Donkeyskin - ON HOLD

Of Strategies

*Of Strategies*

 To Elodie's delight, Alex stayed with her in the library as she told him what she'd learned from The History of War. When she'd finished summarizing the parts she'd read, he sent a servant for breakfast, and, together, they finished the book, Elodie reading aloud to her husband as they enjoyed tea, hot pastries and fresh fruit by the library fire. Outside the massive windows along the far side of the library that Elodie had failed to notice the night before, the day was wet and miserable, and the pleasant spring weather of a few days earlier now inconceivable given the rainstorm that raged beyond the glass.

"'Siege warfare is a particularly ineffective and risky form of combat,'" Elodie read out. "'Yet it is often the first resort of most war leaders. It demoralizes troops and noncombatants alike, and, in the case of conquest and expansion, it is particularly inadvisable. Conquerors who begin their rule by demoralizing the conquered often sow resentment among a people, and sieges precede even the actual conquest. A people will not thank a war leader for starving them out, no more than troops will for miserable months spent doing very little.

"'It is preferable to take a city or walled area swiftly through the element of surprise...' and," Elodie added, "Not pillage, rape or otherwise engage civilians who do not take up arms. '...and a siege should be used only as a last result.'"

"Plus," Alex postulated, rolling a strawberry between his fingers. "Armies carrying siege weapons move more slowly and are more vulnerable to ambush than armies that are primarily cavalry and thus lighter and move more quickly."

Elodie murmured her agreement and read on. When they finished the book, a few chapters later, together they dragged a heavy table to the center of the room. Alex located a map of the south of North Avalon, from the Three Borders region in the mountains to the capital of Northmoor, Norhaven.

They cross-referenced the concepts put forth by The History of War with the geography of the area as it was described in another of the books Elodie had chosen, The Geography of the Three Borders Area, and used pins to mark out important locations–red for North Avalon's capital and its military forts, blue for South Avalon's, and white for Northmoor's.

Alex somehow produced little colored stones, as well, that they used to designate armies. Yellow for infantry, green for cavalry, purple for anything else. Elodie used the colored wax they'd used for the pinheads and added a strip of each to the pebbles, so a green stone with white wax was for a unit of Northmoor's cavalry, and so on.

When they'd finished, Elodie and Alex stepped back to admire their handiwork. What they had before them was a small scale replica of an attack on Norhaven and North Avalon's castle. Alex smiled grimly and gave Elodie's hand a squeeze. "What say we get a second opinion on this?"

Elodie leaned her head on his shoulder. "Let's," she agreed.

Alex disentangled himself, dropping a kiss onto Elodie's forehead, and walked over to the doors. He flagged down a runner and drew the little girl aside. "I need you to summon the war council to the library now," he said, handing the girl a coin. "And tell the kitchen to send up tea for us, please."

The girl curtsied shyly. "Yes, Your Highness," she said, tucking the coin into her belt purse, and scampered off.

While Alex had sent for everyone, Elodie had neatly stacked the books at the foot of the table in case anyone wanted to reference them, and had procured a chalk board from the corner of the library, upon which she listed, roughly, the strategy she and Alex had come up with. Dusting off her hands, she gave everything one last cursory glance, just to make sure they hadn't made any mistakes, then came around the table to join Alex.