BECMI Chapter 484 – Pressure on Many Sides

“Acknowledged!” came back a chirping elfin voice over Ranger Tarmin’s rough communicator, the thing built more for ruggedness than looks. “Cirruluxul’s appearance over the Blood Trail is thinning out the hordes wanting to come in from the east here, and the Eismark weapons are discouraging casual opportunists. Erendyl should be fine. Our Shaden cousins are not having as pleasant a time, however, and are seeing some monster raids from the west.“We have also heard that the Master’s army is moving quickly to take advantage of this time period, and may hit Zanzyr’s western defenses soon.”

Meaning the Marshal’s screening forces were being pushed back by superior numbers and lack of magic, as that had been where his attention was concentrated recently, by agreement between him and Warden von Jaggenfel.

“It’s good timing,” I had to admit coldbloodedly. “Without the Walls there, they’d have a free run into the heart of Zanzyr.” And wouldn’t that just frustrate Thaum to no end, lots of nomads and nifloids with no magic to lose rampaging through his chosen nation because of something he’d done himself!

“Umbravie has inquired if they could get a Pyramid of their own to buttress their strength during events like this in the future. They find the weakness incredibly frustrating, and were delighted to learn a Pyramid’s Power Field could withstand it.”

I nodded slowly. “After this is over, I will come there and establish one of them,” I relayed to the coms officer on the other end. “You may pass that on.”

There was a moment of delay, probably speaking with other officers. “Also, everyone is very interested in knowing how long this No Magic will last, Lady Edge. Do you have any insights?” came the earnest question from the far end.

“I am afraid not,” I answered calmly. “I can only say that it is temporary, but I do not know for how long, or the long-term ramifications. Certainly without something to offset what was done, the yearly No Magic is going to be longer now.” There was a pause of time for them to worry silently. “I expect the Golden Khan to try Skull Gorge Pass while magic is offline. Has there been any word?”

The Tukhman Khan was a skilled strategist and opportunist, and this would be a perfect time to strike. The Tukhman horse nomads were at least as mobile as the Master’s desert natives, and without magic, the Skull Gorge was a direct avenue into the western heart of Zanzyr.

However, it had a small problem, and that was that it led into the heart of the Principality of Caeledon, whose Caers had no lack of martial prowess, and the Mick had bluntly requested a wall be permanently put in across the pass some time ago.

With no magic to bring down the wall, Skull Gorge Pass was not anywhere nearly as easy to pass as the Khan might think, once his forces rode through it and found themselves facing eighty-foot bulwarks of mountain stone and bristling well-armored highlanders manning working siege engines!

More at risk were the lands of Shiangu and its Tukhman-descended populations, but they had their own defenses and could withstand a short siege, although their holdings might be looted and razed while they lived through it. The lack of martial power to contest this event was going to stick in the craw of the wizards like a bloody stick, however.

“It appears Lord Mick himself has taken over command of the Skull Gorge wall, and already seen off a brief foray by the Khan from Camp Skull. Scouts report the Khan is gathering there, and does not seem to know about the Wall there yet,” was relayed back to us quickly.

The only mercantile traffic there was from Shiangu and the forts thereabouts back to the rest of Zanzyr. Given the speed with which it had gone up, news of it could easily be constrained, and certainly no Tukhman scouts had been allowed past the rough fortifications and camp at the entry of the Pass.

The Tukhman horse archers were some of the best troops in the world, but they didn’t have the speed of light or devoted medium cavalry, preferring their hardy mountain ponies to larger and faster horses, at least overall. Their shock cavalry would use the larger horses, but their most elite cavalry was only medium, unable to raise the largest tier of horses, and so true heavy cavalry could mow a path through them… if they could reach them.

The Mick had been a good student of Briggs, and was eagerly waiting to use the combined power of shielded pike squares controlling the battlefield and armored cavalry sweeper units to channel, pin, and eliminate the Khan’s forces, always keeping to the tighter battlefield to deny the nomads the ability to string them out… and keeping his lines of retreat very clear to the Wall a few miles and out of sight behind him.

“Consider it more likely the Khan knows about the wall and is simply going to bottle up any relief forces while he sweeps through Shiangu.” The Mick was hardly going to come to the relief of the Shiangu when vastly outnumbered by the skilled and nimble nomad cavalry. That would simply be an excuse to be massacred. “Shiangu is going to take this on the chin. I hope most of the population can be sheltered now, otherwise there is an excellent chance they are going to be massacred.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I had keyed my earpiece, and Cirru was listening in. She’d relay this to the Mick with the benefit of her elevation, although he likely knew it.

Of course, Eismark firearms could turn the whole situation on its ear, able to easily out-range even the composite bows of the Tukhman and sweep them from the plains. The Mick and his Forsaken had long been issued some, which the nomads would not be happy to discover.

Shiangu was not part of the Eismark, however, nor was Zanzyr in general. Moorvieg was, and Erendyl closely allied through me. Defending their lands and the Trade Road was perfectly within our remit, and even the Immortals couldn’t fault our restraint.

“Of course.” The Tukhman were known to be as harsh and unyielding as the nifloid tribes in their own fashion, the Golden Khan notwithstanding. The man had imperial ambitions, he just didn’t have a land he could run a true empire from… or enough people to do the job.

The Golden Khan was caught up in his own delusions of grandeur, thinking nomad archers could do the job in an advanced magical world, and not really realizing just what could be arrayed against him.

Well, he’d find out when magic returned, and he reaped what he sowed. Maybe he thought his shamans could balance out the power of wrathful wizards, but he was going to find out differently if he acted out.

Zanzyr was already changing since I’d come on the scene and forced change upon it. It was getting stronger in diverse ways, even if a significant portion of the current ruling class thought otherwise and was totally willing to kill to get back to the power and rights they’d enjoyed before.

That wasn’t going to happen, and yet Zanzyr was still going to be the magical center of this continent.

Things were going to get very busy once the No Magic was lifted, making up lost time as well as repairing and restarting things to do now on the back burner.

Eh. Unless there was a real emergency, and they seemed to be making total efforts for me so there was NOT a real emergency, I could stay right here and shoot nifloids without a care until everything evened out.

Kind of like a vacation, if nothing else.

There’d been more nifloids probing the Moorveig holdings and mines. There were a whole lot more dead nifloids inspiring others to give up on the idea. It didn’t mean they might not try something further south, but that would take time and effort they probably didn’t have.

We weren’t going to push airpower here, but Regent Himmelstern had access to gyros if he needed them, unlikely as it was that he might need them. Rifles were scaring off the orcs and whatnot, with the light show making the needless deaths stick.

Actually, one of the funnier reports was that No Magic had brought a lot of ogres out to flex, and eager hunters were harvesting them for their hands. Gauntlets of Ogre Power didn’t make themselves, after all, and were a very popular item…

Eh, not having to make or do anything magical without it being an utter emergency for a few days was kind of relaxing, really. Just had to keep my here all charged up and ready to go, and pretty much just coast.

Might just pick off a few of the nifloids watching from the far side of the river, but eh. They were already nervous enough with Cirru flying around, and Duum was looming nicely in the middle of the bridge, too, crimson light sheathing his claws and wings.

Yeah, they weren’t coming this way, even if they used the Road because the other side was the easiest path into eastern Zanzyr right now, not that the Colorajo wanted that to be the truth. The incursions to the south and Erendyl was mostly individual or small bands getting overeager, and the Rangers and some laser fire were dealing with most of those.

Really, it was more like the Bleaklands was taking a big breath to inhale, and wondering what direction to expel it in.

“Duum,” I said, and my roc-sized Bat’s hairy ears twitched in his Hat. “Do a scouting run along the north side of the Road, at least twenty miles deep. I think we can probably guarantee a horde isn’t going to come this way, but Federyn might be getting hit, and they’d likely appreciate the warning.”

A Gunwing could do the job, but not as well. Duum would hear anything coming and happening for miles in any direction, and totally had the brains to judge whether or not to take action.

“Yes, Mistress!” Duum said excitedly, pleased to be of use. Normally this wouldn’t be needed, as seasoned Vanguard or Rangers would be crawling over the mountains and keeping an eye on things here and there… or the Relays up at ten miles would be looking over everything from above with impartial eyes, or the would be spotlighting any and all large movements flawlessly.

No magic, need intel the old-fashioned way… listening for it!

He took off into the evening sky, lost into the blackness within a few seconds, ears out and listening for war drums, horns, howls, and the calls and cries of excited nifloids.

I’d little doubt he’d find something, and though it might be a trick, I calculated the odds of a horde heading to Federyn while it was also reeling from the No Magic to be pretty high.

If forewarned, Federyn was totally capable of taking care of itself, and Hanvol being a towering figure in Absoglor certainly didn’t hurt things at all.

The merchants and their employees slept like stones, but nevertheless were eager to get up and get going in the morning, ready to reach the safety of Erendyl and enjoy some elven hospitality.

Not having much to do otherwise, and the southeastern border promising at least light skirmishing, we headed there with them, although this time we kept a good clip up and had light mounts we could ride to speed along this portion of the journey, seconded to us from the patrol station at the White Bridge.

From there it was easy to swing south and join the light but deadly activity taking place further south.