The Cerberus Rebellion (A Griffins & Gunpowder Novel) (25 page)

Lord Spencer Alvey, the Baron Hampton, sat to Raedan’s left. He leaned heavily on a gnarled staff and his gray eyes were clouded by age and pain. He had traveled from his seat at Alvey Castle against the advice of his doctors and the pleading of Lord Croutcher. Spencer had argued that they were in lands that his family had tried to take from the Earl of Hart for more than a thousand years and it was his right to oversee the management of the territories west of the Hart River.

Hadrian sat between Spencer Alvey and Dalton Croutcher. The position of honor that Lord Croutcher afforded him at every turn had irritated some of the more wealthy barons. Dalton had ignored the complaints.

Hadrian's right arm was cradled in a sling, more to prevent any incidental harm than to help the healing. According to the healers, the arm wasn’t broken: he had only bruised the bones. The pain had been blinding for a full day, but had subsided after that. It still hurt to raise his arm above his head, but most other tasks were painless. His blue eyes glanced between the messenger and the written reports that the man had brought from Hammerbourne.

The loyalist forces under Wynton Chalmers had launched raids across the Hart River targeted at the riverside docks in Hammerbourne. The attacks had been repelled but the lesser lord in command of the defenses feared that his position would be the target of further probes by loyalist troops.

His letters to the council, and Dalton specifically, indicated that the loss of the garrison cannons that had been loaded onto barges to help with the siege of Fort Hart had weakened him beyond the point that he felt comfortable with.

“—
and Lord Massing reports that he has seen loyalist artillery being brought into East Hammerbourne.”

“
I appreciate Lord Massing’s situation,” Dalton said. “But I think that these attacks and movements by Lord Chalmers are a feint to draw our defenses away from Fort Hart.”

Not that pulling even half of our troops away from Fort Hart would expose it to recapture,
Hadrian thought as he waited for Dalton to make his final decision.
Without the benefit of siege guns, and such a limited approach, it would be suicide for Lord Chalmers to try to assault the fort from across the river.

“
Please return to Lord Massing and inform him that we will deploy an additional battalion of infantry from the reserves when they arrive from Tirrell. However, we are deploying them there with the intention of moving them across the river when we begin our invasion of the Hart Earldom.”

“
Yes, Your Grace,” the messenger said with a bow. The man backed away from the table and turned quickly to exit the hall.

“
How many do we have left?” Dalton whispered to Hadrian.

“
That should have been the last messenger, Your Grace,” Hadrian reported after a glance at his list. “However, there is a matter that requires your attention.”

“
A petitioner, here?” Dalton asked with a single raised eyebrow.

“
Of a sort, Your Grace,” Hadrian confirmed.

“
Please see the petitioner in,” Dalton instructed his master-at-arms. The guard disappeared for a handful of minutes and then opened both of the wide doors.

A tall, thin man in a rich blue uniform followed the guard with a handful of his own men behind him. The lead man had a purple sigil against a sky blue field embroidered over his heart, but from across the hall, Hadrian couldn’t make out what it was. He walked with the assurance of youth and the measured steps of an heir.

“
Your Grace, Sir Jordan Wilford of Edgerton,” the master-at-arms announced in a booming voice.

“
Please, come forward,” Dalton said.

The man stepped forward, leaving his guards at the entrance. Hadrian consulted a thick tome that listed the lesser lords and nobles of Ansgar while the man walked toward the center of the room.

“
A lesser lord of Earl Hart,” Hadrian whispered when he had found Edgerton in the book. “His keep sits just to the south of the bridge and controls a significant portion of the road from the bridge to Castle Hart.”

“
What brings you before our council?” Dalton asked.

“
As I’m sure your fellow noble has already told you, I am from the territory directly on the other side of the river, on the southern edge of the bridge,” the man said. “I am, in fact, the heir to the territory of Edgerton and the town of the same name.”

“
Your territory is sworn to the Earl Hart, if what Lord Clyve has said is true,” Dalton noted.

“
Our family has been sworn to the Earldom for nearly two centuries, since my one of my predecessors was given the lordship,” Jordan Wilford said. “However, my father has seen the strength and the resolve that you and your fellow nobles have shown in standing up for your rights and for your people. He has sent me here to pledge our loyalty to your cause and offer our soldiers to your service.”

“
How many men does your father pledge?” Hadrian asked without looking up from his ledgers.

“
Three companies of regular infantry, two companies of cavalry and two companies of skirmishers, with the knights and officers to command them. These are with me. Another two companies of infantry and two batteries of artillery are maintained at our keep.” Jordan paused. “And to ensure your trust, I have been instructed to remain in your service.”

“
Your father is a wise man,” Dalton said. “But why did he not bring us this offer himself?”

“
My father is an old man and weak with sickness,” Jordan said. “He would have had trouble with the crossing.”

“
Another matter which we are interested in,” Hadrian said, finally looking up. “How did you get past the loyalist defenders on the other side of the river? And through our own defenses?”

“
My father’s men command the defenses on the other side of the river, and we know the streams and backwaters better than any of the men that you would put on your defense.”

“
We will accept your father’s pledge,” Dalton announced after a moment of thought. “However, I intend a different use of the troops that he has sent with you.”

Jordan seemed relieved that his offer had been accepted. “Your Grace?”

“
Keep your skirmishers and cavalry on this side of the river,” Dalton instructed. “But send your regular infantry back to your father. When we decide to move against the loyalists, I will want your father’s troops to appear if they are still loyal to Eadric’s command. When I give the signal, your father’s troops will turn on the loyalists. Five companies will have a greater effect than two. Your skirmishers will lead us to the best crossings and your cavalry will be absorbed by my own.”

“
Your Grace, my soldiers are at your command.” Jordan bowed and left the hall. In his wake, the gathered lesser lords and knights broke into murmured conversations and whispered worries.

“
Silence,” Dalton said loudly. “We are all traitors in the King’s eyes. We have no basis to judge others who wish to join us. This council is concluded. Hadrian, Arnold, if you would join me in my quarters.”

“
Of course, Your Grace,” Hadrian said as the nobles rose and the room began to clear.

Dalton’s quarters had once belonged to the loyalist lesser lord that had been given command of Fort Hart. They were garishly decorated with paintings and statues from the East. Dalton had removed most of the art and replaced it with maps of their territory and battle plans against the known loyalist forces.

The interior of the fortress had suffered little damage when the siege of Fort Hart turned into the Battle of Fort Hart. The outer shells hadn’t been so lucky: the artillery barges and heavy cannons on the western side of the river had decimated huge swaths of the earthworks and trenches that surrounded the stone keep.

The attackers had lost several thousand infantry, but the defenders had focused their infantry in the trenches and earthworks and nearly all twenty-five thousand had been killed or wounded before the surrender of the keep.

“
We need to strike soon,” Dalton said when the door had closed behind them.

“
Your Grace, the Assembly has made it very clear that we are not to move across the river until we have a response from the King,” Arnold reminded.

“
The Assembly is not a military body and I would argue that these attacks by the loyalist forces are all the answer that we need,” Dalton countered. “The situation is perfect for an attack across the river. With Lord Wilford turning against the Earl Hart, we have a friend on the other side of the river and a perfect crossing point for the majority of our infantry.”

“
I agree that the time is right, Your Grace, but we need to do this carefully. Lord Wilford came to us, there may be other lords or nobles that will do the same. If we force ourselves into loyalist territories, it may be harder for them to join our cause.”

“
I’ve heard the arguments that Damon Kor has put forward in favor of restraint,” Dalton said. “To a point, I agree with them, but at the same time we need to make our position clear and remind those loyalists who would fight us that we are not some second rate mercenary army to be taken lightly.”

“
If the Kerberosi are able to hold off against Eadric, we may not need to fight anyone,” Arnold suggested. “From what our scouts have told us, Eadric has committed half of his army to bringing the Kerberosi back into the fold. If even half of those forces are cut down in battle, it will destroy the morale of Eadric’s remaining soldiers and severely cripple his capabilities.”

“
And if the Kerberosi are swept aside by Eadric and he loses little or none of his troops?” Dalton asked. “Then we have given him time to assemble and train more soldiers.”

“
No more so than we will be able to do,” Hadrian reminded his liege. “We already have two additional divisions moving forward from our rear to replace the reserves we have called up from Tirrell. Three more divisions are half formed and will be trained while they serve as our Home Guard.”

“
Eadric has a larger population base to draw from and more experienced commanders,” Dalton said.

“
And nearly half of the weapons that those soldiers would use have been captured by the Kerberosi or us,” Hadrian said. “Give it to the end of next month, Dalton. Put a measure before the Assembly to allow for aggressive action against the loyalists at that time. By then, anyone who would be willing to join our cause would have made it clear that they wanted to.”

“
I agree with Hadrian,” Arnold admitted. “You don’t want the other dukes thinking that you are trying to usurp their authority and set yourself up as the new king of the Western nobles.”

“
You’re right,” Dalton admitted reluctantly. “This had better not bite me on the ass.”

Chapter 19 - Eadric

“They must know that they don’t have a chance,” William Richards said as he poured more coffee into his ceramic mug. The stein would have served better to drink beer from, but William liked his coffee and disliked having to refill it every half hour.

“They are not as outnumbered as I would have liked,” Eadric said. He looked at the map spread across the table one last time and nodded. The two armies had arrayed themselves on either side of a long, shallow valley with rolling hills on either side. Small groves of trees followed a tiny, winding stream along the valley floor. “They have the advantage of being the defenders; we have to come to them. They’ve also had months to train while our men marched and sat in crowded train cars.”

Six divisions of infantry, one division of cavalry and seven batteries of field artillery were spread across the western edge of the battlefield under Eadric’s banners.

On the higher, eastern edge of the battlefield, entrenched around the tiny keep that was the home of the Lord Gregory, sat the Western Army of Kerberos. Five divisions of infantry, an oversized division of cavalry and five artillery batteries stood between Eadric and the heart of Kerberos. The rebel forces were outnumbered and outgunned, but they had the high ground and had the benefit of trenches cut into the hillsides.

“And they have the Black Mountain rifles that they stole from my armories while our men are using Cutlers,” Eadric said as he stood. Kendall shifted in the corner of the tent and William stood as well.

The Black Mountain rifled muskets were slightly more accurate than their Cutler forged counterparts, and could stand a slightly higher powder charge for higher range. The advantages of the Black Mountains would not make as much of a difference as he was sure the Kerberosi hoped, and his own advisors feared, but they would cost him more soldiers than he cared to. Soldiers that he would need to continue his assault with as little delay as possible.

I hope they don’t provide much more of an advantage than we expect
, Eadric thought. His hand slid into his pocket and he rubbed the smooth stone between forefinger and thumb.

“Their infantry has trained for months; our lead divisions have trained for years,” Williams pointed out. “They are farmers and city-dwellers. They will be as effective with the Black Mountains as they would with any other rifle.”

To the north, the second part of Eadric’s army was pressing hard along the Gray Mountains into the forests north of Pastore and west of Red Glen. They had been harassed constantly by skirmishers and raiders, but had not faced any organized opposition.

Eadric had wanted to deploy his cavalry as raiders deeper into the Kerberosi territory, but the rail lines along the Alder Bay had been destroyed and Kerberosi schooners had harassed every attempt to ferry soldiers across to the Kerberosi side. Without his southern forces in place along the coast, Eadric had to assign much of his mounted strength to patrol a thousand miles of border.