The Radiant War

Chapter 13b

     Leothan examined the map carefully. Every Helberion position was marked in red, Carrow in blue. Even a causal glance at the map showed a lot more Carrow blue than Helberion red, but Leothan also saw trenches marked, and minefields, command posts, telegraph lines. Leothan had by now gained enough experience with strategy and tactics that he'd have been able to read the defensive strategy his Generals had worked out even if they hadn’t already explained it to him. They would keep it up for a week or two longer, to stop the Carrowmen becoming suspicious, before springing their trap.

     The real brilliance of the Brigadier's plan, he mused, was that the Radiants wouldn’t be able to interfere. They were constantly drifting over the trenches that encircled the city, spying out all their positions. They even seemed to be able to peer through the camouflage netting that covered their artillery positions, and could tell real guns from the plywood replicas they’d put in other places, in an attempt to deceive the enemy. If all went to plan, though, that would just make the Carrowmen more confident. Make it easier to lure them to their deaths.

     “Anyone had any ideas how we can improve our chances?” he asked.

     “No,” replied Amberley. “My team of analysts has been over it time and again and we think it’s as good as it’s ever going to be. Unless you’ve had some ideas yourself, the plan remains just as it was.”

     Leothan nodded. “When do we do it?” he asked.

     “As soon as we have enough Ballistae in position,” said General Lannier. “It's not just the Carrowmen we have to fool, after all. It’s the Radiants as well. They have to believe that we're doing absolutely everything we can to hold them back and that when we fall back it’s because they’ve left us with absolutely no choice. We're expecting to have enough of the new weapons to cover all our positions and assets within a week or two.”

     “What about the incendiary ammunition? How's the phosphorus mine coming along?”

     “They've started digging. It’s the processing of the ore that’s holding things up. They expect to have the first white phosphorus ready to be made into ammunition in a couple of weeks.”

     “Any way of hurrying it up?”

     “I've already stuck all the rockets up their arses I can. They're going as fast as humanly possible.” Leothan nodded reluctantly.

      “By the way, have you seen that place?" added the General. "The Hetin folk used to have a quarry there, the whole place is a giant hole in the ground ten miles across! The geology guys say they were digging out a million tons of phosphate ore every year, for fifty years at least! What could they possibly have wanted that much phosphorus for?”

     “Maybe they were mining something else,” suggested Lannier. “It’s just coincidence there was phosphorus in the same place.”

   “No, you can tell from the tailings that it was phosphorus they wanted, in vast amounts. But why...”

     “Let's not get side tracked,” said the King. “Getting back to the Carrowmen, what do we do if they and the Radiants mount a major offensive before we get the gunpowder in position?”

     “That would be a mistake. They would suffer heavy losses against our defensive positions. They have to take out our artillery first, and that takes time.”

     “What if it’s not up to them, though? At the moment, they’re taking their orders from adoptees, who are following Radiant orders, and the Radiants are desperate to kill Andrea McCrea and her assistant before they can build their, whatever it is they’re trying to build. What if the Radiants order an all out attack now? After all, they don’t want a prosperous, victorious Carrow. They want Carrow in ruins just as much as they want Helberion in ruins.”