The Foolhardies 213 The Strategis

"He's in recovery, Commander," Berrian Berrygrove answered. "I've healed him enough that he's no longer in critical condition but I don't think he'll be ready for the plan…"

I patted Berrian on the shoulder. "You've done great, thanks. But you and your team might be working on overtime later." 

"We'll be prepared, Commander," Berrian insisted right before he gave me the fairy salute. 

I glanced over my shoulder and grinned at the man in bandages behind me. "You can rest too if you want… don't know if a mummy will be useful in this next half of the battle."

"You're funny," Azuma growled. "I'll be ready. Just point me where I can have a rematch with Garm."

It relieved me to hear Azuma was up for another round despite his wounds, and since I couldn't express enough how thankful I was that he'd saved Luca, I decided I'd give him exactly what he wanted instead. 

"Conserve your strength then," I said quietly. "You'll get your turn."

Then I glanced over at Arah and asked her to begin the briefing while we had room to breathe. 

"We've successfully lured Great General Garm into the gorge," Arah reported to the gathered group of squad leaders from both my Foolhardies and the Pilgrims. "His scouts are already probing the paths and they'll report back that there are five routes along what they'll discover is actually a series of interconnected canyons surrounded by these sheer cliffs that are larger than the cliff entrance of the gorge."

"It's basically an ant farm," I noted. 

Arah agreed. Then she pointed her stick on the map laid out on the ground before us. 

"These five points is where we make our attack," she said, pointing to the middle of each path. "Two thousand soldiers at each path to repel the forces Great General Garm launches at us." 

A hand went up. It belonged to Edo who I'd never seen act polite at any of the strategy meetings I was in-charge of. 

"We all know Garm's a strength-type general," Edo reminded us. "What's to stop him from leading his entire army down one route?"

"The paths are too narrow to accommodate a large force," I answered. "He'd be leaving his sides and flank ripe for an ambush that would overwhelm them…"

"That also means he can't ignore the other paths in case we decide to flank him," Arah added. "No, he'll have to plug all paths with his own soldiers."

Another hand was raised. This one belonged to Qwipps, who, like Edo, had never shown me this kind of courtesy before. 

"What if he just waits at the mouth of the gorge until he has more reinforcements?" Qwipps asked in a polite tone that really was unlike the potty-mouthed b.a.s.t.a.r.d I was used to. 

"He can't," I answered for Arah. "He knows that if he waits too long we'll just slip by and escape."

"Our victory lies in the Foolhardies escape," Arah added. "At least, that's what the great general thinks. So for him, time is crucial… even now, I bet he'll be eager to push in despite his scouts telling him it could be a trap."

"Which it is," Aura supplied. 

"Which it is," Arah agreed. 

"Who'll be taking command of the different routes?" Liu Xiang asked. 

Finally, here was someone who didn't need to raise their hand or show politeness to Arah. I know, I was being petty, but everything academic was a compet.i.tion between me and Arah. Strategizing was no different. 

Arah pointed to each of the routes from left to right while mentioning who would be in charge for each one. 

"Lieutenant Edo will lead the left-most path as it's the widest one of the five," Arah said. "We'll give you two thousand soldiers divided into heavy infantry, light infantry, archers, and cavalry to go with your original squad."

"Being the widest path means Garm will probably plug it with the most soldiers," I added. 

"Which also means it might be the bloodiest next to whichever path Great General Garm is on…" Arah looked over at Edo with an apologetic smile. "Dean tells me you're the best one to hold a tide back?"

I swear that if Edo's skin wasn't so grey he'd have blushed at her compliment. 

Of course, there were a lot of p.r.o.nounced coughs as many of my squad leaders disagreed with Arah's p.r.o.nouncement. 

"Moving on," Arah cleared her throat, "Commander Liu Xiang will lead the second path on the left… As it's the narrowest path among the five, you'll receive one-thousand-and-five-hundred troops divided into heavy infantry, light infantry, cavalry, and archers as well." 

Liu Xiang bowed his head. "You are most generous." 

Arah pointed to the right-most path on the map. "Miss Williams will lead another two-thousand forces to secure this route. We made sure you received soldiers most used to the s.h.i.+eld."

"Thanks, and you can just call me Ashley, Arah," Ashley replied. "We're both from midtown so there's no need to sound so formal." 

Arah acknowledged her request with a nod before moving onto the second to the right path. 

"Thom will be in charge of this route," Arah said. "You'll be supplemented by two thousand soldiers composed of light infantry, cavalry, and archers. You'll also get the bulk of our archer units because the path you'll be on is elevated toward the middle."

"Making a ranged unit more useful," Thom concurred. 

Arah nodded right before pointing to the middle route and glancing over to me. 

"Yeah, I'll take this route," I answered. 

"You'll have two thousand soldiers worth of heavy infantry, light infantry, archers, and the remainder of the cavalry units," Arah explained. 

"I'll need them… I expect Garm to come at me himself," I answered. "As Edo said, Garm's a strength-type so tactics and instinct be d.a.m.ned. He'll be gunning for me because he knows taking me down is the fastest way to end this battle." 

"How will he know where you are though?" Ashley asked. 

"We're going to plant a giant flag right where he can see it," I said chuckling. 

"Yup, he thinks you're arrogant enough to do just that," Aura added. 

"I concur," Varda added. 

There was a round of agreements after Varda that made me want to smack them all in the head for playing light of such a tense situation. 

"Qwipps, you'll act as Edo's second," I answered. Varda will go with Ashley, Xanthor with Liu Xiang, and Thor with Thom." 

"I a.s.sume I'm with you?" Aura asked a question she probably already knew the answer to. 

"Yup," I nodded. "Azuma will join us in the reserves…"

I glanced over at Arah and pointed to the back of my central path where all routes merged into one once more. 

"You and the command post will hang back here on this hill," I said. 

"I know," she answered. "It's got a clear vantage point of all five routes… and you guys will be able to see the flags too."

"You memorized our commands already?" Ashley asked. 

"Of course," Arah answered. "I need to prove my worth as a strategist tonight… or you guys won't be satisfied having me around."

Everyone was looking at her with something close to apprehension but Arah didn't flinch. 

"I know that the burden a strategist carries is heavy," she admitted. "But I won't back down from it… after all," she glanced over to me, "this is the only way I can fight alongside my friends." 

There was a brief moment of awkward silence that was quickly beaten back by several grins, and Ashley asking, "You've got some good friends, Dapper."

Before we left for our posts, I took Arah aside and said, "Are you sure about this? You talked about burdens but the weight of lives is no joke… Decisions you make will most certainly lead to someone's death… ours and theirs. "I looked concernedly at her. "So, I'll ask again, are you sure you want to be a part of this?" 

Arah nodded wordlessly, and I knew that was all the answer I was going to get because if she was anything like me, right about now, there would be too many b.u.t.terflies in her stomach. 

"Stay safe," I said. 

---

"Well, he took the bait," Aura said. 

"Yup," I answered. 

"How many soldiers do we have again?" she asked. 

"Two thousand," I answered. 

"Why doesn't that seem like we have enough?" she asked. 

"Because the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's brought the bulk of his forces down this central path…" I reasoned. 

Just looking at the three thousand soldiers gathering at the mouth of the central path was giving me a migraine. 

"He had a little over five thousand soldiers after the twilight which means he only sent around five-hundred men each to the other routes along the canyon," I realized. "He's outplayed us…" 

It was a strange thing to say considering Garm wasn't a strategic-type of general. Something was definitely wrong with this scenario.

"Won't that make it easier for our other units to overwhelm the enemy?" Aura asked. 

I glanced over at her and notice she was biting her lip again. It seemed to be a habit she'd formed after she'd met Garm earlier. 

"I don't know… it'll depend who Garm sent to lead those other units and how fast our guys can beat them, if ever," I reasoned. "One thing's for sure… whether or not we win this battle will depend on time now…"