Badlands taking care of two sides. The northern Outlands will be difficult to defend, but there is the sea. Sure, there are rocky coast along an appreciable portion of the coast, but that doesn’t make it impossible to land troops. Reigns has ships. I'm told that he has enough to move nearly a thousand at a time. That makes our position this far north untenable. Much of the easy landing is between here and Keom. If we were to retreat to Keom, then we would have the river as a natural barrier.”
“We hadn’t thought about that. If we were to move south to Keom, then where would we put our men?” Redzyn inquired.
“Not to mention the fact that we haven’t received the provision wagon that we have been expecting.” Balinor produced a new piece of information.
“Reigns’ must have already began the blockade. All the more reason to move a large portion of our men south to Keom. It used to be a Sea Fort during the Millennium Wars. While undoubtedly rundown now, we could get it into a serviceable condition if we had a few weeks’ time. The locals down there have been feeling ignored by Shienhin, so if we were to show up and help the people there, they might just join us.”
“But what about provisions? You can’t eat a rundown Sea Fort.” Lortin myopically interjected.
“The Outlands have been a self-sustaining territory since before the Clan Wars. If we were to simple remove the taxes that Reigns has been bleeding them dry with, they would likely be able to support an army ten times our size.”
“That sounds like you are planning on the war lasting a long time. We hope to unite the houses and march on Shienhin within the year.” Lortin broke in again with insolence thinly veiled in his tone.
“When you have been fighting for as long as Balinor and I, then you will realize that wars never are as short as hoped, but are often far longer than anticipated. Many of the houses are probably backing both sides in the hopes of ingratiating themselves with the victors. We don’t have the numbers to achieve a lightning victory.”
“Your father was the wiliest enemy I ever had the honor to do battle with. It seems that you have inherited a fair portion of Ermor’s talent for war.” Balinor had been listening quietly for the last few minutes nodding approvingly every now and then despite his sour expression.
“He once said the same of you. He was prepared to accept the terms of surrender that Illiad was bringing when they were all massacred.”
“Plan for the worst and hope for the best. If what I have heard is correct, then between Keom and the southern fishing villages, the sea shore is rocky cliffs that would prevent landings.” Redzyn spoke up next pointing to a section of the Outlands.
“Exactly. The land throughout that region is fertile farm land with mild winters. It would take no trouble at all to build and man a string of watch fires along the coast to warn of any attempts at scaling the Sea Wall.” Urake agreed with Redzyn.
“It will take time to entrench like that. If, as you suggest, Reigns were to march on us soon, then we would be unprepared.” Balinor raised a problem.
“We could split out men in half. Half would go Keom but the rest would stay here. The land is heavily forested between here and Keom so a couple hundred men could considerably slow a large invading force with minimal casualties. This would at least buy us a few weeks to repair Keom’s walls and entrench ourselves.” Urake outlined how a smaller number of men acting in coordination, but in small units of fast striking men. They could wreak havoc in the face of a larger army forced to inch forward. Neither side would probably suffer more than light casualties, but it would be invaluable in buying time for the fortification of Keom.
“So say we get entre
nched at Keom and are able to hold off Reigns. What then? How are we supposed to gain the full support of the houses?” The last silent council member spoke this time.
“You are right. This is a pure defense plan. A good defense should have at least a little offence.” Redzyn offered an opinion.
“We don’t have the numbers to mount much of an offence and even then, it can’t be in the way of a full out offence like marching against them. If we can hold our ground, then we will force Reigns to dig in on the other side. That could last indefinitely, each testing the other forever. What we can do is cause the war to be too costly to entrench. Destroyed or stolen supplies, contaminated food and water, these are tactics that demoralize the men. Instead of seeing who can kill the most men, play mind games. Get them to join us when we flaunt healthy soldiers while their men are puking their guts out. If the houses see that we are able to withstand Reigns’ men, then we can sway them to support us. This could well be a war that will span years, but if we plan well enough now, we will be ready for the long haul.”
“These are all good ideas. I think we should station at least a small garrison in the south to reinforce our back and shorten the time it would take to respond to any incursion along the sea wall. I fear that Urake is right about the houses. They have been unwilling to provide more than a token gesture. For the foreseeable future, we may be forced to forge onward without any external support. The locals in the Outlands might be our only friends.” Balinor remembered his bad humor with glance over at Urake as he summarized the council’s conclusions.
“When do you plan on enacting these plans?” Lortin inquired.
“First thing in the morning. Colonel Redzyn, I want you to take any of our men that have any skills in construction or stone working south with you to Keom. The Princess will be going with you so take twenty soldiers with you. Major Lortin, I'm placing fifty men under your command. Go north to the edge of the forest and stop the road. Do not engage the enemy, but prevent them from advancing. Colonel Lanyl will be taking seventy-five men with him to the south and establishing a garrison. Your task will be to hold the Badlands and the Sand Sea. I will be sending men to man a string of fire towers along the coast. They will also be tasked with patrolling the coast. Major Issam will be in charge of another fifty men supporting Lortin. Break your men up into units no larger than fifteen and have them everywhere. Be a swarm of stinging hornets.” With these last instructions Balinor stood up, signifying that the council was over. It had gotten late so the rest moved out of the room. However, Urake remained seated and waited until the last of the men had left them. He noted that Balinor hadn’t assigned him any task. He had earned a smidgen of respect from the man, but as of yet, no trust.
“Two colonels and two majors. From what I have seen, you have more officers than an army three times as large.”
“They have the rank they did when I recruited them from the army. I promoted Redzyn when I put him in charge of this outpost. It really doesn’t matter though. Like you said, we don’t have the manpower. We can slow the inevitable, but in the end Reigns will crush us.” Balinor slumped back down in his chair with a despairing expression.
“That I disagree with. I'm not going to sit here in the safety of your camp and feed you information. There are many more useful things that I can be doing instead of that.” Urake flexed his wrists yielding several satisfying pops while Balinor scrutinized him.
“Are you saying that you want a company of your own to command?”
“While I am fully capable of such a task, I am currently better suited to other tasks. You are incessantly reminding me that I'm an assassin by trade. I don’t fight battles in the open with armies. My wars are fought in the shadows.”
“You want to leave us. What about the intel that you promised?” Balinor straightened up and tried to stare Urake down.
“You already are able to get information on large troop movements and once they are actually in the Outlands, nothing else in the Braebach will matter to you. You can harass them to your heart’s content, but the price of milk or what the Fork’s commander had for breakfast will mean nothing. The same could be invaluable if in my hands.”
“I don’t trust you any more than you could assassinate an army.” Balinor scowled as Urake smiled wanly, as if to say it wasn’t as impossible as the general thought.
“And you are partially responsible for my family and friends being massacred. We will call it even.” Urake’s gaze was as steady as Balinor’s until the general glanced away.
“How do you plan on getting out?”
“Five men and whatever supplies we need.”
“If you count that boy that hangs around you then I suppose I could spare four more.” Balinor looked a little perplexed.
“Five men of my choosing, not counting Emeck. I would prefer to leave him here; however, something tells me that is not going to happen.”
“Not on your life! I would climb the Garoche if I had to in order to stay with you.” Urake kept his expression unchanged as the eavesdropping Emeck exploded in his head.
“Five men? On the condition that they freely go with you of their own volition.” Balinor was still perplexed, but he didn’t argue Urake’s proposal.
“Agreed. I will start with Torroth and Inadar.”
“The prisoners?” Now Balinor was thoroughly confused.
“They are hiding something and have been on the run for a while. Excellent experience for what I will be doing.” Urake rose to leave. “I will let you know who else I want as soon as I pick them.” When Balinor didn’t reply, Urake departed and made his way to the room where he knew Emeck would be waiting.
“That was incredible! You threw them all off their balance and then they landed exactly where you wanted them. I have never seen anything like it. One moment they were angry then the next they were afraid then I'm not sure what they were.” Emeck described his perspective as Urake sat on his bed and leaned against the wall.
“They would never have believed me otherwise. Was Balinor afraid?”
“You bet. He thought that you had switched sides and was going to kill all of them. Then you told him who you were and he started thinking that he didn’t know anything about you when he knew more about you than anyone ever had. It was like watching a sculpture make a masterpiece.”
“So you would disobey a direct order to stay here?” Urake’s comment made Emeck falter.
“I… Yes I would. I can be a huge help at your side. Here, I'm nothing more than a groom or kitchen help. Besides, you are planning on going into the Garoche Heights aren’t you? We both know that Skeln is up there someplace.”
“Good. You are an immeasurable help. More importantly, I like having you around.” Emeck looked about ready to start dancing in glee.
“I won’t let you down. I promise.”
“You haven’t yet. Get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.” Emeck hastened to obey, not that Urake figured he would be able to sleep in his current state of excitement. Laying down himself, Urake stared at the flickering shadows cast on the ceiling by the torch at the door. He preferred darkness when trying to sleep, but in the caves, one would have to find their way to another torch should theirs go out so the constant flickering light was a necessary evil. It seemed the hours stretched on to become eternities without more than a couple minutes of sleep at a time.
Chapter Four: Discovery
Urake finally gave up the search for sleep and dressed himself in preparation for entering the elements. On emerging from the cave entrance, he was relieved to notice that the rain had stopped falling and was now just the misty remnants of the storm. Clouds still obscured the stars leaving everything in a poor light. The moons could be located dimly glowing through the thinning clouds. Urake had already placed the black side of the cloak on the outside and pulling the hood over his head, he stepped into the darkness and vanished. He knew where the sentries were posted so it didn’t take much to avoid them. A patrol passed only
a dozen feet away carrying their torches, but they didn’t see the dark figure watching.
When the last perimeter had been passed, Urake lowered his hood and unslung his bow. The night teemed with the sounds of nocturnal wildlife going about their business. Most paid little heed to the stealthy traveler in their midst. Only a couple even noticed. Urake had gone nearly all the way to the road when he felt Emeck searching for him. Hiding his mind, he waited until the lad began narrowing in on his position. His defenses held firm although he could sense a frantic urgency to the search. When he knew that Emeck had found him, Urake opened his mind only to be blasted with emotions akin to abandonment and betrayal.
“I told you that I'm coming with you! Just wait for me and I can be there shortly.”
“Relax. I'm just hunting. We will need the cured meat if we are planning on going into the Garoche Heights. You did well finding me so quickly. Much faster than last time.” Relief flooded the connection for a moment before Emeck was able to control his emotions adequately.
“I won’t be able to sleep now so is there anything that I can do?”
“Glad you asked. Search the camp for anyone that has the slightest sign of a Gift. If you can, figure out what it is.”
“The other three… I will do my best.” Emeck broke the connection abruptly leaving Urake alone in the forest again. Ahead a clearing opened up to a bed of grass. Creeping closer, Urake found what he had been looking for. A small herd of deer was bedded down and oblivious to the approaching hunter down wind. The bow was notched and ready when the antlered buck awoke. The faint sounds of iron horse shoes against occasional rocks in the road drifted through the air. The buck seemed to ponder the danger presented to his harem. A laugh caught on the breeze decided the buck. The rest of the does were awake now and peering through the trees. The buck sampled the air and gave a grunt of warning. The bow twanged softly and the buck fell to the ground with the iron tipped arrow through his skull.
Chronicles of Den'dra: A land on Fire Page 5