The Call of Crows

Chapter 45: Encroaching Despair

Bjorn stood before all the rebels and civilians who stayed at the University of Koinelia.

Since the destruction of the North bridge, more rebels had come. Katla and her warriors were being held in the city along with other merchants, so she had also joined up with them. Bjorn hadn't been upset, but he was still uncomfortable around the Northwoman.

The Emperor had made a declaration that he would not fight the Twelve and instead try to cooperate with them, which sent several hundred of his Praetorian guard into the arms of the uprising. While the guard was a few thousand at first, they took extreme losses at the hands of the Bane Knights when they tried to fight their way in.

"Alright." He projected her voice. "I know what you're all thinking. One of our exits is down. The others are swarming with Bane Knights. We're running out of food and our biggest source of water was poisoned. It's clear we can't stay here anymore. So I have come up with a solution. I want your thoughts."

He stuck a roll of parchment into a wooden wall with two knives. It was a map of the city.

"The gates aren't an option." Bjorn said, "Nikan guards man each one and I have no doubt they'll be able to easily get reinforcements to each of them. But there is one defense that's shaky. That's the naval blockade just outside the harbor. They've been out there for three weeks now. Eventually, those ships are going to have to come into the harbor to resupply. When they do, we strike. We light up whatever artillery and explosives they have and destroy the ships. We can hijack whatever merchant ships and personal vessels are docked and make an escape to anywhere in the Mesogeonian."

"Bjorn!"

He glanced up from the gathered rebels to a young man who had rushed into the campus gardens.

"What is it?" he asked.

"There's a Qahtanad man here who claims to be a friend of yours. Calls himself Najeem."

Bjorn blinked, "Who?"

His chest fluttered with elation. Bjorn hadn't known whether the Koini army had been defeated and if their allies were alive. If even one was still living, that tipped the scales in their favor.

"Let him in." Bjorn said.

The young man ran from the gardens and reappeared with a Qahtanad man clad in black with a scimitar at his hip in tow.

Bjorn made his way through the crowd of rebels to meet with Najeem.

"Gods and Demons. I thought you all were dead." Bjorn sighed with relief, "It's good to see you."

Najeem nodded. "Same here. But no need to worry. We're all alive. Ruhak, Orhan, Cecile and Peng stayed behind to help the army. The rest of us are coming with a legion to make this a proper fight."

"A whole Legion?" Bjorn asked. "How are you going to get into the city?"

"That's why I came ahead. We need one gate to be opened and unattended. So we need you guys to cause a distraction big enough to draw most of the soldiers guarding the gates." Najeem said.

Bjorn nodded, "Well...we were going to destroy the blockade on the outside of the harbor. But I wouldn't bet on that drawing too many reinforcements." Bjorn perked up. "You know what would draw a lot of attention? Hijacking the blockade."

"If we just destroy the ships, sure they won't have defenses in the harbor. But if we capture their ships and use them as our own, not only does that give us infinitely more strategic possibilities, but they would see it as a humiliation."

Najeem nodded, "Excellent. Is Taya going to help?"

Bjorn's smile fell from his face, "Er...no. She's...she's sick."