The Fireseed Wars

FORTY-ONE

Queen Rylla watched as the Grefftscharr Navy slowly made its approach to Thagnor Harbor. Most were the gaff-rigged schooners, but there were a score of galleys and galleasses. She was at the top of the Great Tower along with her top military advisors, General Alkides, Prince Sarrask, Duke Osthwuld and Admiral Herad, Supreme Admiral of the Royal Nos-Hostigos Navy. The Grefftscharr Navy was through the Ragyath Straits and some eighteen to twenty marches away from the harbor; at their current speed they would reach the harbor in roughly an eighth of a candle. At the top of the Tower sat ten cannons, four of them were the new rifled eighteen-pound guns, with a range around ten marches. The other four rifled guns were with Phrames at the South Tower where he awaited the arrival of Styphon's Grand Host.

"I think we should start firing as soon as they come in range," the Queen said.

Having seen the lethal range of the new guns, Sarrask nodded, saying, "Fire the guns and teach these Ormaz-spawned GrefFans to respect our artillery!"

General Alkides shook his head. "Your Majesty, the Great King was quite clear in his instructions. We are to hold our shot until the enemy warships reach our usual range of four to five marches. Otherwise, once they learn the range of our new guns, they may retreat and continue their blockade instead of attacking the harbor. If everything goes according to plan, we will destroy the Grefftscharr North Fleet. These guns will go into action when they begin to retreat. By Dralm's Star, the Grefftscharr Navy will find Thagnor Harbor much easier to enter than to leave!"

Rylla shuffled from foot to foot. "It's this waiting I find hard. I want to close with the enemy and destroy them!" She lifted up her sword arm and twirled her sword.

"The Grefftscharr Navy will be here soon enough, Your Majesty," Admiral Herad said. "However, I share your distress. This is the first naval battle I've commanded from a tower top! I'm used to doing my pacing on the quarterdeck of The Prince Ptosphes. If this is what captain-generals have to look forward to, praise Neaphos I'm in the Navy!"

Sarrask laughed. "By Galzar, this is the best battle perch I've shared in three wars and more battles than I can count on the fingers of both hands! I can see for thirty marches away without fear of a stray musket shot. Still, I'd rather be leading the attack than watching events from afar."

The ships were drawing closer and the gunners were checking the guns' charges and laying out the last of the fuses. Others stood with linstocks and rammers at hand. In Thagnor Harbor below, which Kalvan called "Lake St. Clair," there was a line of some forty ships-of-the-line, as Kalvan called them, guarding the City. This harbor was where Kalvan hoped to spring his trap with his ships-of-the-line as the bait. These were the largest ships in the Thagnor Navy and the ones that carried the most guns, some twelve to fourteen a ship versus the Grefftscharri ships which were considered well-armed if they had four cannon-not to mention the fire-seed powder to shoot them. Behind and around the ships were about fifty to sixty of the much smaller gunboats, each with a bow-mounted chaser of four to six pounds.

There was a burst of wind and suddenly four or five of the Grefftscharri ships were within "normal" gun range. Alkides cried, "Fire! And make them count!"

The six regular cannon fired at the same time, shaking the tower floor. Rylla was glad that Kalvan had had his engineers rebuild the North Tower, putting in reinforcing beams, as it was never designed for this much concentrated firepower.

Three of the shots went wild, but two struck ships and another shaved off the aft mast of a tall schooner. Most of the enemy ships were now firing back at the Hostigi vessels, although without great effect. One big Grefftscharr galley struck a Hostigi schooner amidships with its ram. The port side of the smaller ship caved in, tossing its main mast overboard and taking in water. It foundered quickly, even before the sailors could abandon ship.

Then the four rifled eighteen-pounders went off. Their fire was concentrated on the nearest enemy vessel, which visibly shuddered when three of the four shots struck her midship. One of the shots must have gone through the bottom because the ship suddenly listed, then turned over, tossing crew, masts and guns aside. To the sailors aboard the ship it must have seemed as though Thanor, God of Thunder, had dropped his anvil onto their ship.

Suddenly the two battle lines merged and the fire from the Hostigi ships could be heard like distant thunder upon the tower top. From her perch, Rylla could see the smaller gunboats ganging up on individual Grefftscharri ships and firing on them until they sank. The Grefftscharri ships were primarily designed to ram their opponents, or, if that failed, to board them with grapples and boarding ramps. In several cases, the crews of the larger Grefftscharri ships attempted to board the gunboats, but the Hostigi sailors were all swimmers and taught to sink them if boarded and swim to the next closest boat. Most of the gun boats stayed out of boarding range, but the battle was fierce and ships and boats were so crowded together that it was a miracle, from where she watched, they all didn't crunch together in a giant logjam.

Aspasthar, who was acting as a messenger, jumped up through the main stairway portal. He stumbled his way over to Rylla and bent over to catch his breath.

"What is it, Aspasthar?" Seeing him reminded Rylla of Aspasthar's father, Harmakros; they both had the same sparkling-brown eyes. For a moment, she felt a stab of grief for lost friends. I don t have time for grieving, she thought, not now.

With his arms akimbo, Aspasthar looked up and spurted out, "Count Vinaldos reports that the Grefftscharrer Army has taken Ragyath Town and sacked it!" He paused to catch his wind.

Vinaldos' last report had arrived two days before. At that time, the Grefftscharr Army, which had been transported by Grefftscharri Naval troop ships from Greffa, had off-loaded at Kyios Port, a small Ragyathi fishing village and port. From there, they made their way south to Ragyath Town. It hadn't taken long for them to sack it, either. No surprise there, as the Ragyathi Army was about two thousand men strong and Ragyath Town's walls little more than wooden palisades.

Rylla nodded, trying to tamp down her growing anger. She'd tried several times to work out a treaty with their ambassador and had been rebuffed every time. Ragyath had long fought Thagnor's local dominance and, even in the midst of the current political upheaval, had refused to change their course. With Ragyath as an ally, Kalvan would have established a series of forts and watchtowers all along the Ragyath Straits, which could have destroyed the Grefftscharr Navy long before they reached Thagnor Harbor. The Ragyathi had rebuffed the very idea and now they were paying for their reluctance "big time."

When Theovacar and the Styphoni had been driven off, they would reconquer Ragyath and restore the Ragyathi crown with a prince they could trust, maybe Sarrask in repayment for his loyalty. She hoped so.

Aspasthar continued, "After sacking Ragyath Town, their Army is preparing to march on Thagnor. Count Vinaldos says he expects them to arrive at the West Gate sometime tomorrow."

"How many soldiers did Theovacar bring?"

"The Count estimates their number at twelve to fourteen thousand men, six thousand cavalry and seven or eight thousand infantry. He says that it appears from the banners that Theovacar brought most of his Royal Army with him and there are Princely banners of three other Princes and a score of underlords."

"Thank you for your report, Aspasthar," Rylla said. The numbers were about what Kalvan had estimated, although a little higher. "Did you see the banners of his Companions?"

"Yes, Queen Rylla. They displayed the red Greffan dragon on a white field."

She turned to Sarrask. "Prince, I want you to lead the attack against Theovacar and his army."

Sarrask perked up. If he'd have been a dog, his ears would have pointed towards the sky. "Yes, Your Majesty. I thank you for such an honor."

"Aspasthar, has there been any movement by the Grand Host that would indicate they are sending troops to support the Grefftscharri attack?"

"No, Your Majesty. Count Vinaldos has scouts watching both armies. If there had been any recent movement, he would have told me before dispatching me to Your Majesty."

"Good. Sarrask, I want you to take the King's Heavy Horse, the Thagnor Housecarls and most of the heavy cavalry Kalvan left behind. Around eight thousand horse. Plus, take the Royal Infantry, another six thousand men, and the Thagnori foot. That should give you some sixteen to seventeen thousand men. We outgun the Grefftscharri, we out-horse them and we outnumber them! Kill as many as you can before reinforcements arrive from the Grand Host."

Aspasthar hung back as though he wanted to help. The boy was already as tall as Rylla and when fully grown he probably would have Harmakros' large stature and height. Maybe it was time to give him a chance to earn his spurs. "Commandant Aspasthar, I give you leave to recruit some four to five hundred of your oldest and fiercest cadets. I want you to hold back from the main charge and wait until the Grefftscharrer lines break; then you and your command will hunt down all of the deserters and stragglers."

Aspasthar gave a bloodthirsty grin. "Thank you, Your Majesty! We will send them all to Wind!" He spun around and dropped down the stairway.

She thought it was interesting how he was beginning to pick up some of the Urgothi speech patterns and words. With the capture of Thagnor and all the new orphans from the war in Hostigos, there were now twenty-four military academies and new recruits pouring in every day. Someday, if her husband was right, they would be the core of the army.

Down in the harbor the Hostigi boats had begun to pull back and about a dozen ragged schooners were heading into the fray. The fire ships! Suddenly one of them burst into flames, then another and another. Even from the tower top she could see the Grefftscharrer ships flounder and spin around in terror. The Hostigi ships-of-the-line pulled back, half continuing their firing, the other half going to encircle the now terrorized Grefftscharr Navy. Kalvan had said repeatedly that fire was the greatest fear of men stationed on a wooden ship. Within moments, a score of enemy ships were on fire, with flames running up the masts into the sails.

She could see the pandemonium the fire ships caused from the Tower.

A cold chill ran up and down her spine. The tower guns were now firing as soon as they were reloaded. Now they were shooting any enemy ships trying to get away from the main battle.

One of the Hostigi ships was rammed by a burning Greffan galley and it too caught on fire. Suddenly the powder magazine went up and the two ships disappeared in a cloud of gray and black smoke. When the boom reached the tower, it almost knocked her off her feet!

Rylla couldn't even imagine what it must have sounded like down in the harbor.

"The Grefftscharri are in full retreat!" shouted Admiral Herad.

She knew that Herad had been a lifelong naval officer for the small Ulthori Navy; all his life Grefftscharr had been the naval power to be reckoned with. Now it was getting the stuffing blown out of it along with all former preconceptions about the naval world.

The Grefftscharri ships that were still afloat were now out of normal cannon range and probably thought they were home free. Unfortunately, for most of them their only home was going to be the bottom of Thagnor Harbor. About half their Navy was on fire, sunk, captured, tangled up and about to go up in flames. Eighty to ninety ships were trying to make their way out, but she doubted less than half would make it. Theovacar would long remember this day!

The rifled cannon were beginning to make their mark on the fleeing Greffan ships. All four rifled cannons were now firing in unison and always at one target. It usually only took two salvos to take out a ship. Had they had a dozen such guns, not a single ship would have escaped their bombardment.