Heirs of the Enemy (21 page)

“How are you going to do that?” asked Sheri.

“I am glad you asked that, Sheri,” smiled Alex, “because you are going to be one of the people to do it. Consider this scenario for a moment. Suppose you and Wylan were to be traveling the same road as these colonels. Suppose with your naturally cheerful disposition, you were able to befriend these spies. Perhaps you could talk your way into traveling with them.”

“I could do that,” agreed Sheri. “What would I want them to believe?”

“That we are weak,” answered Alex. “Find fifty different ways to convincingly get that thought stuck in their head, and you will have accomplished a great deal.”

“We cannot have twenty-four couples just happen to join with each group of their colonels,” warned Prince Oscar. “That oddity alone would expose our plan.”

“Agreed,” nodded Alex. “Each set of colonels must be handled in a different fashion, but each situation must be controlled. We do not want them bumping into someone who will brag about how invincible the Red Swords are.”

“That is what the large collection of fairies is for,” stated Prince Oscar. “We will not only know exactly where each spy is at any given time, we will also be alerted when they are coming into potential contact with locals. We will populate roadside inns with our people. If they enter our cities, we will have a cordon around them at all times.”

“Is all of that possible?” asked the queen. “I mean, once inside a city like Tagaret, it will be hard to isolate them and limit what they hear.”

“It will not be an easy task,” admitted Prince Oscar, “but I will have the full resources of the Spiders at my disposal. I think we can do it.”

“That is good enough for me,” declared the king. “Let’s move on to the actual armies invading Alcea. The last time we met, we only had a general strategy against armies of unknown proportions. I think that has changed sufficiently to develop more detailed plans. Before I open this up for discussion, I must tell you that the Mage has sent a further complication our way. As if we weren’t hard put enough to survive these coming attacks, Egam has warned us not to kill too many of the enemy.”

“Are you serious?” balked Governor Mobami.

“He is serious,” frowned Jenneva. “While the request may seem ludicrous to some to whom the Mage is not known personally, I can assure you that we must not ignore his pleas. This does not mean that we will stop killing the enemy when we reach a certain number. It means that we need to plan a little smarter.”

“We need to increase desertions,” added Alex. “And surrenders, and anything else that causes us to win without actually killing all of the enemy. There is another totally unrelated reason for doing as the Mage requests. If we did manage to kill all of the Federation soldiers sent against us, who would be left to maintain order in Zara? The war would have destroyed a quarter of a million of their young men. How many widows and orphans would that add up to?”

“I am more concerned with having Sordoan young men survive the coming war,” frowned Governor Mobami. “I don’t want their widows and orphans on my conscience either.”

“Agreed,” sighed Alex. “All we are saying is that we must plan very cleverly. The fewer deaths on our way to victory, the better.”

“I can agree to that,” nodded the Sordoan governor. “Speaking of avoidable deaths, two of the Doors in Sordoa are within populated areas. There is a Door within an inn in Caldar, and another in Pontek. Are we going to evacuate those inns and cities, or let the Zarans massacre the innocent people?”

“If we evacuate those cities,” frowned Prince Oscar, “we will be revealing the fact that we know about the Doors.”

“I cannot sanction the deaths of innocents,” objected the king.

The fate of the innocents was an emotional topic and everyone felt a need to state their feelings on the subject. While the debate raged, Jenneva found her eyes drawn to the map of Alcea on the wall. She eventually moved away from the group and walked closer to the map, her eyes inexplicably drawn to Cordonia.

“You are looking at the home of the fairies,” chirped Prince Midge as he landed on Jenneva’s shoulder. “It was not far from Dani that the Mage restored our Father Tree, of course there was no Dani in our Universe. We only had ogres in our Universe. Dani came later when the Collapse happened.”

The fairy’s words were tickling some thought deep in the recesses of Jenneva’s mind, but she could not focus on it.

“I still remember the day I met the Mage,” Prince Midge rambled on. “It was the greatest day of my life. He was hunting for the Great Demon, Alutar.”

Suddenly the thought popped into the forefront of Jenneva’s mind and she grinned broadly. She spun around so fast that Prince Midge nearly tumbled to the floor.

“I want to hire all of the people in Caldar and Pontek,” Jenneva declared. “Or rather the king does.”

“I do?” balked the king. “What for?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jenneva answered excitedly. “Post large notices in both cities. Do it quickly so that the colonels get to see the signs. We are looking for tradesmen, carpenters, masons, cooks, porters, just about anyone.”

“That would include the entire cities,” stated Governor Mobami. “What are you thinking?”

“I am thinking that Alcea can use people with those skills, and they might as well come from those cities. The terms of the contracts will be a whole year away from home, but the pay will be equal to two years income. No further details will be provided.”

“Do you know what impact that will have on the treasury?” asked Prince Oscar.

“I don’t care,” the king replied quickly. “I like the idea. Prince Midge, get a fairy off as soon as this meeting is done. See that those signs are posted before the end of the day.”

“Darcia in Cordonia also has a Door in a populated place,” offered Governor Fernandez. “Should that be included in this plan?”

“Are there any others?” asked Jenneva.

“No,” answered Rut-ki. “There are two Doors in temples, but they are not within cities. There is also one Door in a private home in Paso. All the rest of the Doors are in barns outside the cities.”

“The private home in Paso is actually across the river from the city,” corrected Governor Fernandez. “The soldiers will not cross the river up there to get to Kantor, but the inn in Darcia could be a problem. I don’t remember which inn has the Door.”

“I know the inn,” offered King Arik. “I am the one who discovered the Door there. It is the northernmost building in the city. I think the Zarans went to great trouble to find locations for the Doors that would allow them to avoid a fight as they came through the Doors. That is why they mostly used barns. I suspect that they will not want to engage the citizens of Darcia, but rather move towards Kantor as soon as possible.”

“Let’s keep the hiring centered on Pontek and Caldar,” suggested Jenneva.

“Agreed,” stated the king. “I will discuss details of the hiring with Governor Mobami after this meeting. What is next on the agenda?”

“Dealing with the closest armies,” answered Alex. “We have agreed to harass and slow the armies coming from the farthest Doors. We must now address those coming from the closest Doors. Specifically, this means the Doors in Danver Shores, Chi, Darcia, and Pontek. Each province must come up with a strategy for quickly neutralizing the armies coming from these cities.”

“I do not feel qualified to make strategies,” interjected Za-chan. “I am a bureaucrat. My brother, General Za-hong, is better equipped for such talk. Perhaps he should be representing Lanoir in these meetings.”

“With all respect,” Bin-lu said softly, “Za-hong already has his hands full with managing Alcea’s largest army. Rut-ki and I would be willing to investigate the path from Chi and try to develop some surprises for the Federation.”

“Would you also be willing to try to meet the colonels traveling that path?” asked Alex. “It might give you insight into how to trap them.”

“We can leave as soon as this meeting is over,” agreed Bin-lu.

“I will work with Governor Fernandez on Darcia,” offered Jenneva.

Both Alex and Governor Fernandez looked questioningly at Jenneva, but neither of them rejected the offer.

“Sheri and I will be traveling with the group out of Mya,” said Wylan, “but we can travel with the group out of Danver Shores on their way back. Perhaps we will find something useful on that journey.”

“You want to be careful exposing yourself to two different groups,” warned Tanya.

“I have already thought that out,” smiled Wylan. “I plan to tell the first group that I am traveling from Mya to Danver Shores. I feel very confident that the two groups will meet in Tagaret before returning home. If we can establish a friendship with the first group, they will introduce us to the second.”

“Alright,” the king replied hesitantly, “but be careful. If they start getting suspicious, let them lose you.”

“It is not safe for me to be seen by any of the Federation colonels,” stated Alex, “but I am willing to help Governor Mobami with the Pontek solution. Should we all meet back here after the colonels have returned to Zara?”

“I think that makes sense,” agreed the king. “The governors need to return home to assign people to handle the misinformation campaign. The Zaran colonels should start arriving in a day or two.”

No one brought up any objections or questions, so the king adjourned the meeting. The king and queen signaled Alex and Jenneva to follow them as they left the room. The four heroes of the Mage walked silently back to the king’s study. As soon as the door was closed, everyone turned to stare at Jenneva.

“What are you up to, Mother?” asked the queen.

“Why did you volunteer to go to Cordonia?” asked Alex.

“And why are we hiring workers from Sordoa?” asked the king.

“We needed solutions for multiple problems,” smiled Jenneva. “I am just doing my part to help.”

“And just how are you helping?” asked Alex.

Jenneva grinned mischievously. “I am going to make Cordonia disappear.”

Colonel Donil rode alongside Colonel Hershey as the group swung off Blood Highway onto a wide, gravel road heading towards the peaks of the Barrier. The two men had ridden together the entire way to Camp Destiny and had become rather friendly. The road ended in a small military camp that most of the men assumed was Camp Destiny. Colonel Dorfan of the First Corps led the column towards the black-cloaks, who were standing with their backs to the mountain. Dorfan exchanged quiet words with the mages and suddenly a tunnel appeared between them. Most of the colonels murmured in surprise.

With the entrance to the real Camp Destiny revealed, Colonel Dorfan led the group into the tunnel. The tunnel was long and was well lit. It was also wide enough to handle at least two wagons riding side by side. Colonel Donil whistled softly in appreciation, and he was not alone in his assessment. Donil could tell by the reactions that most of the colonels in the group had never been to Camp Destiny before. Colonel Dorfan ordered silence until they were out of the tunnel, and the group fell silent. Colonel Donil let his eyes wander as he examined every bit of the tunnel. He saw defensive slits in the walls every thousand paces, but not much more in terms of traps. He turned around as he passed one to see how the archers managed to get behind the wall. What he saw was rather simple. A notch was cut into the wall of the tunnel, and a small tunnel led a few paces to the slit. Even though the access notches were on the valley side of the slits, they were too close to the slits to provide for any chance of escape if the archers were overrun.

The tunnel was over a league in length, but the light of the exit was visible for over half of that. When the group finally exited the tunnel, Colonel Dorfan called the Force leaders to assemble around him. He handed each of them a piece of paper, and spoke softly to them for a while. When their talk was done, the four Force leaders separated and called for their teams to assemble. Colonel Donil followed Colonel Hershey when he responded to the call for Force Targa. Colonel Tamora of the Second Corps was the Force Targa leader, and he frowned when he noticed that he had six men in addition to himself instead of five. He glanced again at the list and then noticed Colonel Donil of A Corps.

“You are not on my list,” Colonel Tamora said as he rode up to Colonel Donil.

“A Corps is not on anyone’s list,” Donil replied. “I was ordered to follow Colonel Hershey.”

“Ordered?” questioned Colonel Tamora. “Who gave you your orders?”

“A Corps is the reserve,” offered Colonel Hershey. “General Whitman told me to expect Colonel Donil to accompany me.”

Colonel Tamora shook his head and sighed. “I wish someone would have notified me.”

A number of wolf whistles split the air, and Tamora turned to see what the commotion was. A tall, well-proportioned woman rode up to Colonel Dorfan and spoke to him. Her long black hair hung loose down her back, nearly hiding the two-handed sword and the quiver she had strapped on. Her leathers appeared new, but not stiff, presenting a picture of perfection. Colonel Tamora looked around and realized that every member of the group of colonels was staring at the woman, each man hoping the beautiful woman would travel with his group. When Colonel Dorfan turned and pointed towards Colonel Tamora, the members of the other Forces booed. The woman turned her horse and started riding towards Force Targa. Colonel Tamora moved away from Donil to meet her away from his team. He spoke to the woman briefly and then signaled for her to follow him.

“Colonel Dukirk,” Colonel Tamora said loudly, “Cavanor here will be going through to Alcea with you. She will not be traveling with the team after we pass through, and you will promptly forget that you have ever seen her. Am I clear?”

Colonel Dukirk nodded.

Colonel Tamora ran his eyes over the men before him. “Alright, listen closely. There are two portals in each city, and each city is comprised of two armies. These are your assignments. For Team Danver Shores, Colonel Edding, you will be going through portal sixteen. Dukirk, you have portal ten, and you will be leading the team. For Team Miram, Shellard, portal twenty. Sawar portal two, and you will be leading the team. For Team Mya, Hershey and Donil, portal twenty-four. I will be going through portal six, and I will be leading Team Mya. Portals one through twelve are on the west side of the valley, lowest number to the north. Portals thirteen through twenty-four are on the east side of the valley, lowest number north. If you get lost, there are small signs on the main north-south trails.”