The End of Summer 2405: What Plans Lie in Ruins?

Another Excerpt from Bonacorso Fidelibus’s Work: The Many Wars of the Early 25th Century

In the far north, the massive ratmen army that had travelled in Spring by way of the road from Ravola to Miragliano, was followed several months later by a force consisting of Tettoverde elves and Karak Borgo dwarfs. The former carried beautifully carved long-bows and elegant swords, some marching in close step, while other, wilder souls strode more nimbly …

… and the the latter hefted heavy, iron handguns of cunning design as well as short, broad-bladed swords and fighting axes.

This unusual alliance was guided by a company of Arrabiatti riders, the Audaci Arciari, making it perhaps one of the strangest alliances forged in Tilea for centuries. Sylvan elves, mountain dwarfs and brigand-outlaws!

As the summer came to an end, the pursuers drew close to the city of Miragliano and made camp. There they wrestled with the decision they now had to make.

Should they, could they, take on the enemy, considering the disparity in numbers and the difficulties presented by the boggy terrain? The commanders were as chalk and cheese, and yet worked in harmony in their efforts to find a way to not only get to grips with the foe but do so in a way which was both victorious and had a real effect on the ratmen’s future plans. Lord Veluthil of the forest elves proved to be a veritable cornucupia of ideas, yet there were such a complexity of ifs and buts to his stratagems, that all seemed to falter in the planning.

Thane Narhak of the mountain dwarfs listened to every proposal, dismissing none either hastily or fully, himself speaking only when his ideas were fully considered, and, to the surprise of his own officers, not once giving the impression of the slightest hint of either impatience or exasperation.

Among their several dscussions they debated what possible reason the ratmen had for occupying the burnt-out ruins of Miragliano. Whatever had lured them across the entire northern reaches of Tilea, travelling openly upon the world’s surface rather than in their secret underpasses, must surely have been of some considerable importance?

While the army pondered its next move, the dwarf’s flying machine and the elven warhawk riders spied upon the city from above …

…hoping to discover the enemy’s intentions, especially if and when they intended to sally out to attack the alliance force nervously camped close by.

Within the ruined city of cracked stone, where barely one shiver of unscorched timber had survived the great incendium sparked by Lord Alessio of Portomaggiore, the ratmen squatted in makeshift huts and hovels, as even more of their own kind, as well as enslaved men, arrived from the north to further swell their numbers.

The poor men-slaves had been taken mainly from the realms of Ravola and Campogrotta, since when they had suffered a miserable imprisonment and uncountable cruelties, so that only the hardiest survived.

Worse still, they had been fed meat and drink laced with the tiniest pinches of powdered sky-stone, a poison which had twisted their bodies yet imbued them with a desperate kind of strength and endurance. Each bore a manacle at his wrist, through which a chain could be run when they camped or slept, so that none could escape. Otherwise, when on the march or fighting, the chain was removed, and their ratmen overseers employed long whips to lash them into obedience …

… driving them this way and that, and, when required, into a crazed, fighting frenzy.

Unlike ratmen slaves, these were armed almost wholly with clubs, as their masters did not trust them with blades, although one or two clubs bore iron barbs, and many more had an iron band at the extremity, to add more punch to their blows in battle.

All the new arrivals were inspected by Lord Cralk, herded before him like cattle might be exhibited to a prospective buyer at a market.

Accompanied by severl of his purple clad bodyguard, Lord Cralk took considerable pleasure in deciding which slaves were satisfactory, and which were inadequate for his needs. The fate of the latter would be a release, of a kind!

Unlike his immediate predecessor in northern Tilea, Lord Urlak, Cralk believed that numbers were of more worth in battle than engines of war; that a horde could more certainly gain victory than Clan Skryre’s creations. Slaves had great use in battle, even manthing slaves – if employed correctly and in sufficient numbers. And there was the added bonus that should they perish, he still had his clanrat regiments to ensure his safety, even in retreat.

It seemed Cralk was keen to account for every slave, to ensure that he had been given exactly what he had paid for, for he clutched a book containing columns of numbers, as if he were more clerk than Grey Seer. Perhaps he could not bring himself to trust an underling to perform such an accounting? More likely, he simply enjoyed the act of reckoning up precisely the power at his disposal!

Several sea-vessels also arrived at Miragliano, the largest of which, indeed the only real ship, was towed by boats into the bay, as its crew had all, bar one, perished from some disease. Cralk was apparently expecting the ship, for he immediately ordered servants to board it. The only survivor, a buccaneering brute, feverishly ranting and raving, and quite unaware of what was happening, was bound in fetters and shackles, to be dragged into the city.

But more important to Cralk was a iron-bound chest found upon the deck. This was lifted onto a litter and carried through the ruined streets to him. The contents were a mystery to the bearers, and even to their overseer.

What lay within, however, was clearly of great significance to the Grey Seer Cralk Bittermaul, for when it was brought to him …

… he inspected it gleefully, then ordered his best warriors to guard it day and night. The nature of that which lay within the chest remained a mystery, but, considering the wicked nature of the ratmen, it could not possibly bode well for Tilea.