Chapter 18

After that battle I sent a report to the king and council telling them what had happened, what had been said, and what I felt was beneath these facts. I still had a feeling things were going on elsewhere that could change the game so I had watchtowers set up on both coasts manned by people using telescopes. Yes, while things were not all that developed in many ways, some technology here was of the late 1700’s Europe and that meant stargazers harnessed the polished lens for looking into the sky. Now those same telescopes were being made to look out to sea. This way any kind of move from there would be caught and dealt with.

At the base of the great wall we built outposts for the army to live in at intervals of five miles. Special bon fires had been set up to be lit when the enemy approached to warm the entire wall of incursion. At the same time blacksmiths, carpenters, and other craftsmen began to fill the outposts. Miners were bringing in materials by the wagon load and all of them were reproducing the weapons and ammunition needed for the new weapons. I built a nice little weapons lab that was off limits to all but my people where I began working on making something new to surprise our enemy, without breaking the taboo of things like explosives.

One idea that came to mind was the sabot round, a hollow iron bolt with a solid mass inside. Firing it would force the metal to the base, but on impact the mass would increase the force and even penetration. I thought about distilling oil into gasoline or making “greek fire” but that always lead to greater madness. I had to give our military the edge without creating an even greater internal threat. Thus we began to develop better catapults. We built many more of the ballista and crossbows. The whip catapults were simple one man systems that were being mass produced as they had a short life. This lead to developing wall mounted large catapults and even trebuchet. This in turn lead to units of artillery men learning how to judge the best way fire the dang things so we would actually hit the enemy.

I was in Galeston when a guard came running into town to announce a large number of boats approaching the breakwater. I ran to the watchtower and saw a fleet of small ships, looking much like Viking ships without the dragon neck. Just as an estimate I figured there had to be a thousand soldiers and their equipment, scattered among the many ships heading towards the town. Now our hopes of the breakwater being able to slow them down was to be tested. Right now the waves hid the stone beneath the surface, but were these boats of a shallow enough draft to simply skate over them?

As they approached carts with heavy weapons were being brought to the shore and set up to repulse any who crossed the outer wall. The defenses were set up just as the first boats hit the breakwater and tipped over as the force of the waves slammed them into the stone. As the first group floundered, others took to shifting to the right or left only to meet the same end. Then they eventually found the end of the wall and began to stream into the bay. The soldiers began launching stones towards the boats, and shields of metal were raised to deflect much of it. I had the sabot rounds loaded into the heavy ballista and after a few short misses the heavy round began to strike the hulls and shatter boards. As more boats began to sink, the enemy learned the level of threat and began to turn against the wind to escape. The few ships still out at sea turned tail as well and headed further out.

I realized these people were no doubt thinking this landing was too well protected and would head further down the coast to land. Easily half their force was lost, the heavy armor dragging men to their doom. The chaos of boats trying to get out colliding with those who were trailing them was reducing the threat even more, but far too many were able to turn and head out and around. I ordered the people there to keep an eye out for survivors and to either capture or kill them as the level of threat demanded. Then I found a horse and began to ride along the shore, keeping an eye out as the boats began to close in for a landing. This time I waited quietly as boat after boat hit the sands and men began disembarking.

These men were disciplined and ready to act as professional soldiers. They formed up into large groups and waited for more to land in order to have a total force. I watched all this and waited till the last boats were close to shore. I dropped into a hole and began to carve my way to the center of the landing force. From here I reached out as far as possible and began creating a field of death. Rather than sending single spikes I threw up spikes as far as possible to either end and then, with a wave like motion, lifted up and then dropped down spikes till they met in the center. I did this twice and then reached out to see if there was any motion above ground. There was some movement but not much so I figured now was the time for part two. I tunneled closer and drove spikes into the boats along the shore. Then I went to find the people at the far end I might have missed.

Now I was four feet below the surface, working hard to solidify the dense sand around me, and in total darkness. Oddly that gave me focus as I worked off of my stone senses completely. I could feel feet pounding the sands above me and began another wave of death, not only for the men but the boats as well. Once that was done I ran back to the entrance and rose to the surface. As I carefully walked along the tree line I kept one eye on the devastation and another on the sand looking to see if anyone made it to the tree line. Then I saw it, lines of footprints headed inland. Now it was time for me to hunt again. I heard birdcalls unlike others and stilled myself by sinking into the loose soil. I kept listening and heard other fake birdcalls all around me. I closed the hole till my spot looked more like a rodent hole, and waited.

It took a few minutes but slowly footfalls began to collect nearby. I waited for them to stop and then rose up a little to see a group of about thirty armed men squatting together whispering. When I was close enough I reached out and they all found themselves sealed up to their necks in the ground. I left them there and moved away to see if anyone would come to their rescue. When nothing happened I decided it was time to get some help to deal with all of this. I quietly walked back to my horse and headed back to town.

When I returned the water was stained red and bodies were floating in on the waves. No doubt below the surface there would be the bodies of those who couldn’t remove their armor moored to the sea floor. As I walked along the pier a military officer came over and asked if I could build a trench to bury the dead. I quickly agreed and the gruesome work began. Fishermen, with a few guards to keep them safe, took boats out to the sea wall to see what was left of the enemy. On the way back they cast nets to drag the bodies out of the water for burial. The first major effort in the war ended far quicker than the enemy planned I’m sure, thought if they did this here I wonder how our forces on the southern coast did if the Empire did the same as they did here.

I informed the guard what I did, and where, so they formed a detail and I guided them to help with the mass burial. Wagons were also brought to collect everything left over that could be used by our forces. It took a full day to collect it all and after that I simply swallowed the dead into the sands. Later a detail would come and dismantle the boats for wood and to erase any sign that these men were ever here. I went to find those I had sealed away and found that something with tooth and claw had sealed their fate. After this much killing, and dealing with the dead, I felt a strange sense of exhaustion set in. My body was ok, my mind still active, but my soul felt heavy with the deeds I had done.

I left Galeston and headed to the central military town where many of my people were on duty, including Catlin. The ride was slow and dreary for me asI looked at the formidable structure to my right. Small fires were being lit all along the inner side for the comfort of those walking the walls above. The standing rule was that those watching the far side are not to kill their night eyes by looking inwards, but once off duty sitting by the fire was allowed. I thought about this, everything that happened today, and began to actually hate the “empire of man” for doing this to my nice, fairly peaceful, nation. What kind of a leader can throw thousands of lives into the meat grinder like this? How many more times would these leader’s throw men’s lives away like this?

I made it to the camp in the middle of the night and damn near got killed by my own people. Thankfully I threw up a stone barrier and called out the guard so the men with heavy crossbows didn’t get trigger happy. That alone calmed them down and they told me that there had been an assault at the other coast and it had been bad. Like with Galeston much of the force were wrecked on the sea walls but another force broke away to land elsewhere. The difference was that they were able to make landfall and the battle that ensued was bloody. This made me worry about my people, but when I rode into the area for the mages it was quiet. I went to my quarters to find Catlin curled up in my bed. I stripped and eased into bed which caused her to jump at my touch. She realized who it was and, rather than talk, simply made room for me. “My husband, you are dangerously low on magic?” I nodded and shrugged. She told me to lay still and soon another mage came in, wrapped her body around mine and I drifted off to sleep as they held me tight.

The next day I rode with Catlin to Grafton to see what was going on and if any of our people were harmed. When we arrived we headed to the command post to see commander Vesley looking at a map of the area. “Good day Count Kelton. I just read the report sent from Galeston and your actions there. Thank you for doing so much. I want you to know that your people were in the lead the whole time here and have won great respect among the army, as true life savers, as well as warriors.” I nodded in thanks and looked at the map. “So casualties?” He nodded. “Unfortunately the number is high, but nothing compared to the number of dead enemies. We believe some may have escaped our searches, but if there was, then they are quite few.” He looked at me and gave me a weary smile. “I am glad to tell you that despite throwing themselves into battle like mad men, your butchers did you proud. No injuries and they took down the enemy like farmers harvesting grain. The stories of their actions are spreading like any other rumor, that stone faced women cut the enemy with spears of stone, flinging bodies into the air on spikes, the lamentations of the dying that lay in their wake.”

I nodded. “Well the women here are mostly combat mages, trained for this and more. I just hate that they are being sent into this war by the insanity of this “empire of man”. They should be going from town to town helping the people build better lives, not going into the fray of war.” The commander shook his head. “Your women are not the kind to worry about such things. They know that their friends and family back home need them and their talents on the front line. These women are protecting their husbands, children, lovers and friends. Like any mother bear, threatening their loved ones make them the deadliest of enemies.”

He sighed heavily. “A man under my first command was an animal. He kept just within the law so I couldn’t discharge him, and he was never caught doing anything that would land him in prison. I was called in to witness his fall. He had gone home drunk and angry one night and began to beat his family. He was a huge bear of a man and intimidated even officers with his natural love of violence. Well when I saw the scene of his death I really understood how women are not to be taken lightly. He lay on the floor of his home with a knife in his heart and his wife’s teeth sunk in his throat. He had crushed her body, but her last act to protect her children was to rip his throat out with her own teeth.” I looked at him with the horror of what a sight that must have been. “So never underestimate a woman like yours sir. They may be the sweetest and most gentle people in the world, but beneath that is an animal of unbelievable strength, and will, when she is protecting what she loves.”

I left him to his work and went to my family. When I arrived at the women’s compound the looks of love and joy they wore filled me with a sense of strength I had lost recently. I hugged each of them and kissed them on offered cheeks. Oddly they were more worried about me since I was alone in my battle while the ones in Grafton had plenty of support for their action. They bragged about how Mary’s teaching in combat had been what allowed them to fight so well that the enemy had little chance to turn the tide even slightly. The moment they landed they had sealed their fates. It looked like the commander was right, these were some strong damn women.

After that attack we sent two pairs of combat mages to each of the coastal towns to keep watch and to act as the main weapon in case of a landing. After seeing the boats they used I knew they were not sea craft but coastal boats, not very different from our own fishing vessels. They were not quite uniform which gave the idea that these were fishing boats pressed into service as military transport. With their loss, replacing them would take time and effort.

A month later I was called to the wall because a group of people in different armor had come to the wall unarmed and flying a black flag. When I arrived the leader stood at the base of the wall and looked up. “I represent the council of lords in the Ashen kingdom. We come in peace, and hope to have formal discussions with your representative.” I nodded and looked at those around me. “I will take this.” And I sent down a staircase for the man to walk up. This seemed to scare the daylights out of them, but they left one man to take the horses as the other two came up rapidly.

When they reached the top they were a little out of breath, but looking at the wall from the top down let them know it was more than a façade. “My lord this wall is magnificent. How many years did it take to build this?” I looked around and shook my head slightly. “It took a lot of effort, but it was built after the Empire of Man first announced their intention to invade our peaceful nation.” The man shook his head and sighed. “Yes, the empire is all about force rather than diplomacy. We have been at war with them for almost a century, and every year more people die for them. When we saw they were diverting resources from the front the council instructed me to find their new enemy and see if we can join forces.”

I shrugged. “Well we don’t have any reason beyond your words that say you would be a good, or even friendly, partner in this war.” The guard seemed to finger his sword. “I don’t mean this as an insult but a truth. We can’t be sure if we let down our guard you wouldn’t turn against us.” I looked at the officer. “Could you say that if I and a group came to you like this, telling of our good intentions, and be welcomed without suspicion?”

The man chuckled. “A very good point, one should trust but assure yourself on their truth.” I nodded. Just then Catlin came strolling up in full mages armor and the man seemed shocked. “You allow women to fight?” I chuckled. “The women of my territory are all trained and blooded warriors. I will warn you that it would be far more dangerous to tell them to stay at home, than to let them come.” Catlin nudged me and frowned. “Husband please, he will think we are heartless and indelicate the way you speak.” I laughed and smiled at her. “No, I gave him warning so he keeps his balls.” More than a few men chuckled and Catlin just sighed and shrugged. “Fair point my lord, fair point.”

“Sir, we will give you admittance to you and yours for diplomatic reasons. I for one would like to know more about this war and why it has come knocking on our door.” I turned to Catlin. “My dear, could you go below and make a gate so his man can bring their horses in?” She smiled, turned, and bounced away. “Is she really married to you sir?” I nodded. “She is one of my wives. I have seen her stroke a child’s tears away gently with great tenderness, and I’ve seen her gut a man with a smile. I won’t go into what happens to men who try and push her around.” He nodded and followed me down the inner stairs.

When we reached the bottom a wide tunnel had already been formed in the stone and by the time we made it to the entrance you could see the others side was open. As a very nervous man lead three horses along while Catlin walked behind him raising the stones back into place. When Catlin was back on this side you couldn’t see that there had ever been anything there but solid stone. “By the seven gods, how is such a thing possible!?” the lord said in pure shock. “Excuse me but don’t your people have stone mages?” The man looked at me and nodded. “Yes but they are nothing in comparison to this kind of power.” He walked closer and examined the wall closer. “How is such a thing possible? How do you make a structure into some kind of art?” He and the others were looking from side to side realizing the inside looked like a mural of nature.

Catlin, always the show off called up a pillar of stone and they all stepped back. She placed her hand against the stone and it flowed, twisted, and became a five foot tree complete with leaves and fruits. The lord walked closely and shook his head. “If I hadn’t seen this I would call any man a liar for describing this art you have.” I nodded. “Catlin really is one of the best natural artists. Her eye for the beauty of the natural world is the greatest I have ever seen.” She blushed and smiled at me. “Thank you my lord.” Then she moved back to my side after dissolving the tree.

“Now, I am Count Mikael Ur Kelton. I am the king’s representative at the wall and I welcome you as a representative of your people.” The lord nodded. “I am Councilman Glef Cordian of the Ashen kingdom. I have come on behalf of the Ashen council to speak to your people about entering a formal treaty of non-aggression. We would like something more, but most of all we hope to know that you are not allied with the Empire of man.”

I sat and looked at him in thought. “Well I can say we are not, but we both know that could easily be a lie. I could dig up the bodies of the empires soldiers but what would that prove? Since we don’t know each other’s history or beliefs it does make it rather hard for either of us to say we have a foundation on which to build our trust for such an agreement. Now you could say that as a sign of good faith we could help you in your war efforts with arms, soldiers, or money. Only when that happens we weaken our efforts, and could very well be giving an ally of the empire a means to our own end.”

Glef looked at me and shook his head. “Your knowledge and quick mind show you are no fool. You have seen all possible angles and figured them out perfectly.” He sat back and tried to think about this. “I can’t fault you in any of this, and find myself wondering how to surmount this situation. You are right, I had planned to see if you could help us weaken the empire in some way. They are looking at your kingdom and see it as a source for materials and war fodder. Other smaller nations far to the north were eliminated, their populace put under the whip to act as slaves, thrown into battle to dull the edges of our swords and souls. There are only so many people a soldier can slaughter before he is no longer fit to fight, and the empire seems to have an almost inexhaustible source for front line troops.”

I gave a little smile. “Think about this, why is the empire coming at our kingdom, and why now?” This piqued his interest. “Our nation had a massive problem with national slavery. In the last few years we have outlawed the practice, and not long after had to put down a revolution started by the slavers. What if the slave trade was an important source of trained, or at least strong, people for the empire?” Glef nodded and I could see the wheels spinning. “With that source being cut off, and no possible way to keep it going, their hand would be forced.” He looked at me. “And if it’s like you say, that this nation was one of relative peace, then you wouldn’t have the military to oppose a large scale attack from the empire.”

I nodded. “The empire figured that we were weak after a century of peace and quiet, they figured wrong.” I said with finality. Glef smiled and nodded. “Now the fact we have had to build a massive wall, and that we have fought against the empire, it should be quite easy to see we are not in partnership with the empire. So we have established we are not of them, now how can we be sure you are not simply a different empire? How can we know that helping you might not be putting our neck onto the chopping block for another want to be world power?” Glef seemed to think on this. “I have to say I have never talked to anyone like you Count. I have a feeling you know most of the answers already but rather than talk down to me, you are working to lead me to the answers you have already found.” I shrugged and gave him a slow nod. “There really is no answers, only tradeoffs, trust, and hope. We can only see helping you as a tradeoff of threats. We can trust all parties are working in their own self-interests, and we can hope that any plans we make will help each other as well.”

Glef looked at me like a stunned deer, but all I did was shrug. “That really is all diplomacy boils down to, coming out as equals or a little ahead in any discussions. As it sits we are a distraction of time, energy, and resources for the empire. That we are fighting back is taking the constant pressure off of your forces. As we become a greater threat, the less energy the empire has to spend on you. Now you come to us in a time where we are the ones taking the brunt of these attacks. The best possibility for you is to remain neutral and wait to see just how much we can weaken the empire so you can build up and strike at their heart one day. That would put you in a position of consolidating your two nations into one great nation. Would this do our nation any good or would it simply cut down the number of enemies?”

“You don’t hold back do you?” I shook my head. “I am not one for pretty words to hide true intentions. I can sit here and pay you empty compliments, listen to your hollow words in return, but I don’t have the time or energy. I am in a war, and I have already had to slaughter far too many men to keep playing games. You and I can sign all kinds of wordy treaties but once you control the land on the other side of the land bridge who would remain to enforce it if you don’t feel the need to honor such a paper?” He looked at his hands and knew I was right. “So let’s not play stupid games and approach this in the only honest way.” I looked at Catlin and smiled. “My love let’s move to the top of the wall and give our guests a demonstration.” She smiled and bowed her head to me.

We all went to the top of the wall and stood on the edge. A large rock was brought over and I picked a large tree at the edge of the cleared land beyond the wall. “Hit that one.” I said and she swept her hand so a shaft flew from the large rock. It flew through the air and shattered the tree I pointed at. I had four stone brought over and with another target picked out Catlin sent four shafts to wreck a series of trees in the distance. We turned to our guests who looked on is horror. “Now imagine a thousand such mages raining down such death on any force that approached our walls or shores.” They all looked at me and understood our power. “We have already killed thousands of the empires men. They are nothing but a distraction to us who only wish to live in peace. We are a sleeping great bear that would prefer to sleep. Waking us will only lead to death. Right now we are only defending our border, leave us alone, or offer trade and join us, but don’t mistake peace for weakness.”

They stayed quiet as we descended the wall and went back to the hall we were relaxing in before. “So I can let you stay here, gather what intelligence you want, and go home to report to your council. You will be our guests so feel free to look around all you want. Enjoy yourself, talk to our people, and learn who we are. When you are ready we will let you back to the other side of the wall and let you go home.” They nodded and looked on.

Glef asked “Is there a place we can resupply?” I nodded and lead them to a store supplied by my own people. They sampled the food and were surprised at the high quality and variety we had. He asked about currency and showed me the coinage they used. “The weight is close to our own gold pieces so we will accept them at a one to one rate.” They were glad to know that and quickly bought up dried goods and chatted about the quality of the spices.

They had talked to a lot of people and many found them nice and trustworthy. When I asked why they spoke the same language as we did Glef nodded. “In the nations of the Ashen we call it common tongue. There are actually three tongues on the main continent and this is basically the common trading language. The Empire has always been isolationists and supremacists. They preach they are the original people of the world and all others have always been animals and slaves to the Race of Man, as if there are any other races.” He rolled his eyes. “The northern regions are hostile and life there is hard so I kind of understand their egotism, they are survivors, but the fact remains they are also harsh and unforgiving people as a race.”

Then, just before they were getting ready to leave, the situation changed. A massive force was spotted heading towards the wall. Glef looked worried and rode with us to the point where the main forces were approaching. There were only three of us stone mages at this point, but with what seemed like a few thousand approaching I called for ten more stone mages to be brought to this point, and more to be sent to the walls all along the expanse. The butchers bill would be paid today it seemed.

Glef stood next to me on the wall and looked out. “You can tell the ones in the front are just fodder. Look at the armor, its little more than leathers at the best. They will send them in first to get you to use up your ammunition, then as the battle goes on the more experienced will march over their bodies.” I nodded. “We shall see.” Is all I said before turning to the stone mages and talking to them in private. They all ran off and down the stairs. At the same time runners ran off to either end of the wall to pass on my instructions.

It took hours for the forces to assemble and if it was meant to be intimidating it wasn’t. A man on a horse strode out and looked at the wall. “You cowards hide behind this wall but we will bring it down and take what we want. If you surrender now you will have some mercy from our empire.” Glef looked at me and I nodded as he stepped to the edge of the wall. “Will you show them the same mercy you gave the Caldonian confederation? How about the nations of the Zend?” he shouted at the man who glared at him. “I see the Ashen have already come whimpering on bended knee to these cowards. Just wait beggar, once we remove this obstacle it will be your turn to fall before the empire.” He spun his horse around and ran his own men down to get out of range.

In the rear a series of horns were sounded and the sound of men marching slowly rose into the air. Glef stood back and looked at me shaking his head. “This is the part I hate the most. All those men know to stop would mean death, and to move forwards means death.” I nodded. “Are there empire loyalists mixed in or are they all slaves?” He shook his head. “They are all slaves with a knife in their backs. They know that their women and children back home will only be safe if they die this day.”

We let the men walk along till they were at the base of the wall, standing in the trench below. Once it was filled a stone wall rose through the force isolating the ones in the trench from those on the other side of the deep dip. The ground opened up and men fell back in terror. My mages stepped out of these holes with their hands raised. You couldn’t hear them from here as they told the men below that they could live free from the empire here, or be killed where they stood. Naturally they wanted to live and so they began screaming in terror as if they were being gutted alive as they filed down into the vaults that had been built beneath the trench. Once they were all gone the holes filled in, and the wall came down to the surprise of the men on the other side.

To them the fear was palatable. A thousand men were hidden from sight, their screams filled the air, and now not even their bodies were left behind. As the tide halted tunnels opened up on our side of the wall and men in nothing but loincloths marched out of the ground to be herded to large stone enclosures where food and water were being handed out as they went inside. Glef looked at me in real wonder. I had just defeated a thousand men without the loss of a single life on either side. We did this twice more before Glef pointed out that elites were now mixed in and once they were close enough we allowed the enemy to see what happened. Once the trench was filled the trench was filled with spikes and the scream of the dying echoed off the walls before ending quickly. After that men ran away in horror at the carnage and no amount of whipping or beating could stop them. Elite troops were thrown to the ground and trampled by the retreating line.