Chapter 19: War Council

Emil called together Clark, Piper and Chad, the men he considered leaders. The situation was grim. Although the villages served by the mill stored the majority of their crops in their own barns or silos, the surplus went to the mill. That surplus could be the difference between a comfortable spring and starvation. Worse still, with the foodstuffs at the mill under his control, Luther would be able to feed his horde while expanding his territory into the surrounding valleys.

"Here's the problem as I see it," began Emil. "We can't allow Luther to control the mill this winter. If we do, there'll be no way to stop him in spring. He'll be too strong, and we'll be too weak."

"We could march on the mill and take it back," suggested Chad. "It's defended by less than a dozen men. Right now we have that many here and we could probably rely on some volunteers from the village."

"The problem isn't so much taking it as it is holding it," explained Emil. "Surely if we captured the mill, Luther would send more of his men to take it back. We'd be forced to maintain a garrison at the mill to protect it. We don't have the men for that now."

"Burn it," suggested Piper. "Capture the mill, take what we can carry and burn the rest. There may be some hungry people come spring, but at least Luther and his men will be among them."

"Yes," replied Emil. "I've considered just that plan, but we'll need all the villages served by the mill as our allies when the time comes to confront Luther. If we burn the mill, I'm not sure the villages would think too highly of us."

"My village wouldn't take too kindly to anyone who burned the mill," Clark opined. "There's got to be another solution."

"Now that Luther's men have taken the mill are your villagers willing to join us in fighting him?" Emil asked.

"I don't think so," answered Clark dejectedly. "There are still a lot of folks in the village who don't see Luther as their problem. We don't have that much stored at the mill, so their attitude is to just let him be. They think that what he takes elsewhere will satisfy him."

"Damn fools," muttered Piper.

"Their attitude may be shortsighted, but it's understandable," Emil interjected. "People just want to live in peace and comfort. No one wants to make sacrifices or take risks if they don't have to."

"They're goin' to have bigger trouble later if they don't do somethin' now," countered Piper.

"You're right," agreed Emil. "That's why we've got to act soon. Here's my plan: We'll attack the mill. With luck we'll be successful and we'll be able to kill or capture Luther's men guarding it. None of his men can be allowed to escape to give word to Luther. We'll use the prisoners and our own backs to carry away all that we can. At the same time we'll invite all the villages to come and take away their shares. This way each village will have the chance to recover all the grain they would have lost to Luther, and we may gain some converts to our cause."

"The timing would have to be tight," mused Piper. "The villages would have to know of our attack in time to quickly travel to the mill and carry away their grain, but they can't know so early that warning of our attack could be leaked to Luther."

"We could send a rider to each village as soon as we're successful." explained Emil. "We could probably hold the mill for a few days before Luther finds out what's happened and organizes a counter-attack. That should give the villages time to act."

The men all agreed that Emil's plan was a good one. For the remainder of their meeting, they laid out the strategy for an attack on the mill. It was decided that they would cross the mountain range behind the mill and attack from the upstream side. Once in position in the mountains behind the mill, the force would split and Piper would lead the ferrymen to capture the ferry and then march toward the mill from that direction. They would coordinate their attacks at the mill so that the road in both directions from the mill would be sealed so that none of Luther's men could escape. After Piper captured the ferry, Clark and David would cross with horses and would be dispatched to the villages when victory was assured. They would have a total of 12 men to do the job plus Clark and David.

The plan would require a difficult march crossing two mountains and fording one river, but the maps that Emil had recently acquired showed the way that it could be done. The attack would be made at first light in the morning, so the band of attackers would travel during the day, camp above the mill and do reconnaissance at night and then attack as the sun rose. The plan was not overly complicated, but it did rely on coordination and it did require that Emil's tiny force be split. One of the early lessons Emil's father had taught him was that simple plans were the best and that in a battle, the side that won usually won because they made the fewest mistakes.