Guerrilla (The Invasion of Miraval Book 2) Page 3

  4

  Dag and Aria stepped outside into a bright sunlit day. Birds were chirping from the eaves of houses, the trees and from where they pecked at the ground, hunting worms. The acrid smell of smoke that had permeated the city the previous few days had been blown out by a fresh breeze that smelled of pine. Both of them were dressed for a cool spring morning, Dag with his woolen hunting cap on and Aria with her hair pulled back in a short ponytail. The setting was so serene that you could almost forget that a battle had been fought there only a few nights before and that their country was engulfed in war.

  Aria held Dag’s hand as they walked down the dirt path that led from the house to the street, but Dag almost immediately freed his hand and stopped. Aria turned back to him with a curious expression on her face and saw Dag staring down into one of his mother’s flower beds. Almost absentmindedly, he plucked a dragonflower blossom, the small red and orange petals in full bloom on its thin stalk. Dragonflowers were considered a scourge by the average gardener as they were little more than a weed, and Aria was surprised that Dag would stop to suddenly prune his mother’s flower bed.

  She was about to ask him what he was doing when he walked over to her and grasped her left hand in his. With the artistry of a master weaver, Dag wrapped the dragonflower stalk around her ring finger, braiding the flexible flower until it curled around her finger three times and the blossom rested just below her knuckle.

  “Dag…” she managed.

  “Until I can get you a real ring,” he replied feebly.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said as she wrapped her arms around him, breaking the embrace only long enough to plant a kiss on his mouth. “I might have to take it off before my dad sees it though. Not sure if I’m ready to tell him.”

  “That’s fine,” he said. “I just wanted… to make it official in my own way.”

  They walked hand in hand from his house until they reached the town square where their hands instantly parted. They had discussed on the way over whether they wanted others knowing about their relationship, and both had decided that it was a good idea to keep it secret for the time being. Besides, it was clear that they had much larger concerns as they stepped into the town square and saw the mass of parked old cars, small tents, and dozens of people simply lying, sitting or sleeping on the ground. Making their way to the far side of the square involved having to dance their way through a minefield of limbs and vehicles, doing what they could to avoid stepping on anyone.

  Once across the square, they headed through a fence crowned with razor wire and saw that the National Guard Headquarters training grounds in Harren Falls were equally packed with tents, militia, a few vehicles, and two tanks, both salvaged from their victory over the Dominion. The proving grounds were occupied as well by more people who had set up several long pieces of canvas over some of the obstacles and were huddled underneath it, sharing loaves of bread and a few canned goods. One thing was clear to Dag- there were more people in the National Guard Headquarters and the town square than lived in Harren Falls.

  “Where the hell did all of these people come from?” he whispered to Aria.

  “No idea,” she whispered back.

  “Raslan!” a voice shouted from the entrance to the Headquarters building.

  Dag looked up and saw his younger brother, and technically superior officer, trotting toward him. “You finally made it,” he said as he stopped before them. “We’re on the television.”

  Dag exchanged a perplexed look with Aria, but they both followed Alex into the HQ, passing by two guards who seemed to have been tasked with keeping out all the people who had not already fought in the Harren Falls militia. Inside, in front of the small black and white television, a group of about two dozen men and women were watching the newscast. Dag recognized Logan and Paulsen, the two town deputies that had survived the battles for Harren Falls; Pendelton Morrow and Kayleigh Ambrose from his sniper squad; Grayson Tangrit, the one-armed, one-eyed alcoholic grenadier and the only true war veteran in the volunteers; and Torrace Greeley, the excessively country sounding farmer who was in charge of the militia’s quartermaster corps. Captain Beaurigar stood prominently behind the group of onlookers situated on old couches and folding chairs, his National Guard uniform amazingly cleaned and pressed on his lean physique, and his neatly trimmed beard looking a little grayer than it had a week before.

  “Oi, Dagger!” Torrace called in greeting as he spied the elder Dagenham brother approaching, his face and balding pate looking bright red even in the late spring’s morning cool. “They keep runnin’ the same o’er and o’er again like it’s the only news in the world.”

  Dag nodded to Torrace as he and Aria both stepped closer and took up positions next to Captain Beaurigar and Alex. The news anchor was a pretty, professional looking woman that still seemed to be rather haggard despite the forced smile on her face.

  “Repeating our top story once again,” she said in a voice that sounded like it was trying to keep some excitement. “In further evidence that Miravallian forces continue to hold their own against the Dominion invaders, we have confirmed that a small force of freedom fighters and volunteers have scored a tremendous victory, neutralizing a large portion of the Dominion’s offensive force while sustaining very few casualties. The militia of Harren Falls, located in the Southern Crest, turned away an initial attack on their hometown before taking to the offensive, defeating an entrenched enemy at the Battle of Ava’s Gorge. They then set a trap for the main Dominion force in the region and sent a large number of tanks and infantry into the River Cleave. The remainder of the Dominion force was compelled to retreat back through the Northern Crest.”

  “They don’t say anything about our defeats,” Captain Beaurigar muttered under his breath, making sure that none of the men heard it. Dag looked over at him crosswise, but the captain did not clarify his comment. He looked over to his three corps commanders and beckoned for them to come with him. “Tangrit. Torrace,” he added, summoning the other two men with a wave of his fingers.

  The six of them left the small lounge area and headed to Beaurigar’s office. The room was just large enough for a table that fit all of them, and the map of Miraval that was normally hanging on the captain’s wall had been laid out across it. On a table in the corner sat an old radio unit and on the far side was the captain’s desk with the flag of Miraval hanging on the wall behind it.

  “Be seated,” Beaurigar ordered. “I call this council of war to order.”

  “I know I was out of it for a while, father- I mean, captain- but what the hell is going on out there?” Aria demanded.

  “One ‘ell of a ‘eadache,” Torrace responded in his provincial ease. The moonfaced farmer liked for everyone to think that he was a country bumpkin, but he was far more intelligent than he ever let on.

  Beaurigar clarified by saying, “The television has been running only the news, and there are only two stories they are running,” he said. “The first is some images taken from the line in the northwest in the Bolero Valley, where our units there are holding back an incursion from those upstart bastards in the Elysing Alliance. The second is what you just saw. Since those broadcasts started, everyone in the entire Southern Crest has headed for Harren Falls, and you haven’t seen the half of what we’re dealing with.”

  “There’s ‘undreds if not thousands of people camped on the outskirts o’ town,” Torrace pointed out.

  “Some are looking for safety,” Beaurigar added. “Some are looking to join us. There are a few National Guard companies from Breakrock, Timber Ridge, and Meadow Valley that have joined up. Combine that with the fact that almost everyone who we sent away from the city to avoid the battle has now come back, we have a true logistics nightmare.”

  Harren Falls residents would be returning to their homes and many of them would not be looking to share billets with a bunch of squatters, Dag knew. That was not to mention that there would be an abundance of people picking the woods clean of game, mushrooms and wild b
erries. All trade had almost certainly been suspended, so there would be no more deliveries of grain, produce, eggs, milk or anything consumable. If they did not get a handle on how to deal with all the people on their hands, they would have looting, starvation and rioting to deal with long before the Dominion became a threat again.

  Alex could see the thought process going on in Dag’s mind as it was played out entirely on his face. “Before you start worrying about that, brother, it gets a lot worse,” he said.

  “You mentioned something about defeats,” Dag said to Beaurigar.

  Beaurigar sighed and placed his fingers into a steeple. “I received confirmation that Highskye and Greybridge have fallen.”

  “Between what the news showed before they got yanked off the air and the fact that the Dominion armored column we took down could only have crossed into Miraval at Greybridge, that was kind of to be expected,” Dag pointed out.

  “The Dommies also moved across the Duchy of Kentbourg to the southeast in a matter of hours, before sending a second column into central Miraval,” Beaurigar said. “They made it to the Godly River before they were repulsed.”

  Dag looked at the map. “So, for the moment, the battle lines are drawn here,” he said, pointing to the river. He could not help but notice that the entirety of the southern entrances to the Crest was behind the Dominion lines.

  “You see the problem, don’t you?” Alex asked as he pointed to the southern portion of the Crest, where the hilly land bottomed out.

  The Crest was only accessible in the truest fashion from two locations. The eastern edges ended in cliffs that looked over the Averillian Sea. To the west, there was the Rock Maze and the Quiet Mountains, a veritable labyrinth of rugged and nearly impassable foot hills, cliffs, and jagged rock formations. That left the southern and northern lowlands as ways to approach Harren Falls. With the battle of the day before, the militia had destroyed the only bridge that led across Ava’s Gorge, which cut the Crest in two. That left an approach from the south as the Dominion’s only way of subduing the area.

  “I suppose it’s too much to hope that the Dommies will just let us be,” Tangrit said dubiously as he pushed his greasy gray mane back out of his grizzled and scarred face.

  “I won’t count on that,” Beaurigar replied. “The Dommies don’t have any idea of our strength or disposition here in the Crest. All they know is that we turned back one of the two prongs of their pincer attack. They also know that they cannot advance with a potentially large hostile force in a position behind their lines. If they do nothing about us, they risk the possibility of us leading a militia force into their rear while our army launches a counter-offensive across the river.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Aria said. “We could trap those bastards.”

  “If we had an army, yes,” Alex said. “Right now, we’ve got one hundred men and women with a few days of combat experience and a few other National Guardsmen who have just arrived and probably never seen a day of war in their life. If we try to fight the Dommies in open conflict, it will be suicide.”

  Aria started to protest, but her father cut her off. “Alex is right,” Beaurigar said. “We don’t have many soldiers here, and there’s a good chance that the Dominion is already sending a force this way. Intelligence reports that the Dommies are digging in on their side of the river and have completely stopped their advance. Their forces, while still appearing large, are reported as having shrunk in the last six hours.”

  Everyone fell silent, because they knew that there was no other reason for the Dominion to pull forces off the main offensive line other than to secure the areas behind them. That specifically meant the Crest. They turned back and bloodied the nose of the first Dominion army to come their way because the Dommies had been arrogant and the Miravallians had caught them by surprise twice. They would not be that lucky again.

  “This is good,” Dag said at last, which drew questioning looks from the others.

  “Ye think it’s good that the Dommies are coming fer our homes again?” Torrace demanded incredulously.

  “Dag’s right. It forces them to slow their advance for the time being,” Alex countered. “It’s pretty clear that the Dommies thought they would roll right through us, and every day that we can keep those bastards fighting us in the Crest is another day for our boys on the river to reinforce their positions, another day for our guys in the Bolero Valley to beat back the Elysian bastards and force a surrender out of them, another day for the Confederation or some of the other minor powers to bring political and hopefully military pressure to bear on the Dominion.”

  “And how many days do ya ken we’ll last?” Torrace demanded.

  “Controlling the southerly approaches into the Crest is difficult, but not impossible with the additional numbers and weapons we’ve acquired,” Beaurigar said. “Torrace, I need you to start sorting out the people we have here. Get those who are willing to fight to do so and get them armed.”

  “Conscriptions?” Torrace echoed.

  “It has to be ordered by the Archduke and he has only done so in Alethia,” Beaurigar replied. “Volunteers only. Start coming up with a system for getting those who are remaining behind places to stay, and gods help us, you’ll need to figure out a way to start feeding all these people.”

  “Aye, sir,” Torrace said moodily as he stood up, saluted Beaurigar and left to begin his cumbersome work.

  “Alex, you and Tangrit please go give Torrace a hand,” Beaurigar said.

  “You don’t want us here to plan the defense?” Alex asked.

  “Later,” Beaurigar said. “Getting as many people to sign up for the militia as possible is work better suited to you, Lieutenant. Besides, I have a separate matter to discuss with Aria and your brother.”

  Alex and Tangrit both stood and saluted, the former catching a crosswise look from his brother as he departed. Alex gave a slight shrug as if to suggest that he had not said anything about Dag and Aria to the captain. The newly engaged couple exchanged a nervous glance as the two men left, but Captain Beaurigar did not look angry, but resigned as he started to explain why he asked them to remain behind.

  “The Dominion’s over-confidence played well into our hands in the last battle, but now that they know that we can sting them, I don’t expect them to be quite so forward with us,” he began. “An attack from the south is certainly probable, but that’s not the route I would take if I were leading the assault.”

  Dag studied the map again and pointed to the town of Highskye. “Personally, I would take a group from Highskye through the Rock Maze and assault us from the west,” he said, looking up to Beaurigar, who nodded in agreement.

  “There’s every chance that the remainder of the force that we turned back will be sent down the river to Highskye,” he said.

  “But I know those lands a little bit,” Dag pointed out. “The Dommies don’t.”

  Beaurigar nodded. “That’s why I’m not sure if it’s likely and why I can’t spare many troops for that theater,” he said.

  “But you want us to go,” Aria said knowingly.

  Beaurigar nodded. “The two of you and the men in Dag’s sniper squad will head first to Craven Bluffs,” he said. “The National Guard has a platoon stationed there which has agreed to accompany you on the mission. From there, you’ll head to Stonewater and attempt to be our first warning if the Dommies try to come that way.”

  Dag shook his head as he pondered what Beaurigar was ordering them to do. Stonewater was an ancient fortress that still drew in a few curious tourists from the cities who enjoyed a good hike, but for the most part was a relic of a long gone age. It had not been inhabited for the better part of four hundred years, dating back to before Miraval was even a country.

  “Sir,” Dag began. “Radios won’t work reliably in the Rock Maze.”

  “That’s why you are to retreat at any sign of the enemy in significant force,” he replied. “If the Dommies show up, you are not to give them battle. Your order
s are to get to high ground and get in touch with me so we can coordinate our defense. I can’t spare the soldiers with our limited numbers to set up concentrated defenses to the west and the south, so you’re going to be our sole deterrent in the Rock Maze.”

  “Sounds like fun,” Dag said. “When do we leave?”

  “As soon as possible,” Beaurigar said. “Oh, Sergeant Dagenham,” he added as Dag and Aria stood to leave. “You’ll be in charge of an entire platoon so I will need to promote you to Lieutenant for you to take command.”

  Dag started for a moment, collected himself and then smiled. “That will make Alex thrilled,” he said. “Baby brother no longer outranks me.”

  “His commission was still prior to yours, so technically…” Beaurigar led as he tried to keep a small smile off his face.

  “Captain, please don’t ruin this moment,” Dag said as he saluted, then marched out of the room.

  Aria lingered for a moment, hoping to spend a few moments with her father instead of with her captain. There was something that she wanted to tell him, but the words would not form. She was about to turn and leave when her father stood up from the table, walked over to the office door and closed it.

  “So,” he said, his voice holding hard onto the word for a long time. “You and Raslan Dagenham, huh?”

  It was Aria’s turn to be surprised. “Wait, what?” she asked. “I mean, how did you know?”

  Beaurigar chuckled. “I’m your father,” he said. “And I know you think I’m dense sometimes, but even I notice when a boy and a girl are sitting a little too close together, stealing glances when they think no one else is looking. Besides, Ms. Peabody saw the two of you both going into the Dagenham house and neither of you coming out.”

  “That old snoop,” Aria growled.

  “It’s a good thing I approve of young Raslan or we might be having a very different conversation, young lady,” he said. “Is it serious?”