“The dragon should certainly be our overriding concern at this point,” Marcus agreed with Azraea, “Eventually she will tire of this conflict and intervene directly, and we are ill-equipped to confront her. Do you have a plan to deal with her?”
Azraea nodded, “We’ve prepared a trap for her in the east end of the kingdom. Or at least, we will have one prepared soon. If we can get her out there, it should knock her out of the air indefinitely, forcing her to fight on foot. Assuming it doesn’t kill her outright.”
“Even if you knock her out of the air,” Schroeder said, “you’ll have a hell of a fight.”
“If anyone here has any advice in that regard,” Azraea said, “I’d be happy to hear it.”
“Surprise," Jericho said, “Syliva doesn’t think quickly on her feet – or her wings – I always figured if you could take her by surprise you’d have a significant advantage. But you’re pretty much screwed if she can turn those tables on you.”
“How do you even damage her, though?” Schroeder said, “Those scales look impenetrable.”
“Some of them are,” Marcus said, “The big, broad scutes are covered in a layer of horn. They’re thick and as strong as steel. But they’re rigid, too, so they don’t cover her entire body.”
“You seem to know an awful lot about them,” Vinny noted.
“I fought a dragon once,” Marcus said, “when my kin were fighting for northeast Feguncia. It was smaller, and we got lucky, but we learned a thing or two. Its hide was like plate armor – weak around its joints. Syliva’s throat, right under her lower jaw, would be especially vulnerable, as are the backs of her legs.”
“Well, knowing that, she doesn’t seem so bad,” Schroeder said optimistically.
“Not if you’re another dragon, I imagine,” Jericho said, “but those are hard targets to hit, and vulnerable for a dragon is still pretty tough.”
“Yeah, we can’t just walk up behind her and slit her throat,” Schroeder said making a slashing motion across his neck.
Marcus, Jericho, and Verax all made noises, and shook their heads.
“That’s not how you do it,” Jericho shook his head.
“You want to puncture the jugular,” Marcus said making a stabbing motion with his thumb, “So penetration is the key, not laceration.”
“Unless you have an amazingly sharp blade,” Verax flicked the hidden razor out from under his sleeve, “In which case you’re actually going for the trachea.”
Azraea thought about what the dragon’s anatomy must look like, imagining her laid out on a giant version of the autopsy tables she'd gotten to know so well as a necromancy student, “Getting through her platysma would require penetration on the order of feet, and even if her carotid is as big around as my thigh, without being able to see it…”
“Killing her with a bow would be like killing a man with a sewing needle,” Schroeder nodded.
“Technically possible,” Verax said, “but not practical.”
“How did you bag yours?” Jericho asked Marcus.
“In the end? A pikehook chained to a war elephant. One of my men got the hook in the dragon’s throat before it killed him, and when the dragon tried to get free it panicked and ripped its own throat out.”
Schroeder swore, “I can get the pikehook and the chain. Anyone got an elephant?”
“It panicked?” Azraea asked. She’d seen that Syliva was easily flustered into impulsive, self-destructive action, and now wondered if that fault extended to combat.
“They’re not like us;” Marcus explained, “A dragon doesn’t cut itself on a broken glass, or stub its toe. I get the impression that when they do feel pain it’s something of a shock to them.”
“Well, that’s certainly worth passing on to Ochsner and Kaira,” Azraea said.
“You really think they can take her down?” Marcus asked.
“If you knew Ochsner you’d believe it too,” Verax said.
“And if Kairumina Doro Asterigennithika has set her mind to killing something,” Schroeder said, “I’m willing to gamble that she’ll succeed. That girl’s like a seven foot tall mountain lion.”
“Asterigennithika?” Marcus seemed surprised.
“She comes from a family out east,” Azraea nodded.
“Well, this gets more interesting by the moment,” the elf once again had that pleased-to-know-something-no-one-else-did expression he seemed to revel in.
“Back on point,” Azraea tried to keep them focused, “We just need to get Syliva to them; that’s our number one goal. Playing on her pride is the best way to maneuver her, and I think I can do that if I can get her face-to-face in front of an audience. But I need to get past her troops for that.”
“With an audience to see it,” Jericho said, “And as much as that spectacle might draw a crowd, people won’t come out if they think her thugs are still in full rape-and-pillage stance.”
“Which is where you three come in,” Azraea said, “Someone needs to deal with her small army and someone needs to roust the people out.”
“Medes took that little spat back at the gate pretty personally,” Jericho said, “When he regroups he’ll head here.”
“Do you think he’ll bring the dragon?” Schroeder said anxiously, “We’ve got direct access to the aqueduct and considerable stonework protecting us. This is the best possible place to hold off a dragon, but…”
“Going by the heralds, Syliva’s still trying to play like she’s the voice of reason and moderation,” Azraea shook her head, “I think she believes that people will accept guards killing each other, but they’ll hate her if she swoops in and burns you all in your headquarters. How long that'll last though...”
“Hopefully long enough to finish this. I’m banking on that reluctance to protect the refugees in Mudville,” Marcus said, “As much support as she’s given the Nationalists, she has not overtly advocated the racial violence they’re engaging in.”
“She likes to surround herself with racist, murdering assholes,” Verax said, “She just doesn’t want to be called a racist, murdering asshole.”
“So… this is good,” Azraea said, “We can bait her troops and her Firebrands. The Firebrands will want to continue chasing the refugees, and Medes will want to come after Schroeder’s remaining guardsmen.”
“My allies should be here by morning,” Marcus said, “We can take care of the Firebrands if they come out to meet us.”
“You can keep them busy?” Schroeder asked.
“Captain Schroeder,” Marcus said, “When the head of house Haorzawa says he’ll take care of someone, he doesn’t intend diversion or distraction. They will be taken care of.”
“Syliva’s troops will probably stay here,” Azraea said, “They might be able to justify pursuing the refugees as part of their ‘investigation’ but they wouldn’t dare leave the city with Schroeder’s guardsmen still here.”
Schroeder nodded, “I think there’re still enough of us to be a problem. Even 200 men can take control of an empty city.”
“200?” Jericho seemed startled.
“For the city,” Schroeder frowned, “We were already down to 800 men at the beginning of the summer – I only got the job I did through a favor – and since then we’ve had desertions, early retirements, the guard splitting, and some more unfortunate losses.”
“How many civilian volunteers do you have?” Azraea asked.
“A lot,” Schroeder smiled faintly, “so there’s that at least. I sent about half of them over to Mudville to help protect the refugees, though. So, with my guardsmen that’s about 500 men inside the walls.”
“Forgive my ignorance of Kingstown security measures,” Azraea said, “but I didn’t see anywhere near 200 guardsmen out in the streets tonight…”
“The east gate is a small fort itself,” Schroeder said, “I’ve got 30 men there stationed in the fortification and the battlements over the gate.”
“Yes, of course, the archers that were supporting us,” Azraea nodded.
“We also cleared out the old barracks on the north end because I thought we might get people out through there, but the gates were too small to move a massive number of people; turned into an awful bottleneck when the north-enders left. Still, a door is a door, so I left another 20 men there to hold it. About ten men at the library, 40 men stationed here at the west barracks with our families, and the rest were in the field.”
“If the guard needs to go on the offensive then,” Azraea subtracted the west barracks and the east gate, “you could spare about 130 men to fight.”
“At most,” Schroeder said.
“You could manage more though if we trust the civvies to handle some of the defensive tasks,” Jericho said.
“That is true, but I don’t have time to drill and train them properly.”
“How many troops does Syliva have?”
“Firebrands, I have no idea,” Schroeder said, “I imagine that number changes quite a bit by the hour. As far as troops… Maybe 150 guardsmen stayed with her. Her special ‘investigative force’ was around a hundred men out of her personal security force, which was maybe… 300 for the city if you count the castle and all her businesses? She’s called in more in the past day or so. My troops at the gate had to let them through, but estimated about another 100 men.”
“So without her Firebrands it’s close to an even fight,” Azraea said.
“By numbers,” Schroeder said, “but a lot of those mercenaries are ex-military. Not exactly crème de la crème, but better armed and more experienced than my civilian volunteers.”
“And our standing military?” Azraea asked.
“In general,” Schroeder said honestly, “Caelia’s standing military doesn’t amount to much at this point. Militaries cost money, and the kingdom hasn’t had much for a long time. What passes for our armed forces though is scattered along the kingdom’s edges to maintain ‘border security.’ We’ve got minimal military presence in the city,” Schroeder said, “And outside the city… I think they’re waiting to see how it goes down.”
Jericho nodded, “Their duty is to the country, and I imagine a lot of them are scratching their heads over what that means right now. If the Caelian army splits like the KCG has, this civil war will spread across the entire kingdom. Best to get Syliva off the throne before any of them get too used to the idea of her being there.”
“Very well, then. My plan is threefold,” Azraea unrolled one of the diagrams Verax had brought from the library and set it next to a map the guardsmen had been recording information on. First, Captain Schroeder’s guards will reopen the gates, so that Mr. Haorzawa can draw the Firebrands out of the city. Second, Captain Schroeder’s guard will harass the Blackguard’s patrols here… here… and… here,” she pointed to patrol routes throughout the northern half of Kingstown, and then traced over to the diagram she’d laid out. “Those routes pass near access points to the catacombs. Your guardsmen can hit the Blackguard and disappear. Even if the dragon does get involved, it would be impossible for her to pursue them. Medes’ men will either have to follow your men into the catacombs or - as Kaira would put it - bend over and take it."
Schroeder smiled, “And the catacombs are an environment that mercenaries from outside the city will know little about.”
“Indeed,” Azraea nodded, “But I know a few of your civilian volunteers can guide your men through it quickly and easily.” She pointed to tunnels connecting to the barracks and slid the diagram over to Schroeder, “And you won’t even have to open the gates here.”
The guard captain studied the maze of lines eagerly, grabbed some onion paper and charcoal, and began tracing, “If we hit here… instead of… here…” he made a slight amendment to the plan, “Heh heh… we can draw them into this section... close off the tunnels here and here…” he pointed to some bottlenecks, “And just lock them down there until this is over.”
“I’ve been in that stretch,” Verax said, “They’ll be in water up to their hips.”
“Well that should dampen their spirits,” Schroeder grinned, “Hours standing in cold filthy, dark water – they won’t have any fight left in them when we let them out.”
Jericho pointed out some other spots, “You can also draw some in to these entrances,” he marked places near the walls, “draw them towards the inner city, run them in circles a bit, and then just leave them down there. There’s miles of tunnel, and thanks to those renovations, any logic there was in building those catacombs is all but gone. They could be lost for hours looking for an exit bigger than a shithole.”
“If you can get a large portion of the guard off of the streets,” Azraea said, “I can rally people to accompany me to the castle; that’s the third part of the plan, and my responsibility.”
“You should take some of our civilian volunteers,” Schroeder said, “Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.”
“And I can spare some men to escort you,” Marcus said, “But even if things go flawlessly, a portion of Syliva’s Blackguard will remain in the castle and lock it down while she’s gone.”
“Let them,” Schroeder said, “Let them sit in that place and rot while we put things back together. The castle lost its meaning when Syliva kicked Caelus IV out.”
“No,” Jericho said, “It definitely has meaning; that’s why she lives there, the symbolism of it; the power.”
“I agree,” Azraea said, “But I believe I can make it into the castle, and I can handle the rest from there.”
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