It was the first time in a while that I got all my officers back together. They had been pretty busy these last few days after all rebuilding or possibly even strengthening their companies. I had only received individual reports by them or, in some cases, bills that needed paying. Now though we all had gathered around the sand of the fighting pit. I had thought about gathering at my tent at first, but it would have gotten a little too cramped with everyone present, thus I decided on this spot instead.

The pit offered another advantage beyond ample space as well. I had it cordoned off and simple cloth walls set up around it to keep out any prying eyes. I especially wanted to keep the rather detailed map drawn in the smoothed sand of the pit from the eyes of the public in general. The less people knew about our plans, the less they could give away by accident. For this reason the outer perimeter beyond the cloth walls was heavily patrolled by guards as well.

In addition the rest of the camp was far enough away to afford us some peace and quiet. That too was something that could not be taken for granted in a rather busy army camp. A number of Light spells spread out around the pit provided good and even lighting for the officers studying the map.

Of course most of them knew the geography in general. Not all of them were familiar with all the details though. Or at least they hadn't been until now. I had drawn the basics myself, using various maps I owned or at least could get my hands on. Then all of the gathered officers had provided their own insights and knowledge to further improve upon the map.

In addition we had a number of painted, wooden figures representing our companies and banners. Currently they were all gathered by Caer'rath. There were other figures as well, some representing the king's war host while others represented enemy units. The former were of little concern for us though while the latter were currently only based on our best guesses and rather outdated intelligence. Right now they represented a worst case scenario as far as we could tell. We would prepare for this and adapt to new developments as we moved along.

A line of slightly darker sand winding its way across the map represented the path I intended us to take. I picked up one of the long sticks I had prepared for this occasion and pointed it at a city marker near the marked path. “The way I see it Gothol'uin still is the greatest threat along the way to our target.” I followed the path with the stick until it came to rest upon the marker for Gothol'gathrak. “Their king might be dead and most of the army they sent here is as well but they still have several hundred heavy cavalry, the majority of their nobility, that got away in time.”

Arngard picked up a stick as well, pointing it at Gothol'uin. “The location of the city and the parts of the kingdom we did not devastate as we passed through would allow them to threaten our rear as we lay siege to the dwarven city. Their cavalry would be able to threaten our supply lines as well.” He moved his stick over to a smaller, dotted line, of lighter sand representing our supply line through the mountain pass, as he said so.

Leumina stepped forward, as the human veteran in command of my infantry fell silent. “My lady, if I might add something?” She looked to me, seeking permission to speak, as she was the most junior in comparison to everyone else.

I gestured, prompting he to carry on.

She took another deep breath to calm her nerves, before speaking up again. “Gothol'uin's army may lie smashed in the gap for the better part but the city is large enough to levy another regiment or maybe even two, if they strip its defenses. Pikes and crossbows mostly.”

I looked over at Tero and he levitated two more wooden figures representing the enemy into position. One of them armed with a pike, the other with a crossbow.

Several of my officers nodded with grim faces. It was Tora'pheer who spoke up first. “We can't just ignore them. That would be inviting disaster. We either have to draw them out into another field battle or lay siege to Gothol'uin first before moving on to Gothol'gathrak.” That statement earned another round of grim nods.

She was right of course. Ignoring the city and the threat it posed was not an option. “Their king is dead. Could we force them to surrender or possibly even turn against the rest of the Council of Kings?” I tapped the marker of the city twice. “Taking the city intact would greatly improve our supply situation, especially once winter is upon us and moving anything across the pass will be difficult and dangerous at best.”

It was Leumina who answered. She was, little by little, growing more confident. “I'm afraid that by now one of the more powerful noblemen who got away will most likely already have claimed the throne. At best they will still be busy suppressing any opposition. I wouldn't count on it though. If we were to lay siege to the city on the other hand we quite possibly could instigate a peasant uprising. It wouldn't be the first time for something like that to happen.”

Arngard picked up there. “Usually such uprisings would be quickly put down by the other kings of the Council. They can't have those spreading after all. Right now though they might not be able to muster the forces necessary to do so right away. It might just buy us the time we need to break the dwarves and their defenses.”

Once again there were nods. Not everyone seemed to agree though. It was Tortho who pushed forward. “We will move to lay siege to Gothol'uin. If they muster forces to meet us in the field before we get there, we smash them. If we have to lay siege to the city we try to break them with shock and awe.”

Yath'zur nodded at this point, the darkelf scout was not done though. “One way or another we take them out of the picture. They are not the only ones we have to worry about though.” He pointed at several forests. “We torched one of the largest elven glades in the area already, but there are others. Those which remain probably couldn't muster enough forces to threaten our army after the battle of the gap but they most certainly could harass us or raid our supply lines.”

His pointing stick came to rest on a forest near the dwarven city we were tasked to take. “And then there is this. The glade of the headhunters' pact.” He sounded grim. “It is the place where the headhunters gave in to the Devourer's corruption. It is of significant importance to them. If we were to make a move on it I'm certain that we would draw the attention of those cursed cannibals from every nearby elven settlement. It might provide us a chance for a decisive strike against them without having to worry about our supply lines too much.”

I liked that idea and nodded. So did a number of the others. “that still leaves our main target.” I pointed at Gothol'gathrak again. “Any ideas?”

This time it was Yath'zur who spoke up. “We know very little about the dwarfen fortress city and its defenses except that they are layered.” He pointed at the fortress city itself and two points to the southeast and west along the road leading to and past it. “One of the few things we are certain of is, that they have fortified outposts along this road in either direction of the city. They serve as early warning and to buy some time mostly but we shouldn't underestimate them.”

He pointed at the outposts again before continuing. “If we were to take them mostly intact we could use them to close off that road. Any relief army would have to take these outposts, or at least one of them, first, to strike at us.” He looked a little embarrassed as he added another tidbit. “These outposts probably will provide us with the first real clue of the city's own defenses as well. We should size that opportunity to try to learn as much as we possibly can.”

That was my greatest worry and looking at the faces of the others I could see that I was not alone in that regard. We simply knew so damn little about the dwarven fortifications and there was very little we could do about it.

I grimaced. “Maybe we will have a chance to learn a little more about the dwarven defenses after dealing with Gothol'uin. The humans should have some trade relations with the dwarves. Some of them have to know something.”

Tortho picked up where I left off once more. “We can try and ask some questions as we scout the path. Merchants, coachmen and couriers we find along the roads would be the most likely to know anything anyway. Speaking of that, my company is about ready to set out any time you want. Right now we have the optimal ratio of experienced old hands and new faces among my scouts and Quu'za's harpies.”

I thought about that for a moment. “And leaving at least a few days before the main column will give you the time needed to scout the roads and secure places for the army to camp? You might even by able to deal with some of the smaller elven glades and human hamlets on your own?”

He nodded without adding anything else.

I looked at the other gathered officers. “Any objections?” There were none. “Very well, Tortho, Quu'za. You can set out as you see fit. If any more people show up, whom we would usually direct towards either of your companies, I will gather them in a new banner to serve as an additional rearguard. Everyone else, prepare your men and women to get moving four days from now.”