371 days until the Arkon Shield falls

Archmage,

I find your report… disappointing. Do not forget this venture is your responsibility, and both its success and failure rests in your hands. I expect solutions from you, not vague warnings. Now, what course do you propose?

—Supreme Mystic Lionel Biaxal.

After Tara’s pronouncement, the others fell silent, contemplating what her words meant. Likely that we’re all going to die, I thought fatalistically.

“Tell them about the rebels,” Lance said.

Petrov glanced at him. “There are rebels?”

“There are,” Tara said. “The gang doesn’t have complete control over the village. There is a small but resolute group that seems determined to contest their claim.”

I frowned. “But how can that be? Surely the orcs would have helped the gang stamp out all resistance?”

Tara shrugged. “The orcs don’t seem to care to do that. They didn’t intercede in any of the clashes our scouts witnessed between the gang and the rebels, even though some occurred right on their doorstep.”

My frown deepened. What were the orcs up to? Their actions seemed to make little sense.

“Can we make contact with the rebels?” Petrov asked.

Giselle laughed harshly. “It will not help us.”

Petrov looked at her. “Why not?”

“The rebels are poorly equipped and under-leveled,” she replied.

Tara nodded, her own face grim. “The gang beat them back every time. Unarmed and, from what we could tell, lacking martial skills, the rebels took the brunt of the casualties in all the skirmishes we saw.”

“So we can expect no help from them?” Petrov asked.

“We shouldn’t depend on them,” Tara agreed.

“Do we have a clearer picture of the enemies’ numbers?” I asked.

Tara nodded. “One hundred orcs and two hundred human gang members.”

My lips turned down. The scouts’ initial assessment had been accurate, but I’d been hoping we’d face less.

“So, what’s the plan?” Petrov asked, eyeing Tara. “You must have come up with one by now.”

Tara sighed. “I haven’t. Leastwise, not one with any chance of success.” Drawing the sword at her hip—an earth blade I noted—the captain squatted down and drew a circle in the dirt. “That’s the village.” She marked an ‘X’ outside the eastern half of the ring. “The orcs are here.” She drew an oblong shape around both. “And this is the valley. It is about ten miles long and a mile wide. Three passes lead into it, one from the east, another from the west, and the last from the north. The scouts haven’t managed to find a way in via the northern route. That leaves us with only two avenues of approach.”

Petrov lowered himself beside her. “Can we rush the village from the east?”

Tara shook her head. “Not before the orcs see us and react accordingly. The village is in the middle of the valley, and the orcs have chopped the few trees there were to build their camp. The remaining vegetation is not dense enough to conceal our approach during the day.”

“A stealth assault by night, then?” Petrov suggested.

His fellow captain nodded. “That is more viable. Under the cover of darkness, we could get close enough to launch a surprise attack. The settlement’s defenses are pitiful—a six-foot-high stone wall, no more. Getting inside it will not be hard. But the village is not our problem, the orc camp is. Its fortifications are more comprehensive. A fifteen-foot-tall palisade rings the camp, and it has only two gates, both of which are kept closed at all times and constantly manned.” She glanced at Petrov, her lips pursed. “Surprise attack or not, we won’t be able to overcome the orcs’ defenses.”

The big man grimaced. “Then we will have to draw their forces out.”

“Face the orcs and the gang across an open battlefield, you mean?” Giselle asked, joining the conversation. “We barely outnumber them three to one. And no offense to Jamie and Lance, but I think we’re outgunned in the magical department too.”

“You’re right,” Tara said. “A straight-up fight isn’t the answer either. But if we split our forces and have one-half approach openly from this direction—” she gestured to the eastern side of the valley—“and bait the orcs, we might buy enough time for the other half to rush the settlement from the west, overrun the gang, and rescue as many of the villagers as they can.”

“You’re talking about sacrificing half our forces as a distraction,” I said quietly. Whoever engaged the orcs on the east would not survive.

Tara looked up and held my gaze. “I am. But it’s the only way I can see to make this work.”

Petrov and Giselle said nothing, but from their grim faces as they stared down at the map, I could see they agreed with Tara.

“I, of course, will command the eastern force,” Tara said.

My lips tightened, but I remained silent.

“That is a fool plan!” Lance protested. “And there is no guarantee it will even work. What happens if the orcs defeat those facing them too quickly? Or if our second force gets bogged down, or if—”

“I agree it may not work,” Tara interjected. “But it’s our only chance of rescuing at least some of the villagers.”

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“But how can we—” Lance persisted.

“Do you have a better plan?” Tara cut in harshly. Her gaze swept over the rest of us. “Does anyone?”

I bowed my head. Everything Tara said was true. But Lance was right, too. The plan sucked. Defeating the orc company was an impossibility. So was extracting four thousand civilians unnoticed and escorting them safely back to Sierra. Realistically, we could do neither.

What Tara proposed was a half-measure—one that left me feeling sick to the stomach—but if it came to it, I would join the eastern force. With my dragon magic, I could perhaps hold off the shaman, Jhaven, long enough to make a difference.

There has to be a better way to do this, though. But how?

Petrov was the first to break the silence. “What about the spider queen? Can she better the odds in our favor?”

Giselle shook her head. “I doubt it. We’ve been working together closely, and my people and the spiders have formed a close-knit team. But we’re not ready to face a foe as strong as the orcs,” she admitted.

Petrov grimaced but accepted her assessment.

“The rebels should be eager to help,” Lance said, kneeling beside Tara. “Is there any way we can use them?”

“How?” Tara replied. “They are poorly armed and even worse trained. They will be massacred.”

“What if we lure the orcs into the mountains instead of engaging them?” Giselle asked, joining the small circle the others formed around the map drawn in the dirt.

“That might work,” Tara said, “but it will be riskier. There is no telling if the orcs will take the bait, and even then, there is the…”

Remaining standing where I was, I let the others’ words slip by me. Something was nagging at me, some aspect that we were missing. Somehow, I got the feeling that we were looking at this all wrong. I tried to pry loose the niggling thought, but it refused to budge.

“What is wrong with this picture?” I muttered in frustration. Closing my eyes, I let my thoughts drift as I picked at the puzzle.

Four thousand villagers.

One hundred orcs.

Two hundred gang members.

The challenge before us was keeping the latter two occupied while we marched the former southwest to the safety of Sierra. Given the number of civilians involved, the return trip to Sierra would take longer than the day and a half it took us to get here.

I rubbed at my temples. If only Sierra was closer, this would be so much easier.

Wait, wait, wait.

I saw it now. Finally, the piece I’d been missing fell into place.

Why do we need Sierra?

We were looking at the mission wrong. We were picturing executing a rescue operation as we would back on Earth. But there was something we’d all forgotten about, something that made ‘a rescue’ unnecessary.

The village was a settlement.

My eyes snapped open. “We don’t have to extract the villagers,” I said aloud, marveling at the fact that I hadn’t thought of it sooner.

Tara scowled at me. “Out of the question. We will not abandon our mission.”

I waved away her words. “That is not what I’m suggesting.” I met her gaze. “Our mission is to secure the villagers. Our mission is not to escort them to Sierra.”

Her brows drew down in consternation. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not.”

The others were all staring at me now. “What do you mean by that?” Giselle asked, puzzled.

“We capture the settlement.”

Tara’s lips turned down. “To what purpose? We don’t have the numbers to hold the village against the orcs.”

“We won’t need to,” I said. “Not once we’ve gained control of the settlement core.”

Silence.

I could see from Giselle, Tara, and Petrov’s confounded expressions that they didn’t see what I was driving at, but Lance got it. “That’s brilliant!” the mage exclaimed, shooting to his feet. “If we capture the core, we can repudiate the orcs as the village’s Patrons. The Trials itself will prevent them from entering the settlement until the Arkon Shield falls!”

Smiling, I nodded.

The three captains looked startled at the notion. “You mean if we get our hands on the core,” Tara said slowly, “we’ll have control of the village—” she snapped her fingers—“just like that?”

Lance shook his head, some of his excitement fading. “Not just like that, no. Captured settlements do not transfer instantly. From what I read of the process, I think it will take a day to re-establish the village as a settlement.”

“A day?” Petrov mused. “Holding the village against the orcs for that long will be tough.” He glanced at Tara. “But it’s a timeframe we can work with.”

The small woman was frowning, but she nodded eventually. “We can,” she agreed. “Especially if we see to it that they are distracted before we take over. If we are lucky by the time they figure out what’s going on, the settlement will be ours. Is there anything else we need to know?”

“There is only one requirement that I know of for transferring the ownership of a settlement,” Lance said. “And that is the core must remain within the bounds of the settlement and out of enemy hands for the duration of the process.” He glanced at me to see if I had anything to add.

I shook my head. “Don’t forget though, we still have to find and claim the core first.”

“I think I can make a good guess as to who has it,” Tara said.

I glanced at her curiously.

“The gang’s leader’s name is Gorkin. He is a braggart who spends most of his days strutting around the village in full steel plate. I can’t see him trusting the settlement core to anyone else’s care but his own. If he doesn’t have it on him, he is sure to know where it’s kept.”

“Excellent,” I said. “Do we know where he spends his nights?”

“Yes,” Lance answered before Tara could. “The gang spend their evenings carousing in the village hall, a two-story building at the settlement’s center.”

“What else do we know about the gang?” Petrov asked.

“They’re thugs, no more,” Tara said dismissively. “Most are around level forty and well-armed with gear provided by the orcs. But for all that, the gang’s discipline is lacking. They spend half their time drinking, partying, and toying with their slaves for sport. If it was only them we had to worry about, this mission would be child’s play.”

“So, assuming we can retrieve the core, how do we go about distracting the orcs for a day?” Giselle asked.

“I may have a few ideas about that,” I volunteered. Giselle’s original suggestion of luring the orcs into the mountains was a good one. If we could—

“Jamie?” Tara prompted.

I looked up. “Oh, right,” I said, seeing the others all waiting for me to go on. “Where is the Primal Keep?”

Tara frowned at the seeming randomness of the question but didn’t ask why I wanted to know. She gestured to a spot southeast of where we were encamped.

I tapped my chin while I considered the distances. It didn’t look far. “How long would it take a party of six to get there?”

“Not long,” she replied. “A couple of hours if they travel fast.”

I nodded and did a mental count of the days that had passed. “Did anyone enter the dungeon after me?”

Tara shook her head. “The commander told me about the zelium waiting to be retrieved, but the plans for recovering it have been put on hold until we deal with this.”

“Perfect,” I murmured. Given the distances involved, if we hurried, we could still end the villagers’ enslavement tonight, and the quicker we got this done, the better. “Then here is what I think we should do…”