62 - Logistics Part Five

Alyena is waiting in front of the meeting room at the army headquarters. A few moments ago, a clerk ran inside to report her arrival to the generals, who are in a meeting. Instead of opening the door immediately for his empress, the clerk muttered that he would notify the generals of her arrival.

However, that was a few moments ago, and Alyena's patience is starting to run out. But then just before she decides to throw open the door herself, it is opened.

"Welcome, your majesty," General Dwain greets her with a smile. "I apologize that you had to wait, but me and my colleagues were involved in an intense discussion and the clerk didn’t dare to interrupt us."

"That's not a problem, General, although your clerk would have done better to give me immediate access."

"That's the protocol, your majesty. Every visitor must be announced before access can be granted."

"Hhmpf, maybe for every the other visitors, but this is your empress. After all, this is her empire, her city and her army," says Captain Cervik, who is also present.

Stately, as is expected of an empress, Alyena walks into the room. Around an oval table sit General Colling and five commanders.

"Let me introduce you," begins General Dwain, who rushes around Alyena. "You already know General Colling, and the commanders are from left to right Meer, Bos, Molen, Zale and Quinn. We were just discussing the defense of the new southern border."

"The new border? Explain that to me, General."

The general seems to be somewhat flustered by this question.

"You were already aware of that, weren't you, your majesty? To prevent the entire empire from being overrun, we have withdrawn all our units to a defensive position near the city of Borna. There we can make optimal use of the natural boundary of the Ancient Forest and the wilderness. At the old border were only a few units left to keep up appearances, and according to the reports, they were already under pressure from the Chakras. Those messages are already a few days old, so I fear that at this point the border will have already fallen. I think we will soon hear from the refugees how things are going."

Alyena can't help but smile when the general is done with his depressive story.

"I'm afraid your information is a bit outdated, General. I have just learned that the original border still holds. My own unit, the New Legion, has managed to save the city of Linh by striking back one of Chakra's armies. After that their entire attack collapsed, and all the armies of Chakra in the south have retreated to their own territory. From what I understand, the commander of the New Legion has already asked if the warriors in the south can return to their positions. The danger seems to have passed for now."

For a moment it is quiet in the room, but then General Colling reacts. "You mean that those citizens acted against their orders? I think the plan was clear: Everyone had to retreat to the new border."

"You have to admit Colling, that unit was not included in the southern armies. So they would not have received those orders," General Dwain replies.

"That doesn't matter, they have endangered the entire empire with their antics. I suggest that they be held accountable immediately."

"I'm afraid you didn’t interpret my message correctly, General." Alyena responds to these strange statements by the generals, "the point is that the southern border still holds. There is no need for a new border, and certainly no border where we have to give up a quarter of the empire."

"My apologies, your majesty, it was not our intention to display your good news so negatively, but the fact remains that we had to change the border for a reason. Our empire simply does not have enough warriors to guard that extensive border. Not if they are as heavily contested as the northern border. If we waste too many warriors to guard the weak southern border, there is a chance that we could lose the entire war."

"Maybe General Dwain, but I never agreed with that decision. Now that my legion has saved the border, you can call all the units back to their old positions. In my opinion, there will not be a really big attack as long as most of the Chakran army is camping in the north."

"We still have a shortage of warriors, your majesty. The advantage of the new border was that we could send some of the warriors from the south to the north to reinforce them and to keep all those refugees in check. It seems to be quite chaotic over there, with all those people living in tents near the border."

"For the refugees, as you call those people, I do have a solution. I have seen for myself that the province of Aran is very sparsely populated. We should let those people settle in Aran, so you no longer have to use warriors to keep order. And isn't it true that there are also new units in training at the moment?"

"Yes, your majesty, three of the commanders who are here with us are in command of a unit in training."

"That's great, then that's solved. You ensure that the old border in the south is restored, I will ensure that your refugees get a new home, and with a bit of luck we will soon be able to deploy your newly trained warriors where they are needed. They could even guard some of the passes to the ice plains. Perhaps as their first mission with some trained warriors to coach them? We'll discuss that later."

Alyena bids farewell to the generals, and accompanied by Captain Cervik, she walks back to her reception room.

"That was a good idea, your majesty, to send those people to Aran province. There is more than enough work for them there and they will probably feel better there than twiddling their thumbs at the army camps."

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"I concur. Those people have already lost everything, this is the least we can do. And in addition, there are virtually no lands owned by our nobles in that province. So there is less chance that these people will suffer from this."

"Yes, that is a big difference with the provinces on the west coast. There, almost every square meter of land is owned by some nobleman."

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When the alarm sounds, Raidon is rudely awakened from his sleep. "What now," he grumbles as he quietly puts on his pants.

Then the tent flap is suddenly pulled open.

"Captain, you must come at once!"

"Yes soldier, I already thought so with that alarm that you hear so loudly. I assume the Chakras are attacking somewhere again?"

"Of course captain, and yes captain."

When the soldier doesn’t continue, Raidon asks while putting on his boots: "Which fort is being attacked now? Probably another one of the furthest forts, maybe fort 1?"

"Well no captain, that's the problem. A small group of Chakras has slipped past the forts somewhere and is now causing mischief behind our lines."

"Shit, that sounds worse than. Tell Captain Morris that he and his cavalrymen have to get ready, I will get there as soon as possible."

The afternoon is coming to an end when Morris finally returns. He is covered in soot and blood.

"What happened Morris, did you eat roasted Chakanen on the way back?"

"Ha ha, very funny, Raidon." Morris sighs wearily. "We can't go on like this. I lost three men again. This group got it in their heads to try and start as many fires as they could. Fortunately, it is not the middle of summer, because then it would have spread across the plains. Thanks to the winter rains, the fires were contained to the farms they burned."

"I know it’s difficult Morris, but as long as the regular troops are not back, there is not much else we can do."

"Then we have to come up with something to reduce the pressure. In this way, we can never stand our ground. A few more such attacks, and I won’t have enough cavalrymen to stop them. The forts also barely have enough men to keep it up."

"Well let's start making a plan. You go have a bath, I will see you in my tent later. I will provide a bottle of wine and some food."

"Seems like a plan to me."

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"Gareth, we've been searching for days in those musty old books. Can't we go back to work in the forge?"

"And then what, Andre?" Gareth replies, "Every time we make a part for a harness, it disintegrates. I'm not going to make all that junk for nothing. That is not only a waste of time, it also costs us a lot of coal that we cannot easily replace. So until we know the right way to bless the parts, we’ll keep searching."

Andre and the others groan when they hear this answer. Together they dive back into the dusty books. While his acolytes are busy with books about the blessings, he himself is searching for a handbook for the priests. There is still so much he needs to know before he can really feel like a priest of Mithras.

"GARETH!" it suddenly sounds through the forge and the attached chapel.

With a deep sigh, Gareth puts his book down again. That will be Brandon again, he thinks.

Indeed, he sees the broad captain standing in the forge. "It's a good thing that only priests and acolytes can enter the chapel here. Otherwise we would be distracted even more often than we already are," he murmurs in front of him.

"What did you say?" asks Brandon.

"Nothing important, captain. I'm actually happy to smell fresh air. Shall we go for a walk?"

"Hmm," Brandon hums, "I breathe that cold air all the time. But I understand that you don't get around to that. How does it go with those spells?"

"They're not spells, you know that. But to answer your question, no, we still haven't found out why we can't bless new parts. Nothing is written about breaking, creasing, dents or other defects after blessing."

"Well I hope you find something soon. I have over two hundred recruits training with sandbags instead of real harnesses! That’s okay for the short term, but when they are ready to be promoted to soldier, they will still have to get used to a real harness. As you know yourself, it is quite a difference to live with or without armor. Those sandbags will help a bit, but whether it is of much use we’ll have to see."

"I know, I know. We do everything we can, but it is not easy. There are dozens of books in the chapel, not to mention the library. We have to be very lucky to find the missing piece of information."

Brandon suddenly looks at him in amazement. "What do you mean by lucky? Don't you remember how Raidon found out he was the boss in the beginning? Didn't you try to ask Mithras for advice?"

With a jerk, Gareth stands. "That I didn't think of that myself! I have to try it!"

Brandon starts to chuckle, "and he calls himself a priest. Go and see what Mithras has to say about this."

Without looking back, Gareth quickly returns to the forge. Once there, he calls the acolytes together.

"Guys, come here. Brandon had an idea, which we should have thought of earlier. We are going to ask Mithras for advice."

When everyone has gathered around the altar, Gareth begins.

"Oh Mithras, god of legions, please hear us." After a moment of silence, he continues: "Oh Mithras, help us in our need. Our knowledge is insufficient to finish your creations. Please help us with the knowledge to make new harnesses. Our colleagues desperately need these, both our newest colleagues during practice and our colleagues and friends in the war. Oh Mithras, please help us."

For a moment, everyone holds their breath. However, when nothing happens, the acolytes start to become restless. Then Gareth suddenly sees something out of the corner of his eye.

When he turns around, he sees that the book he had been reading before Gareth called him is starting to light up. He almost stumbles in his haste to the lectern with the book. After browsing for a while, he arrives at the glowing page.

The acolytes look at him with excitement. But when Gareth's face clouds over, they start to lose hope.

"This is a piece I've read before. It simply says that a priest must perform the blessings." Gareth exclaims indignantly. "We did that every time!"

However, one word keeps lighting up a little longer. "Why does the word 'priest' keep lighting up?" He asks the others.

Immediately, the word starts to become less bright, and begins a page further down the book lights up. Gareth quickly turns the pages. The page is almost at the end of the book. Gareth reads aloud:

"To attain the rank of captain-priest, or an accomplished priest, the sergeant-priest must know the first three books of knowledge, have spoken the first three oaths of the priesthood, and taken the first step on the road to enlightenment."

"Well, at least we know what the problem is," Andre says first, "none of us is a real priest, not even you, sergeant."

"You're right Andre, but what can we do about it? Those books of knowledge aren’t a problem. They will be here among the others. I assume that those oaths are also somewhere. But what is the road to enlightenment? I've never heard of that."

The others shake their heads. No one knows what that means. Only Andre suddenly starts laughing.

"You know, Gareth, this means you still have to spend your time with your nose in those dusty books, but we get to play with fire in the forge. Then when you have found that knowledge, you can bless everything all at once."

Gareth lets out a deep sigh. "You're right Andre, but you understand that you guys are the ones who have to hear Brandon’s whining. Those recruits of his may as well start wearing armor that has not yet been blessed. His problem was mainly about the weight and getting used to moving in them."

Andre's smile freezes on his face. He knows very well that the big captain will haunt them until they have finished those two hundred harnesses.