Kirstie
There were no incidents in the night, and Kirstie actually slept well when she did not expect to sleep at all. Mother Vrya and one of the Witcher Women came with her so she would not be the only female among so many men. Who knew what the men were told, but they kept away from her in the night as well. Rune and his number one, Frode kept a good watch, so that may have had something to do with it.
The men gathered even as the sun first touched the horizon. They moved on the town as quietly as a bunch of clunky men could move, and as far as they knew, they would surprise the enemy. Thus far, neither the people of the town, who were likely under house arrest, nor the Vanlil nor the exiles showed any sign that they knew an army was on their doorstep. Kirstie, however, got a different word.
Svator came to her first thing and said the hag must have discerned their plans. She had men in the houses, the ones they had not burned, and they were prepared to repel the attack. Kirstie took a moment to hear from Elgar, Diogenes, and the Princess about what to do.
“Halt,” she said and sent Rune’s men to get the advance to halt because otherwise they would not see in the dim light. They made a ragged line, but Chief Birger and a couple of other chiefs at least came to Kirstie to ask why they halted.
“They are prepared for us, thanks to the hag. I’ll be sending the fairies in to try and route out their defenses and at least throw them into some confusion. Chief Birger, you need to take about forty or fifty men, about a full shipload to the east side. Don’t worry, the elves there will let you in and keep the dwarfs away.” She spoke to the Chief of Oglo. “You need to take about forty or fifty men to the west side. I want you to attack them from the side before the main army arrives. If you hit the sides, maybe even get a bit around to their back, they should feel like they are in a trap and need to escape. I do not want you to try and trap them. They do outnumber us two to one. I just want them to feel like they are being trapped when the main army comes up in front of them. They should pull back, and hopefully begin the exodus toward the docks and the fjord. Is that clear?”
The chiefs nodded and Chief Birger paused to say, “When did you get so smart?”
Kirstie smiled a little. “I have good teachers, Elgar included.”
“I figured there was more than one in there,” he said and left, and Kirstie did not feel obliged to correct him. The others were not in her. They were in their own time, living their own lives. When she borrowed them, they traveled through time to take her place in the present. Where she went at that time was a mystery, but in any case, that was more or less how it worked.
“Should we start moving?” Rune asked, but Kirstie shook her head. She looked at Svator who got big to present himself around the humans as a hunter dressed in his green outfit. Svator looked at the sky, but Kirstie knew he was not looking at the sky. He was listening for the reports from the fairies watching over the Chief of Oglo and Chief Birger and waiting to first tell the fairies on the edge of town to start the bombardment of the enemy positions, and then tell the humans to resume their slow march to the town. All of that did not take very long. It was all rather sloppy work, but by the time the hundred and fifty with Kirstie reached the town, the enemy had abandoned their positions and headed toward the docks.
The fairies hidden around the docks had to send the message to Buttercup and the waiting ships. Lord Amber moved a few elves in toward the docks as well to alert Yrsa when the time was right to make double sure the message got received by Captain Kerga. Those fairies and elves had to work hard to make sure the enemy did not escape aboard the ships before the trap could be set. Even so, fifteen men, twelve of whom were exiles who knew how the ships worked, made it to one karve and got it out into the deeper water. Captain Kerga on the lead ship caught them in the river delta.
The struggle in the delta did not last long. Kerga had some forty-five men aboard his longship. His longship was not damaged, though the karve burned. Kerga lost five men in the mele, and seven were wounded. None of the fifteen were allowed to surrender. Captain Kerga himself took an arrow in his thigh, but he ignored it and got his ship back out into the fjord and into position before anyone else could escape.
The other two longships sent longboats with men to take the actual docks. Shortly after that, two of the karve pulled up to the docks and unloaded. That put about seventy men on the docks itself, and the fairies and elves continued to strike at whatever enemy stuck his head up. Of course, they had to be careful not to shoot any of the men from Kerga’s little fleet.
There were some face-to-face fights in the streets among the mostly burned buildings. The Vanlil were not sailors, and besides, they were being driven by the will of the hag who herself did not have a very good military mind. Any human commander would have sued for peace almost from the start, at least as soon as their plan to repel the invaders went bust. Certainly, when Captain Kerga’s fleet arrived to blockade the town, even Lord Cornwallis would have surrendered. But the hag seemed to enjoy the death and killing, and seemed willing to sacrifice every life she controlled, even if and when she realized she was not going to win.
Soon enough, Kirstie knew she had to confront the hag, like it or not. She called to her armor and weapons and made a side comment to Mother Vrya. “The men will need healing hands when this is over,” though she supposed Mother Vrya was thinking the same thing. Kirstie turned to Frode who looked surprised when she became clothed in her armor. Frode was the one Rune commanded to stay with her and keep her safe. “I’ll square things with Captain Stenson when I get back.” Kirstie squirted away from the men and ran toward the docks.