Hold Out Hope for Harrowford

Given only a five day deadline, we raced back to the northern settlement. When we arrived, trying to convince the elders went about as well as when I had previously tried to convince the two tribes to work together. They at least agreed to gather information and resume discussion later. That left me with only two days to get agreement and a plan in place.

When the scouts returned, everyone once again gathered. Nobody humored taking Ceara up on her first offer. That left Harrowford.

A large piece of parchment had been spread across the floor with a rough drawing of the town. The scouts had returned before noon. Otto's information was mostly correct. Harrowford was still held by the Church and Imperial Order. White banners hung from towers. Soldiers patrolled around the clock. What Otto got wrong was the number.

Waki pointed toward several marks around the western wall. “They counted 93 soldiers.”

Aponi looked at the parchment. “We are expected to take this place for people we have never met.”

“Technically, we're doing it so they might agree to help us afterward.” I pointed toward the southern road. “They have sent soldiers into your forest once. They'll send more. Taking Harrowford makes it less convenient to do it.”

Aponi folded her arms. “We can just continue to move.”

Tired of this argument, I ignored her and shifted my finger north. “And if Harrowford stays where it is, Waki has another problem.”

Nimiwa immediately shook her head. “No gold.”

“I know there isn't any gold but rumor has probably already spread. Otto believes there is something valuable in your forest. If Harrowford remains under Church control, eventually somebody comes looking for it.”

Waki took a drag from her pipe. “And taking Harrowford makes your lie disappear?”

“No. It makes everyone around here considerably more concerned with not being killed by the resistance. Digging holes for bodies will take precedence over digging in your forest.”

Keme had remained silent through most of the argument. He was studying the map instead. His finger moved along the southern wall, then toward the gate. He asked Waki something.

“The walls are stone,” she translated. “Two gates. Main road south. Smaller gate east. The west side sits against a steep drop.” Keme spoke again. “The scouts saw soldiers on every wall. More around the gates.”

I looked at the crude drawing. “Paladins?”

Waki nodded. “At least ten. Two remain near each gate. Others patrol.”

“Zealots?”

“They were spotted on the walls.”

That still left us with considerably more people than them. “How many warriors can both tribes put together?”

Aponi discussed it with Keme and the feathered elder Nimiwa continued to call ‘Fe.’ Waki did the same with her tribe. “Together, more than two hundred. Beyond that, we risk losing more than either tribe can recover from.”

I pointed at Harrowford. “They have less than half our force. Most of them aren't standing at the gate. If we move quickly, the first group gets inside before the rest can form up. Then everyone follows.”

Keme stared at me for several seconds before saying something to Waki. “He asks which tribe you want to die first.”

“I didn't say anyone needs to die first.”

Keme answered immediately. “He says that is what first means,” Waki translated.

Keme continued, pointing toward the gate. “The gate is narrow. Humans above shoot down. The first group dies as the second follows behind. Paladins stop those. You don’t value warriors.”

One of the northern elders spoke. Waki listened. “Elves do not fight this way.”

“Fair enough. How do we take the position?”

Keme frowned at the question. Aponi answered instead. “We do not. If an enemy knows where we are, we leave. If they follow, we choose where they find us.”

Keme pointed toward the marks representing the road, then drew his finger away from them and around the edge of the parchment. He spoke while Waki translated. “We watch until someone leaves the walls. Hunters. Patrols. Men gathering wood. Then they disappear.” His finger moved to another part of the map. “Another group comes looking. We attack them somewhere else.” He circled another area. “They stop traveling alone. They send more warriors. We move farther away.”

“So your strategy is to annoy Harrowford until everyone comes outside?”

Waki shook her head. “If enough come outside, there is no reason to enter.”

One of the northern elders pointed toward the southern side and spoke. The room became more tense. “He suggests the southern tribe draw the soldiers into the forest while northern warriors enter through the other gate,” Waki translated.

“The north should draw them out because this helps protect you from gold prospectors,” Aponi shot back.

Two tribes that had spent generations developing excellent methods for surviving suddenly appeared very interested in proving the other one was better at being shot. “We aren't using either tribe as bait. We don’t have time to hope they are dumb enough to leave their protected position.”

Keme gave me a hard slap on the back. “Then stop suggesting we attack like humans,” Waki translated.

I looked back at the map. What I had seen of the Imperial Order followed the same pattern. They formed ranks, protected the vulnerable classes and forced the enemy to attack where they could defend. Kumakun’s blessing could get warriors over the walls in one jump but waves would fall before they got close enough.

“All right,” I said. “That was a bad idea. No charge.”

Keme nodded once. “He says they need to learn how the humans fight.”

“That,” I said, “I can help with.”

Aponi still looked unconvinced. “And after? We take the human town. Then what?”

“We don't keep it. Ceara said the resistance wants Harrowford.”

Aponi frowned. “Why does that help us?”

I pointed toward the road leading south. “Because right now Harrowford belongs to the Church. They use it to move soldiers, supplies and traders into this region. If the resistance takes it, the Imperial Order has to deal with them before sending another force into your forest.”

“Maybe,” Waki said.

“Maybe,” I agreed. “I'm not promising the Church suddenly forgets you exist.” I moved my finger north. “But it gives them something closer and more dangerous to worry about.”

Waki shifted her pipe between her lips. “And the gold?”

“If the resistance controls Harrowford, anyone who heard Otto's story has to travel through a town held by people currently fighting the Church before they can start digging through your forest.”

One of the northern elders asked her something. Waki translated. “He says traders may stop coming.”

“That is possible.” Several of them looked unhappy. “Your choices are losing some trade or eventually having humans arrive with soldiers and the sincere belief that everything under your feet belongs to them.”

Aponi looked back at the southern road. “And Ceara sends warriors south?”

“One thing at a time. We help them expand and they may take a bigger interest in our trouble.”

“Our?” Waki asked.

“Yes. Our problem.”

Aponi said something quietly to Keme. He answered without looking away from the map. Nimiwa listened, then looked toward me. “Ke says if resistance stays Harrowford, Church stops there.”

“They might,” said Waki. “They might also decide they want Harrowford back badly enough to send twice as many soldiers. But either way, those soldiers are busy fighting the resistance and not walking around our forest.”

The north could lose trade. The south could draw more attention. Taking Harrowford might solve neither problem permanently.

Waki finally sat down beside the parchment. “Then show us how the Church fights.”

Keme was already moving the markers. The discussion lasted until sunset. I explained what I knew about the Imperial Order. What I had seen, what the Church taught openly and what I had heard often enough to believe. Keme and Aponi found problems with most of it. Waki found different problems with their answers. The elders occasionally contributed useful suggestions whenever they weren't volunteering the other tribe to die first.

The Paladins made the gates dangerous. Zealots made approaching the walls worse. If the Order had enough warning to gather everyone together, we were back to hitting them where they were strongest.

Keme kept returning to the western side of the map where the walls sat against a steep drop.

“The cliff again?” I asked.

Waki translated his answer. “The scouts saw fewer soldiers there.”

“Because there is a cliff. Unless those feathers can help you fly, it's too high even with Kumakun's blessing.”

Keme nodded.

“You can fly?”

He spoke again. “They can jump part way and climb the rest.”

One of the scouts placed several small stones beneath the western wall. Keme separated them into groups and moved them upward one at a time.

They would climb in small groups. If one group was spotted, it retreated. If they made it over, they did what elves already knew how to do. Watch, move and attack only when the time was right.

Waki moved another group toward the main gate. “They don't open the gates immediately.” Keme nodded. “Not until the soldiers start moving toward whatever they think the attack is.” Another nod. If we kept them moving, they couldn't stand behind their shields and make the rest of us regret coming. The plan continued changing after that.

By the end, my original idea of two hundred elves charging a gate had been reduced to small groups, several routes into Harrowford and a western cliff the humans had apparently decided nobody would be stupid enough to climb.

The elves considered that an invitation.