The usual disclaimers apply! (Okay there isn't any sex in this one, sorry folks, the story needed telling this time. But there is a lot of fighting and that's almost as good, right? J )
King's Cat Part 8
Rassnor's luck hadn't been exactly what he'd call 'good' on this march, but at least it wasn't bad either. It was nearing nightfall, he'd been forced to detour his entire force on its march when his scouts reported a reinforcing garrison on the road from the northern fort he planned to take, to the one his Pet had most likely already secured. At an estimated size of a thousand furs he didn't want to take the chance of losing his surprise by attacking it.
He'd then had some problems meeting up with the imposter unit, but Lieutenant Jaren was a resourceful officer and had made adjustments when his own scouts came into contact with the levy on the road. He decided to give his men sixty minutes to prep for the attack, which in this case meant sleep to every one of them. Meanwhile he spent his time peering at the fort through a spyglass and talking with Captain Schorky.
"Well, what do you think cousin?" He asked the Captain.
"Well that levy group on the road could be here in six or seven hours if someone gets word to them. As it is, I suspect your Pet is going to have his hands full when they show up tomorrow evening looking for a place to stay."
Rassnor chuckled, "I have no doubts that he'll have the situation well in hand by tomorrow morning. He's got the troops and ability to take something that small on from inside the fort.
"But right now I'm focused on what lies before us, not what lies behind. We know the standard detachment for this fort is a light Battalion, though our spies and scouts seem to think it's now a full battalion. But we just passed that lot of reinforcements on the road here, so how many do you think were left behind to stiffen the forces inside?"
"Well Sire, there is really no way of knowing for sure, but I doubt they're expecting us to be attacking so deeply so soon. Moving against the fort to the south is a risky venture by most thinking. Forced marches like that aren't common, especially with the heavy foot we tend to field."
"So our attacking this fort should be the last thing they'd think of, and not have reinforced it yet, that's your thinking?"
Captain Schorky nodded, "Pretty much. They probably figure being so close to the Capitol that they could easily hold off any attacks until the units down there could move up and support."
Rassnor nodded and studied the fort again. "Give the word, we attack in quarter of an hour. Time to show my ancestors I can carry the family name."
Captain Schorky laughed, "After tonight, I think your ancestors are going to be jealous Sire."
Rassnor grinned, "Now there's a thought!"
Rassnor charged down the hill in the lead element of his light cavalry. He had a thousand having taken the larger share for this attack, though his foot was three thousand strong, and two thousand of those had only seen one real battle since the war started. Fortunately the lateness of the hour and the time he'd taken to give his leading elements a rest had allowed him to bunch his foot up closer to the attack. He'd be able to bring most of them to bear within twenty minutes of taking the gates.
"Attack!" He called again as the archers started to rain down on his soldiers. One arrow glanced off his helm causing him to duck down even lower on his mount's back and hold his shield higher. He could see that his imposter unit had taken the gates and was engaged with the locals trying to hold them. One side had already been closed.
"Faster! Faster!" he roared kicking his mount harder to spur it on. His imposters were tired he knew, all of his troops were, but this was the moment he had to carry or all in his plan would be lost.
Rassnor made it inside the range of the archer’s effectiveness and barreled through the opening, the second gate was starting to push closed and he rode his mount right into the mass of Equinemorphs trying to push it closed. Bowling them over with his horse he sprung from its back, drawing swords and hacking into everything within reach. Roaring out his challenge he attacked anything within range of the gates, cutting down all those daring to try and close it. As more and more of his soldiers made it through the opening, he motioned for some to head up the walls to deal with the archers, while what was left of Jaren and his soldiers rallied to him and with the fresh reinforcements secured the gates.
More and more of his light cavalry continued to pour in through the gates so Rassnor turned his attention to the fight inside the grounds. A number of archers on the walls had turned their attention to inside the fort as well as alarms sounded everywhere.
"Schorky! Take the walls, we need those bows stopped now!" he ordered.
"Jaren, stay here and hold the gates. Dhalari! Halryth! This way!" and gathering up his men he charged into the fray.
The battle was joined and it was fierce. Rassnor cut through them like a tiger possessed, by rights his force should have been equal to the troops stationed inside, but he could see that they'd been reinforced, the tents on the training ground confirming his suspicions when he saw them. He needed to hold the gates until the vanguard of his foot got here and evened up the score and the only way he knew how to hold anything was by attacking it all the harder.
"For Sarajet and victory! Let them sing their death song! Attack!" He roared taking the head of an equinemorph who wore way too fine an armor to just be a regular foot soldier.
"Don't let them reinforce! Take back the Gates!" he could hear being yelled from behind the enemy ranks as the Gundorian officers exhorted their troops to attack harder and win back the gates. But Rassnor dug in and held, the enemy troops breaking around him like water breaking on the bow of a ship. His soldiers at his back covering his flanks as he led them, this was how a King fought, not from back in some castle miles from the fight.
"Behold the might and the power of King Rassnor!" he heard Halryth yell from his right, "Behold the power of Sarajet!" He smiled showing his fangs as his other soldiers took up the cry and the enemy troops started trying to avoid him, realizing that the 'demon King' was the one cutting them down.
"Sire!" Dhalari called, he was fighting to the left. "The foot are entering the fort!"
"Send Hennessy right! The rest of you with me!" he called back over his shoulder and started to press his advantage. With the troops falling back before him he was able to finally make headway into the fort proper, his guard keeping his back.
He made it about a hundred yards and then hit another wall of resistance. He was fighting the officers now, and could see the fort's commander not far behind. Duke Rathsforde it was. Not a bad sort as Rassnor recalled, he'd actually met him once years ago. It was strange to see him in command of a fort, Rassnor thought, he was a field commander normally.
Rassnor's own guard had drawn up even with him now, and he had several fighting to either side. The battle had grown no less fierce and he tried fighting through to Rathsforde several times, but to no avail. The lines were starting to break down and troops were overlapping in their fights. He saw Halryth go down, taking a sword in the back as he went for someone trying to get Rassnor in the back. Rassnor roared and turned to cut the coward down who'd taken Halryth from behind.
"Sorry Milord," Halryth gasped bleeding heavily, sword still stuck inside him.
"Don't move, you'll make it worse," Rassnor growled and spun around to take the head of another trying to sneak up on him.
"Rally! Rally! Rally to me!" he called pulling his men back together. Looking around the field he could see he still held the gate and troops were still moving in through the bottleneck. Full dark was on the field now, the moon was up, he had no idea how much time had passed, the combat had been so hard and fierce. Bodies littered the field, more of theirs than of his he noted with pride. His archers were set up on the walls and picking off where they could, but in the moon light with only torches to shed light, sighting would be hard for them. He was confident he'd carry the battle, but it wasn't over yet, not by far.
His men pulled up into rough order again as they fought. He could see Hennesy's men sweeping in from the flank now, going building to building in the fighting. His left flank was taking a beating however. He grabbed one of his soldiers.
"Tell Captain Seth to take his companies and support are left flank. And get someone up here to see to our wounded!"
"Yes Sire!" he saluted and ran off.
Rassnor returned his full attention to the fight then, moving forward to lead his men in the attack once more. The battle to his right was done but for the clean up. Seth's companies should be able to deal with those to his left, no matter how inexperienced. They had weight of numbers now after all.
His personal battle now lay with the officers in front of him. They were stalling obviously, they must have gotten a runner or rider out.
"Dhalari!" he called, stepping up to the line and attacking the solider Dhalari was fighting.
"Yes Sire?" he asked, never once taking his eyes off the enemy or slowing his strokes Rassnor noted approvingly.
"Go back to the gates, speed up our men, then seal them once they're all inside. Pass the word to Captain Schorky if you can find him that I think they got out a runner."
"Yes Sire!" Dhalari replied, finishing his opponent and pulling out of the battle as Rassnor pushed forward once more to fill the gap. His arms were getting tired, it had been a long battle so far, he was sure his own men were feeling much worse and he was trying to decide what to do about it when the enemy suddenly fell back en mass.
"To the Stables!" he heard their officers yell as they pulled back.
"Cut off the flankers!" Rassnor turned and growled to his own men, "Separate them! Don't let them all get away!"
He heard similar cries from his other captains as they ordered their own men to keep the groups they had managed to divide the defenders into from forming back together in retreat. On seeing their plight, and watching their own forces desert them, those isolated quickly stopped fighting and asked for quarter.
"Orders Sire?" Captain Seth asked trotting up and motioning for his men to help harry the retreaters.
"They're going to hole up and make a stand in the Stables. Press them, don't let them sally forth at all, but don't push for any attacks yet. Just keep them bottled up in there while I get things tied down out here."
Captain Seth saluted, "Yes Sire!" and ran off to join his men.
"Get the healers out here!" Rassnor yelled, "And raid the hospital, get their healers out here too, they've got more wounded than we do, I don’t want anyone dying, even theirs, if he doesn't have to!"
Rassnor strode around the field then, checking on his wounded, and assessing the situation himself while waiting for his Captains to report. A few isolated sword fights broke out as his soldiers kicked in some of the tower doors, but most surrendered immediately in the face of superior numbers and a lost fight. Those that didn't died quickly and Rassnor didn't give a damn about such fools.
"Sire" Captain Schorky came up and saluted, "The fort proper is ours, I estimate an hour to get our stagglers inside and the gates sealed up. I'm a bit worried about the prisoners. I'm not sure we have anyplace secure yet to put them, and if we get attacked from outside and they decide to fight it could get nasty."
"I know, what else?"
"Initial counts don't look good, I'm thinking four hundred dead on our side, and easily five hundred wounded, a lot of those pretty heavily."
Rassnor grimaced, "That bad."
"Yes Sire. But I'm putting the enemy numbers at at least twice that. They were building a Regiment here Sire, I suspect there are more units due here within the week. I'm guessing they were planning on launching a counter attack on us."
Rassnor nodded, "Makes sense. Explains why I saw Duke Rathsforde and a few other nobles here. They wouldn't be part of a levy or a fort, too far below them."
Schorky nodded, "Do you think they got a messenger out Sire?"
Rassnor looked up at his Captain, he could tell by the expression on Schorky's face that he was pretty sure they had as well.
"Yes. We need to get the sappers looking around for a tunnel entrance or exit. My guess is the Stables. It looks like it was the original fort before the rest was built. We need to make sure it's sealed up proper, and we don't have a lot of time to do it in."
"I'll see to it immediately Sire."
Captain Hennesy saluted as he strode up. "Sire, I can report the fort proper as secured now."
"Good work Captain. Start organizing your men. We're expecting a counter attack at dawn, get them all the rest you can by then."
"What about those holed up in the stables Sire?"
"I'm going to let Captain Seth's men deal with that for now. Put a quarter of your men on the guard detail, and give the healers whatever assistance they need."
"Yes Sire!" He saluted and strode back off.
"Now to see what I have to deal with in those Stables," Rassnor said with a yawn, his bodyguards following him off.
* * * * *
"Commander, you're far too wounded to ride!" the healer complained to Balizar as he limped out of the gates to where his mount was being held.
"Would you rather I walked?" Balizar said grabbing the saddle and hoisting himself up to avoid putting pressure on his bandaged leg.
"Lieutenant Ring, are the troops ready to ride?"
"Yessir!"
"Good, detail a few scouts to preceded us." Balizar turned to Captain Sean, "Seal up the gates, you have your orders."
"Good luck Commander!" He saluted and Balizar turned and rode off.
It was a day's hard ride from one fort to the next for a cavalry unit, and night was fast descending. Balizar knew he'd never get there by morning, when his Master planned to attack, but he couldn't sit at the fort and not do anything. Five hundred soldiers weren't anything to sneer at either, and he was sure his Master would appreciate it. Having a thousand foot ready to be sent up to help out if needed would also make him happy Balizar was sure.
With any luck they'd make it there by midday if they rode through most of the night, but he wasn't going to force the troops this time. Both them and the horses would need some rest if they were going to get anywhere. So he pushed them until nearly midnight, then gave the order to rest. He set up a watch, sent out some fresh scouts and found a comfortable piece of grass and fell asleep.
"Commander!" he woke up like a shot as he felt someone kick foot, sword in hand. His eyes cleared and he noticed it was the Lieutenant.
"
Balizar looked around, then back at his officer. "I thought I gave orders to be woken at the second watch?"
"That you did Sir, but I took it upon myself to let you sleep Sir. That dressing was wet when you laid down last night Sir, if you bleed out on us you won't be much use in the fight and I'd hate to think of what the King would do to me Sir."
Balizar had been faintly growling when the Lieutenant started talking, but stopped and sighed when he finished, his officer was right. "Fine. Let me change the dressing and we'll be on our way."
As they rode off Balizar was uncomfortable. The wound was healing slower than it should have his only guess was a magicked or poisoned blade. He didn't think it would start bleeding again, as long as he stayed mounted, but if he had to do any fighting on foot it would most likely start bleeding again. He held on to his blade and let the magic in it work, he didn't know if it would help or not, but some of his people's blades could do such things so there was no hurt in trying.
"Incoming Scout!" he heard and looked up, one of the Cheetahs they'd sent out when they'd first taken the fort was riding back, hell bent for leather.
"Commander!" he said pulling up to Balizar as he waved him over. "There's about a thousand troops over that hill coming this way." He pointed off to the ridge in the distance, probably a good hour's ride yet.
"What are they doing?"
"Just marching Sir. I'm guessing they're off to the fort. Some of the reinforcements that everyone was worried about."
Balizar nodded and thought for a few minutes while the scout gave him a more detailed description of what he'd been able to see. He knew his Master should have launched his attack by now, and any runners sent out would catch up with this force soon enough. He really only had one option.
He waved Lieutenant Ring over and turned back to the Scout. "Now here's what I want you to do…"
* * * * *
Rassnor stretched and yawned, waking up from his nap. Things were progressing fairly well and he had decided that taking a half hour to gather his wits before attempting the assualt on the stable would be wise.
"Have the Sappers found that tunnel yet?" He asked Dhalari as the other handed him something to eat.
"Yes Sire. They even caught a few trying to escape out of it, that's what gave it away. They're thinking they can collapse the end of it and seal it up fairly soon."
"Any idea how many got out?"
"No idea Sire, we'll find out when we go in I suspect."
"I suspect you're right."
Rassnor went outside and checked in with his Captains, making a circuit of the walls before heading down to the group at the Stables. They'd decided to wait until sunrise to make the attack, though they'd launched a few false ones prior to that, just to keep them guessing. He wanted his own men to get an hour or two of sleep if possible first.
"Riders approaching Sire!" he heard called down from the wall.
Rassnor swore and ran back up the stairs, bounding them two at a time until he was up near the sentry. All the soldiers along the wall came to life and started to check their gear.
"Guess they got their rider out okay," Schorky sighed.
"Apparently. Let me borrow your spyglass soldier, I seem to have lost mine."
"Of course Sire," the sentry said handing it over.
Rassnor peered out through the glass, waiting for the dust to settle so he could make out the lead rider.
"Well I'll be shaved!" Rassnor said and started to laugh.
"What is it Sire?" Schorky asked pulling out his own spyglass to look.
"One very pissed off looking Leopard apparently," Rassnor grinned. "Stand down and open the gates, those are ours."
* * * * *
"I thought I had told you to stay put Pet," Rassnor growled looking over Balizar. They'd adjourned to his command post to talk. Rassnor noted his pet was sporting a great many bandages, the one on his leg caked with dried blood and he didn't appear to be very steady on his feet. "And why aren't you in a bed?"
"I'll be fine Master. I'd be better but we had a little run in on the road."
"That doesn't explain why you're here or," he turned to the lieutenant with Balizar, "Why he" he pointed to Balizar looking at the Lieutenant, "Isn't in a bed."
"Sorry Sire, but I value my life!" The Lieutenant replied with an embarrassed smile.
"My responsibility Master," Balizar said swaying a little.
Rassnor sighed, he was tempted to let his pet just keel over and let him lay where he fell. But he wanted to hear him out first. And also find out what had taken place.
"Sit down before you fall down and report!" he growled.
"Yes Master," Balizar said with a weary salute and fell into a chair, all grace gone.
"We took the fort obviously, and with greater ease than expected. Losses were less than you had thought. After securing the fort I decided to lean Sean in charge and take a couple companies of light horsemen up in case you needed help. And to let you know you now held the fort." Balizar added the last a little slowly and reached for his canteen.
"Someone bring some wine," Rassnor ordered, then waited as his pet had a drink of it.
"I took this leg wound at the battle, poisoned or magicked, that's why it's healing so slow. Didn't realize it at the time." He mumbled a bit then pulled himself back together. "On the road we ran into a garrison on its way to the fort. That was around noon. I figured they'd be recalled any minute and it wouldn't be good for you if they showed up."
"So you attacked them." Rassnor said.
Balizar nodded, "I had Sean prepare an ambush and I played cat and mouse with them for hours. There were a few hard scraps and the ambush had a close call early on. But we got them. Then I wrapped it up and headed off here."
Rassnor shook his head, "I don't know if I should kiss you or kick you."
"A kiss would be nice," Balizar purred and looked up at Rassnor, "Master."
Rassnor grinned and pulled Balizar out of the chair against him and kissed him long and hard. Balizar was a fighter like himself, there was no way he could have stopped him from looking for more and trying to was pointless, obviously.
"So am I forgiven Master?" Balizar panted coming up for air leaning heavily against the tiger.
"As much as you ever can be Pet," Rassnor chuckled. He turned to the Sergeant waiting by the table. "Get him cleaned and into my bed, wherever that is. Have a healer check him. Get his men quartered as well."
"Yes Sire."
"Lieutenant," Rassnor waved the wolf over as Balizar left half carried by the sergeant, "How bad is that wound?"
The lieutenant shook his head, "It's been bothering him since he got it. I think a lessor person would be dead by now. He tore it back open in the ambush when his horse got cut out from under him. The healers think it was a poisoned blade, but it bled too heavily for the poison to take hold."
Rassnor nodded. "Go see to your men Lieutenant."
The Lieutenant saluted and ran off to catch up with his group.
"Come Schorky, let’s go offer some terms to the holdouts."
"Terms Sire?"
"Yeah. Their reinforcements aren't going to show, the pressure is off now."
Schorky shrugged and followed Rassnor to the stables.
"Duke Rathsforde, this is King Rassnor. You in there?" Rassnor bellowed across the field towards the stable from behind cover. They had bowmen after all and he didn't feel like being a target currently.
It took a minute then he heard it.
"Aye, I'm in here Rassnor. Come to surrender have ya?"
"As you no doubt have heard by now, my reinforcements have started to show. Your’s however will no longer be coming."
"And you expect me to take your word on that, do you?"
"You're a good soldier Rathsforde, I'd rather have you prisoner than see you slaughtered."
"Can't say as I feel the same about you Rassnor!" he heard the growl.
Rassnor laughed, "You've lost. If your reinforcements were coming, they'd be here by now. They're not. Surrender and I'll give fair terms."
"Not today Rassnor, not today."
Rassnor could hear it in the Duke's voice. He knew he had lost, but duty would not let him surrender.
"Why?"
"I've got the King's son in here with me. I'll not surrender him while I live. Nor will any of my men."
"I understand," Rassnor said nodding to himself. Rathsforde knew Rassnor had to hang the Prince and couldn’t suffer him to live. He’d obviously given his word to protect the Prince and would not forsake it, even thought it would mean his death. "I promise to honor your household Rathsforde, I promise not to dishonor you or your men for their sacrifice."
"Thank you your Highness," came the duke's reply, more humbly now that an understanding had been reached.
Rassnor turned to his men. "As long as the King's son is alive, they will not surrender. This will be a hard fight, these furs are fighting for their honor now and their lives mean nothing anymore. Prepare the attack.”
The fight to take the stable was as vicious as Rassnor had predicted. None of the defenders surrendered or asked for quarter, only those too wounded to continue fighting survived. It was a glorious battle and Rassnor felt sorry his pet could not be at his side. Two hours later it was done, the Duke, the other nobles, and King Tuttle's son, the crown prince, were dead.
"See these bodies well tended to," He ordered. "They kept their oaths even if to an unworthy leader. Their graves shall be marked."
"What about the Prince Sire?"
"Bury him with the Duke, but do not place a marker for the Prince. I don't want a place for revolutionaries to gather, and the Duke has earned the right to protect him for all eternity."
"As you wish Sire."