Dragon Mage 101 - Battle Plans (Patreon)

371 days until the Arkon Shield falls

Chief Zel Foghorn,

Sir, Commander Zumen’s squad is late checking in. I am sure your son is fine, but I have sent a patrol to the red dungeon to check on him.

—Captain Grul Firespawn.

After Tara’s pronouncement, the others fell silent, contemplating what her words meant. Likely that we’re all going to die, I thought fatalistically.

“Tell them about the rebels,” Lance said.

Petrov glanced at him. “There are rebels?”

“There are,” Tara said. “The gang doesn’t have complete control over the village. “There is a small but resolute group that seems determined to contest their claim.”

I frowned. “But how can that be? Surely the orcs would have helped the gang route out all resistance?”

Tara shrugged. “The orcs don’t seem to care to do that. They didn’t intercede in any of the clashes our scouts witnessed between the gang and the rebels, even though some occurred right on their doorstep.”

My frown deepened. Did the orcs really fear humans so little?

“Can we make contact with the rebels?” Petrov asked.

Giselle laughed harshly. “It will not help us.”

Petrov looked at her. “Why not?”

“The rebels are poorly equipped and under-leveled,” she replied.

Tara nodded, her own face grim. “The gang beat them back every time. Unarmed and, from what we can tell, with few martial skills, the rebels took the brunt of the casualties in the skirmishes.”

“So we can expect no help from them?” Petrov asked.

“We shouldn’t depend on them,” Tara agreed.

“Do we have a clearer picture of the enemies’ numbers?” I asked.

Tara nodded. “One hundred orcs and two hundred human gang members.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Petrov asked, eyeing Tara. “You must have come up with one by now.”

Tara sighed. “I haven’t. Leastwise, not one with any chance of success.” Drawing the sword at her hip—an earth blade I noted—the captain squatted down and drew a circle in the dirt. “This is the village.” She marked an ‘X’ outside the eastern half of the ring. “The orcs are here.” She drew an oblong shape around the first. “And this is the valley. It is about ten miles long and a mile wide. Two passes lead into it, one from the east, the other directly opposite.”

Petrov lowered himself beside her. “What if we rush the village?”

Tara shook her head. “The village is in the middle of the valley, and while it is fertile, the orcs chopped down what few trees there were to build their camp. The remaining vegetation is not dense enough to conceal our approach. We will be spotted from miles away if we approach fast and in numbers.”

“A stealth assault, then?” Petrov suggested.

His fellow captain nodded. “That is more viable. Under the cover of darkness, we could get close enough to launch a surprise attack. The settlement’s defenses are pitiful—a six-foot-high stone wall, no more. Penetrating it will not be hard. But the village is not our problem, the orc camp is. Its fortifications are more comprehensive. A twelve-foot palisade rings the camp, and it has only two exits, both of which are kept closed at all times and constantly manned.” She glanced at Petrov, her lips pursed. “Surprise attack or not, we won’t be able to overcome the orc camp’s defenses.”

The big man grimaced. “Then we will have to draw their forces out.”

“Face the orcs and the gang across an open battlefield, you mean?” Giselle asked, joining the conversation. “We barely outnumber them three to one. And no offense to Jamie and Lance, but I think we are heavily outgunned in the magical department too.”

“You’re right,” Tara said. “A straight-up fight isn’t the answer either. But if we split our forces—” she gestured to the eastern side of the valley— “and have one-half approach openly from this direction and engage the orcs, we might buy enough time for the other half to rush the settlement from the west, overrun the gang, and rescue as many of the villagers as they can.”

“You’re talking about sacrificing half our forces as a distraction,” I said quietly.

Tara looked up and held my gaze. “I am. But it’s the only way I can see to make this work.”

Petrov and Giselle didn’t say anything, but from their grim faces as they stared down at the map, I could see they agreed with Tara.

“I, of course, will command the eastern force,” Tara said.

My lips tightened, but I remained silent.

“That is a fool plan!” Lance protested. “And there is no guarantee it will even work. What happens if the orcs defeat those facing them too quickly? Or if our second force gets bogged down, or if—”

“I agree there is no guarantee it will work,” Tara interjected. “But it’s our only chance of rescuing at least some of the villagers.”

“But how can we—” Lance persisted.

“Do you have a better plan?” Tara cut in harshly again. Her gaze swept over the rest of us. “Does anyone?”

I bowed my head. Everything Tara said was true. But Lance was right, too. The plan sucked. Defeating the orc company was an impossibility. So was extracting four thousand civilians unnoticed and escorting them safely back to Sierra. Realistically, we could do neither.

What Tara proposed was a half-measure—one that left me feeling sick to the stomach—but if it came to it, I would join the eastern force. With my improved dragon magic, I could perhaps hold off the shaman, Jhaven, long enough to make a difference.

There has to be a better way to do this, though. But how?

Petrov was the first to break the silence. “What about the spider queen? Can she better the odds in our favor?”

Giselle shook her head. “I doubt it. We’ve been working together closely, and my people and the spiders have formed a close-knit team. But we’re not ready to face a foe as strong as the orcs,” she admitted.

Petrov grimaced but accepted her assessment.

“The rebels should be eager to help,” Lance said, kneeling beside Tara. “Is there any way we can use them?”

“How?” Tara replied. “They are poorly armed and even worse trained. They will be massacred.”

“What if we lure the orcs into the mountains?” Giselle asked, joining the small circle the others formed around the map drawn in the dirt.

“That might work,” Tara said, “but we will need the right bait, and even then, there is no…”

Remaining standing where I was, I let the others’ words slip by me. Something was nagging at me, some aspect that we were missing. Somehow, I got the feeling that we were looking at this all wrong. I tried to pry loose the niggling thought, but it refused to budge.

“What am I missing?” I muttered in frustration. Closing my eyes, I let my thoughts drift as I picked at the puzzle.

Four thousand villagers.

One hundred orcs.

Two hundred gang members.

The challenge before us was keeping the latter two occupied while we marched the former a few dozen miles southwest to the safety of Sierra. Given the number of civilians involved, the return trip to Sierra would take longer than the day and a half it took us to get here.

I rubbed at my temples. If only Sierra was closer, this would be so much easier.

Wait. Why do we need Sierra?

I realized then that we were looking at the mission wrong. We were picturing executing a rescue operation as we would back on Earth. But there was something we’d all forgotten about, something that made ‘a rescue’ unnecessary.

The village was a settlement.

My eyes snapped open. “We don’t have to extract the villagers,” I said aloud, marveling at the fact that I hadn’t thought of it sooner.

Tara scowled at me. “Out of the question. We will not abandon our mission.”

I waved away her words. “That is not what I’m suggesting.” I met her eyes. “Our mission is to secure the villagers. Our mission is not to escort them to Sierra.”

Her brows drew down in consternation. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not.”

The others looked up and were all staring at me now. “What do you mean by that?” Giselle asked, puzzled.

“We capture the settlement.”

Tara’s lips turned down. “We’ve already gone over that. We don’t have the numbers to take the village.”

“I don’t mean we should overrun the village,” I said. “I mean we should claim its settlement core.”

Silence.

I could see from the others’ confounded expressions, they didn’t see what I was driving at, but finally, one of them got it. “That’s brilliant!” Lance exclaimed, shooting to his feet. “If we capture the core, we can repudiate the orcs as the village’s Patrons. The Trials itself will prevent them from entering the settlement until the Arkon Shield falls!”

Smiling, I nodded.

Tara, Giselle, and Petrov looked startled at the notion. “You mean if we get our hands on the core,” Tara said slowly, we’ll have control of the village—” she snapped her fingers—“just like that?”

Lance shook his head, some of his excitement fading. “No, captured settlements do not transfer instantly. From what I read of the process, I think it will take a day to re-establish the village as a settlement.”

“A day?” Petrov mused. “Preventing the orcs from interfering for that long will be tough.” He glanced at Tara. “But it’s a timeframe we can work with.”

The small woman was frowning, but she nodded in agreement. “Is there anything else we need to know?”

“There is only one requirement that I know of for transferring the ownership of a settlement,” Lance said. “And that is the core must remain within the bounds of the settlement and out of enemy hands for the entire duration of the process.” He glanced at me to see I had anything to add.

I shook my head. “But don’t forget, we still have to find and claim the core first.”

“I think I can make a good guess as to who has it,” Tara said.

I glanced at her curiously.

“The gang’s leader’s name is Gorkin. He is a braggart who spends most of his days strutting around the village in a mountain of steel. I can’t see him trusting the settlement core to anyone else’s care but his own. If he doesn’t have it on him, he is sure to know where it’s kept.”

“Excellent,” I said. “Do we know where he spends his nights?”

“Yes,” Lance answered before Tara could. “The gang spend their evenings carousing in the village hall, a two-story building at the settlement’s center.”

“What else do we know about the gang?” Petrov asked

“They’re thugs, no more,” Tara said dismissively. “Most are around level forty and well-armed with gear provided by the orcs. But for all that, the gang’s discipline is lacking. They spend half their time drinking, partying, and toying with their slaves for sport. If it was only them we had to worry about, capturing the village would be easy.”

“So, assuming we can retrieve the core, how do we keep the orcs preoccupied for a day?” Giselle asked.

“I may have a few ideas about that,” I volunteered. As Petrov had said, stopping the orcs from intervening on the gang’s behalf would not be easy, but if we lured them into the mountains as Giselle first suggested—

“Jamie?” Tara prompted.

I looked up. “Oh, right,” I said, seeing the others all waiting for me to go on. “Where is the Primal Keep?”

Tara frowned at the seeming randomness of the question but didn’t ask why I wanted to know. She gestured to a spot southeast of where we were encamped.

I tapped my chin while I considered the distances. It didn’t look far. “How long would it take a party of six to get from the Primal Keep to the village?”

“Not long,” she replied. “A few hours, perhaps.”

I nodded and did a mental count of the days that had passed. “Has anyone re-entered the dungeon since me?”

Tara shook her head. “The commander told me about the zelium waiting to be retrieved, but the plans for recovering it have been put on hold until we deal with this.”

“Perfect,” I murmured. Given the distances involved, if we hurried, we could still end the villagers’ enslavement tonight. “Then here is what I think we should do…”