The Alarm is sounded

"You mean that Captain..." Mabel started to ask.

Emily nodded and replied, "Once he got what he wanted, he just used me to meet the important people here in the City. He used me to meet Princess Teslaimia. He used me to meet get the highest military job here in the City and financial stability for his mercenary group as they became the Defense Force. I'm really pathetic, aren't I? Did you know that in this city it's actually the business elite that secretly runs everything? They just need me to pay for it all. So they allow me to play Princess of the city. Sending me out to for business openings, building openings, and those glamorous social events that make you envious."

Mabel looked shocked to her core, "I'm sorry I never knew. How could I? I just thought your life was perfect because you have money, attractive looks, and seem so confident."

Emily nodded as she balled up the cloth in her hand, "From an early age I was taught how to hide my emotions and sit still as the adults talk. As a Princess, you are there to look pretty and wait for the men to finish speaking before you so much as ask for a glass of water." Emily looked up at Mabel and asked again, "Am I cursed?"

Mabel thought for a moment and then said, "Aren't you the city lord? Just use your power to.."

The men who had been standing around in the distance suddenly surrounded the table and said, "It's time to go, Lady Connaissance. You don't want to keep them waiting." One of them lifted her and set her on her feet while another put the cane in her hand The last of the four men got in Mabel's face.

Mabel frowned and asked, "What do you think you are doing with her? Don't you know who she is?"

The man in Mabel's face said in a threatening tone, "You should be careful of what you say and to whom you say it. This is a dangerous neighborhood you know, wouldn't want you to end up another victim of the Westside Ripper."

Mabel watched as Lady Connaissance was half-dragged away. The man in her face lifted his hat and gave a semi bow with a smile on his face before he turned and walked away.

*****

The CCAS Zealous limped into the city and arrived at the factory building, the CCAS Indomitable was currently inside the building so the massive ship could only tether outside. A messenger on High Wheel raced over to the defensive wall camp while another raced over to City Hall. Soon after men from both places left for City Hall in a hurry.

A group of men was gathered around the large conference table including the ambassadors from the Holy Chadtom Empire, the Windsor Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Fursia. Their voices rising as they each argued a point or made a conjecture about the unnamed invasion forces. Princess Teslaimia, and Lady Connaissance at that point causing the room to go quiet, the Princess and Emily took their normal seats, and then Emily said in a soft calm tone, "Captain Alexander, please give us all the known details presented by Captain Gibbs in his military report."

Captain Alexander stood up and spread out a cloth map on the table. He pointed his finger toward the northeastern section of the map and said in a grave tone, "Yesterday afternoon the CCAS Zealous made contact with an army of one million-plus heading in the direction of our City, Fursia, the Windsor Kingdom and the Holy Chadtom Empire. They are traveling at the speed of a horse. Based on their distance away from us, Captain Gibbs estimates that this force could make contact with either Fursia or the Holy Chadtom Empire within the month. They could be at our lower wall within a month and a half."

One of the men in the room asked, "Are they really a threat? Can't we just send the Zealous and the Indomitable to intercept them?"

Captain Alexander nodded and said, "This army was equipped with weapons similar to our Beehives." He dropped a lead bullet on the table. "Take a look at this."

Mr. Murray reached his hand out and picked up the projectile, "It's different from a bee, our bees are spherical and much smaller. Our Bees are meant to spread out and cover a large area. This projectile is designed to cut through the air and select a single target. I suspect they have a much longer range. We are working on something similar right now, but this is much more sophisticated than our early design."

Mr. Hudsucker shook his head, "Our Airships have no defense against something like this aside from climbing up higher in the air. The higher the ships go, the less accurate the Beehives will become."

Daniel Conners spoke up, "Our armies will be powerless against this if they have a range beyond our archers and siege weapons. The number of soldiers is also a major problem. The Holy Chadtom Empire is already weakened as a result of the attack by the Inquisition and they would have suffered even more without the assistance of the Zealous."

The Fursian Ambassador smiled and said, "The army of Fursia is three million men. The range of these new weapons though, we do do not have anything that can compare."

Daniel nodded and added, "The Windsor Kingdom's forces have grown to two million men along with five thousand knights. Based on what I am hearing here, the range of these weapons takes our advantage away."

Emily looked at each person who spoke and then asked, "Sir Conners, are there any places we can fight this army that range will not be an advantage?"

Daniel only shrugged and smiled, "If King Andrew were here, I am sure he could think of one."

The ambassador for the Holy Chadtom Empire thought for a while and said, "It depends on which way that army turns at the Death Valley basin. To come around the alps that guard your city, they will have to turn east or west in the valley. If they turn west and come to our Empire there is nothing. To the east..."

Princess Teslaimia smiled, "They will have to come through the red valley gorge. It's the shortest route around the alps but it is also a series of twists and turns. Armies that fight there can only spread out one hundred feet wide and can only that far forward. Many ancient battles were fought in the gorge."

Emily tapped her finger on the table and spoke out softly once morse causing everyone to unconsciously quiet down to listen for her voice, " I want the Zealous and Indomitable to cut off their turn to the west and herd them to the east." She looked at the Fursian ambassador, "Can we count on your army being able to handle the fight in the gorge?"

Princess Teslaimia looked at him and then answered, "We will stop them in the gorge."

The Ambassador for the Holy Chadtom Empire spoke up, "Our armies will advance on their path of retreat from the gorge."

Daniel smiled and said, "The Windsor Kingdom's forces will be here." He pointed at the northern border wall of the Windsor Kingdom. "From this point, we can reinforce either Fursia or the Holy Chadtom Empire. as needed."

*****

Over the next two weeks, everyone in the city was abuzz about the upcoming war. Recruitment was up for the defense forces and every building project went on hold as the production of weapons, armor, uniforms, and munitions went into overdrive. The lower wall was finally equipped with the latest Beehive models and four dedicated smokeless boilers. Sir Colton looked at the intelligence given by the Zealous and started to come up with contingency plans as well as formulating tactical plans. One day as he was reading over some of the notes he took down. He jumped out of his seat and yelled out, "Stratton, I'm going up top, you have command."

Sir Colton raced up the mountain and made the climb some four hours later. He charged up to the gate and yelled out, "Sir Colton on business to Captain Alexander's office!" The gates were barely open enough for man and horse to fit through but Sir Colton didn't stop. The Horse slid to a full stop just outside of the Captain's door and Sir Colton slid off the horse and raced over to the door knocking energetically.

Captain Alexander opened the door surprised to see the man, "Roger? Why aren't you down at your post."

Sir Colton looked him in the eye and said, "I know what's coming and why."

"Let's go to City Hall, you can fill Lady Connaissance in as well." Captain Alexander grabbed his uniform jacket and then called out, "Bring my horse!"

The two men jumped on their horses and raced to City Hall. The horses that weren't supposed to be used in town stood out in front of City Hall, one of the town constables awkwardly held the reigns as the two knights ran into the building.

Emily was rubbing the bridge of her nose as Teslaimia read a story about Emily's tragic life from the social section of the newspaper. The two women jumped in surprise as the two knights burst into the office. Emily scolded, "Would it hurt you to knock once in a while, Jon?"

He frowned and said, "You have to hear this first, go ahead Roger."

Sir Colton bowed and then said, "Lady Connaissance, I believe I know this invasion force and why they are coming."

Emily put aside the work she was looking at and even Teslaimia put the newspaper down listening intently. "Please, Sir Colton, go on."

"Twenty years ago the Church sent a crusade to the north in order to stop the spread of a certain religion, or that's what we told the nations who sent their troops for the crusade. Our main mission was to destroy the spread of a certain new kind of weapon. They call them muskets." He took a breath and then went on, "they are long metal barrels with a cone at the end. You pull a trigger similar to a crossbow and then a hammer falls down striking a fuse that lights a certain kind of black powder on fire. The small explosion sends a metal ball flying out of the cone at high speeds. They had the range of a longbow, with twice the power of a crossbow. went through armor like it wasn't there."

Emily nodded and produced the bullet she was given. "Like this?"

Sir Colton took it and looked it over, "The ones from twenty years ago were round, but yes. They are from a country called the Tzardom of Kruessia. We defeated that army but with horrible losses. I was just a young soldier back then, that's where I got these scars in fact. We took an army of five million there by sea and by land. Only one-fifth of which returned. Their land is frozen tundra for most of the year aside from a few coastal areas which produce enough food for millions of people. The vast population lives in that area. The army we fought against was like a never-ending tide of swordsmen on horseback and those musketeers which would annihilate thousands at a time would fire anytime we managed to get some distance on the horsemen."

Emily nodded, "How did you manage to beat them?"

"We had the armies of our allies rush at them in a human wave and then our knights charged through behind that and slaughtered the musketeers the way we would archers. Our knights made short work of their lightly armored swordsmen. They had no answer for the charges of the heavy horse."

Emily frowned, "What did you come up with as an answer to stop them this time?"

"I suggest that we have the airships hit them at night through from out of the clouds."

Emily raised an eyebrow, "Won't we be blind the same as them?"

"I'd like to lead a team of fighters there personally, we'll set signal fires around the attack zone. The Ships will simply fire in the area between those fires."

Emily smiled, "Sir Colton, you have earned your pay this time. I want you up on the ships. You're going to have command of the fleet, both ships. The ship's captains will give the orders for their men, but I want your mind with them if you need to alter the plan. As for the ground forces, Captain Alexander, you'll handle that job personally."