A few minutes later Kane arrived and took his place. They sat down and Wollfen remained standing. He addressed the men there.
“
I’ll get right to the point. Things are grave in the war. Kassandrea has fallen. The Isogorreans have the city. I can tell you that the majority of the population did get away, though the King and Queen are dead. The seat of power I am assuming will be in Oceania now. That’s where the majority of the people went.”
Wollfen paused a bit as the murmurs continued after the initial surprise of his announcement. Then he went on.
“
I can also tell you that an army of five thousand elves wait at Windere on top of whatever forces Earl Gerlach has managed to create during this winter. Also I have been given full access to the entire elven army. I intend on riding south as soon as I get back there, we will organize a coordinated attack on the Isogorreans. All I can tell you is to prepare in the meantime. Tell me Kane, how many troops do you have?”
“
We have about eight thousand now, but it could be as many as nine thousand in two weeks when training is done for the last lot.”
“
Then I am counting on nine thousand from you.” Kane responded strongly,
“
I will make it so.”
Wollfen looked about, they all appeared to be good men ready to do their duty.
“
I know things look desperate with the loss of the capitol city. But I can assure you that the Isogorreans will find that taking this country is one thing, keeping it will be something else altogether!”
They all cheered at his words of encouragement and began banging their fists.
“
We are ready! Bring them on!”
Wollfen was pleased, these men did not fear the prospect of defeat, in fact it was driving them on.
“
Alright then, I am going on to Port Volarus to organize a force to cut off their supplies, Kane.” Wollfen turned to him. “I will contact you as soon as I can. I’ll be leading the elven army.” Kane bowed his head.
“
We look forward to it.” Wollfen hit him in the arm.
“
Good man, Tell me, will Solynne come with us?” Kane nodded.
“
Yes, this is no place to bring a newborn into the world.”
“
Then you need to come see her off.”
He turned to his companions signaling for them to follow and they walked back to Kane’s house leaving the officers talking. Solynne was already packed and waiting when they walked in. Wollfen signaled the others to come with him and they moved to the kitchen. Kane walked up to his beloved and they held each other. Solynne had tears in her eyes.
“
I don’t want to lose you.” Kane wouldn’t hear of it.
“
I am not going to make my child a fatherless bastard before it is born. Anyway I want to see if I have a boy or a girl.” Solynne smiled.
“
You better take care. Otherwise I’ll ride up here to personally kick your ass.” They leaned into each other and shared a passionate kiss.
“
Get going before I decide to keep you here.”
Solynne reached down and grabbed her sack. She looked back over her shoulder as she walked out, Kane watched on and waved.
In the next room Wollfen and the other three were waiting, she smiled at them.
“
I’m ready.” Wollfen held out a hand.
“
Hold on and don’t let go.”
She did as she was told and they disappeared.
Lord Raz was doing his own thing taking some time off. It was his first hot bath in weeks. He had just slipped into the water when there was a knock on his door. He splashed his hands into the water in exasperation. Was there never any end to it? He shook his head in quiet resignation and then called out at the door.
“
What is it?” From beyond the door came the reply.
“
Wollfen and his companions have arrived, they have urgent news.”
Raz was curious, at this hour? Very strange indeed, he pulled himself out of the water and put a robe on. Coming outside he was surprised to see the five of them standing there. One very pregnant and the others wearing grand armor and weapons, it was quite a sight.
“
Good evening Wollfen, you have urgent news?”
“
Yes Lord Raz, urgent and grave news. Kassandrea is in the hands of the enemy.”Raz stood there gawping.
“
How can that be? Are you sure?”
“
There can be no doubt, Elven scouts have confirmed it.” Raz waved them to some seats.
“
Please allow me to get dressed then we can discuss this properly.”
He turned around and left them to wait while he dressed, it was the fastest he had ever donned his clothes in years. He came back out feeling much more civilized. Raz had time to think quickly too.
“
Sounds to me Wollfen like we need to make some inroads into their capacity to make war from this end.”
The statement surprised Wollfen, he hadn’t even begun to discuss it with Raz, but he went right to the point.
“
Yes, not only do we have to attack by sea once the ice melts, but also wage a more aggressive campaign by land too with your army that has been training.”
“
Agreed, I see what you are driving at. I suppose you will be organizing things from your end up there too?
“
Yes exactly, I will be at the head of the elven army when we fall upon them.”
“
Top stuff! Wish I could be there, well, I will do my best to be a royal pain in the ass for them from here, you can count on that.” Wollfen looked across to Solynne.
“
I have here one of my companions that needs protection. She is due very soon and I didn’t want her in the line of fire once the fighting starts. Would you be so kind as to give her sanctuary for the duration?” Raz didn’t need to be asked twice.
“
But of course, anything you ask.”
“
Good, well Raz, we are not going to wait around, you are up to speed now and as things develop you will be informed. Now we return to the elven lands to mobilize an army, we shall meet again soon enough my good friend.”
“
Yes, I am sure we will. I will be looking forward to it.”
The four of them said their goodbyes to Solynne who cut a lonely figure standing there as the others drew back. They all took Wollfen’s hand and were gone again. Raz looked at Solynne.
“
Hello my dear, as you may have heard, my name is Lord Raz, but you may call me Raz for short.” Solynne smiled.
LIBERATION
Weeks later Wollfen stood in the main hall of Windere in front of the elven and human Generals. He had arrived the day before with the majority of the elven army from the enchanted lands and with most of his forces in place it was time to make the final decisions on what to do. Wollfen looked about the room at all of them. They were hungry and ready for what would prove to be the biggest battle of the entire war. They were going to take back Kassandrea and break the back of the Isogorrean army. All he had to do was convince the human generals of his intentions, this speech was to be for them. Wollfen addressed the gathering of officers,
“
As you all know since the fall of Kassandrea, Commander Amdur, in cooperation with the local army under the control of Earl Gerlach, has been scouting the Isogorrean forces in and around Kassandrea for the past month. We know that they plan to make a major push to Oceania now that the thaw and subsequent mud has mainly dried out these last two weeks. We also know they are unaware of any of the elven military forces present here or the army I have brought.”
Wollfen turned to Commander Amdur at this point.
“
I can only give you congratulations on this part Commander for if the enemy had gotten wind of your own soldiers being here things would be very different. Why this is so important will become apparent as soon as I explain what I intend to do.” He went on, “The Isogorreans are amassing a very large contingent of forty thousand men to the western side of Kassandrea beyond its walls in preparation as we speak. We are positive that this will be the one to move west and attack Oceania.”
He paused for a moment before continuing,
“
Gentlemen, we are going to let them.”
There was a murmur amongst the crowd. Until this point there had been silence.
One of them spoke up. It was the most junior General of the three, his name was General Arafin and Wollfen noticed there were unspoken signals going back and forth between him and General Beowulf. Arafin was doing the talking but Wollfen sensed it was Beowulf he would have to convince.
“
I think what you intend to do is wait for the main army to move onto Oceania and then we attack Kassandrea. But what is the point of recapturing Kassandrea if Oceania falls? The entire populace of Kassandrea is virtually in Oceania anyway. I see no benefit to your tactic.”
The murmuring became louder as many of the human contingent of senior officers there supported Arafin’s opinion. Wollfen raised his hands for quiet.
“
Please gentlemen I have no intention of leaving Oceania to its own fate. We will wait for the main Isogorrean contingent to leave. About three days later we shall attack Kassandrea and deal with what enemy is left there. Once that is done we will go on to Oceania and attack the encamped Isogorreans laying siege to Oceania from the rear. They will have no true defenses to such a massed attack out in the open. They will be caught against the defensive walls of Oceania unable to retreat from our own onslaught.”
The murmurs picked up again and the men discussed Wollfen’s intentions. General Arafin as before put his view forward.
“
Would you really have us believe that we can attack Kassandrea, destroy the enemy and reorganize for a further attack on Oceania before it falls? To attack Kassandrea alone will take months. We all know that it took the Isogorreans almost five months to find a way in and then that was only because of a traitor giving away a weak point in the sewage system that they were able to take advantage of. That way in will no longer be available. The Isogorreans will have that covered for sure.” Wollfen waited patiently a moment for the murmurs to subside.
“
I understand your concerns gentlemen. It is also true that in every past war the walls of Kassandrea have never been breached. It can only be achieved by similar means to what the Isogorreans did. As you point out that weak spot will be covered now. I too understand all this. But I can tell you. When we march on Kassandrea, we will have a way revealed, it is the one thing I have been organizing since soon after Kassandrea’s fall.”
“
And what if you do find a way in? Do you think they will take flight like the Kassandreans did? There are twenty thousand Isogorreans still left within those walls. We are a force of thirty thousand yes, but they have the great advantage of their defenses in place.”
Wollfen looked at the elves. They were taking insult to the statement. In a stern loud voice he returned the challenge.
“
Let me assure you, the numbers are not all important. Of those thirty thousand we have here, twenty thousand are elven. I would happily pit them against any army three times their size knowing they would win. This is not a boast. It is simply a statement of fact.” Still the murmurs continued but they were more of discontent now.
“
You may be the Overlord of the elven army but you are not in charge of this human one. It is not for you alone to decide what we do.”
Earl Gerlach stood forward and spoke,
“
Listen, all of you! Wollfen here has been fighting the Isogorreans since the start of the war. His own lieutenant in the east was able to gain a great victory over an entire army group there. It was Wollfen who managed to get word to the Kingdom’s forces of what was happening in the south so early. Since then he has managed to destabilize the power of the sorcs too. Mark my words, without his involvement we would already be lost.”
Wollfen nodded to the Earl and saw the opportunity to reinforce his own credentials. He could see it would be necessary to gain their trust.
“
I can also add that I have organized the eastern army to cut off their supply route to the north here. In tandem with that I have also cooperated with Lord Raz in organizing his army of ten thousand south of Port Cholandra to march on them and keep them occupied with raids. His navy too continues to make inroads into their supply route from Isogorr. Gentlemen, all of this is being done for one reason only, these final major battles to be fought at Kassandrea and Oceania. We need more than ever to cooperate to defeat a common enemy.” The murmurs continued but they had no argument against this.
Finally General Beowulf spoke up and Wollfen immediately recognized that he had won the man over, it meant the rest would follow,
“
So what is it you would have us do?” Wollfen stepped forward to the table with all the maps on it.
“
I will send our entire army directly to Kassandrea but stop short of tipping them off of our presence. I want to keep the element of surprise. A small contingent of elven scouts will travel ahead of us looking for any scouts of theirs and eliminate them. They will know something is up but won’t know what. Also a second elven scout group will shadow the main Isogorrean army to Oceania and if something major happens that we need to know about they will be able to keep us informed via mind touch.”
“
That still leaves us with the question of how to get in?” Wollfen looked to the men.
“
Do not worry I will reveal that once we get there. For now I don’t want any possibility of word getting out of my intentions.”
They all understood what he meant, spies would be amongst them. In fact Wollfen didn’t have an idea at all. He had sent Vaughn ahead when they had arrived to make contact with whom he could to see if the local criminal element was still working out of Kassandrea. If so, Vaughn was expected to ask some pertinent questions. Wollfen just hoped Vaughn could get the right answers. Beowulf put his final stamp of approval on the plan,
“
Very well, as there is nothing else we can do that could possibly succeed in such a short space of time I recommend that we adopt your plan and begin preparations at once, we shall follow you.”
I thank you all, we will very soon take our country back.” The men cheered.
Wollfen left the meeting to allow them to organize last minute needs. They were already prepared having been warned of a major movement after Wollfen’s arrival. He let out a big breath, right now he just wanted a hot bath. They had been riding for over three weeks and the elves set a cracking pace. He felt worn out. Walking into his quarters he found Dark had already been using the tub and she stood by wrapped in a towel, she looked up and smiled at him.
“
You will want to use that bath my love. It is invigorating. The girls have already finished too, they are off to a tavern.”
As she spoke, Dark walked up and started pulling at his clothes to loosen them. He joined in and was stripped off quickly. Laying in the bath water the heat seeped into his aching muscles and Wollfen was finally able to allow himself to relax. Dark poured in another jug of hot water and he grunted in appreciation.
“
Thank you my dear, you are very good to this old wolf.” She pressed a finger to his lips.
“
Shh, just relax and I’ll wash you.”
He closed his eyes as her fingers started to rub soap on him. He felt himself drift as Dark began massaging his shoulders. One day hopefully in the not too distant future they could share this sort of thing with each other on a regular basis.
The next morning Wollfen was sitting on his horse having a final talk with the elven scouts. They were going to move off ahead at a faster pace to gather intelligence. They all nodded to each other and the elves left at a trot. Wollfen turned back to his own little entourage, Dark, Nightwing and Loranda were together. The three human Generals were with him as was Commander Amdur and General Gwindour of the elves. Generals Beowulf, Arafin and Kordon all stood at the ready. Wollfen looked to them and gave his orders to move out. They then turned and signaled the columns it was time. A number of horns blew and the columns began to move. Wollfen and his entourage sat there on their horses and watched as the soldiers moved past. In less than a week Kassandrea would be in their sights.
Vaughn had spent his time traveling around the taverns the day before they moved out looking for the right people. He needed to find a contact that would know of those that had originally operated out of Kassandrea before it fell. He knew there would have to be someone here. He had eventually found a person in the remote corner of the poor sector and after much discussion a meeting time had been made. The only problem was they wanted to see Wollfen himself. Vaughn had to go back to him and explain that the parties Wollfen were interested in would only meet him at their designated time and place. That was a couple of hours after midnight and Wollfen wasn’t impressed.
Nevertheless had he agreed to go. There wasn’t really much choice. So later that night they had arrived at the tavern only to be led away down some alleys and side streets until neither Wollfen nor Vaughn knew where they were. Then they had been ushered into a ramshackle building with the roof falling in. There they had waited until a man had presented himself. He was purported to be the gang’s leader and spent a fair amount of time in discussion with Wollfen. Yes he did know a way in and no he wouldn’t say. There had to be a price. That was something Vaughn wasn’t privy to, he had been asked to wait outside with the others, all he knew was that Wollfen had managed to acquire the man’s services and that they would meet again closer to Kassandrea when the time came.
It had proven to be a fruitful night. Vaughn could tell that things had gone well, Wollfen seemed a lot happier after that meeting. He was glad things had turned out as they did, if it had proved fruitless then the entire army contingent would have been wasting their time marching to Kassandrea.
Four days later Vaughn had been watching up in the trees near their path on the journey south and saw the telltale sign high up in the branches. They had agreed that a small red scarf tied in the upper limbs wouldn’t attract too much attention but would signal Wollfen and Vaughn as to where to meet the leader of the gang. He rode over to Wollfen’s side and spoke a few words. Wollfen looked up for a second then looked away again. Vaughn moved off of his own accord back to his station. After riding a minute or so more Wollfen turned to Dark.
“
If anyone wants to know, I have ridden off into the trees for a leak.”
Dark gave him a wink of understanding as he left. Wollfen rode far enough directly into the trees that he could no longer see the column and then doubled back. It didn’t take him long to find himself in a quiet grove away from prying eyes. There the leader of the gang was sitting quietly on his horse. He watched as Wollfen approached.
“
Good day Wollfen, I hope you have had a pleasant enough ride?”
“
Yes pleasant enough, but then the end of my journey will prove to be the real test won’t it?” The man agreed.
“
I didn’t want to give you the information in town. If I had, a number of my associates may very well have gotten wind and it would have been my life. You understand that what I am about to reveal to you is the greatest secret we have? It is the source of our wealth and once we lose it, it will be gone forever.”
“
I understand that perfectly well. It is why I agreed to your terms, they are extravagant but then again I understand it's value to you.”
“
Very well. When you get to within a half days ride of Kassandrea you will see a cliff face off to the left. There will be a cave in the base of it. It won’t be easy to find as the shrubs that grow at the base of the cliff are dense and the opening itself isn’t very big, but it is there. This is where you must enter.” The man produced a scroll and handed it to Wollfen, “You will find the directions written down on where to go once inside. There are a number of tunnels down there and if you take the wrong one you will be lost forever. The right one will take you directly under Kassandrea.” Wollfen sat there and then asked a question.