//------------------------------// // 16. To Save Many // Story: Trials of a Royal Guard // by Anzel //------------------------------// Two more months and another dragoon lost to the war. An enemy knowing its own defeat is looming is no less dangerous than before. It was tough keeping my lancers focused and even tougher to lead them with a ruined wing. Combat, for the most part, had ceased for me. There hadn’t been any large ground engagements. The allied army had simply advanced slowly and carefully across Rindaire, cleaning out the various Sudramoar units and pushing them further south. It was all very neat, orderly, and horrible. We’d become quite adept at rooting out and killing our enemies. It was starting to become routine and I could tell my lancers were getting numb to it. That was frightening. Frightening but not unexpected. You can’t be surrounded by death and killing for so long and not get numb to it. Still, I’d be certain every dragoon that went home had counseling. At least the ponies. I wouldn’t have any say in the lives of my gryphons once we parted ways. For that, I’d just rely on Captain Brynja to do the right thing and I had little doubt she would. She was a great officer and, next to Alton, my favorite gryphon. We had a good understanding and she wasn’t ambitious enough to try to displace me. The two of us were leaning on the railing of the Dread Knight, watching clouds drift by as the ship floated peacefully above the recently fought-over ground below. “We vill be to ze border zoon.” That was a fact. We were already getting reports from forward scouts what to expect, and it wasn’t pretty. “That is true.” “When thiz iz over. You vill go back to your Equeztria and leave ze army?” Another fact. “Very much, yes. I’ve had my fill of killing for… whatever it is we’re killing for. Sovereignty, I guess.” “Yez…” Brynja said softly. She shook her tail and turned to me. “I vill go to Equeztria, too.” My brow lifted. “Oh? Why is that?” Her voice lowered. “Kingz do not eazily accept lozz. There vill be much bad blood. You poniez do not kill each other az much, yez?” That was an understatement. Although I didn’t want to be so rude to a friend. “Ponies live in greater harmony… yeah. We’re less competitive and… uh… less motivated by bits. So we certainly don’t make war on each other and very few ponies die to violence.” Brynja squeezed the railing with her claws and stared off into the distance. “Vill they hate me if I move there? Zince I am a gryphon, and poniez may not know I am Nordanver?” “Hate? Perhaps. Fear and avoid… perhaps that is more likely. Then again, most ponies are actually quite kind and generous. Do you think the soldiers here hate you?” “No, they do not. Ve are one army… but ze poniez in Equeztria are not here. They did not zee thiz.” No, they didn’t. A shiver ran up my spine and I had to shake it off. How would they see me? I’m no gryphon, but the things I’d seen and done weren’t meant for most ponies. They weren’t meant for me, but I’d survive it one more time. “I think, if you lived in Canterlot, you’d find a very welcoming group of ponies. It is an extremely friendly town that is heavily influenced by the princesses. Plus… I might live there and, if I don’t, I know good ponies who’d look after you.” “I would not need looking after, zir. Though I zuppoze I would need a job, yez?” “Only if you want to have a decent place to live and some bits to spend. What did you do before the war?” The gryphon leaned in close. Really, really close. So much so that her beak brushed my ear as she whispered, “I waz ze bezt dancer in all of Nordanver. They called me Crimzon Tail and gryphonz came from all over to zee me. I even performed for King Ranald. “I had hoped to dance for the cute one, but I zuppose he iz taken. Perhapz when I get to Equeztria, I can dance for the poniez.” The hair of my coat was standing on end. I’d noticed a lot of the gryphons keeping an eye on Brynja. I hadn’t noticed she was sweet on Tumble, though. “I… had no idea. I’ll keep it quiet, though.” “Yez,” she replied before flapping her wings. “I muzt go to the unit. We have patrolz to do. I shall find you here after, zir?” “You will… unfortunately. Be safe.” “Yez, zir.” I watched her fly away. Jealousy and shame oozed into my soul. I didn’t want to fight, I didn’t want to kill, but while the war was on, it was my duty. It was my duty to lead my lancers and make sure they did not die. “Major.” My ears turned at the sound of Brigadier Hammer’s voice. He’d snatched my focus back. I stood at attention. “Sir?” “Ironhoof wants you in here.” He didn’t say anything else. He hadn’t been saying much lately. It was all orders and business. We went together to the large meeting room that was built under the ship’s bridge. The Dread Knight was currently our flag ship until the new TMS Honor was completed. The room was full of officers. General Ironhoof, some of his staff, the brigadiers, their staff, and several members of Equestrian Intelligence. The general looked up from a topographical map when I came in. He looked old and worn. There was nothing left but grey. “Silent Knight, good to see you.” “You as well, sir.” He tapped his hoof on the map. “We’ve received a lot of intelligence here and it is pretty bleak stuff. The Sudramoar have pretty much pulled their forces to the foothills and mountains just inside the Rindaire border. They’ve staked their defense on the valley linking the kingdoms. “Over all the time we’ve been fighting, they’ve been building. Walls, keeps, towers, and the like. Plenty of hard points that will make it murderous for us to assault. Even with inexperienced troops guarding it all, the loss of life will be extreme.” “Understood, sir. I’m sensing that you’re about to ask me to do something.” He nodded. “Yes, though nothing like you might imagine. I need a set of eyes I trust to take a look at the lay of the land and see if there is any weakness, any point we can use to topple it all.” It took effort not to lash my tail and show my frustration. “Sir… apologies, but I’m incapable of flight.” General Ironhoof nodded again. “I know, and I’m sorry for that. I truly am. You’ll be taking an airship. A brand new one that has just arrived. She’s fast, really, really fast. You’re my final look. The only up close, aerial glance I’m going to get. I know you’ll get a good read and…” He cleared his throat. “…to be frank… I can spare you right now given your… situation. I apologize for how cold that sounds. I mean no insult by it.” My nostrils flared. It was like being punched in the gut. “Understood.” What else could I say? “Thank you, Major, that is all.” I saluted, but he had already looked back down. Dismissed in more ways than one. I wheeled and marched out of the conference room and onto the deck. It took all of my effort not to buck the door closed. I just paced back and forth instead. Can be spared! Spared! Did he mean expendable? Without value because we couldn’t command my unit from the front? Fine. I’d go look. I’d look and figure out the best possible outcome I could. We’d show them who could be spared. We’d show them all. ☾ My hooves clung to the railing of the TMS Bolt with all of their might. Fast had been an understatement. I’m not sure what insane pony had designed this airship but it was tiny, narrow, and it moved like a bolt of lightning streaking through the sky. It was crewed by four seemingly unhinged pegasi: a captain, a pilot, and two crewers. They all looked a little too energetic and excited to be going this fast. “Don’t worry none, Major! We’ll be there soon,” the emerald-coated pilot shouted into the wind. I think her name was Zippy or Slippy. Something like that. The wind whipped and battered the crest of my helmet as I thanked the sun and moon that I had a visor. “There’s the target,” one of the crewponies called. I dragged myself against the rail to look. He was right. The natural border between Nordanver and Sudramoar was a mountain range. The far side had, to my knowledge, been stripped bare of anything worthwhile. The near side, on the other hoof, had been preserved. That was one of the reasons it was so valuable. There were plenty of resources to extract and the Sudramoar wanted to get at them. Over the centuries, the mountains had worked well as a border. Their only real weak point was a valley that split them from kingdom to kingdom. It was about a kilometer wide and full of rocky foothills. It had been the easiest trade route for heavy loads. That is now where the Sudramoar had built their defenses after their invasion. It was also where they had been busy for the duration of the war. General Ironhoof wasn’t kidding. There was a wall that stretched from one side of the valley’s mouth to the other. Every twenty or so meters was a tower and every hundred or so there was a keep. The towers had large, wicked-looking bolt throwers on top of them. Not the kind you shot at soldiers in the field. Probably the kind you shot at slow-moving airships. “Let’s go closer and get a real look!” the captain called and, before I could answer, Skippy banked the ship right towards the enemy. “Are you nuts!” I practically yelled. “Just a little!” She cackled in glee. Gryphons started scrambling around on the walls as we approached. The mega bolt throwers started shifting in our direction, too. So this was how I was going to die? On a small craft surrounded by crazy, speed-freak navy pegasi? “Wheee!” one of them screamed while showing a lewd gesture to the enemy. Crossbow bolts started flying at us. Most of the archers were way out of range but I guess the gryphons were being optimistic. Both regular and mega bolt throwers also opened up. The former were starting to zero in pretty well. The latter were too slow for an airship of this size. Dippy weaved and swooped the Bolt all around, avoiding most of the projectiles. One bolt thrower gunner did manage to hit us right in the hull but it didn’t seem to impact performance. It did impact my calculation on the probability of my survival, given how close it was to me and the railing. While all of this was going on, I tried to pay attention to my surroundings and get the look General Ironhoof wanted. Walls, walls, wall behind wall. Keep, taller keep, keep with— DUCK! More walls. Platform with several trebuchets on it behind a wall. This was a nightmare! They’d been building on it for over a year and a half. Anyone on the ground was going to be slaughtered. Anyone in the air would be shot down. We’d have to either go through the mountains, which would take forever and be risky, or just risk this. “Oh, look! They’re coming to greet us,” Pepper, the other crewer, said. “Huh?” I looked up and found that there were some gryphons flying towards us in formation. “Ramming speed!” the captain bellowed. “What? Belay that! Stop! Avoid them! Get us out of here, you crazy b—“ “BRAWK!” a gryphon exclaimed as it bounced off the slanted front of our ship and went tumbling from the sky. Then we turned hard north. “Do a barrel roll!” Pepper shouted. And we did. The entire way back I huddled on the deck while trying to work through what I’d seen and what might be an easy way to defeat it. A frontal assault would be beyond stupid. Bringing in slow, lumbering airships would be stupid. How long could the temple unicorns hold shields? Would they last long enough to breach a gate? What about a flying assault? There were an awful lot of crossbows and bolt throwers there. No… we’d have to go around. Avoid it completely. That would be slow. Even if we used the entire fleet, we could only ferry so many ground-bound soldiers… like me. We might be able to cut out a staging area in Sudramoar to put pressure on King Kronson, but would we really invade civilian areas? Their scouts would likely spot the fleet anyway and be waiting for us wherever we tried to make landfall. We’d need something else. Something they weren’t expecting. Something no one was expecting… but what? “Major! The Dread Knight is coming up. We’ll have you back on her deck in a few minutes.” Thank the alicorns for small miracles. When we pulled up alongside the battleship, I leapt off the Bolt as soon as possible. I liked speed. Controlled speed… “Goodbye, Major!” Pepper called. “Yup,” I replied before trotting to the center of the deck. Behind me, there were cheers of glee as the small airship went flying off to who know where. Brigadier Hammer was standing up on the command deck, his one good eye tracking the Bolt. “What in Equestria was that about?” “The Navy seems to issue high-speed airships to teenagers now. Where are they off to?” He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. They were supposed to stay here.” “Oh… well… consider it stolen, then. Best of luck catching that thing. Assuming we don’t have another one.” “We don’t. Yet.” Well… now we didn’t even have one. Probably for the best. “When is the meeting?” “General will be here at sundown. We’ve worked out a preliminary plan. We’ll need your report by then. I assume you can get it done?” There wasn’t much to report. Of course, I was still hoping to come up with a miracle solution. “Yes, sir. It was pretty bleak.” “I know. We hoped you’d see something somepony missed. Wishful thinking. Did you?” I just shook my head. “Nothing that has clicked yet.” Brigadier Hammer dropped his head and shook it. “Come up with something fast Major. Dismissed.” As I went below deck to the small cabin I’d been allotted, it dawned on me. It was completely obvious now. Not the solution, the situation. This was King Kronson’s plan following his defeat at Dreyri River. Pull back, throw the weakest soldiers at us, build a death trap, and count on us to negotiate. Negotiate or pay in blood. More blood than we’d ever spilled. Most of it ours. This couldn’t go on. We’d fought, bled, and died for so long to get to the goal line and stop. King Kronson gets what he wanted… all of this for stupid resources in some mountains. Who could be so horrible? What would motivate a being to give away something so precious for something fleeting? I pushed my door open and slipped inside. The room was bare. One desk, one chair, one bunk, and my bag. Unpacking wasn’t something I’d bothered with. I settled onto the floor and poked the bag. There wasn’t really anything in it at this point. Nothing I cared about, anyway, other than a book and my letters from home. Letters… Perhaps reading Crystal’s words would inspire me. I flipped the top of the bag open and reached in. My hoof bumped the book and it gave me pause. I carefully pulled it from the bag. It was the sixth Knight of the Moon tome. I hadn’t looked at it in a while, even if I had utilized things inside to train my dragoons. The glimmer of the silver moon caught my attention. I flipped the cover open and stroked my hoof along the ancient pages. So much knowledge was contained within. What would High Marshal Moonglaive do? How would he overcome this? How would he protect his knights? In the quiet of my cabin, I flipped through the book. Give me something… give me anything. Please? A cool breeze brushed across my snout, confusing me. My door and window were both closed. When I looked back down, the pages of the book had been turned. I’d read them before. Numerous times, actually. In fact, every tome addressed this… growing deeper in detail each time. Carefully, I looked over the information again and then it hit me. I knew what needed to be done. I could save our soldiers… Could I live with it, though? Yes. Dread Knight could. ☾ General Ironhoof stood at the head of the room, going through his briefing. I hadn’t spoken up yet. I hadn’t been called on. “Obviously, a frontal assault is about akin to just dropping our troops off this very airship. We are limited in options, however, so that will be included in this strategy. I’ve requested the full aid of the temple guard again to give us as much cover as possible to the gates. “Prior to that, we will load the fleet with our most seasoned soldiers, split it in two, and send each contingent over the mountains on the east and west sides of the fortress. They’ll make landfall in Sudramoar and start attacking supply lines and support structures. “I have to be clear here: we are better than our enemy. I will not tolerate any attacks on civilians. There will be very clear rules of engagement. I hope the mere presence of our elite within their borders will draw forces from the wall. If it doesn’t, then those same forces can work their way up from the rear and we’ll attack them on both fronts.” One of the colonels cleared his throat. “Sir, even with a depleted defense force, assaulting such a fortification head on would still result in high casualty rates.” “And that is something I’m going to have to live with the rest of my life. What little is left of it, anyway,” the general responded. That chilled the room quite a bit. Brigadier Hammer cleared his throat. “Any chance of a diplomatic solution, sir?” “I’m afraid not. King Ranald is quite insistent that this fortress can’t be allowed to exist within his border. Minister Sombra convinced the crowns that if we don’t put this to an indisputable and conclusive end now, we might just wind up here again. That or, even worse, our ally will be overrun completely.” There was some grumbling in the room and not just from the pony officers. A lot of the gryphons had about had it, too. The general lightly tapped a hoof. “I know, but he has a point. If we stop now, King Kronson has, after a fashion, won. He wanted these mountains and he’ll get them. What is to stop him from deciding he wants the whole province and more again? We need to capture the fortress and turn it around. That will resolve this. “Major Knight, tell me you have something for me. Tell me all of these reports are wrong and that every agent and scout we sent was overwhelmed and confused.” This was going to be interesting. I cleared my throat and shook my head. “No, sir, they’re not wrong. In fact, they might have even been a little optimistic. While viewing the fortress, a bolt thrower gunner managed to hit the Bolt. I doubt a green soldier could do that.” General Ironhoof sighed and nodded. “Thank you, Major. That will be all.” I shook my head. “Sir.” He blinked and looked up. “Yes? There is more?” “Yes, sir. I have a plan. It is going to sound wholly crazy, but I truly believe I can pull it off if you’ll hear me out and give me the latitude to carry it out.” Brigadier Hammer was peering at me. General Ironhoof didn’t miss a beat. “Tell me.” So I did. I laid it all out in great detail while all of the senior officers looked at me like I’d lost my mind. It had all come to this, though. Things I’d done and seen in my whole career. Once I was finished, the general cleared his throat. “That… that is quite a story and a plan. Do you truly believe you can pull it off?” “Yes, sir, and… if I can’t… we both know I won’t be going with the dragoons on those landfalls, will I?” General Ironhoof frowned. “No… you’re too badly injured and a flightless pony can’t command a flighted unit in combat. I wouldn’t remove you from your position, of course, but you’d be needed here for logistics.” “Then what do we have to lose if I fail? What difference could one flightless major make?” I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice, but I knew I’d failed. General Ironhoof looked over at a naval officer I didn’t recognize. “Get him a fast ship right now. Major Knight, this plan is going to go forwards regardless of your outcome. We can’t wait on it. Time is of the essence. You will need to move faster than the wind. Am I clear?” “Yes, sir. When is our assault date?” “I anticipate all of our forces to be ready in three days. That is when I’ll send the fleet. That will take another day or so to attempt to circumvent detection across the mountains. From there, we’ll launch our attacks two days later. You have six days Major. Six days to save many, many lives.” “Yes, sir.” I stood at attention and saluted. He returned it fully. Then the naval pony and I hurried up to the main deck. Within minutes, I had a ship. A fast frigate that had us underway. This could work… this might work… this had to work.