The Fireseed Wars

"The Grand Host of Styphon is on its way here with the sole mission of utterly and completely destroying Thagnor City. It is up to us to see that mission is thwarted. Our new earthworks and walls are almost finished; they are the strongest fortifications in the Middle Kingdoms. No, not the biggest, but the hardest to penetrate. If the Grand Host was baffled by the walls around Rathon City, they will be completely stopped in their tracks by our fortifications. The strength of our walls will force them to besiege the City, which means the siege will not be over until winter arrives. Therefore, we will not be able to plant any crops outside the city walls and they will strip every field and farm they find like locusts. To stop them, we will raze and burn all the fields outside the walls before the Styphoni reach our walls; all farmers and landholders will be compensated for their loss by the Throne. We have the advantage of being able to plant some crops in the area between the second and third walls-unless they're breached. I do not consider that a real possibility with the artillery that the Grand Host presently has at its disposal."

King Chartiphon nodded to get his attention. When Kalvan recognized him, Chartiphon said, "Your Majesty, the Styphoni had all their guns aimed at our earthworks around Rathon City and they were as useless as spit on armor! The earth accepts shot like a woman's embrace and the Host's only recourse will be to attack in towers, which only go to the edge of the earthen walls-if they can get past the trenches and redoubts. At the base of the earthen wall, they are underneath the hoardings, giving our handgunners an opportunity to shoot them into tatters. The walls of Thagnor are higher and deeper than those the Styphoni faced in Rathon, although my subjects are now at work laboring to build our own walls higher and wider."

"Well said, King Chartiphon," Kalvan replied. "Therefore, with this siege running through the fall, our real enemy will not be Styphon's House but our subjects' stomachs. We will be able to import foodstuffs from Gytha, Vulthar and Zykthos, but not enough to get us through the next winter. We will own the Sea of Aesklos and will be getting some supplies from Hos-Agrys, but don't be surprised if the Styphoni begin work on a fleet of their own as soon as they can bring in shipbuilders from Tarr-Ceros. Thus, the real war this year will be over food, not land."

Kalvan paused to let that sink in, while knocking out the dottle from his pipe bowl. Here-and-now armies before the Fireseed Wars had been small affairs numbering less than ten thousand men on both side, who'd foraged most of their foodstuffs from local farmers and towns; thus logistics had never been part of here-and-now's Art of War. With armies in the high tens of thousands on both sides, foodstocks and military supplies might well determine who won the war.

"Therefore, our first and foremost goal in this campaign is to deprive the Grand Host of reinforcements and provisions from Hos-Ktemnos and Tarr-Cerros. By holding the Nyklos Trail we can keep the majority of materiel, recruits and victuals from reaching the Host. However, since our own supplies have been greatly diminished by the winter, we will need to fill our granaries and warehouses with the foodstuffs intended for the Grand Host."

"Ha, we'll bugger the Grand Host from the outside, where their arse is hangin' in the wind!" said Sarrask.

There was laughter and a loud chorus of "Down Styphon!"

When the uproar was over, Kalvan continued, "This war is going to be won at the end of the day by he who has a full stomach. And I mean to see the Styphoni are on thin rations!"

There was another round of cheering with lots of "Long Live Great King Kalvan!" and "Praise Dralm and Galzar Wolfhead!"

Kalvan raised his hands. "Next, I would like to have Trader Kostran, who has just arrived overland from Greffa City, come up and tell us about the current political situation in Grefftscharr. Kostran."

The Trader stood up and made a half-bow towards Kalvan. Then he turned to face the seated Hostigi dignitaries. "As most of you know, we did manage to blow up the Verkan Fireseed Works after Trader Tortha's departure, which means that Theovacar no longer has a reliable source of fireseed. A number of smaller fireseed works have sprouted up, but without Verkan's experience-learned in Hostigos-it will be several winters before they perfect the formula and get their production up enough to provide a steady source of fireseed. However, before I left, a wagon train from the Grand Host arrived with several tons of fireseed and maybe a thousand arquebuses and old calivers."

"Down Styphon!" cried several voices.

Kostran waited until it was quiet before continuing. "Fortunately, most of Theovacar's soldiers are not accustomed to fireseed weapons and much of the fireseed will be wasted in training exercises. The guns appear to be battlefield scrapings and many are the worse for wear."