“Yeah, I was kind of hoping you’d want to do that, soon as possible,” Dram said. He regarded Jaymes cautiously, his eyes hooded and the expression on his face further concealed by his bristling beard. “Anyway, I already ordered them to come up.”
The marshal nodded, leaning down to pick up one of the broken brackets. “Perhaps we should use stronger steel?” he asked, turning the shard over and over in his hand.
“ More of it, certainly,” Dram said. “Thicker bands and twice as many. But that’s Kaolyn alloy-you won’t find a stronger metal anywhere on Krynn. And the lumber we used came from ironwoods, so that can’t be improved on.”
“The only solution is to make it bigger, then?”
“Bigger and heavier, aye,” the dwarf acknowledged. “This one weighed a bloody three tons, so Reorx only knows how big the next one will have to be to avoid”-his eyes took in Sulfie, still sifting through the wreckage-“accidents.”
“Maybe we-” Jaymes stopped suddenly and spun on his heels. His eyes narrowed as he studied the shadowy doorway to the long warehouse where the logs were stored.
“What is it?” Dram asked. He followed the direction of the marshal’s gaze and huffed as brightness flashed within the dark shadows. “Humpf! I mighta guessed,” the dwarf said sourly, addressing Jaymes. “But how did you know she was going to pop into sight all of a sudden?”
“I got a feeling,” the lord marshal said with a shrug.
A mist of sparks whirled momentarily in the shadows of the doorway, and the White Witch was standing there. Her alabaster robe reflected the dim light with the purity and luminance of a sunlit glacier. Her long dark hair was unbound, flowing around her shoulders, the dark strands still a little brittle from the lingering effects of her teleport magic. Her lips, usually so full and warm against the gentle oval of her face, were drawn into a tight line of concern.
She stalked toward them. The hem of her robe occasionally brushed the scorched, sooty ground, but somehow the white material stayed perfectly clean. Sulfie was gaping at the wizard in awe, her troubles momentarily forgotten, while Dram edged forward to stand next to Jaymes. Coryn was still twenty paces away when she began speaking angrily.
“You must get back to your army right away,” she declared. “There has been a development.”
In blunt terms she described the attack of the monstrous elemental king, the damage wrought, and the danger created by the breach in the city’s defenses. “I fear that if you don’t counterattack at once, it will be too late. Even with all haste, I am afraid.”
If Jaymes was dismayed or upset by the news, his voice showed no emotion other than agreement and determination. “I presume you have the means to move me swiftly, without a horse, sparing me a four-day ride across the plains?”
She nodded.
“Very well.” The marshal motioned to the dwarf, who grabbed his arm as he turned to go.
“I’m coming too,” Dram said. “I mean, take me with you! You need me!”
Jaymes turned back to Dram and Sulfie. “No. I badly need you, it’s true, but not on the battlefield. There is no time now. You are going to have to move the Compound. I want you to pack up the workers, the raw materials, everything. Buy every wagon you have to-that probably means every wagon in the west of Solamnia. Head east. I want to set up operations in the shadow of the Garnet Range, as near to Solanthus as possible.”
“But… we… we can’t just move the whole Compound!” Dram spluttered. “Everybody lives here! All the dwarves of Meadstone are here. And the logging-”
“Dwarves can move, the same as buildings. Remind your workers they’re being well paid and will continue to be well paid. As to the logging, you can set up lumber camps in the Garnet Mountains just as easily as the Vingaard range. And you were telling me the steel comes from Kaolyn. This will put you that much closer to the alloy.”
“No, it’s crazy,” Dram persisted, shaking his head. “I don’t see how it can be done. And there’s Sally, and Swig. I mean, they’ll have objections-”
“I want this done,” Jaymes said coldly. “I want it done without delay. Sally and Swig can come along, or they can stay here and wait for you to return. But I need you and your operations, I need the black powder, and I need the Compound to be closer to the action. Now, I want your promise to get going on this-right away!”
“All right, all right.” Dram’s voice was an angry growl, and his eyes all but flashed sparks as they shifted from the marshal to Coryn.
Sulfie had watched the exchange, her eyes wide, still moist with tears. Now she spoke hesitantly. “But… what about… what about Pete’s ring? It’s out there somewhere!” She sniffled plaintively as she swept her hand across the blackened circle of soot, the wide scars from the previous day’s explosion.
Coryn looked at the black swath as if seeing it for the first time then turned toward Jaymes and raised her eyebrows reprovingly.
“An experiment that failed,” he said curtly.
“And we will take the time to comb the wreckage,” Dram said bluntly. He rested a hand on Sulfie’s shoulder. “We’ll find your brother’s ring. And we’ll give him a hero’s wake.” The dwarf lifted his head and looked at Jaymes with a challenging glare. “That’s the least we can do here. And after that, then we’ll get ready to pick up and move.”
The warrior regarded his old friend for a moment then nodded. “I’m sorry about your brother,” he said to Sulfie with unusual feeling before turning back to Coryn.
“Take me back to the army,” he said.
“We’re going to force the river crossing at every ford, first thing tomorrow morning,” Jaymes informed his generals after startling them at their breakfast with his teleported arrival. Coryn had appeared with him, but-knowing her presence made the knight commanders uneasy-she swiftly withdrew to a small tent to “tidy up.” The marshal wasted no time in issuing his orders and putting his generals on alert.
“It will mean an all-night march to get the men in position,” Markus warned. “At least, if you want to cover more than ten or twelve miles of river. And then we’ll be attacking with exhausted troops.”
“There’s nothing that can be done about that. And I do mean to cover much of the river, stretching Ankhar so thin he can’t hope to hold us everywhere. I want an attack at every crossing spreading over twenty-five miles in two directions-in effect, a fifty-mile front. General Dayr, you take the north flank. You’ll have to cross by boat, since there are no suitable fords there. It’s imperative you get started under the cover of darkness-that means I’d like to see you get moving less than twenty-four hours from now.”
“Yes, my lord,” Dayr replied grimly. “Should I get the boat companies on the march immediately?”
“Yes, do so.” As the general of the Crown Knights hastened to give the necessary orders to his subordinates, Jaymes turned to the other two wing commanders. “Have any of the bridging companies arrived from Palanthas?”
“The first came in just this afternoon,” Markus replied. “I understand there are two more on the way, but they still must be several days out.”
Jaymes nodded, thinking. “General Rankin, you will command the middle. There are three fords that should be passable. Make simultaneous attacks at each, and try to force a bridgehead on the east bank.
“And Markus, you will take the south wing. There is one ford I believe you can use, but I want you to supervise the bridging company as well-post it north of the ford, where they won’t be expecting us to cross.” The first bridging company was a unit of the lord marshal’s own invention, a wagon train of pontoon boats and plank sections. They had practiced extending a temporary span across a wide river and had met with considerable success, but the tactic had never before been attempted in a combat situation. “Make your attack at the ford first, and see if you can take them by surprise with your bridge. I will see if I can get you some kind of concealment for your activity.”