The Merchant and the Menace (39 page)

“I never considered the name,” admitted Kael. “I
guess that makes sense. They guard us against invasion.”

Ah, then how did such a force spread across our
world? Why does that force find itself deep in Keltar territory? Things have
changed since the days of Manreel.

So, the king granted Manreel’s request. A force was
formed under the young man’s command. Their tactics were pure. They remained
within the original borders of Zodra. They confronted any and all invaders who
crossed these boundaries. They aided their brothers in the army when it did not
pull them too far from their task of protection.

 Many of the General Staff scoffed at the force.
They charged Manreel and his Guard with avoiding the real fight. Manreel’s
force found more time to drill and practice. More time to improve technique and
plan. The general army grew into a ragged force of farmers and ranch hands
pressed into service by the crown. Manreel’s forces were polished and professional
warriors. Their skill with weapon and horse were unmatched in the kingdom. Time
and again they rescued members of the regular army struggling to escape the
borderlands with their lives.

Manreel’s plan was true genius. The people of Zodra
felt safe within their nation. The enemies of Zodra stayed clear of their
borders. The Keltaran remained true to the pledge of Hrafnu. Highwaymen and
robbers disappeared from the kingdom. A new threat to the north was emerging,
but was not yet known to the people. Within Zodra’s borders, things grew
peaceful and comfortable. Peace is a powerful tool, Kael. Much can be resolved
and accomplished with just the promise of a bit of peace.

The people doubted the purpose of their war with
Keltar. The Zodrian kingdom was rich and protected. The people were well off.
What did they require from Keltaran lands? The regular army grew to respect and
cherish Manreel’s guard. Guardsmen were the elite fighting men in the kingdom,
but they were also champions of peace. They pushed Zodra toward peace.

However, with any brilliant plan, there are always
those who will subvert it for their own glory. The General Staff was comprised
of such subversive men. They saw no glory in an army pledged to safety and
protection. They only dreamed of conquest and plunder. Surely the Keltaran were
hiding something in their frigid mountains. Rumors of gold and precious gems
circulated about the Zorim Mountains. These lands needed to be taken in order
to discover the secret of their wealth.

Others in the General Staff came from a family
history of soldiering. There appeared to be no honor in the plan Manreel
proposed. These men lost fathers and grandfathers to Hrafnu and his people.
Revenge held a razor sharp claw around their hearts. They couldn’t abandon the
fight merely for the safety and happiness peace brought to their nation.
Personal vendettas meant all the world to them.

Manreel's fame and wisdom grew. Many agreed with
his plan and saw the merit of it. The king himself issued fewer and fewer
raiding parties into Keltar territory. Life settled in Zodra. Fewer young
widows and fatherless children walked her streets. However, the General Staff
would not be denied. Luck, be it good or ill, found its way to their doorstep.

One day a young Zodrian soldier was separated from
his squad during a border skirmish. He wandered for days in an attempt to avoid
the Keltaran and return home. On the third evening he stumbled into the
entrance of a narrow gorge hidden by an overgrowth of brush and timber. He
followed a moonlit stream up the gorge and into a broad valley. The valley
stretched up into the heights of the mountains. At the far end sat a fortress
of iron and stone. Its broad face held a wrought iron gate. On either side of
the gate, heavy stone stretched to the valley walls. The frightened soldier
slipped back out of the gorge and eventually carried the news back to his
superiors. Keltar was a secret no more.

His news was just what the General Staff hoped for.
The young man brought proof that a Keltaran metropolis thrived in the
mountains. A keep filled with untold riches. King Debold was informed that the
area was well known for producing gems and precious metals. Earlier raids to
this area confirmed traces of such riches.

The General Staff also exaggerated the size of the
Keltaran stronghold. They portrayed it as a city whose only purpose was to
consolidate Keltaran power and build an invincible army. Manreel’s policies of
tolerance had allowed the enemy to secretly build its strength. The day would
arrive when an unstoppable Keltaran army of tremendous magnitude would sweep
from the mountains.

Manreel protested these notions. Surely the
Keltaran lived in such a city for centuries. When they disappeared from the
valleys of the Zorim, where did they go? If the city were constructed to
consolidate Keltaran power, it must have been achieved years ago. In fact, the
discovery of the city bolstered Manreel’s theory. The people of Hrafnu simply
wished to be left alone, peacefully penned in the small valley with their flocks.
They were harmless to the kingdom of Zodra. The best response was to leave them
be.

The king listened carefully to both arguments, but
the temptation of a huge source of wealth and power within his grasp was too
much. Amird won again and the Zodrian army prepared siege engines and weapons
of destruction.

Manreel only shook his head and promised to protect
the kingdom’s borders while the army was away. The General Staff scoffed at
Manreel and his Guard. The army would show the Guard what true soldiering was
all about. They would bring riches and power to the kingdom while ridding it of
its biggest threat. Vengeance for years of death and destruction would be
brought down on the Keltaran.

Hrafnu and his people were not passive in their own
defense. The Keltaran maintained a system of spies to monitor the activities of
Zodra. Do not forget that our peoples are cousins, Kael. Not all of my brothers
and sisters are born with the size and look of our patriarch. This was even
more apparent in the early days when Hrafnu still took in the outcasts of
Zodra. Those of our people who might blend in with the Zodrian population,
frequently journeyed to the borderlands and the capital itself.

The news was everywhere. The king intended to
destroy the Keltaran threat forever. The heroes of the Zodrian army pledged to
strike a secret fortress. They intended to stab deep into the heart of Keltaran
territory and reduce this stronghold to rubble. They would drag the monster
that spawned this race from his city and execute him for his crimes against
Zodra. The Zodrian kingdom would move into the mountains and never again fear
its Western boundaries.

Hrafnu heard news of the construction of siege
engines, and the imminent battle. As always, he hung his head in sorrow, but
only for a moment. Years of battle and loss hardened his heart. He no longer
wept for the losses of his enemy. He no longer considered the Zodrians as blood
of his blood, and children of Avra. He was obliged to protect his people.

Hrafnu took council with his remaining sons and
grandsons. All agreed. This Manreel and his Guard had held out a hope for
peace. Hrafnu had prayed that the man’s words were heeded. However, now that
they were disregarded, a problem arose for the Keltaran. The partial peace that
lasted over the last decade allowed the Zodrian army to bolster their number.
The Zodrians commanded an army the likes of which Hrafnu and his people never
faced. This army was aimed at the heart of Hrafnu’s land. They marched toward
Keltar’s women and children, its flocks and fields.

 If the Keltaran harassed the Zodrian army during
its approach, they were sure to damage the Zodrians, but not stop them. If the
Keltaran were to meet the Zodrians in open battle at the foot of the mountains,
they would surely perish, overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Hrafnu grew bitter over the years, but not stupid.
His only defense had been and always would be the blessed winter. Within weeks
the first bitter blasts from the north would arrive. Howling winds and ice
storms would blow down the valleys. No tent, blind, or tree line would offer
protection from the icy hand of the North. Any army on the road at this point
would be subject to the harsh treatment of the weather, a much tougher foe than
a Keltaran raiding party.

For years Keltar lay undetected in its valley. The
key to success was to leave the ravine without fortifications. The city itself
held enough to confound any enemy that stumbled upon her. However, no army
stumbled. A ravine entrance thick with gorse bush and choking trees was all the
Keltaran required to be overlooked for a century of warfare. However, the
ravine would go unnoticed no longer.

Hrafnu called for his stonemasons and carpenters.
It was time to plug the hole into his beautiful valley. His plan called for a
tower to be built on each side of the ravine’s opening. The towers would be
attached to the walls of the canyon, fifty strides from one another. Across
those fifty strides the masons would erect an impenetrable wall of stone and
iron, with a gate no army could penetrate. Once more Hrafnu’s brains won out
over his bitterness.

The Zodrians required time to complete their siege
engines, and even more time transporting them West. Hrafnu would take advantage
of this time to seal them off from his precious city and her people. When the
Zodrians arrived, they would be forced to form their massive army up in front
of a tiny defensive position. The Zodrian strength, massive numbers, would be
wasted in an attempt to focus on so small a target. Only one or two units could
attack the gate at a time.

Hrafnu believed this tactic would slow the Zodrians
so significantly that even if they did breach the gate, the ensuing battle
through the ravine and eventual siege of Keltar would waste the remainder of
the fall. The Zodrians would be stuck in the mountains, low on provisions as
the winter arrived. As long as Hrafnu’s army held the gate for several weeks,
no Zodrian would ever set foot in Keltar.

It was a good plan, and should have worked to
perfection. Hrafnu gambled that the Zodrian forces would move together to the
battle. Keltaran harassment of Zodrian raiding parties was well established.
The cavalry needed to escort the siege machines to protect them.

At first, Hrafnu was correct. The Zodrians
completed their siege engines and slowly drew them through Keltaran territory
while the cavalry patrolled the perimeter. For days the group moved toward
Keltar. However, a Zodrian scouting party secretly moved to the ravine. There
they discovered the work of Hrafnu’s masons.

The gorse were cleared from the opening. Two mighty
towers stood on either side of the ravine. Midlevel on the towers a massive
wall spanned the opening. The Keltaran dug a deep, wide trench in front of the
wall. They diverted the Cliebruk stream into the trench and icy water swirled
and surged at the wall’s base. A massive iron gate, recently forged in the
furnaces of Keltar, lay resting against the wall. Winches and pulleys were
bolted into the ravine in readiness to hoist the gate into position.

The Zodrian scouts recognized the horrible
miscalculation of the General Staff. The Keltaran had used the Zodrian delay to
their advantage. The scouting party sprung to their horses and rode hard to
inform the staff. The siege engines were still a week away from their destination.
However, the cavalry would be able to reach the ravine in little over a day’s
ride. If Zodra were to grasp any hope, the cavalry must break from their escort
of the siege engines, ride to the newly constructed gate and halt its
completion.

The General Staff agreed with this assessment. The
cavalry prepared to depart. However, the General Staff were familiar with
Keltaran tactics and feared a trick. They sent riders to the border to contact
Manreel. The Staff ordered the young colonel forward to protect the siege
engines and their personnel.

Manreel agreed that the fight was at the gate.
Delivering the siege engines unharmed was crucial to the plan. Without the
cavalry escort, the men manning the engines became vulnerable to an enemy
force. Manreel knew his duty and rushed to their aid.

The Guard’s cavalry pushed their mounts to the
limit in hopes of reaching the ravine within a day’s time. Manreel took up
position with the siege engines as they crept toward Keltar. The gate was near
completion as the exhausted cavalry arrived. The busy Keltaran masons and
carpenters threw down their tools and took up arms. The Keltaran workmen
marched out to meet the Zodrian threat.

The narrow ravine entrance afforded the Keltaran
giants the best possible fighting ground. The Zodrians would be forced to
charge their mounts into the tight opening. The Keltaran armed themselves with
long handled axes and pikes. The Zodrians would find it difficult to make
contact using only their short sabers.

 The groups stared at one another for several
minutes. The Zodrian leader accomplished his mission. Work on the gate halted.
However, he was acutely aware that every passing moment allowed the Keltaran
the chance for reinforcements. If he and the Zodrians were pushed back from the
gate and work resumed without harassment, all was lost. He determined to take
the gate and push into the ravine to secure it.