The Hammer and the Anvil

 

An icy gust of wind bit into Tanner Hawkwood as he rode with the artillery on the road to South Gate. Faolan and a few others had gone to scout the enemy positions. They had been gone a few days, and now the Anglian/Frontier army was only a day and half from South Gate. One or two scouts had come back, and the word wasn’t good. The Underworld army was ranging anywhere from 10,000 men to 50,000 men. Tanner didn’t believe the upper estimates, but if the Underworld army was at least 15000 men, then there could be problems. Tanner had decided to wait until Faolan got back. If you couldn’t trust friends, who could you trust?

 

After another hour of movement, the army stopped for the day. Tanner made sure the New Frontier Army arranged itself in an orderly fashion. He gave orders to staff officers. They were the usual run of the mill orders. ‘Keep the men in line and don’t let troublemakers start anything with the Anglians.’ ‘Get the watches and cook fires going.’ As an added bonus, he told the artillery crews to be careful with the Sunfire, not that they needed to be reminded. Tanner prepared to go meet Lord Gahanna when he saw a rider approaching. It looked like, yes, it was Faolan.

 

‘Hello Red Wolf. How goes the scouting?’ Tanner noticed an unusual look on Faolan’s face. Was it concern?

 

‘Half men. Must be at least 20,000 of them. More ape-men than I’ve ever seen. Rob knows how many ape-men, and them some Underworld mage types. This is bad.’ For the first time since he had known Faolan, Tanner thought he might see some doubt as to victory.

 

‘Well, let’s go see Gahanna. We’ve got to figure out what to do. This situation won’t resolve itself.’ Tanner wheeled off in the direction of the Lord of Martin’s Ferry’s tent.

 

When they arrived at the tent, they found a table surrounded by horses. The guards let them through. At the table was Lord Gahanna, poring over maps. If the weather had been hot, the sweat would have been poring off his face. Tanner had been slightly surprised at the look on Faolan’s face, but when he saw worry on Gahanna’s face, Tanner was taken aback. ‘There are just too damn many of them’ he kept repeating.

 

‘Lord Gahanna?’ Tanner spoke softly, trying not surprise the lord and to give him time to compose himself.

 

‘Tanner? Faolan. Good to see you here. I was reviewing the maps, troops, plans….’Gahanna cleared his throat.

 

‘From what Faolan says and your face betrays, the numbers don’t look good.’ Tanner rubbed his chin.

 

‘No they aren’t. It looks like we’re outnumbered minimum of four to one, perhaps six to one. If it were 15,000 of them, I’d risk it. But these numbers are too great. We should consider turning back.’ Gahanna, for a moment, looked like a rabbit with a hound one him.

 

‘Turn back?’ Faolan said. ‘I hate to rain on your plans, but if we don’t stop them here, they’ll destroy everything from Martin’s Ferry in the east to the Great River in the west. They’ll keep going south until they go past Barrett’s Crossroads.’ The Red Wolf wasn’t angry, but he wasn’t going to back down, lord or no lord.

 

‘Do you think we can stop them? 5000 men, only 3000 of which are veterans. Against a slavering horde of cannibals backed by dark sorcery? In all likelihood, we’ll be crushed.’ Gahanna was now a bit on edge. Tanner figured no one had ever spoken to him like Faolan did. About time someone did, all though this might not have been the best time.

 

‘If we fight here together, there’s a good chance we’ll die. But it’ll be even worse if the army breaks up, and 200 men have to fight 10,000 half-men and Rob knows what else.’ Faolan gave Gahanna a hard look. ‘What do ya think, Books?’

 

Tanner paused for a few moments. The silence eased the tension. ‘Well, you both have good points. It doesn’t look good at all. I had figured we’d be fighting a few thousand Anglian fish mongers, as opposed to everyone in the Underworld and their master.’ Tanner moved to the map and began to review what was laid out.

 

‘The enemy’s left flank is to the palisade and Spearfish Lake. We’ve got three large groups of half-men in the front, and a middle row arrayed in similar fashion. Correct?’ Tanner looked at Gahanna, who nodded in agreement.

 

‘And in the rear, we’ve got the command unit?’ Tanner looked at Faolan.

 

‘Yup.’

 

‘What about the city? Tanner looked at Faolan.

 

‘Couldn’t tell too much, but it didn’t look like too much was coming in or out of South Gate.’

 

‘And the army outside? All Underworld types?’ Tanner peered down at the map.

 

‘A few humans. Not many. Mostly half-men. Ape-men to lead them. Wizard types here and there.’ Faolan rubbed his hands to warm them in the cold.

 

Tanner looked at the map for another minute or two. ‘Well, there are no good options. We are gonna be outnumbered here, no doubt about it. So the odds are against us. But, the only place that could hold out against that army is Martin’s Ferry, but eventually the ape-men would break through. No, it is here we must fight. We just have to figure out how.’

 

‘What are there advantages?’ Tanner looked at Faolan and Gahanna.

 

‘Commander Hawkwood. That’s easy. They outnumber at least four to one.’ Gahanna looked at Tanner like he’d asked the dumbest question that could be asked.

 

‘True. Do they have any others?’ Tanner looked back the two.

 

‘They are bound to have some serious magical support backing them up.’ Faolan said thoughtfully.

 

‘Yes, those are their advantages. Now what are their disadvantages?’ Tanner asked.

 

Faolan and Gahanna looked at each other for a moment. After a moment, Gahanna spoke. ‘They have put a lot of men in a small area. It doesn’t allow them to take full advantage of their numbers.’

 

‘Exactly.’ said Tanner. ‘In such an array, they will have difficulty flanking us.’

 

Faolan spoke up. ‘If Underworld magic holds true to form, if we kill their leaders, their minions might just explode. At the least, they’ll run for the portal and be in no mood to fight.’

 

‘True!’ Tanner exclaimed. ‘So we know what we have to do. Keep ‘em bottled up, and kill their command.’

 

‘Easier said than done’ said Gahanna.

 

‘Yes. But we are farther along than we were moments ago’ Tanner said. ‘If we could sneak up behind the command, we could catch them unawares.’

 

‘But riding around them would be no good. They’d see you before you got there’ said Gahanna.

 

‘Not if we got there by magic’ offered Faolan.

 

‘Do we have such power?’ asked Gahanna.

 

‘Arabella has many talents’ replied Faolan.

 

‘Two hammers, two anvils’ muttered Tanner.

 

‘What?’ asked both Faolan and Gahanna.

 

‘We engage them before they spread out. One hammer will be Faolan and whoever he takes with him against the commanders. The other hammer will be Lord Gahanna’s cavalry. It will hit the right flank of their army in the side.’ Tanner stared at the map.

 

‘I see’ said Lord Gahanna. ‘Try to smash them against the palisade. That’s actually quite good.

 

‘Books, who is the other anvil?’ Faolan looked his friend.

 

‘Your hammer will hit my anvil of artillery and archers and the remaining infantry. Gahanna, you’ll push them into the wall. If we coordinate well enough, we can hit them on three sides at the same time.’ Tanner looked at the two men. ‘They won’t have anywhere to go, and their numbers advantage will be negated.’

 

Gahanna rubbed his head. ‘This might actually work.’ We’ll have to coordinate the attacks for optimal timing. And we’ll need to do some additional scouting.’

 

‘Feel like a trip to the Underworld, Books?’ Faolan grinned at Tanner.

 

‘Not really. But I guess it can’t be helped. Besides, we have to figure out how to block off that portal.’ Tanner looked sourly at Faolan at the mention of the Underworld.

 

‘Then let’s go see Arabella.’ Faolan grinned at his friend’s discomfort.

 

Awhile later a smoky smell wafted on the air. Gahanna thought it smelled a bit odd. ‘Commander Hawkwood’s men haven’t exploded Sunfire have they?’ He was relieved when he saw Faolan and Tanner walk up. ‘What have you found?

 

‘About what we expected’ said Tanner. ‘Here’s what I think we should do.’

 

‘We’ll open with an artillery and arrow barrage to get their attention. We won’t start with Sunfire, but we’ll add that in once they come at us. The infantry will hold the line once the inevitable counter-attack begins.’

 

‘At the same time, Faolan and his crew will sneak through to the other side to hit the command structure. They won’t be expecting this, so it has a chance to succeed.

 

‘After the opening barrage of arrows and stones, Gahanna’s cavalry will hit the flank. Hopefully we’ll get some confusion and pack them into together. It’ll negate their numbers advantage. Half-men are not hard to kill; it’s just there are so many of them. But if they are all stuck in, we may have chance. I can’t think of any other way to do it. I’ll hold some Sunfire in reserve. If it looks like we are going to lose, I’ll throw what Sunfire I have left against the town. A fiery apocalypse may be our only way out.’

 

Faolan and Gahanna considered what Tanner had said. Gahanna broke the silence. ‘I think it’s the best we can do, all things considered.’

 

‘Who can I take with me? Maybe some Salamanders?’ Faolan asked.

 

‘No. Take the best combat mages the army has in it. You won’t have the time to drag a Salamander into place. I don’t want to think about Sunfire in the Underworld. Leave the artillery to me. You handle magic well. Get the best mages you can get. And pick the best men of the South to go with you. Eight to sixteen should do the trick. That one company, the River City Raiders. They are all my equal or better as swordsmen. They are not your equal, but they should be able to do what you need.’

 

Faolan ran his hand through his hair and thought for a moment. ‘We’ve got one mage who can carry us through, that understands the Underworld. Petra. But I’d feel more comfortable with a backup.’ Tanner nodded in agreement, and then spoke. ‘Who else could….Sheryn?’ Tanner looked at Faolan uneasily.

 

‘Yes. I wouldn’t ask it, but you know what is at stake.’

 

Tanner thought for a moment. A pained look was on his face. ‘You are right. I’ll speak with her.’ Tanner walked off.

 

Tanner returned in an hour. ‘Sheryn’s agreed.’

 

Tanner looked his friend over. Whereas Tanner’s expression had been serious, it softened a bit. ‘I just found her four weeks ago. I don’t want to lose her again. Bring her home safe, will you?’

 

‘No harm will come to her. I promise.’ The two friends clasped each other’s shoulder.

 

‘We’d best inform the rest of the lords what we intend to’ said Gahanna,

 

Tanner chuckled. ‘Yeah, let’s see how some of them take to being led by a Southron dirt farmer’s son.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

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