//------------------------------// // Chapter 65; On the Eastern Front once more // Story: The War of 1002 // by Fireheart 1945 //------------------------------// At least the ride here was smooth, James thought as he emerged from the car. The rails had been repaired to a certain extent, though they weren't able to reach anywhere near the battle lines. As a result, he, and the final contingent of troops, was getting off at Trottingham Station. Small crowds, though nowhere near as populous as those in Canterlot, cheered the army on as it went forth to do battle. Blasted tie-eater, James mentally groaned as he saw the mangled railroad lines past the station. The griffon device that had done the job had ripped the ties it had passed over in half, so the rails could not stand as they were supposed to. If it had been made to do its work over dozens of miles, as he suspected, it would cost considerable time and effort to repair. As a result, the supply lines would grow longer, and perhaps more vulnerable. He felt certain that griffons in towns they captured would not sit still and just let Equestria rule them or give them orders; Equestrians hadn't. He wasn't sure how to deal with guerilla warfare if it sprang up, and it was a possibility he couldn't ignore. History showed that the more force - and the more brutal the reprisals - used, the more resistance would increase. Have to win quickly, he thought as he walked with his troops toward the outskirts of the city. That's all there is to it. Capturing their capital should shock most of them into giving up, and then we can get on building a new peace.That, at least, was what he hoped would happen. "Generals Armor and Lavigne, over here!" a British-accented voice shouted. James turned to see a carriage, with a uniformed pony waving. He walked over, with Shining outpacing him and arriving first. "What's this for?" Shining asked. "To give you both a ride to the eastern front, of course," the pony replied. "There's another two occupants, so I apologize for any tight squeeze there might be." "That'll be fine," James replied. Another pony took his bag and placed it on the carriage, fastening it and making sure it fit well before coming back down. James stepped into the carriage and took a seat, with Shining right behind him. "Hey, boss, how's it hanging?" "Ah, General Barrel," James said, cheerfully. Shining gave a polite nod. "And Crystal Clear!" "Glad to see you again, general," the pegasus aide said politely. "Indeed." "I'm supposing there's another reason to this meeting than just picking us up," Shining said. "There is," Barrel said as the carriage started moving. "We have to get you both caught up on the current campaign, and a private carriage - with well insulated windows - was the best place to do it. Better to get the briefing done before you guys got to the front." "I suppose that's a valid reason... although just getting there would be nice too." "Of course, sir." "Who's going to lead the troops to their destination?" James asked. "Don't worry, sir, I got it all figured out. I've sent a few of our officers to do that job." Barrel's friendly expression changed to one of careful neutrality. "Is it true that some of them are changelings?" James and Shining looked at one another before the former answered, "Yes, it is. They're firmly on our side." "It might be a good idea for them to maintain their disguises, then. Not all of our troops believe the news, at least in regards to friendly changelings. "I suppose that can't be helped," James sighed. "The changelings will also have trouble using any useful disguise against the enemy, since they can only effectively disguise themselves as ponies. Anyway, what's the status of the campaign into the Griffon Kingdom?" "Unfortunately none too good," Crystal Clear answered. "The forests on their western border are quite thick, and easy to get lost in. The enemy are able to defend themselves quite well, especially since some of them live there. In spite of our numerical advantage, we've been unable to successfully outflank them, and each time they shift units to block us." "Not that those units are particularly good," Barrel growled. "It's largely local militia units from the nearest griffon clans, putting up the best fight they can with weapons they're unfamiliar with. They've made their own muskets, apparently, so they have supply problems we don't have-" "Different sizes of ammunition and armaments, for example," Crystal Clear cut in. "-And those without a gun use archery," Barrel continued. "But the forests make our advance slow, and those stinking militia are always able to slow us down just long enough for more professional, better-armed units to arrive and hold us up." "Add to all that, our armor isn't as useful as it would be elsewhere," Crystal said. "Mostly, they get stuck in the thick woodlands, but the griffons have started digging ditches with the objective of trapping our vehicles and then setting the forests around them on fire, or having cannons pound the trapped tanks until they're destroyed. They camouflage the pits and trenches, so we can't detect them very easily." "Furthermore, they chop down trees and use them to block the few roads that exist," Barrel said. "And then they ambush units that come to clear the blockage. Add to that the pits they dig..." He turned to Crystal, and both of them shared a look of disgust. "What?" "They put either wooden spikes at the bottom, or they set some sort of explosive, or, worst of all, they somehow rig the inside of the pit to catch fire when somepony falls in." "Ugh," James grimaced with some horror. Shining looked disgusted. "Yeah. It's bad," Barrel said. "I'd suggest burning the entire forest down and getting on with it, but Their Highnesses wouldn't approve, I know that." "You're correct on that score," Shining said. "And the fires would hurt us, too. That option is out." "We've been able to advance some," Barrel concluded. "But our pace has been painfully slow." James sighed. "We need another method of attack." "We've been trying, sir," Crystal insisted. "We've tried using pegasi to outflank them by flying around and over their positions, but they've been attacked every time they land, and not always by soldiers." "You mean-" "Yep," Barrel said, anger showing on his face. "Civilians, armed with pitchforks, torches, and whatever real weapons they can get their claws on attack our pegasi, along with actual ground troops. Each such attack we've made has ended in failure." "I see," James said, which would do for an understatement until he came up with something better. "So our options are somewhat limited. The only idea I can think of off the top of my head is to try everything at once, a massive offensive from every unit we have." "We've thought of doing that," Crystal said, nodding. "But we keep getting missives from Canterlot urging us to get a move on, and we haven't had time to set up such an assault." "And who's been sending these orders?" "The Princesses, or at least, their names are the ones on the letters. 'Keep making every effort to press ahead,' 'Move to attack immediately while the enemy is weak,' 'the fate of the kingdom hinges on the success of your assault in this campaign;' those are the kinds of "orders" we've been getting." "That doesn't sound like Celestia," Shining said suspiciously. "We've noticed," Barrel said. "We've tried tracking down the one giving these out, but so far no luck." "We suspect it's the Canterlot nobility getting uppity," Crystal reasoned. "They've always resented the fact that their power has been slowly eroding. A success in war might give them a little of that power back. Unfortunately, we can't be these messages aren't from the Princesses, so we've done what we could, apart from our own attack efforts independent of those receipts. The results.... well, they'll be what you see." "I'll write to Celestia immediately," Shining replied, taking out a quill and paper. "This has to be stopped." "Of course, the writer might not be a pony," James said. Everyone else turned to him. "What do you mean?" Shining asked, quill out and ready to write. "It might be from the enemy, urging us to make futile and costly attacks that achieve little and whittle down our morale." There was a short silence, and then Crystal said, "But that's impossible. The letters come from a mailbag carried by a pony, who is guarded during his journey. There is no way these letters could have been produced by griffons." "Well, how long has it been since you last received one of these?" Crystal thought. "About a week or two ago, possibly, though we've been expecting another one." "That might coincide with our defeat of the Changelings under Chrysalis," James replied. "Who might have been supplying those letters," Shining realized. "To focus us on fighting here and not on them. A clever plan, and well thought out. They wouldn't exactly want to share with the griffons had they been able to win." "Its only a suspicion," James noted. "We can't be sure." "Even so, the idea that these letters may well not be from the Princesses would ease our minds," Barrel noted. "They've let their generals in the field tend to have a high measure of independent control so far, so these missives have been disturbing, to say the least." "I'll see what I can do," James replied. "How much ground have we taken?" "We've been able to press about twenty miles into their land. I'm not sure just how many square miles that is, but they've put up quite the defense. In most cases, our ratio of inflicting between two to three enemy casualties to every one of our own is dropping rapidly to one to one," Crystal summed up. "If this situation keeps up, we might well have to quit the war simply based on all the ponies back home who will be screaming for peace." "That's not acceptable," Shining answered. "The griffon king made it clear that he's not going to accept any peace other than that of a defeated Equestria. Most of our people know that by now; most of the protests the diarchy have been receiving stopped after Celestia's conference with General Grayfeather.." "That's good," Barrel said. "All the same, we don't want to risk starting them back up again. Sadly, the enemy, even their makeshift militias, are very determined, being on home ground. That makes them even harder to beat." The carriage went over a bump; James dropped his hat and bent down to pick it up, grumbling slightly as the others continued speaking. "How many troops can we rely on?" Shining was asking as James straightened back up. "About 94,000 Equestrian troops - not counting the reinforcements, which will bring us up to 104,000, including changeling detachments - and about 6,000 Saddle Arabians, along with 5,000 Zebras in numerous tribes. That brings our forces up to approximately 115,000, not including casualties we may have suffered in the interval of us coming to Trottingham and back," Crstaly sounded off. "And what about the enemy's numbers?" Crystal sighed. "We aren't sure. More than they had before the campaign started; much of it's the militia that's been giving our pegasi grief, but there have been more red-coated griffon soldiers than usual, and not always on the frontline, or where those units are most sorely needed." James frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Why wouldn't they deploy their best troops in the places where they'd do the most good?" "I was hoping you'd be able to tell us," Crystal said. "The only ideas we could think off are that they're trying to shore up less-determined or less well equipped units, but..." "That doesn't quite fit," James finished for him. He looked outside the window, at the passing countryside, trying to ponder the problem. Why would they not send the King's own troops - who, by their own admission, are the best the griffons have to offer - into the front lines where they're most needed? It's like they're being positioned for something, but for what, And who? ----------------------------------------------------------------- It took a couple days to reach their destination. James was impressed by the massive array of tents, as well as the artillery park he passed and the well-organized supply dumps, at least in the one clearing he passed through. "Our army isn't as well organized out on the field, unfortunately," Barrel said when he commented on that. "It's chaotic, fighting in these stinking forests. Sometimes soldiers from different units get jostled together, and it all becomes an even greater mess." "Even so, we have to keep pushing forward." James sighed. "Not going to be easy, but even so..." "Any ideas you've had since you left?" Barrel asked. "Yeah. Repurposing airships in order to bomb the enemy out was something I'd thought of, but it got shot down." "I'm assuming you meant the idea, since we've seen no airships around here, and for good reason," Barrel replied. "Anti-air guns have become rather numerous on both sides; any aircraft built with current technology would be shot down for real. We've had to limit our pegasi attacks to nighttime assaults. Even so, we've made little headway with those attacks, as I've told you before." "We'll have to try," James reasoned. "With the changelings in our ranks, we might achieve something." "If the bugs can do some good, now would be a good time," Barrel said, his voice carefully neutral. "When the reinforcements arrive, we'll be set," James said. "What about the SA and zebra commanders? Do they get any say in operations?" "Ah, yes," Barrel said, again neutral. "Chief Jelani and his wife, Furaha, are technically in charge of only their company of troops, but they have considerable influence among the other zebra leaders." James frowned. "He brought his wife?" "Yep. Trust me, we thought the same thing. Turns out, they've got a sort of joint ruler-ship over their tribe; Jelani is the de-jure chief, and makes the most important decisions, but Furaha handles his household and runs all the smaller but still very important business." "And they left no one in charge back home?" "No; they've given the job to their young but promising son; they say they've arranged it as a test for him, for his future inheritance as chief." "I see. Well, how have the zebras fought so far?" "Actually quite well, given their lack of most modern weaponry. They're not at home in the woods, though. And most of them don't speak our language; we have to have translators when some run of the mill warrior of theirs comes to deliver a message." "And what about...?" "The Saddle Arabian commander is named Aali Abd al-Malik, a high general in his king's army," Crystal said. "He doesn't speak much English, as you call our language, and he's somewhat vain, but at least he's competent and extremely loyal to his king, though stubborn as a cranky mule when he wants to be." "I hope we can get along," James murmured. They continued. The clearing wasn't big, so they passed through it very quickly. They came into the woods; James found his sleeve almost immediately caught on a small, low branch. He tugged it loose, most of the branch coming with it. "That's just part of it," Crystal noted. 'Where did you guys even set up the majority of the camp?" "It's scattered throughout the place, in patches where we've chopped down the trees just for the purpose. Some of the lumber we use for firewood, most of the rest for field fortifications, in so far as we can create fortifications in a place like this." "Prince Blueblood would flip if he'd had to camp in a place like this," Shining observed, chuckling. "I suspect so," Barrel answered. "Anyway, our Grand Headquarters for the coalition army is just ahead. We'll be there in a few minutes." There was another clearing mercifully close. Unlike the previous one, this one was clearly not natural, as tree stumps and large stacks of logs were everywhere. A blue, white, and red-striped tent stood in the center. "The GHQ, I assume?" James asked. "Yep," Barrel said, chewing on the piece of grass he'd stuck in his mouth. As they got closer, the sound of arguing voices could be heard. "Oh boy, not again," Barrel grumbled. All four of them rushed inside the tent. There, James laid eyes on the commanders of Equestria's allies. Chief Jelani was recognizable at once; he was a zebra, obviously, and was shouting at what would have looked like a perfect, full-tacked and ready horse back home. Since the zebra chief was speaking in Swahili, James didn't understand a word of what he was saying, but the tone and furious look on his face said that he wasn't happy. Next to him, seated, was what appeared to be his wife, who looked perfectly calm and at home, and appeared to be simply allowing her husband to shout himself out. She appeared to be quietly brewing tea, even as her husband raised a hoof at the other general. Abd al-Malik - or at least James guessed that was who he was - was no less upset. He was shouting back in Arabic, oblivious to the fact that his opponent couldn't understand him. He had a green coat of fur, wore a bridle on his head and a saddle - in Arabian style - on his back. All four hooves had gold horseshoes nailed to the bottom of them, and the bridle and saddle had jewels embedded in them. Clearly, he was someone of importance or at least someone who thought he was. Translators on both sides of the issue - a third zebra and a second Saddle Arabian - were trying to translate each other's speak into English, which they'd then try translating, quite belated, to their leaders. Both leaders initially didn't notice the new arrivals. Both of them continued bickering - or perhaps they were just trading insults, James wasn't sure. However, Jelani caught sight of the newcomers after a moment and went quiet. Abd al-Malik went on shouting for a few more seconds, then, puzzled by the sudden lack of resistance, turned as well. For a moment, there was silence. Jelani broke the silence first. He said something in Swahili. "Greetings, honorable allies," his translator spoke, in the same sort of accent Zecora had. "I trust your travels went well?" "A thousand greetings," Aali Abd al-Malik said through his interpreter, glancing rather snidely at the chief. "I am honored to meet the courageous and honorable commanders of our allied troops." He spoke with much less of an accent than did Jelani; in fact, if one hadn't been looking for it, one might have some difficulty knowing it was there. "Hi," James said, giving a small bow to each leader in turn. "What was all that about?" Shining asked, foregoing greetings for the moment. Both commanders seemed to blush once that was translated, though Jelani recovered more quickly. He spoke again to his interpreter, but his wife raised a hoof. "Please pardon my husband and this fop," she said, in perfect though heavily Swahili-accented English, much like that of Zecora as well. "Since our arrival, they've been arguing non-stop." "I see," James said cautiously. "Might I ask what this little... discussion was about?" Jelani spoke for a moment with his wife before again talking to the interpreter, who translated. "I apologize for the disturbance. My... colleague was-" "The chief took offense when Al-Malik said the zebra troops were not properly equipped," an aide off to the side said, catching them by surprise. "So the chief responded by saying that the SA troops were too bejeweled to be of any practical use in a battle, and it all escalated from there." "That's it?" James looked at Shining, who looked back. "Honestly, our argument during the Siege of Trottingham was more substantial than that." Shining nodded, then turned back toward the foreign commanders. "Let's get one thing clear," he began. "While you might both be big shots, you're both here to help Equestria, and I'm Equestria's highest ranking military officer." He pointed a hoof at al-Malik. "Your king gave you orders to serve under Equestrian commanders, and I'm sure he won't be pleased if I send him a letter explaining how you weren't willing to act in harmony with friendly troops. And you," he went on, pointing to the zebra chieftain, "are here because you volunteered to help us. I could ask Celestia to send you home if you can't do anything better than argue. From this point on, I want both of you to work together without any further outbursts of this sort. Do I make myself clear?" The chief looked somewhat miffed when that was all translated, but after a brief conversation with his wife, he reluctantly nodded. Aali Abd al-Malik wasn't so easily mollified. He said something that sounded quite scathing in response, and his translator - who was almost as well dressed as his commander - interpreted with the air of someone doing a job they really didn't want to do. "How dare you presume to give me an order? I serve my sultan, and no one else. And if you dare to do such an ignominious thing like send me back, I would lobby with him to leave the conflict. Try fighting the war when the blockade is left to the minuscule Equestrian fleet." James snapped. "Your king is interested in bringing this war to a successful solution. Imagine the prestige loss your family would suffer if your king believed us over you, and had you replaced with a less troublesome commander." He knew he'd struck a nerve when the translator had finished speaking. The Arabic-speaking horse - or pony, James wasn't sure, as the structure of the body differed in some ways when compared to ponies from Equestria - jerked back. "You wouldn't dare," the reply came. "We've taken a number of rather risky dares in this war already. You know better than to think we're bluffing," James replied. Al-Malik spoke at length with his translator; clearly, he'd been rattled. Finally, the translator replied, "I will... consider your requests." "Requests my-" "Leave it," Shining said quickly. "It's not worth it." "...Alright," James said after a moment, though only after making a great effort to control the anger he was feeling. Al-Malik muttered something, but the interpreter did not translate. Whatever it was, James was sure it wasn't a compliment to anyone. "Can we please try to agree on some measure of military strategy, if not in ethics?" Rolling Barrel asked. "I propose that the generals commanding look at the map of the battlefield." After that was translated, the chief and the SA general both nodded, though the latter with some measure of proud reluctance. "Now," James said, as Crystal brought out a large map and spread it out before them, "Here's what we had in mind..." -------------------------------------------------------------------- "I don't know how you guys talked me into doing this," James murmured. "It was at least partly due to your ideas regarding airships," Shining countered. "We just used a hot air balloon instead." "Besides, it's the only way to really get any idea of what's going on with our own eyes," Crystal added. All three of them were inside the basket of a hot air balloon - far enough behind the Equestrian lines to be out of range for the enemy's anti-air cannons - in order to watch, or attempt to watch, the battle about to commence. James was finding it difficult to concentrate on the troops below without a strong sense of fear coming over him, his prevalent fear of heights. "Don't worry, sir," Crystal said. "If something goes wrong, I think I can carry you back to the ground." "Thanks," James replied, but that didn't make him feel much better. The enemy had already fired a few shots in their direction, but none of the shells had exploded anywhere near them. Even so, the problem persisted, and he knew it would until they were back on the ground. With a massive effort, he managed to focus his attention on using his binoculars to view what he could. There wasn't much of the battle that he could actually see. The thick woods made it difficult to tell who was who and what was going on. The whole idea for the battle was to probe the enemy lines, find out where they were strongest and where they were weakest. Initially, pegasi messengers had reported advances of about a half mile, but after that, the enemy had halted the division that had made the assault in the woods. The best any of them could see - and what they were concentrating on - was the fight on the southern-most edge of the line, where the Saddle Arabian and zebra troops were fighting in one of the larger clearings in the massive forest. The SAs were well-armed with jezails, rifled muskets of Arabic design and decoration, very accurate, even though it was still a muzzle-loading weapon, as well as with curved, bejeweled scimitars. Some of them kept out of the enemy's range and peppered them with long range, persistent gunfire while others moved forward under cover of the barrage with their swords, only unsheathing them once they got close. The zebras fought without sophisticated and, for this world, modern weapons. However, James was surprised that they didn't simply charge forward with spears, as he'd expected. Instead, they used archers, who utilized fire arrows, to attack the enemy positions. Much of the griffon defensive structures were made of fallen timber, and caught fire easily. The fires didn't spread very far, as the substance used to keep the fire burning didn't let them, they did cast a large pall of smoke over the enemy's position. While the defenders were either preoccupied trying to put out the fires or were blinded by the smoke and flames, other zebras dashed forward. Some fell - some griffons fired, shot, or threw weapons even though they could not see the attackers - but not many. When the assaulting warriors were close, they hurled the lighter of the two spears on their backs into the enemy positions before switching to a heaver one designed for killing at close quarters. Some few of them, carrying caskets of water on their backs, threw water on the fires, which had the effect of putting out the flames but also creating steam, which continued to keep the enemy from seeing what was going on. Only once this was done did they make their shock attack. The archers put away their bows at this point and rushed forward to join their comrades. James was impressed by the effective use of this rather primitive weaponry in a modern, or pre-modern, battle. Although indeed less well equipped, the zebras were able to use what they had and make it work. Both the SAs and the zebras were able to push past the griffon positions in the clearing. However, once they were back inside the woods, the zebras wisely did not attempt to use fire again, and James wasn't able to see much else after that point as the fighting moved again into the woods. About fifteen minutes afterward, another pegasus came up to deliver news of the fighting. "We're doing what we can, sir," he said the Shining Armor. "But the enemy had several layers of defense ready. We broke through one, and now we've gotten entangled on the second. I think it's that way all up and down the line." "What about the Saddle Arabians and zebras?" "They got a little further into the woods, but they've been stopped too. I think everypony's been stopped, or at least stalled, on this second defensive line." "Blast," the white stallion said softly. "Well, thank you. Keep us posted." "Will do, sir." The soldier saluted, then flew back to join his comrades. "Well, that's that," James said quietly. "I don't think we'll be able to penetrate their lines, not today." "It wasn't part of the plan to do so," Shining observed. "But I'm disappointed, too. I thought we'd at least find something out about potential weak spots." "Only thing we found out is, they're prepared to fight for every last inch of this forest," Crystal observed. "We've only begun making the raider units," James said, thinking out loud. "In fact, orders for their instatement only went out today, and we haven't been here long enough to effect a real attempt to outflank them. It would take days to go anywhere, and they have patrols buzzing around to detect any such effort we make. And we know that the enemy has some sort of militia act in place; that much the few prisoner's we've taken in this fight have told us, so every town we come across will have some defense in place, and that slows us down, by however much." He sighed. "In order to outflank them real good, we might have to forego a united frontage and detach a corps to make a really wide sweep to one side or the other, but that would expose a modest-sized piece of our army to ambush." "And they'd notice," Shining said. "We need to break through and advance, but the question is how." "Maybe we'll find something out in the reports of the battle that we get this evening," James said. He sighed. "I hope that as few of our boys as possible paid the price for that knowledge." "Me too." "In the meantime, I think we've gotten all we can out of this little aerial excursion," Crystal said. "I suggest we call off the current offensive and rethink what we're going to do on the ground." "Yes! Thank you," James said quickly. Then, noticing, the rather amused faces of the others, tried to recover. "Ahem, yes, lets do that," he said. Crystal chuckled. "I'll take us down. Just keep your cool, sir. We'll be earth-side in a couple minutes." As the hot air was let out of the balloon and the basket began to slowly make its way to the ground, the fear of heights that had gripped James began to dissipate as well. His mind continued to wrestle with the problem before them, or rather, problems. In addition to their task for clearing the forest and making their way to Gryphos in the face of determined enemy opposition, they had to make sure that allied troops behaved themselves and didn't end up fighting each other. That last might not prove much of an issue, but James didn't want to take a chance. As well, the population in the area was hostile, making for likely revolt in areas they held, or would hold. One thing was certain. They had to succeed, and soon. I hope we get a miracle soon, or this will be really costly.