The Only Defense

The God Wars are bleeding us dry. The king has ordered Conscription. All legal adults (over the age of eighteen) were taken to war. There was no ifs or buts. If you were able, you fought. Our village (named Graiguenamanagh) is struggling to make it by. The smithing, farming, mining, woodcutting, cooking, medicinal work, all has to be done by the women and older children. Right now, you either starve or watch your neighbors starve. Compassion is all but gone, friendships offering the only warmth in the cold. The old men who used to tend to the village's furnace have all died in the war, meaning that winter, rather then creeping in, is choking us with its icy grip. And that's the least of our worries.

In this war, warriors are killing villages. They take it by force, raid its supplies for food, steal its women for ... pleasure. Saradominist warriors will take over Saradominist villages. The kings actually encourage this behavior. They leave instructions, so I'm told, that read "If supplies cannot be found from the land, villages will be more than happy to contribute their bountiful food stocks". They're encouraging trained knights to kill untrained teenagers that try to protect their villages.

Untrained teenager. That's me. Although I'm not totally untrained. My dad, who is a general of war, thought me how to handle a sword. I'm the best in the village, which means I'm leading the front guard. Basically, Graiguenamanagh is a valley village. There's mountains all around us, which means that there's only one route to us. It also means that there's no where to run if they do come in...So, anyway, the only way in is a bottleneck, which gives us an advantage (though I still don't fancy out chances).

That's what I'm telling the guys. There's twenty-eight of us sixteen-seventeen year olds, the only ones really capable for combat. I'm sort of an un-elected leader, so I know that they're expecting some fantastic idea that will save us all. Luckily, I do have a few...

"Okay, guys, we're pretty lucky. We live in a valley, there's mountains all around us. The only way in is the gap between the two mountains (I point to it), so no matter how many of them are there, we can force them into a bottleneck. With me so far?"

They all nod. A good sign.

"So, I have an idea. We cut down these trees, and pile the logs along the route in. I mean loads of logs, all along the road. We wait until they're about half way in, and we set the whole thing alight, and burn them to a crisp. Now, we construct some blockades to hide behind, and pick them off with bow and arrows. Eventually, they'll put the fire out, or it'll burn itself out. Then they'll come through, and we'll have to actually fight. Yeah... that's the bit I see us having a problem with..."

A voice piped up from the crowd; "When are they coming?" it asked.

"Ah, well, we don't know if they are coming. We have to prepare ourselves. If we don't, and they do come....It won't be good for us".

And we set to it. Within the day, we had the road carpeted with branches, ready for the assault that was coming. And it did come, in the end. Brutally.