Along the coast, to the south

“It’s hard to believe that stroke of luck.”

Hengist was in the longboat’s bow, leaning on the railing, lost in a brown study.  “That may be, General Gustafson.  But her infantry is still in the field.  Not as mobile, but still in the field.  The larger ships, the Jutlanders, were there just off the beach, but from what we’ve heard they had several longboats.  Those could have gone up-river.”

“Something else bothers you about this,” Gustafson said.

Hengist turned.  “It does.  Do you know what town lays up that river?”

“No.”

“Tillgatt.  A trading town.    I took Mabinne there, to trade for goods to see us over the winter.  Why would she go that far upriver, to strike a trading town?  There is nothing else along this river save a few farms.”

“I have no idea.  A trading town, you say?”

Hengist turned back to his perusal of the gray ocean waters.  “There must be some reason.  Something lies there that she wanted.  My worry, General, is this:  Did she find it?”

General Gustafson considered that.  “Since we do not know, I can see no reason to change our plans.”

Hengist nodded.  “You make a fair point.  We’ll continue south as we planned.”

“To Beretan,” Gustafson said.

“To Beretan.”

Hengist replayed the sudden attack in his mind.  When they had seen the beached ships, his five hundred left his own fleet, crossed a bridge of ice conjured by Kristol and approached from the dunes, but it was the twins that had done much of the heavy lifting; one of Hengist’s longboats had approached from seaward, with the twins standing in the bow, holding hands.

The Jutlanders guarding the landing site had launched a volley of arrows, but the twins froze them in place, then incinerated the ships and the frozen men.  By the time the Ikslunders crested the dunes and charged, there was little left to kill.

Their power is impressive, Hengist mused.  But I can’t ask that of them too often.

He looked back.  The twins were asleep under a bison robe.  Using magic at that scale, Hengist knew, was exhausting.  But it worked.

They’ll want to obtain more ships, he thought.  There’s a port a day’s sail to the south if the winds hold.  That’s where they will go.  We need to find a spot in between, lay an ambush.  Make them come to us.  We won’t get this lucky again.

“They know we’re after them now,” General Gustafson pointed out.

Hengist considered that.  “Good.”  He thought very rapidly for about ten heartbeats.  “What do we know of Mabinne’s forces?  Their numbers?”

“Around five hundred,” Gustafson said.  “Of course, we confirmed maybe forty dead on that beach, so take that away.  From what I’ve heard of survivors of their raids, Mabinne has a large contingent of Jutlander infantry now – maybe three to four hundred – and perhaps fifty or sixty various magic-users, mostly ice and fire, some wind.”

“We outnumber them in conventional forces, then, but they have us badly outmatched in magic.  So, we need to minimize their advantage.  Magic is best used at some distance, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I would.”

“A close-in ambush, then.  We must negate their magic-users as fast as possible.  How many binding collars do we have?”

“Six,” Gustafson replied.  “The mage who was making them was in Port Stronghold, and now…”

“We won’t be able to obtain any more until someone else figures out the making of them.  Very well.  Most, if not all, of Mabinne’s magic-users will just have to be killed, but make it plain to all the men, I want Mabinne alive.”

“Set the twins against her?”

“That was my thought.”  Hengist looked pensive for a moment.  “But I would prefer to hold the twins in reserve.  If we can take out the magic-users with our infantry, so much the better; the twins can face Mabinne and her fire-user companion, if necessary.  To do this, we need to find good ground, lay an ambush.  If I remember this stretch of coast, there’s a village at a river mouth south of here.  Let’s try this…”  He went on for several minutes.

“Do you think the twins will be ready for a fight again if they are needed?  That last action tired them badly, I’m not sure they have recovered yet.”

“We are ready.”

Both men turned.  Agneyastra and Kristol stood there, holding hands.  They looked a trifle unsteady in the rocking longboat, but they wore determined expressions.  “We are ready,” Agneyastra repeated.  “If we can do as you say, it may be the last battle.”

“We can hope,” General Gustafson said.

Hengist nodded.  “Very well.  Let us proceed.”

 

Two days later

The village proved to be more of a town, with a sturdy dock on the waterfront and houses and shops laid out in a rough oval facing the water.  Heavy forest surrounded the town on the side away from the ocean.  “Better and better,” Hengist mused as the Ikslunders approached.

The town had some magistrates and one elderly woman who wielded wind magic, but they posed little trouble to Hengist’s troops.  Hengist ordered the longboats run aground, and his troops stormed into the town.  The locals who resisted were put to the sword.  The rest were herded into a large warehouse near the waterfront and put under guard.  “Anyone who makes a sound,” Hengist warned them, “will be run through.”

The townspeople believed him.

As evening drew on, Hengist agreed to let a delegation from the townspeople gather food and water, which they did under guard.  Near the docks and in the trees was a flurry of activity as the Ikslund infantry dug pits, and gathered branches to conceal the earthworks.  That work went on through the night, in shifts to allow the men some sleep.

In the morning, when the preparations were complete, Hengist called the captains of the infantry together, along with the magic-user twins.  With General Gustafson at his side, he addressed them.

“I want every man to know the plan,” he began.  “Every swordsman, every archer, every watercarrier in the back rank.”

The captains nodded.

“You have seen how Mabinne’s army operates.  In discussion with General Gustafson, we have examined her attack pattern, how she deploys her Jutlander infantry, and how she uses her magic-wielders.  You all know she depends on the infantry to act as a screen, behind which her magic-users advance.”

“That is what we will take advantage of,” Gustafson said.

Hengist went on to explain the plan, walking the captains around the proposed battlefield, pointing out each earthwork, each pit, all the preparations.  When this was done, one of them spoke up.

“General,” the man said, reluctantly, “…if this works, it will be a great victory.  But if Mabinne the Merciless dispositions her forces in any different way, well, we will be at the mercy of her magic-users.”

“We have magic-users of our own,” Agneyastra snapped.

“Two of you,” the captain replied.  “Against maybe two-score of Mabinne’s.”

“That is why the traps we laid are key,” Hengist said.  “We need you to choose the very best men to carry this out.  They will need to move swiftly, quietly, and mercilessly.”

“And the lady herself?  Mabinne the Merciless?”

“General Gustafson and I will take her ourselves,” Hengist replied.  “I have faced her in combat before.  She is more powerful now, but I also know her better now.  I have promised the King I would take her to him in chains, and that is what I intend to do.”

“Go and talk to your men,” General Gustafson ordered.  The captains dispersed, and Gustafson looked keenly at Hengist.  “Sure about this, are you?  I would never question you in front of the men, but Captain Horst has a point; this plan could go badly wrong in any number of ways.”

“I know.  But the initiative will be ours.  That’s half the battle.  The best archers will be in place.  You and I will be in place.  The ships are down the coast, hidden behind that headland to the south.  If we can only keep surprise on our side, then this will work.  Once it’s down to an infantry battle, we have all the advantages.”

“Fair enough,” Gustafson said.

There was a shout from the top of a tall dune.  “Ships in sight – bound our way from the north!”

Hengist turned to a soldier standing nearby.  “Pass the word – light the fires.”

“At once, General Hammer-fist,” the man said, grinning.  He ran off to alert several other men who lounged nearby, awaiting this very command.