Edwin leaned back against the wagon with a sigh. The discussion had been going in circles for ten minutes or so, and he was starting to look for ways to make himself scarce. Sadly, sneaking out of a meeting was not easy when you were the largest person in attendance by a decent margin, as it turned out.
Suddenly, Colonel Conrad’s calm voice caught Edwin’s attention, as the commander of first battalion hadn’t participated until now. Edwin had also never heard him say anything that wasn’t well thought out.
“If you allow me to say so, General, I fail to see how our situation has changed.”
“Explain.”
“Both the problem we face, as well as the preferred solution, remain the same: 1st division are holding an increasingly untenable position against overwhelming force, requiring us to relieve the pressure. The best way to do this is to threaten the besieging divisions from behind. Neither of these have changed due to Lindvar’s interference.”
His statement was followed by confused mumbling and uncertain looks.
“Do you suggest we simply follow our initial plan?” Colonel Harrick asked. “March south, break through the defenses at Archer Hill and flank the siege? How would that work with Lindvar holed up in Artelby? If we try to march past, they will either cut us off again or attack us from the rear while we lay siege at the bridge.”
“Most likely,” Conrad said, nodding. “But the fact remains that 1st will not hold forever, and it is up to us to break the siege before it succeeds. If Lindvar division is in the way of that, then we should be discussing how to take them off the board.”
“Why don’t we march straight to Artelby then?” one of the cohort commanders asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “We might as well take it while we’re at it.”
The discussion went off the rails from there, but Edwin tilted his head, eyes fixed on the back of Conrad’s head in thought.
“Bordan?” he quietly addressed his teammate who was standing beside him. “Why don’t we attack Artelby?”
The former soldier looked up in surprise. “Well,” he answered after a moment of thought. “The whole point is that we need to go quickly, right? We don’t know how long 1st can hold, and even if we had a reasonable chance of taking Artelby, the siege would take too long. 1st division has tried taking it a few times over the years, and every time they had to abort their attack after a few months.”
“Sure, but…” Edwin stopped, trying to formulate his unformed thoughts into words. “The root of our problem right now is that the Marradi are besieging Archibald’s Overlook, which everyone considered effectively unassailable. But because the Marradi have mages, we all agree that they’ll break through eventually. Well, we have mages too, so shouldn’t we be able to do the same?”
Bordan opened his mouth, then closed it again. “I don’t know, you tell me. Could we?”
“I mean, I know very little about sieges,” Edwin replied, shrugging. “But the way I picture it is that getting rid of the walls the enemy is hiding behind is a big part of it, and if that’s the case, I honestly have no idea what’s taking the Marradi so long. If left to their own devices, a small team of materialists could turn a fortress to rubble in a day.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Well, they certainly wouldn’t expect it…” Bordan mumbled to himself. “Ah hells, why not?”
He turned to the front, and when the conversation allowed it, he raised his voice.
“General, if I may?”
“Of course, Bordan.”
“Edwin just made an interesting suggestion that I wanted to bring to your attention.”
All eyes turned to Edwin, who dearly wished he could disappear into the crowd. Why did he have to be so darn tall?
Dammit, Bordan, why do you insist to keep throwing me under the wheels?
“Instead of marching past Artelby and opening our backs to an attack, we could actually attack it head on, removing the threat before we move on to Archer Hill.”
The clearing devolved into chaos – which is to say, there was an audible undercurrent of mumbled disbelief. This was still a military affair after all, and the general was watching. The amount of rambunctious behavior that was tolerated was minuscule compared to some magical discussions Walter had been part of back in the day. Bordan ignored it all and continued to make the exact points Edwin had just raised, and by the end of it everyone was staring at the two of them.
“Master Gregory, I will defer this to your expertise,” General Asher said after Bordan had finished. “Is his assessment correct? Do you think you could break through Artelby’s defenses as Bordan suggests?”
The master mage looked as grumpy as ever, shoving his hands into his sleeves as he gave Bordan and Edwin some serious side eye.
“While performing demolition of this kind is an affront to my professional pride as a mage architect, it is certainly within the abilities of me and my colleagues. The issue here is not whether we can destroy the walls, but for us to get close enough to do it without being killed. This, I believe, is what is delaying our… former colleagues at Archibald’s Overlook.”
General Asher leaned forward, intrigued.
“Correct me if I am mistaken, but you make it sound like a hurdle to overcome through planning and ingenuity, not like an impossibility.”
Master Gregory didn’t answer for a solid ten seconds, instead looking from Asher to Lord Theodor, then to the small gaggle of mages he had brought with him to the meeting, the other masters and department heads. Finally, he turned back to the general with a sour expression.
“Yes, General, I do believe that, given the right circumstances to work in, we could be instrumental in besieging a fortified position.”
For the first time since the ambush, Edwin saw the general smile.
“Thank you, Master Gregory, that presents us with new and intriguing possibilities. Thoughts, everyone?”
“What about the cavalry?” Colonel Meller asked immediately. “Even if the siege goes much quicker than it would usually, it still leaves us stationary, deep in enemy territory for a prolonged time, which would make us a perfect target for an attack.”
“Good,” Colonel Harrick fired back acridly. “Let them try it again. Last time, we didn’t expect them. If we know they’re coming, we can be the ones to ambush them.”
Edwin cringed at the venom in his voice. Harrick had never been quick-tempered before, but clearly the commander of third battalion would neither forgive nor forget what had been done to his men – he was out for blood.
“That’s a good point, actually,” Firetail said, the spy having managed to meld into the background after his introduction. “In the west, where the knights usually operate, they haven’t been nearly as successful as they were against you in that last engagement. By now, 2nd and 3rd division expect them to show up and attack their weak spots and plan accordingly, and the knights only commit to a fight if it favors them. With sufficient preparation and good positioning, they are much less of a threat.”
“Excellent,” Asher said eagerly. “This is starting to take shape. Someone fetch a map of Artelby, and let us see if we can think of a way to make this work…”
Edwin pushed off the wagon and shielded his eyes against the sun as an aide exchanged the map of the Wasteland for one of their target, his gaze roaming over the concentric rings of walls, the buildings marked in small letters, the siege weapons.
Easy, Walter determined, a dozen new blueprints flitting into Edwin’s mind. The Marradi are hacks. We will show them that siege work is ritual work.