He could have Lehnduhn the Kleesahk retrace his way back up the forward slope to the riflepit and there either slay or incapacitate Counter Tremain, the Ganik; then man the wall engines and the six larger ones positioned just inside the forward wall, load them with oil pots and pitchballs and loose at a high angle designed to drop them directly at the base of the slope, possibly accompanied by a few volleys of fire arrows for insurance that there would be fires and casualties, as well.
But careful as these Skohshuns seemed to be in most other matters, he reflected, they were certain-sure to have made some provisions against this kind of attack on their cliffside site. Moreover, there was a slight overhang of rock down there, and a seepage pool of water beneath it, as he recalled—ill-smelling water, true, unpalatable to either man or beast, but wet enough to help retard fires, nonetheless, were there men still about who had the time and ability to so use it.
Of course, he could send a number of the Kleesahks down by night—despite their height and size, they could move as silently as cats and, also like cats, they could see well in almost no light at all—to set the devices afire, but these Kleesahks, because of their size, strength and other talents, were too valuable a resource to encourage Bili to risk them on so chancy a venture. Now if all of them were capable of the mindcloudings that Pah-Elmuh, Oodehn and some few others of the strange hominids had mastered ... but then, if warhorses had wings warfare would be fought significantly differently.
Dismissing most of the officers and nobles still at table, the Thoheeks and Chief of Morguhn began to plan the sortie that he would lead out of the mountain fortress in a few hours. He would need men and women upon whom he knew he could depend in a pinch, yet he also could not, dared not, take all of these, and for various reasons there were certain individuals who had to be stricken from the list, automatically.
The Freefighter officers, Captain Fil Tyluh and Acting Captain Frehd Brakit, could not be spared from the garrison under any but the most extreme circumstances, for they were the most experienced—indeed, the only truly and long experienced—siege engineers in the city. It was likewise out of the question to risk the loss of Pah-Elmuh and his Kleesahk surgical and medical assistants. And most of the members of Bili’s staff were too important to the ongoing defense to chance losing them in the course of a risky and highly dangerous, though very necessary, midnight sally forth against opposition of unknown quality and quantity.
This would tend to strike Lieutenant Kahndoot, the very levelheaded and most competent of the Moon Maidens, Vlahkos Kahmruhn of Skaht, Mikos of Eeahnopolis, Hornman Gy Ynstyn, Sir Yoo Folsom and old Vahrtahn Panosyuhn, the Ahrmehnee, and of course Rahksahnah, who was giving suck to their twin infants.
“Hmmm,” he pondered. “This is going to take more than a mere couple of hours of thought, so it might be better to plan it all for tomorrow night. It didn’t appear that those Skohshuns had enough materials to finish those other two immediately, so we should have at least that little amount of time yet to go.”
Shoving it all into a corner of his mind, he beamed a farcall to Kahndoot on the forward wall. “How many of our special troops has that tame Ganik of ours shot, so far, little sister?”
Her return mindspeak came: “So many that we’re almost out of sawdust to stuff them afresh, Bili. Those projectiles his thing throws burst with enough force to near’ tear the heads off these dummies, or to rip huge, well-nigh unrepairable holes in the fabric if they chance to strike farther down.
“Moreover, one of the Maidens who was holding up a dummy, earlier this morning, had a tiny bit of what looks like lead driven completely through her left cheek and into her tongue. She was far from pleased by the happenstance, has been heard to say some rather uncomplimentary things about this plan of yours and about you, personally, big brother—mostly some speculations upon your ancestry, appearance, daily habits and preferences, general level of intelligence and suchlike.”
Bili chuckled to himself and beamed, “And does my little sister agree with this aggrieved Maiden?”
“In some of her observations, oversized brother,” Kahndoot replied, “but not in all, not in all. However, I would like to know how much longer we are going to play this game with that Ganik yonder.”
“The remainder of this day and all of tomorrow, Kahndoot. After that, you have my permission to drop a few hundred-pound pebbles on him, quill him with arrows, pepper him with slingstones or whatever you wish. So send for some more sawdust and canvas, and tell those who support these dummies to either not stand so close or to borrow a helm with both visor and beaver. If there are none easily available, have a few fetched from the keep armory.”
“How many rounds, Counter?” growled Erica Arenstein in a rage. “Twenty-seven, you say? Dammit, you fool, that’s more than a quarter of our entire remaining stock of ammunition! And how many of those were clean misses? Hell, I knew I should have sent Horseface Charley back up, that or gone myself. At least he and I can hit what we aim at with consistency.”
“Wal dang it, I hits ’em, too, Ehrkah!” Counter asserted heatedly. “I swan, I seen ever man jack of them Kuhmbuhnuhs go down, evun heerd one the bugguhs scream oncet, kinda real garglylike scream, too.”
Erica reflected on that. She had never before known Counter to lie to her, so he should not be starting now. But if only three shots from Horseface had kept the Kuhmbuhluhner garrison down off the walls and towers all of the day before yesterday, why should Counter Tremain have to shoot more than a score of them yesterday? Unless ... unless they had begun to suspect that something was going on below that bluff.
But when she broached her suspicions to Brigadier Maklarin, suggesting that the work be expedited, he just shook his snowy head. “Doctor, there is no way to do it faster. We own a limited number of artisans, for the one thing; for another, latticework of the strength and quantity we require is not quickly woven. This is Tuesday; the attack date chosen is this Friday. If they have not already found us out, I doubt that they will within the next two days.
“No, my dear doctor, just give each of your riflemen one more tour of duty up there, then you all will be free to go south or wherever you wish with my blessing and that of all the Skohshun nation.”
“I cannot truly attest that he is improving in any way, Lord Champion,” said Pah-Elmuh, “for still I cannot contact any portion of his mind, I only can report of observations. For one thing, he no longer seems to be losing flesh as he did for so long. For another, I am certain that his body must move itself at times when I am not there or not awake to see it done, for his muscles now seem to have regained a bit of tone, and twice now I have returned from nighttime errands or calls to find him in different positions on his couch and with his coverlets all disarrayed or even thrown from off him. This all bends me to the belief that King Byruhn may yet recover of his injuries and reign on the throne of his fathers.”
The Kleesahk had been mindspeaking, but Bili’s grunted reply was spoken aloud. “The sooner the better, say I, Pah-Elmuh. It can’t be soon enough for me. I like not this extra work piled upon me, willy-nilly. New Kuhmbuhluhn, New Kuhmbuhluhnburk and New Kuhmbuhluhners should all be ruled over by one of their own, and I give you fair warning, when once the siege is broken and these damned Skohshuns hied back to their northern glen, Chief Bili of Morguhn is gone, too, whether or no King Byruhn be recovered. Let the royal council elect a New Kuhmbuhluhn nobleman to be regent ... or the new king. I, my wife, my children, my stallion and all my condotta who wish to do so will be headed first for Sandee’s Cot, then east, toward our various homelands. I have seen me enough mountains to last a lifetime long, or more.”