“Meanwhile I will take my forces along the south flanking Sayuri’s forces. When we get here,” he pointed to the south eastern side of the city, “Then we will begin to move toward the center of the city.”
“That’s pretty simplistic,” Carlin said grunting.
Kenneth looked annoyed. Pointing to the model at the three spots he had designated for the three Houses, “Once you all hit your correct positions, we will begin to burn anything and everything we can. The buildings are made up of some kind of stone that looks like obsidian, it won’t burn. But furniture and whatever else they will have in the city, will. We will torch everything we can.”
“And that will accomplish, what?” asked Sayuri. “Wouldn’t it be best for us to move silently and draw as little attention to ourselves as possible?”
“In a normal battle yes, stealth is never to be underestimated, but once inside it will be nearly impossible for us to maintain secrecy for long.” He looked up at both of them, “Besides, one of the many weaknesses to having an underground city is there is no real way to ventilate the place properly.”
“We burn the indoor forests. The smoke from the forest fire will fill up the underground cavern and smother the Shape shifters,” Carlin said smiling.
“And while they’re coughing and hacking away, we can kill them at our leisure, after all, who ever heard of a vampire that needed to breathe?” Kenneth asked smiling.
“What about weapons? Communications?” Sayuri asked.
Kenneth turned toward the mountain, “Our weapons are with the truck I sent ahead.”
“Hold on!” Alexander barked from the Brandt side, “If this city is underground, how do we get in?” He folded his arms across his broad chest, “I don’t suppose you’re thinking about having us drill and or dig our way down to it, are you?”
Kenneth turned back to Alexander, looking at him out of the corner of his eye as he smiled viciously, “Leave that to me, dear Alexander. I’ve taken care of everything.”
The black-haired vampire did not seem impressed, but he didn’t say more.
Turning back to the model Kenneth addressed the two House leaders, “Make sure you stick to the roof tops. We have the advantage from there. The streets are built in very disorienting ways. The streets end in strange places and turns about at odd angles. Stay to the roof tops and avoid that. Don’t let the Shape shifters pull you down to street level.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“As far as communication, we can only assume that we won’t have any when we get inside the mountain. Sayuri,” he said looking toward the short woman, “You will have the farthest to travel. I will give you a flare gun. When you are in position, light it off.” He looked at Carlin, “When she does, that will be the signal to torch the forests. Once the forests are lit then we move toward the center of the city, burning and killing as we go.”
Kenneth looked up and addressed the gathered crowd as a whole, “Once we get inside it will be difficult to stay together. We all know the werewolves travel in groups of six. Therefore, do not go off on your own in groups of less than twelve. Use your weapons, but ammo will be tight. Don’t engage in hand-to-hand combat if you don’t need to. That will only slow you down and will only serve the werewolves, giving some of them time to escape.”
Looking back at the two commanders he said, “Have your people spread out as much as possible. The Shape shifters will be seeking you out, but once the fires really get going, they will realize they have been routed and try to save as many lives as possible by getting them out of the city. I want to minimize how many of these…shifters escape. I would absolutely love it if none of them escape, but I’m a realist. When we all get to the center, then we’ll see how many people we have left, and I’ll decide what to do then.”
The two commanders nodded.
Kenneth wasn’t expecting any resistance, especially since their respective House Heads had already given him their blessing. They would serve him if for nothing else than to serve themselves by wiping out the Shape shifter threat.
“Are there any questions?” Kenneth looked back and forth between Sayuri and Carlin. They shook their heads. Kenneth nodded to Brian, who immediately put his foot through the model and ripped the pieces of wood to splinters in seconds, the blocks and various things making the model were in a little pile on the concrete of the small landing strip. Brian then lit a match and threw it into the pile. The dry plywood and paper caught immediately. The pile burned down to ash within minutes.
“Shall we dance?” Kenneth asked.
The commanders turned towards their House members and upon a gesture from Kenneth, they all took off at a run. All except Alexander, he stood there staring at Kenneth doubtfully. Kenneth gestured to Alexander with a smile and this time the built, black-haired man did start moving toward the mountain. Alexander joined the group and was soon running across the snow powdered ground toward the white peak.
It had been a long time since Alexander had been able to run like this for such a long distance. He had to admit that the speed and the wind against his body were refreshing. He allowed himself to smile as he ran.
Within a few minutes they were passing the truck that had speed off earlier without them. The trees were making the truck slow down and maneuver carefully around their shadowy forms. Alexander smiled as he sped past the vehicle.
All too soon though, the group of vampires reached the tree line surrounding the mountain. Kenneth called them to a halt with an upraised hand. He turned and waited.
Alexander felt, more than knew, that he was waiting for not only the truck, but also the dogs that were in it. He asked himself again why Kenneth would need dogs anyway, why would any of them need dogs? Dogs were less than useless to a vampire. Their famed sense of smell was dwarfed by his own. His speed was far superior to anything living, whether it had two or four legs. On top of that, dogs needed to be fed, that cost time and money, neither of which he was ever keen on wasting on anything, much less a dog.