DD Tag Along

Chapter 7: War Tactics

A/N: A couple of interesting points have been raised. Now that I think about it, Tint (the character) suddenly appears to be useless. He's only killed two creatures before and has yet to show any extraordinary abilities. Here he is, thrust into the middle of an all out war of unexplainable importance. I'll have to think of something that will set him above any other ordinary fighter.

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All around me, soldiers were psyching themselves up for the battle. Burly humans exchanged grunts as they sharpened their blades. Elven archers filled their quivers with tons of arrows. Healers of every race readied medical kits to use on the field of battle. Orcs emptied keg after keg of soothing ale. A group of female warriors got in some extra practice warding off the advancements of the male resistance fighters. The scene looked just like a medieval movie.

Fido was leading us through the ranks of soldiers towards a tent set up in the center of the army. Sparks had taken a perch on Deanna's shoulder. I overheard him making some comment that he could turn into a human and woo her. Shortly thereafter, Sparks had found a new location on my shoulder.

There were a few soldiers garrisoned before the tent's entrance. They immediately moved aside when they spotted Fido approaching. "These be my pets." Sparks told the guards when they refused entrance for Deanna and me. We were quickly admitted.

The interior of the tent was very simple. The only decorations were a table with a map atop of it and a large regal throne. Perched on the throne was a very ancient looking, gray haired man. He wore a simple red robe lined with a gold trim. Atop his head a jeweled crown sat.

Sparks quickly threw himself to the ground and began bowing, "My lord, I am finally free of Boneheimer's control, thanks to these two and their friends who were captured. I am in debt to them."
I glanced over at Deanna, who was bowing before the old man. I took it as a hint to follow her lead. This must be the old king of Dondoria sitting before us. "Rise." He ordered in a pleasant voice. The two of us slowly returned to a standing position, awaiting the king's next words.

Fido had taken up a position to the king's right. The Centaur leaned over to the king and commented, "These are the two newer members of Jillian's group." The king nodded in understanding, but suddenly his expression turned to one of concern. "Boneheimer has captured Jillian and her group? But, they are our strongest adventurers. Is this true?" The king directed his last question to me.

I nodded my head silently. The king drew in a sharp intake of breath as he got up from his seat. I watched as the king began to pace from side to side of the tent, working up a mental sweat. The king stopped for a moment and turned back to me, "At least tell me that you were seriously outnumbered by super powered enemies." I nodded my head in agreement. "That makes things somewhat better. All we need is to defeat Boneheimer by outnumbering his evil forces. That shouldn't be hard, because we have almost ten thousand men."

"Uhm, sir?" A soldier poked his head into the tent, "Boneheimer has sent out his own army. You may want to come take a look at this." A sudden feeling of dread filled my stomach as the occupants of the tent emptied outside to join the other soldiers. Each and every soldier had a frightened look across their faces.

I looked in the direction of Dondoria and gasped at the sight. The green field that had been surrounding Dondoria had turned black with a dense black cloud. Inside of the cloud, figures were materializing, taking the shape of warriors. I estimated that there had to be at least forty thousand figures. "I think we're screwed." I whispered to Deanna, who meekly shook her head in agreement.

The king shoved his way through the soldiers and up to the front rank. My instincts told me to follow him. Maybe he was going to give an inspirational speech. A thought popped into my head that scared me. What if the king called me to make the speech for him? Thank god I memorized William Wallace's "Freedom!" speech from Braveheart.

The resistance fighters had grown deathly silent. Deanna, Fido, Sparks, and I had followed the king and we now stood before those who were about to face death. They did not show fear on their young faces, but instead a determination and maturity that should never be forced upon anyone. These fighters were ready to give their lives in a fight that spelled certain doom.

The king nodded his head in approval as he overlooked his forces. "Today, we will undertake in the single most important event that has ever faced a generation. I know that we are outnumbered but that is not means to give up hope. We want to take back what is ours. We will not be defeated! All we have to do is defeat Boneheimer and his forces will fall!"

A mumble of skepticism filled the crowd. "How are we going to do that?" Someone demanded from deep within the forces.

The king was unaltered by the question. "I have arranged a special strike force that will sneak into Dondoria using the same secret underground tunnel that I used for my escape. Once inside, they will head to the inner catacombs and find the prison. There, they will free all of our comrades and will attack from the inside. All we need to do is distract Boneheimer with a battle out here so that he is unaware of what travels beneath his feet."
I heard Deanna gulp nervously at the mention of special strike force. I knew exactly what it was that was upsetting her. The king had chosen us to be part of that team. I could only assume that the other members were going to be Sparks and Fido. "At least we won't be up here on the battlefield." I commented to Deanna.

"That's right. Instead, we are going to sneak through catacombs infested with Drow and Mindflayers and Dryders and Formians and Demons and Fiends and who knows what else." Came Deanna's sarcastic reply.

"Well, when you put it that way, everything seems bad." I retaliated with my own sarcastic remark.

A quick glare from Fido silenced us before we could continue our banter. Meanwhile, the king was putting the final touches on his speech. "Remember who you are fighting for. Your family, your friends, and your freedom. Plus, everyone dies sooner or later. Might as well go out in a blaze of glory." Maybe his speech could use a few helpful pointers, but it had the desired effect.

The soldiers let out a loud cheer as the king turned to us. "Can you guys dig a tunnel in less than a day?" He asked. Yup, we're screwed.

The sun was coming up over the treetops. The previous day had been filled with the two sides engaging in a verbal exchange of blows, but nothing physical. Today would prove to be different. The king, who I learned was named Lord Balticus, had scoured his brain for some alternate way of getting his strike team inside Dondoria. The final plan that he came up with didn't turn out to be much better then his original idea.

Word was sent to Boneheimer's forces that we were surrendering. As a gift, we were offering a large wooden horse. Don't ask how he knew about Greek mythology. I shook my head as the horse neared the front line of enemy soldiers. "This is never going to work." I whispered to Sparks, who had found a permanent perch on my shoulder. Apparently, the little curser had been serious when he declared me his master. Now I was stuck with his insults.

"No offence to my former master, but he is just as stupid as you to think up of this. No offence to you either." Sparks joked.

We watched the enemy soldiers examine the base of the horse, curiosity drawing them in. Sweat dripped from our foreheads as even more men came closer. One warrior, who appeared to be the leader of this particular rank, made some sort of announcement that we couldn't hear from our position. Soon afterwards, a few other soldiers produced lit torches.

"This can't turn out well." Deanna said. Her voice was full of nervous excitement. Just as she had said it, the soldiers brought their torches up to the legs of the horse, setting the wood on fire. A sudden explosion pounded through the air as splinters flew in every direction, impaling the nearby troops.

"Whose idea was it to fill the horse with the magical powder of the East?" Fido asked, a bemused grin crossing his face. The four of us were standing atop a hill not far from the battlefield. What? You thought we would be inside the horse? What kind of an idiot would hide inside a mobile powder keg?

I raised my hand meekly, responding to Fido's inquiry. I called this tactic the Trojan Virus. Boneheimer's forces were in disarray, attempting to recollect themselves from the devastation that had visited them. The immediate area near the blast had been wiped clear of the enemy forces. The fallout of splinters reached out across the entire line of enemies.

This was the perfect time to act. The resistance forces came charging in, making full use of the confusion. The numbers had been handicapped to provide a fairer chance for us to win. Arrows came plummeting into the field of frantic soldiers, taking the lives of hundreds of unlucky targets.

The explosion was also the signal for the strike force to head in. At the sound of the explosion all of the defending forces turned their attention to the source. The battle had started, drawing the exterior forces to meet the attack with everything they had. This left the base of the other sides of the wall completely defenseless.

Fido aimed his bow at a watch tower atop the wall. The Centaur launched his arrow, which imbedded itself in the wooden roof of the guard area. The arrow had a long rope trailing behind it. We now had access inside the town. All we needed to do was climb the thirty foot high wall using only an arrow to hold us up.

Deanna raced up to the rope, giving it a sharp tug. Luckily, it held. The blond sorcerer began to pull herself up the rope. About a third of the way up, she stopped. "Tint, quit looking up my skirt." She ordered before continuing her climb. How did she always know what I was doing?

I averted my eyes, but the same couldn't be said for Sparks. Fido had his bow pulled tight, ready to fire at any intruders who discovered our infiltration attempts. Unfortunately, Fido wouldn't be joining us on the inside. He was unable to climb the rope, so he would be joining the battle that was happening on the other side of the city. I wanted to say something to him, but nothing came to mind. Fido saw my difficulty and supplied his own encouragement, "Don't worry about me, just take care of yourself and Deanna. This entire war depends on you two." With that, the green Centaur galloped along the wall, shooting arrows at a group of mutants who came around the corner.

Deanna had climbed over the top of the wall and now beckoned for me to follow her. I lifted myself off the ground and began the vertical trek. Hand over hand; I slowly inched my way closer and closer to the top. After what seemed like forever, I finally found my self on solid ground at the top of the wall. "You sure are out of shape." Sparks commented from my shoulder.

"It would have been easier if I didn't have to pull you up with me." I shot back.

During my climb, Deanna had pried open the trap door that led to the interior of the tower. An old rickety ladder descended into the darkness below. "You go first." Deanna suggested, nervously glancing along the wall to see if anyone had noticed our arrival.

I took hold of the top rung of the ladder and swung myself into the dark chasm. A small flicker of light illuminated the bottom of the ladder. I quickly slid down the ladder and onto the stone floor. There seemed to be something odd going on here. It was too quiet. Not a single noise echoed through the inner halls of Dondoria.

Deanna joined me at the bottom level, collecting the torch that had been lighting the ladder. "It's too quiet." She stated as she peered down the three paths that extended out from the base of the tower. At this point I was convinced that Deanna had tuned into my telepathic output feed.

"Which way should we go to get to the prison?" I asked Sparks. He had to have some sort of knowledge about the inside of the town.

"What do I look like, a map?" Sparks replied sarcastically, sniffing the air around him.

Deanna rolled her eyes, "I know a good mapmaker that uses dragon scales to make maps." This threat had the desired effect. Sparks quickly instructed us on which path to take.

Deanna and I followed the dragon's lead as he directed us into the innermost bowls of Dondoria. We passed by a room full of coffins, another room with a large pool of liquid with brains floating around, and a tunnel that led to a place with a fiery red glow. I had a pretty good guess that I knew where that path went.

"Take your next left." Sparks instructed. We turned the corner and found ourselves blocked by a large steel door. "Past here is the prison." Sparks explained as he took a short flight off my shoulder and up to the roof. There, Sparks tugged violently on a loose brick. Suddenly the steel door swung open. Our dragon friend must have triggered the switch.

Sure enough, this room was the prison. The tunnel stretched further than I could see, each side lined with cells. A small chair faced the door, obviously the warden's position. Currently, the seat was vacant except for a large key placed on the seat. "This is too easy." I commented as I took hold of the key.

Deanna nodded her head as she walked over to the nearest cage. "This one's empty. You take that side, I'll get this one."

I moved myself along the row of cells, peering into the dreary holding areas. The floors were lined with the bones of deceased prisoners. In some cells, the bodies were still fresh. "This is disgusting." I commented as I moved on to my next cell.

"Is that you, Tint?" A voice asked from inside the cell I came up to. The voice caught me by surprise, causing me to jump back. A figure in the cell stirred and approached the bars. Hands reached out, wrapping around the iron bars as a face became illuminated by the light. I recognized the dwarf immediately. It was Rurik!
"Rurik! We've come to rescue you guys!" I stated excitedly as I frantically attempted to insert the key into the lock. Deanna had come up beside me and lifted her torch to illuminate the rest of the cell. Sure enough, the other heroes were in the cell.

"It's a trap! Boneheimer knows that you two were coming! Get out of here before he comes for you!" Rurik exclaimed, slapping my hand away from the key.

"Too late." A raspy sounding voice breathed from behind us. I nervously began to turn around, knowing that I was about to stare into the face of death. A new wave of the smell of death filled the prison. I could see the black aura before even completing a half turn. Decaying tendrils extended into my field of vision. There was Boneheimer, sitting in the chair, blocking our only escape route.

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A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter. I was surprised by the amount of feedback that I've received over the past few days. Thanks a lot for the reviews. I'll try desperately to improve this story more with every chapter I continue to write.