Golden Sails, Part 2

gryphon
Universe Factory
Published in
10 min readDec 18, 2017

This is the second part of a five-part story. The first part is here, the third part is here, the fourth part is here, and the fifth part is coming soon!

This is one of a set of stories exploring the fictional world of Quenaunor. The previous story is here, and the first story is here.

Stanor slid smoothly to his knees before the ancient dwarf, who smiled, as if amused. The guards followed him, looking respectfully downwards.

Stanor looked up and said: “I need a bit of help, if you don’t mind.”

The dwarf nodded slowly, responding: “I thought you might. My idiot of a nephew is sitting on his rear while we lose ships and elves sneak in behind our lines. I already went and talked to him, and he made it abundantly clear that he is not going to give us any ships. So it looks like it is just me and you.”

“How many friends do you still have?” asked Stanor as he rose to his feet.

“A few,” replied the dwarf, “but not enough to outfit us with any kind of navy. I could probably get us a few warships, but not more than half a dozen.”

Stanor said: “I can get another dozen. I will just say that I need them to protect ships going down to Ragarat for glasswork. Which is true, it is not safe to be a merchant ship down there without protection.”

One of Stanor’s guards finally found his voice. “Urmat¹,” he gasped in surprise.

1: Urmat is a respectful form of address for a member of the dwarven royal family. Similar to “Your Highness” in English, but applies to any member of the royal family.

“Ah, so someone recognizes me,” the old dwarf chuckled, “You are correct in your identification, I am Gasord, the uncle of the current idiot who happens to rest his bottom on the throne.”

Both of the guards looked aghast at the disrespect that Gasord showed for the king, his nephew. Stanor was unfazed, however, and said: “Gasord, focus please. We can raise at least eighteen warships between us. That will not be close to enough to make a significant difference in the way the naval war is going. We need more ships or a better plan.”

“And you thought we were just going to go attack the elven fleet with eighteen warships, did you? I am not exceptionally interested in suicide, personally. No, we have no chance at defeating them in combat. If we had twice as many ships, perhaps we could work at destroying smaller groups, as our force would be unlikely to sustain significant damage in a given attack, but even with as many ships as we can acquire, we will still outnumber even the smallest elven naval group by a mere two to one ratio. No, we will not attack them head-on.”

“So how, precisely, are you proposing we do attack. Remember, two-thirds of the ships we are talking about will be mine. I would rather like to know what use they will be put to.”

“Come now, I thought I taught you better than that. We spent weeks on military strategy; you must remember some of it. You should be able to tell me exactly what I intend to do.”

“I am afraid I must disappoint you. I have absolutely no idea what your brilliant plan is,” replied Stanor.

“Let us review what I taught you. What is the primary factor in winning a large-scale war?”

“I remember that. Logistics. However, in a naval battle, the enemy does not typically send out supply ships, preferring to return to port to resupply, so harrying the opponent’s supply lines, as the obvious strategy would be in a land war with a similar force discrepancy, is impossible.”

“It is hopeless, I see. I shall never get you to think intelligently. You have come as close to stating precisely what we must do as it is possible to do, without saying it. Let us review what you have said. How does the opponent resupply his ships?

“By returning to port, as I already stated. There are no supply lines to attack.”

“How is it that you do not see? You have just contradicted yourself by saying that the enemy has no supply lines. The enemy supply lines are obvious. We must attack the supply lines that you have just pointed out, the ports that they rely on for resupply. If we can force them to sail significant distances to acquire new supplies, we can remove a similarly significant portion of their naval forces from the battlefield. Any time that the elves must spend returning to port is time that they cannot spend fighting. We must increase the time, and by extension distance, that the elves require to resupply, or we will lose the naval war, which will doom us entirely.”

Stanor laughed, almost derisively. “I think your brains are turning to mush in your old age, Gasord. We would be almost as likely to win a battle against the entire elven fleet as we are to take a single elven port. Even if, by some miracle, we managed to take one, how would we hold it? It would be resupplying ships again within two weeks. I am afraid that your bold, brilliant plan is somewhat faulty.”

“It would be if an attack with eighteen warships was all I intended to throw at whichever elven city we decide to attack. How many ships do you have, exactly?”

“How many merchant ships, you mean? They will not be of any help at all, I’m afraid. They have absolutely no weapons.”

“I did not ask whether they had weapons. I’ve known that Aghrad does not have any armed ships since before you were born. How many do you have? You people do not give out that information very freely, Keergard knows why, so I have not managed to find out yet, but I need to know exactly what forces we can muster. How many ships, exactly, do you have, and how many of them, exactly, could you spare for a few weeks?”

“Very well. They will be completely useless, but I have precisely two hundred and eleven merchant ships. We first passed two hundred six years ago, which I am rather proud of. Of those, I could probably spare thirty for a few weeks, although explaining what they were used for during that period might be difficult. Twenty ships at the very least, as long as none are damaged.”

“Twenty should be quite sufficient for my purposes. Now, use what small smattering of intelligence I managed to drive into your brain. Why would I need twenty merchant ships?”

“Obviously, to move something from one place to another. I fail to see what you intend to move with them. Any siege of any elven city would be doomed to failure, so it can’t be siege equipment. I honestly have no idea,” responded Stanor.

“Apparently the sea air in that city of yours must have stolen what little ability I gave you. I intend to load them up with as many fighting men as I can borrow, find, collect as a favor, steal, and otherwise acquire, load them up into merchant ships, land them near, but not in sight of, an enemy port, hijack enough fishing boats to get a reasonable force into the harbor in secret, and then have them open the gate while I quick march the rest of my force to the city. Then we’ll simply march through the gate, unopposed. The weakest area of a port is always the dockside because port cities always think that an attack by sea will result in a slaughtering field on the shore. They’re correct, which is why we will be using surprise to our advantage.”

“That’s, to put it bluntly, quite brilliant, but also very risky. If your plan fails, we will almost certainly lose a large number of troops without gaining anything.”

“Don’t be foolish. When was the last time one of my plans failed?”

“Three years ago, the attack on Gador². It failed miserably,” countered Stanor.

2: Gador is a small elven city near the front. Three years before the events of this story, a large attack on the city failed due to unforeseen reinforcements from the north. The commander was blamed for not including the impact of possible northern reinforcements in his plans.

“And in what way was that my plan?”

“Come, now, have some recognition of my abilities. It is common knowledge that Ghorn, who commanded, was one of your proteges.”

“Unfortunately, my proteges are not me,” interjected Gasord.

“Didn’t I ask you to have some recognition of my abilities? I also know that Ghorn came to see you a mere four days before the attack began, and, because I know you, and have an appreciation for your abilities, you would have discussed the attack with him. And, because I know Ghorn, I know he would not have gone ahead with the attack unless you approved. In fact, I would say that he probably saw you specifically to ask you about the attack. Therefore, you agreed with him, and, knowing you, you also made some modifications to his plan, making it your plan as well as his, and the attack proceeded to fail, quite badly actually. Therefore, your plan failed. So, the last time one of your plans failed was three years ago.”

“Quite elegantly done, I must say. Who, precisely, told you that Ghorn came to see me before the attack?”

“I’m afraid I can’t reveal that information. Mostly because I prefer him still working for you, where he can continue to tell me those lovely tidbits of information.”

“Well, one failure in three years isn’t too shabby. I’m willing to chance it, if you are.”

“Very well. It will take me around a half a year to get the ships built, so, shall we meet in Kaegharm in half a year? I’ll be expecting six warships and enough men to fill fifteen merchant holds, at the least. Ensure that you get them.”

“I’ll have them. It’ll take calling in quite a few favors, but I’ll get them somehow. Now, the next thing we must decide is which port we will attack. I’m inclined towards Sanorm³, but as you’ll be providing the transports and the majority of the warships, I’ll let you choose.”

“I’d prefer Kalmorn³, myself. It is surrounded by richer areas, and I must, of course, always think of increasing Aghrad’s wealth. The elves will not be destroyed and the end times will not come until he has enough wealth,” replied Stanor, folding his hands the way dwarven priests often did while lecturing, with the outside thumbs tucked in, the fingers straight, and the inside thumbs sticking straight out at right angles to the fingers.

3: Sanorm and Kalmorn are both medium-sized elven port cities near the border. The two ports, along with Kardorm, supply the majority of the elven fleet in the north.

“You may cease your pieties, I’ve heard quite enough of them. The elves will be destroyed when we destroy them, and no sooner. We will take Kalmorn, as you wish, although it is not quite as essential to the elven navy. I suppose the raiding ships you’ll send out will make up for that, however, whatever they may do for the wealth of Aghrad. I suppose you can show yourself out.”

“Of course.”

Stanor turned quickly and walked out the door and through the hallway back the way they had came, pausing once again at the door. This time, when he pushed buttons hidden in the door, the guards were able to see the torches retract into hidden chambers inside the wall, where they would be extinguished by the stale air inside the almost sealed chamber, ready to be lit again by some unknown mechanism when the door was locked once again. Stanor ushered the guards out, manipulated a different set of levers from previously, using all eight of his fingers, in addition to his four thumbs, and quickly stepped out, shutting the door behind him. The “thunk” they had heard earlier sounded again almost immediately, indicating that the door had locked.

The guards had not realized how short a time the meeting had taken. The sun was just now reaching its highest point in the sky. The meeting had seemed to take far longer than it actually had. Stanor quickly began walking back the way they had come, and his guards had to jog to catch up, an action that looked extremely undignified in the robes they wore as priests of Aghrad, and something they would never have done if they had not been charged with protecting Stanor. Stanor hurried through the streets, leaving the back alleys and taking to the busy streets. He went quickly enough that, by the time the sun was setting, the three were already almost one quarter of the way back to Kaegharm.

The first thing he did upon his return to the city was commission a dozen warships. He was lucky that it had been only a quarter of a year since his last yearly report to Aghrad’s high priest, so he wouldn’t have to submit another major explanation of his actions until after the attack on Kalorm, which, if successful, would pay for ten times as many warships as he was building. If they could take it, they would be able to launch and resupply their own ships from it. It would then become a thorn in their enemy’s side, a dwarven stronghold in the elven rear. The elves would be unable to move forward in the naval war when they could be attacked from behind at any moment. Stanor knew that it would be nearly impossible to keep Kalorm forever, but the respite provided by the threat the city posed would buy the dwarven fleet enough time to resist the next attack. And, most positive of all for Stanor, Kalorm would give him a place to resupply his trading vessels, and a place where he could send raiding ships to elven shorelines. And, in thanks for the great assistance that Stanor would be giving to the war effort, the king might possibly make a large donation to Aghrad, which would be credited under his name. This could easily prove to be an extremely profitable venture for him.

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gryphon
Universe Factory

Hello! I enjoy working on a number of worlds I’ve come up with, and hope to share some of them with you here.