The next morning, King James woke to an empty bed. He looked around the room to find that Lady Demontar had left, and had taken her belongings. Confused, he called out for his guard, standing steadfastly outside his door. The guard entered the king's bed chambers. "Where is Demontar?"
"She left, Sire. Maybe two hours ago."
"Is she still on the castle grounds?"
"No, your Majesty. She left with her contingent of militia. No one seems to know where she has gone."
James looked on the pillow next to him to find a note. He began to read... I cannot be your queen, my love. For you are still married. Fix that and I shall consider your offer once again. Yours... Demontar
James was confused... and angry. He was getting dressed when there was a knock on his door. Nathaniel pushed the door open without being called to enter. He had an urgency about him. "Sire, I have a message for you from Lady Demontar. The Spanish have landed elite troops in the north, near Talisay. Those damn Tercios are fierce warriors, trained to protect the Spanish monarchy. Demontar has taken her militia to greet them with death."
James showed considerable concern. "Any word about how big of a force we face?"
Only rumors, Sire. I hear it is in excess of 15,000 men. The remnants of the Silot Bay fleet have joined with the Tercios troops and the bulk of the Spanish troops headquartered in Manila."
"Good Lord!" cried James. "That's a huge force. I must notify General Abayan to send our troops at once!"
"My king... respectfully... I've seen your troops fight. Trust the Dragon Lady to handle the situation," replied Nathaniel.
Demontar sat atop her white horse to address her troops. There were hundreds of militia on foot and on horseback around her on top of a hill. Far away, a mass column of Spanish troops were assembled and marching out of the town of Talisay, headed south on the long journey towards the kingdom's castle.
"The Spanish Turcois are fierce warriors. Bloodthirsty all. They intend to take everything from you. They want the bounty of this land. They want your wives and daughters. And they want your lives. We shall not fight them here. Delaying action is needed instead of a direct confrontation, we must show them and we can certainly do a bit of damage in doing so.
"We will want to starve them on their journey. Their supply lines must be unsustainable on their march toward the kingdom's palace. We will remove grain stores and livestock from their path. Your job is not to fight but abscond with the food they will need to support their quest. This is your food. The food of your neighbors. We cannot starve our own people. Move them as well. Clear a path forty kilometers wide so that there is nothing but empty farm storage and cow barns. Let no silo contain grain nor any field offer potatoes to feed our enemy. Burn it if you must, but do what you can to remove everything of value.
"I want my third regiment to set up a delaying action. Spikes in the ground to slow their Calvary. Hidden bear traps in the bushes and forests. Make it so they funnel their forces onto the road. We will execute random attacks if they should disburse themselves. We want them predictably together. Then devastate their forces with arrows, run, hide, and repeat.
"We shall set up the dragons south of their position each evening. We will make sure they are seen at nightfall. We'll see how brave these men are. My elite First Company shall follow me. We have to circle behind them and cut off the food stocks they gained by taking Talisay. They'll be eating only guinea fowl if they're lucky enough to find them.
YOU ARE READING
1795-YEAR OF THE DRAGONS
Historical Fiction1795 was a pivotal year in the history of the Philippines. The Spanish controlled most of the country and had been colonializing the Philippines for many years. Few islands of any size had not yet capitulated. The largest of these holdouts was C...
