Army of the Dead (4 page)

“Giant lizard?” whimpered Myka. “Oh, that hurts.”

Marak started laughing so hard that he doubled over. Lyra stood with her hands on her hips looking angrier by the moment. Myka frowned in confusion, and her tail twitched nervously. Suddenly, Lyra could hold the pretense no longer. She started laughing also. Myka’s eyes narrowed as she watched the two humans.

“How did you know Myka was coming?” asked Marak after he stopped laughing. “I thought you would be petrified by a dragon landing on your roof.”

“So did Rejji,” chuckled Lyra. “He warned me hours ago. He also warned me about Myka’s strange sense of humor.”

Large billows of smoke shot from Myka’s snout as she shook her head.

“I guess I had that coming,” admitted the dragon, “but Rejji will rue this day.”

“Just make sure that we are around to see it,” chuckled the Torak.

“Were you able to find the armada?” asked Lyra as she turned to a more serious conversation.

“We found it,” Marak nodded seriously. “It is huge, and it is headed for Alamar. We did not see the skimmers. I fear that they may arrive too late to do any good. We saw the evacuation of Alamar. It gives a whole new perspective on things to see them from the air. Are you ready to go to Alamar?”

“I am ready,” nodded Lyra. “How do we do this?”

“I will get on first,” offered Marak as he started to climb up Myka’s back, “then I will hoist you up behind me. Then the lizard can take off,” he added with a grin.

Myka’s tail moved swiftly and knocked Marak to the roof. The Torak fell into a roll and came up shaking his head.

“Oh, sorry,” grinned the winged warrior. “You know how a lizard’s tail has a mind of its own.”

“Okay,” nodded Marak. “Truce?”

“I suppose,” sighed Myka.

Marak climbed onto the dragon’s back and extended his hand towards Lyra. She hesitated and looked Myka in the eyes for a moment before climbing up and grasping Marak’s hand.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” cackled Myka as she leaped off of the roof and took to the air.

“Behave,” Lyra said as she patted the dragon’s scales.

Lyra wrapped her arms around Marak and held on as Myka soared out of the valley. The Sakovans shouted, cheered, and waved as the dragon disappeared over the peaks.

“This is incredible,” Lyra remarked as they flew over the forest. “So this is what our scout birds see when they go out on patrol.”

Soon they were over the sevemore forests, and Lyra saw the armies gathering below. As they approached Alamar, she saw the packed road leading south. She shook her head with sadness at the number of people being uprooted from their homes.

“Where should I land?” asked Myka.

“In front of the Imperial Guard headquarters,” answered Lyra. “It is that big building in the center of the city.”

Shouts rang out around the city as the dragon was spotted. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched as the dragon glided into the city and settled in the street where Lyra had directed her.

“Too many people will believe in dragons before this war is over,” groused Myka. “That is not healthy for my kind. Next will come the adventurers intent on making a name for themselves. There will be no end to the torment that mankind can inflict on us. They will all want scales as souvenirs, or free rides so they can brag to their friends. What have you done to me, Torak?”

“Or they will revere you as the elves do,” countered Marak. “The humans are coming to know Kaltara. Those that survive will treat you with respect.”

“Hmm,” Myka replied. “You do look at things in a positive manner.”

The Torak and the Star slid off the dragon’s back. Marak instructed Myka to find a safe place outside the city to the north. He promised to use an air tunnel to find her and call her back when she was needed. The dragon took off as Lyra and Marak entered the Imperial Guard headquarters. General Manitow entered right behind them.

“I could not help witnessing your arrival,” greeted the general. “Welcome to Alamar.”

“Greetings, General,” smiled Lyra. “Alamar is the target of the armada.”

“We are sure about this?” asked the general.

“Positive,” nodded Marak. “Unless they make a drastic change of direction. They are headed right for us and should arrive tomorrow night. Can I ask what your strategy is?”

“As far as the defense of the city goes,” replied the general, “it has not changed since we last spoke. When Alamar falls, we are hoping to lure the Motangans along the coast road to the south. The remnants of my army will fight a retreating action, trying to slow them down and bottleneck their forces.”

“Three hundred thousand men is a large number to string out along a road,” warned Marak. “What if they decide to use the ships to get around your men?”

“We would have a rout,” frowned the general. “My men would be racing for the next city.”

“They can’t,” Marak pointed out. “The road is clogged with your evacuees.”

“Mercy,” gasped the general. “You are right. If we move faster than the citizens fleeing, we will be blocked. My men and the citizens would be slaughtered.”

“What are you suggesting, Marak?” asked Lyra.

“I don’t know,” admitted Emperor Marak. “I think our planning is deficient because we could not visualize three hundred thousand men. It just meant a large number to us. Seeing that armada from the air today and realizing that each little speck on the water was a thousand warriors sort of brought things into perspective for me. We cannot play this Motangan army as if it were General Didyk opposing us with ten thousand men.”

“Draw them into the Sakova,” suggested HawkShadow as he approached the group. “Let them know exactly where our reserve armies are, and they will try to eradicate us. Their ships will be useless inland. When we get them into the heartland, they will be playing by our rules.”

“But the bulk of your forces are Omungans,” frowned Marak. “They are not used to fighting in the Sakova either.”

“He is right, HawkShadow,” nodded General Manitow. “The Imperial Guards do not use strategy as the Sakovans do.”

“They will have to learn,” shrugged HawkShadow. “My people can slow down the invaders, while the Imperial Guards take up positions that will be dictated to them. It is not a perfect solution, but it eliminates one advantage of the Motangans.”

“Maneuverability along the coast,” nodded Marak. “It also endangers StarCity which should be the last stand of the Sakovans.”

“There will be no last stand this time,” countered HawkShadow. “If we have to lure the Motangans across the Kalatung Mountains and into Khadora, then that is what we will do. StarCity can be rebuilt just as Alamar can.”

“He is right,” interjected Lyra. “This fight is to the death.”

“But you leave your citizens open to attack,” argued the Torak. “The Motangans will be free to raid every coastal city while some of their army chases you across the heartland.”

“And we can’t move the citizens into the Sakova,” sighed General Manitow. “There would be no food to feed them, and we would be placing them in the path of the armies.”

“Unless we can disable their ships after they land,” mused Emperor Marak. “Without their ships, they cannot follow you into the Sakova and still raid the coastline. They will have to choose.”

“They would go for our armies,” asserted HawkShadow. “They can wipe out the citizens at any time, but only after our armies are conquered.”

“I agree,” nodded Marak. “Draw them into the Sakova and turn them northward. My armies can cross the mountains and come to help you.”

“It would be nice if you could get your armies behind them,” suggested Lyra.

“I could,” frowned Marak, “except for one small detail. Vand has another seven hundred thousand men on Motanga with the ships needed to transport them. We don’t know yet where he plans to strike.”

“A third of his armies for a third of our countries,” mused General Manitow. “You could soon have your own war to worry about, Emperor.”

“I do not have an easy answer to this problem,” the Torak responded. “I do think that we have to do something for the residents of the coastal cities. We cannot allow them to fend for themselves while Vand’s forces control the sea.”

“What are we to do for them?” asked Lyra. “If we use our armies to engage the Motangans deep in the heartland, we cannot also guard the cities.”

“I know,” Marak nodded with a frown. “I could use my ships to help transport the citizens away from the war, but who knows where Vand is going to strike?”

“Khadoratung is as far from the east coast as you can get,” suggested HawkShadow. “There was ample land there when I last visited, and your food supplies could handle large amounts of people.”

“We cannot transport the entire population of what was once Omunga to Khadora,” balked General Manitow. “That is impractical.”

“It is impractical,” agreed the Torak, “but there is some wisdom in the suggestion. My ships are continually sailing the west coast of the Sakova to bring food supplies to those cities that have not yet recovered from the famine. It does make sense to carry some citizens back to Khadoratung where food is readily available. Also,” he continued, “all of my armies are between Khadoratung and the eastern coast. It will be the last city in Khadora to be attacked. If Vand gets that far, our cause in Khadora is already lost.”

“Which cities would you take people from?” asked Lyra.

“We should start with the citizens of Alamar,” answered Emperor Marak. “They are already displaced from their homes. It is not safe for my ships to come here any longer, but we can begin picking people up at Tanzaba.”

“It is only women and children fleeing the city,” General Manitow pointed out. “Every man of appropriate age is staying to defend the city. I suspect the citizens of the other cities will react the same. The Omungan people have indeed become Sakovan in spirit as well as name. They will not give up their homes without a fight.”

“We have great need of those citizens,” remarked Emperor Marak. “In fact, I have some suggestions for their use during the war, especially the fishermen and sailors among them.”

“There are many of them in the cities and villages,” responded General Manitow as Temiker walked into the building and joined the group. “Omunga was a country that depended heavily on the sea. What do you have in mind?”

“The first thing they must do is preserve their boats, large and small,” answered the Torak. “They should move them away from the battle or hide them where they will not be discovered. We must never lose the ability to take this war to the seas.”

“Fishing boats cannot battle the behemoths that carry a thousand men,” frowned Temiker. “What are you planning?”

“I don’t have a particular plan in mind,” admitted Marak, “but I can clearly see the need to maintain mobility on the water. Sometime during this war we may be faced with the problem of moving massive amounts of troops from one place to another. My fleet of ships is not large enough to handle that. Even transporting the women and children to Khadora will be a massive undertaking. There is no way that my fleet can transport all of them, but thousands of small ships may be able to.”

“That might work,” mused General Manitow. “One has a tendency to discount a ship that can only carry three or four people, but thousands of them can move quite a few people.”

“If we used the boats from Alamar and Tanzaba to transport the people fleeing this city,” mused Lyra, “the road would be cleared fairly quickly.”

“I don’t know about quickly,” interjected Temiker, “but it could be done. There are also many fishing villages between the two cities.”

“Once the road is cleared,” Emperor Marak added, “start the evacuation of Tanzaba. Move the people to Okata. We will need spotters along the coast to see what the Motangan fleet does. If they find Tanzaba empty, they may not proceed any farther along the coast.”

“And if the spotters see that they are going farther,” nodded Lyra, “we can begin the evacuation of Okata before the enemy arrives.”

“Exactly,” agreed Marak. “In the meantime, my ships will carry some of the refugees to Khadoratung to ease the food supply problem. I think this can work, but some of the small boats must be preserved in this area as well. We do not want to end up with all of our boats in Okata.”

“I know you, Marak,” Lyra interjected, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the Torak. “You are contemplating something else that you have not mentioned. What is it?”

Emperor Marak grinned and shook his head. “It is an outrageous thought,” he shrugged. “Imagine how much easier these evacuations would be if we had just one of Vand’s ships. “We could transport a thousand people to Khadoratung at a time.”

“What will Vand’s ships be doing after the armies disembark?” asked HawkShadow. “Will they stay and wait for the armies? Will they return to the Island of Darkness for more soldiers?”

“I truly don’t know,” conceded the Torak. “With the number of ships that Vand built, I can’t see the ships going for more armies. My guess is that the ships would be used to bring in supplies to aid the armies already here. I can envision a fleet of them making constant trips to Duran. Perhaps some of them would be detailed to make runs between Duran and the Island of Darkness. As Vand draws supplies out of Duran, those items must be replaced.”

“I am beginning to see why you do not want to completely yield the sea to the Motangans,” sighed the Star of Sakova. “It is vital to Vand’s plans.”

“Very much so,” nodded Marak. “He knows that we will make the land here inhospitable for his troops. They cannot rely on getting any food while they are here unless it is shipped in.”

“Then we must cut off his ability to do that,” Lyra said adamantly.

“Yes,” agreed Emperor Marak. “You must draw his armies deep into the Sakova. If we can get forces behind him, it will not necessarily be to attack him from the rear, but to cut off his supply lines.”

“His army could turn around and retake Alamar,” warned General Manitow. “You would need a force in Alamar large enough to withstand a second attack. I don’t see how we can do that.”

“That is the puzzle that we have to solve,” nodded Emperor Marak. “Our force in Alamar would have no path of retreat. Their backs would be against the sea. That is not an enviable position for any army. This problem needs a lot of input. Gather your generals and discuss it. I am returning to Khadoratung to do the same. Do you wish to return to StarCity, Lyra? Or are you staying in Alamar?”