Chapter 4

"General, how are we fixed for stone missiles?"

"We have a good supply for a normal battle, but we probably don't have enough for what you are planning. Actually, it is pretty easy to produce the missiles, but transportation is the rub. There are several thousand missiles at the quarry, now, waiting to be brought to the armory. It's ironic, but we can't move them as fast as we can make them. There are two wizards who specialize in making the missiles, but we have to depend on conventional wagons to get them to the city."

"That sounds like a job for Teekay. Teekay, can you move a missile to the armory from the quarry without being in either place?"

"I don't know. I never tried anything like that before. Let me see what I can do." Teekay got a blank look on his face as he concentrated on his task.

Sam waited for 5 minutes before doing anything else about the missiles. He ordered TP2, "TP2, please go to the armory and report back when the missile arrives."

TP2 disappeared and reappeared about 3 minutes later. "The missile has just arrived, and it looks to be in good condition."

"Thank you, TP2. I'll have another trip for you in just a moment. Teekay, do you think you could move 50 missiles from the quarry to here all at one time?"

"Yes, I think so. I would like the opportunity to try."

"OK, in just a minute. TP2, go to the quarry and tell whoever is in charge that we will be moving missiles by magic, starting in a very few minutes. Then, come back here.

"Teekay, when TP2 gets back, I want you to move some missiles. Let's start small. Try to bring 10 missiles here as your first load.

"General Zaxos, while we're waiting on that, I'd like to continue the testing of the rest of the wizards. Can we fire both the trebuchet and the onager at the same time?"

"Yes, we can. Do you want them to fire independently or in salvo?"

"Let's do the independent fire, right now. Princess, if you would, I would like for you to supervise the onager operation, while I work the trebuchet. We need to fire a stone and have each wizard, in turn, try to blast it the way you saw the first two done. Sort the wizards into two groups, those that break the stone into many pieces and those that don't. Once that sorting is done, we'll go to the next step."

"Very well, I'll do as you ask. Shall we start now?"

"Please do... You men at the trebuchet, I want to try the same thing you saw done at the onager. Please line up, order is not important, and we'll get started. Time is short, so we need to get to it!"

Testing began as Teekay brought in first 10, and then 50, missiles from the quarry. Sam had him bring in 50 more to the firing range and move the rest from the quarry to the armory.

Most of the wizards could burst the stone missiles as required, but a few failed. These latter men were temporarily set aside for other tasks. The testing took the rest of the day. When the last wizard had finally been tested, Sam selected 60 wizards to work the trebuchets and 30 to work the onagers. Sam consulted with Herc, and told the 90 wizards to show up at dawn the next day, prepared to work all day. Food and water would be provided. The others were told to take the day off, and they would be contacted with instructions later.

The last of the illusionists from the wall testing had shown up and were told to report to the range tomorrow at dawn, prepared to work all day. Sam dismissed everybody and thanked the princess for her help.

"I enjoyed it, Sam. I don't often get the opportunity to do something immediately productive like this. It was fun. Do you need my help tomorrow?"

"I don't know how much help I will need, but you are certainly welcome to come with me tomorrow. I'll find some way to keep you from getting too bored!" Sam said with a grin.

The princess had a State Diner scheduled for that night, so Sam begged off attending. He said he had some planning he had to do for tomorrow. They all returned to the palace on the flying carpet and went their various ways. Sam asked Herc and Teekay to have supper with him so that they could discuss using and servicing the onagers and trebuchets. TP1 and TP2 were dismissed for the evening.

At supper, Sam asked Teekay, "How many missiles did you get moved today?"

"I moved 110 to the range and 1450 to the armory. I don't know how many are left to move, but I would guess that many more."

Herc said, "There were approximately 3300 missiles at the quarry the last time I checked, which was last week. That gives us over 8000 unused missiles. Will we need more? If we do, we will have to find some other place to store them, since the armory will be practically full."

Sam thought for a moment as said, "That's certainly enough in the armory for now. Can we continue to store missiles at the quarry?"

"Certainly, we can probably store 10,000 there. Shall I have production continue until we have that many?"

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea. I don't know how many we will need, but I like to think that you can never have too much ammunition." Herc laughed and agreed.

"Teekay, can you throw missiles at the enemy while we are under fire? If you can, I have another idea for your ability."

"I'm sure I can. I guess that you are talking about throwing more than one missile at a time."

"Right, I was thinking about saturation bombing. The number I want you to throw will depend on the target and the situation, and it will depend on how many firebrands we have available for the job. We'll try to test that tomorrow at the range."

"Herc, we have 7 wizards skilled in TP who are currently unassigned. What to you think about sending them to various posts on the border to warn us when the enemy shows up?"

"That's a good idea. Where should we post them?"

"I'll leave that up to you. You know your country much better than I do, and you know how armies march, so you are the one to decide that.

"How are we fixed for food? How long can the city feed itself while we are under siege?"

"We have enough basic grain and such for 6 months. After that, we are in trouble."

"If we haven't broken the siege long before then, we will be in bad trouble. It will mean that I will have been a complete failure. I can't imagine the fighting lasting more than a couple of weeks, if that."

They talked about other phases of the defense of the city and general topics of interest to three educated men until nearly midnight. Sam called a halt at that time to say that he needed to sleep if he was going to function well the next day. They said good night and left for bed.

They were at the firing range by dawn the next day, and the Commissary Department had outdone itself for the meal. They went all out when they heard that the princess was to be there; they might never get such an opportunity again. It was more of a banquet than a breakfast, and the princess was highly amused, though she didn't let on. She was profuse in her compliments, and the workers and their supervisors were thrilled.

As soon as the meal was over and the area had been cleared, work started in earnest. Sam selected 10 illusionists, each, to work with the onager and the trebuchet. He explained that he wanted them to duplicate the sight of the missile exploding, so that it looked like 11 missiles had exploded at as nearly the same time as possible and spaced out at random. Olena supervised the onager again, while Sam worked the trebuchet.

Everybody watched as the onager was fired, and the missile exploded. The results were spectacular! Moments after the first explosion, 10 more explosions followed. It would have been devastatingly frightening to have been on the receiving end of that illusion.