Kahveh Klatch

 

It was early afternoon, and the beginning of spring was coming to East Point. Buds were starting to appear on the flowers, and green leaves began to show in the trees. Edward 'Tanner' Hawkwood, Faolan the Red Wolf, and Sgt. Klug of the militia sat on the porch drinking kahveh. Klug had brought his warhorse to stud one of the mares, and they were letting the horses play the mating game.

 

'If you had told me I would not be disappointed when I didn't receive an ale, I would have said you were lying. But this stuff is good.' Klug exclaimed over the kahveh.

 

'Thank old man Worner for that', said Tanner. 'I am addicted to the stuff. If I go too long without it, I get ill.'

 

'Kinda like when I haven't had a woman for a week', remarked Faolan.

 

'I've never known you to go without a woman for more than one day if we are in a two horse town', remarked Tanner.

 

'Some of us aren't fortunate to be getting it at the house where we live. ', replied Faolan. 'I have to go to town whenever I feel the need to relieve some poor lass of her virtue', said Faolan in a mock tone of pitied whining. 'You get your dream woman. It's not fair.'

 

'I hardly call going to Madame's "relieving a lass of her virtue". Maybe helping her discover her lack of virtue. Not that there's anything WRONG with that. Besides, talk like that about a 'dream woman' will get either one us a fireball up the backside, and there will be nothing I can do about it. ' Tanner sipped his kahveh in a studied manner, and then started laughing hard.

 

'What's on your mind, Books?' asked Klug.

 

'Oh, some thoughts on military organization for the Frontier, kind of like our discussion at the Green Dragon months ago.

 

‘I remember that discussion. That was the day that the king was reported dead. It would be nice if we could have more reliable information about northern doings than what comes from businessmen who are more concerned with coin than the truth.’ Klug kicked his feet up.

 

‘Accurate information from the western borderlands would be good too’ said Faolan. ‘Keeping an eye on the Rios would prevent any attack from being a surprise.’

 

‘You’re both right, and there’s even more that needs to be done.’ Tanner refilled everyone’s cups with kahveh. This is what I have been thinking about presenting to the Frontier Council and the militia command. Tell me what you think’.

 

Tanner stood up and went into what Bexar called ‘the rambling wreck engineer’ mode. Only someone with an interest in what Tanner had to say would be able to follow. The average person would hear ‘swords..blah blah..blah…catapults..blah ….blah..sieze the initiative.. value of a silver penny….ale … shine of the moon’.

 

‘The first weapon to have at the ready is information. One needs to know what the enemy is doing. The Frontier has two potential invasion routes, the west and north. There is nothing to suggest that anything will come from the east and the south. I am not saying it can’t happen, but the north and west need to be the initial areas of concentration.

 

The threat from the north is pretty much a known quantity. Depending upon who the king is and the temperament of the lords, an invading force may be on its way to Brown’s Ferry and the south. This kind of thing will most likely not be done spontaneously, but rather it will be the culmination of actions that have taken time to develop. We’ll need men and women to go to the north and keep up appraised of the situations that develop in key cities. For myself, Anglia City, Bardstown, and Martin's Ferry seem like good starting points. Diplomats can take care of this, or rather persons feigning to be diplomats. Additionally, people who can pass for merchants and would have a reason to be up there would be useful. The ancients used to call them ‘spies’.

 

The threat from the west is best described as an unknown quantity. Faolan and I have seen the damage the Rios can do. What can be done to stop them, if they decide to give us the attention that they gave the Kingdom of Bexar, I don’t know at the moment. The first thing to establish is how far east they are coming. Since the western lands are more unsettled, conventional ‘spying’ won’t work. No, we will need people who can stay out on the wilderness for weeks at a time, monitoring the area for changes and movements. One of my books called this type of work ‘Long Range Reconnaisance Patrols’. My thinking is that such men would need to be able to live off the land, ride effectively, and be capable of not being seen. But above all, they must be observant.’

 

‘Well that sounds pretty good’, said Klug. ‘There’s no shortage of men who can live out west and patrol and get good information.’

 

‘And as to the north, you’d need someone who can bend the ears of the royals and fit in well with them. A true courtier’, said Faolan, trying to look very impressive.

 

‘You are both right. There’s no shortage of woodsmen and rangers. As to courtiers, do you think we could get The Gent to spy for us?’ Tanner looked at Faolan with a ridiculous grin on his face that was replaced with a yelp when a flying kahveh mug came sailing across the porch at him. All of the men had a good laugh.

 

‘Oh, don’t take it so seriously. This is one time where your, umm, relationship with Queen Anne might be useful. Besides, I don’t have a head for this kind of thing.’ Tanner looked at Faolan with an easy smile. ‘And as to patrolling the west, Sgt. Klug, that is better left to men other than myself. My idea of roughing it is sleeping in a cheap inn with beef jerky for dinner.’

 

'Yeah, and you're idea of living high on the hog is being sleeping in the same cheap inn, but having a decent bowl of beef stew for dinner, along with Olde Anglia 800. You'd try to squeeze gold out of a silver penny.' Faolan looked at Tanner sarcastically.

 

'mmm, beef stew. I wonder that's what Bexar is fixing for dinner.' Faolan couldn't tell if Tanner was being moonstruck about beef stew or Bexar. Maybe both.

 

‘All right’, said Klug. ‘You’ve figured out how to get information on the enemy. But what about actual defense? The Frontier won’t go for a large standing army; besides there aren’t enough people who subject themselves to that kind of discipline.’

 

‘Not to mention no one is gonna go for that kind of taxation. A large number of people who aren’t producing something tangible in the way of crops or goods will be looked upon suspiciously.’ Faolan leaned up against the post and scratched his chin.

 

Tanner almost spit kahveh out. ‘You are both right. Faolan, you really have been reading those books. Annah would be so proud. This may be the most pleasant thing of the week.’

 

Faolan smiled in triumph as Bexar walked by. She had woven a garland of early spring flowers in her hair. She smiled at the boys and gave Tanner a coy look.

 

‘Okay, make that the second most pleasant thing of the week.’ Tanner had this dreamy expression on his face, which would have been normal on anyone else. But it was almost comical, considering whose face it was on. Not even a new war machine would have pleased him as much as the sight of Bexar. Faolan started to snicker.

 

‘Shall we discuss more military items, or are you going to go and try to court Bexar and write sonnets that are worse than your singing?’ Faolan stamped his foot down to break Tanner out of his trance.

 

‘umm, ahh, errrr, where was I? Oh yes, military forces’, Tanner stammered.

 

‘Every sizable settlement should train its own men. If trainers are unavailable, then they should be provided. Most of these people live out in the country. They should be used to using a bow. So train them with archery to make them more effective. ‘

 

‘A good idea’, said Klug. ‘Most people own their own bows anyway. Train them to be more effective with something they are already familiar with.’

 

‘Exactly. We’ll turn a potential negative, namely the lack of good steel weapons, into a virtue, in that they will be skilled with the bow.’ Tanner sipped some kahveh.

 

‘Yeah, but someone is going to close with them. They’ll need some swords and steel ‘, Faolan chimed in.

 

‘True. And the most able of them, those that demonstrate the potential for skill with a bladed weapon, should be provided with one, along with a chain mail shirt.’ Tanner was going back into pontificating mode.

 

‘Furthermore, local forces aren’t enough. Militia are good at keeping the budget down, but a professional force is a must. I know, hell all of us know, that local militia men don’t fare too well against Red Legs. And they damn sure can’t handle anything like what we saw in the whispering wood. They have to have something to stiffen them up.’ Klug understood about the Red Legs, but only Faolan got the reference to the Underworld.

 

‘No, there needs to be a council army force. One part would be dragoons, men who can fight on foot or horseback. They’d be armed with the best swords and steel armor that could be afforded for equipping whole units of men. They would all have good mounts to ride. Tough, fast horses. Not necessarily as big as war-horses, and not necessarily as fast as those thoroughbreds out in the paddock. Somewhere in between. Every major town in the Frontier ought to have one squadron of dragoon stationed there. Perhaps there could be mobile units that could respond to hot spots.’

 

‘Okay’, said Klug. ‘That makes good sense. Knowing you, there has to be some kind of artillery involved. Let’s hear it.’

 

‘That’s the second part. I have divided it into two sections. One section is stationary artillery. Every town that builds a palisade fort should have copperheads or stone-throwing salamanders in it. Two ought to the job. The materials to build them aren’t expensive; it’s the know-how and the labor. Every town should send two competent carpenters or mechanics, preferably older, seasoned men. They can also serve as the crew. We’ll give each town a schematic and train them on building the piece. We could do it out at the proving grounds.’ Tanner scratched his back against the porch post.

 

‘I haven’t heard any mention of Sunfire. What are you going to do with that?’ Faolan inquired.

 

‘There are only two people competent to handle Sunfire in the Frontier that I know of. Worner and myself. If we are going to use it as a weapon, we need more people who can be trusted not burn themselves alive. We wouldn’t want any fiery apocalypses due to incompetence. No, we need to select capable men, and, oh what the heck, women, who can handle the stuff. They’d be part of second artillery force that was mobile. The first section of artillery was defensive in nature. The second unit would take the field with the dragoons and whatever militia forces were in action against invaders. Due to the cost of Sunfire, and the inherent dangers, I only see it being used in a major battle and the defense of major city like Brown’s Ferry.’

 

Tanner paused when Bexar came up on the porch. In a gentle mocking tone, she said, ‘Blah blah blah. Playing armchair general, again? The next thing you know, you’ll have little wooden soldiers out on a table fighting a battle.’

 

Tanner’s face brightened. ‘That’s a brilliant idea! Using little wooden soldiers to represent armies on a map. That would allow for a new level of insight and planning. I’ll have to get someone to carve me some soldiers!’

 

‘You’re so unbelievable! I make a joke, and you find what you think is a good idea in it. Your mind never stops. Besides, you haven’t mentioned magic.’ Bexar had a look of slight exasperation on her face.

 

‘Those are the fundamentals of a good plan. But she’s right. What about magic?’ asked Klug.

 

‘I don’t know much about it. It’s saved my life on more than one occasion. It would be good to recruit healers to the dragoon units. A certain number of healers for each unit. As to offensive magics….The only two person’s I know that can fight with magic are Annah and Bexar. Annah seems to be too busy politicking, or whatever the Gent and Faolan call it. Although if given a chance to fight, she’d probably take it. As for Bexar, well, she’s burned me pretty bad before. I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end again. Of course, she’s much nicer now than she was then, so her magic might not be as potent.’ Tanner’s faced turned into a grin.

 

‘You have until the count of three to apologize. If you don’t, you’ll be sorry.’ Bexar’s face had turned to one of a mother disciplining a child.

 

‘Now, back to the organizational structure.’ Tanner looked at Bexar with a smug smile.

 

‘1’

 

‘Command of the dragoon units would have to be given to men who will acknowledge Council authority’.

 

‘2’

 

‘These men should be experienced veterans, if we can find enough for the role’.

 

‘3’

 

‘Klug, you would know better than I how many are suited for command…hey what’s that burning smell?’ Tanner turned his head and saw his breeches on fire. ‘Yikes! I’ll get you for that Bexar!’ Tanner ran off for a trough and jumped in.

 

‘The little general needs to be reminded about his manners sometimes, all though he has gotten better.’ Bexar walked off with a smile on her face. Klug and Faolan started to laugh uncontrollably.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Side Stories, Tanner