Memoirs of Kitty Siam – The Southern Front.
It had been a month since the planning session and the meeting with the Prince. The weapons we had planned for were coming in to the castle much faster than we had anticipated. Since the fall of Na'Tal there had been a steady stream of refugees into Kreet and those that had the needed skills or were willing to learn the needed skills were transported to Grimsod Shire and put to work helping with our defense.
There was no shortage of refugees and the ranks of our military and mounted units swelled greatly. Though the Ishtan did cross our border and easily routed the army, it was a preemptive strike. From what the refugees told us, the Ishtan had began a campaign of genocide and were putting to the sword anyone that could be easily identified as not being Ishtan. Being that the Ishtan had dark brown skin, their victims were easily identified and dispatched. They were taking great pains to eliminate any natives of Na'Tal and we began to fear that the same would happen in Kreet should the Ishtan swarm north.
The Kreetin army at the border was destroyed easily and not many of the soldiers made it back alive. The few that had made it as far North to Grimsod castle told the story of how the King had fallen valiantly in battle. Many confirmed that he was mortally wounded but even through wounded he fought until he could do so no longer. Many of the soldiers lost their lives trying to recover the King's body but their soldiers were much larger and more powerful and the King's body was lost to the enemy. Prince Vortak informed me that it was inexcusable that the body of the King was not returned per the code of honor that most civilized nations on this planet had agreed upon.
Our defense preparations were going well, and the weather was cooperating. When I say that the weather was cooperating, I mean that it was getting terribly cold and on occasion we would have deep snow. Our guess was that the Ishtan would not venture this far north in the winter as they were a tropical people and not prepared for the Kreetin winter. The weather in Na'Tal was a much warmer and without snow as it was rare when the cold weather stretched south beyond the Ya'Tel mountain range that formed a natural boundary between the two countries.
We were thankful for the time that the winter was providing for us and allowed us to increase the size of our army, to train our archers both stationary and mounted, and to construct and deploy more weapons for defense inside the castle. This was bitter sweet though as I had hoped that the Ishtan would find themselves camped outside the castle walls when the temperature dropped below freezing and the first foot of snow fell on them. This changed our plans and forced us to drop the Stalingrad defense model where we would gain the winter weather as an ally. We did however still intend on using the scorched earth tactic to deny them food and shelter in the spring. The fields to the south would not be planted and more of them would be flooded by our people and by the heavy spring rains that would follow the winter.
Also we embarked on a new plan throughout the winter and started littering the fields we did not flood with caltrops. Farmers with wagons loaded with the tiny metal spikes would ride through the fields and shovel these little area denial devices by the thousands from their moving wagons in each field in the hope that when the Ishtan move through the fields to set up camp, their feet would be punctured by the sharp little iron devices.
We did everything we could to prepare for the invasion that would come in the spring. We went out and scouted places to stash arrows and rations so that when our cavalry's harassment of the Ishtan began, we would not have to return to Grimsod Castle to resupply. One of the caves we left our supplies in was about a hundred feet below the cave that I used to call home on the very same cliff. While we were camped out there over night I secretly made my way up the cliff face by winch and retrieved a few of my little gadgets and goodies that I thought might be helpful.
The ranks of our archers were growing and even though it took years on Earth in ancient times to equip and train a corps of archers, we had to do it in much less time and the Kreetin people were quick learners. We found out that the women learned to use the bow quickly and turned out to be better riders than most of the men. I was surprised that for a male dominated society, there were very few problems created by the women taking Lieutenant and Sergeant positions in the cavalry units.
Once we were sure we were proficient in our archery and riding skills we split our units up and sent them out in small groups of fifty or so. We would head south and cross into Na'Tal to harass the Ishtan. We did our best not to force a major confrontation and we chose our battles well so that we could descend quickly on our enemy dispatch them and leave no survivors to tell others of our existence or our tactics. We would also retrieve our arrows so as to leave the Ishtan guessing as to the type of weapons we were using.
From time to time we would rescue some of the Na'Tal civilians from the Ishtan death squads when the tactical conditions were favorable. We wore no uniforms, no insignia that could identify us as being from Kreet. I wore my battle suit as always, and the rest of the group adopted black outfits as well. The civilians we rescued told us that there were many rumors about us going around and that the Ishtan army was doing their best to track us down, which was pretty difficult for them to do on foot. They would take civilians captive and torture them for information, though they knew nothing about us. The civilians knew of the kill on site orders and knew they would be killed even if they cooperated.
Throughout the winter our mounted patrols moved deeper into Na'Tal and struck at the main body of the Ishtan army. As the ranks of our mounted archers grew to over a thousand, we set up a forward operating base in Lasee, an abandoned Kreetin town that was destined to be burned to the ground as soon as the Ishtan crossed the border again. We used our new base to raid deep into Na'Tal. Our attacks were mostly made at night, and a few weeks after making camp we crossed the border in force. Teela and I both commanded two brigades with three hundred mounted archers in each.
We descended on the town of Blotan, which was garrisoned by the Ishtan army. Our first pass through the town we launched flaming arrows into the tents and wooden structures. This forced the soldiers out of their quarters, and in most cases without their weapons. They were either felled with arrows or cut down by swords as we continued to ride through the town. When dawn broke over Blotan, there was not a single dark skinned soldier left alive to tell the tale of what had happened. As we collected up our arrows, we took count of the dead, and the total came to 3,127. We collected up their weapons and tossed them into a near by river, then we insured that every structure was on fire before we mounted up and headed back to Lasee.
It was now four months after our planning session and the ranks of our archers had grown to over two thousand, and half of those archers were trained to ride and had gained experience in battle during our raids into Na'Tal. We were now familiar with the enemy and we knew that they had nothing to counter us. As we patrolled into Na'Tal we observed that more of the Ishtan units were moving closer to the border with Kreet. The weather had broken and the snows of winter were melting fast. The attack that we had prepared for was about to come, and though we were better prepared for the Ishtan, they were still a superior army with superior training and numbers.
The battle plan was about to change as the invasion was close to happening. We split the mounted troops up and sent them to the smaller villages along the border. Their orders were to harass the enemy as much as possible without taking casualties. Once the Ishtan crossed the border they were to burn the villages they were quartered in and then fall back to next village to the North. From there they would harass the enemy's flanks and interdict their supply lines. They would find no supplies or comfort in Kreet so everything that they needed to supply their advance had to come from Na'Tal, and our cavalry would be there to steal it or set fire to it.
Defense of Grimsod was our primary concern and we rotated the cavalry troops out so that they could get some rest, and others could get more experience. Teela and I would go out as Captains of the cavalry from time to time to check up on our lieutenants, but mostly we stayed back at the castle now and waited for the main invasion force to cross the border.
During our time back at the castle my relationship with Prince Vortak grew stronger, and upon learning of the death of his father the King, he sought me out often for comfort. I did my best to fill his needs, but it was quite a balancing act to tend to my archers and to service my Prince. He offered me his collar and asked me to be his concubine and after a few weeks of him prodding me to accept, I relented with the understanding that his physical needs would come second to my military duties. Once that was settled I accepted his collar of gold then secretly replaced his collar with my wardrobe collar. Of course I duplicated the Royal seal so that no one knew the difference.
The reputation of our mounted archers had grown and even though these new units had been in existence less than six months, they had become known as the elite of the Kreetin army. We had seen more combat than any of the other units in Kreet, and we were also responsible for the deaths of many of the Ishtan's finest soldiers. Our job became more difficult as the months went on, and our enemy knew that the sound of approaching horses meant death was close at hand. The job of dispatching our enemy became more difficult as they began to build barricades around their camps, and even began camping in the dense forests where our horses could not go. The new tactics that they were using delayed their trek toward Grimsod Shire and gave us more time to prepare.
As the winter turned to spring and the spring rains had come and gone, the Ishtan army crossed the border in mass and began their march toward Grimsod. Our mounted archer units were now comprised of three divisions of five hundred each. From time to time we would send two full divisions out to engage the enemy in the open field and would leave one unit back at the castle for defense. We concentrated on attacking the enemy on the flanks and after a few weeks of our attacks they began to reinforce their flanks and left the center fairly week. I had asked the Prince and Lord Tausin to let us hit the center with all three divisions but they would not approve my plan. Their fear was that our units could be surrounded should the Ishtan close ranks and encircle us. I admitted that this was a possibility but still thought that the risk was worth it.
The day finally came when the Ishtan army could be seen across the river from the castle. The drawbridges around the moat were raised and the wooden bridges to the east and west of the castle were set on fire, which would force the Ishtan to come over the stone bridge directly to the south. Our catapults were wheeled out and placed in their predetermined spots inside the castle walls. Many types of projectiles were carted to the catapult crews. The objects expected to be hurled at the enemy ranged from large forty-pound boulders to ceramic pots filled with the same flammable chemical that Lord Hetch's men used to light the farmhouse on fire when they tried to kill me.
The mounted archers were recalled long before the bridges were burned. Their mounts were stabled and they took up garrison positions inside the castle. Unless needed for an emergency, all archers were assigned to the parapets along the castle walls in shifts. Should the Ishtan cross the river they would be under a rain of arrows fired by over two thousand archers. We were pretty confident that we could defend the castle as we watched from the towers as our enemy set up camp on the opposite side of the river.
It took the enemy quite a while to get their forces in position as our cavalry raids over the previous month broke their formation up into smaller units. The advanced units of the Ishtan began working on constructing two siege towers in the center of their camp. By the time that the third week ended the towers were about half the height of our castle walls. We knew that there was only one bridge that the towers could cross and our end of the bridge was covered quite well by our catapults, and from what we could see, the towers were being constructed of wood with no metal plate on the outside. This gave the advantage to our catapults.
On the fourth week of the siege a small band of Ishtan soldiers clad in brown leather pants and tunics made the trek across the stone bridge carrying a white flag. I figured that they were there to offer surrender terms to us. Lord Tausin was in command of the castle's defense and as the soldiers approached he sent out an equal number of infantry to meet them. The drawbridge was lowered just long enough for our soldiers under the command of General Mazz to exit the castle. As a precaution I ordered an equal number of our best archers to take up concealed positions on the castle wall to protect our troops in case this was a deception.
The two groups of soldiers met about half way between the castle wall and the river. As both groups stood facing each other, I could see even from a distance that the men of the Ishtan army were a good six to eight inches taller than our men. I could see them talking and a document of some sort was handed to General Mazz. Both groups parted ways and headed in opposite directions. Once our group was inside the castle, the drawbridge was once again raised. The General made his way quickly to Prince Vortek and Lord Tausin and presented them with the paper he was given. Teela and I were standing near by but were not invited into the conversation, but from what I could hear, the verbal and written message was in a language that neither the Prince nor Lord Tausin could read.
The General spoke up and said that he thought that from their attempted sign language that he thought that they wanted to meet with our leader at noon the following day. The Prince ordered that a tent be set up on the location of today's gathering and that he would attend with a squad of guards equal to the number of soldiers that accompanied the Ishtan commander.
