Golden Sword

Chapter 14

Keika was almost relieved the next day when she was able to leave on her reconnaissance mission. Not wanting for the press to see any more than they had too, her parting from Eric took place in their room. Dressed in a new black battlesuit, she embraced him and kissed him goodbye. They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment. He bent his head down so that his forehead rested on hers and said, "Be careful. Remember your promise. Come back to me." She smiled up at him. "I will, darling. I will be a very good girl and I'll be back in a few hours. Ok?" He winked, "Ok." One more kiss and she walked out the door. Strange, he thought, before it had always been the man walking out the door with the woman anxiously watching him go. Now he understood how they felt, the empty, sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, thinking about what life would be like without her. Experiencing this end of the parting of a soldier was not something he cared for. He would much rather be the one going into harm's way. Being the husband of Keika Otani was never going to be a normal or boring experience.....but he was okay with that.

Once again flitting through the shadows of her verdant woodlands, she cautiously approached her previous listening position near where the Paradisian road block had been. This time she began to detect enemy soldiers in much greater numbers and deployed on both sides of the road. Listening and watching in infrared, it became clear that they were on high alert. Guards paced everywhere. The enemy knew she was in the area and had probably been the saboteur of the bridge. She was concerned they would be looking for her. They were certainly doing much more to screen the area of their operations than before.

Keika remained near the roadblock for a while, but was unable to gather any useful intelligence from the soldier's discussions so she moved on. Almost immediately she was forced to start dodging Paradisian patrols that were roaming about in the forest. Keeping true to her promise, she took no chances and carefully slipped past the patrols without being detected. Like the spirit of the forest Eric had christened her years ago she sped to the same tree she had used as an observation post on the previous mission and climbed to its summit.

A scan revealed the same blasted, war torn landscape, but Crown Point Castle now flew the enemy flag, and their camp was busy preparing for the coming battle. Soldiers honed and cleaned their weapons and armor. They practiced combat with each other. They didn't, however, appear to be close to moving out to attack. There were huge muscled workers dressed in simple blue work clothes moving in and out of the castle, probably working to repair the damage from the siege. They all moved in an oddly plodding manner. Something was strange about them, but she wasn't quite close enough to get clear look. Workmen weren't that important anyway. They weren't the ones who would come and destroy her people's homes.

After observing for a bit, she dropped out of the tree and proceeded to the area above where the bridge had been. She had done a good job. The bridge was apparently mostly destroyed by the stormy river after she had cut it in half. Workmen and soldiers were feverishly working to reassemble it. She could see that others were building new rafts to replace those lost. There were troops assembled on the far shore with nowhere to go. At the rate they were going it wouldn't take long for them to repair the bridge. It would be back in business in a few days. The workmen appeared very efficient and speedy at their jobs. Once they were finished, the force on this side would be reinforced and they would move out to attack Drumont. She estimated five days before they would be ready. Time to return home.

Dropping out of the tree she turned and bolted into the forest in the direction of Drumont Castle. She covered the distance in about thirty minutes. After a total of only four hours she was back, much to Eric's delight, and briefed the staff on the latest situation. "By my estimation we have at least six more days, perhaps a week before they will be at our gates." She informed them. "It's possible that they will give us more time, but I doubt that it would be any longer than two weeks. We have to make maximum use of the time we have. How are preparations going?" Jack nodded and replied, "The escape tunnel project is nearly completed and ready for your inspection whenever you have the time. We stripped a lot of mattresses from the townsfolk's homes to do this, but I doubt that they will complain much when they are able to return. The construction of the weapons you ordered is moving ahead. All of the wooden parts have been cut out for the first ten units and are now being assembled by our craftsmen. The metal parts are still being forged in the blacksmith shops, but they are hoping to be finished with them today. Ammunition should also be ready soon and, thanks to the local tent maker and a broom manufacturer, will be plentiful. The first unit should be completed and mounted on the high battlements tomorrow." "Excellent....and mattresses, perfect solution Jack, well done." She responded. "At least Drumont Castle has had more time to prepare than Crown Point did. Those bastards are going to pay a very high price to take this place." The staff heartily agreed. Confidence was growing in her officers and soldiers. Other soldiers had shown up at the gates over the past few days, asking to join in the fight. Their numbers now were over three thousand. Every day the enemy delayed, their defense grew stronger.

Two days later a rider arrived with mail andnews. Devin had recovered and was out of the hospital. Some of thestaff from her Legions had arrived in Mercedium with the information that theirunits were on the march. The Mercedian 2nd Army had arrived earlier thanexpected and was being sent to Gantham Lake. At the encampment north ofthe capital the remnants of 1st Army were rapidly being reassembled and wouldsoon be ready to march to the lake with nearly nine thousand men. Thepieces were beginning to fall into place. Originally she had wanted Devinto join her party in the north when he was better, but decided instead that shewanted him to act as the Mercedian liaison with the incoming Otani units. She needed someone to represent her to get the Mercedian and Otani armiescoordinated, working together and into their assigned positions atGantham. As the meeting broke up and they began to exit Jack's office,she asked a guard to have one of her Paladins report to her room.