The Scarlet King (28 page)

Don the Great asked many questions and the
young navigator did his best to answer them, but had not
significant knowledge to make his answers meaningful. He told them
that the camp in the wilderness was being abandoned and all troops
heading east. He knew only a little of Jason's plan.

When they arrived at the inner door, the
guard within opened the window and Don the Great passed the key to
those within. Before opening the door the guards looked carefully
at those in the tunnel making sure none of the enemy were behind
them. As soon as the door was opened the troops preceded the wagon
through the opening, which was barely big enough and significant
scraping of the wheels occurred. As soon as Don the Great and the
young navigator had entered, the door was again closed and
locked.

One of the horses decided that it needed to
relieve itself right in front of where the one called the Pet Bird
was seated. Don the Great restrained his urge to laugh, but could
not help but smile as his cousin became almost hysterical. The
horses were unhitched from the wagon and led up the stairs to the
courtyard. Servants had soon cleaned the mess and the troops began
unloading the weapon from the wagon. The young navigator seemed not
to realize he was surrounded by royalty as he supervised in great
detail the unloading and assembly of the weapon. He explained the
function of the different parts and how the sticks were essential
to controlling the velocity of the iron balls.

Within the wagon were only about a dozen of
the iron balls, and Don the Great realized they must begin
manufacturing them if the weapon was to be of any use. He gave
orders, and one of the troops took with him one of the iron balls
and a note from Don the Great, commanding, "All available metal
shall be used and the balls manufactured as the highest
priority."

The sticks were of a lesser problem, for
within the city they had many woodworkers. The young navigator was
insistent that the sticks must be manufactured with the same
strength as the samples he had brought. When asked about the firing
of the cannon, young navigator explained the aiming system that
Daniel had taught him. The one called the Pet Bird spoke up,
saying, "What are we waiting for? Let's get this weapon set up and
show those of the East that we can fight back."

Don the Great answered not for a while as he
contemplated the message from Heather with the Golden Hair. He
finally spoke up, saying, "I think not." He explained no further,
not completely trusting those within the war room to keep his plan
secure. Despite the whining of his cousin, he refused any further
explanation, saying only," I would we stockpile adequate supplies
of the iron balls before giving up our element of surprise."

His cousin continued his whining, saying the
destruction of their wall was proceeding and it was all Don the
Great's fault for failing to use a weapon to protect them. He went
on and on about their need to protect the King. Don the Great
listened for some time to the whining, but wished he had the power
that Betty had displayed to quiet down his cousin. Finally the
King, who had appeared to be asleep, spoke up, saying, "I have
designated Don the Great as commander of our forces and defender of
the kingdom. We will do as he says."

The one called the Pet Bird was about to
continue his whining, but the King just looked at him. It was
enough to put a halt to the discussion. The King spoke up then,
saying, "It is been a long night and I am tired." With that the war
council ended and all retired for some rest, knowing that the
onslaught of their city would soon begin again as daylight became
full.

Chapter 14

As they traveled east Heather took stock of
her small army of those of the Forest. They traveled as a group of
just over forty with a few scouts yet to join them. They traveled
light and mostly at night to avoid the patrols of those from the
East. She was still not walking well and rode the great white
horse, which caused those of the Forest extra effort in covering
their tracks. But they had no choice.

Betty frequently rode with her and the pace
was comfortable, with those of the Forest easily keeping up with
their loping gait. The patrols seemed fewer, as those of the East
concentrated with ever greater fervor on destroying the walls of
the Great City. Heather found herself praying silently to the God
of the Sacred Water for the strength and courage to accomplish
their task, for if they failed it was likely that Jason and the
others would not survive.

She much wished for a chance to see the east
headland and the machines of war which sat upon it for her
planning. When Jeremy returned, he and Edna went ahead to scout the
route to the headlands. Betty, who was sitting behind her on the
great white horse, was unusually quiet. When Heather asked her why
she was so quiet, Betty replied, "I hear Edna."

"Is she okay?"

"She okay. I see what she is seeing."

Heather asked, "Can you make me see as Edna
does?"

"I try."

As long as Heather kept her mind quiet she
started to see images of the land that lay ahead of them. At first
it was just a general image without much detail, but as she
continued to work to calm her mind the images became much more
vivid. Edna, being a hunter, noticed things that Heather would not
normally see, such as small broken branches from feeding animals or
a change in the height of the vegetation indicating a game trail. A
small bird flushed off to the left, and Edna immediately froze
before imitating a bird call that caused Jeremy to likewise freeze.
He slowly worked his way back to where Edna was crouched, and she
pointed towards where the bird had flushed. They both began to
circle back towards that area, having said nothing and using only a
few hand signals.

Edna soon found the tracks of scouts who
appeared to have traveled from the headlands where they were going.
She listened intensely but could hear no other sound. She
cautiously followed the trail, staying to the side and remaining
hidden as much as possible. The trail seemed to just end near one
of the few large trees. As a hunter Edna instinctively scanned the
ground level for any sign of movement. Only after she had secured
her area visually did she begin to examine the large tree. In
amongst the leaves she noticed a small piece of rope hanging down.
As she stared, something moved amongst the branches and she
recognized the outline of a man. He had somehow attached leaves to
his clothing and blended well with the tree.

Edna produced the warning call of the small
finch, watching the man for any response. He responded not and
continued to shift his position occasionally. Jeremy responded with
a similar call. Edna began to slowly retreat back to her last
position and wait for Jeremy. She explained what she had found
using only hand signals. They both withdrew into a more densely
vegetated area before whispering their findings. A decision was
needed on how to proceed. Jeremy suggested they continue their
leapfrog but stay closer together and pay more attention to
possible tree lookouts.

Heather's concentration was broken when one
of the Forest reported a scouting party on horseback. Heather
asked, "Will they cross our path?"

He responded, "They will cross behind us on
their present course." He then added, "We have left much sign and
even those of the East may see it."

Heather thought for but a moment about the
heightened patrols, for those of the East had been pretty casual
about their scouting, so confident were they in their machinery of
war. She told the scout, "Take a few others of the Forest and do
your best to cover our sign in the area you think they will cross.
Risk not encountering them directly, for we much need to maintain
our element of surprise."

When the scouts had departed Heather tried to
again concentrate on the images that Betty had relayed, but her
mind would not quiet enough to hear them. She had assumed they had
traveled far enough to the north to have avoided any contact. She
decided that they would now travel only at night. This would make
for much slower travel, but they would still arrive in time for an
assault on the headland at first light on the day of the crescent
moon.

In the palace preparations for the
counterattack were proceeding, but it was not until the day prior
that others in the palace noted the increased activity. During the
war council, the one those of the Forest called the Pet Bird
complained, "You are preparing for some sort of battle and have not
advised the war council."

Don the Great replied, "We are at war and
fighting for survival. I have not time nor energy to explain every
little aspect of my defense planning."

His cousin the Pet Bird replied, "You have
not answered my complaint. Are you preparing for some sort of
counterattack?"

Don the Great rolled his eyes and sighed
before replying, "If we are to survive, at some point we will need
to counterattack. We must be ready when the time comes."

The complaining continued: "If you
counterattack you will leave us defenseless. I demand to know the
details and the risk." The Pet Bird waited not for an answer but
continued to press, saying, "This new weapon sits idle while our
wall is destroyed. It is as if you are assisting the enemy in our
destruction."

Don the Great arose and just stared at his
cousin, saying only, "My duty is to King and country." His tone was
quiet but there was no doubt that he would allow no further
challenges. He turned and walked to the door, pausing only to say,
"There is much work to be done, for this battle will be decided in
the next several days and our country and our King will live or
die."

Those of the Great City who lived near the
east gate could not but notice the preparations, but yet when the
trumpets began to sound before dawn they could not help but be
surprised. The gates were opened and the Army of the Red, although
much diminished, marched forth through the gates. Their mounted
troops led the way followed by ranks of archers. When the last of
the troops had passed through the gates they were again secured
with only a small contingent of soldiers left behind.

As the Army of the Red formed a defensive
shield and began moving slowly forward, the new weapon which had
been secured behind the city wall came to life. As he was
commanded, the young navigator proceeded to target the area of the
cooking fires visible in the dim light. He was unsure as to his
accuracy, but agreed with Don the Great that the iron cannonballs
would themselves be a significant disruption. As the light
increased, those of the East began to reposition their machines of
war to directly attack the forces under Don the Great. With the
coming of the light the young navigator now had specific targets.
The aiming was more difficult than he had expected. It was only
after many misses that one of his cannonballs hit a machine of war.
The destruction was easily evident even from the distance.

The mounted troops of those of the East were
now organized and began charging towards the Army of the Red. The
young navigator shifted his targets to the approaching cavalry and
was able to somewhat disrupt their formation. Don the Great had his
much fewer mounted troops initiate a line of defense, but they soon
fell back under the cover of the archers. Those of the East
regrouped and prepared for a concentrated attack, but again the
cannonballs partially destroyed their organization. Their
counterattack penetrated into the line of archers, but the strength
of the bows being used by those of the Red allowed their arrows to
penetrate through much of their armor. They again fell back,
awaiting the arrival of their marching troops for
reinforcement.

The battle continued throughout the morning,
with those of the Red having established a firm foothold that those
of the East had been unable to break. Don the Great knew that it
was just a matter of time until reinforcements arrived from the
northern and western fronts, and they would be overpowered. He
hoped that whatever Heather with the Golden Hair had planned could
be completed before that happened.

Those of the Forest had moved to the base of
the headlands on the east side during the darkness of night. As the
first hint of morning light became visible they advanced towards
the machines of war mounted atop the headland. Heather knew they
faced a difficult passage because the trail was well guarded with a
six-foot wall and narrow gate. If those of the East had the wall
manned, their only other choice would be to scale the cliff; then
they would be exposed to the archers of those of the East.

Shortly before they arrived at the gated
wall, the scouts returned, reporting a few sentries only. As they
moved forward and were about to begin scaling the wall, the sound
of trumpets from the Great City could be heard. With the trumpets
came an alarm from the forces guarding the machines of war based on
the headland. As the troops from those of the East began arriving
at the wall, Heather made the decision to push forward quickly. The
first of those of the Forest who scaled the wall were met with a
barrage of arrows.

Reacting instinctively, Heather urged her
great white horse onward. The horse leapt the gate, scattering
those defending it. The horse was protected by the armor of those
of the East, and attacked, rearing up enough to bring its hooves
down on anyone in its path. Crouching low behind the great horse's
neck, Heather continued her charge towards the rank of archers.
Once she had broken through the line of defenders she turned the
horse and attacked again with her sword. This created enough
confusion that those of the Forest were able to follow quickly and
their own arrows began to find their marks. As the light became
full, those of the Forest gained control of the gate and wall.