WARLORD Chapter 8
- "She'll ask for more troops." said Wantrao. "The Hadyks are doomed, and we'll be next."
- "Does this change our plans?" asked Armene.
- "No. We still take Goldenrod as quickly as possible. Even if we can't benefit from having another production centre, we can deny it to our enemies."
- "For as long as possible." added Wantrao.
- "It's a strategic location. It shields Jacaranda, and partially covers both Ivy and Hyacinth. It gives us a central position, too."
We had ridden out to join the main army, halfway to Goldenrod. My four bodyguards were with us, plus Luth. It wasn't a very large officer corps, so I had to do something about that immediately.
The troopers were waiting for us, in orderly ranks, creating a sort of avenue for us to ride through. The moment we came abreast of the first two units, they started cheering.
There was nothing I could do but grin and bear it. And salute. I did a lot of saluting.
We spread the word, asking every unit in the main army to choose one representative, and had them meet me just outside the camp. I couldn't address all 14,000 troops that were here, but I could just manage a crowd of 140.
- "Every unit is to elect its own officers." I told them. "You know better than I do who is best suited for positions of responsibility. People with talent. People you trust, and have confidence in. That might be you, or it might be someone else."
- "What title should we give them?" asked one tall woman.
- "Captain, for the first officer in the unit. Give them two lieutenants, to assist or replace them at need. Each squad of ten should have a junior leader. Call them corporals."
We dealt with supply issues fairly quickly. They still had food for another five days. Once we captured Goldenrod, I could use its Touchstone to replenish our stocks of food and water. I also tackled the subject of camp sanitation and latrines, because Wantrao had been right. Fourteen thousand soldiers do a lot of shitting.
But I also had to tell them the truth.
- "You're all people, and so are the servants. There are no more Graham peons. That's the good news - but it's also the bad news. There won't
be
anymore Graham peons. I can't create people from a Touchstone. That means that... after this turn... we won't be getting any reinforcements. We have to win the war with what we have now."
I didn't conceal the fact that we were going to be seen as heretics by the other families. Outlaws. Outcasts. It wasn't a concept they were familiar with, but they got the idea.
- "We're still with you, Lord." said another soldier. I recognized him; he was another Nosey.
- "Thank you, Nosey. But let's stop calling me 'Lord'. I'm just a person, like you. 'General' is my rank. Other than that, I'm just Daniel."
I sent them off to organize the elections of officers. Then I called it a night. Sleep when you can, the old soldiers say. If the other turns were any indication, I might have to go without in the very near future.
Turn 5 began just before dawn the next morning.
***
We marched for Goldenrod, and on the way learned something about an army made up of people rather than peons. I had expected that we would be slower, because peons didn't get tired, and didn't have to stop for lunch. But our people moved faster. They marched with purpose, and rose to the occasion. It made the former peon army look a collection of dawdlers out for a stroll.
The troopers sang as they marched, which helped them keep the pace, and also kept their spirits high. When one unit stopped singing, to catch their breath, two more units picked it up.
Soldiers called out to me when they saw me. Not all of them, obviously, but enough that I spent a lot more time answering, saluting, and waving.
We surrounded the city. It wasn't at all difficult to see that the walls were very thinly manned. It appeared that the Hadyks had built forces here and then immediately moved them to Dahlia. Had they abandoned Caladium as well, since it was likely to be the first place attacked by the enemy coalition?
- "Makes sense." said Luth. "Rather than take heavy losses defending two cities, they can build up a stronger force in Dahlia. It also gets them out the way, so the enemy can confront us directly."
The storm of Goldenrod was completely anti-climactic. Concentrated fire from our archers kept the defenders' head down. There simply weren't enough troops to hold every part of the wall. Many of our soldiers reached the top completely unopposed.
The Hadyks and half-Hadyks commanding the defence didn't stick around very long. The result was never in doubt, and they left through the Portal long before any of our fighters got near them. With their escape, resistance ended.
There had only been two hundred defenders. Half were killed. The remainder, our prisoners, became people as soon as we took control of the Touchstone. There were a hundred troopers, and a thousand servants. They were utterly amazed. Our army was delighted.
We lost seven killed in the fighting. I would have felt the loss if they had been peons, but somehow it was much, much worse now. The fallen soldiers had only gotten to enjoy being people for a few days.
I used the Goldenrod Touchstone to create some new supplies for our people, and then set about getting to know the new captains. It was a process that I wasn't going to finish overnight, if ever, but there was no better time to start. I wasn't going to move the army until we heard from our scouts and our flanking forces.
The next morning, we heard the ominous gong again, followed by the powerful voice.
- "
The Shorrs have declared war on the Morcars
."
***
Our scouts weren't able to confirm what was happening until the following day. The Hadyks hadn't stirred from Dahlia, but they clearly had over ten thousand troops there. Meanwhile, there was no news of the Balabans. The Shorrs easily took both Eglantine and Caladium.
But we found out about the Morcars firsthand, because they came to us. Sudha sent them with an escort. We had ample warning that they were coming.
- "If they ask for your protection, it's customary to ask them to surrender their weapons." said Luth.
- "
Our
protection."
- "That may not be how they'll phrase it."
We waited for them just inside the city gates, with plenty of troops on hand, partly as an honour guard, partly for security.
The Morcars were partial to yellow clothing and trimmings, and most of them had blonde hair. Their leader was a very young woman flushed from the exertion of riding here - or perhaps it was embarrassment that gave her red cheeks. Her hair was partially piled up, behind her head, while much of it was allowed to hang loose, behind her neck and down her back. It was a style I'd seen before, on Lady Rona Hadyk.
- "I am Melanie Morcar, heir to the Morcar family." she said. "I ask for your protection, Lord Graham, against your enemies and mine."
They were fine words, except that she wasn't heir to squat anymore. Also, she'd been
among
my enemies only a day ago. Finally, Melanie had a raspy voice that reminded me again of Rona Hadyk, and she hadn't learned that a half-scowl doesn't qualify as a smile.
- "I grant you the protection of the Grahams." I said. "I must ask, though, that you surrender your weapons until such time as we have discussed the status of your family." Luth had briefed me on the 'rules', and I remembered what Rona had said when Lady Shorr and her family had come to us as refugees after the fall of Jacaranda and Ivy.
The Morcars had lost their last city, too, and their army, in its entirety. They now had to throw themselves on the mercy of another family. They could intermarry, and effectively join the Grahams, or they could offer to 'serve' as allies, in the hopes that we might grant them a captured city, and restore them to great family status.
Lady Shorr, at the mercy of Rona Hadyk, had chosen 'none of the above'. She'd gone and made a deal with the Balabans, instead.
- "We understand." said Melanie Morcar.
I invited the Morcars into our dining room. There were eleven of them, plus six half-Morcars and a strange little girl with glasses. Melanie introduced all of her family members, in a tone that simultaneously suggested that I should be impressed, even while it ticked me off. Then she rapidly skipped over the names of her half-kin, only to finally introduce Peachy Exel, the little runt in spectacles.
That name was like a delayed lighting strike for me. "You're the strategist. Wait - Peachy? How do you spell the rest? It's not your last name, is it? You spell it XL?"