The Fallen World

Tatria - Part 1

"With Tatria gone, the rest of Ilandia will be, ah, theirs for the taking. My guess, though, is that they won't, ah, won't bother much with the rest of Ilandia. They'll probably take Seaton since, as our biggest seaport, it has considerable, ah, tactical importance, but then they'll head up to Rahm in an attempt to get into Belthar by the, ah, back door, as it were." He rose to his full height of five feet two and locked eyes with the High Prefect, staring at him with desperate intentness. "They must not be allowed to get past Rahm! You have no idea the damage that could be done if a sizeable enemy force manages to penetrate to the very heart of Belthar itself."

"So what do you advise?" asked the High Prefect.

"They will defeat us and they will get past us," stated Hurgis emphatically. "We have to face that fact. What we have to do is see that as many of the enemy meet their end here as possible, to reduce as much as possible the size of the army that will march on Rahm."

"And how do you propose we do this?" asked Dormon, shaking a little because he suspected he already knew the answer and he feared that the High Prefect would accept the tactician's recommendations in preference to his own.

"When we, ah, come under siege, they will send their undead to attack us, while the living enemies remain, ah, um, safely out of range of our fixed weaponry. They'll be willing to sacrifice as many of their zombies as necessary to take us, knowing they can replace them by, ah, re-animating our bodies, but it's the living Shadowsoldiers we have to destroy. Kill the living, the wizards in particular, and the zombies will have no-one left to, ah, control them." He paused to make sure that his next words would have the proper weight and impact, not that there'd be much doubt about that. There wasn't a single man around the table who wasn't hanging onto his every word.

"First of all, the city must be completely, ah, evacuated, leaving just enough men on the walls to give the impression that it is still fully manned and defended. Five thousand men should be enough for this purpose. With the city's magical, ah, defences, they ought to be able to hold out for a few days at least, and we can leave them with a few magical weapons so that the enemy thinks there are wizards among them. The city's entire civilian population must be evacuated. Not just for, ah, humanitarian purposes but to ensure that the enemy cannot make zombies of them.

"Meanwhile, the remainder of the Ilandian army will, ah, melt into the countryside around Tatria and wait. Tatria will come under siege, with the undead pressing in close and the living further out, many of them probably looting and, ah, pillaging surrounding towns and villages as is their, ah, their wont. We wait a few days to make sure they suspect nothing and are completely at ease, and then we fall on them. Hit them hard and fast. Kill as many of them as possible before they're able to organise themselves and fight back."

He paused again. His next words were very hard to say, and he had to take a sip from a glass of water before he was able to continue. "There will be no retreat when, ah, when the battle begins to, ah, begins to go against us. If we withdraw, it will be zombies who pursue us, not living Shads, and killing zombies is pointless. We must stay and fight the living, kill as many of them as possible before we are all, ah, killed in turn."

There was a stunned silence around the table, and it was several moments before anyone spoke again. "Are you suggesting..." began Dormon, thinking he must be dreaming. It couldn't be real! This was even worse than he'd feared! "Are you suggesting that we send our entire army to the slaughter? That we order them to, to..."

"It won't be necessary to order them," replied Resalintas. "Once we explain the situation to them, they will volunteer."

"Same thing," said the General, who knew what the old priest could do when he turned on the charisma. The men were terrified of him, but they'd follow him to the Pit itself if he led them. "Don't you think their loyalty to you gives you a certain responsibility towards them, like not leading them to the slaughter like a herd of cattle?"

"Our responsibility is towards all civilization," pointed out the old priest, "and it is sometimes necessary to make certain sacrifices for the greater good."

"Certain sacrifices?" exclaimed the General in outrage. "By the Gods, I wish you could hear yourself speak! These are men you're talking about, not pieces on a klann board!"

The High Prefect raised a hand for silence. "Mr Hurgis," he said softly. Too softly. "If we did as you suggest, how much damage could we do to the enemy?"

"We now know, ah, that a hundred thousand living Shadowsoldiers entered this country," replied the tactician. "Many died at Fort Battleaxe, but we must count on them still having at least eighty thousand men. If we're lucky, though, no more than twenty thousand will, ah, march on to Rahm."

"And can the Rahmin deal with that many?"

"I've, ah, got no idea. For, ah, security reasons, the details of the Rahmin defence plan are not known to me, but we know that the Emperor ordered most of the Rahmin army to, ah, go to Bula Pass to reinforce Fort Dirk and the other fortresses."

The High Prefect nodded slowly. "You're always telling everyone how an ordered, disciplined army can rout a much larger force of barbarians and conscripts, and that the Shadowarmies are in a permanent state of barely controlled anarchy. Is there any chance that we could actually defeat them in an open battle? So long as we have the Sceptre of Samnos they can't commit too many troops to any single battlefield. They won't want to risk it being wiped out by the Sceptre, so they're holding back the greater part of their army until all three of the Sceptre's charges have been used. Things'll get bad for us then, but until then couldn't we defeat them in the field?"

"That would, ah, require a miracle that we simply cannot count on," replied Hurgis. "As far as, ah, discipline is concerned, they are indeed weaker than us and we could easily defeat an army considerably larger than our own, but they simply outnumber us by too great a degree."

The High Prefect frowned. "Let me see if I understand this right. We cannot defeat the army that is marching against us, the most we can do is reduce their numbers by fighting them in the field, sacrificing ourselves in the process, and even if we do this there will probably still be so many of them left that they'll be able to overrun Rahm. Is that right?"

"I didn't, didn't say they'd be able to overcome Rahm, I said that they might still be able to do so. Even now, the country is not completely, ah, undefended."

"All right, but the fact remains that nothing we can do may be able to save Rahm. Correct?"
.

"Yes, Sir," replied the tactician.

"Well, in that case, I think we ought to be thinking of our own defence. With all due respect to your abilities, Mr Hurgis, I think your projections are a little pessimistic. This is a very strong, very well defended city, and I can guarantee that the enemy will pay a very high price when they get here. Isn't that right, General?"

"Yes, Sir!" agreed Dormon, immensely pleased and relieved that the High Prefect appeared to be coming down on the side of sanity and reason.

"But Sir," protested Resalintas angrily, "if Rahm..."

"I am the High Prefect of Ilandia, not Rahm! The Emperor put me in command here, and I will not betray his trust in me by giving this city to the enemy!"

"I think the, ah, Emperor would want you to think of his safety," said Hurgis. "What's he going to, ah, think of you if the enemy gets past us, gets through Rahm and marches right up the Avenue of Kings to his palace in Tara?"

"They may not get past us," replied the High Prefect. "You yourself said we could hold out for a month, and I think we can hold out a hell of a lot longer than that. I know this city a lot better than even you do, so my estimate is likely to be a lot more accurate than yours. A.nd even if we do hold out for only a month, that still gives plenty of time for more reinforcements to come from the shae nations."

"I doubt there will be any more help from them," said Resalintas. "Reports coming in say that the fell men have launched a massive offensive against them to take advantage of their current weakness. There is even a chance that they will recall the men they've already sent us."

"Enough!" shouted the High Prefect in fury, jumping to his feet. "I will hear no more of this! I have made my decision, and that decision is final! This meeting is now over and you will address yourselves to the defence of this city. Is that understood?" He marched out of the room without waiting for an answer, followed by General Dormon, smiling in triumph.