The Caravan: Day Two

Emily woke up and found that the carriage had stopped moving. She yawned and stretched out before lifting the shade to peak outside. She found that the caravan was in a tight circle and the Red Lion Company was moving in an ordered fashion to get into defensive positions. Captain Alexander was busy giving instructions to his men when he noticed Emily starting to leave her carriage. He dashed over and dropped to a knee, "Your Highness, for your safety I would ask that you stay in the interior of the circle. I will keep you apprised of our situation as new information comes in, our scouts ran into a group of Inquisition regulars, it looks to be the main ambush. As we suspected, they are not prepared, they are still in uniform and caught on the road headed north. Once our scouts were spotted they set up a defensive position. I ordered the caravan to immediately take up a defensive position. If they head back toward us, they'll be here within ten minutes."

"Thank you Captain, I want you to take your full force and go offensive, I will have these inventors set up a defense using their arms. I trust in your intuition and experience that we'll be quite safe here during your sortie. I don't want you to lose men because you took half measures." Emily motioned for him to rise and then turned to the inventors who gathered around, "The Red Lion Company is going into battle, I want you all to break out your working weapons and prepare for the Red Lion Company to return for a shared defense."

The Red Lion Company marched out of the circle in full military order, the Archers arranged in neat rows, with the swordsmen marching at the lead The officers on horseback walking on the sides. Back in the camp the inventors each brought a strange array of tubes and pipes as black smoke began to billow out from the boilers being fired up. A few steam whistles sounded as these strange new weapons of war started to come up to pressure. Emily got up on top of one of the black wagons and used a spyglass to watch down the road. The Red Lion Company walked five hundred yards away from the defensive circle and then archers rushed into the forest on either side of the road. The Swordsmen switched over to crossbow while the horsemen gathered in an offensive unit in front. A sound like thunder sounded as a group of knights in white with a bright red shields and lance came at a fast march toward the Red Lion Company, the Red lion horsemen, split into two groups opening a hole in their line exactly the same width as the gathered swordsmen holding crossbows. As soon as the knights came into firing distance a synchronized sound of crossbows being fired sounded. Four of the knights dropped in the first volley and the remaining knights each had visible crossbow bolts staining their white outfits with red spots of blood. A second volley sounded and the knights turned started a retreat. Before they could fully turn, arrows came firing from both sides of the road killing them to the last man and horse.

The soldiers quickly cleared the road of all the human bodies, arrows, and arranged the dead horses into a makeshift roadblock. The sound of hundreds of footsteps grew louder as well as drums of war and war horns announcing an attack by the Inquisition A large group of archers stopped at four hundred yards away from the Red Lion Company soldiers and started to prepare to fire a barrage on the soldiers only to have arrows come flying from both sides of the road at them instead. The unarmored archers ran screaming back toward the melee soldiers but not before losing more than half their number. A horn blasted three times and then the melee soldiers began a ferocious charge toward the Red Lion Company. Captain Alexander called out, "Fallback!" And made hand signals to the hidden archers.

The Red Lion Company quickly reformed just in front of the defensive circle as if ready to make a last stand, the archers soon arrived in the interior of the defensive circle before climbing up on top of the wagons to take the high ground. One of the inventors smiled at the arriving archer sergeant, "Good work gentlemen, ready to see the future of war?" He grinned and then called out, "Let's show these villains the Beehive, shall we?"

Two other civilians brought out large boxes connected to pipes coming from boilers with the billowing smokestacks. The boxes were tilted up at a slight angle. One of the men called out, "Ready to fii--ire!"

The second civilian also called out, "Ready to fii-ire!"

The inventor looked at a man who was monitoring the boiler. That man called up, "Boiler to three hundred, we are ready to fii-ire!"

He smiled at the archer and said, "The sound might startle your men, so warn them to expect a loud sound, would you?"

The archer sergeant quickly gave hand signals to all of his men. The archers on top of the wagons hunched down and grit their teeth, "My men are ready."

The inventor looked over at the man at the boiler and yelled out, "Fiiiiire!" The civilian at the boiler turned a large hand lever and then a strange sound very much like the sound of a large beehive sounded out as thousands of ball bearings exploded out of the two boxes. At first, it seemed nothing had happened and then a sight that caused all of the veteran soldiers to look on in horror crossed face after face of the Red Lion Company. The charging melee soldiers looked to be surrounded in a red mist. The first five rows of these soldiers just dropped. These men didn't fall in one piece either, the men directly at the front fell in pieces, arms, legs, heads. The charge stopped as then men behind slipped on through the blood and body parts.

A horn sounded four times and then the Inquisition soldiers turned and ran in retreat. The small force of the Red Lion Company had not even seen a single arrow come their way and yet a force three times their number lay dead on the road. Emily closed her spyglass and then said to the Beehive group, "Outstanding, gentlemen. I see room for improvement once we get to the city, but with a few Beehives our defenses will be fearsome." She beamed a bright smile at the men and then turned to another group, "Mr. Duhan, I am afraid we didn't get to see your dragon this time but thank you for getting it ready to use."

The Red Lion Company spent the next few hours cleaning up the battlefield. The civilian inventors quickly dismantled their gear and cleaned up the large boilers. before the group was to leave, Captain Alexander and his men crowded around the civilians and Emily herself. The entire group of soldiers each took a knee and looked down at the ground as Captain Alexander spoke up, "Your Highness, you hired us for a contract term of three years, at which time we would return to the Kingdom and our normal mercenary work. Unfortunately, we have come to a decision. We can't in good faith uphold this contract."

Emily frowned and then asked, "Why do you feel this way, Captain, I thought we had a good working relationship?"

The Captain nodded and then replied, "I think you misunderstand us, Your Highness. We are here to swear loyalty to the city of Connaissance. Please accept us as the permanent city guard. Those men behind you asked us to witness the future of war, it is very clear to us that the first army equipped with such weapons will hold all advantage against any force they face."

Emily looked serious and stern, she looked at each face of the Red Lion Company and then said, "Very well, I accept. Your pay and benefits will remain unchanged from our established contract however from this point forward you will be renamed Red Lion Battalion for Army of Connaissance." She looked at them and then said, "Rise, we need to get back on Schedule. Captain, how many of them managed to retreat and where will they be pushed?"

The Captain walked over and opened the map. He tapped three locations, "They brought a force of three thousand, a full brigade. What we faced just now was just one battalion, so half of the force. I believe that we saw all and killed all of the knights in the brigade. That brigade took a terrifying hit, but this road from that bridge forward only goes to Connaissance. So we will have to face them again. To get back to the Kingdom, they have to get past us. These three locations are the only places where a force that large can take a stand. I don't believe they will attempt a full-scale frontal attack again, but there are lots of places on the road here where you can hide archers."

"If you were them, where would you regroup and plan these ambushes?"

The Captain pointed at the second large ground on the map, "It's called Fruitridge. It's got fresh water, good wild food sources and they'd expect a caravan like ours to need three to four days to reach it. They'll make it there during a full retreat in two days."

"How long will it take us to reach Fruitridge?"

"We'll be there at our current pace, in two days as well. How long will it take us to set up these future weapons?" The Captain looked concerned as he stared into her eyes.

She gave him a bright smile, "I'll have to ask you to take care of their scouts so our approach isn't given away. We'll sneak into the area at midnight and then silently set up. As long as no sharp eyes spot us setting up, we'll only need an hour to get the boilers up to full steam. At that point, we'll kick on the exterior lights and give them the fight they never wanted to see."

*****

"Your Majesty, Cardinal Goldenstein." The young butler bowed with one arm behind his back and the other arm extended to Prince Andrew.

The Cardinal walked three steps into the room and extend his hand down expecting the Prince to drop to his knee and kiss his ring as was the custom for the masses. Prince Andrew leaned back in his chair and smirked at the man, "Interesting, my grandfather has only been gone one night, and yet here is a new Cardinal to take his place already trying to establish dominance in my Kingdom." The Prince turned and then tapped his finger on a book, "Did you know that even my own grandfather would never dare to act as though he stood above me?"

The Cardinal gave him a smug look and then calmly explained, "Your grandfather spoiled you. Unless you wish to be excommunicated, you'll quickly take your place and kneel before me. Do you think you are the only king who has thought he was greater than the church?"

Prince Andrew chuckled, "In my kingdom, your church has as much power as I let it have, which is one brigade. That brigade was lost thanks to the incompetence of my grandfather, sadly. In other words, if I choose to end your life tonight, it would take three months before your closest brigade of Inquisition troops would even learn of your death. So, continue to act like I have even the slightest fear of your church."

The Cardinal made a terrible face and then retracted his hand, "What do you mean my brigade was lost? I thought they only went to destroy a single caravan of scientists?"

Prince Andrew sighed and then looked the Cardinal directly in the eye, "Did I not explain already? That caravan is under my personal protection. My beloved niece is in charge. How could we tell that it was inquisition troops when they hide behind disguises and pretend to be brigands? Of course, they would be slaughtered. It is our duty to kill brigands in this kingdom. The City of Connaissance is now run by my niece. You won't have to worry about it becoming a center for the spread of scientific heresies any longer. Go back to your church, spread your lies, and live your life in splendor off the backs of the poor. Never come to my palace again unless it's to beg me for a favor. Do you understand?"

"You! You will come to regret this, my church has far more power than you can even imagine."

Prince Andrew sighed loudly and slowly facepalmed, "What kind of bad luck has befallen my palace that two such illustrious guests passed away after a simple visit? Could it be a plot against the church?"

The Cardinal looked confused, "What are you tal..." His head rolled from his dead body as it fell to the ground before he could finish speaking.

"New policy, members of the church are no longer welcome in the palace without a written invitation from me." Prince Andrew ordered.