Eregnor had been devilishly hot of late and I was tired, dog-tired. Thirty-six hours without sleep. Now I was to meet an unspecified number of people chosen by Benedict as I understood it, a secret meeting to plan an attempt to ‘remove’ the rebel leaders. I had not been made privy to any specifics regarding the mission itself, date, time, place, enemy numbers, who was to be in overall command and so on. All I knew was that an intelligence officer would perform the briefing. Sensible precautions given the fact that the rebels always seemed to be pre-warned and had escaped what should have been foolproof traps.
As I turned the corner I spotted the door of the room where we were to meet, no guard. Good, no use drawing attention. I opened the door and entered a dimly lit room, the curtains drawn, illumination was provided by a large brass lantern. I sniffed slightly, dogs. I smiled, memories of the hunt in Arden coming back to me, a pleasant thought in this time of strife. As I looked around I saw a comfortable looking chair, I made my way over and sprawled into it. As I said I was tired, so rest whilst waiting was my simple plan, my pleasure. I arranged myself as comfortably as possible, my sabre in a stable position between my out flung legs, easily within reach. Time and the nature of man have made me less trusting, so I prefer not to leave myself too vulnerable.
I was dressed in my regimental colours, black and red, black for Corwin, red for my own rage or perhaps for mother’s blood, take that as you will. The uniform was now worn and in need of a wash. Too bad I couldn’t have changed, but the niceties can wait thought I, a mission beckons.
Luxuriating in the welcome comfort of the chair and feeling my stiff back begin to unkink I lay back and closed my eyes. Bliss. A little while later I heard the door open and a single person entered. This was followed by the sound of the man, it had sounded relatively masculine, no that’s unfair it was definitely a male voice, he cleared his throat and spoke.
"Greetings, Prince." Said the voice, which unfortunately was familiar. The Blood Mage Mordred.
I opened my eyes slowly, still somewhat strung out. I did indeed see Mordred before me. I gave no response at first, partly because of my tiredness and partly because I wanted to see how he reacted. I certainly hadn’t been expecting him.
He was dressed in a manner very similar to the way in which he had been at Corraline, simple, nondescript. I applauded his choice of style and material, very sensible. I took my sabre in hand below the hilt. We’d last met when I was 29 years old, we hadn’t hit it off. Partly my fault I now realised, since I’d spoken in a manner that had been somewhat rude, and given that I was effectively on sentry duty certainly not correct form when hailing an intruder, all in all a manner not conducive to good beginnings. But then he’d happily added fuel to the flame, so both of us were to blame in my eyes. Time to start anew? I smiled, stood and responded.
"My greetings to you Magus... Are we early, or is everyone else late do you think?"
He answered in a non-committal manner that I fully understood.
"It is just us, to the best of my knowledge." Mordred replied.
He stepped a little further into the room, and looking idly about he asked.
"How many do you think you can bring to this effort in the way of people?"
I raised an eyebrow. Strange that there’d be just us two. He was the intelligence type then? If so why was he starting off by asking me how many men I could provide? I had no idea what the mission entailed as yet. I answered, almost thinking aloud.
"Interesting, I think I may have been misinformed or perhaps I misunderstood. I was expecting an intelligence officer to be here to brief me, us. That wouldn't be you by any chance would it?"
As I spoke I re-clipped my sabre to my belt, I can’t abide standing around holding onto the damned thing. I glanced at Mordred expecting an answer. I got none, so I continued.
"As to your question, I have a regiment of cavalry at my command, they are available as per Benedict's orders."
Mordred decided now was time to start giving me some information. A very atypical briefing then.
"I am possessed of what Intelligence we do have. Though spotty, it is the best we can get for now. As to your cavalry, I do not think that their mounts will be of much use in this operation. How good are they at this sort of thing - that being going into an enemy stronghold in disguise, acting as members of that force and fitting in while getting as close to the centre as possible, and then striking through anything and anyone in their way to get the leaders before they can be warned and escape?"
Aha, so that was how things stood. Ask a question, wait for an answer then give out some more information that makes the answer given useless. Sad really, it had been over fifty years Amber time since we’d last met. I must really have upset the silly little man. I grinned and answered him in a genial manner, somewhat amused by the turn of events.
"Given those criteria, not very, but my men are good soldiers, veterans to a man and loyal. Given the type of operation you mention I can call upon as many or as few men as you wish from my own or other units... Perhaps a mixed group might suit, infiltrators to gain access and a group of heavier assault troops as back up in case things get hairy."
I paused for a second, thinking. I knew that I had not spoken with anyone regarding this meeting. I couldn’t have if I’d wanted since I knew next to nothing of the details at this point, but was anyone else involved?
"How secure is the planning of this operation, you'll obviously be aware of the rumours of spies in our forces? Who else will be privy to the details?"
Mordred’s answer was at least relatively civil, had I misjudged his intent, this was no time for point scoring games.
"I'll leave the choice of who to pick and how many of which kind up to you. You'll know your people far better than myself. We'll hash out a plan between us and then you can decide based upon what we have."
Mordred grinned slightly and then continued.
"As to who knows about this, there is you, myself, and Benedict, that I know of... well and of course the Queen. Other than that, unless you have spoken to others or heard from them regarding this, there is nobody."
Good. With so few involved my suspicion about the rebel’s ability to avoid capture could be tested. Pity he’d felt the need to attempt to goad me by suggesting I’d have spoken to anyone about it. Not a good start.
Mordred wasn’t finished though, verbose little tyke. His expression became somewhat more serious. Humour obviously didn’t sit well with him, even momentary humour.
"One thing - this happens tomorrow night, so we must be quick and we must make sure we get it right the first time. No second chances on this, and it is a big one."
Tomorrow night! Well, things were being rushed. No chance to train the men, so who must I use? At this point I knew what? The mission was one of infiltration into an enemy stronghold, it would take place tomorrow night, and we were to kill or capture the rebel leaders.
The Cobras of course.
Mordred stood waiting, expecting a response? To what? What information had I been given? A general mission statement and a time scale! Besides which, if I suggested anything I expected he’d add another piece of heretofore unvoiced information, thereby rendering my suggestion worthless. No thank you Mordred, let’s hear it all.
So I merely nodded, smiled and looked over toward the far side of the room and indicated a pair of chairs near a convenient table. I spoke as civilly as I could, best give him no reason for complaint, he’d probably find one anyway, but it’d be no fault of mine.
"Shall we sit, might as well go for what comfort we can, especially if there are a lot of details to be sorted out. I do have some questions, mainly relating to simple matters such as the enemy's location, their numbers and so on, but I'll save those until afterward if you have no objection since you may well answer some or all of them during the briefing."
Mordred nodded, we moved to the table and sat opposite one another. He began to speak again.
"I have some old blueprints of the building, where the resistance leaders are meeting. There are probably some changes that I do not know about however, which have been made since then. I am pretty confident that I have managed to figure out the room where they should be centred in – though of course I could be wrong. I have found only a few of their boltholes - they are amazingly good at hiding their secret routes. I am sure there are escape hatches that I do not know about. I cannot say where they might be on this floor plan, though I do have a few educated guesses about where they may have dug tunnels – where they might lead to is another question entirely. The resistance is operating with an amazing strategic ability it seems. Especially as it concerns escaping and sneak attacks.”
I had to agree. The rebels were very good in their guerrilla style of fighting, too good perhaps. My suspicions began to rise again, who was helping them? Mordred had made educated guesses he said? Not the perfect approach, but under the circumstances perhaps there was no other option. My concern was that we’d need to enter and recon during the infiltration of the target area in order to ascertain the exact numbers and positions of the enemy. A rather slapdash not to say sloppy approach in my opinion! If I allowed myself I could even become distracted with thoughts of an official reprimand for Mordred, but no, that was unfair, it seemed there really was very little information to work with. Those thoughts had become distracting too as I suddenly realised that Mordred was still speaking.
“The building is probably not fully occupied, as much of it appears to be abandoned. Also, there have not been enough people entering it to fill it fully or to properly guard the entire structure. This gives us the possibility of infiltration – something I’ll get to in a moment – and keeping some of our forces in those less inhabited sections. The room I suspect the meeting to be in is quite large, as it was formerly an archive, and I can almost guarantee they will have a tunnel in the far corner of the room for escape purposes. There is a long corridor, with guards stationed outside the room and along the corridor. This corridor is the real hindrance to our plan, as it is long enough so that the guards can give a shout and let the people in the room get away in plenty of time.“
Things definitely were not gelling with me. Too many poor choices by the rebels. An extremely poor choice of a meeting place. The building was too big to be guarded adequately, which actually made it a stupid choice rather than a poor one. The meeting was to be in a large room. Why? A small room would be better surely. There were only to be three of the rebel leaders present, and a large room should be easier to pinpoint, a smaller room would generally be easier to secure. Of course an escape tunnel would add considerably to any room’s appeal when making such a choice. The only other positive element of this set-up from the rebel’s point of view as I saw it was the fact that any interlopers would need to gain access to the meeting room down a long corridor full of guards.
Now, if I’d been in charge of security for such a meeting I’d have chosen an easily defended location with good all round visibility, a reasonably small number of entrances and exits to limit possible enemy avenues of assault, excellent lines of communication both within the meeting zone and for purposes of calling in reinforcements and a full and adequate perimeter guard. No I thought, I don’t understand this at all.
Mordred continued once more.
”It is imperative that we find a way to eliminate all three of these leaders, and we’d love to have their bodies to display later to the rebels as proof of their deaths, so no tales of their miraculous escape and survival sprout up to boost resistance morale. My resources have lost the resistance leaders before, once they were out in the city proper. They have numerous underground passages and will often travel from building to building. Further, the area where the base is located is not firmly under our control, and any units moving through there are very likely to come under attack. If they escape the base, it is a good bet we will not catch them anytime soon."
Lovely. Get in, despite having at this point given no explanation of how we’d do that if any units passing through would likely come under attack, Mordred had probably also forgotten to mention that there would be a couple of thousand rebel guards patrolling the perimeter outside of the building! Mingle with the enemy, again how? Wait and see I thought, he’d enjoy letting the cat out of the bag. Kill the leaders and bring their bodies out? Surely a task in itself fraught with difficulties, there were too many grey areas, too much guess work! If the territory were as strong in enemy presence as he’d said we’d likely be picked off with relative ease whilst trying to escape. But wait, we could Trump out surely, that said, if Mordred and I could get in without being recognised why did we need an attack force to begin with?
Mordred had finished so he looked up and asked.
"Any questions so far?"
I could have laughed, talk talk talk. How many facts? Too many and not enough. Who did he thing he was kidding? I shook my head and answered.
"Not just now, as I said I'll leave questions for the end. Please continue."
Mordred nodded and set to in his garrulous manner again.
"Now, as to the possibility of disguise and infiltration... The rebels seem very good at identifying spies, which is one of our many obstacles in this. I can cast a short-term effect that will give a very small number of people the aura of 'You know me, but don't know my name, - I belong here'. This will not work to get them past a very tightly guarded checkpoint, where only a tiny subset is allowed in, but would get those people into the base probably. I would of course need a bit of physical material from each of those involved in the spell... a snip of hair, nail paring, drop or two of blood, etc. Though this is not what powers the spell – that comes from me – it is necessary for the target of the spell to be 'identified magically' to the spell workings, else they will not be affected.
Fair enough, the 'probably' worried me but it sounded reasonable, I am familiar with the basic principles of Blood Magic, but the specifics of magical operations do not concern me. Not something I've ever been interested in, to mother's chagrin I might add.
"I am considering a more complicated spell in addition to this, for an even smaller group – possibly the two of us alone... This would project a different sort of an aura, one that said, 'I am not really here, not important, look somewhere else'. This might give us the edge we need to get along that corridor and into that Chamber, particularly if there is some sort of a minor distraction in the outer chambers at the time..."
Ah, a possible use for the force of men. A distraction! I could almost hear Mordred's thoughts, 'so what if they all die, they will have given the two of us a chance for glory!' Suicide missions are not to my taste, a waste of men, and although I recognise that such actions are occasionally necessary, in this case I didn't care to add my name to the butcher's bill, albeit as co-butcher. I returned my attention to Mordred, he was off again!
"All of those who go in will be bestowed as well with a 'see/think clearly' spell, ahead of time, as – just before we enter, I'll cast my final spell, the one that slowly and increasingly distracts and confuses those within. It should be barely noticeable at first, taking as much as two hours to achieve its full effects, but by the time we get deeper in it will be stronger and should aid in our attempt to infiltrate the central chamber through that long and guarded hallway."
Again Mordred paused, then asked.
"Observations or recommendations?"
I frowned slightly. So he'd be present? He expected to get out I'm sure. My men? He would happily see them die. No repercussions for him there, the commander takes the brunt of blows to reputation. The 'see/think clearly' spell was alright as far as it went, as were the two 'disguise' spells but had he thought of the real down and dirty technicalities. I spoke up, wary of his game playing, but I needed to ask questions, in order to see who I was talking to if you follow me.
"Well, you've answered one of my questions already, whether you'd be coming along. I'm going to back track on myself by asking a couple of questions before you finish."
I paused to collect my thoughts, what to ask? Very well here goes...
"Firstly, you say you can cast your spell of... 'recognition' for want of a better description, on a small group, how small a group, or rather what is the upper limit? Secondly, given my original suggestion of a backup assault force and the rebels' ability to spot intruders, how feasible is it that such a force could get into the general area unobserved, let's assume fifty men for the sake of argument? I'm thinking we may have to go in without back up."
Knowing what numbers one has to work with is not a small point when planning a mission! A chance for Mordred to answer sensibly, no need to try to win your games my man!
"I can cast the spell upon 50 soldiers, but it would be quite noticeable for a troop of fifty to be travelling through this area. 20 is a much easier to handle number. I think we could have some of your troops posted further outside the area, with one of my people as a liaison, to pull them in once we have begun. If they were mounted, and had sufficient force, it would be feasible, but extremely costly in life... The base of the Resistance is in the basement of a large office building, formerly the Ministry of Agriculture. It is placed in the midst of a hotly contested area of the city. Any large force moving towards it would suffer serious casualties or worse, as the resistance apparently has access to explosives. The numbers we will have to deal with inside of the base is expected to be relatively light however, perhaps 20-30 fighters... What do you think?"
Half and half, more than I'd suspected. Facts? Not too many, other than that any form of incursion by a group larger than twenty or so men was likely suicide. Something best mentioned earlier on I would have thought!
I spoke calmly, show him nothing. See if he gets the picture.
"I think I'd best hear everything before I make any comments or suggestions. Please continue through to the end."
Would he be annoyed at my choice of words I wondered? Who knew? Did he realise I saw through his little game? Probably not. In any case he went on
"Very well... Scenario one, is that we all gain access, and mingle with those in the outer chambers, dicing, eating and drinking and so on, and then, after an hour or so, a few of us attempt to gain access to the inner chamber. The guards of course will turn away those who are only covered by the 'I belong here' spell, but you and I, covered by the more effective one, should be able to slip by. Once we have done so, our troops outside should cause some sort of a commotion – nothing major, perhaps a squabble over cheating at dice, but sufficient to further distract the hallway's guardians. Hopefully this will enable us to get as close as possible to the chamber itself. At some point, the spell covering you and I will no longer be able to hold up, or those within might realize they are being affected by my slow-effect spell and try to escape. After this, it becomes an all-out rush, with you and I breaking into the meeting, and our troops following us along the hallway, hopefully drawing those guards off our backs. From then on it is self-evident what we are to do."
It sounded reasonable. Could it be done without taking men in at all? He continued with what I assume was his second scenario, since he hadn't specified.
"However, should this not work, and we deem it to be necessary for us to gain an additional advantage, I can do a bit more once within to hedge our bets."
So he wasn't even sure how effective his spells would be! Excellent, we'd be walking into a virtual minefield with Mordred's spells as a disguise and the damned man didn't know if they were any good.
"I will only have time to cast one spell, one of darkness that is as tightly focused on the hallway and central chamber as possible. This would be our cue to rush in, as our 'see/think clearly' spells will protect us from this as well. It will take about an hour, and would be very difficult to pull off, as I need to be somewhere unobserved by the enemy for that entire time. There are abandoned rooms, and we could possibly act as if we were all exhausted and merely seeking an unoccupied room to sleep in or something like that. "
This darkness spell, was this a weapon of last resort, a last ditch effort? It was almost certainly doomed to failure, like setting off an alarm for those who weren't already aware we were there, true they'd be blind, but they would all know we were there.
Mordred continued.
"Even so, we'll need some distractions – perhaps two teams – the sleepers and the gamers? One crew goes with me to find a place where I can cast me spell, hopefully keeping it under wraps, while the other goes with you to mingle with the general guards and start up a dice game or hand out food and drink they have 'liberated' from the oppressors or some such. Meanwhile, my slow-acting spell should be working on them. Suppose, a few moments before I have completed the casting of the spell, one of those with me lets you know of this, and you get as close to the guards as you can. When the darkness falls, you and yours rush in, making straight for the central chamber. I and those still with me will follow as soon as we can, causing as much mayhem in the outer rooms as possible as we go through, though I will make joining you at the point my first priority. Since, by this time those within should not only be confused, but blinded, I think we can achieve this goal, even if we have to follow them down their escape holes a ways."
Very risky, even if the spells work the men need to mingle with enemies for how long? An hour, several? Bad for the nerves, and what happens when the rebels start talking to my men, amongst themselves? Will the rebels catch on to the differences, for instance, what if they started reminiscing about people and places? Too many variables.
Mordred spoke again!
"Regardless of which of these scenarios we use, one thing remains unchanged. Our entire goal must be to get into that central chamber and eliminate the leaders before they can escape. The Queen has said she wants them dead or alive, but has made very little of the distinction."
I could only agree with this latter statement, simplistic as it was. I had been listening in silence intent on Mordred's words, as he finished I nodded and pursed my lips. I knew that I must be sure I had his plan in its entirety, was there more he had left out? I decided to ask a question or two, had he thought things through? He certainly hadn't told me everything.
"Very well, I will summarise my perception of the information you have given me in a moment if I may, just to be sure I haven't missed anything. Before that however, a question. How do we get out? We will have what, ten, twenty men? We'll have killed the rebel leaders, hopefully, but the entire rebel force will be on our backs. Even with a coordinated attack from outside to distract them I can't see how we'll get our men out alive. Have you an escape route planned for instance?"
He answered casually, unconcerned in the least that I'd asked a direct question about the safety of men who would be under my command, and I suppose his. I remembered that he'd once been a military man. Could he have changed so much that the lives of his subordinates meant nothing.
"I have a few thoughts, yes - but would more than welcome whatever ideas you might have..."
I smiled and nodded, I sat back to better look at Mordred. What manner of man are you Mordred. In Corraline you spoke of deeds of renown, honour, respect and today you would rather win a game of words than give me the information I need. Are you totally lacking in honour, in common sense even? Do men's lives mean nothing? Yes, it can be argued that to lose twenty to save thousands is acceptable, but why not say that this is one's aim from the first, one's choice of means? Must I drag every fact from you? I thought back over my years away from Amber, more than a century for me in Shadow. Mordred had acquired a good deal of respect whilst I'd been gone, and was held in some regard it seemed. Did he think I was trying to play the same silly point scoring game? Best let him know that I wasn't. If he chose to ignore my overture at least I'd know where I stood.
"I've heard some great things about your doings over the last few decades master Mordred, and it is apparent that your skills are held in high regard by the crown... It has been how long since Corraline? Fifty, sixty years Amber time? Well, I just wanted to let you know that I have no axe to grind in this operation, a failure in this mission is not something I'm interested in, I'm sure you'll be of similar mind in that regard, it certainly isn't the time or place to let personal feelings get in the way, especially feelings from half a century ago."
I paused, watching him, looking for reactions. I must admit he'd make a fine poker player, he gave nary a flicker, so I went on to summarize things, to state the information he'd relayed, nothing more nothing less.
"With that said, perhaps I should summarize what I believe I've heard? Briefly then. Our mission is to penetrate territory held by the rebels and kill or capture the leaders of the revolt, who are to attend a meeting there tomorrow. The said territory is defended with the aid of Guild weaponry including explosives which has been used to devastating effect on Amber's forces already. Once within the rebel zone we will then enter a defunct government building, for which we have out of date plans, have no real idea where the meeting of the leaders is to take place and have no real idea of where any guards may be stationed, other than a possible final guard in a corridor outside the room where the meeting may be held. We have no idea where any lookout positions might be, any signallers, or of the location or size of possible rebel forces that could be called in support once our assault begins. We have no confirmed figure for the number of defenders that will be in the building itself, although you postulate a defence force of twenty to thirty rebels. We on the other hand can effectively take in a maximum of twenty men, although we will have the advantage of disguise provided by your own arcane means, which will, or should, allow us to enter without coming under attack. Am I correct so far, if I'm off beam in any way please let me know?"
If he took me to task over matters he'd not brought to light I'd have even more idea of where his aim was directed.
In response to my first statements, he merely nodded, his expression grave, he answered. "Agreed."
To my summary of his plan he spoke shortly, it seemed he was more worried that I'd devalued his intelligence efforts than anything else.
"In essence, you are correct, though a month of undercover and intelligence work has made me relatively confident that we can upgrade most of those 'no idea's' to the status of 'a pretty good idea'. As I said before, I do have a few ideas as to backup and escape, but I would be interested in hearing what your take on the matter is..."
I nodded in turn. Touchy, touchy, Mordred do you not see that you give me no choice, you state you are 'relatively' sure as though that made it a fact. It isn't! Perhaps it is a deliberate thing on your part, do you wish to make me appear foolish? If so to whom? Idiotic man! I must defuse this situation, this could easily become a full-blown argument, Mordred's ego bruised beyond recognition no doubt.
"I had no intention of disparaging your intelligence efforts, I am merely stating things as I see them at present. My take on things is generally along purely military lines."
I hoped he'd know that I meant that I had little experience or truth to tell little use for arcane methods. Another thought occurred to me, did he think I was deliberately nitpicking. I paused glancing at Mordred and flashed a smile.
"I am playing devil's advocate you understand, if you'd feel better about it exchange 'we' for 'I'. As in '...I have no real information...' and so on. But, as I was saying taking a purely military approach, I would generally eliminate enemy lines of communication as a first objective, secondly, remove any guards on the periphery covertly, each man killed is one less to worry about after all, and then launch an assault on the primary objective. That's in a typical situation, in this one we have access to your magical abilities which will provide an excellent means of entry and of confustication. My real concern is that I don't know enough about the building's layout and troop positions etcetera."
My line of thought laid down, do with it what you will.
"Understood. Unless they have some Guild device capable of providing such, there is no means of communication into or out of the building other than a runner. To the best of my knowledge, there are no peripheral guards - none outside of the building itself. There are - again to my best estimation - as many as 30 likely to be inside. A few outside the meeting chamber, more in the hallway leading to the chamber, and the rest in the more common area closer to the entrance to the building."
As he mentioned these, Mordred pointed out each location upon the blueprints. Very well, I know where you think they are! Wonderful! I want to know where they really are don't you see that man? And there it was again 'my best estimation' and 'likely to be inside'. Not good enough.
"We cannot eliminate any of this general group within the building, without alerting the others, unless - once inside - we are able to lure a few of them off and deal with them. Still, we must be wary of setting off any alarm. As soon as an alarm is raised, the leaders will be gone. Our foremost goal must be to get as close to them as possible, by any means necessary, before they know of it... Regarding knowledge of the interior and the troops, I know they have not had any large-scale machinery in there, so modification will be minor - other than escape tunnels which are underground. Exact placement of troops - well this is why I wish to get us inside surreptitiously, so we can do some sort of reconnaissance in person and alter our plans accordingly."
Hurray! At last, some sense. Not perfect but a start and at last he recognised the problem of an alarm, hence my worry over lines of communication. An alarm? All it needs is a bugle call or a bell to be rung! The game would then be up and we would be traversing that well-known excremental watercourse with no visible means of propulsion.
Mordred paused for a moment, and then continued in a sober tone...
"You speak of getting our men out alive. I am not sure we can guarantee this. The mission we are discussing is the Queen and Benedict's final attempt, after trying everything else. We are going to have to go in, semi-blind, to what may be a disadvantageous position, and do what must be done. If we have 20 plus ourselves, and they have 30 plus their leaders, I believe it can be done - albeit with heavy losses on both sides - these are fanatics. I am confident I can take care of at least three of them, I will assume any of the men you pick are at least as good as 1 and a half of the enemy, and - though I have never seen you wield your blade - I doubt you'd have gotten as far as you have without having some reasonable ability with it.
Mordred, Mordred, when can we ever guarantee that soldiers will return from battle alive? A better than fifty percent chance is all a soldier really asks for. Yes Mordred, despite the fact that you claimed you had ideas on escape etc I am fully aware you haven't designed this plan with the aim of any of them getting out alive. That is why I asked the question, so that you would be forced to state it. There is so much you have not planned for, how will we get the bodies of the rebel leaders away for instance? Have you thought this through at all?
"Now - regarding back-up... I can cast my 'mistaken identity' spell upon another score of soldiers, who can begin to filter towards the site once the time draws closer to our moment of attack. Any more than this, and any sooner than just before we make our move, and I am afraid we'll alert the locals. They'd have to come in twos and threes... They can be signalled when we do attack, and then rush from their places outside the building and in the near vicinity to back us up."
Fair enough, this part I like. A good idea, a modified version of one of mine, but still good.
"We can have a division of your cavalry stationed further outside the boundaries, perhaps very obviously making a patrol, as if it were intended to be a show of force to intimidate the local resistance fighters. This may draw some at least of the enemy outwards from the centre, to observe, or guard against a foray, or even just to throw things and make taunts. If it looks like we need the help, they can be signalled to make a stab inwards towards the central meeting, drawing still more of the enemy onto them. This would need to be a feint, or they'd be slaughtered, of course, but still it must look as if it is real, so they'll have to fight as hard as they can and push as hard as they can, taking some casualties before calling it off and beating a retreat. Even the retreat should be slow and orderly, so they continue to keep the attention and energy of as many of the foe as possible."
Not satisfied with forty suicide troops you want a cavalry division too? I think not!
Mordred looked to me and asked.
"Any other ideas?"
The gall, other ideas? Yes. Go in with some mage other than you, any other mage or mages if it came to that! A version of this 'Recognition' spell of yours would seem reasonably adequate to the task of gaining entry, why not then have the mage or mages put the guards to sleep or freeze them or some such, then launch an attack on the leaders. I imagined that if I were to suggest sleep spells, he'd tell me that there was no such thing, that they were impossible. No, I could not allow my anger to show. Seeming almost distracted I spoke, apparently deep in thought.
"Skill with the blade is not the question here Mordred, may I call you Mordred? Skill in command is."
Yes, my skill, my reputation. The men from the assault team's regiment will know I commanded them. Word gets around. I don't really know why I called him Mordred, easier on the ear and the tongue than master, or magus I suppose, it certainly was not a friendly gesture. Mordred had simply nodded, and shrugged when I asked if I could call him by name, non-committal, interesting though. Would he see weakness on my part there?
After some moments I shook my head, attempting to appear confused or perhaps more surprised at his description of the rebel's plans. Let's see how he reacts to some of my worries. Give him a compromise, don't lose control, he can still prove himself a worthy servant of Amber.
"The rebels have no perimeter guard, no look outs to speak of outside of the building, and no communication system to call for reinforcements? I'd have expected more of them, this smacks of incompetence!... Very well, I have men from the Cobra squadron in mind for this mission. As you'll know they're all excellent fighting men, and trained in commando style warfare and such. If they can mingle with the defenders whilst we move on the leaders they may be able to take out a good number by virtue of surprise before the rebels can fight back. I also think the secondary backup group of twenty is a good idea, they could perhaps be stationed outside as a safety net so to speak, should any rebel defenders make a run for it, that should prevent word getting out. I'll have to think on the diversionary patrol, it will need to be quite large to draw the rebel's full attention."
His answer was unfortunately exactly what I'd expected.
"I agree with you, regarding the apparent lack of organizational sense on their part. The best I have been able to gather is that they seem to be hoping small and secretive would help them avoid notice. I do not think we can have the second force 'stationed' outside in any organized sense... they need to be scattered about in twos and threes in seemingly random configurations or the spell will be useless to disguise the fact that something is happening. I'll find a way to signal them."
Really? Well fancy that, I wouldn't have thought it! That a group of twenty armed men standing in formation would stand out! No one would notice them surely? If the situation were different I'd have laughed in his face.
"As for the diversionary force, I'll leave that up to you." Spake the tyke.
My thoughts were 'Thanks all to hell and back'.
Mordred thought for a moment, then said...
"I would not say they had no perimeter guard - and if something I said gave that impression I apologize. Rather, lets say they have no perimeter guard as we would consider it - nobody 'stationed' outside the building or on the street corners with weapons, no obvious lookouts. Remember they are trying to be secretive. However, the entire area is seeded with those who are sympathetic to their cause, and have weapons. No doubt buildings all around the area have at least one person looking out a window on alert at all times. The idea is to slip in, under cover of the spells, so that they are not alerted."
Think back awhile my friend, firstly you said they had no perimeter guard, now realising perhaps how ludicrous such a statement is you give me more information, are you cracked, do you really care so much about this game of words you are playing, is it more important than this mission? You just cannot resist this can you Mordred. You must feel yourself superior, you must have greater knowledge, so much so that you'd leave out vital intelligence, until I draw the flaws into the open that is. Fool!
Oh well. On with things, see how he reacts now. Will he realise I see his intent?
I grinned and shook my head slightly, not particularly amused, my mood more sardonic.
"Additional information is forthcoming! Good, strangely I am relieved that they are not so lackadaisical in their approach as it first appeared, and by the way I had meant our second force to be 'stationed' in a rough ring about the building to pick off any escapers, snipers if you will."
I paused for moment then went on, my expression now totally serious. Let us compromise, draw up a sensible plan, and see his reaction. Will he see that the attack force is superfluous, or could be so?
"Very well, in general terms then our plan is to enter with a force of twenty men under cover of your first spell, a second force will follow and will provide a screen designed to prevent any attempts at going for aid. Once inside our men mingle with the rebels until such time as they, and we two, are ready to launch our attack on the leaders. The two of us will then attempt to enter the meeting under cover of your second spell, and either kill or capture the rebel leaders themselves, probably the former, meanwhile our boys will lay into the rebels within the common area and attempt to take them out as quickly as possible. Does that scan so far?"
Mordred answered immediately, no indication that he'd spotted my exasperation was evident though.
"Yes. It seems about all we can do, until we get inside and learn more of the situation. As I said, I can ensure that both your diversionary force and our own backup perimeter guard can be 'notified' when it is the proper time to act."
I nodded and smiled slightly. A quite difficult performance for me since I was on the verge of lashing out at the damned guttersnipe, only the fact that we'd been thrust together on order of Benedict prevented me from losing patience with his attitude. No, this would not be a happy association. Even so when I spoke I played fair with him and asked questions which needed answering.
"Very good. That brings me to some additional points. You've said the mission is scheduled for tomorrow night. What time do we expect the rebel leaders to arrive? Obviously we'll need to be [I]in situ[/I] prior to this time, probably at least thirty minutes to an hour beforehand, as such is there a definite time for their arrival or could we be forced to 'mingle' for several hours waiting for them to turn up? Lastly, how will we know when the leaders have indeed arrived? I'm assuming that they won't announce their presence."
Mordred would likely see the last comment as a sarcastic jibe, so I decided to telegraph my intent by smiling, if he had any sense at all he should see that I had not meant it to be inflammatory in any way.
Mordred's manner remained business-like or relatively so. He could almost have masqueraded as a soldier. His response was somewhat patronising however and worrying to boot.
"This is the heart of the matter. We do not, cannot know if they are all there, when they arrive, or anything else about their movements. All we have is the information gathered by those Benedict has set to do so in preparation for this effort. I am of a mind to wait as long as possible before what we believe to be the appointed time, before entering into the building, but would welcome your thoughts upon this."
Interesting, if so then perhaps he wasn't holding back information, merely pretending to be sure of what information he had, and this information is now Benedict's! Why the change of tack now? I banished my smile and nodded before replying. Time for some specifics, please tell me you know the answers Mordred! And will you have any other arcane abilities at your disposal apart from these possibly effective spells? I spoke.
"Not an easy task. Do we have an approximate time for the meeting? A rough estimate is better than nothing, are we talking 10 PM-midnight, 2 AM-4 AM or whatever. I don't think we can expect our soldiers, even soldiers so highly trained as the Cobras to sit amongst enemies for hours on end, they aren't trained in espionage after all... One other thought, once we are in the building, and have identified the meeting room, is there any arcane means by which you or one of your colleagues can keep the meeting room under surveillance in any way? Since we don't know how or when the rebel leaders will arrive I can't really see any mundane method of verifying that they have."
Mordred answered, nodding he spoke.
"To the best of my knowledge, it is expected to go down about 10:00 pm. We could wait until say - 11:00 to make our move, but not much longer after that I'd say - lest they wrap things up quickly. Unfortunately, I do not have any means of surveying the room in question, without first getting in there myself, and then spending a good bit of time setting something up. We are simply going to have to trust what we do have on this one I am afraid."
Good, some facts, and some honesty. Why didn't you start out like this you damn fool? So I nodded in turn and flashed him a brief smile as I answered.
"Fair enough, worth asking though. I'd suggest we try and get into position by 9 to 9:30, that should allow plenty of time for recon and any preparation you need for your magical operations... Now, about getting the rebel leaders out."
A problem right enough, I saw in my minds eye three bound and gagged miscreants struggling whilst we escorted them through a war zone, they metamorphosised into three corpses that were then carried out under the rebel's noses. I paused, amused by the images, I grinned before I spoke. Let's broach the idea of Trumping out.
"It doesn't matter if they are alive or dead they will be a burden, walking or stiff. To that end, I have a suggestion as to means of removing them from the combat zone. I can use a Trump, contact a family member possibly Benedict and thereby create a means of exit which as far as I'm aware cannot be intercepted. I'm unsure about this since I've never tried it, but the Trumps might also provide a means of exit for the men with us. What do you think?"
Mordred merely answered blandly, agreeing with my suggestion, annoyed he'd not thought of it perhaps.
"This all sounds fine. As to your exit strategy, should we have need to get out and no other option that would be most welcome. From what I know of Trumps it should be quite effective."
In response I inclined my head in recognition of Mordred's words and went on. This is the crux of things Mordred, hear me and hear me well!
"Just so you know, I have no intention of leaving anyone behind if I can help it. I'm especially loath to waste men as valuable as the Cobras... Out of interest, if you were to sum things up in a sentence or two, how would you define the role of the assault force?"
I was very interested in hearing this answer.
"Absolutely, we should get out as many as possible, as even the most sorely wounded I may be able to offer magical assistance and healing. Their role? Get in, do the job, get out. Least mess, least fuss. If nobody in the area even knows what has happened within the building, I am all the more pleased. The only reason for the emphasis on possible back-up forces and so on is that I tend to plan for the worst. Their plan of attack? Go in, be ready for anything, and adapt. It is the only plan that ever works, for it allows the possibility of anything happening."
So he would mouth the appropriate sentiments, nothing definite mind you, 'as many as possible' could mean all of them or none at all. Even so he'd placed the noose about his own neck, fool that he was. He looked at me as though expecting comments. I just nodded and smiled as I responded. I could have reminded him that I was the first one to even mention backup forces but why spoil a good argument with facts.
"Good, then we understand one another. I realise that this is a case of playing things by ear to some extent, but I wouldn't like to go in with no expectation of anyone but you and myself coming out alive. Obviously the more I know the better, guess work, even very well informed guess work makes me nervous."
Bear that in mind my friend, I am well aware that that is your plan, but I will prevent it if I can. Enough thought I, time to leave and prepare things. I stood, gods I felt drained. Sleep! I must sleep soon. I paused, looking across at Mordred, the final question. What Guild artefacts do the rebels have other than explosives? I asked him, pure and simple, no way I could know so no loss of face for me.
"One thing, do we have any information on Guild technology other than explosives the rebels might have access to? I wouldn't like us to fall foul of an ambush, or a building loaded with booby traps or suchlike!"
Ignoring my final qualifier, Mordred answered simply.
"This worries me greatly as well. I have nothing to say that can ameliorate the matter though. I have only heard what you have - that they may very well have some sort of guild Devices."
He at least had the decency to admit he didn't know. I've got to admit I really wished he had more information, this was one area where I wouldn't have minded him knowing more and showing off. At this point Mordred stood, we were both ready to leave it seemed. This would not be a good experience I felt, not good at all. I shook my head slightly and spoke.
"A pity, but then you've done well to find out about the meeting at all. Unless there is anything else to say at this point I am happy to be off to begin preparations."
The first statement was for his benefit, and could even have been true. The second was a fact.