The commanders of the Spears of Redriver quickly found themselves back in the council room, sitting around the table once again. Tassos had returned as quickly as he could and joined them. Carthus sipped another ale, savoring its refreshing bitterness. For a moment, as everyone settled, there was a bleak silence aside from the scraping of chairs against the floor. The mute shadow stared at Carthus from beside the door.
"Let us begin" Carthus stared back at it until it disappeared.
"We have one squad under Ythara, one under Oro, and one under myself," Desen said with a sigh, "half a squad under Tassos, not yet armed and outfitted...and two squads under you, Carthus."
"Another full squad guards the headquarters, and another splits the watch and patrols on our territory...they have all been called in" Oro nodded in agreement.
"That makes just over a hundred spears, ready to march, " Ythara said, "plus I have archers and cavalry in an auxiliary force...another twenty men."
"There is another force of archers and cavalry between our patrols and the headquarters guard...maybe another fifteen men, so a total of nearly a hundred and fifty men" Desen added.
"And what do the scouts report about Cadan, what is his position? How many Rytari do they have on hand?" Carthus asked.
"They recently moved their headquarters from one villa to another, smaller but more easily secured...with a wall and gates," Desen replied, "we estimate they have close to three hundred warriors within the walls of the city, but they are spread out between different outposts...Cadan has maybe fifty or sixty men at the headquarters and I imagine that is where he will be."
"What is the layout of their new headquarters?" Carthus asked.
"The villa sits at a corner, with three direct approaches from the streets, and another approach from a back alley on the northside, we can have them surrounded quickly, the walls do not have battlements or parapets of any kind so they cannot fire at us from above, which will make breaching the gates easy enough...it is a simple assault" Desen replied confidently.
"You have seen the villa then?" Carthus asked.
"Aye, I have...and I have men watching it even now, we will know everything when we arrive" the Dwarf nodded.
"Then we split the forces and march to surround the villa, I will come from the south with the main force at their gate, Oro will take the east, Ythara the west, and Desen the back alley in the north," Carthus commanded, "are we agreed?".
"I'd rather approach from the west where I can see what is going on, my men can easily take the walls there and scale over to open the gates...I'd suggest Ythara takes the alleyway" Desen replied.
Carthus nodded and looked to the Bregiri warrior who nodded in response.
"That is fine by me" Ythara answered softly.
"Then it is settled, we march!" Carthus commanded, giving the men a slow nod. He watched as the captains gathered themselves and left the room, leaving him alone for a moment. He closed his eyes and listened to his breathing, to the sound of men preparing for battle in the common room, the horses being strapped to a wagon to pull a battering ram outside. After a long quiet moment, he stood and walked out into the bare common room, left abandoned by all save the innkeeper, who simply nodded to Carthus in respect. His way of wishing them luck.
Carthus glanced around the emptiness and then stalked across the room to step outside, leaving the Spears of Redriver Tavern behind, unsure if he would ever see it again. His own words rang out in his head as the shadow followed him through the doorway and down the porch steps, Either he dies...or I die.
He stepped past all the warriors gathered in the streets and raised his shield and his spear, slamming one into the other as he walked. The captains slammed their weapons and shields as they followed, and their squads took up after them. They did so until the end of the block, stopping only after Carthus stopped, and continued the silent march through the otherwise empty city streets.
YOU ARE READING
Spears of Redriver
FantasyCarthus, a young orphan trained to be a warrior like his father before him, is considered to be one of the best Maeli in his clan. However, he is forced to run for his life, along with two of his closest friends, for winning a sanctioned duel. They...
