Chapter 223: Draggin Your Feet
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Arthur stepped into the meeting room, his eyes quickly scanning the officers sitting and waiting for him. This was one of the rare military-only meetings he really should’ve been making a point of having more often. The only one from the castle present was Susan, and that was by necessity. Admittedly, her scouts were really the best in this area. A small force like hers was inherently limited in what it could do, but there were times when it excelled. He could only hope his would improve quickly enough to better leverage their superior numbers.
He kicked off the meeting with some introductions and a general summarization of their situation before waving her to the front. Susan had brought a few visual aids with her that she set up by the front of the room. A general map of the area, along with some pins representing the Scout's findings, were soon displayed before the group..
"Three days ago, we made contact. The military vanguard is still several days out from the edge of the forest, but we do believe they will fully regroup before heading into the woods. Out in the open plains, there is very little opportunity for ambushes and general sabotage, but we have managed to make some strides. While no actual sabotage acts have been committed, we do have their supply train schedule for the next several months, planned routes and backup mounts, as well as information about who is maintaining the weapons. Those are the major points. I will disseminate more details to those who need it."
The officers gave an approving murmur. The fact that they had all this information up front was going to be of great help when it came to slowing down the enemy’s approach. The siege preparations were going along swimmingly, but they could use more time. There were always more fortifications, always more traps, always more ambitious countermeasures they could lay. If anyone thought the castle was fully prepared for a siege, Arthur would call them a fool.
Susan continued to give more details about the kingdom army’s estimated time of arrival as well as certain landmarks that they could gauge their progress with. These were especially pertinent for the several-day march through the valley that would be required to even reach the settlement. Along those lines, she picked out specific unit commanders and gave suggestions of which ones would be best in various spots for ambushes.
Arthur was impressed by her devious mind. There was not more than a half mile where she didn't see an opportunity for a rather tricky ambush or act of sabotage. At this rate, the entire length of the five-day march through the forest would give the army real trouble. Especially considering that the narrow road would force even a massive army to be strung out, meaning they could not bring their numbers advantage to bear in any one particular spot. As long as the guerrilla forces they fielded could flow through the forest and hit from both sides, they could almost always outnumber their enemy 2 to 1 in the actual engagement.
This was a rather simple tactic, but the way Susan was setting up her plans for sabotage made use of it heavily. Arthur was glad he’d sent out forces days ago like she’d pushed for instead of waiting. Now, based on her information, they would barely manage to get out of the forest before the Kingdom showed up. Any forces they’d send out now would either be stuck in the valley or have to maneuver through the forests.
These were the forces they would have to rely on to intercept the kingdom’s supply trains, along with any sort of support that the kingdom would be trying to give the military during the siege; if they were successful enough in cutting everything off, they could peel away a large part of the force and give Arthur a chance to do more than just endure the siege. Or, they could basically end up forcing the enemy to siege themselves. Arthur doubted that a rushed army pushed to march through the winter would have anywhere near the amount of provisions the city and the castle had.
With the food production that Trent and his branch had managed under the guidance of Lord Void, the castle was set for almost two years and would be nearly self-sustainable in the near future. They just needed a little bit more influx of livestock before they had their own thriving ecosystem. As for water, there was no way to cut off the water supply through either the glacial runoff from the mountains or from ground wells. So, as long as they were independent in food, the only way to take them out would be through a direct assault. And Arthur was doing his best to make sure that was an unadvisable course of action.
As we alighted before the cave entrance, my sensors registered a slight disturbance in the area’s magic energy. It was similar to the mountain we had just left, but still different.Clearly, this wasn't the source of the magic draining, but it wasn't too far off of it.
Daedalus let out a polite roar in greeting in case the cave was occupied before we even approached. “I wouldn't want to be rude. But hopefully if we're not waking someone up.” He shot a baleful glare in my direction. I know how annoying it is to be woken up by loud noises.”
I beeped indignantly. "Look, I apologized for that already. I didn't realize you were there."
He gave me a toothy grin, and I relaxed slightly. "But yeah, let's not lob any explosions at him."
An answering bellow came from deep within the cave, and Daedalus grinned. "Ah, one of my cousins is here!"
A white head poked out of the mountain and breathed a pillar of frost over at Daedalus, and Daedalus responded by breathing a jet of fire. The two breath attacks met between them and mingled before they both cut off suddenly, and Daedalus landed at the foot of the mountain. The white dragon launched itself out of the cave and slowly glided down, shaking the earth with its landing. Comparing the two, I realized Daedalus was significantly larger than this other dragon. He likely possessed about 30% more mass, even if the white dragon was longer from tip to tail.
"Daedalus! Big brother! It's been too many millennia." The white dragon greeted Daedalus, rumbling and shaking his head.
"Thucydides. I didn't think I'd see you again. You've been sleeping for, what, 10,000 years now?"
"Give or take. I had a bit of a fever a while ago and was just sleeping it off. Woke up a couple hundred years ago and have been trying to shake off the grogginess ever since." Thucydides shook his head and rumbled. "I think it was some dark elf curse after I ate of one of their princesses. I know I shouldn't do that anymore, but she just looked so juicy."
I looked between the two bantering dragons. "Dark elf? Princess?" I asked curiously.
I seemed to draw Thucydides's interest for the first time. "Why, Daedalus, have you brought a guest?"