Chapter 18
The planning meeting had just ended when fifty mounted men rode up to the citadel on horses that were nearly exhausted. After a short exchange with the guards at the gate, the riders were directed to where Sid was staying. They rode through the streets at high speed rather than the sedate pace that would be normal. The leader jumped off his horse and ran into the building searching for Sid. He burst into the room and, spotting Sid, said, "There are fifteen thousand enemy troops headed this way. They are a week east of here and marching quickly."
The entire group of men seated around the table stared at the messenger in shock. It took Sid a moment to recover while his mind struggled to come to grips with the news that a force that size was headed their way. During the months of fighting, they had tackled forces up to three thousand. He calculated that they had already dealt with close to fifteen thousand enemy troops. Turning to Connor, he said, "Sent out scouts to the south and west. We've got to make sure that there aren't any other forces bearing down on us."
Connor nodded his head and rushed out of the room. Masterson was staring at the table top and asked, "Where did they get so many troops?"
The rider said, "Just before we spotted the army moving this way, we got word that Danny Sun's army was destroyed in a battle two weeks ago."
Sid leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. Holding his clasped hands in front of his mouth, he said, "We've been estimating their army to be a hundred thousand in size. We've taken out fifteen thousand so far. I have to assume that the other generals had similar results. That should mean that the army has been cut in half. Despite that, they are able to pull together fifteen thousand men to face us. It doesn't add up."
"They must have a larger army than we estimated," Masterson said feeling sick to his stomach. The idea of six thousand men trying to hold off an army of fifteen thousand was too horrible to contemplate. Looking over at Sid, he said, "We are going to have to retreat."
"We can't do that. Fifteen thousand men will chase us all over Chaos," Sid said.
"Do you know how hard it will be to hold off fifteen thousand men from inside this citadel?" Masterson asked. It had taken them two weeks to bring down the walls of the citadel. Another army might have taken a little longer, but the walls would have come down at some point. This army wouldn't even have that problem. There were four areas that had been destroyed and not yet repaired.
"Yes, I do," Sid answered. He knew it would be better to engage the enemy using their guerilla tactics, but he didn't see any choice in the matter. Sid turned to Masterson and asked, "How long do you think a siege of this citadel would normally have taken?"
"Well, probably a month or two."
"How long did it take us?"
"Two weeks," Masterson answered.
"The enemy is expecting us to be outside the walls of the citadel with our backs to their forces," Sid said. Staring off into space, he said, "I bet that another ten to fifteen thousand are moving down from the south and at least five to ten thousand are moving in from the west. I bet they were planning on hitting us like three hammers with the citadel serving as the anvil."
"We're dead," Masterson said.
"They don't know the anvil has been neutralized," Sid said. He reached over and grabbed the map that they had been using in the planning session earlier. Standing, he spread the map over the table. He said, "Let's assume that we have forces approaching from the east, south, and west. It won't do them any good if they arrive at different times, so let us assume that they are all headed here with the intent of showing up in a week."
"Seems reasonable," Masterson said.
Sid pointed to some locations on the map and said, "We destroy the bridges and ferries along this river. That will slow the forces coming from the west. If they use boats to ferry over, it will take forever to get that many men across the river. They'll have to construct a temporary bridge. I figure that should delay them by about three days."
"So what," Masterson said sounding very frustrated. He pointed to the south and east before adding, "There's nothing to slow down the other two groups. So rather than facing thirty five thousand troops, we're facing twenty five thousand."
"We set a fire to the south," Sid said pointing to the map. Turning to the messenger, Sid asked, "What are our men doing to the east?"
"They are heading here," the messenger answered. He looked around the room at the tight faces wondering if it would have been better for them to head north rather than here.
"So that will give us about nine thousand troops to stand against fifteen thousand," Sid said looking over at Masterson.
"Still, we'll be facing too many enemy troops. Even with us bottled up in this citadel, we'll eventually be facing fifty thousand troops," Masterson said.
"We aren't going to be inside the citadel," Sid replied with a smile as a plan formed in his mind.
"You said that we weren't going to retreat," Masterson said.
"That's right. We're going to engage their forces outside the walls of the citadel before they have a chance to organize for a real battle," Sid said. Turning to the messenger, Sid said, "Tell me all about the force that is heading this way."
A week later, Sid stood on the walls of the citadel watching the enemy troops arrive. Three thousand of the troops had moved into the cleared area around the citadel. There was no way for the enemy to know that Sid had cleared away the trees from that area just to make room for them.
His forces were on the field facing the enemy with their backs against the walls of the citadel. They were lined up in groups of a hundred with twenty men across the front and five men deep. Seven thousand troops created seventy such groups. The tension among the men grew as they found themselves facing three thousand soldiers standing in a line that was three hundred soldiers wide and ten deep. The rear ranks were still filling while more soldiers slowly joined those on the field.
From Sid's position, he could see a long stream of men moving down the tree lined road to the battle field. It was an impressive line of men being six men across and two thousand men long. As impressive as the sight might have been, that paled compared to the noise of that many men marching in step.
Sid waved a green flag to signal to his men that it was time to start the battle. There were no yells of excitement or battle cries. The only sound that filled the air was that of the trebuchets firing. A hundred of the small trebuchets started pelting stones the size of a fist on the enemy troops even as they moved into formation. Ten large trebuchets tossed stones twice that size down the length of the road. Once started, the rain of stone was constant and devastating.
Standing beside Sid, Fred watched the rain of stone. With a shudder, he said, "Those poor bastards."
Sid understood Fred's statement. Four thousand freed slaves had worked day and night shaping the battle field. Huge thick walls prevented the enemy from spreading out over the field. Three thousand men were squeezed into an area the size of a football field. The small trebuchets had been set up to provide total coverage of that area. The effect was total devastation of the forces bottled up in that area.
After ten minutes had passed, Sid waved a red flag and the trebuchets stopped firing. Looking across the battle field, Sid shook his head. Turning to Masterson, he said, "That's a quarter of their men out of commission."
Peterson stared across the field in horror and said, "I've never seen anything like that."
"We still have ten thousand enemy troops out there," Sid said. Although that was a huge number of troops, the odds had just changed significantly in their favor.
"The riders are ready with the 'Molotov Cocktails, '" Masterson said. He'd never heard of such a thing, but a demonstration of their effectiveness had convinced him that Sid's plan was going to work. The Chaos version was a clay container filled with oil from a ground seep rather than gasoline in a glass bottle.
"It is almost time to slice 'em and dice 'em," Sid said. Fifty riders would move out and toss Molotov Cocktails into the line of enemy troops, cutting off a thousand of them from support. Two thousand men would move in and take care of the thousand troops. First they'd hit the troops with a barrage of arrows and then move in using the Zulu tactic that had been so effective in taking the citadel. They would back off and then go after another thousand using the same tactic.
The men watched as Sid's troops moved out across the field to take prisoners. It wasn't long before they marched back across the field with a hundred prisoners. The number of men who had survived the pelting of rocks was shockingly small. Masterson said, "I can't believe it."
A messenger climbed up to where Sid was watching the battle. Breathless from the climb, it took him a minute to catch his breath. Once he recovered, he said, "It looks like our attack killed a general and four colonels. We captured one colonel."
Sid nodded his head thinking that he would have Masterson interrogate the colonel. He said, "We can expect another ten colonels to be riding with the rest of the troops."
"The scouts are looking for them," the messenger said. They had been given orders to capture or kill as many of the higher ranking officers of the enemy army as possible.
Turning to Masterson, Sid said, "I expect that half of the remaining forces will survive to retreat. They'll either move back east or join the southern forces. If they join the southern forces, that will slow them down by another day or two while they reconsider their plans for us. We can expect the western forces in two days."
Pointing down the road, Masterson said, "They aren't turning back. They're charging."
Sid turned and looked at the troops running towards them. He couldn't believe his eyes. He shouted, "Those idiots are committing suicide!"
"Not if we keep standing here doing nothing," Masterson said.
Turning, Sid grabbed the green flag and waved it again. A minute later, the trebuchets started firing loads of rocks on the advancing army. The charging troops didn't stand a chance. Sid watched as hundreds of men fell as the stones rained down amongst them. The handful that managed to make it across the field was met with overwhelming force. It was a slaughter.
Masterson shook his head and said, "The ones in the back don't know what happened on the battlefield. There's no one in charge to order them to stop."
Sid was reminded of lemmings charging off the cliff. Each lemming would follow the one in front; unaware of the doom that awaited it. Watching as the enemy men raced down the road, Sid said, "This is insane."
Thirty minutes later, the enemy stopped their attack and retreated. Less than three thousand had held back. Sick to his stomach, Sid looked over the devastation that was the battlefield. Close to nine thousand were dead or wounded in the field. Bodies were piled in front of the citadel and the road leading to it. Another two thousand were dead or wounded from the slice and dice operation. A thousand had fled into the woods where they were being hunted down.
Peterson looked over the carnage. His face was pale at the sight. Shaking his head, he said, "I didn't expect that."
"Neither did I," Sid said. He turned to look west and said, "In two days we have to do this all over again."
Masterson said, "It's time to start collecting the bodies."
"Let's go," Sid said heading towards the stairs.
"You're not going anywhere," Masterson said while grabbing Sid by the arm.
"Why not?"
"There are still enemy troops in the area. We don't want you to get killed," Peterson answered.
Bowing to necessity, Sid said, "Have half of the men take care of the survivors and the bodies. Have the other half move the siege equipment to the western side of the citadel. Ask the freemen for volunteers to finish preparing the next two battlefields."
"What will you do?" Masterson asked.
"I guess I'll go talk to the general. Maybe the events of today will convince him to come out," Sid said pointing to the General who had been watching the battle from the roof of the building in which he was trapped.
The general had watched the battle in shock. It was obvious that he had not expected the result. Pacing nervously on the building, he kept looking to the south and west expecting two additional armies to appear. The fact that they didn't show up as expected convinced him that this whole area was lost. When Sid arrived at the building, the General and the dozen men still with him surrendered.
Sid sat at the table watching the General eat. He found it hard to believe that the man was able to force down any food after seeing the carnage on the battlefield. Of course, the fact that the man hadn't eaten anything for a week may have had a little to do with it. Sid said, "I take it the plan was for you to hold out until the three armies arrived."
The General frowned and asked, "What happened to the other two armies?"
"We burned the bridges to the west and set fire to the woods to the south. They were delayed. I expect the western army the day after tomorrow," Sid answered.
The General shook his head and said, "I couldn't believe what I saw. You didn't even allow them to prepare for the battle."
"Why would I allow fifteen thousand troops to get ready to attack me?" Sid asked.
The general was wise enough not to answer. He had ordered his archers to fire on Sid when Sid had come out to parley. He shrugged his shoulders and took another bite of the chicken. He studied Sid unable to believe that someone so young had managed to destroy almost thirty thousand of his army. If Sid's efforts were successful over the next two engagements, the slaver army was going to be in trouble. After swallowing the bite of chicken, he asked, "What are your plans?"
"That's a good question. In fact, that was the question that I was going to ask you. What were your plans?" Sid answered.
"Our plan was to take you Heroes out one at a time. We took care of Danny Sun. We were going to destroy you and then move on to take care of Malcolm Chandler," the General answered.
"Why did you start with Danny Sun?" Sid asked wondering how it was that the general knew that he was a Hero.
"Carl had a personal grudge against Danny. He wanted to make sure that Danny knew he was the first to fall and that his death would lead to the deaths of the rest of the Heroes," the General answered.
Not reacting to the name, Sid nodded his head and said, "That makes sense. Why did you go after me next?"
"When Carl learned that Gerald Jones was dead and you were taking his place, he was overjoyed. You're inexperienced and we figured that you'd be easy to take down. Your successes surprised me. To tell the truth, I was sure that I'd take you down before they were able to take down Danny Sun," the General answered unaware that he had given Sid far more information about his enemy than he could guess.
"I guess Carl will be upset when he learns that his plans for me failed," Sid said in an offhand casual manner.
The general shivered at the thought of how Carl would react. In a way, he was glad that he was a prisoner. Shaking his head, he said, "I imagine a couple of people are going to loose their heads over this."
"I'm sure," Sid said. His mind was working at the speed of light. The general knew way too much about his background and Heroes in general. It appeared as if this Carl person was the source of all that knowledge. Taking a sip of his watered wine, Sid tried to reason out how Carl knew so much. There was only one answer that came to him and that answer suggested that Carl had been a Hero at one time. He said, "I never met Carl. I'm sure he was a very talented Hero at one time."
"One of the best," the General said.
The conversation continued while the General ate his meal. Using leading questions, Sid probed for information about Carl. The General told Sid all he knew about Carl. In particular, Carl had been a Hero from Earth until captured during a mission. After two years of torture, Carl had escaped and sought revenge by enslaving his captors. The slave trade had spread from that humble beginning.
Power over his previous captors was not the only thing Carl was after. He felt that the other Heroes should have rescued him. Since none of them had come to his rescue, he had declared war on them. He had particularly hard feelings towards Jonas Alexander, Danny Sun, Malcolm Chandler, and Gerald Jones. Some of those hard feelings spilled over onto Sid and that had motivated Carl to send the overwhelming force against him.
The news was even worse than that. It also appeared that Carl had found a means to go from Earth to Chaos and back without having to pass through Crossroads. That had come out when the General had mentioned that Carl was upset that his portal wouldn't allow him to carry Earth weapons to Chaos. Although he couldn't bring weapons, he was attempting to manufacture cannons in a foundry located outside of his principle city based on plans he had brought from Earth. Sid shuddered at the idea of cannons on Chaos.
After thirty minutes of eating, the face of the General suddenly paled. He clutched his stomach and stumbled away from the table towards the ditch. He barely reached it before throwing up all of the food he had been eating. Sid walked up behind the general and asked, "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to gorge yourself after fasting?"
The General groaned and curled up on the ground in response to the stomach cramps. Disgusted, Sid gestured for one of the guards to come over. Pointing to the General, he said, "Take him to the slave pens with the other prisoners."
"Yes, General," the man said with a grin.
Sid walked away from the meeting thinking about what he had learned. It was clear to him that the other Heroes needed to get the information he had extracted from the General. He didn't know anything about this Carl person, but he was sure that Malcolm would know. The news that Danny Sun had been killed was very bad. He had an entire flank exposed to the enemy now.
Sid walked around a corner and found that he was faced with a huge crowd of the freed slaves. He noticed that most of them were wearing a blue cloth around their neck, the same color blue his troops had worn on their arms when attacking the citadel. Surprised, he came to a stop and asked, "What's going on?"
"We want to join your army," one of the men at the front of the crowd answered. Behind him, the rest of the men and women roared their approval. Most of them had worked to build the walls that had trapped the enemy. In the nature of men everywhere, they had complained the entire time. In seeing the results of their efforts, any dissatisfaction evaporated.
"You are welcome to join my army," Sid answered. The roar of approval almost drowned out his reply.
"What can we do?"
Sid answered, "We need to finish building the walls that we started earlier this week."
The man who had asked about joining the army said, "We watched the battle. Some of us felt that if you had put a picket fence across the field, they wouldn't have even been able to attack your men."
Sid nodded his head in agreement. It was likely they wouldn't have made it across the field. It was also likely that the second and third groups would have seen the picket and figured out what was happening. Nodding his head, he asked, "What would the second wave of attackers thought when they burst into the containment area and saw the fence still standing?"
"I don't know what they would have thought, but I would have turned around and run," answered the man. He slapped his forehead and said, "I see what you're getting at. We'll build those walls for you, General."
"After you men and women finish the wall, I'll have Connor start your training," Sid said.
The man leading the group shouted, "You heard him, men! Let's build us a slaver trap!"
Sid watched the men march off to get to work. He knew that by the evening they would have finished the fortifications. Considering the news he had gotten, he wondered if it would be enough.
He hadn't gone a dozen steps when he found Albert sitting on the ground and his head in his hands. Kneeling down, Sid asked, "What's the matter, Albert?"
"I can't believe what I did this afternoon," Albert said. He looked up at Sid. His face was tear-streaked.
Sid didn't need to ask for any clarification. He had watched the destruction and knew that Albert had seen it from even closer. Albert had been directing the fire. Sid took a seat on the ground beside Albert and said, "I know it is tough. I felt like throwing up when I saw what was going on."
"I did throw up," Albert admitted. He didn't have a problem with launching rock after rock at a wall. He didn't have a problem with watching the two sides fighting it out after the wall came down. He did have a problem with pummeling the enemy from a distance where they couldn't defend themselves.
"I don't blame you. You know that there were fifteen thousand of them. There was no way we could beat them in a direct fight," Sid said.
"I understand that. It doesn't help to know it, though," Albert said.
"That's why you're one of the good guys. The slavers wouldn't feel that way," Sid said. He leaned against the wall. Gesturing to the crowd of men who were working on the fortifications, he said, "They know and understand the slavers much better than we do. They saw what we did and want to join us in our fight."
Having seen the scars on the backs of a quarter of the men, Albert knew that Sid was right. The slavers wouldn't have cared except at the loss of slave stock it would have represented. He said, "You know that they've taken to wearing the blue armbands around their necks. They call it their freedom collar."
"I wondered about that," Sid said.